Lightning Is The Only Way

The three of them talked about seemingly random things for the next couple of hours. By the end of it, Jake also wasn't sure anymore if this entire dynamic was one of Heaven's schemes or not. The possibility was there, but for Jake, this made no difference. He only needed to look at Yersi to know that everything else was not important. The only important thing was that he had met Yersi.

After their talk was over, Gravis went back to comprehending Core. His conscience regarding his lie had been cleared, and now, he had to deal with his lightning, and for that, he needed power. 

The Virtualization Array created more ore, and Gravis went back to comprehending. He was seemingly lost again, but not entirely. The problem with his lightning was always in the back of his head. 

After around another hundred years, Gravis understood all the materials he could see. Now, he concentrated on the metal essence going through all the different materials. This was the only thing he didn't understand yet.

Thanks to his understanding of all the different materials, Gravis made incredible progress with the metal essence. He found one connection after the other. Yet, there was still a ton to learn.

BOOOOM!

And after another 80 years, Gravis finally managed to comprehend Core.

Yet, Gravis also had to sigh. "680 years to understand Core, huh?" he muttered to himself. "This is even more than the clerk expected."

Gravis retrieved the Virtualization Array and looked around the ore. In comparison to other Virtualization Arrays, the created ore didn't just vanish. Gravis simply remained standing in this position, looking at the entire mountain as understanding filled his mind.

He knew how all of these ores worked, and he had also seen a lot of connections between the ores. He knew how the different Ores interacted with each other and what attributes were shared among each other. 

CRRR!

Gravis grabbed some of the ore and melted it down to create a weapon. He hadn't tried to melt more than one material at a time since this would encroach on the High-Tier Hard Complex Law, which was definitely out of his reach. 

Gravis simply played around with the different kinds of ore and mixed them together how he wanted. He only wanted to see what would happen. 

After some minutes, Gravis noticed that some ores could stick together and compress on their own. This surprised him quite a bit since compressing ores was normally only something one could do when they understood the corresponding Law, and Gravis was sure that he hadn't understood the High-Tier Hard Pure Law yet.

Because of this, Gravis looked at other fusions and was able to create some patterns. 

Some hours later, Gravis used only one ore and forged a weapon. 

Gravis looked at his newly created weapon as he scratched his chin. "Theoretically…" he said as he trailed off.

Then, he pushed them together in a very special manner as his Spirit moved individual particles around to certain places. He had noticed how these particles had aligned when he had mixed this ore with another one.

The weapon creaked as it was about to break apart again, making Gravis narrow his eyes. "Something's missing," he uttered. "It's like there is a wall that the metal has to breakthrough in order to stick together. When I push them together, it's like the metal is rejecting itself, but as soon as it is compressed to a certain degree, everything just automatically sticks together."

"Yet, the problem is that the metal will break apart due to the pressure before reaching that compression stage. This kind of reminds me of magnetism. Two magnets of the same charge reject each other, but if they fuse, they create one big magnet," Gravis commented.

Gravis summoned more of his lightning but used the Law of Magnetism with it. 

BANG!

Gravis' eyes widened when he saw that the ore immediately rammed into another piece after his magnetized lightning bolt passed between the two. Gravis' mind went into overdrive as he tried to understand this concept.

BANG BANG BANG!

Gravis moved his loaded lightning through certain pathways, making the different pieces of ore stick together in a certain way. Without an absolutely inhuman amount of control over lightning, this would have been impossible. 

After some minutes, Gravis looked at his finished saber, which had a compressed edge.

"Huh, is it actually magnetism?" Gravis asked.

BOOOOM!

Gravis' eyes widened again as he dropped the weapon. Had he just? Yes, he had!

Gravis had comprehended the High-Tier Hard Pure Material Law!

"Oh, I get it!" Gravis said as he slapped his thigh. "It actually is magnetism! By moving the ore in a specific way, I can use the force of the magnetism to make them attract to each other without repelling them. At least, that's how normal Cultivators would do this."

"In comparison, I can simply shoot my lightning through it to destroy the repelling forces!" Gravis said with a bright smile.

"No wonder it took me that long," he shouted as he laughed. "I was only supposed to learn the metal essence, not all the individual materials. Yet, I concentrated on the individual materials first before going for the metal essence."

Gravis scratched his chin. "But that does not completely make sense," he uttered. "I just comprehended a level four Law from a level three Virtualization Array. A business wouldn't make such a mistake. After all, they would lose a ton of money like that."

Gravis looked around again and checked out the ore. "The first Virtualization Array had the same materials as the second one. They probably only show around 50% of the different ores that exist in the higher worlds. Like this, people wouldn't be able to understand the High-Tier Hard Pure Material Law. 

Then, Gravis smirked. "Lucky for me, the last step to understanding the materials is overcoming the magnetic resistance. Others would probably need to see far more materials to find the correct path to fuse all of them, while I can just use my Law of Magnetism with my control over lightning."

"Who would have thought that my lightning would be so crucial to understanding my first real High-Tier Law," Gravis said as he chuckled a bit.

"Anyway, this concludes my Law Comprehension Session," Gravis said. "It's been 1530 years since I returned to the highest world, and I hadn't had a proper fight during that time. That's nearly the entire half of my life, and I should return soon."

"By now, I know exactly 86 Laws, and I'm a bit over 3800 years old. I think this is a good point to return to my actual cultivation journey. Even now, I am still weaker than the middle Heaven, but I can't rest easy and cultivate for such a long time while this issue with my lightning persists."

"All these different elemental Laws can't increase my offense, but they will help in my defense, but when I understand the High-Tier Pure Elemental Law, I will be able to wield them. On top of that, this Law would be able to boost the power of the elements by an entire level, allowing all my elements to unleash the power of level four Laws."

"Right now, I should still be able to fight four levels above me, but that is only considering if my opponent is average. As soon as I am engulfed in a world of humans again, I will see many more geniuses. Beasts all follow the same path, while the paths of humans are varied and result in great gulfs of power."

"In order to boost my Battle-Strength to another level, the fastest way would be to understand the High-Tier Pure Elemental Law, and that will probably take me several centuries, at least. On top of that, I would need to spend a ton of money, requiring me to work for several centuries more. I'm not willing to stay here for another millennium."

Gravis took a deep breath as he made his decision.

In just a couple of years, he would enter the higher world. His two goals in staying home had been achieved. Gravis had finally cemented this world as his home, and he had comprehended the different Elemental Laws. 

The only reason to remain here would be to spend even more time with his family, but that was not a necessity anymore. Yersi was happy, Orthar was gone, and no one else from his family would die in the next millennia. This was the perfect time to return.

SHING!

Gravis teleported away and reappeared in front of his father.

His father opened his eyes and looked at Gravis, and Gravis looked back.

"I'm done," Gravis said. "I'm ready to continue my journey in a couple of years."