"Where did that suddenly come from?" Lasar asked. "You've thought about this debt for over a year, and now you just say that everything is resolved? Sounds like a waste of time to me."
Gravis didn't get angry at that comment. By now, he had regained his calm mind. "I have no other choice," he said.
Lasar lifted a brow. "That sounds weird. What happened?"
While waiting for Gravis' answer, Lasar informed the still present Patriarch and Grand Elder that they should wait a minute. He was still in the middle of explaining how Gravis could become so strong but had to stop due to Gravis contacting him.
Gravis told Lasar everything that happened in the last couple of minutes and also his predictions regarding that situation. After Gravis was finished explaining, Lasar scratched his stubble with his fingers.
"This is interesting," Lasar said in thought. "And you say that this is basically the same feeling that you had had when you were under the influence of Lightning's Temperament in the Proxy-Lightning Guild?"
"Yes. It's exactly the same," Gravis answered.
"Huh, I think I know what's going on with you," Lasar said. "You might know more about how Heaven and the world works, but don't forget that I have been the Sect Master of the Lightning Sect for a while. I have a lot of experience in that regard, and I saw a lot of people being influenced by Lightning's Temperament. So, please take my following words seriously, okay?"
Gravis nodded. "Sure, but you didn't have to show your authority on the subject like that. I wouldn't take your words lightly either way."
Lasar smiled a little. "That's good to hear. Anyway, I think that you are constantly being influenced by Lightning's Temperament, even when you're calm."
Gravis furrowed his brows. "I'm not sure if that makes sense. After all, I don't just kill someone as soon as they look at me the wrong way."
"Let me finish," Lasar said. "Let's say we have two kinds of personalities that an elemental cultivator always has. One personality is their own, while the other is the personality of their element. This makes sense, right?"
Gravis nodded. "Sure."
Lasar lifted a finger. "So, we could say that these personalities are living in the same body, or under the same roof, if you want to call it like that. The main personality is always in charge and is the one to act, while the second personality keeps itself hidden away. Yet, when the main personality does something that the second personality is entirely against, the second personality will show its disagreement."
Lasar continued explaining. "Depending on the second personality, or depending on the element if you want, it acts in different ways. In the case of the earth element, for example, it will just leave. In the case of lightning, since it doesn't like to be restrained, it tries to take over control. That's when the person is affected by Lightning's Temperament. Makes sense up to now?"
Gravis nodded. "Yes. I think that's a pretty good analogy."
Lasar also nodded. "Now, in this case, the two personalities are two completely separate entities that can't communicate with each other. The second personality just watches the main personality and judges everything only based on action. The how and why of those actions are irrelevant to it."
"Now, in your case, I think this works differently," Lasar said. "Because your Spirit is adapted to lightning, this second personality has fused with you to some degree. I think it didn't fuse completely, but only to a certain degree. Yet, this fusion allows the two personalities to exchange concepts."
Gravis continued listening in interest. "What gave you that idea?" he asked.
"The fact that you could calm your lightning down by forgoing the debt," Lasar explained. "Think back to when you have been influenced by Lightning's Temperament. Would any rationale or reasoning have stopped you from going berserk?"
Gravis thought back and shook his head. "I doubt it. I was basically completely blinded by rage."
"Exactly!" Lasar transmitted with more enthusiasm. "Now, think about what you did just now. Did your emotions only calm down after you have officially forfeited the debt, or did they calm down when you made the decision? This is important!"
Gravis didn't even need to think about the answer. "As soon as I decided to forsake the debt, my rage quickly died down. I was already fully calm before I contacted you."
Lasar nodded. "Just as I thought. Remember how I said earlier that the second personality only cares about the actions and not the reasoning behind it? In your case, the lightning was able to understand your intent and reasoning and calmed down even before you actually acted. This is not how it works with normal people."
Gravis realized several things and fell into thought. "That makes sense. If I couldn't reason with my lightning, I wouldn't have been able to hold myself back until you arrived. I would have just killed the old man. Yet, due to my incomplete fusion, the lightning still demanded justice. It held back because it understood that being angry wouldn't help."
Gravis then furrowed his brows. "Though, any other lightning cultivator wouldn't have had such a violent reaction due to only one incident. It normally takes multiple such incidents of when the cultivator and the element don't agree with each other to create such a huge conflict. Yet, with me, it happened directly in the first instance."
Gravis took a deep breath. "So, to summarize, on the one hand, my bottom line is more flexible than others' because I have more influence over my lightning. But on the other hand, my lightning also has more influence over me, which makes a failure of following its principles that much more devastating."
Gravis looked at the sky. "The interaction between normal cultivators and their element is like the relationship between two friends or colleagues. If someone insults another, one might become annoyed or angry, but that should be it. Meanwhile, my relationship with my lightning could be compared to a close partnership. One insult could create a humongous fight since both sides take the other side's actions more seriously. Now, is that better or worse?"
Lasar had listened to Gravis' muttering. After all, Gravis wanted to keep Lasar in the loop about his thoughts. "I think that's a good comparison. In my opinion, I think this is more good than bad. In your case, you don't need to worry about your synchronicity with your lightning dropping since you two are closely communicating with each other. You can still do whatever you want."
"Think about it. Even without your lightning, would you be happy with not attacking Reginald after he attacked you? Lasar asked.
Gravis thought about this and shook his head. "Even without my lightning, I wouldn't be happy with letting this situation just slide by. It doesn't matter if he was justified in his actions or not. He has attacked me, and therefore, I am in my full right to retaliate. That is what I believe."
Lasar grinned a little. "So, by not attacking Reginald, you not only went against your lightning but also against yourself. Does that sound like a restriction to you?"
Gravis rubbed his chin in thought. "If you phrase it like that, I think I agree. I was not only acting against my lightning but also against myself. That's what made me so angry." Then, Gravis sighed in relief. "Thank you, Lasar. I was troubled by the thought that my own lightning might suppress me, yet I hadn't realized that I have also acted against myself. As long as I stay true to myself, my lightning won't interfere."
Lasar nodded. "No problem. That's what seniors are there for. We've lived longer and have seen more things. So, now that that's over, I think I have a solution that won't waste your year of thinking about your debt and also make you fine with the situation."
Gravis lifted an eyebrow. "Oh? Do tell."
Lasar smirked. "Let me talk with Reginald for a bit. Meanwhile, could you come closer? Waiting outside the Freya Clan would be alright."
Gravis nodded and came closer to the Freya Clan. After all, they were talking from quite a distance. Meanwhile, Lasar was talking with Reginald and Marvin and quickly explained a lot of things about Gravis and about his idea.
"I disagree," Marvin said. "We were acting correctly! We have not tried to kill him, and we only intended for him to await trial to find out the truth."
Reginald remained silent as he fell into thought.
Lasar crossed his arms, and his expression went from a smile to a displeased one. "You've forgotten one thing," Lasar said evenly.
Marvin was a little nervous about Lasar's shift in tone, but he fully believed that he had been acting correctly. "What?" he asked.
"If Gravis wasn't as powerful as he is right now, you would have beaten him, captured him, and maybe even punished him without asking my Lightning Sect. Could that be considered acting correctly?" he asked coldly.
Marvin gnashed his teeth. "No, but that didn't happen. It might've happened, but it didn't. I see no fault in our actions. Judging the situation based on hypotheticals is ridiculous!"
Lasar looked evenly at Marvin. "Alright, then you probably won't mind it when my Lightning Sect acts similarly to how you acted today, right?"
Marvin's eyes narrowed. "This is different! We are the weaker party-"
"Oh, and suddenly, weakness becomes important, huh?" Lasar interrupted him.
Marvin became angrier, but a hand stopped him from saying anything further.
Reginald looked at Marvin. "The Sect Master is right," he said. "We have been suppressed by other powers for so long that we desperately wanted a weaker intruder to appear just so that we could show others that we're not pushovers. We desperately wanted to prove our power by suppressing a weaker opponent. Instead of attacking, we could have talked to him and asked him to wait outside until we could verify his status with the Lightning Sect. This was an option that we didn't take."
The words of a close one penetrated deeper than the words of a stranger. When Reginald said this, Marvin started thinking about the situation, and he couldn't come up with a reason why they couldn't have done what Reginald had just proposed. Marvin realized that they had basically jumped on Gravis after they had thought of him as an enemy.
After a while, Marvin took a deep breath and released a big sigh. "I've been blinded by the Clan's status and how others perceived it. This blinded me to my actions. Today, our Clan has made a mistake." Then, he turned to Reginald. "If you want to accept the proposition, I won't stop you. Do whatever you want. I need to think about some things."
Reginald and Lasar both smiled when they heard that. It was always nice to see someone genuinely accept that they made a mistake. Something like this required a strong character.
Reginald turned to Lasar with no hesitation in his eyes. "I accept."
