As time passed, the Grand Elder started to understand the true extents of Gravis' masochism in regards to power. At some point, his body even started writhing, and he began shouting. The fact that such an act was quite humiliating was not nearly important as becoming more powerful.
The Grand Elder felt incredibly uncomfortable for several days until he finally started getting used to Gravis. As far as he saw, it seemed like Gravis was constantly wrestling with death. These shouts were not normal at all.
When Gravis started laughing maniacally due to his rapidly increasing willpower, the Grand Elder gave up trying to understand him. Such a lust for power was definitely not normal. What was the problem with just waiting a couple more years?
Yet, the Grand Elder also started asking himself if that was the reason why Gravis was progressing so rapidly. If Gravis weren't willing to go to such insane lengths for his power, would he even be able to fight an Emperor as a level four King? Maybe such craziness was necessary to become as powerful as him.
Several Elders visited the Empress in the following years, and they always threw uncomfortable glances at Gravis. Was Gravis being punished by the Grand Elder? They were lucky that they were on the Grand Elder's good side.
"More!" Gravis shouted, and the Grand Elder increased the intensity. In the beginning, Gravis had asked for an increase every couple of hours, but now he was only asking for an increase every couple of days. Apparently, it became harder and harder to increase his will as time passed.
It truly became more difficult for Gravis to increase his Will-Aura. When he had absorbed lightning back at the Punishment Lightning Law Comprehension Area, his progress had also slowed down the further he progressed.
Back then, he hadn't thought much about it, but this time he noticed it. The further his Will-Aura grew, the harder it was to increase. Gravis was also sure that this wasn't simply because of his Will-Auras growth but because of its growth in relation to his current Realm.
There surely were ways to increase someone's Will-Aura to incredible heights in the Body Tempering Realm in the highest world. Yet, Orpheus had told Gravis that very few people could increase their Will-Aura quickly.
So, Gravis guessed that there was an upper limit that a Will-Aura could have at every Realm. Right now, Gravis was a level four King while his Will-Aura was at the level of a level four Emperor. This was already a full Realm higher than his actual Realm.
Yet, Gravis could still see progress. As long as there still was progress, he could continue. So, the times between increases became longer and longer, but he continued.
After five years, Gravis had to withstand the same level for over a month before he could ask the Grand Elder to increase it again. After ten years, he had to withstand one level for several months.
Yet, Gravis still kept at it. Every second of every day, he felt incredible, soul-tearing pain, but Gravis accepted all the pain. This pain signified his Will-Aura becoming more powerful! This meant that this pain was good and that he needed to feel more pain.
"We have to go," the Empress suddenly transmitted to Gravis' Spirit.
Gravis' eyes widened in shock. "What? Already?" he asked.
The Grand Elder retrieved his hand, and for the first time in over 20 years, Gravis was without pain. After such a long time of feeling pain, it almost felt uncomfortable to not feel any pain anymore. To Gravis, not feeling such pain felt more uncomfortable than feeling pain.
Of course, Gravis knew that this was only a side-effect of being under such incredible pain for such a long time. His being had gotten used to feeling pain. Gravis knew that he only had to get used to not feeling pain, and everything would return to normal again.
Gravis stood up and dusted himself off. He had been writhing so long on the ground that even the Mountain of Pride was ground down some centimeters. Of course, no one would notice such a minor change.
"Have I truly been under so much pain for over 20 years? It didn't feel that long," Gravis said absentmindedly.
"That's because you were fully concentrating on only yourself and nothing else," the Grand Elder explained. "To me, it had felt like forever. It was quite boring, actually," he said with a chuckle.
"Sorry," Gravis said with embarrassment.
"It's what I should do," the Grand Elder said with a sigh. "I'm exhausted. Maybe I will take a nap for the first time in forever."
"That's what I've thought," the Empress commented from her throne. "That's why I stopped your training two weeks before we actually have to go. Get your mindset in order, Gravis."
Gravis closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Yes, maybe it's better this way." Then, he turned to the Grand Elder. "How much percentage of your power have I reached?"
"87%," the Grand Elder said. "As I'm seeing it currently, you would probably need another 20 years for the remaining 13%. Your Will-Aura should be powerful enough, and I would suggest learning more Laws next. The chances are rather high that I won't be able to help you anymore as soon as you become a level five King."
Gravis nodded. "I want to increase my Will-Aura more, but I also realize that this might not be the most efficient use of my time. I'm also quite sure that I'm close to the upper border of what's possible for my Realm. Right now, I expect that my Will-Aura is equivalent to a new level five Emperor. That's already more than a full Realm higher than my actual Realm."
"I presume there won't be any issues in your fight against the other Kings?" the Empress asked neutrally.
"No, everything should go over smoothly. Together with my Law of Suppression, I should have the ability to stop every level five King from moving, no matter how many Laws they have understood. It is absolutely impossible for any level five King to kill me," Gravis explained.
The Empress nodded. "Good," she said. "Also, you don't need to ask. Your children have had two fights with the enemy's defensive line in the last years, but all of them are still alive. They have also donated a lot of corpses, which gives them already many years of access to Law Comprehension Areas."
First, Gravis was a bit surprised that the Empress brought up their children before he asked, but it actually made sense as he thought about it. First of all, Gravis had always asked this question when he had met the Empress again.
Additionally, his three little kids were already powerful level five Kings. As Lords, the Empress didn't care about them, but as level five Kings, the three of them now counted to the Empire's strongest force, except for the Elders. The Empress had to know the status of her powerful assets.
"Thank you for informing me," Gravis said, making the Empress frown due to his unnecessary words. "I will relax for the next two weeks to ready myself for the battle. Only when I have a calm mindset will I be able to make full use of the opportunity to understand more Laws."
The Empress nodded. "Go," she said.
Gravis and the Grand Elder left the Mountain of Pride for the first time in over twenty years. Gravis went to a quiet forest at the Empire's edges to stabilize his mindset while the Grand Elder went to sleep due to all the strain he had been under. He couldn't even fathom how Gravis had been able to remain clearheaded after such a long time of pain. Was this the effect of a human's will?
After some days, Gravis' mindset had recovered, and for the last remaining days, he kept watching the CMO again. It had been a while since he had looked at it. With his new understanding of different Life Laws, many things that the CMO did made more sense now.
Gravis understood the general Life Laws even faster than before. Before he had understood so many Life Laws, he had only looked at a conglomerate of scattered information. Now, he could categorize a lot of information and concentrate on the things he didn't understand.
Yet, before Gravis could fully concentrate on the CMO, the Empress had called for him.
Time was up.
It was time to stomp some Kings.
