Lightning Is The Only Way

"Right here, right now," the Empress said directly without any emotion.

Gravis took a deep breath through his teeth. "Right here? In front of the Grand Elder?" Gravis asked as he looked at the Grand Elder.

The Empress looked a bit confused at Gravis. "Yes. Is there an issue with that?"

Gravis was a bit taken aback when he heard the Empress. Even though he had lived here for many years, he still felt like he had received a culture shock just now. "I mean, having sex is something intimate, in my opinion," Gravis said carefully as he tried to convey his standpoint.

"Oh!" the Empress said as she chuckled a bit. "You think we're going to have sex? No, we won't," she said.

Gravis blinked a couple of times. "Then, how are we supposed to create a child?" he asked.

Whoop!

Three small, almost translucent balls floated over to Gravis from behind the Empress. "These are three of my unfertilized eggs. Your seed simply needs to enter them. That's all," she said.

"Huh," Gravis uttered as he looked at them. "I hadn't thought that this was possible."

"What? You think every Lord and stronger mates like a mere animal? Please," the Empress said with disdain.

Gravis had a couple of objections to that, but he kept them to himself. "Well, okay. I think this makes things much easier," he said.

Whoop!

Three tiny seeds left Gravis' body as they floated into the eggs. With Gravis' Spirit, it was no issue for him to find the three best ones inside his body. He simply used his Spirit to make them leave his body.  As soon as they entered, the Empress nodded and retrieved the eggs.

Some seconds passed in silence.

"So, that was it, huh?" Gravis commented.

"Yes, did you expect something more?" she asked with boredom.

Gravis had a complicated expression on his face. "Kind of, but also not. Don't get this the wrong way, but I think this method is better. So, what will happen now?" he asked.

"It takes around seven years for a Divine Beast to be born. During this time, I will leave the eggs out here. You should realize that with my power, something as weak as the weather won't affect their growth. I will keep watch over them in an effort to understand more about the Law of Life. If you want, you can also check on them," the Empress explained.

"With this, you also have earned the status as a breeder. This status will only hold until the time when you become a King. After that, you can decide how you want to live your life."

Gravis scratched the back of his head in discomfort. This whole situation felt a bit surreal to him. He had always imagined that having a child was something very emotional and intimate. Apparently, this hadn't proven true. Right now, Gravis didn't feel any different than before.

"I'm guessing that I need to wait until they have left their eggs to become a King?" Gravis asked.

"Yes," the Empress answered. "This will take around seven years. Do whatever you want during that time. By unveiling a spy hidden among my Elders, you have gained more privileges. You can enter any Law Comprehension Area until you become a King."

Gravis remembered that snake he had met in the Law Comprehension Area for Punishment Lightning. It felt like it had been just yesterday, but at the same time, it also felt like it had been forever ago.

Gravis thought about what he should do with this new privilege, but he wasn't sure. He could watch his own lightning as long as he wanted. Additionally, he still had the CMO inside his Life Ring. Were there any other Laws that he could try to comprehend?

After a while, Gravis shook his head. "Would it be okay to access these privileges at a later time? Right now, I already have two directions for understanding more Laws."

The Empress nodded. "Sure. When you decide to make use of your privileges, contact the Grand Elder."

Such privileges couldn't hold out forever. Gravis was pretty sure that, at some point, he would use up his contributions. Due to that, he decided to take advantage of the privileges for a time when he was at some sort of bottleneck regarding Laws.

"Then, I will be going now. You can find me somewhere around here for the next seven years," Gravis said.

The Empress and the Grand Elder only nodded. Then, Gravis turned around to leave but suddenly stopped as he came up with a great idea.

"Wait a second," Gravis said, eliciting a raised brow from the Grand Elder and the Empress. "Is it okay if I stay here to watch the eggs with you?" he asked the Empress.

"I already gave you permission for that," the Empress answered with annoyance.

BZZZZ!

Gravis transformed into lightning and created a second Gravis. Why not look at both the CMO and the eggs? Both things were related to the Laws of Life, and if he paid attention to both of them, he might be able to extrapolate some concepts from each other.

The Empress and the Grand Elder were a bit taken aback as they saw Gravis creating another one of himself. They had heard him speak about his abilities but seeing it was something completely different. Seeing two Gravises in front of them felt incredibly weird.

BZZZ!

One of the Gravises shot away into the distance, while the other one stood beside the eggs to watch them.

"That ability is quite useful," the Grand Elder commented as he rubbed his chin in thought. "I could comprehend Laws and keep watch over the Empire at the same time."

"If you're fine with having your strength halved," Gravis commented. "If you take several minutes to fuse again due to the distance, one of your bodies might have already died, halving your strength permanently. I can only do this because of you two. After all, it makes no difference to me since anything you can't deal with is something I also can't deal with."

The Grand Elder nodded in thought. "True," he commented.

After these words, silence returned on the peak of the Mountain of Pride. Humans might find this silent atmosphere to be awkward, but that didn't hold true for beasts. Most powerful beasts didn't have a need for social interaction. It made no difference to them if someone was present or not.

Beasts generally had way less shame than humans. A solid example of that was the fact that all beasts were naked all the time. What others thought about them wasn't really important to beasts.

Meanwhile, the second Gravis found a mountain and dug a cave. Due to his status, he could live close to the Mountain of Pride, even though an Emperor was living on the mountain. Of course, Gravis didn't simply enter the mountain but asked the Elder for permission.

The Elder didn't really care about Gravis living there. It made no difference to him if Gravis was there or not. It was one thing if any random beast had asked the Elder, but by being a mate to the Empress, Gravis had proven his Battle-Strength.

Strength was something that every beast respected. Gravis might not be an Emperor, but his Battle-Strength was incredible. Due to that, the Elder didn't feel like someone unworthy was staying too close to him.

As soon as he entered his newly-dug cave, Gravis sat down and concentrated on the Life Ring. He hadn't looked at the CMO in forever. He wondered if watching the eggs at the same time would increase his comprehension ability.

With this, another seven years of sitting around and thinking began.