Chapter 22 - Stagnation (2/2)

What did Heaven plan? Gravis thought further about this issue. His lack of Karmic Luck did its best to stop him from cultivating. There were two ways to stop someone in their journey. Either kill them or stagnate them to death. Those ways were actually complete opposites. One was sending strong enemies to kill the person, while the other one was sending no enemies.

Enemies tempered one's will and heart, and if there were no enemies, one could progress higher in their realm. Yet, if they advanced higher in their realm without having any enemies, they would also be the weakest in said realm. And when you were the weakest in your realm, it would be difficult to survive and get further resources.

Gravis clenched his teeth. ”So, that's your plan,” he muttered to himself. ”As a back-up of your volcano plan, you dumped me into some back-water area, where nearly everyone is weak. There are nearly no potential enemies, and probably just as few resources for cultivation.”

That's right. Heaven wanted to stagnate him into complacency. He got dumped into an area where he was as strong as the leader of a whole town. If Gravis hadn't learned so much about Heaven's luck and plans from his brother Orpheus, he would slowly fall into complacency and lose his drive.

This was the same way Heaven stopped Orpheus from cultivating. It gave him a wife and beautiful children until he stopped desiring strength. Gravis realized the similarity.

Just when Gravis always lamented his weak strength, Heaven had sent him to a place where he was one of the strongest. That sudden shift in status could make people drunk on the sudden gain of power. Like that, they lost their feeling of helplessness, which drove them to reach higher realms. It would also remove all pressure on a person, basically boring them into mediocrity.

”What a sly and sinister scheme,” Gravis commented as he thought about his situation. He couldn't allow for his drive to vanish. He had to get pills to temper his skin and then move on towards areas with stronger people.

Gravis stopped running. ”And this town should help me in that,” he muttered to himself as he looked at the town on the horizon. After a short pause, he continued running. He was still quite a distance away from the town, when something happened.

”HALT!” A man suddenly jumped out of a bush and stepped into Gravis' way. ”I planted these trees and paved the road! Pay a toll to-”

BANG

The bandit couldn't finish his sentence as Gravis just barreled through him, throwing him back into the bush. Gravis didn't even look at him as he continued running. After a while, the man got up from the bush and looked into Gravis' direction. ”Damn, at least let me finish my phrase before you do that,” he grumbled to himself. ”It's normal and good manners to let other people finish speaking, you dick.”

Gravis tried not to think about the guy he just ran over. This was one of Heaven's attacks, sending weaker people toward him until he felt more and more powerful. If he continued fighting only weaker people, at some point, he would lose his edge and would start fearing stronger enemies. Gravis needed to keep his will sharp.

If he felt proud about winning against weaklings, his will would get exhausted to death. The longer he remained in this weak place, the more weaklings would come, and the more his will would falter.

He had to leave, fast!