Lightning Is the Only Way

Skye's parent listened to Gravis' story patiently. It was happy to hear about what its child had gone through. When it heard that Skye reached the stage of a high-grade Energy Beast after only a couple of months, it felt pride. Skye's parent also thought that it was the right decision to let Skye go with Gravis.

Why did it think that this was the right decision? Skye and its parent had always lived away from civilization, so they hadn't known about the humans' superior knowledge, battle techniques, and political systems. It had stayed inside the Wind Guild for the past couple of months, and with its incredible ears and its new Spirit, it had learned a lot about and from humans.

It had listened in on conversations between disciples and elders. Many conversations metaphorically opened its eyes to new ways to get stronger. Beasts usually only followed their instincts, which was to fight and kill other just-as-powerful beasts. Yet, when such a fight happened, it nearly always ended with one of the two parties dying and becoming food for the other.

Retreat? In their instincts, that was only something that a weak-willed beast would do. Some of Gravis' earlier beast-opponents had tried to flee, yet those beasts had all been weak-willed. A strong Energy Beast wouldn't retreat, no matter how overwhelmingly powerful the enemy was.

Yet, as Skye's parent heard about the upper echelon speak of times when they fled from a fight, it started thinking. Those were all very powerful people, and even the Spirit Forming experts have spoken of a time where they had to flee with pride instead of shame. For humans, retreating was not a shame. It was just another way to fight.

Skye's parent had thought about these things and realized that retreat wouldn't halt its path forward. It had learned many valuable lessons by being with humans, and it knew that Gravis had probably also taught a lot of those concepts to its child. Because of this, it was happy that it decided to leave it with Gravis.

Yet, when Gravis told it about how he killed experts from the Fire and Darkness Guild and fed them to Skye, Skye's parent grew angry. It had way more experience than Skye, and it had learned a lot from humans. It had realized that this could bring Skye's future prospects into jeopardy. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to let this human take Skye, after all.

But when Gravis told about his decision to leave Skye, it sighed in relief. That was the best decision that Gravis could have made in that situation. Judging by what it had been told, Skye's parent realized that its child had grown dependent on Gravis. Luckily, Gravis had cut this dependency apart.

When Gravis finished his story, Skye's parent looked into the distance. It heard about how Gravis taught it many things and how strong and smart its child was. Its worries disappeared entirely. With Skye's power, it wouldn't be in danger in this Middle-Continent. Only someone in the Spirit Forming Realm could kill Skye, yet Gravis had taught Skye about those experts. Skye's parent was sure that its child was still alive.

"So yeah, that's about it," finished Gravis as he looked at the giant bird beside him.

Skye's parent nodded. "Thank you," it said. Beasts were simple, and a thank you was the most direct method of thanking others. Gravis realized this, too, of course, and smiled.

"No problem. I've also committed some mistakes, but I'm sure that Skye will recover from that," he said.

"Child will," Skye's parent said with confidence. Then, it turned to Gravis and looked at him closely for some seconds.

Gravis looked into its eyes and felt a little awkward. "What's up?" he asked.

The bird turned away, looking at the horizon again. "Human too strong, too fast. Human slow down," it said.

Gravis' eyes widened. Skye's parent had really learned a lot of things if it could even tell something like that. Gravis already knew about this. He had been swimming against the current, trying to increase his power as quickly as possible, but was that a good thing? Gravis was not dumb, and he knew that he had to take a break at some point.

Gravis still wasn't used to his newfound power. If he immediately went to the Core-Continent and immediately began to increase his power, he would gain even newer powers without having the chance of getting used to his current ones. This was one of the main reasons why Gravis didn't immediately go to the Core-Continent. He had to get used to his current powers first.

Such a concept was not intrinsic to beasts. That was why Gravis was so surprised that Skye's parent knew about that. Gravis smiled. "I know. That's one of the reasons why I am here, to take a break," he said happily.

There was no immediate danger lurking at the horizon. Ever since Gravis came to the Middle-Continent, he never could truly relax. First came the fight at the tree, then he had to keep his identity secret in the lair of his enemy for multiple months, and then he had to increase his power in just seven days, or he would die. This was the first time where he could let go and just do what he wanted.

Gravis looked into the sky while merrily moving his legs back and forth on the tree. 'Is this what I am searching for? The feeling of freedom? Right now, I can do what I want without fear. Though...' Gravis looked to the ground with a bitter smile. 'The Heaven Sect will find me at some point. I think this counts as a free-trial of the true freedom that I want.'

"I Core-Continent. Five Days," Skye's parent said.

Gravis nodded. Skye's parent could finally let go and continue on its path. "I wish you all the best," Gravis said.

Skye's parent looked at him and nodded. "You too, human," it said. Then, it flew up and went back to its nest. It probably wanted to finish some things in the next five days before it left for the Core-Continent.

Gravis also jumped down from the tree and stretched. 'Talks are nice,' he thought. 'Sadly, this fucking Karmic Luck of mine is contagious.' Gravis looked one last time at the Wind Guild with longing. 'Man, how I wish to belong to a group of people.' Gravis sighed one last time and then left the Wind Guild.

Being isolated from humanity had taken its toll when he had just reached this lower world, but by now, he had grown used to it. He longed to be with others, but that longing didn't affect him so much anymore. He had already realized that being part of humanity was an impossibility.

His goal in reaching the Unity Realm was the most important thing he had to do now, except for maybe staying alive. As soon as he reached the Unity Realm, he would return to his homeworld. Everything would be fine then.

As Gravis left, he had one last thought about this whole thing and then concentrated on his next target. It would probably take around 18 hours to get there if he didn't take a break. Yet, wasn't his purpose of coming here specifically to take a break? Why not slow down when he had the time?

Like this, Gravis slowly traveled to his next target, taking several breaks to look at the scenery in the process. Of course, while traveling, he thought of more applications with his lightning. Lots of battle tactics went through his mind, and time flew by.

Over three days later, Gravis finally arrived at his goal.