Female Novel
Chapter 12
"Little brother?” Gravis asked, quite confused. He never met his siblings. He wasn't even sure if he had siblings.
The man just grinned. "Yeah, you're my little brother, and | am one of your older brothers." He stood up, walked around the desk,and patted Gravis on the shoulder. "You can call me Brother Orpheus." Seeing that Gravis still looked unsure, Orpheus laughed.“Man, this brings me back. | had the same look you have when | met my first sibling."
Gravis looked dejectedly at the floor. "I'm sorry. | didn't realize | had siblings. Father and mother never talked about their otherchildren." Gravis realized what he said and quickly tried to correct himself. He didn't want to give his newly met brother thefeeling that his parents didn't care about him. "No, no! They probably did, but | didn't notice." Gravis rubbed the back of his head."Sorry, sorry."
Seeing this, Orpheus laughed loudly. "Haha, don't worry!" Orpheus patted Gravis' shoulder again, showing that he didn't mind."Maybe you didn't notice, but our siblings are forbidden to talk to the center child until their way has been established."
Now, Gravis was confused again. "What do you mean with center child?""The center child is the newest born child from father and mother." Orpheus pointed at Gravis. "So, right now, that is you."Gravis furrowed his brows. "Okay, but why? Also, what did you mean with ‘established way'?"
Orpheus sat back down on his chair and beckoned Gravis to sit too. Gravis did just that. "This practice comes from father. Hecares very much about us and wants us to find our own way in the world, without outside influence. Only a heart and will born outof itself is the strongest. If, for example, | persuaded you to start cultivating, you might not truly have the heart for it. This wouldbe an obsession implanted by others and not born by yourself. There's a difference in that."
Orpheus continued. "And with ‘finding their way’ | mean, when someone internally decides which path to take in life. Somechoose a quiet life. Some want to cultivate, and some want parts of both. When father sees what his child has decided to do withtheir life, he brings them on the right course." Orpheus took a sip from his coffee. "In your case, it's ‘Becoming the strongest’."
Gravis now looked skeptical. "How are you so sure that is what | want?"
Orpheus smiled. "Because you're here." Orpheus noted that Gravis wasn't fine with that explanation, so he just laughed againand continued. "Father has chosen the hardest path for you. Even if it doesn't seem like it, he cares for all of us. If he weren'tsure that you wholeheartedly wanted to become strong, he would have never allowed you to start cultivation from the bottom."
Gravis looked absentmindedly at the window. "I am also confused by that. Couldn't he just grant me strength, or give metechniques or resources? Why send me on this life and death path?"
Orpheus sighed. "Father can only give strength up to the Immortal Emperor realm. You don't need to think about how high thatrealm is. You only need to know that it is strong, but not very strong in this world. There are multiple major realms above that,and if you didn't forge your path with blood, calamity, and setbacks, you wouldn't have the experience or will to get much furtherin life. A stable palace must be built one brick at a time. If you complete it but want to expand it to multiple times its size, thefoundation won't hold."
Gravis was very interested in what an immortal emperor was. An immortal emperor sounded very strong. Probably stronger thanhe could imagine. Yet, not even that was the end. He also remembered that his father shouted the word Star God before hefought Heaven. A God should be stronger than an immortal. There was a long way to go.
Orpheus smiled slyly and continued. "What do you think? How many siblings do we have? Give me a number."
Gravis wasn't sure, but he knew that his parents had been alive for a long time. "Don't know, maybe 50?"
"50?" Orpheus laughed loudly again. "There are thousands!"
Gravis’ jaw hit the floor. "Thousands? | have thousands of brothers and sisters?"
Orpheus snickered. "Yeah, and imagine that. All those siblings have their own family."
Gravis couldn't wrap his head around the fact that he had thousands of brothers and sisters. "Where are they all?" he asked.
Orpheus took out a canteen and another cup. He filled it with coffee, and the cup moved to Gravis by itself. He beckoned Gravisto drink, and Gravis took a gulp. He had tasted coffee before, but this cup tasted like crap. He tried to hide his disgust, butOrpheus noticed and laughed again. "Do you know how many people would lick my boots just to get a sip of that? Yet, you looklike you just faceplanted into a pile of shit."
Gravis went a bit red with shame. He didn't want to disrespect his brother. He opened his mouth to apologize, but Orpheuswaved his hand. "Don't worry. As if my coffee can keep up with our father's. | just wanted to tease you."
Gravis sighed, but inside he felt warmth. This was family. He felt that his brother was honest with him and had only goodwill.Though, he was still unused to the fact that he had a brother... or thousands of them. He lifted his cup again and emptied it.
Orpheus slammed his desk. "Good! That's how a man should be! Even if you don't like it, do what you deem necessary without acomplaint. You truly are my younger brother." He drank from his own cup and also emptied it. "Now, back to your question. Youwant to know where our other siblings are?"
Gravis nodded.
“Everywhere,” Orpheus said. "You can find a lot of them in this city. You can find at least one sibling in every sect. You can findsome of them roaming around. Many of them are in important positions around the world."
Instead of widening, Gravis' eyes narrowed. "Then why have | never met them? By your words, | established my way somemonths ago. That is plenty of time for them to visit or, at least, say hello.”
Orpheus sighed. "Don't be angry atthem. | can understand them. Look atwhere you are right now. You justwent through two aks of life ahd“fet batttes\afal a couple of
Onths, you will go to the lowerworlds. You can only return when youascend by yourself, and how manypeople actually manage to ascendfrom lower worlds? The answer is,pitifully few. The chance that youreturn alive is less than 1%." Thecontent is on NovelDrama.Org! Readthe latest chapter there!novelbin
Gravis felt a lump in his throat. He only thought about his preparation and his future journey. He didn't think about how hard itwas going to be to ascend. Gravis sighed and kind of understood why his siblings didn't want to see him.
Orpheus continued and confirmedGravis’ thoughts. "Imagine meetingyour new brother, only for him tovanish or die aco A) months" 'later If REMeet you, they will getattached to you, and if you die, theywill grieve. Even though we live farlonger than mortals, the death of aclose one never gets easier." Orpheussighed again. "Please don't think badof them." The content is onNovelDrama.Org! Read the latestchapter there!
Gravis could understand his siblings.Maybe he would do the same in theirshoes, though it still felt song Ilboiled down to the Radthathe wasstil] tbo Ae So weak, that hissiblings feared to form anyattachments to him. Well, there wasat least one. "| hope you don't mindme asking, but why did you decide tomeet me?" The content is onNovelDrama.Org! Read the latestchapter there!
Orpheus smiled. "Actually, because | chose the same path as you."