Gravis remained inside his newly dug hole for over a week. Even though he believed that this Heaven wouldn't be so stupid, his mind still went through a ton of hypothetical scenarios in which he was forced to have children.
Every time he thought about having to abandon his children, he gritted his teeth. What kind of cruel and bullshit rule was this? Forcing a human to have children against their consent was incredibly cruel. Gravis was absolutely sure that there was no such rule for humans.
If such a rule existed for humans, there wouldn't be nearly as many powerful cultivators. Gravis was sure that the vast majority of humans wouldn't choose to have 1,000 children to become more powerful. If someone decided to do that, everyone, including Gravis, would believe them to be selfish and cold-hearted.
His father and mother had given everything to Gravis and his siblings. His parents took the wishes of their children into account and supported them on their path. Someone that didn't want to risk their life would be able to live a long and painless life with the power of an Immortal Emperor. Someone who wanted to cultivate would get the best possible start.
Gravis felt the care that his parents felt for their children, and Gravis couldn't imagine himself being any different. If he ever had children, he would give them all his support. Yet, that would make it incredibly difficult for him to continue on his path to power. He couldn't imagine leaving his new family behind.
Additionally, Gravis couldn't just lie to his children. What if one of them asked him why he decided to have children in the first place? Was he supposed to tell them that they only exist because he wanted to become more powerful? Hearing something like that would hurt a child immensely. Gravis would never want to hurt his children like this.
On top of that, Gravis felt no love or physical attraction to any beast, including the Empress. So what if the Empress had a human-like upper body? She wasn't a human. She was a beast, and Gravis had no intention of bedding a beast, no matter how similar it was to a human.
What if his children asked him about his relationship with their mother? Was he just supposed to tell them that they only existed because the Empress allowed him to reach a new Realm while having as few children as possible?
These thoughts disgusted Gravis to no end. Gravis would only want children if he found his life partner. He wanted a family, not some randomly scattered people or beasts that shared his blood. He couldn't call something like that a family.
Everything about this situation frustrated and enraged Gravis to no end. He couldn't imagine having to decide between his goal in life and family. Additionally, he wouldn't know what he would do if-
"Leave, peasant! This is my mountain!" a powerful voice suddenly appeared as it resonated throughout the mountain, taking Gravis out of his thoughts. Immediately, his rage exploded as it found an outlet.
BANG!
Gravis didn't even bother to leave through the hole and just charged through the top of the mountain. Then, he looked at the offending beast. It was a 500-meter-long, blue crocodile. It was a level five Lord.
The crocodile was taken aback by Gravis' rage-filled eyes. Yes, it had called him a peasant, but that didn't warrant such an extreme response, did it?
"You, me," Gravis said slowly as he pointed at the crocodile and then at himself. "Life and death fight. Do you accept?" Gravis asked with an icy voice. He had a belly full of anger, but he never forgot the rules. The other party had to accept before he could kill them.
The crocodile was surprised when it heard that. Did this pathetic level three Lord just ask it for a life and death battle because it had called him a peasant? This beast was only a level three Lord! It was normal that more powerful beasts occupied better territories. Also, this mountain had been its residence anyway. Did this weak beast know nothing about how the world worked?
The crocodile scoffed. "Don't throw your life away," it said. "I'll overlook your dis- "
"Do you accept or not?" Gravis interrupted it.
The crocodile was quite surprised about Gravis' interruption. It had never seen such a weak beast talking to it like that.
"Calm down," a third voice said as a newcomer seemingly appeared out of nowhere. It was a green monkey, not even two meters tall. Gravis looked at the green monkey and wasn't able to feel its power, which meant that this monkey was a level five King, at least.
"Elder," the crocodile said with respect. "I am within my right to accept this challenge and execute this weak level three Lord, but I've held myself back. I'm here as an envoy, and I don't want to hurt our relationship. Please, keep your beasts under control. If this happened in my Kingdom, I would have killed this beast already."
The monkey looked at the crocodile and nodded. "Thank you for that. Let me introduce you. This," the monkey said as he gestured towards Gravis, "is the Empress' new breeder. He has only been here for a little over a week, so he doesn't know the workings of our Empire very well."
The crocodile nodded a couple of times. "I see. Then, that's-"
"Do you accept or not?" Gravis interrupted both of them again with his rage-filled voice. He didn't break any rules. He was fully within his right to issue a challenge for a life and death battle. He was furious right now, and he needed to vent!
The monkey furrowed his brows. "Listen," the monkey transmitted to Gravis so that the crocodile didn't hear him. "I'm not doing this because of his pathetic status but because of his power. I know that you must have exceptional Battle-Strength to become a breeder, but this crocodile is also powerful."
"I know that you can probably fight two levels above yourself, but this crocodile has also comprehended a Law. I don't want you to throw your life away," the monkey transmitted.
Meanwhile, the crocodile was taken aback again. It knew that Gravis must be powerful to become a breeder, but wasn't he taking it a little too lightly? If this happened outside the Empire, the crocodile would have already killed this beast.
The crocodile looked at the monkey with a complicated look. It really didn't want to cause any trouble, but it was becoming harder to resist.
"Listen," the monkey said as he turned to Gravis. This time, he spoke instead of using a voice transmission so that the crocodile could hear their conversation. "This mountain is reserved for visiting envoys. The envoy is in his rights to demand that you leave-"
"I don't care," Gravis interrupted again. "Power is everything, and if he's more powerful than me, then I will die today. If I'm more powerful, then what right does he have to force me to move?"
Both of them were quite shocked by Gravis' unceremonious interruption. It was one thing to interrupt the crocodile, but interrupting the elder was a whole different thing.
The monkey scoffed and turned his eyes away from Gravis. He only wanted to help Gravis since he was a breeder of the Empress. Yet, Gravis had thrown his goodwill away.
Then, the monkey turned to the crocodile. "Issuing a challenge for a life and death battle is within the rules. Accepting this challenge won't draw any ill-will from us towards your Kingdom. It's your decision."
When the crocodile heard that, it smirked. It knew that Gravis had to be powerful since he was able to become a breeder, but the crocodile wasn't an average level five Lord either. It could fight Half-Step Kings!
Additionally, the crocodile wasn't even eligible to become a candidate for this position. Some small bits of envy and resentment were buried inside it since Gravis had something that it couldn't even hope to achieve.
Yet, power was everything, and the crocodile was more powerful than Gravis. His status didn't matter at all right now. Today, it would kill one of the illustrious breeders.
"Then, I'm sorry, but I will accept the challenge," the crocodile said.
The monkey nodded. "I will bear witness to this challenge. Follow me to the fighting grounds. As soon as you enter, no beast is allowed to exit the fighting grounds until the other one is dead."
Gravis remained silent as he looked at the crocodile with rage-filled eyes. The monkey had noticed these eyes and shook his head in disappointment. Such a reckless and emotional beast managed to become a breeder? What had the Empress thought when she had decided to accept him?
The beasts of the Empire had been informed about a new breeder, but they hadn't been informed about Gravis' power. As far as they knew, Gravis was just as powerful as all the other breeders. That was why the monkey had tried to help Gravis. After all, due to the crocodile's power, this would be a fight with a three-level-difference for Gravis. A breeder was powerful but not that powerful.
The monkey turned around and flew away while the crocodile and Gravis followed. The crocodile threw some smug gazes at Gravis, while Gravis only looked forward in rage. He almost couldn't control his anger right now. He just wanted to kill something right now!
Meanwhile, beside the Mountain of Pride, the Grand Elder was looking in their direction.
Then, he sighed.
"It has only been a week," he said helplessly to himself.