Silence.
"So, how did I do?" Gravis asked with a polite smile.
The four of them looked at Gravis with different expressions. The initial three looked at him with shock while the latest visitor looked at him with intense eyes.
This Peak Immortal Emperor had already overcome the biggest hurdle in reaching the legendary Heaven's Magnate Realm. The Divine God in the group knew that.
The Law of Perceived Reality was, by far, the hardest to comprehend, quickly followed by the Law of Emotions. The Law of Life was also hard to comprehend, but one could watch and study that Law. This, at least, gave one the ability to make steady progress.
Right now, the Divine God of the group knew that there was a high likelihood that this Peak Immortal Emperor would reach this legendary level.
"You did very well," the young man with purple hair said. "Naturally, we can give you the job of Judge."
"Sadly, there are two issues we have to deal with first," he said.
"What issues?" Gravis asked.
The other three people didn't interrupt the young man and kept silent. This was one of the really powerful people of The Heaven Company. Whatever he said was how it would go.
"The first issue is your Battle-Strength," the young man said.
"What? Is it too low?" Gravis asked with a smirk.
"Of course not," the young man answered with a slight smile. "It's the opposite. It's too high."
"How can it be too high?" Gravis asked with a lifted eyebrow.
SHING! SHING!
Two fiery stars appeared above the young man's palm. These fiery stars had the shapes of humans.
"When two Cultivators want to fight, they know that someone from The Heaven Company will arrive. They also know that they should avoid destroying their surroundings. They don't exactly know that they shouldn't destroy the surroundings, but they will infer that by knowing about the mandatory presence of Judges during these fights."
"After all, if the surroundings didn't matter, The Heaven Company wouldn't spend so much money on keeping the surroundings safe. Just by the title alone, these two Cultivators will also connect The Heaven Company with Heaven. Therefore, they would feel like that there might be a possibility of angering Heaven if they destroyed the surroundings."
"Under normal circumstances, that worry is unwarranted. After all, The Heaven Company always sends a Judge that is more powerful than all the combatants combined. In that case, the two Cultivators can fight all-out without having to think about anything else. Such a mindset also brings with it the greatest achievable chance of comprehending a Law during the fight."
SHING!
Another star appeared, but this one was far smaller than the other two.
"If the Judge of The Heaven Company appears too weak, the two combatants might become distracted and nervous."
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The two stars fought with each other, but they were obviously not going all out. There were no shockwaves unleashed, and they didn't put their all into the fight.
BOOM!
One of the two stars was destroyed.
"The kinder Cultivator that cares more for the surroundings will be the one that will die first. The priorities of both Cultivators start to shift as their life gets threatened more and more. At one point, one of the two will unleash an attack without care for the surroundings, taking the other one by surprise."
"When that happens, strength and talent won't decide the outcome of the fight but the mindset. If this mindset were conducive to becoming powerful in the future, we wouldn't mind, but this mindset has not been proven to be effective on one's way to power."
The young man looked at the dim star. "So, even if the Judge can stop all destruction from influencing the surroundings, the fight will still be influenced by the mere perception of the Judge being weaker. You should know a lot about perception and different realities."
Gravis nodded.
"This is where the problem lies," the young man said. "Your Battle-Strength is so overwhelmingly powerful that not even the most powerful Peak Immortal Emperors can feel your Battle-Strength. Even if you are not weak, they will perceive you to be weak, which will make it difficult for them to have a fair and neutral fight."
Gravis nodded again. Everything the young man said made sense.
SHING!
The destroyed star reappeared.
"Additionally," the young man said, "it is not forbidden to attack the Judges of The Heaven Company."
The two bigger stars seemingly interacted with each other and attacked the weaker star.
BOOOOOM!
The weaker star exploded in power and destroyed the other two stars.
"These two deaths weren't necessary," the young man said. "The small star has gotten no tempering, and the hypothetical victor of the fight would have died for no reason. We exist to protect the surroundings and to allow the Cultivators to fight without any distractions. We are not allowed to influence the fights in any way."
Gravis nodded again. "Do you have a solution for that?"
SHING!
A white emblem with a solitary cloud on it appeared over the young man's hand. "Every Judge needs to wear such an emblem to show their identity. However, a normal emblem wouldn't cut it in your case. I modified this one for you."
Pack!
The man threw it over, and Gravis inspected it.
He saw many complex Laws and Formation Arrays inside the emblem. Gravis could feel some familiar fluctuations, but their level was simply too far above him.
"Keep a small thread of Energy attached to the emblem," the young man said. "As long as you infuse a bit of Energy into it, it will cloud you in an aura that will simulate a false level of Battle-Strength."
"Everyone that sees you will either feel a Battle-Strength that is exactly at the maximum of what they can perceive or your actual Battle-Strength, whichever is lower. Weak Peak Immortal Emperors will perceive you as one of the most powerful Peak Immortal Emperors in existence. Truly powerful Peak Immortal Emperors will perceive you as a very weak Star God."
"In that case, no Cultivator in the Peak Immortal Emperor Realm will think about attacking you since you will appear as an invincible existence to them."
Gravis nodded again as he looked at the emblem.
This was a pretty good solution to the problem. Ironically, appearing weaker would make Gravis appear more powerful.
"Thank you," Gravis said politely as he put the emblem onto his shirt.
"You are only allowed to wear your emblem when you're on duty," the young man commented.
"Oh!" Gravis uttered as he put the emblem away again. "Speaking of, what do I need to do? How do I get my tasks?"
The young man looked at the old man in the group, who hadn't said a word in a while. "Give him Peak Immortal Emperor Black Six authority. Assign him to Red Four to Six and Black Four to Six. You can take William off the roster. He's been asking for a Law Comprehension break for a long time, and I'm sure that he will feel delighted to finally get his request granted."
"Yes, sir," the old man said with respect.
Gravis raised an eyebrow as he noticed something.
"I know what you want to ask," the young man said. "This is where the second problem comes into play."
"I can't allow you to overlook fights between Star Gods."