Lightning Is The Only Way

Gravis' mind started racing as it went through a ton of eventualities. 

They were connected? How would that even be possible?

The first person that appeared in Gravis' mind was his childhood friend Stella since they had the same name. This would also coincide with the time Arc had mentioned.

However, even if Gravis gave this Stella the maximum amount of time possible, it wouldn't fit. Assuming that Stella was an Ascender, which she wasn't, it would only add 10,000 years to her potential life. Together with the time Gravis had stayed in the highest world, barely 30,000 years could have passed for this Stella. 

Yet, Stella was 100,000 years old. That still left 70,000 years unaccounted for. So, when his childhood friend Stella had been created, this Stella had to have been at least 70,000 years old. 

Even if this Stella had been under accelerated time, it wouldn't work. Stella's teacher hadn't known a level six Law, which meant that she couldn't have known the Major Law of Time. So, even if Stella constantly had her time accelerated by two times, it would still leave nearly 50,000 years unaccounted for.

By all intents and purposes, it was impossible for this Stella to be connected to his childhood friend. 

So, what did Arc mean?

"Arc, what do you mean?" Gravis asked with furrowed brows. "How could there be a connection between us?"

"I'm referring to your childhood friend, who was also named Stella," Arc said with a smile.

"I thought so, but the times simply don't fit together," Gravis said. "Even if I am very generous with the time, only 30,000 years would have passed for this Stella when my childhood friend had been created. She couldn't have been created after my childhood friend's creation."

"Additionally, the highest Heaven had no idea how powerful I would become in the future. I doubt that it would have immediately created this Stella after that," Gravis explained.

Arc only continued smiling as he drew another line in the dirt. "You're right. It's impossible for this Stella to have been created after your childhood friend."

"However, these two people are still connected," Arc said.

Gravis was going through all possible ways to fit the two together, but it just didn't fit. 

Arc saw that Gravis still didn't get it. "If the times don't match up, it means that this Stella has existed before your childhood friend. So, how do they fit together?" Arc asked, giving Gravis a hint.

Gravis fell into thought again, but he still couldn't create a connection between them. Stella had been in this world for her entire life and had never left. This meant that they couldn't have met. They also couldn't be related since his childhood friend had never left the highest world. Additionally, she had only been a young girl.

Arc chuckled a bit. "It's actually funny and ironic that you can't find the solution. After all, you went through something very similar in your past."

'Very similar?' Gravis thought as he thought back to his entire life. Two people that were connected while having different ages and coming from different worlds. 

Arc waited for Gravis to think, but even after some minutes, Gravis didn't find the answer. So, Arc decided to give Gravis another hint. "How many times have you switched bodies, Gravis?" he asked.

Gravis was a bit surprised by the seemingly irrelevant action. "One- No!"

And then, Gravis found the answer. 

How many times had Gravis switched bodies?

If one didn't think about this question a lot, one would say one time, which was when he had entered the middle world. 

When Gravis had adapted his Spirit to lightning, he didn't really switch bodies. His body had only been changed by it.

Yet, when one thought very carefully about the question, one would find that Gravis had switched bodies twice.

Once was when he entered the middle world.

And once was in the Heaven's Trial!

The highest Heaven had created a perfect copy of Gravis, and they had fused with each other. Their Spirits and lightning had fused while the new Spirit simply chose one of the two bodies. His father had told Gravis that he was inside the body of his copy. Therefore, Gravis had switched bodies twice, not once.

A copy!

The copied Gravis had a different age from the real Gravis since he had just been created!

The copied Gravis was created in the lower world while the original one came from the highest world!

It fit together!

Gravis took a shaky breath. "My childhood friend was a copy of Stella," Gravis said.

"Correct," Arc said with a smile.

"Why?" Gravis asked.

"Because your mindsets fit perfectly together, Gravis," Arc said.

"I know," Gravis said with furrowed brows. "After all, that was the goal of the highest Heaven back then. However, my question is why there was an original, to begin with."

Arc lightly shook his head. "How many people exist in all the worlds, Gravis?"

"No idea," Gravis immediately answered. "The number is so astronomically big that it could as well be seen as infinite."

Arc nodded. "And among a nearly infinite number of people, there are bound to be at least two that fit perfectly together, right?"

Gravis furrowed his brows again. "I guess so," he said.

"Why create something completely new out of nothing when you already have every possible mindset and personality to choose from?" Arc asked. "My creator simply searched for a fitting and talented person. If the person wasn't talented enough, they wouldn't be able to absorb my creator's Energy quickly enough."

"A Shooting Star, as your father calls it, is someone whose Life Energy starts burning out incredibly fast. If they can't absorb Energy with ridiculous speeds, their consumption of longevity can't keep up with the added longevity by reaching a new Realm."

"If that person weren't talented enough, they would burn out before even reaching four years of age. Then, what would be the point of introducing them to you? You wouldn't even remember them."

"So, my creator searched for every person that perfectly fits you and took the most talented one out of the bunch," Arc said and then smirked. "And where do you find the most talented Cultivators? In the most powerful higher world, of course. The highest world may have stronger peak geniuses, but the average talent of my world is far higher than the average talent of the highest world."

Gravis absorbed all of Arc's words like a sponge. However, his mind was somewhere else.

'So, my childhood friend had always been a copy of someone else,' Gravis thought. 'However, that doesn't invalidate her existence. After all, she was still a human with feelings and a Spirit. Calling her a copy would be demeaning her existence. It would be better to call her an identical twin since she was as much a human as the original.'

Gravis sighed. "What are the chances of meeting this person amongst so many worlds and so many people?" Gravis asked himself more than Arc.

"That's why I said your luck was transcendental," Arc said with a smile. "That luck would be so good that no one would believe it. Honestly, even I doubt that it was only luck. It's just too coincidental."

Gravis' eyes narrowed. "The highest Heaven?" he asked Arc.

Arc nodded. "Possible," he said. "I might be the strongest amongst all Heavens except for my creator, but I'm not the only one that knows the Law of the True World. Why I'm the most powerful also doesn't have anything to do with my fighting style or anything."

"So, when we inevitably fight, I wouldn't be any more powerful than any other Heaven that knows the Law of the True World since our Laws and Realms would be equalized."

"Yet, you still ended up in my world. Additionally, I'm by far the most unruly of my creator's creations. If he wanted to kill you, he could have sent you to any other world. There are enough Heavens that fanatically worship my creator like the one you had met in your middle world. Your chances of dying would be far higher in such a world than this one."

"So, I think that my creator sent you here specifically to meet Stella. If it is out of an altruistic motive or because of a scheme, I don't know. I only know that this is probably the reason why you came to this world."

'The highest Heaven,' Gravis thought. 'I have buried my enmity with the highest Heaven, but I still don't like it. It has helped me innumerable times, but it also keeps involving itself in my shit. It really is never simple when it involves the highest Heaven.'

However, Arc said something else that interested Gravis.

"How did you actually become the strongest Heaven?" Gravis asked.

Arc smiled. "Guessing," he said as he drew another line in the dirt. 

"Guessing?" Gravis asked.

Arc nodded. "I'm stuck in this world and have been for over 45 billion years. That's a lot of time, you know," Arc said with a chuckle. "So, when I'm bored, I'm simply guessing."

"Guessing what?" Gravis asked.

"The Laws of the highest world," Arc said.

Gravis was taken aback when he heard that. "But you can't see the Laws of the highest world."

"Pfft," Arc sputtered with a slight laugh. "That's why it's called guessing."

Gravis almost couldn't comprehend what Arc was saying. One Law had so many different interactions and functions that it was basically infinite. Without seeing the Law, it was impossible to comprehend it. 

Arc was guessing the Laws of the highest world? He was just randomly going through functions and connections?

"Did you have any success?" Gravis asked.

"I've learned some Laws," Arc said with a smile. 

Some… not one. 

This was why Arc was the most powerful higher Heaven.

He wasn't the most powerful because of his battle style, but because he knew Laws that weren't part of the higher worlds.

Gravis found that thought frightening.