Gravis smirked. "But you know what? As soon as I reach the Sapling Stage, I can become powerful enough to fight against people in the Self Stage, and I am absolutely sure that you can't make trials on the level of the Unity Realm, so I will join your game."
Heaven grew elated as it heard that.
"But!" Gravis shouted. "Only under one condition! You will not make me kill or fight against my own team!"
No answer came.
"Showing no answer is not good enough anymore. Either you directly communicate with me now, or I won't go! You will promise me that you won't pit me against my team."
Gravis looked at the sky and waited for an answer. Heaven no longer had the option to remain silent if it wanted him to participate in its trial. Yet, no answer came.
"It agrees," the Opposer's voice appeared inside Gravis' mind, giving him a pleasant surprise.
"How come you are telling me that, father?" Gravis asked.
"It is still against the rules to communicate with cultivators, and the old bastard is enforcing that rule. Therefore, the old bastard informed me since I don't fall into that rule. After all, I can speak with you as long as the old bastard isn't against it. You won't be pitted against your team. The old bastard and I will make sure that this lower Heaven keeps to its word," the Opposer explained.
Gravis smiled wholeheartedly. "I'm happy that I got to hear your voice again, father. Just watch me! I'll directly confront this lower Heaven's scheme and kill it after that!" Gravis shouted with motivation.
"Heh, I'm looking forward to it," The Opposer said.
Gravis was sure that he had heard mirth in his father's voice, which was nearly unprecedented to Gravis. His father was always distant and cold. Hearing mirth from his father's voice made Gravis happy.
In front of his father, Gravis still felt like a child. Every child wanted to make their parents proud, as long as they still had a familiar bond. His father hadn't directly shown any love for Gravis, which made him appear more like a distant boss than a father, but his father had always supported him on his path after he had allowed Gravis to cultivate.
Gravis also realized why his father was so against him cultivating when he was young. If Gravis didn't wholeheartedly yearn for power or freedom, this path would have only ended in tragedy and regret. Of course, what he hadn't known at that time, was that his father would have still bestowed him incredible strength, even if Gravis decided against cultivation.
He had heard those details from Orpheus back then. Apparently, when one of the Opposer's children wasn't suited for cultivation, the Opposer would bestow an incredible amount of power to that child. The person would then be at a Realm of new ascenders that reached the highest world. Orpheus had called that Realm only by its title and not its actual Realm name. The title was Immortal Emperor.
Yet, since that child didn't go through any of those Realms themselves, they would never be able to make even one step of progress. They would be weaker than every single other Immortal Emperor. If they still wanted to cultivate, they would need to temper themselves against weaker cultivators in life and death battles for millennia. This was humiliating, frustrating, tiresome, and difficult. Even if they succeeded, they wouldn't have forged their own path, making it even harder to progress.
Only by going through all the Realms step by step with one's own power would one be able to progress steadily. The Opposer only bestowed the cultivation for longevity purposes. Those children were also still under the protection of the Opposer. After all, they didn't need to temper themselves.
Like this, those children could live out their lives in peace without danger. Yet, they would never have true freedom since they were still reliant on their father. They could also still be killed on accident by two very powerful cultivators fighting in their general vicinity. Of course, the Opposer would kill the killer after that, and everyone knew about that, but accidents still happened.
After Gravis got the okay from this lower Heaven, he left his room again and went back to Joyce. "I'm coming with you," he said.
Joyce grinned in happiness as she heard that. "Great! I already talked with my father, and I got the okay!"
Gravis laughed dryly. "Because he has listened in on the conversation. I felt his Spirit," Gravis said with a smirk.
Joyce went a bit red in the face and scowled. "Yes! I was so angry when I heard that he listened in on my private conversation! After all, I can't feel his Spirit since I am two whole Stages below him. Hmph! If I had a Unity Will, I would be able to feel his Spirit!" Joyce threw a small temper tantrum and stomped around. "Grrr! I'm so frustrated with him! I'm already an adult, and I'm also quite powerful! Yet, he still looks at me like I am his innocent little treasure!"
Gravis only smirked awkwardly.
Joyce pouted as she crossed her arms. "At least, teacher didn't listen in! You should have seen his shocked face when I told him that I would partake in the resource war! He tried everything to get me to stop, and it took my father to calm him down. My father first wanted to keep it a secret that he listened in on our conversation, but my teacher's adamant refusal to let me go forced him to confess. Hmph!"
Gravis rubbed his head in awkwardness. Joyce had been very cold and direct before, but now she acted like a spoiled little girl. If he hadn't seen her willpower and conviction earlier, he would believe that she was nothing but a child. Maybe that was her way to distract herself from her pain.
Joyce's eyes widened as she remembered something. "Oh, right! We need to talk about the specifics!"
Gravis perked up again. "Which are?"
"First of all, you should take a seat! I haven't offered you any tea yet!" Suddenly, Joyce quickly walked to Gravis and shoved him backwards. Gravis knew that this wasn't an attack, so he let it happen.
Plomp!
Gravis fell into a comfortable chair, and a table appeared in front of him out of thin air. Another chair also appeared on the opposite side of the table. Joyce sat down in the chair and smiled at Gravis.
"I'm not sure if shoving a visitor into a chair is considered polite," Gravis said with a lifted brow.
Joyce waved her hand dismissively. "Stop whining! How did you put it?" Joyce asked with a smirk. "Is your self-confidence so fragile that you need pleasantries? You said something like that, right?"
When Gravis heard that, he genuinely laughed. "Alright, you win." Then, Gravis looked at the table and chairs. "Are you actually using your Spirit Space to store such useless things?"
Joyce pouted again. "These are not useless! I can summon them whenever I want to entertain a guest. Also, you do not honestly think that I take those with me when I leave my Clan to temper myself, are you?"
Gravis smirked. "Who knows? Maybe you do."
Joyce sneered. "Oh, shut up! You know exactly that I don't take them with me. You're just trying to get a rise out of me."
Knock, knock, knock!
"Come in!" Joyce shouted with mirth. After that, a maid walked in with some fresh tea and some cups. First, she placed one of the cups in front of Gravis and filled it.
"Thank you," Gravis said politely.
The maid did a small bow as a thank you and then filled Joyce's cup. "Thank you, Anna."
The maid made another small bow and left the room.
When Gravis looked at the tea, he remembered something. "By the way, do you have coffee?" he asked.
Joyce furrowed her brows in confusion. "What's coffee?"
Gravis sighed. "Nevermind."
Gravis stretched his hand to the tea, but it suddenly floated towards Joyce. "What's coffee? Tell me, or else you won't get your tea!"
Gravis knew that she was only playing, but he was a bit unused to that. He wasn't smitten by her beauty like the first time they had met, but he was still inexperienced in talking with women. "It's a drink from my homeworld. I've never seen it in this lower world. The tea reminded me of that, so I asked if you had any."
"Oh? How do you make coffee?" she asked in interest.
And like that, the whole conversation derailed. Joyce started asking about coffee, which then extended to asking about beans. Then it went to how his homeworld raised plants and culminated in a discussion about his homeworld's general society.
Usually, Gravis wasn't interested in talking about unimportant things, but for once, he actually enjoyed the conversation. Maybe it was the good tea, or maybe it was Joyce's genuine attitude. Every longer conversation that Gravis had had in this lower world was with serious people and always only covered topics relevant to the leading of an organization or cultivation in general.
Like this, they talked for hours. Gravis gained nothing useful out of the conversation, but, for a change, it felt nice to just talk about mundane stuff. Anyway, for the first time in a long while, Gravis spent some hours where he didn't think about his cultivation.
To him, it was kind of relaxing. He had been under constant pressure ever since he had arrived in this lower world. If it wasn't about a current predicament, then it was about his progress in cultivation. He had only taken one break during that time, which had been when he had just reached the Spirit Forming Realm.
Now, for the first time since he had arrived at the Core-Continent, Gravis "wasted" his time without thinking about cultivation.
His will was powerful, and the constant pressure and stress didn't affect him that much, but he realized that he actually needed a break. Something that doesn't bend will only break. Gravis quickly realized that some hidden fatigue he had never noticed started leaving him as the conversation continued.
Apparently, this conversation wasn't just him wasting time, but him taking a much-needed break.