The Empress furrowed her brows in confusion. "You want to reach supreme power without having any offspring?" she asked in confusion.
Gravis nodded. "If I have children, I will love them with all my heart. They would be like another life of mine, and I can't rest and cultivate easily as long as I don't know if they're safe or not. Right now, I don't have the power to protect them from danger."
"Yet, I also don't want my path to end in this world. As soon as I have enough power to protect them, I would be at the peak of the world, which means that I can ascend into the next world. Because of that, I can't have children in this world. I'm sure that I can help you some other way. If you want, I will also just join the Empire as a normal beast," Gravis explained.
The Empress had a very complex look on her face. She wasn't really angry or frustrated about the fact that Gravis just said that he didn't want to do the one thing that his position required of him.
Her face looked more like complex pity.
"Gravis," she said slowly. "Do you know why everyone wants to become my mate?" she asked.
Gravis narrowed his eyes as he heard that question. This question seemingly came out of nowhere. Was the Empress trying to entice him to reconsider?
"Isn't it because of the feeling of power that they might feel after bedding an Emperor and the associated status?" Gravis asked.
The Empress shook her head. "This might motivate some of the Lords, but not so many of them. Additionally, why do you think I give out so many rewards to the Kings for a good mate?"
Gravis also thought about that. "You probably also get something out of this, right?" he asked.
The Empress nodded. "Yes. I am searching for powerful beasts so that I can learn about the Laws of Life," she said.
"Laws of Life?" Gravis asked, taken aback.
"Yes. Gaining insights into the Laws of Life is difficult. Yet, by watching the creation of a new life, I receive a lot of insights about the Law of Life. As soon as my children are born, I don't care about them anymore. I am simply using this process to further my understanding of Laws," she explained.
If any human heard these words, they would be shocked and appalled. Yet, Gravis understood that beasts really didn't care about their offspring. Mortal animals might care about them, but it was completely different for beasts on the cultivation path.
The beasts were walking a path to power, and an incredibly vast majority would die on that path. Artificially increasing the offspring's power with the parents' help would make it only more challenging for the offspring to become powerful themselves. That's why beasts in the cultivation world didn't care about their offspring.
Heaven probably also had a hand in that. If beasts also cared about their offspring like humans, they might not reproduce as crazily as they did now. After all, a child one cared about could be considered a burden if love was involved.
Of course, humans would never consider their children a burden. Children brought light and happiness to their lives, and Gravis wasn't different in that regard. If he ever had children, he would love them with all his heart.
"And what do your mates get out of this process?" Gravis asked. "You said there is more than just my earlier stated reason."
The Empress still retained her look of complex pity. Surprisingly, she remained silent for a couple of seconds, making Gravis nervous. He had expected her to scoff at him or grow enraged by his disrespect. Yet, the Empress only looked at him with pity. What was going on with that?
After these seconds of silence, the Empress sighed again. "You are really unlucky," she said.
Gravis lifted an eyebrow. "I'm unlucky? How come? Is it because I don't get that reward the other mates get due to not mating with you? I'm fine with that. Not getting the reward might seem like a loss, but having children might stop my path entirely. I'll accept that trade any day," Gravis said.
The Empress looked to the side. "That's exactly it. If you want to reach supreme power, you must accept the current circumstance," she said.
Gravis was shocked when he heard that. "Wait, what? Are you saying that you will kill me if I don't accept?" he asked.
The Empress shook her head. "No, I won't," she said. Then, she sighed again. Right now, she actually felt some real pity for Gravis.
"Why are all the potential candidates in the previous competition Lords and not Kings or Emperors?" the Empress asked.
Gravis narrowed his eyes. "I don't know," he said.
"The reason for that is the necessary breeding that Lords are required to partake in to become Kings," she said.
Gravis felt his insides shake. "Necessary breeding?" he asked.
The Empress nodded. "A level five Lord can't become a King without having produced a certain amount of offspring," the Empress said, making Gravis' world freeze out of sheer shock.
"If a beast hasn't produced enough offspring, they will be forever stuck at the level of a level five Lord. No matter how much they eat or how many Laws they comprehend, the evolution to become a King will just never take place. This is one of the absolute rules of the world."
Gravis' world had completely stopped, and he couldn't comprehend what was happening right now. "W-what?" he asked subconsciously.
The Empress still looked at Gravis with complex pity. "Normally, a level five Lord needs to produce around 1,000 children to become a King. Producing so many children is incredibly difficult and time-consuming for Lords."
"The reward that my mates get from me is that their offspring will become Divine Beasts. For some reason, as long as your offspring is a Divine Beast, you don't need to have so many children. You only need to bring three Divine Beasts into the world to become a King," the Empress explained.
To Gravis, the world was spinning and going out of control right now. What was the Empress saying? He was required to have children in order to reach the Nascent Nourishing Realm? This was a joke, right?
Yet, this was only Gravis' optimism speaking. Deep down, he knew that she wasn't joking, as many scenes replayed inside Gravis' mind.
He remembered the Red King's laughter when Gravis had told him that he didn't want to have any children due to his goal to become powerful. The Red King had said that Gravis lacked some common information regarding that. He also said that he wanted to see Gravis' face when he finally realized the truth.
Involuntarily, the revelation of this new information had also answered a question that Gravis always had had. If the beasts killed and consumed each other this crazily and quickly to become powerful, then how was it possible that there were still so many beasts left? The numbers of beasts should have been way lower.
Of course, all the weaker beasts still reproduced like crazy since they didn't have the mental faculties to resist their instincts, but what about the powerful beasts? Why would they have children?
This explained everything! This requirement to produce 1,000 beasts would do a lot for the beast population. Heaven couldn't possibly allow the beasts to die out like that. It needed to keep the new beasts coming without pause.
Gravis didn't want to think about this, but all the revelations just kept coming. This rule was the best way to keep the world populated. This way was incredibly effective. On top of that, the beasts wouldn't even really care much since they didn't care about their offspring in the first place. To them, this would be an annoyance and time-sink, at worst.
Gravis also remembered the conversation he had with his father. His father had said that Gravis would count as a beast in this world and that there was a rule that might make Gravis decide against going to a natural world.
Back then, his father had shown a similar look to the Empress'. He knew the rule, but he had refused to tell it to Gravis. Back then, Gravis had no idea what rule could possibly make him decide against pursuing supreme power.
Finally, the truth reared its ugly head.
The hidden rule of the world had been exposed.
If Gravis wanted to become more powerful, he needed to have children.
And if Gravis ever wanted to achieve supreme power…
He would be required to leave his children behind and leave this world without them.
Gravis was required to create powerful emotional bonds and then sever them!