Gravis watched as all his children experienced the world for the first time. Due to his size, he constantly was in the form of lightning so that no one noticed him.
When Aris fought the centipede, Gravis felt incredibly nervous. He knew that the centipede wouldn't be able to get through the scales that easily, but he was still nervous. Luckily, Aris managed to survive.
"Is this how you have felt when I participated in the practical exams, father?" Gravis asked as he looked to the sky. "Have you also wrestled with the thought of interfering if I were close to dying?"
Gravis sighed. "It's so difficult to just watch my children risk their lives. I know that I can save them from nearly everything, but I can't interfere without endangering their path forward."
Having the ability to resolve a conflict but not being able to use it was a harrowing feeling. It was one thing when his friends got into such a situation, but it was an entirely different one when it involved his children.
Gravis had this urge to just protect and pamper them. He didn't want them to go through these hardships. Yet, his children just didn't know any better. They followed their instincts, and their instincts told them that they needed to become powerful.
Gravis started understanding his father's conduct more. Back then, his father hadn't allowed Gravis to cultivate. Back then, Gravis had believed this to be unfair. Yet, the Gravis from back then just didn't know what he wanted. The Gravis from back then had no idea about the hardships and dangers that cultivation brought with it.
It was no wonder that his father didn't allow him to cultivate until the time when his goal and motivation had been set. Only when someone was ready to go through hardships that might kill any other mortal would they be able to walk the path of cultivation without regret.
Yet, Gravis had had a choice back then. His children, in comparison, had never received this choice. Beasts were too stupid without reaching, at least, the Spirit Beast Realm. They were forced to start on the path of cultivation until they became Spirit Beasts. Then, they would be able to choose their path.
Additionally, this was not the highest world. There were areas in the highest world with an Energy density even lower than a lower world. The further out one went in the highest world, the lower the Energy density. People living in these areas could live their lives in peace without having any kind of cultivation.
But this middle world was different. The continent was surrounded by ocean, and all the areas with low Energy density were in the ocean. This meant that a land beast that had been born in this world could only choose peace after they became Lords.
As soon as they became Lords, they could go to the continent's edges and create a small Tribe that didn't want to expand. As soon as the power of the Tribe Leader was stronger than the surrounding beasts, everyone in the Tribe could live in peace.
Yet, how much death and fighting did it take to create a Lord? Over 99% of beasts would never reach the power of a Lord. This meant that only a privileged few even had the choice of peace. If they wanted to survive, they had to kill and become stronger.
His three children were in this situation, and Gravis knew that he needed to let them grow naturally. They needed to become powerful enough to make their choice.
After a year of watching his children, Gravis could already see differences in their personalities. In the beginning, they had all acted identical, but their fighting styles and personalities had changed to suit the environment better.
His firstborn, Aris, had learned an incredible amount about fighting. His combat experience had skyrocketed, but he still wasn't able to kill a Mid-Rank Demonic Beast.
The reason for that was the fact that Mid-Rank Demonic Beasts were faster than Aris. As soon as they noticed that Aris wasn't that easy to kill, they fled into the distance.
One had to remember that the beasts living in area A had incredibly weak Battle Strength, which was related to mindset. These beasts weren't interested in tempering. The only desire they had was to survive. Due to this mindset, they never took risks, and therefore, never got any good tempering.
If Aris met beasts from area C, things might have turned out differently. Those beasts had an average Battle-Strength, and their mindsets were also different. Over half of these beasts would have fought Aris to the death.
Gravis never had any issues with killing beasts. Was that because he had fought different beasts?
No.
Nearly all Demonic Beasts that Gravis had fought in his life had no hesitation about retreating. The reason why they couldn't retreat was that Gravis never gave them a chance to flee.
Gravis' fighting style was completely different from Aris'. Aris tried to dominate the enemy by slowly taking the upper hand in combat. Yet, as soon as a beast noticed that they lost their advantage, they fled.
Gravis fought differently. In the beginning, most of the fights appeared equal or unfavorable to Gravis. Of course, Gravis only made it appear like this so that he could kill the enemy in a single attack. He kept his weapons hidden until the moment when he could kill the enemy in one strike. Naturally, it was different when the enemy actually was stronger than him.
Yet, as said previously, his children had already shown different personalities and fighting styles. Aris fought directly against his opponent without ever hiding anything. He simply clashed with them openly to see who was stronger.
His secondborn, the female Cera, had a different fighting style.
Cera's fighting style was a bit peculiar. When she fought, she always targeted the parts that gave her enemy their strongest weapon. When she fought a bird, she went for the wings. When she fought a cheetah, she went for the legs. When she fought a scorpion, she went for the tail. She attacked the very thing that proved to be the enemy's strongest trait.
In Gravis' mind, this fighting style was more effective than Aris' fighting style, but it was also risky when fighting someone much stronger.
Sometimes, enemies had a hidden weapon that one wasn't able to see immediately. Seeing the enemy become weaker and weaker would increase one's confidence. If that enemy then unveiled a powerful attack, Cera might not be ready to deal with it due to her confidence and shock.
Yet, Cera's fighting style had proven to be powerful. That was because she managed to kill several Mid-Rank Demonic Beasts already. Breaking the wings or the legs of an enemy slowed them down immensely, making it possible for Cera to chase them down when they decided to retreat.
His thirdborn, the female Yersi, had also developed a different fighting style. Gravis wasn't the biggest fan of that fighting style, but right now, it had proven to be the most effective for the current circumstance.
Yersi fought exactly like a generic Darkness Cultivator. She kept herself hidden and aimed to take the enemy down in a single attack. Similar to the panther that had attacked Aris in the beginning, Yersi hid in the darkness and targeted the enemy's weak spot with her strongest attack. As long as her enemy wasn't specialized in defense, she would kill them in one fell swoop.
Due to Yersi's successful fighting style, she had already become a Mid-Rank Demonic Beast. Additionally, she had already killed a High-Rank Demonic Beast.
So, right now, Yersi was the strongest, followed by Cera, and lastly, Aris.
Yet, this was only the beginning. Yersi might get the most resources out of her fighting style, but she also got the least amount of tempering. Either she killed the target directly, or the target would immediately flee. As soon as she had developed that fighting style, she hadn't openly fought with anyone.
Cera received the most tempering out of the three. Her fighting style made it hard for the enemy to flee, which forced them to attack Cera all out. Her fights were the longest and most intense.
Aris received more tempering than Yersi but less than Cera. Yet, that was only because of the enemy's weak mindset. When Aris would meet more powerful beasts, he might be able to receive the most tempering and also develop the most effective fighting style out of the three.
All his fights were open confrontations. If an enemy reciprocated, Aris would be able to have the most direct fight. Cera used a lot of trickery in her fights, which hindered her opponents from unleashing their strengths. Meanwhile, Aris received the full brunt of the enemy's power.
With all of this considered, even though Yersi was far ahead of everyone, everything was still open. As soon as they reached area D, things might turn upside down.
Yersi had a surefire way to kill a beast one level above her. Yet, if she didn't change her fighting style, that would be her limit. With that fighting style, she would never be able to kill a beast two levels above her.
Cera could maybe kill someone two levels above her, but her fighting style took too many chances. One hidden weapon could spell her undoing when fighting such a powerful opponent.
Due to Aris' fighting style, he would be able to receive the most attacks and learn a lot more than the others when he reached area D. As long as he gained more experience, he would definitely be able to fight two levels above him.
So, even though Aris was the slowest right now, this might be for the better.
There was an old proverb that fit the current dynamic rather well.
Sharpening the axe doesn't take away time from cutting down trees.