Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis had big plans for the next set of Laws. These next ones would substantially increase his Battle-Strength while not needing any extra Energy usage.

The first Battle-Law of the Element of Core that Gravis wanted to comprehend was the Law of Core Manipulation.

This Law would allow Gravis to manipulate metal and its associated matter with more ease. It sounded rather simple, but this was the Law that would combine all his other Core Laws.

As always, Gravis seemingly understood this Law in no time and went directly to the next Law Comprehension Area.

The next one was the first Law that would increase Gravis' power by a lot, the Law of Core's Sharpness.

This Law would allow Gravis to manipulate metal and its associated matter in such a way that the cutting edge of the metal would become that much sharper.

What made this Law so special?

Gravis didn't need to use this Law all the time.

Why not?

Because he could just use this Law on his weapon while forging to make it sharper. However, this required the Law of Core's Manipulation first. Fortunately, Gravis had just comprehended that one before this one.

Yes, the entire concept of the Battle Laws for Core that Gravis wanted to comprehend revolved around increasing the power of his equipment. Gravis wouldn't need to use any extra Energy while fighting since his equipment would have already been forged beforehand.

A lot of Battle Laws of the Core Element could be infused into the weapons. These Laws would make the weapons a lot more powerful, and if Gravis had known them in the highest world, he could have asked for several times more Immortal Stones for his weapons.

Weapons augmented with the Battle Laws for Core were the truly high-class weapons, except for World Weapons.

How many Forgers in the highest world knew these Laws?

The powerful Forgers all knew these Laws, but the Immortals didn't know them. There were even nearly no Immortal King Forgers that knew these Laws.

Why?

The reason was elemental affinity. The metal element was generally not considered as a good affinity for forging. After all, one wouldn't be able to smelt the ores themselves. One would need to use expensive equipment to smelt down the ore, and using that equipment was still very difficult.

Smelting ore with one's own element was far easier since one had direct control over the temperature. The Cultivator could feel how intense their flame, lightning, or whatever was based on their Energy and concentration consumption.

Using an external tool made this far more difficult, especially when one needed to continually adjust the temperature to not damage the ore. Because of that, people with metal affinity rarely became forgers, and from the few that attempted to become forgers, a majority would give up. It was just too hard to control these tools.

Because of that, these kinds of high-class weapons would only become common in the Immortal Emperor Realm. By then, many Forgers had already comprehended the Major Law of the Elements, which allowed them to also use the Core Element.

So, in short, these weapons were so expensive because someone had to know these Laws and the Major Law of the Elements. One could say that these weapons were only second to World Weapons, which required the comprehension of the Law of the Dead World.

Gravis quickly comprehended the Law. With this Law, his saber would become a lot sharper. Against humans, this wouldn't be very important since humans didn't have a strong defense, to begin with, but against beasts, this increase in sharpness would show a tremendous effect.

The third Law Gravis comprehended was the Law of Core's Hardness.

Just as the name implied, this Law increased the hardness and resilience of one's equipment. The compressed edges of the weapons already increased the hardness and durability of the weapons, but the Law of Core's Hardness would add an additional layer of protection.

This Law would finally solve a significant problem. With this Law, Gravis could finally block powerful attacks with his saber again without fear of them breaking. His fight against Samantha had been incredibly annoying since any one of her attacks directly broke Gravis' saber.

Against beasts, this Law wouldn't be so useful, but against humans, it was incredible. If Gravis didn't protect his weapons against a powerful enemy's attack, they might still break, but as long as he infused them with an element, it would be enough.

Speaking of, the fourth Law Gravis comprehended was the Law of Core's Infusion.

This Law allowed Gravis to infuse his weapons with many different kinds of elements. Before today, Gravis' saber had only been made to carry Punishment Lightning without an upper limit. He could infuse his saber with another element, but only to a certain degree. If he used too much on his saber, it would become damaged, which was why he had rarely done so.

For example, Gravis could now use the Law of Frost's Concentration with the Law of Core's Infusion to create the same technique that Samantha had used. This would allow Gravis' physical power to be added to the power of his attack, similar to a focus.

However, this was not the only element that Gravis could use this way.

He could use the Law of Inferno's Concentration the same way, creating a powerful fire saber. If Gravis didn't know the Law of Core's Infusion, his saber would quickly melt under the incredible heat.

The last Law Gravis comprehended was a peculiar one. It was peculiar even among all the other element-related Battle Laws.

It was called the Law of Core's Destruction.

What did it do?

Well, the metal element was the antithesis to the wood element. It was about as dead as something could get. This Law made use of this antithesis.

The Law of Core's Destruction allowed someone to increase this implicit attribute of death in metal. This gave the metal an additional, ethereal property that seemingly destroyed everything it touched.

Among mortals, there were legends of sword wielders that were so in tune with their swords that a mere gaze from them could cut a leaf in half. This Law worked similarly to these legends.

If one tried to make sense of these legends, one would say that these Cultivators were so in tune with their weapons that their being emulated the feelings and properties of a sword. A sword could cut things, and if one was one with their sword, shouldn't they also be able to cut things?

However, legends were legends. One couldn't just cut things by looking at them. One could probably use their Spirit to tear them apart, but just a look wouldn't be enough.

Yet, this Law would achieve something similar. If someone dropped a leaf on a weapon made with this Law, the leaf would be cut in half before it even touched the weapon. This was the imperceptible destructive aura of metal that represented the antithesis of life. It simply destroyed by existing.

So, what did this Law accomplish?

This Law increased Gravis' attacking power, and if the enemy's defense or weapon came into contact with this aura several times, it would eventually break.

Breaking a Weapon Cultivator's weapon was the same as killing them. After all, the Avatar would be destroyed by such an action.

Gravis was done with the Core Element, and from now on, all his weapons would be sharper, harder, could unleash this aura of destruction, and could be infused with all kinds of elements. Gravis' Battle-Strength had grown more powerful yet again, and this time, there were no disadvantages to his newfound advantages.

Gravis glanced at the timer and sighed.

'3,954 years,' Gravis thought. 'That's a long one, the longest one yet, in fact.'

'However, I'm nearly done. I'm only missing Graphite. After that, I don't need to look at any Law Comprehension Areas anymore. I can finally just go to some secluded mountain and comprehend some Primary Laws on my own. I wonder how many I should comprehend. All of them? There actually might not be enough time before I have to help Siral with his tribulation.'

'I still have around 21,500 years or so until Siral's tribulation arrives. So, I should probably stop in around 20,000 years since I need to increase my Will-Aura before the tribulation. Right now, my Will-Aura is only equal to my eventual opponent, which wouldn't be good.'

"Siral, contact me in exactly 20,000 years from now. You can do whatever you want until then," Gravis said to his Life Ring.

"Yes, Master," Siral answered.

Gravis deactivated the Life Ring again and teleported away.

Last stop: Graphite!