Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis only had to laugh when he heard Meadow's answer. "Come on, just accept the thanks. You have helped me, and I won't forget that."

"Oh wow," the harmonious but sarcastic voice returned. "Your sincerity nearly made me give a fuck. Congratulations! Sadly, you're still a bit off the mark. That sure sucks."

Gravis only shook his head with a smile. Then, he searched for Ferris with his Spirit and found him looking at a tree. Gravis wanted to ask Ferris if he was ready to return to the Empire, but a different thought appeared in his mind.

Gravis turned to one of the trees.

SSSHHHH!

The entire tree completely vanished into nothingness. It started at its leaves and bark and didn't stop until the entire thing stopped existing. Only when Gravis' Spirit reached a connected root more powerful than all the others did he know that this was the spot where Meadow's actual body began.

"Look at that," Gravis said with a smirk. "I can turn plants into dust with only a thought."

Surprisingly, no snark remark came for several seconds.

"That's actually pretty impressive," Meadow answered. "If a part of a plant is destroyed, it can regenerate that part with its Life Energy. Yet, by annihilating the entire thing, all the Life Energy in the world won't help."

Gravis was a bit surprised when he heard that. "Does that mean that you hadn't paid attention to the Composition of plants yet?" Gravis asked.

"I never saw a reason in doing so. I can comprehend the Composition of plants anytime I want. I'm paying more attention to the general Life Laws. I was planning on understanding the Composition of Plants a couple thousand years from now," she answered.

"Speaking of," Gravis said as he smiled again. "I want to tell you some theories I have."

Meadow knew that some of these theories might help her immensely. As a human, Gravis had shown a unique perspective regarding Laws. It was like he was looking at them from a different angle.

"Why?" she asked directly.

Gravis laughed a bit. "For the same reason why you created that particular tree earlier. I see you as a friend, and helping friends should be natural."

Meadow thought back to when she had created that tree. At that time, she felt like helping Gravis. She hadn't had any particular reason in doing so. She simply did it because she wanted to, which was weird and new to her.

Due to Meadow's incredible power, it was hard for her to create genuine connections with beasts. Every beast was always insufferably deferential in front of her, which automatically made her despise them. Didn't these beasts have any backbone?

Meanwhile, the very few beasts that were powerful enough to reach her level couldn't deal with her unique way of expressing herself. In their eyes, Meadow was speaking and acting like some brute. Her aggressive jokes angered them, and her refusal to take anything serious made them look down on her.

In truth, Meadow hadn't had a friend in a very, very long time. But now, Gravis considered her his friend, and based on her own actions, she probably also saw him as a friend.

For the first time in a long while, Meadow actually didn't feel bored or apathetic.

WACK!

Suddenly, she used one of her roots and slapped Gravis away. "Fuck! Your pussy shit has infected me! Are you trying to attack me with your level three Law of Being A Little Bitch!?"

Gravis only laughed loudly as he sat at the bottom of a powerful tree. Obviously, the "attack" had only been playful and wasn't nearly powerful enough to even hurt him.

Ferris perked up and looked at Gravis. After realizing that Meadow and Gravis were only bantering, he continued to look at more trees.

"I'll take that as a yes," Gravis said while chuckling.

Meadow didn't say anything.

"Anyway," Gravis started. "As you probably already know, one level one Law might open the path to several level two Laws. For example, there might be a Law related to how trees often use their branches as whips or something. Is there such a Law?"

"Yes, there is," Meadow answered curtly.

Gravis nodded. "You have probably already combined that level one Law with other level one Laws to create some kind of level two Law related to the offense of plants, right?"

"Yes, I did," Meadow said.

Then, Gravis smirked. "Yet, is that the end?" he asked smugly.

"There is nothing left in the plant world that I can combine with that particular level one Law, so, yes, I'm pretty confident that this is the end," Meadow answered.

"You're right!" Gravis said. "You can't combine it with any more Laws related to Plants, but what about other categories of Laws?"

"What do you mean?" Meadow asked. Surprisingly, she hadn't made one of her offensive jokes in a while now.

"What about fire whips? What about concentrated water beams? What about wind? There could be Laws in these elements that are used similarly to your Law. If something is similar, chances are high that they can be combined into a new Law," Gravis said.

Meadow remained silent.

"Whips might not be the best example," Gravis said as he scratched his chin in embarrassment. "Let's take something more obvious, spires! Earth can make spires. Wood can make spears. Icicles are spires. A concentrated fire beam might be a spire. Metal can become a spear."

Gravis smirked. "Doesn't that sound like it could be combined into one thing? Imagine a spire with the hardness of metal, the durability of earth, the explosiveness of fire, and the flexibility of wood. That sounds like a level two Law to me."

Meadow still remained silent as she fell into thought.

"Just like bark, earth, and other materials from different elements can create the Composition Law of Medium Pure Materials, different element-specific attack or defense Laws might also be combinable."

"Look at Ferris," Gravis said as his head gestured to Ferris. "He combined soul with fire. If I hadn't seen that, I wouldn't even have imagined something like this to be possible. Just try to imagine what you could create!"

With these words, Meadow now looked at the world differently from before. What Gravis had said made a lot of sense, and Meadow might need to change her plan in understanding Laws. She hadn't made much progress in the last couple of thousand years, and it might actually help her if she tried to concentrate on Laws from completely different elements.

"You have given me a lot to think about," Meadow said.

Gravis only smirked. "I'll take that as a thanks."

Surprisingly, Meadow didn't disagree. Gravis had already noticed that Meadow had started acting atypical ever since she had realized that she actually cared for Gravis. This whole situation was probably new and uncomfortable for her, making her uncertain on how to act.

"Alright, I'll let you think in peace. It was great staying in your domain, but I need to leave now," Gravis said, trying to make the awkwardness disappear.

"You have helped me with your words," Meadow answered. "So, I guess, that it was nice of you to be here?" she asked, her voice becoming more and more unsure with time. She probably wasn't used to saying such words.

Gravis only chuckled a bit. "Don't worry. Before I leave this world, I will visit you again! We can chat all we want then!"

Meadow seemed to hesitate since some seconds passed without her saying anything. Gravis didn't mind it and simply believed that Meadow was probably thinking about how to answer in the least offensive way.

Gravis walked over to Ferris. "You ready to go?"

Ferris perked up. "Oh? Yeah, since like 15 years or so. I didn't want to disturb you, so I simply waited," Ferris said with quite some excitement. By the looks of it, he had truly been pretty bored for the last couple of years.

Gravis nodded. "Sure, then let's go!"

Ferris nodded with excitement. "Sounds great!"

Gravis turned to the flower in the middle of the flower field. "We're off now. See you later, Meadow!"

Meadow remained silent for some seconds. "You too, Gravis," she said quietly.

Gravis only smiled. Apparently, Meadow had many sides to her personality. Who knows, maybe Meadow was actually a sweetheart deep inside?

With that said, Gravis and Ferris flew into the distance. After a while, they left the forest and Meadow behind as they flew back to the Icy Pride Empire.

"Hey, Ferris," Gravis said with a smirk.

"Yes?"

"I've comprehended seven Laws."