Gravis had to talk to Orthar for a long time. Luckily, this couldn't be considered as a waste of time since Gravis just decided to eat the mid-rank Spirit Beast he still had. Like this, he remained as efficient as possible.
After finishing the beast, Gravis stopped his conversation with Orthar. His questions seemed endless, and the conversation wouldn't stop otherwise. Luckily, or unluckily depending on the viewpoint, Gravis' thinking was rather logical, and he knew a lot, so he could answer most of Orthar's questions.
Orthar was a bit annoyed that the conversation ended, but he knew that they should continue. So, Orthar led Gravis to the next beast with a small body he knew about. He didn't know of another high-rank Spirit Beast, which was why he had thought that he had reached the peak.
Orthar also asked why he hadn't met any other beasts on his level, and Gravis' answer was straightforward and logical. "Because you are at the outer fringes of the world. No high-rank Spirit Beast wants to remain in an area with such a low Energy density."
Orthar hadn't known that there were areas with a higher Energy density. He might have traveled a lot, but not in one direction. He mainly swam around the surrounding areas of his territories.
As they traveled, Gravis also noticed something else. In order to keep up with Orthar, Gravis had to use more Spirit than he was regenerating. His body's weight was becoming heavier and heavier. By now, Gravis would have to use a lot of his Spirit even to fly.
Gravis expected that when his body reached the mid-rank Spirit Beast level, it would be more effective to just swim instead of using his Spirit. This would be his slowest possible state.
After around an hour, they found Gravis' next target. It was a 30-meter-long swordfish. It was a bit big for Gravis' taste, but it was challenging to find small beasts at this level. So, the swordfish had to do.
Gravis engaged it directly with his body to test it. The swordfish had charged at him with speed equal to Orthar, which was quite incredible for a mid-rank Spirit Beast. Its pike hit Gravis' upper left arm and penetrated it. Gravis wanted to test his scales more, so he let himself get hit.
The powerful charge of the swordfish might have penetrated Gravis' arm, but that was it. It wasn't able to tear the arm off or ruin it further. The surrounding scales kept everything together. Like this, the swordfish got stuck in Gravis' arm.
Gravis rotated on the swordfish's pike until he sat on it, his tail coiling around the pike. Then, he tore his arm free, severing half of it. Yet, with a quick heal, Gravis was in his peak condition again. After that, he used his arms to tear the pike off. The lever principle was powerful.
The swordfish was in pain and tried to shake Gravis off, unsuccessfully. Gravis' tail was still wrapped around the pike's base, which obviously hadn't been torn off. Then, Gravis used the pike and stabbed the swordfish through the eyes, right into its brain. The fight quickly ended.
"Your body is powerful and deadly," Orthar said after the fight. "I didn't think that it was possible to kill a being a full rank above you. When you reach the mid-rank, you will probably be even more powerful than me without using your Spirit."
Gravis had already put the corpse away. "Because you followed your instincts. Your body isn't as deadly as it could be," he answered.
After that, the long conversation with Orthar resumed. He didn't know of any high-rank Spirit Beasts. This meant that they had to travel towards the center of the world.
Gravis no longer stored his food until he had enough for the next rank. Starting now, it was useful to gain battle-experience with his body. It was already similar enough to his final form. The only things missing were legs.
Gravis finished the fish in about two days, but something surprising happened that made him frown.
"My rank didn't increase," Gravis said as he looked at his body with narrowed eyes. "My math has worked out up to now, but it doesn't anymore. Spirit Beasts also don't require proportionally more food than Energy Beasts, so that shouldn't be it."
"I think it's these scales," Gravis said as he looked at his arm. "Since they are so powerful, they probably need more food than normal." Then, Gravis turned to Orthar. "Orthar, lead me to the rest of the relatively small beasts that you know."
"I'm also interested in your conundrum," Orthar said. "Follow me."
After another hour, they arrived at the next beast. It was a 40-meter-long moray eel. Gravis decided to try his true fighting style and summoned his Void-Stone Saber. Yet, Gravis found a problem, though he had already expected that.
Usually, Gravis used both hands to grab his saber. Like that, he could use more force with his attacks. Sadly, his new hands were too powerful and massive. He wasn't able to grab the saber with both hands and could barely hold it with one. On top of that, the saber felt way too light and tiny.
'I need a more fitting weapon,' Gravis thought as he charged at the moray eel. The moray eel also charged at him, and Gravis easily evaded the attack. Then, he hit the moray eel with his saber.
Puchi!
The saber buried into the eel's body, but not that far. Gravis could only use one hand, and it felt weird to use such a tiny saber. All his previous fighting techniques couldn't be used anymore with his new body. If Gravis had a human body with this power, the eel would have been split into two parts.
'Fuck this,' Gravis thought as he put his saber away. Then, he summoned the severed pike from the dead swordfish. 'This is bigger and more useful for now. At least, I can use my full power with it.'
The eel charged at him again, but Gravis simply stabbed the pike through its mouth, into its brain. Gravis could already confidently kill these beasts without a weapon. The addition of a weapon made these fights trivial.
After more talking and more eating, Gravis realized that his body still didn't increase in rank. So, Orthar led him to the next prey, which was also quickly dealt with.
After eating his fourth mid-rank Spirit Beast, Gravis' body finally ranked up. 'Double the cost, huh?' he thought.
Gravis' body became bigger until he was ten-meters-long. He would easily tower over a human, making for quite the intimidating picture. Yet, instead of being happy, Gravis only grimaced. 'Now, even the pike is barely usable. On top of that, I can't even forge these beast parts into fitting weapons. They are only as powerful as my own body. I need to keep a lookout for materials in the Unity Rank. However, they're probably not here.'
After some thinking, Gravis decided to leave this place. Orthar didn't know of other high-rank Spirit Beasts. So, they had to travel to lands, or seas, with a higher density of Energy.
"It's time," Gravis said.
"I've been waiting for this," Orthar said while a burning desire for knowledge and power radiated from his thoughts.
"From now on, we need the same prey to evolve," Gravis said. "I propose a deal where we fight and eat the prey alternatingly. Since you haven't eaten longer than me, you can have the first one. However, if we find a rather small prey, it would be nice of you to give that fight to me. Of course, you can also have the bigger prey."
"I accept," Orthar said. "It's not an issue for me to eat bigger prey. I also understand the concept of having a sturdy foundation, thanks to our talks. When one of us fights a fitting beast, the other won't interfere, even if the fighter will die."
Gravis nodded. "I agree. It's better this way."
"So, where do we go?" Orthar asked.
"I have checked the density of Energy while swimming around," Gravis said. "I have noticed minimal changes in density along the way, and I'm pretty sure that the core of the world is in that direction. I'm unsure of how far we have to travel, but it will probably take a long time."
"I have waited for eons. A couple of years won't matter to me," Orthar said.
"I don't think it will take us years," Gravis said with a helpless smile. "Maybe some weeks. I don't know."
"Even better. Let's go," Orthar said, and Gravis nodded.
Then, they traveled in one direction without rest. Gravis' body was way weaker than Orthar's, and using his Spirit to travel was too exhausting. Yet, Gravis' body was small enough that he was about as fast as Orthar. Orthar's massive body displaced just too much water. This slowed him down quite a bit.
They traveled like this for an entire month.