Gravis only smirked at Silva's question. "Do I really need to answer that?" he asked. "Think of what she would do in this situation. You should be able to guess what and where she would be right now."
Silva went back into thinking and then snorted. "She is probably 90% sure that we all have died. So, to not get killed by the two powerful level three Lords, she should have left the Tribe."
Gravis nodded. "But that's not all, is it?" he asked.
Silva snorted again. "Of course, she would also plan for the fact that we actually survived. In that case, she would need to go through a hell of tempering to not fall behind. So, she probably went to the territories of the level two Lords and wouldn't return until she is confident enough in her power."
Gravis nodded. "Exactly. I'm pretty sure Shira is currently tempering herself against some other powerful Tribes."
Silva only sneered. "It doesn't matter. I felt the difference between fighting many equal opponents and fighting a more powerful one. I am pretty confident that I can kill her without dying when she returns." Then, Silva's eyes became icy. "As soon as she returns, I will kill her."
Gravis only smiled and nodded. "Sure, you can. Nobody will stop you if you decide to do that, but don't you think that killing her now would be a waste?"
Silva looked with skepticism at Gravis. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"Think about it," Gravis said. "Without her constant threat, would you or your Land Camp be as powerful as you or they are now? Didn't the constant pressure push you further than you would have ever thought?"
Silva became a bit frustrated but continued thinking.
Seeing that Silva remained quiet, Gravis continued. "Less than a month ago, you were a Spirit Beast. Now, you have killed a level three Lord with your companions. Without Shira, you wouldn't be a level two Lord now, and you certainly wouldn't be such a powerful one."
Silva sneered again. "What? Are you saying that I should be thankful to her?" he asked with disdain.
Gravis only shook his head with a smile. "Of course not. She is your enemy, and killing one's enemies is as normal as water flowing down. Yet, killing her now would be a waste. She still has her uses."
Silva narrowed his eyes. "You say I should keep her alive?"
"For now, yes. If I were in your position, I would give her the chance to become a threat to me again. Only with her pressure would I be able to grow to my true potential. Without pressure, my growth will become way slower. So, as long as she still has the chance to become a threat, I wouldn't kill her."
Then, Gravis smirked. "But, of course, as soon as I am way more powerful than her, I would kill her. After all, she is my enemy in this scenario."
Silva furrowed his brows. "So, you say I should use her to become more powerful, and only when she is no threat anymore should I kill her?" he asked.
Gravis nodded. "Yep."
"But what if she becomes more powerful than me and kills me?" he asked.
Gravis laughed when he heard that. "That's the point. If there weren't a risk of her killing you, what tempering and pressure would she be able to give you? When you're tempering yourself, you're always playing with fire. Burning yourself is one of the risks that you have to accept."
Then, Gravis shrugged. "But, as I said, you can also just directly kill her when she returns. In the end, it's your decision. I only told you what I would do in your case. You are still you."
Silva sighed. "Thank you for your guidance, Leader, but I think I will kill her as soon as she returns. She has killed too many of my companions, and I don't want her to kill more of them."
Gravis nodded. "Sure, then go ahead. It's your decision."
Silva only nodded with determination.
And like this, the Tribe went back to its old ways. The Lords went back to temper themselves. Yet, as the weeks passed, the urgency that they had had before vanished. Shira was no longer here, which reduced the pressure of the River Tribe immensely.
Because of that, the Lords didn't temper themselves nearly every day anymore but actually took several breaks. After all, without Shira, they were not under as much pressure to become more powerful.
When Silva saw this, he grew frustrated. Gravis had been right about Shira's uses, and he didn't like to acknowledge that one bit. By now, he started doubting himself. Should he really kill her directly for what she had done? Hearing and seeing were two different concepts.
Hearing about Shira's uses and pressure was different than seeing the effects of her absence. It actually took nearly two entire weeks until another level two Lord appeared, and then it took another two weeks until the next one appeared.
The Tribe was rapidly expanding into the continent, and their headquarters had shifted many times by now. There was no reason anymore for Gravis to wait at the coast. After all, he doubted that the Stone Tribe would send more enemies after their defeat last time.
Yet, there still appeared two level three Lords during this time. The reason for that was that the River Tribe had infringed on territories of Tribes that paid allegiance to these powerful Tribes. Therefore, the powerful Tribes had sent level three Lords to stop them.
Gravis killed the first level three Lord. The fight had been a bit difficult, but not as difficult as his fight against the shark. The main reason for that was that Gravis' lightning had more than doubled. This strengthened his lightning-based attacks immensely.
Gravis had only received a slight bit of tempering, which made him a bit sad. Yet, there was nothing he could do about it. It was not possible for him to artificially make himself weaker. After all, he could always return to his previous peak whenever he wanted. This would not put more pressure on him.
Because of this, Gravis decided to wait for a time when two level three Lords attacked at the same time. When that happened, he would be able to temper himself again. He knew his power, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to kill a level four Lord yet.
The second level three Lord had been killed by Silva, Morn, and Orthar. The fight had been incredibly difficult, and, sadly, it also proved fatal for one of them.
Morn had died.
He had taken most of the attacks, and, in the end, he succumbed to them. Yet, Silva and Orthar managed to kill the level three Lord. Silva also managed to comprehend a Law while fighting. He had comprehended a Law related to his venom.
He had been close to death when that happened, and if he weren't able to do something, he would have died. Under this immense pressure, he managed to control his venom like water and shoot it out in a beam. The opponent hadn't been ready for that at all.
Because of that, the venom beam directly entered their body and corroded it. Since Silva's venom was one entire level lower than his opponent, the enemy didn't die immediately. Yet, an immense amount of Life Energy had been used up to deal with the venom. This made the opponent succumb to their other, smaller injuries over time.
Orthar, Silva, and Gravis grieved for Morn. He had had the most experience in regards to Tribes, and he had always been a stalwart companion. Yet, not everyone had the power, talent, and luck to reach the peak. The fact that they cared for him didn't change this truth, sadly.
No more level three Lords attacked them in the following month, but the Tribe still expanded. Two entire months after Shira's departure, they finally managed to reach the territory of the level three Tribes.
By now, the distance to the coast was longer than 50.000 kilometers. This proved that this world was truly immense.
Several more level two Lords appeared inside the River Tribe in these two months, much faster than before. The reason for that was Morn's death. The death of one of the strongest beasts inside the Tribe had awakened the Tribe from its laziness. They realized that, even though Shira wasn't here anymore, they were still not safe and required more power.
Yet, another two weeks later, something momentous happened.
Shira had returned.