Shira quickly reached Gravis’ cave and entered it without hesitation. She had a nearly manic look on her face, which ca from a mixture of frustration, anger, motivation, and several other emotions. As soon as she entered, Gravis opened his eyes and looked into hers.
After looking a Shira for a second, Gravis scratched his chin in interest. "Huh," he said casually, "seems like I was wrong."
Shira hadn’t expected these words to leave Gravis’ mouth. In actuality, she was quite surprised. Didn’t Gravis realize that admitting a mistake made him appear weaker to the beasts in his Tribe? Admitting when he was wrong would create doubt in the lower mbers. If that happened more than once, so might even think that he was weak. Gravis couldn’t possibly be serious.
"Are you joking?" she asked unamused.
Gravis only grinned as he stood up. Then, he slightly shook his head. "No, I’m not joking. I was genuinely wrong. I’ve expected you to be a beast that would hold onto her philosophy until her death would co. The fact that you appeared here ans that I have made an error."
Shira still wasn’t convinced. "Stop playing with ," she said with annoyance. "You know exactly that admitting a mistake would make you appear weaker in the eyes of others. They would think that you are not as intelligent as you appear and will lose respect in you."
Gravis only continued grinning. He was actually enjoying it when he was wrong. Whenever he was wrong, it ant that he had another opportunity to grow.
"So?" Gravis asked with a smirk.
And again, Shira was perplexed by his answer. "What do you an with So? Appearing strong is what allows you to keep firm control over the Tribe. At so point, a mber might think that you’re weak and then attack you."
Gravis only continued smirking and shook his head again. "That’s the difference between you and I. Your words have shown that you have this whole concept of power backwards. That is also the reason why you are currently in such a dangerous situation."
Shira only huffed in disdain. "Then please enlighten ," she said sarcastically.
Gravis didn’t mind her tone. "Hypothetically, if I were a stupid beast, would you be able to overthrow ?" he asked.
Shira wanted to answer directly but stopped herself. She rembered how Gravis had even managed to subdue Liza, a powerful level two Lord. This ant that his strength was, at least, above-average for level two Lords.
When Gravis saw her hesitate, he continued speaking. "Assu that you have total control over the entire Tribe. Everyone, including Liza, Orthar, Morn, and the Land Camp, would follow your every command. Now, let’s assu that all of them are ready to throw their lives away to overthrow . Would you succeed?" he asked.
Shira thought about this. Yet, by what she had seen, Gravis could probably kill the whole Tribe. It actually didn’t matter how many beasts of the Tribe attacked him. As she realized this, Shira’s frustration grew. She couldn’t find any way to kill Gravis with only these assets.
Gravis saw Shira’s frustration and kept grinning. "Craftiness and intelligence help you in fighting against opponents that are slightly more powerful than you. Yet, as soon as the power gap widens, it becos nearly useless."
"So, tell ," Gravis said as he looked at her. "As long as my power is so much stronger than everyone else’s, how would it be possible to overthrow ?"
Shira remained silent, but she quickly found an answer. "Power doesn’t remain static. Beasts die, and other beasts beco more powerful. At one point, their power will be enough to kill you," she said.
Gravis only shook his head. Shira hated it when Gravis shook his head like that. He acted like everything was in his control. "Raising more powerful beasts requires ti. Other beasts beco more powerful, but so will I. My Rank is a whole level lower than Liza’s. Yet, my Battle-Strength is so powerful that she would need to rise another level to beco a threat."
"Rising to a level three Lord requires a level two Lord to eat about eight other level two Lords. That’s a lot of resources. I require more food than others but only double the amount. Normally, I would need to eat 16 level one Lords to beco a level two Lord."
"Yet, with my Battle-Strength, why would I need to eat level one Lords? I could just eat four level two Lords to beco a level two Lord. At that point, Liza would need to beco a level four Lord, aning she would need to hunt eight level three Lords, while I only need four."
"Resources are limited, Shira. Even if I were to only take half of the resources of Liza, she would never be able to beco a threat to . In extension, by always fighting more powerful Lords, my Battle-Strength won’t decline. To be frank with you, I’m not even interested in fighting level two Lords. I only want to fight level three Lords right now," Gravis said.
Shira narrowed her eyes. "Why would you do that? Didn’t you say that level three Lords could be a danger to you? Why would you put yourself into unnecessary danger?"
Gravis noticed that Shira grew more interested in the conversation. "Where do you think my Battle-Strength ca from? Do you think this was handed to ?"
Shira didn’t answer.
"When I started my journey, I had a Battle-Strength that was equal to the Battle-Strength of a Low Rank Spirit Beast. With my power, I would have easily been able to reach that level by taking the safe route."
"Yet, what then? As soon as I would reach that level, my Battle-Strength would only be average. I wouldn’t be different from any of our soldiers. So, I went through an incredible amount of genuine life and death battles."
"Two of my battles stand out as the hardest. I’ll convert the power of my opponents to standards you know. My first powerful opponent was soone that had the power of a High-Rank Energy Beast. Back then, I could only be counted as a Mid-Rank Energy Beast. My chances of survival were lower than 10%."
Then, Gravis smirked again. "Yet, it wasn’t him that attacked . If I wanted to, I could have left without him chasing . Instead, I went into the battle, knowing fully well that I would most likely die. Yet, I survived. By winning this battle, my Battle-Strength increased significantly."
"My second extrely perilous battle was against soone that was more powerful than a High-Rank Spirit Beast, but not as powerful as a Lord. Back then, I was at the upper border of a Low-Rank Spirit Beast. This was a jump of two entire Ranks."
"By winning this fight, I had beco even more powerful. These were the two most dangerous battles in my life. Yet, by risking it and winning, I have managed to increase my Battle-Strength to such a level."
Shira listened intently. She didn’t know anything about Gravis’ past. Orthar didn’t really keep it a secret, but Shira didn’t talk to him much. Morn, for example, knew most of what had happened to Gravis since he talked more with Orthar.
"When you look at the end result, I just appear like a monstrous freak that can’t be judged by normal standards. Yet, if you hear my whole story, you will realize that my Battle-Strength simply increased faster than my opponents’. Of course, all of this is only temporary."
Shira wasn’t sure what Gravis ant. She estimated that Gravis’ Battle-Strength would probably even be powerful when he beca a King, the Rank above a Lord. How could sothing like that be temporary?
Gravis saw Shira’s expression and guessed what she thought. "My Battle-Strength would probably also be good among Kings, but what about Emperors? What about the level after that? If I beco complacent now, I would have already given up on my goal to beco an Emperor. By staying complacent, I would have put a border on my potential."
Then, Gravis looked into Shira’s eyes with a smirk. "And that’s exactly what’s happening to you now."
Shira had a skeptical look on her face.
"When you took part in the invasion, you have decided to attack the strongest beast in the enemy’s army. Back then, you directly attacked Silva. Tell , where you assured of your victory?"
Shira remained silent for two seconds. "No, but I had to take the risk. I saw how his army almost worshiped that viper. If I allowed him to live, he would beco a powerful enemy."
Gravis nodded. "Exactly. You took the risk. You weren’t able to win, but your Battle-Strength should have beco more powerful after the fight. Yet, what about all your fights following those?"
Shira rembered the fights, and she noticed that every single fight had been easy, except for her latest one against one of three Lords that had appeared inside her camp. That one had been the only difficult one.
"You have taken the easy road. The only fight that managed to increase your Battle-Strength was your newest one. All other fights before that only increased your Realm. When you had been a Spirit Beast, your Battle-Strength had been outstanding. Yet, what about now?"
Shira fell into thought.
"Think back to five days ago," Gravis said. "Think of all the mbers in the Land Camp. How many of them were powerful enough to be a danger to your life?"
"One," Shira said. "It was only the viper."
"And what about now?" Gravis asked.
Shira remained silent for a while, and her expression deteriorated. "Five," she said.
Gravis nodded. "Your Battle-Strength hasn’t increased, but your Realm has. This ans that, effectively, your Battle-Strength has even decreased in comparison to your new enemies. What when you beco a level two Lord? Wouldn’t this trend just continue?"
Shira remained silent, but her face scrunched up in unwillingness. She realized that she couldn’t find a counterargunt. All the evidence showed that this trend only continued. This made her feel even more nervous about the future.
"Your path has co to an end, Shira," Gravis slowly said. "As long as you don’t step onto another one, you will soon die."
"In actuality," Gravis comnted as he looked at Shira with a mocking expression. "The only reason you’re still alive is that Silva hasn’t yet realized that he has already beco more powerful than you."
"I keep a close watch over all of you, and I’ve seen most of your fights. With my experience, I’m pretty good at estimating the power of others. And right now, if Silva were to fight you, you would only have a 30% chance of winning."
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