After several hours of conversation, Gravis finally managed to steer the conversation back to its original topic. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the conversation, but after several hours, he started growing bored.
"Oh yeah, the specifics," Joyce said with surprise. "I totally forgot about that! Sorry!"
Gravis closed his eyes and shook his head gently. "Don't worry about it. The conversation was pleasant while it lasted."
Joyce smiled genuinely. "That's good to hear! Anyway, the specifics. There are one hundred open spots for the inheritance, and every spot covers a group of five. So, theoretically, 500 cultivators could enter at a time. Of course, those spots are never fully used up. There just aren't enough powerful cultivators willing to risk their lives like this. After all, the maximum number of groups that survived at one point was two, and some people in their groups had also died. That's a pretty terrifying ratio of deaths."
Gravis nodded.
Joyce lifted a finger. "On top of that, there are different options for every trial. Every trial takes the cultivation of the most powerful person into account and adjusts the difficulty."
Gravis frowned. "Then, wouldn't you be forced to partake in a trial for the Sapling Stage? After all, I will directly break into the Sapling Stage as soon as I enter, while you will remain in the initial Stage."
Joyce's eyes widened. "You are already ready to reach the Sapling Stage? That's incredible! You're really fast in your cultivation!"
Gravis waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, but what about the difficulty of the trials?"
Joyce smiled. "You don't have to worry about that. The trial also takes the number of cultivators into account. You can go solo while our group will go together. Like this, you have a solo trial for the Sapling Stage, while we have a four-man trial for the initial Stage."
When Gravis heard that, he released a sigh of relief. With this option, his enmity with Heaven wouldn't involve the other group. The highest Heaven didn't like it when the lives of cultivators were wasted. This lower Heaven would be forced to make it fair for the group, while it would do everything to kill Gravis. Though, just to be sure, Gravis had to do one more thing. If he wanted to give Joyce a better chance of finishing the trial, he would need to increase her worth to the highest Heaven.
"There is something important that I need to tell you. This thing might secure your survival in the inheritance," Gravis said.
Joyce was surprised and intrigued by Gravis' claim. "Oh? Do tell!"
Like this, Gravis started explaining the situation in the middle worlds and how Heaven only cared about people that could continue ascending. Everyone that didn't reach the Unity Realm via the Self Stage would only become fertilizer. He didn't tell Joyce about Heaven's need for Energy or similar stuff. After all, Heaven wasn't the biggest fan of having its ways exposed.
When Gravis finished explaining, Joyce looked with devastation at the ground. "I… didn't go through the tenth Stage of Magic Gathering," she said. "Does that mean that I will never achieve my goal?" she asked.
"Destroy your Spirit," Gravis said, making Joyce look at him with shock. "You are only at the initial Stage of Spirit Forming. At most, you will lose three years of progress in exchange for actually having a chance of reaching your goal. Your will will remain just as powerful, so your tempering will not go to waste. Destroy your Spirit, get to the tenth Stage, and condense your Spirit again."
"Are you mad!?" came an aggressive shout as Marvin, the Patriarch, and also Joyce's father, broke through the door. "Destroy my daughter's Spirit? I won't let that happen!"
Gravis wasn't surprised by that since he had felt Marvin's Spirit for a long time. Meanwhile, Joyce grew angry at her father again. "Stop listening in on my private conversation! This has nothing to do with you!"
"This has everything to do with me!" Marvin shouted angrily. "You are my daughter, and your well-being is the most important thing to me! Do you even know how hard it is to ascend while going through the Self Stage?"
"Shut up!" Joyce shouted as she stood up aggressively. Her chair and table got destroyed while Gravis' cup of tea hovered before him. He had already expected something like that.
"Shut up?" Marvin asked with shock like he couldn't believe that words like this came out of her mouth. "I'm your father! I only want the best for you, so how dare you to talk to me like that!?"
Gravis kept drinking his tea. This thing had nothing to do with him. Joyce needed to fight for her own future. It was her life, and she needed to show and have an independent cultivator's power and conviction. If he involved himself, Joyce would maybe start relying on others.
"But you don't know what's best for me!" Joyce shouted in anger. "You have heard Gravis and what he said! It makes perfect sense! My goal isn't ascension, but becoming genuinely powerful! If he hadn't told me about the ongoings of the higher world, I would've run into a dead-end! At that point, I would need to fall two majors realms instead of only one Stage! Not even that, I will regain my old cultivation in just a couple of days!"
Marvin gnashed his teeth. "And you believe everything he says!? He said he came from a higher world but is that even true? What if everything he says is a lie."
"I don't lie," Gravis said nonchalantly, not even looking at Marvin.
"You might be a lightning cultivator, but that doesn't make it impossible for you to lie! That's not proof enough!" Marvin shouted with anger.
"Shut up, daddy! Don't shout at my guest!" Joyce shouted back.
"What's going on here!?" came a shout from Reginald as he also arrived.
Marvin quickly informed Reginald, and he immediately took Marvin's side. Like this, everything devolved into a shouting match between Joyce, Reginald, and Marvin.
Gravis finished his tea and put the cup to the ground. After all, there was no table anymore.
Then, he walked to the wall, leaned against it, and waited. It was awkward to be the only one sitting in a room of shouting, standing people.
The argument went on for many minutes. The shouting intensified as Joyce wouldn't relent. Her refusal to accept her father's orders was something that hadn't happened yet, at least not to this extent. After some minutes of shouting, Marvin usually got his way. Yet, this time, Joyce wasn't relenting.
"This is all because of you!" Marvin shouted as he pointed at Gravis. "You have poisoned my daughter's mind!"
Gravis sneered. "You're not angry because of Joyce," Gravis said with disdain. "You just can't accept that your dream of ascension is broken. You can't accept that you will be a doormat as soon as you-"
"SHUT UP!" Marvin shouted with fury. "You don't know me, and you don't know what you're talking about! You are just a child!"
Gravis' eyes narrowed. "A child that can flatten your whole clan in a matter of seconds," Gravis commented dryly. "Don't forget that."
Marvin and Reginald gnashed their teeth in fury, while Joyce frowned at Gravis. She didn't like it when people said that they could destroy her family.
"So, let's stay civil in this discussion, alright?" Gravis said and then remained silent.
After some seconds of silence, the three started arguing again, but this time, they didn't involve Gravis in their arguments. Marvin and Reginald tried to convince Joyce that she wouldn't be able to get a level two Unity Will with their method of will tempering. Starting at the Unity Will, the deaths of companions weren't strong enough to temper one's will anymore. Like this, she would never ascend.
"So? Then I will put myself through life and death tempering!" Joyce shouted.
Reginald became incredibly angry when he heard that. "Are you insane!? If you do that, there is a huge chance that you will die!"
One had to know that people who cultivated Life Lightning wouldn't involve themselves directly in fights. They were always in the back and only healed the injured people. If something went south in the fight, they were the furthest away and could flee while the enemy cut through the front line. After all, even if their lightning didn't have destructive capabilities, it still had its magnetism. The cultivator could use that to flee from a fight with a very high probability.
"So? Our method of tempering will only go to the Unity Will! What am I supposed to do as soon as I reach the Unity Realm? At that point, I can only temper myself in life and death fights! When I start now, I, at least, become already used to it! And don't forget the resource war! I'm pretty sure that I won't be able to stay in the back and only watch everyone else!" Joyce shouted.
With this comment, it became difficult for Marvin and Reginald to find reasons against that. Reginald started becoming neutral, while Marvin only grew even more furious. "You're my daughter, and you will do what I say!"
"You're my father, and I love you, but I won't let you control my life!" Joyce shouted. "I am an adult, and this is my life! This is my decision, and I have decided to go through with it! You can't stop me!"
Whooosh!
Marvin released his Will-Aura and made Joyce unable to move. "I won't allow this."
Joyce was shocked and had a heartbroken look in her eyes. Her father had never attacked or suppressed her with his Will-Aura.
This was not the father that she knew!