Chapter 1037 - 1037 – Orpheus (1/2)

Now, it was Gravis' time to tell his story, and he started by telling everyone how he had started cultivating. He started this early because he had kept a lot of his life a secret from them.

Why?

Multiple reasons.

First of all, if his friends from the lower world heard that there were actually three levels of worlds above them, they might have become demotivated by the gigantic mountain they had to climb. Just hearing that Unity Realm Cultivators, legendary existences in the lower world, weren't even allowed to enter Gravis' home city, they would feel like trash.

Something similar was true for the beasts of the middle world. After all, if they heard that Immortals, people that could teleport, could only be beggars in the city, they might also get demotivated.

Another reason why Gravis kept a lot of his life secret was that he didn't want the beasts to feel horrible. After all, Orthar only cared about humans, not beasts.

Now, that dynamic had changed. Orthar gave every beast a Spirit when they became a Star God, effectively raising them to the same level as humans.

Gravis started telling them this story without keeping anything secret, except for the stuff that Orthar didn't allow him to say. Yet, Gravis quickly stopped his narration as he arrived at the spot where Orpheus had appeared.

”Right, father,” Gravis said, looking at his father. ”Where is Orpheus?”

The Opposer looked at Gravis with an unreadable expression.

No one was able to see the subtle emotional fluctuations in the Opposer's eyes, but Gravis had known him for long enough.

He noticed that his father was unsure how he should feel right now.

”Gravis, something happened,” the Opposer said with a heavy voice.

Gravis felt like his heart had stopped.

Something happened?

Was his big brother dead?

”What happened?” Gravis asked.

”When you left for the higher world, Orpheus only had 20,000 years left before his next tribulation would take place, and his Battle-Strength wasn't strong enough to get through that tribulation,” the Opposer said.

Gravis took a deep breath.

More than 20,000 years had passed since then.

”Orpheus wasn't exactly honest with you,” the Opposer started.

”Let me tell him,” a new voice said.

SHING!

A black-haired, middle-aged man appeared in the Opposer's room. Stars seemingly shone inside his eyes as his gaze told of incredible knowledge and experience.

It was Orpheus!

Gravis released a huge sigh of relief.

Orpheus was still alive!

For a second there, Gravis had been afraid that Orpheus had died.

”I was the one that lied to him, and I will be the one that will tell him,” Orpheus said to his father.

The Opposer nodded.

Then, Orpheus looked at Gravis and sighed.

Gravis waited for Orpheus to explain with a complicated expression.

”Gravis,” Orpheus said slowly. ”Do you remember how I have told you about my family?”

Gravis nodded.

”Well, what I have told you isn't a lie, but things that have really happened. Yet, I wasn't honest with the time.”

”In fact, my family had passed away a long time ago,” Orpheus said.

Gravis felt pain inside his chest.

Orpheus had always been so happy when recounting the events with his family. Orpheus had truly shone with happiness whenever he told Gravis about things that his sons and daughters did.

”Was that even before I met you?” Gravis asked.

Orpheus nodded. ”Long before that,” he said. ”I only had father and mother left, but that was it. Sadly, that wasn't enough to motivate me to continue living. So, I simply waited for the end of my life for around 300,000 years.”

Orpheus sighed again. Talking about this topic wasn't easy for him. ”I'm going to be honest with you here. The reason why I even met you back then was because I didn't care about my life anymore. Having one more person die wouldn't make a difference.”

”I just didn't care.”

Gravis also released a sigh.

”I didn't particularly care about you since I just expected you to die in the lower world. I just wanted to meet you and relive a part of my youth through you. That was also why I didn't see you off when you left. I simply didn't care,” Orpheus said.

Gravis felt hurt.

When Gravis had met Orpheus for the first time, he had felt the unfamiliar feeling of brotherly love from him.

However, Gravis had been far too young back then. He hadn't been able to see through Orpheus' actual feelings.

In truth, Orpheus didn't care very much for Gravis.

Hearing that Orpheus hadn't really cared about him hurt Gravis quite a bit.

”Yet, you returned rather quickly,” Orpheus said. ”Your power surprised me a lot. I was especially shocked when I heard that you managed to attune your Spirit to lightning. On top of that, you managed to kill a lower Heaven while never having left the lower world. Something like this had never happened before.”

Gravis nodded.

It was natural for Orpheus to be surprised.