Lightning Is the Only Way

After the Economistress had shown Stella her God Stone ocean, Stella realized that she had given up too early.

She had tried to help Gravis by comprehending Formation Arrays, and she was definitely making some headway in that direction, but she was sure that there was even more she could do.

Even if it wasn't much, she could still help Gravis with more things.

And she already had a plan.

However, the plan would take a long time to come to fruition.

But for now, Gravis and Stella only stayed together for a long while. Of course, Gravis didn't forget his other friends.

In the beginning, it was a bit awkward to talk with his friends, but eventually, the old feeling of friendship returned. They hadn't seen each other in a long while, but they had also known each other for a long time.

However, a lot of things had still changed in the last 150,000 years.

For example, Yersi and Jake had a couple of children now.

When Gravis heard that, he was shocked and asked why they hadn't informed him.

Yersi answered that she didn't want to distract Gravis.

Additionally, the lives of the children could pass very quickly.

One of Yersi's kids had decided against Cultivating, and she had died in her eighties with a loving family.

That had happened several thousand years ago, and by now, so many generations had passed that there basically wasn't any connection between them anymore.

Yersi had stopped cultivating to stay by their daughter in her life.

Sadly, to beings that were hundreds of thousands of years old, a hundred years passed in the blink of an eye.

They had also stayed in contact with their grandkids and their great-grandkids, but eventually, the visits had become more and more infrequent, and eventually, they hadn't visited in 200 years.

Any kind of familial connection had already been severed.

The only thing connecting them was a tiny part of their blood.

Gravis could only sigh when he heard all of that.

Sure enough, having children was difficult when one was also cultivating.

If the child decided to live a mortal life, their entire life would pass in the blink of an eye.

If they decided to cultivate, their life would pass even faster. After all, the chances of becoming truly powerful were minuscule.

In both cases, the child would only live for a tiny, bright moment.

It was like a spark that brightened up the surroundings, but as soon as the spark vanished, only darkness remained.

Luckily, their other daughter was already in the Law Comprehension Realm, and she visited her parents every century or so.

The two of them told Gravis where he could find his granddaughter, and Gravis quickly went over.

He watched her from afar as she was trying to comprehend a level three Law.

Gravis immediately felt a certain feeling of connection between him and his granddaughter. He wanted to go over there and meet her, but he decided against it.

'I'll return to my Cultivation soon. Meeting her would be nice, but I don't want to remain in her mind. A hundred thousand years is too much time for a Law Comprehension Realm Cultivator.'

'I'll meet her if she manages to become an Immortal Emperor.'

It wasn't easy for Gravis to make this decision, but he had already decided.

Gravis involuntarily remembered the time he had met Orpheus.

Back then, Gravis had asked why he hadn't seen any of his other siblings, and Orpheus had said that Gravis' life was too fleeting.

Back then, Gravis had understood their reasons, but he also didn't like it.

Later, Orpheus had told Gravis the truth, which was that the familial feeling had basically already died out due to the size of the family.

'Am I doing the same thing?' Gravis asked himself.

Silence.

'No, I'm not,' Gravis thought after a while. 'I'm not doing this because I don't love her or because I don't care about her. This isn't about me, but about her.'

'She can't miss something she has never had, and it's better if we only meet when she can deal with my long absences.'

Gravis watched his granddaughter for a while, but he eventually teleported away.

When Gravis returned, Yersi and Jake asked if that was truly the right decision. After all, Gravis also wanted to meet her.

Gravis answered that it was the best decision he could make.

Eventually, Yersi and Jake accepted it.

When Gravis left, he also thought about his own family.

'If I remember correctly, I've also had a younger sister called Artemis once,' Gravis thought. 'Sadly, she has decided to accept father's gift and became a Peak Immortal Emperor.'

'Her longevity has long since run out.'

Gravis' brows furrowed.

'Now that I think about it, father and mom didn't have any other children after that, and several hundred thousand years have already passed.'

'This means that all my brothers and sisters that decided not to cultivate have already died.'

Gravis remembered that one time he had met one of his sisters.

Back then, Gravis had only been in the Unity Realm, and he had immediately disliked her as soon as he saw her.

When they talked, the two also very quickly parted on bad terms.

'It feels weird,' Gravis thought. 'Back then, she had been impossibly more powerful than me, but now, she has already died.'

'Well, at least I guess she was happy.'

'I wonder how many of my brothers and sisters are actually still alive.'

Gravis couldn't come to a concrete answer.

'Why am I even thinking about all of this? I can just ask father.'

So, Gravis traveled to Opposer City again and sat down in front of his father.

The Opposer summoned some coffee, and Gravis enjoyed the cup in silence.

"I wanted to ask you something," Gravis said.

"Yes?" the Opposer asked.

"How many siblings do I have?" Gravis asked.

"Right now, four," the Opposer answered directly.

"Only four?" Gravis asked in shock.

The Opposer nodded. "Due to the extraordinary nature of our situation, your mother and I have decided to take a pause. Normally, we like to have some children every couple thousand years or so."

"However, with your appearance, the very nature of my relationship with the old bastard might change. I don't know if everything will go well, if you will die early, or if I have to have a decisive battle with him. No matter the case, it's too risky right now."

Gravis nodded. The reason was understandable.

"Who are the others? I only know Orpheus," Gravis asked.

"Do you want to meet them?" the Opposer asked.

Gravis hesitated for a bit.

"I'm not sure, honestly. There isn't anything between us except our connection to you and mom."

"But you still want to know some things about them," the Opposer added.

Gravis nodded.

The Opposer emptied his cup.

"Orpheus is your second strongest sibling right now. He was once placed third, but after he decided to continue cultivating, his power has gone through a rebirth," the Opposer said.

This surprised Gravis.

He had a sibling even more powerful than Orpheus?

"You have a sister that's at the ninth level of the Star God Realm. My short fight with the old bastard hit her hard since she had just been somewhere in the middle of the Star God Realm when it happened."

"The entire world basically knew that she was my daughter, and the world hated her for it."

Gravis grimaced.

This really was a bad place to be in.

"She never forgave me for what I have done. She said that I only cared about you but not about anyone else," the Opposer said.

"She will soon undergo her second tribulation, and things don't look good for her. There is a small chance that she can comprehend a level eight Law during that tribulation, but if she fails, she will die."

"I'm relatively sure that you will only have three siblings soon."

Gravis sighed.

"And the other two?" he asked.

"You have another brother who's a level four Ancestral God right now. He's an Elder in the Darkest Stygian Sect."

"Oh, I know that Sect," Gravis said. "It's about as powerful as the Eternal Fire Sect, right? I think I visited their territory once when I went to get Meadow."

The Opposer nodded. "He comes here from time to time, but mainly to visit your mother. There isn't a strong connection between him and me."

Gravis could understand why.

The Opposer had always been very distant towards his children, which had only changed when Gravis had appeared.

"What about their Karmic Luck?" Gravis asked.

"Zero, as always," the Opposer answered. "Only the people that have an actual connection with you have their Karmic Luck raised. The three siblings you have never met don't have a real connection with you."

"However, as you always say, advantages can have disadvantages, and disadvantages can have advantages. Their path had been far more difficult, but they have above-average Battle-Strength because of it."

Gravis remembered the couple of run-ins he had with his Karmic Luck in the highest world.

It definitely wasn't easy to survive something like that, but all three of them had managed to survive these catastrophes.

"What about the last one?" Gravis asked.

"You have one more sister, and she's the most powerful out of all of you. She comes to visit us every couple hundred thousand years or so, and we have a relatively good relationship."

"You two actually already met, but you didn't recognize each other."