Lightning Is the Only Way

"Are you saying that I'm weak?" Joyce asked with a cold voice.

"No, your Battle-Strength is pretty high," Gravis said. "However, as a person, you are in denial about several things."

"Denial!? What? Because I'm not as weak-willed as you?" Joyce asked with disdain.

Gravis looked into Joyce's eyes, and Joyce felt like Gravis could see through her.

"Joyce, I know the Law of Sentience," Gravis said with a calm tone. "I can see your personality and everything that makes you, you. I know your personality better than you know it yourself."

Joyce gritted her teeth.

"Joyce, you are not as cold as you believe yourself to be. In actuality, you are very similar to the me of the lower world. My influence and actions might have thrown you into emotional turmoil, but at some point, you have to look at yourself and ask yourself if your actions truly reflect yourself."

"You emulated my personality from the lower world. You saw my power, and it influenced you."

"However, you must remember that you emulated the mindset of a 19-year-old."

"I was a child back then," Gravis finished. "My past mindset is not the best mindset for the path to power."

Gravis' words shook Joyce's insides, but she quickly suppressed the negative feelings that welled up inside her.

Then, Joyce only snorted in disdain. "You're projecting your own weak mindset on me. You are afraid of committing actions you might regret in the future. Yet, on the path to power, It's sometimes necessary to do things we don't want."

"Is it?" Gravis asked. "Then, if your mindset is the right one, how come that several people in the Myriad Sect are more powerful than you?"

Joyce's anger exploded.

This was Joyce's biggest conflict.

She thought that all her emotionless actions in the past were the reason why she had managed to become so powerful. After all, she had done so many things she didn't want in order to further her own power.

Joyce didn't accept it, but she was basically in an emotional version of the sunk-cost fallacy.

What was the sunk-cost fallacy?

A good example would be a gambler. A gambler that lost a lot of money on bets was less likely to stop exactly due to that.

Why?

Because they had invested so much already that stopping now would mean that all their previous losses were for nothing.

They had invested so much already! If they stopped now, what had been the point of investing so much!?

Joyce had been a very empathetic human, but to follow in Gravis' footsteps, she changed her mindset into a cruel one. She would kill people that had treasures on them, even if they had never angered her, for example.

Joyce believed that she had to do these things to become powerful.

Yet, deep inside, she abhorred these actions.

She didn't want to be this cruel.

This was Joyce's biggest problem.

She had already done so many things she regretted that she couldn't accept that all her past, emotional sacrifices were basically meaningless.

"I can only give you a single piece of advice," Gravis said.

Joyce narrowed her eyes.

"If you are ever at a crossroads, talk to someone you trust," Gravis said. "Back then, Manuel opened my eyes to my own issues, but I probably wouldn't have been able to confront it alone."

"I cried my eyes out in my mother's arms. Others might believe that this is embarrassing and shameful. However, it has helped me in the end."

"Don't try to do this alone!"

Joyce's anger reached new heights.

SHING!

However, she teleported away before she did or said something she regretted.

In Joyce's past, she had often lost her control, and she had even killed people of her Sect in anger.

Eventually, Manuel and Dorian gave Joyce an ultimatum.

"When you are feeling like you're losing control, leave and go somewhere else! If you ever kill or hurt someone of our Sect in unjustified anger again, our journey together will end!"

These had been Manuel's words back then.

Joyce knew Manuel, and she knew that Manuel wasn't making empty threats.

Ever since that day, Joyce hadn't killed anyone of their own Sect again. At least not without justified reason.

This was why Joyce had teleported away just now.

After Joyce left, the atmosphere turned awkward.

"Anyway, Ferris, you want to be first?" Gravis asked with a smile.

The awkwardness in the atmosphere lessened with Gravis' words.

"Yes, please!" Ferris shouted.

Gravis nodded and took out his saber.

Then, he put Ferris under Samsara without another word.

Giving an introduction on how to survive Samsara would be useless to Ferris. It was better to directly send him into Samsara.

Gravis quickly lost himself in Samsara again as he entered a sleep-like state.

Meanwhile, Ferris was looking with interest at his life.

Wow, he could look at his life again!

This was awesome!

This was how the entirety of Samsara went.

Ferris watched himself with interest and even cheered for himself.

Past Ferris was a good Ferris!

Present Ferris was a good Ferris!

Future Ferris would be a good Ferris!

Ferris was good!

These were Ferris' thoughts as he went through Samsara.

Then, Ferris opened his eyes suddenly. He looked around the room with confusion.

"It already ended?" Ferris asked. "But it was just getting interesting!" Ferris complained.

Gravis chuckled. "But how can you know that it will get interesting when these things haven't happened yet?" he asked.

"Because everything's interesting!" Ferris said with a solemn nod.

Gravis chuckled.

Ferris really was special.

"So, did you manage to comprehend any Laws?" Gravis asked.

Ferris nodded several times. "Yes, two!"

Time seemed to warp around Ferris. "Look, the Major Law of Time!"

Gravis nodded.

"And look-"

"Stop!" Gravis interrupted Ferris.

Ferris froze as he looked at Gravis in confusion.

"Please keep the second Law a secret. It's better to not know about the existence of this Law," Gravis said.

"Oh, okay. If you say so," Ferris said, disappointed. He wanted to show off to his friends.

What Law had Ferris comprehended?

The level six Law of Freedom!

Was it surprising?

No.

Ferris had already lived in true freedom without knowing about freedom.

In essence, Ferris' personality was perfectly suited for the Law of Freedom, even more so than Gravis' personality.

'Sadly, he probably won't ever comprehend the Law of Suppression or Control,' Gravis thought. 'Ferris' mind is too simple for these two Laws.'

The others looked at how easy it had been for Ferris to get through Samsara.

Maybe it wasn't so bad.

After Ferris had gone through his Samsara, Gravis told everyone about how to survive Samsara.

It took a couple of hours to tell everyone about the concept.

After Gravis was done, he asked for volunteers.

"I think, as the Sect Master, it's my duty to step up first," Manuel said with a smile.

"Hey, I was first!" Ferris shouted.

"You don't count," Manuel said with an awkward smile.

"I don't?" Ferris asked in confusion. "Okay."

Gravis nodded at Manuel and activated Samsara.

Surprisingly, Manuel deliberately went against Gravis' advice.

Manuel didn't tell himself that he was in Samsara.

In actuality, Manuel gave his best to convince himself that everything was real.

Manuel hadn't told Gravis that he would do this, and Gravis couldn't feel Manuel during Samsara.

Without anyone knowing, Manuel had decided to discard his old personality and assume a completely new one, made up of his past life.

Essentially, this meant that the old Manuel died, and a new one was created.

When Samsara ended, Manuel opened his eyes.

And then, he smiled peacefully.

The old Manuel had died.

Yet, the new Manuel was nearly the same as the old Manuel.

Manuel had essentially reforged his own personality into a better version of himself.

When Gravis saw Manuel, his eyes widened in shock.

For a while, Gravis couldn't believe what he was seeing.

However, one thought was clear in Gravis' mind.

'If Manuel doesn't die early, he will most likely become a Heaven's Magnate!'

What had happened?

Well, Manuel had completely opened himself to his past.

He had gotten emotionally invested in everything, and it was like he had relived his entire life.

Manuel had allowed for all the things to change him, and with that came an emotional equilibrium.

And the level seven Law of Emotions!

Now, Manuel had the level seven Law of Emotions and four of the five Laws of Perceived Reality.

He was only missing the Law of Freedom.

However, the Law of Freedom was also the hardest to comprehend.

Maybe, eventually, he would manage it, but right now, it was unknown when he would comprehend it.

Yet, one thing was for certain.

Manuel was absolutely terrifying!