Gravis opened his eyes as his actual body woke up. He quickly checked his body and noticed that it had changed in the same way as the one in his vision. Now, Gravis had a body size that was similar to a human's.
Slowly, Gravis stood up with his new legs and felt their power. He had missed the feeling of walking around. His upper body leaned forward instead of standing completely straight, but he had planned it like that. With an upper body that was more front-heavy, it would be harder to hit his waist and legs, and if his enemy tried to attack his torso or head, they needed to get through his weapon, arms, and teeth first.
His huge tail easily offset the gravity imbalance that his upper body brought. Cutting it off seemed like a good choice for any opponent, but Gravis had already considered that possibility. Even if his tail completely vanished, Gravis just had to use more of his back muscles to stay "straight". His massive tail could be called a decoy.
After checking the outside, Gravis checked the inside. He felt a deep connection with his body, even deeper than what he had felt when he had still been in his previous body. His Spirit and Energy had transformed into lightning, but his body hadn't in the past.
Yet, now, his body was also lightning. Gravis felt that his body was part of his Spirit and not something entirely different anymore. After achieving Unity again, Gravis also felt the connection between his centers of power return.
Whoop!
Gravis moved everything into his Spirit and noticed that it tripled in power. When he felt that, he smirked. Sure enough, all his centers of power had an equal strength now. After moving all the power into his body, he felt like he could destroy everything.
Additionally, his lightning was finally part of his body again. Currently, his lightning rested in his dantian, but he could move it around however he liked. Finally, his most powerful weapon had returned.
Lastly, his new body had several new abilities that Gravis could use. The transformation into a lightning bolt was one of them, but Gravis first needed to thoroughly test this new ability. Gravis never forgot his motto: The good comes with the bad, and the bad comes with the good.
There was a high chance that an ability like this came with a drawback. After all, there was a reason why everything was made out of Energy and not lightning. It could be possible that if he transformed into a lightning bolt and hit something, his whole being would scatter. This could be considered dying.
There was only one thing missing before Gravis would achieve his peak power again, a proper weapon. The Void-Stone Saber was hard but too small for his liking. His hands and body had become bigger, making the saber feel awkward in his hands. He would need to forge one appropriate for his body.
"You look menacing," Orthar said from the side.
Gravis forgot that Orthar was here and looked at him with a smile. "I can finally use my lightning again," Gravis said.
BZZZZ!
A small lightning ball appeared in his hand. Then, it got reabsorbed and appeared somewhere else. After that, some small snakes of lightning left his body in different places. His body showed no resistance towards the lightning.
"So, you won't shock me anymore when I slap you?" Orthar asked.
"Not involuntarily, at least," Gravis answered. "What happened while I was evolving? I couldn't keep watch over my actual body."
"Your old body burned away and left behind your new one. It looked kind of mysterious, and I was even quite a bit worried. This didn't look like a normal evolution, at all," Orthar answered.
Gravis nodded. This was about what he had expected. "How long have I been in this state?" he asked.
"Around two hours," Orthar answered.
Gravis scratched his chin in thought. "It didn't feel that long, but it doesn't matter. I should test my new abilities," Gravis said with a smirk.
"New abilities?" Orthar asked. Since when did evolutions grant new abilities?
"Yes, this one, for example."
BZZZZZ!
Gravis' body immediately transformed into a small lightning bolt, which quickly shot through the cave at impressive speeds. He circled the cave a couple of times and then returned to his previous position, in his normal body.
Orthar's brain had completely stopped working. What did he just see? Did a beast just transform into a lightning bolt? He had so many questions that he couldn't even decide what to ask first.
"What?" Orthar asked as all his questions condensed into this single word.
Gravis heard that and genuinely laughed. This was the first time he managed to confuse Orthar to this degree. Gravis found his simple question hilarious.
After that, Gravis explained to Orthar what happened inside his vision and what his new body could do. First, Orthar was shocked, but then he started thinking about many different ways how one could use this.
Yet, before that, Orthar noticed something else. "Wait, did you become weaker?" Orthar asked as he looked at Gravis.
Gravis' eyes widened, and he checked himself. What he saw made him incredibly nervous. "My Realm has slightly decreased," he said.
This wasn't just using up the saved Energy, but actually using up his cultivation. All his centers of power had been weakened by around 0.3%. This was devastating. The good mood quickly vanished, and Gravis gnashed his teeth.
"I need to test it again. There's no other way," Gravis said.
BZZZ!
Then, he transformed into lightning again and shot around the cave some more. This time, he decided to fly for three times as long. If his transformation used up his cultivation, he had to know for sure!
BANG!
As the lightning hit the floor, Gravis transformed back into his normal form. Quickly, he rechecked his centers of power.
They remained the same and were not weaker than before.
Gravis' brows furrowed. How was it possible that his Realm decreased one time but didn't decrease the other time? He quickly started thinking about what had been different.
After some seconds, Gravis got a hunch of what had happened. He grimaced. "I think I know what happened, but I need to test it just to be sure."
BZZ!
Gravis summoned a bit of lightning and threw it away. It was about 1% of his total storage. Then, he transformed into lightning and then directly transformed back.
"That was it," Gravis said as he saw his Realm weaken again by 0.3%.
"I understand," Orthar said from the side. "You told me that you have three centers of power: Lightning, Spirit, and your body. By completely transforming into lightning, your foundation gets liquidized. Then, when you manifest again, you need to create a new foundation."
"Yet, when you're not at full power, the foundation will only be as powerful as the power you currently have. So, all in all, you can only use this transformation on two occasions."
"One occasion is before a fight even starts. You charge in with your speed, transform back, and then start fighting. Like this, you wouldn't have used anything yet."
"The other occasion is when you are at your peak condition and don't intend to fight. Is that right?" Orthar asked.
Gravis nodded solemnly. "I should test if I can regain Energy while being lightning."
BZZZ!
Gravis transformed into lightning but only hovered slightly above the floor. After several minutes, he transformed back, his hand already scratching his chin. "Interesting. I can absorb the inherent Energy in the air, but only to my previous peak. This means I can regain my lost foundation."
Orthar started rubbing his tentacles together, a habit he had developed after looking at Gravis' thinking pose for too long. This pose meant that he was also thinking about something. "So, your foundation didn't completely vanish."
Orthar looked at Gravis with furrowed brows. "But that makes sense. If you truly are only lightning, you wouldn't be you anymore. There has to be something that separates you from other lightning. So, now, you can also use this ability to flee. Yet, you shouldn't play around with this too much."
Gravis nodded. "I know. The weaker I get, the less Energy I attract, and the slower my recovery will be. Going down to 50% might take me days to recover. Additionally, if I go below 33%, I would probably fall out of Unity entirely. Then, I would need to regain my Unity."
Orthar nodded. "That's what I meant," he said.
Gravis nodded back but then smiled. "Anyway, this gave me another idea. If this works, this would be a dream-come-true."
"Oh? Now I'm interested."
Gravis smirked and then transformed into lightning again.