Gravis got another 200 years added to his Virtualization Array since he was sure that he wasn't close to comprehending it. The clerk wanted to have some small talk, but Gravis blocked it and left quickly.
Gravis felt guilty.
When was the last time Gravis had lied? That had probably been before his mind had become attuned to lightning. Lying after such a long time felt like a betrayal to Gravis, even if he lied for a good reason.
Gravis entered his room again but didn't put the Virtualization Array in it immediately. Instead, he only stood in the empty room, staring blankly into space as he was lost in thought.
Gravis wasn't sure what he should feel since this was a complex situation. He wasn't even sure what he was actually thinking about. It was more like processing emotions and trying to make sense of what he was feeling.
After around ten minutes, Gravis sighed. "I'm overcomplicating things," he said to himself. "When I can't make sense of this situation, it's most likely not as complex as I think."
Gravis made his decision and left his room.
SHING!
Gravis appeared in front of Jake and Yersi again, who were still not certain what they should do.
"Listen, I think I've handled the situation incorrectly," Gravis said slowly.
Jake was positively surprised that Gravis returned this quickly. Immortals often took months or even years to think about their decisions, but Gravis returned after only a couple of minutes.
"You don't need to apologize, father," Yersi said. "I know that you have not been truthful, but I can also understand you. You didn't want to worry me and betrayed your own principles so that I can feel better."
Gravis sighed again. Hearing his daughter's words only made him feel even more guilty. "I know, but that was wrong of me," he said as he came closer. "I was treating you like a child, not like an adult. You are over 2,000 years old, and I'm sure that you can handle and understand these kinds of problems."
"I've already said that you don't have to apologize," Yersi said with a quiet voice. "You have done nothing wrong. Most people would lie to protect their loved ones, and I don't think that there is anything wrong with that."
Yersi looked at Jake. "After getting to know Jake, I know how much we want to protect the ones we love, even if it hurts us. In my opinion, you not being entirely honest to protect me only shows that you care about me."
Gravis went closer and held his daughter close to him. What had he done to deserve such a wonderful daughter? She was so compassionate and understanding of his problems, even though these were problems that shouldn't involve her. As a parent, it was Gravis' responsibility to deal with all these problems.
A minute of closeness passed.
Yersi felt her father's feelings, and she also felt happy that Gravis had been her father. Gravis' life had not been easy, and she knew that he had to deal with a lot of problems. Yet, even with all these problems, he still found the time to protect her. Gravis had also never belittled her problems in the past.
Well, except for that one time when her two siblings thought that Yersi was going through hell under the Tornado Emperor, but that truly wasn't anything major. This couldn't be used as an example.
Gravis slowly stepped away from Yersi and looked at Jake. "Jake, I think it's time that I tell you more about my life. You have been together with Yersi for a long time and have treated her honestly. You deserve at least this amount of respect from me."
Jake was not an arrogant and unreasonable person. In his opinion, he also didn't fault Gravis one bit for his lie. After all, Jake also had often said that not cultivating was not a big deal for him to make it easier for Yersi, when in fact, it was a huge deal to him.
"I'm fine with hearing it, Gravis," he said.
The three of them sat down on the shore and looked at the gigantic lake as Gravis started to tell his story.
Yersi had told some things about Gravis' past to Jake, but not much. After all, it was her father's decision if he wanted to share his past or not.
The first thing that Gravis said to Jake was the fact that he had zero Karmic Luck. In the past, telling someone about Karmic Luck had been a no-go, but that was because of the individual Heavens. The individual Heavens controlled Karmic Luck, and the lower Heaven didn't want anyone to know anything about it that it didn't want them to know.
In the middle world, Karmic Luck had become irrelevant since no one had Karmic Luck.
And in the highest world, every powerful Cultivator knew about Karmic Luck. At some point in their journey, they would be able to unravel the mystery of luck. Because of that, the highest Heaven saw no point in trying to keep it secret.
Jake had already heard that all of the Opposer's children had this trait. This was nothing new to him.
But when he heard about the actual effects of Karmic Luck and what the lower Heaven had done, the reality set in for him. Thinking that having worse luck than everyone else didn't sound bad. After all, you only had to be more powerful than everyone else. Then, luck didn't matter anymore, right?
That might be true to an extent, but Gravis' "bad luck" in the lower world was not entirely due to his lack of Karmic Luck. The bulk of his problems came from the lower Heaven constantly trying to kill him or stop him from becoming more powerful.
The first huge shock came to Jake when he heard how Gravis had adapted his Spirit to Destruction Lightning. Sure, with Jake's current Will-Aura, he wouldn't have any issues dealing with the pain, but to deal with such pain as someone in the Energy Gathering Realm was simply insane. On top of that, this made no sense in regards to any Laws he knew.
Jake knew a ton of Laws due to his Realm and due to his job. One could say that his comprehension of Laws was outstanding, even among Peak Immortal Emperors. Yet, in his mind, it was absolutely impossible to fuse something as destructive as Destruction Lightning with something as fragile as a Spirit.
The next shock came when Gravis said how he had killed the lower Heaven. Jake had never heard about anyone having killed any kind of Heaven before. He hadn't even known that this was possible.
To the Cultivators in the highest world, Heaven was only a concept, a kind of amalgamation of rules. There seemingly was no intent behind Heaven as it only enforced rules. Almost everyone believed that Heaven wasn't even sentient, but just the Laws themselves.
When the Opposer revolted, they all felt like he was trying to destroy the world with Heaven always stopping it. To them, it felt like someone was attacking an immovable wall, the debris killing a ton of bystanders. Why would you attack such a passive wall? Because of that, the Opposer was universally hated by everyone, but of course, no one dared to show that hatred.
Yet, the more Jake listened to Gravis, the more he could see a personality in Heaven. The fact that Heaven could become angry when someone didn't break the rules was the perfect example.
Something without a personality wouldn't get angry because of some words, but Gravis managed to enrage the lower Heaven with his words and even managed to enrage the middle Heaven with his words. Getting angry at provocations was what living beings did, not dead things.
Jake felt more nervous as he listened to more of Gravis' story. It was like he had lived in a village on top of a mountain for his entire life, not knowing that the mountain was actually a gigantic, living beast that listened in on everything.
And right now, Jake felt like another village kid was insulting this beast by simply unveiling what it had done in the past.
Gravis noticed that Jake became more nervous and quickly reassured him. Heaven didn't care. It was a believer of true power, and even if Jake ever became a Heaven's Magnate, Heaven still wouldn't care. After all, everyone was under Heaven's control.
Jake managed to calm down somewhat, but it still felt scary when someone spoke unpleasant things about something much more powerful. This felt no different than if someone insulted the Opposer in front of Jake. This was just unnecessarily putting their life at risk.
The nail in the coffin was Gravis' showdown with the middle Heaven. The fact that it didn't immediately kill Gravis and that they talked quite a bit showed the cunning and planning nature of Heaven. This was not a mere concept but an actual living being.
"And that is why I still believe that this is one of Heaven's schemes," Gravis said. "My most important friends are all still alive while my less important friends died. What's the chance that the four closest friends I made in the lower world would all reach the higher worlds? This chance is probably one in a trillion. It's insanely unlikely."
"That is also why I believe that Manuel will also continue cultivating in the future. Heaven won't allow for his longevity to run out. I don't know if it truly wants to repay me or if it wants to use everyone as a backup plan. It might even be both," Gravis said.
"Heaven is achieving its goal and is changing and running part of my life without me being able to change it myself. Yet, at the same time, it's doing it in a way that is only a net positive. It's like someone coming over and shoving huge amounts of God Stones into your Spirit Space without you being able to stop them."
"Should I become angry with that? I mean, it's a net positive, so I shouldn't become angry. Yet, it also feels like I'm losing control over my freedom. This is an insanely effective method of suppression."
Gravis looked over at Yersi. "I know that you don't want to continue cultivating, and I would really prefer if you didn't. Simply live your life however you want. Live life however you feel like it."
Gravis sighed. "At least, that's what I would want to say," he said. "Yet, even if you followed these words perfectly and did exactly that, in the end, you would most likely still return to cultivation. Heaven's methods are soft beyond belief, and I've already noticed a pattern."
"Heaven never forces you to do something, but it changes your environment and perception until you see and believe that the path it wants you to choose is the best one. It will grant you nearly everything you want but will leave exactly one path open to make your life even better, and this last path is the path that Heaven wants you to tread."
"In the end, you will decide to follow Heaven's path out of your own free will, and you will feel happy while doing so. That's why I'm so frustrated," Gravis said.
"Because no matter what I do, it feels like I will still follow down its path."
