Gravis and the Red King traveled for a grand total of around ten minutes before the Red King turned to Gravis with annoyance. "Move faster," he commanded. Gravis had only used his Spirit to move forward until now, which was way slower than his Lightning Form.
"I can't move faster right now," Gravis said.
The Red King became angry again as he heard that. "Stop lying! I saw you move faster in your fight," he said with anger.
"I first need to heal my body. Then, I can move faster," Gravis answered evenly.
"Then just go heal yourself! You've done it before," the Red King grumbled.
"You said that you knew about the disadvantages that some advantages bring. Have you lied about that?" Gravis asked.
"Of course I know such a basic concept!" The Red King snapped back. "So, what's stopping you from simply healing yourself?"
"The disadvantage of healing myself," Gravis answered.
The Red King waited for an explanation, but no explanation came. Yet, after his earlier experience, he decided against arguing with Gravis. It was just not worth the frustration. Instead, he just groaned. "This is going to take forever like this."
WHOOOOOM!
Suddenly, the Red King's body seemed to explode. Yet, this was not an explosion but just a rapid expansion of his body. In less than a second, all the light vanished as the gigantic body of the Red King took up all of Gravis' surroundings.
Gravis had to admit that he was a bit shocked by the Red King's size. His body was bigger than Gravis' Spirit Sense, and his Spirit Sense could reach up to 20 kilometers into the distance. Yet, with Gravis' Spirit Sense, he was only able to perceive the Red King's legs and parts of his actual body. Gravis guessed that the Red King was probably 40 kilometers big. Such a size seemed absolutely ridiculous in Gravis' mind. He had never seen a beast even remotely this big.
"How did you suddenly grow so much?" Gravis involuntarily asked.
The Red King only snorted, his snort booming throughout the surroundings. "I'm not telling you," he said spitefully.
"Okay," Gravis answered evenly.
When the Red King heard Gravis' answer, he grew annoyed again. He wanted to give Gravis a taste of his own medicine by not telling him anything, but Gravis' calm answer showed that he had failed.
PACK!
Gravis was grabbed by one of the Red King's talons. "We're going," the Red King declared after grabbing Gravis. Grabbing Gravis like this gave the Red King a sense of victory. He was more powerful than Gravis, and Gravis should finally realize that!
"Okay," Gravis answered simply from between the talons.
The Red King only growled a bit when he heard Gravis but flew into the distance anyway. He only had to deal with this annoying beast until he could deliver it to his Empress. After that, all of his struggles will be rewarded.
Gravis could only describe the speed of the Red King as absolutely insane. He was many, many times faster than Gravis. Even with his Spirit, Gravis wasn't able to keep track of his surroundings. As soon as they appeared, they were already gone.
Yet, Gravis was able to feel the Energy density in the air increase as time passed. The Energy density had already doubled after only traveling for two minutes.
After traveling for around two hours, the Red King finally stopped. Now, Gravis could also actually take a look at his surroundings, and what he saw surprised him a little bit.
Gravis couldn't see a Spire, but he saw a lot of tall mountains. Yet, that wasn't the surprising part. Gravis was quite surprised by the shapes of some of the mountains. Most of them seemed to be flat on top while some cave systems ran through the mountain range.
Gravis checked the caves out and found that they were rather complex. Some big, central corridors ran through the mountains, while some small caves even worked as rooms.
If one ignored the fact that all of this was carved into a mountain, they would believe that this was the inside of a castle. The caves and corridors were not as straight and angular as the ones that humans made, but one could see the resemblance.
Gravis was so surprised about that because this reminded him a bit of a city. Gravis had thought that the beasts didn't know the concept of a city, but, apparently, he had been wrong. Even though the mountains weren't in the shape of houses, they still acted as a kind of isolated living space for the beasts.
These mountains were at the core of the territory, and the terrain quickly changed when one flew away from them. Gravis could see a lot of tall and towering trees on the horizon. Some of these trees were even taller than the mountains. Sadly, Gravis could only see them with his eyes but not touch them with his Spirit. Right now, his vision reached further than his Spirit Sense.
Another surprise was the incredible density of Energy. It was many times denser than his previous location. Apparently, they had traveled rather far into the continent.
When Gravis felt this Energy, he grew interested. He probably wouldn't be able to achieve much tempering in the future since he would be under someone else's heel. So, because of that, Gravis no longer intended to stay at his current Realm.
Hunting and eating was the best way to become more powerful for Gravis, but it wasn't the only one. By staying in such an Energy-rich environment, Gravis could temper his body the old-fashioned way. He could just unload his lightning into his Spirit and then refill his lightning via the Energy.
BANG!
The Red King landed on top of the tallest mountain and threw Gravis to the side. Gravis easily recovered and just hovered in the sky to look around. The Red King saw Gravis' interest and felt a bit smug. "This is my Kingdom," he declared.
"Okay," Gravis answered.
The Red King took a hidden, deep breath. "Aren't you impressed?" he asked, almost helpless. He had never met such an infuriating beast.
"Is your Kingdom more impressive than your strength?" Gravis asked back.
The Red King snorted and transformed into his small form again. "Of course not," he said.
"Then why would I be impressed when I have already seen your power?" Gravis asked back.
For once, the Red King didn't get angry. Yes, why would this beast be impressed when it had already seen the Red King's true form? Of course the Red King was more impressive than his Kingdom.
"I will bring you to the Empress in around five years. That's the time for the gathering," the Red King said.
When Gravis heard that, his brows furrowed. "Five years?" he asked, but quickly realized that if he continued like this, the Red King might find something that could anger Gravis. Gravis had angered the Red King to no end, and if the Red King realized that Gravis didn't want to waste so much time, he might actually postpone it even more.
The Red King looked at Gravis.
"That isn't such a long time," Gravis said with furrowed brows. Gravis couldn't lie without getting a backlash from his lightning, but he could say half-truths. Five years really couldn't be considered long when compared to his father's age.
The Red King snorted. "The sooner I'm rid of you, the better," the Red King commented. "The mountain below you is my residence. For the next five years, you will stay atop this mountain and wait."
"No," Gravis said.