Gravis and Mortis absorbed a ridiculous amount of Immortal Stones in a couple of hours until they finally reached the Early Major Circulation Immortal King Realm.
"Congratulations, Master," Siral said with respect as he felt Gravis' power reach the same level as himself.
"Thanks, Siral," Gravis said without thinking about it. Thanking someone was just a habit that a normal human had.
Gravis had now long left the powers of the Sect Alliance behind. Even if Gravis had an incredibly weak Battle-Strength, just his Realm alone would allow him to eradicate the entire Sect Alliance.
Now, Gravis was on the power level of some actual bigshots in the High-Tier Sects, the ones that actually lived in the Core Region. Gravis' Realm was also already high enough that it probably allowed him to join a Peak Sect without any evaluation for his talent or Battle-Strength.
Major Circulation Immortal Kings were valuable soldiers in every kind of Sect, including Peak Sects.
However, Gravis didn't intend to join any Peak Sect.
Why would he?
There were five things that a Sect could offer a Cultivator.
First, a home.
Gravis didn't really see anything in this world as his home. Gravis had already gotten used to the insane speed at which time was progressing. In the middle world, Gravis had had a huge issue with the identity of his home, but not anymore.
Gravis had spent over a thousand years in the highest world, and Opposer City had been solidified as his home.
Because of that, Gravis didn't need a temporary home. Sure, it would be great to have a temporary one, but it wasn't that important anymore.
The second thing that a Sect could give a Cultivator was safety.
In a world where everyone vied for tempering and resources, having a stable home and being able to protect oneself with one's background was very useful. The outside world was scary and brutal, and one needed a break from time to time.
However, this wasn't important to Gravis.
Gravis' Battle-Strength was so powerful that only Immortal Emperors could kill him.
Yet, what Immortal Emperor would be interested in an Early Major Circulation Immortal King?
How many of those were even walking around?
All of these Immortal Emperors were busy with protecting and managing their own powers. They couldn't just run around and hunt for some Immortal Kings.
So, Gravis also didn't need the safety aspect that Sects could grant Cultivators.
The third thing that a Sect could give a Cultivator was resources.
Sects offered all kinds of missions, requests, and opportunities that gave members of the Sect a ton of resources.
Gravis also needed resources desperately, but joining a Sect wouldn't be optimal if he wanted to truly concentrate on Cultivation.
A lot of these missions required a long time to complete and work. Maybe Gravis would need to work for over a thousand years to get enough Immortal Stones to reach the next level. In that time, Gravis could concentrate on his Laws.
Why spend so much time gathering resources?
Gravis' grand plan would give him all the resources he needed.
The fourth thing a Sect could give a Cultivator was Laws.
This was the big hitter. This reason was probably 70% of the reason why anyone would join a Sect.
Laws were everything, and all the powerful Sects only allowed their own disciples to comprehend Laws in their Law Comprehension Areas. Although, someone outside the Sect could probably also comprehend the Laws as long as they were willing to spend a huge sum of money.
As a human, it was unavoidable to join a Sect if someone wanted to comprehend the good Laws.
However, Gravis wasn't bound by this.
If Gravis wanted to comprehend some Laws, he could simply go to the beast territory. Gravis was certain that he could purchase time to comprehend Laws just by joining a quick but dangerous battle. This wouldn't take nearly as much time as working for a Sect.
The last thing that Sects could give a Cultivator was techniques.
Weapon Techniques were powerful, and all of them were owned by Sects.
However, Gravis wasn't interested in any of these techniques.
His Laws were abnormal, and he didn't even have Energy. He only had this weird new form of lightning.
Gravis would create his own Weapon Techniques.
So, in short, Gravis had no reason to join any Sect.
Instead, he would do something different, but that was something for the future.
'First, I should talk to Arc and check if I can finally cultivate Weapon Techniques,' Gravis thought.
"What are you waiting for?" Mortis asked coldly.
"Yes, yes, don't be impatient," Gravis said as he took out Arc's emblem.
"Siral, we will be gone for a couple of years, but not many. You can do whatever you want during that time," Gravis said.
"Yes, Master," Siral said.
Then, he teleported away.
When Siral was gone, Mortis turned into lightning and shot into Gravis' body.
Gravis could absorb lightning, and Mortis was lightning. Therefore, Gravis could absorb Mortis.
However, Mortis was still in control of himself as long as Gravis didn't eradicate the will on his Avatar. Of course, Gravis wouldn't do something like that.
CRACK!
Gravis broke Arc's emblem and quickly arrived at Arc's clearing.
Gravis opened his eyes and saw Arc just casually sitting near the lake. For once, Arc wasn't playing one of his jokes on him.
BZZZ!
Mortis left Gravis' body and also looked at Arc. Mortis always had a cold look on his face, but Gravis noticed that Mortis respected and liked Arc.
Arc had helped Gravis multiple times, and the fairness-driven Mortis appreciated something like that.
"Have we met before or not?" Arc asked Mortis with a smile. "What do you think?"
"No," Mortis said. "I have only existed for a couple of hours, so we haven't met. The memories I have inherited are not my own."
"Did you want to meet me?" Arc asked.
Mortis furrowed his brows. He wasn't sure why Arc was asking that.
"Yes," Mortis said.
"Why?" Arc asked.
"Because I owe a debt to you," Mortis said.
"But we haven't met before," Arc said.
Mortis narrowed his eyes as his mind began racing.
Was he indebted to Arc?
Obviously!
Arc had helped Gravis immensely, and if he hadn't helped Gravis comprehend the Law of Safety, Gravis wouldn't have comprehended the Law of Perceived Reality that early, and without that Law, Mortis wouldn't exist.
"You are a contributor to my existence," Mortis said.
"Would you also feel indebted to the abusive ex-lover of your mother because his actions drove her to flee to a different place where she met your father? Hypothetically speaking," Arc said with a smirk.
"No," Mortis said. "The intent behind their action is different."
"And what was my intent?" Arc asked.
Mortis didn't answer immediately.
Instead, his brows furrowed as he scratched his chin.
"Because you wanted to," he said.
"Exactly," Arc said. "You are putting a lot of emphasis on the action someone has taken when thinking about a debt. You believe that the actions are more important than the intent behind them."
"However, when I asked you about the hypothetical, you said that the intention was different."
"Yet, now, I also said that I had no intention to create you. It was simply something I wanted to do, and Gravis was the one that created you."
"In short, I never had any intention to help you, and I only helped Gravis with something that had nothing to do with you. So, why feel indebted to me? We never met before, after all," Arc said with a smile.
Mortis didn't react as he continued scratching his chin, looking down at the ground with intense concentration.
It didn't look like it, but Mortis had a major conflict of ideology in his mind right now.
He felt incredibly indebted to Arc, but Arc's arguments were solid and logical. He couldn't really argue against them.
Sure, Mortis could say that he would feel indebted regardless. After all, without Arc, Mortis wouldn't exist.
However, if Mortis considered such an action a debt, wouldn't he be in debt to way too many people?
All the people who helped Gravis along his journey had indirectly contributed to Mortis' creation.
Was Mortis supposed to feel indebted to every single one of them?
That felt idiotic.
Arc hadn't contributed much more than anyone else in Gravis' life to Mortis' creation, but Mortis felt indebted to him.
However, Mortis' fairness-focused mindset told him that if he were indebted to Arc, he would also be indebted to a ton of other people.
This created a huge clash in his mind right now.
Suddenly, a cold light appeared in Mortis' eyes.
SHING!
"Ah, fuck!" Gravis shouted as he jumped back.
Mortis had just cut off Gravis' left leg.
"Chill out, dude!" Gravis shouted with annoyance. "I only wanted to kick you to the side as a joke! You looked so troubled that I thought a practical joke would lighten the mood! You didn't have to cut my fucking leg off, you fucking asshole!"
Mortis looked at Gravis with cold eyes. "Don't try to play pranks on me. I am always on my guard, even when everything appears safe. I would suggest searching for an easier target. I'm not as relaxed as you, who constantly lets down his guard when he feels like he's safe."
Arc broke into laughter as he watched Gravis fail to pull a prank on Mortis.
Mortis put his saber away again as he looked at Gravis with an even look. Everyone else would think that Mortis was angry at Gravis, but those who had known Gravis in the lower world closely would realize that Mortis had actually relaxed a lot.
"It doesn't matter if you failed or not," Mortis said slowly. "Your action has helped me to regain some clarity. So, thank you for that, and sorry for cutting off your leg, Gravis."
Gravis had already healed his leg.
He didn't get his satisfaction of seeing Mortis fall to the ground, but he had helped Mortis.
That was something, right?
"First, you cut off my leg, and then you say thanks," Gravis said without amusement.
"Was I really such a psycho back then?"
