Lightning Is the Only Way

SHING!

Gravis arrived at the next area, which, just like most Storm-related Law Comprehension Areas up to now, was an empty field of basically nothing.

'These Storm Law Comprehension Areas seem to be less imposing than the Inferno or Punishment Lightning ones,' Gravis thought.

The storm in here was not particularly powerful, nor did it have much cutting power.

Its power was just average.

However, the difference was that this area used far less Energy than the other ones.

This was the Law Comprehension Area for the Law of Storm's Efficiency.

As the name implied, this Law reduced the Energy cost of the Storm Element by quite a bit. This Law was very helpful when used in tandem with the Law of Storm's Pressure.

Gravis went through his usual routine again and entered the Law Comprehension Area.

Gravis would be using up a lot of the saved-up Energy of the Law Comprehension Area, damaging it by staying in there, but that wasn't an issue this time. The storm wasn't powerful enough to injure Gravis, leaving him with a ton of Energy to spare. So, when the Energy of the storm was used up by hitting Gravis, Gravis could just transform his Punishment Lightning into Energy and release it into the surroundings.

Fortunately, this area didn't have that much Energy, to begin with, due to the Law of Storm's Efficiency, allowing Gravis to keep the Law Comprehension Area Energy neutral.

BOOOM!

Nothing special happened, and Gravis comprehended the Law of Storm's Efficiency after an average amount of time.

SHING!

Gravis quickly left and went to the next Law Comprehension Area.

WHOOOOOOM!

In front of Gravis was an absolutely gigantic storm. It wasn't very powerful, but its size was just massive. Gravis could barely see the entire storm with his Spirit Sense. That's how big it was!

This Law Comprehension Area demonstrated the Law of Storm's Mass.

What did this Law do?

This Law worked similarly to the Law of Storm's Efficiency but not entirely the same. The Law of Storm's Mass theoretically decreased the Energy cost of using the Storm Element, but only indirectly.

How did it work?

This Law allowed someone to "infect" the unaffected air. Instead of pushing the air away, this Law allowed someone to decrease the surrounding air's inertia. Just a slight shove with the Storm Element would allow someone to push the speed and power of the surrounding air to the same power as the actual attack.

This meant that someone didn't need to use as much Energy to move air around. After all, the surrounding air was basically moving on its own.

After his routine, Gravis entered the Law Comprehension Area, but he didn't go to the center. The center of the area was important since all the Energy of the storm was basically concentrated there. The outside was moving by using up nearly no Energy.

This meant that, as long as Gravis didn't enter the middle of the storm, the Law Comprehension Area wouldn't be damaged.

On top of that, Gravis didn't even really need to enter the core. The effect of the Law was shown more clearly on the outside since this was the air that actually moved "on its own".

Gravis lost himself again and comprehended the Law without any interference.

BOOOOM!

'And with that, all the Battle Laws for the Element of Storm are done!' Gravis thought with a sigh.

'I'm about 33% done with all the element-related Battle Laws.'

Gravis exited the Law Comprehension Area and went to a secluded place. The next set of Laws was done, and Gravis wanted to see what kind of effects this session had on him.

Additionally, he wanted to know how long he had actually been in comprehension.

After knowing that he could go through an entire set of Laws with a manageable amount of change to his personality, Gravis decided to only check the time after every set.

Gravis took out his timer Formation Array and looked at it.

'2,063 years,' Gravis thought. 'That's not nearly as much time as I had thought. I guess my experience in comprehending Laws has increased again, making my comprehension faster.'

Gravis nodded. 'Good! The reason why I comprehended the easy Laws first, to begin with, was that I wanted to save as much time as possible with the harder Laws later.'

Gravis scratched his chin. 'It was actually rather easy to comprehend these Laws. There wasn't some kind of bottleneck, and I also didn't need to temper myself. I guess my Major Law of the Elements has given me enough scattered knowledge in the other Laws.'

'Additionally, I think I have enough experience with Law Comprehension that basically all level four Laws don't require me to temper myself anymore. My mind can discern the answers to the more confusing aspects of the Laws without any outside help.'

Gravis looked at his timer again with a complex expression. 'It feels weird. I have already spent more time in this world than I have been alive for before that. I didn't count exactly, but I should be around 8,600 years old now, and I entered this world after my 4,000th birthday.'

'However, it feels like I have been here less than a century. It's like time didn't really pass for me.'

'This kind of reminds me of that time when I went to the middle world. The middle Heaven told me that I have been in the space between worlds for 200 years, which had also felt like nearly no time.'

Gravis looked at the sky. 'I wonder, is this how Jake feels? Barely any time passes for him, but for Yersi, over 10,000 years would have passed. One feels like they just went on a coffee break, while the other feels like they had been alone for all their life.'

Gravis sighed. 'I think it's better that Yersi decided to continue cultivating. At least then, she wouldn't have to spend her time alone. After all, she would also go into seclusion for a long time. That would also just feel like a coffee break to her.'

'Anyway, I should check my answers.'

Gravis took out his answer sheets and compared them to each other. While he had been with Arc, Gravis had created a new sheet of questions for himself.

After checking through the answer sheets, Gravis came to a surprising conclusion.

'My answers didn't degenerate into aggression nearly as much as the last time,' he thought as he scratched his chin.

'I guess I got used to comprehending Laws for this long. I think I can spend just as much time again without any big effects.'

Gravis scratched his head. 'Well, it makes sense, actually. If someone's resistance towards the changing of their mind didn't increase, no Immortal Emperor or Star God would stay in seclusion for longer than 2,000 years or so.'

Gravis crossed his arms as he tapped his foot in contemplation. 'Should I?' he thought.

Gravis continued thinking for around half a minute.

'I think I should,' Gravis thought. 'My goal is still freedom, not power. The thought of going on a break also doesn't feel as bad as last time. I think I can complete another set, but that's it. No more after that!'

"I swear to myself to take a break after the next set, no matter what!" Gravis said to himself.

'Just to be safe.'

This kind of oath no longer had a significant effect on Gravis anymore due to his Law of Freedom, but it had an effect on his lightning.

Gravis tried to ignore it for now, but he still felt guilt towards his lightning. So, even though this oath had no direct effect on Gravis, if Gravis broke it, his lightning would become extremely angry. At that point, Gravis guessed that he would feel too much guilt towards his lightning to break the oath.

This could be likened to outsourcing willpower and self-control. One put the responsibility to stop oneself on a different person or being.

Something like that wasn't something nice to do to the other person, but Gravis was sure that it was fine. After all, by keeping his oath, his lightning wouldn't become angry since Gravis acted according to lightning's temperament.

On top of that, it wasn't like his lightning was a neutral party here. It wanted to control his actions anyway. Letting it involve itself in Gravis' decision-making might actually count as a favor towards his lightning.

Additionally, it wasn't like his lightning had to do it for him. It was only the thought of disappointing someone dear that would push Gravis into taking a break.

Gravis nodded with a smile and teleported away.

Next stop, Brilliance!