Gravis talked with Orpheus some more, and he had also gotten the answer how it was so cheap for the Research Institute to open portals to other worlds. After all, something like that needed a lot of Energy.

The answer was as obvious as it was brilliant.

Prisoners from Opposer City's Guards.

The Research Institute and the guards had a deeply connected relationship, and one could even say that one of them nearly couldn't live without the other one.

The Research Institute gave the guards plenty of techniques and Form Laws in exchange for some of the prisoners. All the prisoners that only had to work for a finite amount of time would be sent to the mines to mine God Stones, from which a huge part would go to the Research Institute.

However, the prisoners that had committed severe crimes wouldn't be sent to the mines but to the tubes.

The prisoner's will would be put into stasis by a complex Formation Array. The will of the prisoner still existed, but as long as no one woke them up, they wouldn't wake up on their own.

In that state, the prisoner would still count as alive, and their body would still absorb Energy. Several tubes would be put into the bodies of the willless prisoners that sucked out all their Energy, and their body's subconscious absorption of Energy would always refill their Energy storage.

These prisoners would remain in this situation until their longevity ran out.

They were essentially refilling Energy batteries.

It was quite a dark image, but Gravis didn't find it weird.

The Cultivation world was rather dark, after all. This wasn't anything special.

Gravis had also worked as a torturer for a couple of years, and that job wasn't any prettier.

Eventually, Gravis and Orpheus ran out of things to talk about, and Gravis left.

Gravis had told Orpheus about the fact that Lina was trying to find a way to repay him and that Orpheus should give her some time.

Orpheus scratched his chin in thought and then shrugged. "Sure, I'll give her some time," he said.

Gravis nodded. This was everything he could do for Lina. Everything else was up to her. If she couldn't make appropriate amends, Orpheus would kill her.

Then, Gravis left and went towards Opposer City to spend some time with his father and mother.

Nothing of note happened during that time. Gravis only talked with his father, mother, and the Black Magnate.

After that, Gravis went back to Manuel's faction.

By now, Gravis had talked to Arc, Orpheus, and his family.

Now, he only wanted to meet Stella again.

And that happened way faster than he had thought.

One day, Gravis' eyes opened wide in surprise as he felt Stella enter his Spirit Sense.

"Stella? You're already back?" he asked as he teleported to her.

When Stella saw that Gravis was still alive, a bright smile appeared on her face.

"Yes, my tribulation came early. Heaven probably saw that there is no reason to wait with the tribulation since I was doing nothing but waiting anyway and sent it early," Stella said.

"But more importantly, what about you, Gravis?" Stella asked with interest. "How was the Heaven's Trial?"

However, Gravis didn't think about his Heaven's Trial right now.

He was only thinking about Stella as he looked at her.

Stella was still a level nine Star God, but her Will-Aura had already reached the level of a level three Ancestral God. It was definitely powerful enough for her to become an Ancestral God.

Stella definitely hadn't had it easy.

At the moment, Stella only smiled brightly at Gravis like nothing had happened, but Gravis knew that she had probably been close to dying just recently.

It was a terrifying thought to realize that there had been a high chance that Stella wouldn't return.

Every time Stella went to temper herself, Gravis was thrown into a swamp of worry.

He didn't want her to die, but he also couldn't help her in her tempering.

Literally the only thing Gravis could do was trust Orthar that he wasn't sending Stella an opponent that would kill her.

Gravis didn't see Orthar as his enemy, but it still frustrated him that the survival of all of his friends and loved ones basically hinged on Orthar.

If Orthar wanted, he could simply send an equally powerful person to fight with Stella as her previous opponent, but the new opponent would have Laws that could counter Stella or had a higher potential for growth during a fight.

One of the only reasons why Stella was still alive was because Orthar wasn't sending her against geniuses from a Peak Sect with similar powers. Those geniuses were geniuses because their minds were very susceptible to comprehending powerful Laws in moments of crisis.

In the beginning, Stella and her opponent would be about equally as powerful. Nearly all of the time, the winner of the fight would be the one that had grown more during the battle.

Gravis knew that Stella had a very high potential for comprehending Laws, but he also knew that there were people with an even higher potential.

If Stella were put against someone like that, she would most likely die.

Gravis saw Orthar as his friend, but Orthar's sheer control over Gravis' entire life still left a bad taste in his mouth.

Even more, Orthar also wasn't perfect. He knew a lot, but he couldn't know everything. For example, Orthar had been uncertain about Mortis' survival during Samsara, and he had also been uncertain when Gravis and Mortis had fought Arc and the younger version of the Opposer.

If Stella accidentally died to her tribulation, Orthar could say that he had chosen an optimal opponent and that something had simply not gone to plan.

Would Gravis believe that?

Yes.

Why not? Orthar had shown that he wanted Gravis to become powerful, and he didn't want to end up on Gravis' bad side. There was literally no reason to damage their relationship.

But in the end, it was still all up to Orthar.

He had control over Gravis' entire life.

What if Gravis said that he wanted Stella and his loved ones to have unlimited longevity?

That wouldn't even help!

They all wanted to become powerful, after all. It wasn't like they were forced to.

And sadly, a tribulation always gave one the optimal opponent for their level. These opponents were better than any opponent the Cultivator could search for on their own.

Gravis didn't want to be under Orthar's control, but he had to concede the fact that being under Orthar's control was the best and most optimal way to power.

He was literally helping them, but they were also forced to accept his helping hand.

It was a very complex situation mired with many conflicting emotions.

Suddenly, Stella hugged Gravis, taking him out of his thoughts.

Stella knew Gravis very well, and she knew what he was thinking about.

He had worried about her, and she didn't like it when he worried about her.

Why?

Because Stella also worried about Gravis, and she knew how horrible the uncertainty felt.

Gravis only released a sigh and embraced Stella. "I'm sorry. I've lost myself in thought."

"It's fine," Stella said quietly. "I'm only happy that you're still here."

"I'm also happy that you're here, Stella," Gravis said.

Then, the two of them went to Stella's home, and they only spent time with each other.

The outside world was forgotten.