The Empress was a bit confused by Gravis' bow. She wanted to say that he was acting weird again, but after remembering that Gravis technically didn't count as a beast, she decided not to comment on his behavior. Instead, she acted like he had not said anything and simply continued with her agenda.
"Empress, Grand Elder," a new arrival said as he appeared before the Empress in a bow. Gravis had barely been able to see this new beast arriving, but at least, he managed to notice it this time.
This was an Elder, an Emperor. For the first time, Gravis was able to follow the movements of an Emperor. He was closing in on their power.
"This is the one," the Empress said as she gestured to Gravis, "proceed as ordered."
"Yes, Empress," the new arrival said.
This new beast was a red wolf. Obviously, he had an affinity towards the fire element. Right now, he was only two meters tall, but his true size was way bigger.
The red wolf turned to Gravis and smiled. "Hello, Gravis," he said with a friendly tone. "I'm Elder Ferris, and I will be your guard and guide for the next 100 years."
Gravis nodded with politeness. "Hello, Ferris. I'm Gravis. Thank you for your help," he said.
Ferris wasn't the biggest fan of Gravis not calling him an Elder, but he had noticed that Gravis even talked to the Empress and the Grand Elder like this. Due to that, he just let it slide. Additionally, Gravis had an incredible Battle-Strength, and Ferris felt him worthy enough to call him by simply his first name.
"You can go now," the Empress said. "If there's anything that proves to be an issue, simply inform Ferris or another Elder. They will report it to me."
"Will do, Empress," Gravis nodded. "See you later, Grand Elder, Empress," Gravis said.
"Good luck, Gravis," the Grand Elder said with a smile.
'Luck, huh?' Gravis thought but decided just to accept the well-wishes. Then, Ferris and Gravis left the Mountain of Pride but stopped at its foot.
"What did the Empress offer you that you're willing to follow me for an entire century?" Gravis directly asked Ferris with a voice transmission.
Emperors had a different status to Kings, and sending an Emperor to keep watch over a level three King would definitely be beneath them. If the Empress recklessly commanded these Elders, they might decide to join another Empire. This meant that he had to have been offered something for his services.
Ferris simply smirked. "To follow you around, I get the reward of following you around," Ferris said with a joking tone.
Gravis furrowed his brows and looked at Ferris with confusion. "Could you elaborate?"
Ferris chuckled a bit. "Simple. You have access to every Law Comprehension Area for the next century. This means that you will obviously spend the next century in these Law Comprehension Areas. After all, you wouldn't let such an opportunity slide."
"So, since you have access to all Law Comprehension Areas and I need to follow you, I, by proxy, also have access to all Law Comprehension Areas for the next century. Of course, that only counts for those that you are interested in. Nevertheless, that's still quite the privilege," Ferris said.
Gravis nodded. "That makes sense."
"Hey, Gravis," Ferris said as he came closer. "Let me just be direct and honest. You have the choice of all areas we go to, and I won't object to any of them, but it would be nice of you if you visited one regarding fire. It doesn't have to be for long. Of course, if you don't want to, that's also okay."
Gravis had expected that Ferris had had an ulterior motive when he decided to follow him, but surprisingly, Ferris simply told Gravis his motive directly.
"You're in luck," Gravis said. "I wanted to stop by a Law Comprehension Area for fire anyway, but not right now. So, sure, we'll go to one later."
Ferris nodded with a smile. "That's all I can ask for," he said.
Then, Gravis told Ferris where he wanted to go first. Gravis' decision confused Ferris a lot, but his job was only to stop beasts from angering Gravis and to stop Gravis from fighting any beasts. In the end, it was Gravis' decision where he wanted to go.
Ferris had no idea why Gravis wanted to go there, but he led him there anyway. The two of them traveled for over a day, leaving the Empire far behind. One shouldn't forget that the majority of Law Comprehension Areas were in the territories of affiliated Kingdoms.
Soon, Gravis and Ferris arrived in front of the Law Comprehension Area.
The area looked absolutely wild and chaotic. On one spot was a dry and deadly desert. Some bones of some dead, weaker beasts littered the grounds while humongous sand dunes nearly reached the cloud layer.
Yet, just around a hundred kilometers further away, was a grand and powerful river that somehow felt way more imposing than just a normal river. It was almost like the water inside the river was a more powerful kind of water.
A hundred kilometers in a different direction were some powerful and sturdy mountains with many kinds of metal and stone. In yet another direction was a hill with a lot of powerful Spirit Plants on them that created a kind of forest.
Gravis could see different kinds of crystals present in every biome. These crystals were also a kind of material, but it was different from normal metal.
What kind of Law Comprehension Area was this? Which Law could one observe here?
This was the Law Comprehension Area for the Composition of the earth element.
Why would Gravis want to visit a Law Comprehension Area associated with the earth element? Ferris had no idea.
'Silt, sand, and gravel in the rivers. Fertile and infertile earth in the forest. Different kinds of stone and metal in the mountains. Sharp and weathered sand in the desert. All kinds of relatively soft and medium-hard materials can be found here. That's exactly what I've been looking for,' Gravis thought.
"Do you want to know why I've chosen this area?" Gravis asked Ferris.
"I do," Ferris answered. "I just felt like it wasn't my place to ask."
"It's alright," Gravis said. "I'll see you as one of my companions for the next hundred years. If you have questions, you can simply ask them. After all, I will also ask you if I want to know something."
Ferris furrowed his brows, but he nodded anyway. Accepting someone as a companion simply because they would spend some time together felt weird to him, but that would truly make this whole situation easier.
"Alright," Ferris said. "So, then tell me, Gravis, why are we here?" he asked.
Whoop!
Gravis summoned his armor and weapons, surprising Ferris. "What are my armor and weapons made of?" Gravis asked.
Ferris hadn't seen a polished and tempered version of metal before. No beast had ever wanted to polish, forge, or temper different kinds of metal, so the shiny exterior confused him for a bit.
Yet, who was Ferris? He was an Elder and an Emperor. He had enough experience to discern the materials. "Some form of metal, right?" Ferris asked.
Gravis nodded, his armor creating a clanking sound. "Exactly. Now, which affinity do I have?" Gravis asked.
"Lightning," Ferris answered.
"Yes, so why do I have metal around myself?" Gravis asked.
For some reason, that question surprised Ferris. Yes, why did Gravis, a lightning beast, have metal around himself? He shouldn't be able to manipulate metal since he didn't have the metal element.
"Honestly, I don't know," Ferris said.
Clank!
Gravis punched his armored chest with quite some power. "This metal is harder than my scales. So, it offers better defense than my body, right?"
Ferris nodded.
Shing!
Gravis slashed with his saber. "This saber is harder and sharper than my teeth and claws. So, it offers better offense than my body, right?"
Ferris nodded again.
"So, why wouldn't I use metal?" Gravis asked.
Ferris thought about it and found no counterargument. Over ten seconds passed in silence.
"Huh," Ferris said. "Why didn't I think of that?" he asked himself as he noticed all the advantages.
Gravis simply smiled. "Since I don't have a metal affinity, I can't just summon metal. I need to search for metal in the surroundings and use that. When I find some appropriate metal, I simply melt it down and change it into a usable form for me, like weapons and armor."
"So," Gravis said as he looked at Ferris, "while I can't summon metal, I can still use parts of its power via naturally occurring metal."
"In order to manipulate metal to this degree, I've needed to comprehend a Composition Law regarding metal first. If there were no naturally occurring metal, that Law would be absolutely useless to me since I can't transform my Energy into metal."
"Yet, since there is naturally occurring metal, I can still make use of a Law of a different element than my own," Gravis explained.
Ferris' eyes shone in recognition. "That's genius!" he exclaimed.
Of course, it wasn't really genius. After all, basically every human used and refined different kinds of resources. It was not special in human worlds, but in this beast world, something like this was unprecedented.
"So, why are we here? Can you guess?" Gravis asked.
This was a new concept for Ferris, but he had plenty of experience with Laws. "If there is a Law regarding the Composition of metal, there should also be a Law regarding the Composition of earth, right?"
Gravis nodded. "And?" he asked with a smirk.
Ferris continued. "And since both Laws have something to do with Composition, you might be able to comprehend a level two Law about Composition by combining them," Ferris answered.
Gravis nodded with a smirk. Then, he turned to the Law Comprehension Area with fervor in his eyes.
"Exactly!"