Ch. 691..700

Chapter 691 - 691 – Harvest

A lot of people on the streets looked at the Gravitas with a glimmer in their eyes. Some of them saw the Certificates and realized how good that shop was. A perfect evaluation for World Weapon Forging? Lower prices than anywhere else? This was too good to be true!

This was a common mistake that a lot of new traders committed when they opened their shops for the first time. When someone highly talented in a profession opened a shop for the first time, claiming that they could do these incredible things for this cheap, everyone would think that this was a scam. Because of that, no one would visit these shops until the shop owner got one desperate customer, who would then advertise the shop.

Gravis had heard of the stories of some supremely talented forgers who had committed that mistake. For the first days, and maybe even weeks, they wouldn’t even get one customer.

And that was where the Certificate of Honesty came into play.

The Certificate of Honesty was a symbol of trust. As long as a shop had this Certificate, a lot more customers would trust the claims. Not getting this Certificate when one was very talented was just plain stupid.

After some seconds, the first customers already appeared. However, most of them just looked around the shop. Gravis had created a ton of weapons, thousands, in fact. He had created these weapons as testing tools for their customers. Everyone had a different Battle-Style, which meant an uncountable number of slight variations of the traditional weapons.

Because of that, Gravis had created a ton of weapons for every major Realm and displayed them. If someone wanted to commission a weapon, they could try out some that the shop already had to make a better decision.

These weapons hung on the walls. In fact, the walls were absolutely packed with these kinds of weapons. Luckily, the ground floor of the Gravitas was equipped with a Formation Array that compressed space. This meant that the ground floor was actually an entire kilometer wide and long.

By now, over twenty customers had already walked around the shop, looking at all the different displays. Yersi remained politely at her table, just waiting for the customers to make their decision.

Suddenly, Yersi got a voice transmission, and she looked at a young, innocent-looking girl. After receiving the voice transmission, Yersi walked over to the young girl, who quickly retreated in fear. She was only a Nascent Nourishing Cultivator.

"Miss," Yersi said with politeness. "Please leave the premises," she said.

The customers saw that, and their eyes widened. The shop just opened, but the shop was already throwing a customer out? On top of that, this was definitely not a troublemaker. This was just an innocent girl!

"E-Excuse me?" the young girl asked with fear. "H-Have I d-done something wrong?"

"No," Yersi said politely, "but we don’t serve your kind here."

"M-My kind!?" she asked in shock. "But I have never stolen or done anything wrong! Are you angry just because you are a beast, and I am a human!?" she shouted, her fear seemingly vanishing.

The other customers looked with interest at what was going on. Some of them wanted to help the girl, but they wouldn’t get involved, at least not as long as Yersi stayed polite.

"Miss, you are cultivating a Harvest Technique," Yersi said. "This is something that our owner and us employees of the Gravitas don’t appreciate. Please leave the premises. We won’t serve you."

The customers looked with shock at the young miss. This innocent small girl was cultivating a Harvest Technique!? A lot of the customers shook their heads in disappointment, but they weren’t disappointed with the girl. They were disappointed with themselves.

One should remember that every person in this city was a Cultivator who had their fair share of battles. These were not mortals. Because of that, these people were disappointed that they had not been able to notice that this cute, innocent girl was someone that cultivated a Harvest Technique.

After looking at the young girl more closely, some of the customers saw the signs. Slightly redder hands, a nearly unnoticeable absence of compassion in her eyes, and blood-red soles were very clear signs of someone cultivating a Harvest Technique.

What was a Harvest Technique?

A Harvest Technique was a technique that increased one’s Realm by reaping weaker lives. Cultivators that cultivated these techniques would never fight anyone on their level and would just remain on their "farm" forever.

Heaven forbade the mindless slaughter of weaker lives, and everyone knew that. Because of that, the Harvest Cultivators needed to create the lives they would harvest on their own. This meant having children, supporting them until they reached a certain power, and then killing and consuming them.

Like this, they would only take the lives that they brought into the world themselves. On top of that, they truly loved their children with all their heart. Because of that, when killing them, their Will-Aura would also become more powerful due to the pain.

This was a workaround to evade Heaven’s rules. Heaven wouldn’t punish someone if they accidentally killed someone. Heaven only punished beings that consciously decided to kill weaker beings.

Harvest Techniques were not generally liked, but they were also not illegal. After all, a ton of humans couldn’t even imagine killing their own children.

This was also why Gravis didn’t want to serve these people. He loved his children, and every human that decided to raise their children just to consume them was a monster in his eyes.

The entire atmosphere of the shop changed as the customers’ feelings transformed from pity to disdain. No one would help this girl now, even if she were violently torn apart by the frightening Yersi.

The innocent-looking girl looked around in fear, completely forgetting that she had acted very angrily just now. The other customers only snorted and turned away from her. Seeing that her play didn’t work, her terrified face transformed into a sneer. "You want me to leave? Make me!"

BANG!

Yersi immediately exploded forward with her entire speed and backhanded the girl. The girl got shot away, directly at the door, which opened on its own. The girl crashed onto the street and tumbled several times until she hit another building.

She spit out some blood, but these injuries were nothing serious for a Nascent Nourishing Realm Cultivator. She only had some broken bones.

"Why didn’t you do anything!?" She shouted with absolute rage at her shadow.

"She was too fast," a dark and whispery voice said as her shadow opened its white eyes.

"Too fast!?" the young girl asked with shock. "You are an entire level above her!"

"It was still too fast," the shadow slowly said. "I would advise you to hide your tracks more. You know how other Cultivators perceive us. You can take your revenge later when you are more powerful. For now, you need to lie low."

"Argh!" the young girl said with rage as she stood up with pain. "Sometimes, I regret summoning you."

"And sometimes, I regret being summoned by you," the shadow answered.

With that said, the girl left without making a fuss. This was not the first time she had been treated this way. She was used to being spit on and being sneered at by everyone around her. In her world, she was alone, together with her shadow.

Such a picture would make one feel sympathy for the girl, but as soon as someone remembered that this had been her own decision and that she regularly killed her own children, this sympathy would quickly vanish.

Meanwhile, inside the shop, Yersi cleaned her hands and went back to her counter.

"Good job," Orthar transmitted to her.

"Thanks!" she transmitted back with a smile.

It had been Orthar that had informed Yersi of the customer’s status and her Cultivation Technique. Orthar didn’t care what someone cultivated, but he knew how Yersi and Gravis felt about the topic of family. Because of that, he had informed them.

Some customers threw a friendly smile at Yersi, who quickly returned it with a slight bow. A lot of customers preferred shops that had some integrity. Cultivators that cultivated Harvest Techniques still had money, which was why a lot of shops still served them. Finding a shop that threw someone like this out felt great to them.

"Hello, I would like to purchase this sword," a customer at the Initial Unity Realm said as he put one of the swords from the walls onto the counter.

"Welcome to the Gravitas," Yersi said with a smile. "Do you wish for this specific sword, or do you want a custom-made sword based on this sword?"

"This one is already perfect. How much for it?" he asked.

"Five Immortal Stones," Yersi said.

Five Immortal Stones could not even be considered as change for Gravis, but it was a ton of money for someone that just reached the Unity Realm. One had to remember that Gravis would have needed to work 50 years as a Research Adept to earn that money, and that job already paid very well.

The customer sighed. This was most of his money. "Can you make it cheaper?" he asked.

"When you become an Early Unity Rank Cultivator, and you need a weapon, you can sell us this one back for 80% of its price," Yersi said.

"80%?" the customer asked in shock as the others listened in too.

"Yes, 80%," Yersi confirmed with a smile. "You can buy this one for five, use it until you advance, sell it for four, buy the next one for ten, sell it for eight, and so on. It’s a heavy initial investment, but every subsequent weapon you purchase will become cheaper."

"Sure, I’ll take it!" he said with an excited smile as he handed over the money.

This was an ingenious strategy that Orthar came up with, but explaining the full effect of this strategy would take too long and would be boring.

One only had to know that this was very beneficial for the shop and for the customers.

Chapter 692 - 692 – Runner

"Hello, I would like to request a weapon for my son," a well-groomed middle-aged man said to Yersi.

"Welcome to the Gravitas! What weapon are you looking for?" Yersi asked with a friendly tone.

"Do you have a request token?" the man asked.

"Sure," Yersi said as she fished a jade token out of a drawer of the counter. Then, she placed it on the table.

A request token was a form for customers to submit their specifics. This form asked all of the relevant things, like Cultivation Technique, choice of weapon, Battle-Style, Laws, and many other things. This was generally the most effective way to create a specific weapon.

The man quickly filled out the form and handed it back to Yersi. Yersi glanced at it and nodded. "That would come down to 5,000 Immortal Stones," she said.

This was a weapon for a Peak Law Comprehension Cultivator, someone at the same level as Orthar. The person in front of them was an Immortal at the early Major Circulation.

Major Circulation? What was that?

Gravis had heard these two words from the Black Magnate before but hadn’t gotten the answer from him because they got sidetracked rather quickly. When Gravis remembered, he asked the Black Magnate again, who promptly explained it.

The Immortal, Immortal King, and Immortal Emperor Realm were divided into seven levels. The first three were the early, middle, and late Minor Circulation Realms, while the latter three were the early, middle, and late Major Circulation Realms. The seventh Realm was the Peak Immortal Realm.

One circulation represented the strengthening of the entire being. While there was a power difference of one level between all the levels, the difference between the Late Minor Circulation Realm and the Early Major Circulation Realm counted as two levels. So, in short, this person could be counted as being four power levels above Gravis.

"I have the materials. What’s the price if I provide the materials?" he asked.

"Then, the price would go down to 1,500 Immortal Stones," Yersi said.

The customer nodded. "Sounds good, but I would like to pay when I see the weapon," the customer said.

"No problem," Yersi answered with a smile. "Please submit the required materials, and your weapon will be finished in just a couple of minutes."

"Just a couple of minutes?" the customer asked with surprise. "That fast?"

Yersi laughed a bit and nodded. "Yes, our owner is one of the fastest and most accurate forgers in the Immortal Realms. You can judge the quality of the weapon personally in a couple of minutes."

The customer furrowed his brows, but he remembered that the shop had the Certificate of Honesty. So, even if the claim of being so fast was outlandish, it was most likely true.

The customer handed over the materials, which quickly vanished as they got summoned to Gravis.

Just two minutes later, the weapon teleported in front of Yersi, who quickly caught it. This was a weapon for someone three levels above her, but the weapon was forged to be used by a human, and humans had far weaker bodies than beasts. So, even if this weapon was perfect for a Peak Law Comprehension Cultivator, Yersi could still carry it.

She walked over to the customer and gave him the weapon. "Please inspect the weapon and tell us if there is something you want to be changed," she said.

The customer looked at the weapon, walked over to one of the machines to test it, and nodded. While still standing in front of the machine, the customer looked back at Yersi with a smirk. "Thanks!" he said.

And then, he teleported away without paying.

Yersi was shocked and looked at Orthar in panic. Orthar had already informed Gravis as soon as he saw the person bail with the weapon. Even though Orthar could see through a ton of people, seeing through an Early Major Circulation expert was too much, even for him.

Clink! Clink!

On the second floor, Gravis quickly flicked his Obsidian Ring twice in a very specific rhythm.

SHING!

A person directly appeared beside Gravis.

Pack!

Gravis threw a small, violet crystal to the new person, who caught it. "Early Major Circulation Immortal," Gravis said.

SHING!

And the person was gone again.

The bailing customer was someone that people generally called a Runner. A Runner was a person that commissioned something and quickly teleported away without paying. As Immortals, they could teleport insane distances in a blink of an eye, even leaving the Spirit Sense range of Immortal Emperors.

So, even when a guard immediately appeared, the Runner would have already teleported hundreds of thousands of kilometers away. The Immortal Emperor guard wouldn’t be able to see where that person had gone since everyone in the city was chaotically teleporting around, making it hard to read space.

Like this, a Runner could steal the weapon, teleport away, change their aura and looks, and return. Such a disguise would be noticed on a closer inspection, but the guards didn’t have time to inspect everyone.

Because of all these reasons, being a Runner could be very profitable. Of course, only Immortals and stronger could attempt something as risky as this.

Two minutes later.

SHING!

The person from earlier appeared in front of Gravis again...

Together with the fearful Runner.

The Runner immediately knew that he had screwed up big-time. When he saw the guard throwing the small crystal back to Gravis, the Runner gritted his teeth.

How did such a new, inexperienced, rookie shop know how to protect themselves against Runners!? Additionally, how had the Runner-fail-safes been put on the weapon in such a short amount of time!? This was supposed to be easy money!

"Where?" the guard asked Gravis.

Gravis gestured to the side with his head and teleported to the ground floor, in front of the mechanism. The guard and the Runner followed.

When the three of them appeared on the ground floor, the customers were surprised. This new shop had been able to deal with a Runner? Typically, shops only learned about the existence of Runners after being the victim of one.

The guard turned back time and created an image of when the Runner said thanks and vanished. Then, the guard turned to the Runner.

"James, do you have a contract this time?" the guard asked like he knew that guy very well.

James, the Runner, only sighed. "No," he said, defeated.

"Seems like you got caught again," the guard said with a smirk. "You know the process."

James sighed again. "Sure," he said.

Whoop!

He summoned 11,500 Immortal Stones. 4,000 flew to Gravis while the remainder flew to the guard.

This was the consequence of being caught.

Calling the guards was not risk-free. If a guard didn’t judge the circumstances to favor the caller, the caller would have to pay a large sum for wasting their time. Because of that, as reparations, the Runner had to pay an additional 50% of the value of the stolen item. Additionally, the Runner would need to buy the item legitimately. This meant they had to pay 150% for the item.

James submitted 3,500 Immortal Stones as materials and paid 1,500 Immortal Stones for manufacturing. Half of the total 5,000 would be added because of his crime, forcing him to pay 4,000 Immortal Stones to Gravis now.

The other 7,500 Immortal Stones were there to buy the Runner’s freedom. The guards were not some state agency or something. Just like everything else in the city, they were employees of a company. So, the company had to make money.

When a Runner got caught, they could buy their freedom for the same amount as the stolen item was worth plus 50%.

And if they couldn’t pay, they would be taken into custody and sent off to mine ore for a long time.

As Gravis received the money, he destroyed the crystal and the Runner-fail-safe inside the weapon. After that, he quickly made a contract and threw it to James, who signed it. After all, James now legitimately owned this weapon.

The guard accepted the money and laughed loudly. "James, if you continue like this, you will end up in the mines at some point," he said with a smile.

"You get some, you lose some," the Runner said.

"Sure, but you seem to lose more than you get," the guard said. Then, the guard turned to Gravis. "Anyway, I’m off. Thanks for the money. Do call us again," he said.

"No problem," Gravis said as he smiled back.

Then, the guard vanished, leaving James there.

Gravis turned to James. "Wanna buy or sell something?" Gravis asked with a smirk.

James sighed. A ton of other people would flee in rage and embarrassment, but he was used to this. "Yeah, how much for the weapon?" he asked as he summoned the earlier weapon. This weapon was absolutely useless to him. Might as well sell it quickly.

"Custom-made weapons from our own shop can be sold back to us for 70% of the standard price. So, that would be 3,500 Immortal Stones," Gravis said.

James sighed. "Sure," he said as he handed the weapon over.

Gravis quickly made a contract, which they both signed. After that, he gave James the money. "Thank you for trading with Gravitas," Gravis said politely. Then, he turned to the other customers. "Welcome to the Gravitas. I’m Gravis, the owner. If you have any questions, you can ask my daughter, Yersi," he said as he gestured to Yersi.

A lot of questions appeared in the customers’ minds, but it was not their place to ask these questions. This was obviously personal.

After that, Gravis teleported back to the second floor, leaving Yersi in charge again.

James, the Runner, sighed and left the Gravitas. He had made a significant loss today. Not only had he handed over a ton of materials, but he also lost a ton of money.

At least the shop didn’t embarrass him in front of everyone. Yet, that could only count as a band-aid on a broken bone.

James stepped out of the Gravitas and looked at it with a regretful expression.

"Maybe I should start earning money legitimately," he muttered to himself.

Chapter 693 - 693 – Earning Money

The Gravitas served a ton of customers on their first day, and in total, it made a profit of a little over 30,000 Immortal Stones without counting the incident with the Runner.

This didn’t sound like much, but that was only the first day with a lot of discounts. When more people knew about the speed and quality of the Gravitas, more people would come to check it out. This was only the start, and it would only get busier with time.

The average prices for weapons depended on the Cultivation Realm of the client. Generally, weapons for someone in the Initial Unity Realm would cost five Immortal Stones. At the second level, the price would rise to 10, 15, 20, and finally 25 Immortal Stones at the Peak Unity Realm.

An Initial Nascent Nourishing Realm weapon cost 100 Immortal Stones, which would become 200, 300, 400, 500 at the subsequent levels. Law Comprehension weapons started at 1,000 Immortal Stones and would reach a price of 5,000 at the Peak Law Comprehension Realm.

Of course, all of these prices were only for standard weapons comprised of an average amount of materials with an average rarity. If someone commissioned something like a spear, shield, or a big club, the price would rise since more materials would be needed for these kinds of weapons. Additionally, materials had different rarities and were useful for different Laws, which also changed prices.

Yet, one important thing had to be said about the profit of the Gravitas. The policy to sell more weapons by offering to buy them back for 80% of their price later was a massive factor in why the Gravitas earned so much money.

It was very possible that, in some years, several of the customers would return to sell this weapon and buy another one, but it wasn’t certain that they would directly buy a new one. It could be that the customer would use a weapon they found or commission a different forge.

This meant that the Gravitas had to keep ahold of enough money to buy back all the weapons at 80% of their price. Due to that, one could say that the Gravitas only made around 6,000 Immortal Stones profit.

In the short term, this seemed like a stupid decision, but the effect of this policy would only show its results in the long term. Most customers would sell the weapon and immediately commission a new one, which only increased the amount of money that the Gravitas had in its coffers. This would probably also continue for the next couple of purchases.

Yet, the crucial part was something else.

Cultivators died.

For example, when a Cultivator purchased four weapons for different levels, the Gravitas would make 20% profit from the first three weapons and 100% profit from the last one. The Gravitas wouldn’t buy their own weapons back from someone that didn’t purchase them, at least not at 80%.

This had no negative impact on sales since the buyers of the weapons were not affected by this policy and also weren’t interested in reselling these weapons. After all, they could sell the weapons back for far more than they could get by selling these weapons themselves.

One last point was the fact that, when the Gravitas bought the weapons back, the weapons didn’t just vanish. The weapons were still there and would be sold again for the normal price. Gravis only had to do some minor maintenance on them, which only took a second and cost no money.

Of course, over time, the number of weapons that the Gravitas owned would rise and rise since they created new ones and bought back old ones.

But Gravis had a ton of space in his Spirit Space. Storing all of these weapons was not an issue.

In actuality, having so many weapons just lying around was incredible.

Cultivators generally wanted custom-made weapons since they had very specific fighting styles.

Yet, from time to time, there would be weapons that just happened to perfectly fit them since someone else had used a similar or maybe even identical fighting style to them before.

And that was the critical part.

This could be likened to Gravis’ comprehension of the Initial Elemental Laws. Back then, he hadn’t been able to use these elements but could still use the Composition Laws to counter the enemy. Of course, if the enemy didn’t have one of these elements, the Law would be worthless.

But when one countered every element, the specifics were not relevant anymore. The same thing was true for weapons. At some point, the Gravitas would have weapons for nearly every conceivable fighting style for every level on every Realm.

At that point, Gravis wouldn’t need to forge anything anymore. He would only have to maintain the weapons, which took one second each, to get another 20% of the weapon’s worth eventually. At that point, the Gravitas would transform from a forge to basically a weapon lending store.

What if the weapons broke?

Simple, then they just wouldn’t buy the weapon back. After all, it’s broken, and that wasn’t Gravitas’ fault since the weapons had the best possible quality for the materials.

With all of that said, Gravis now had an additional 6,000 Immortal Stones he could spend without having to think about it. Of course, usually, he would have to pay Yersi and Orthar, but they had a different agreement.

Gravis would get 50%, Orthar 30%, and Yersi 20%. Of course, the split of earnings wasn’t as important since they would mostly spend money on the same stuff. They were planning to rent one place, and everyone would pitch in. The only difference in spending would be the comprehension of different Laws.

The first day of business of the Gravitas was over, but it didn’t close. One shouldn’t forget that this was a world of cultivation. No one needed to eat, sleep or even breathe. Because of that, the shop would be open permanently for the next century with maybe some breaks here and there.

After the first day, the next couple of days saw a decline in profits. Yet, by the fifteenth day, the profits reached the same amount as on the first day again, and they even continued climbing.

After the first month, the profits became higher and higher. The reasons for that were two things. One reason was the policy, and the other reason was the speed with which Gravis forged the weapons. Many people didn’t like waiting, and they were even willing to pay more if their weapon was finished faster. Of course, with the low prices of the Gravitas, ordering from them became an even better option.

By now, Yersi was very experienced in dealing with different customers, and she managed to process them in an orderly and efficient fashion. Orthar didn’t need to help out since there were not nearly enough customers to overwhelm Yersi. Weapons were generally the most expensive things a Cultivator bought for their Realm, and they would only buy one per level.

This meant that weapons were rarely bought but would cost a ton per purchase. One could compare this to when a mortal would purchase a new home or a new carriage.

The Gravitas continued booming, and it would only become crazier from here on out.

Chapter 694 - 694 – Security Of The City

After one month of working, everyone finally got enough money to search for an apartment. The Gravitas had nearly a million Immortal Stones in their coffers, but they had to have around 700,000 Immortal Stones ready for the situation that maybe everyone would sell back their weapons at the same time.

Of course, something like this wouldn’t happen, but Gravis always wanted to be safe. He had to be ready for everything, which was why he kept the amount of money ready at all times.

Renting the shop for a century cost him 650,000 Immortal Stones, and he didn’t have that amount of money yet to repay his mother without endangering the Gravitas. Yet, judging by how everything looked right now, it wouldn’t take more than some months to pay that back.

So, Gravis decided to finally rent their place after one month of working. This would probably delay the repayment of the loan by a month, but a month was nothing for Immortals and Gods.

Orthar stopped new customers from entering the shop, telling them that they would serve the customers inside the shop until everyone was gone. The new customers complained, but Orthar quickly quelled these complaints by telling them that they would only be closed for a couple of hours.

For these cultivators, a couple of hours was about as much as a couple of minutes for mortals. They had no problems with waiting for that bit of time.

After everyone was gone, Gravis, Yersi, and Orthar came out of the shop and closed it. Most of the Formation Arrays deactivated, changing the shop’s color and the color of its aura to a lifeless grey, the sign that a shop was closed.

One Formation Array that hadn’t been activated before activated now. This was the Formation Array specifically designed to keep everyone out of the building that didn’t have the fitting Residency Rings.

Could someone steal the Residency Rings?

If some people managed to think about stealing the Residency Rings, the big companies and managers of the city obviously also thought about that. No one would actually rent or buy a place in this city if someone more powerful could simply steal their identity.

Because of that, the Residency Rings were enchanted by the owners of the buildings. First of all, they couldn’t be taken off by anyone but the person. Additionally, even if they could be taken off, no one could activate them as long as they didn’t have the fitting aura.

How did the Residency Rings accomplish that?

Simple, Middle World Core ore.

When someone got their Residency Ring, they only had to attune themselves to it. Of course, since these were only rings and not weapons, one didn’t need nearly as much of the Middle World Core ore as when one used a World Weapon. To be precise, normal Residency Rings only had around 0.7% the amount of Middle World Core ore than a World Weapon would have.

Yet, Middle World Core ore was still Middle World Core ore. In order to crack the attunement of the rings, one would need to have comprehended the High-Tier Law of the Dead World, which was a level seven Law. Only a minority of Star Gods knew that Law and someone of that power and comprehension wouldn’t need to steal some basic Residency Ring.

Someone with that power would only be swayed by truly expensive buildings. Yet, obviously, the truly expensive buildings would be protected by Higher World Cores, and to crack those, someone needed to know the True Law of the Dead World, a level nine Law.

Only Divine Gods knew that Law. Theoretically, they could crack the Residency Rings, but ironically, their overwhelming power was the reason why they couldn’t do that.

Someone with that amount of power was under constant supervision of the absolute elite in the city. Divine Gods were very rare, and whenever a Divine God appeared, every other Divine God would constantly keep track of them.

On top of that, the official highest authority of the city would never allow their rules to be undermined.

Who was the official highest authority of the city?

It was the leader of the company that managed the guards and rules. In order to keep the money flowing, everyone had to feel safe inside the city. Otherwise, people wouldn’t be as willing to settle here. The more people came to this city, the better it was for the company.

The leader was someone at the absolute peak of the Divine God Realm. He was only missing a single step to become a Heaven’s Magnate. Yet, how difficult was it to take this last step? How many Cultivators ever managed to take this last step?

The leader of the company had tried everything but never succeeded in taking the last step. Because of that, he stopped cultivating and decided to live his life out in peace.

Yet, one should never forget that this leader was still a Peak Divine God. 99% of Divine Gods were weaker than him, making the city incredibly safe, but there were still exceptions.

The Opposer was an obvious exception, but he didn’t care about anything. The entire city could be destroyed by someone, and he wouldn’t care at all. This city had his name, but it had nothing to do with him.

One could compare this situation to the Opposer being a powerful, sleeping beast, and everyone else being some weaker animals walking around it. He didn’t care about these animals. As long as they didn’t climb on top of his body or bit him, they could do whatever they wanted.

Another exception was the Black Magnate. As a Heaven’s Magnate, only other Heaven’s Magnates could rival him. When the Black Magnate talked to Gravis, the official leader of the city was incredibly nervous. He had simply hoped that the Black Magnate wouldn’t do anything terrible.

Luckily, except for a bit of stopping time and some earthquakes, the Black Magnate didn’t do anything else. Overall, the situation passed without any issues.

The last exception was Gravis’ mother. Even though Gravis’ mother was also a Heaven’s Magnate, she hadn’t achieved this Realm independently. So, the leader of the city was sure that he could actually easily win against Gravis’ mother in a fight. After all, he had achieved all of his power on his own.

Of course, this was only a hypothetical scenario that would never happen. The Opposer might allow people to go against his kids when these kids decided to join the path of cultivation, but attacking his wife? Never!

Luckily, the Opposer’s wife was a very peaceful and approachable being. She was only interested in her hobby, making money. On top of that, she loved competition. She didn’t want to win against her competition because of her status but because of her abilities. So, even if someone managed to pull a fast one over her, she would actually become even more excited.

Nevertheless, all of this explaining was only to show how trustworthy the security of the city was. The Residency Rings couldn’t be cracked easily, which meant that the Gravitas was safe from any invading force that would actually care about entering the building.

Gravis turned to Orthar and Yersi with a smirk.

"Let’s get ourselves an awesome apartment!"

Chapter 695 - 695 – Virtualization Arrays

Gravis had already informed himself about some good places. After all, not just any apartment would do. Some Immortals were willing to buy a tiny closet just to get a Residency Ring, but Gravis had other plans. He wanted a place with a lot of space, beauty, and methods to increase his comprehension of Laws.

He didn’t want to share rooms with anyone else. Sure, Orthar and Yersi would live with him, but they wouldn’t all want to cultivate in the same room. After all, everyone was interested in different Laws. Taking turns in comprehending Laws was insanely wasteful in Gravis’ mind.

Because of that, around 70% of the apartment complexes fell through. Most people were only interested in the Residency Ring that allowed them to visit the stores. This city had everything that one could buy, and the good shops only allowed people inside that had a Residency Ring.

Due to that, theoretically, there were far, far more inhabitants than one would think. In actuality, around 90% of the official inhabitants of the city weren’t even in the city. They were outside, cultivating. These people only paid rent for a tiny closet apartment to have access to the city’s shops.

Of course, there were also a ton of people that actually lived in this city, and when there’s a need, there’s a business opportunity.

The last 30% of apartment complexes were catered to Immortals who lived and cultivated in the city.

What about Gods?

Gods wouldn’t live in some apartments. They would either straight up buy their own building or live somewhere else. This city had a ton of stuff for Immortals, but when one became a God, it was far harder to find the stuff they needed. These advanced things could only be found outside the city, in powerful Sects.

Gravis went over to a building he had already scouted out. From the outside, it looked like a lovely one-family home, but inside, there were thousands of kilometers of cultivation land and apartments.

This was an apartment complex catered towards actually cultivating Immortals and Immortal Kings. One could say that this complex was for the very rich Immortals and poor Immortal Kings.

The three of them entered the apartment complex without an issue. Surprisingly, this apartment complex also required someone to have a Residency Ring to enter. Well, that was to be expected, actually. If someone didn’t even have the money to rent a closet, they wouldn’t have the money to rent these luxurious apartments.

After entering, the three of them found themselves in a small office. In order to conserve the amount of space the apartment complex had, the main hall was only comprised of a small office. After all, the inhabitants directly teleported to their own apartments and wouldn’t go through here.

Behind a small desk in the middle of the office, the three of them could see a beautiful woman dressed in a white blouse and a black pencil skirt.

"Welcome!" she said with a smile as she stood up from her desk. After walking around it, she slightly bowed in front of the three of them politely. "How can I help you?" she asked.

"Hello," Gravis said. "We would like to rent an apartment for the three of us. We want three separate cultivation rooms and a beautiful, central landscape where we can meet if we want."

The smile of the woman widened. "That’s not a problem. We have plenty of these kinds of apartments," she said. "Though, there is one small procedure we have to take care of first."

"Money?" Gravis asked.

The woman nodded shyly. "Yes. Please display at least 50,000 Immortal Stones to prove that you have the funds. I trust that you have the funds, but my boss would kill me if I skipped this step."

Gravis chuckled a bit. "No problem," he said.

Then, he summoned the 300,000 Immortal Stones they could theoretically spend without endangering the Gravitas. Thanks to the Law of Space, the entire room wasn’t filled to the brim with the Immortal Stones.

"Thank you," the woman said in a cheerful tone. "Well then, when would you like to start renting? If you plan to rent an apartment at a later date, you have more options to choose from."

"We want to start renting in about 95 to 99 years," Gravis said. "We just recently opened our own shop, and we’re making a lot of money. Of course, we will be in our shop for the entire duration of the lease, which is why we are only searching for an apartment in around 95 to 99 years."

The woman nodded a couple of times. "We can definitely work with that," she said. "How long do you plan to rent the apartment?"

"We don’t know yet," Gravis said. "We don’t know the prices for tools to assist in Law Comprehension yet. Most of our money will probably go to that, but we will probably stay here for several centuries."

"That’s good to know," she said. "This helps me to find a more fitting apartment. Some of our apartments have built-in areas for specific Laws, which would be a more cost-efficient way of comprehending Laws. After all, not everyone has the funds to cultivate with the assistance of Riddle Tomes or Virtualization Arrays."

"I take it you wish to rent an apartment with a centralized landscape and three separate areas with Virtualization Arrays enabled?" she asked.

"Yes, that’s what we’re looking for," Gravis said.

What’s a Virtualization Array?

Virtualization Array is short for Law Virtualization Formation Array. A Virtualization Array could transform an area into a place that perfectly demonstrated one or several Laws. Additionally, even though virtualization was in the name, a Virtualization Array actually physically transformed the entire place. It was not just an image but an actual transformation.

One could say that Virtualization Arrays were mobile and optimized Law Comprehension Areas. Natural Law Comprehension Areas often had a ton of different Laws mixed in, with many Laws only being there partially. In comparison, a Virtualization Array perfectly demonstrated an entire Law, making it far more efficient.

Yet, these Virtualization Arrays were incredibly expensive. The main reason was that using a Virtualization Array didn’t create any dependence.

The highest world had a mountain of different methods to comprehend Laws, nearly all of them cheaper than Virtualization Arrays. Yet, the cheaper the method, the more dependence one would have on these methods.

One of the cheapest methods was to directly transfer a Law into the Spirit or Soul of someone. Someone with some Laws regarding the mind was able to engrave the knowledge of a Law into someone else’s mind. Of course, only if that person allowed it to happen.

Like this, someone would instantly comprehend a Law.

So, theoretically, someone could directly teach someone the entire Middle Law of the Dead World instantly.

Of course, the problem with that was that the person had not comprehended the Law on their own, giving them no experience in comprehending Laws. This meant that there were instances in which an Immortal understood the Law of the Dead World but wasn’t even able to understand a level two or level three Law without tempering.

And the more powerful one got, the more complex the relevant Laws became. This meant if one had used this method once, there was a considerable likelihood that they would need to use it again to make any progress, creating a dependency.

Even worse, the providers that gave these services knew exactly what effect they had on others. Due to that, the first three services for level one Laws and the first service for level two Laws were free of charge.

Additionally, the prices for level one Laws were so low that even a poor person in the Unity Realm could afford it. For the level two Laws, a Unity Realm Cultivator would need to save up a little bit, but it would still not be a problem to buy that.

Level three Laws were also cheap, only needing the average wealth of an early Nascent Nourishing Cultivator.

Yet, starting at the level four Laws, the price skyrocketed to be even more expensive than Virtualization Arrays for level four Laws. Sadly, the customers had no other option but to pay if they wanted to become more powerful.

These customers had already bought several level one and level two Laws. Yet, these level one and level two Laws were the most important Laws for every Cultivator. Understanding these Laws was what gave the Cultivators the experience they needed to comprehend the more complex ones. These Laws were the basics and the easiest to understand.

So, the poor customers were already in a downward spiral, which they couldn’t escape from on their own.

This was the cruelest and most damaging way to comprehend Laws.

A less damaging way would be to slowly learn the Law from a teacher. The Cultivator would receive a bit of experience, but not nearly as much as when they understood the Law on their own.

The method that most Cultivators used was Riddle Tomes.

These were books that were specifically written in such a way that one would only be able to decipher the riddles if they made progress in a Law. This book didn’t teach the Laws but only served as an indicator if the Cultivator correctly understood the Laws.

Sometimes, it happened that Cultivators came to wrong conclusions while comprehending Laws, which led them in the wrong direction. These Riddle Tomes existed to keep the person on the right track.

The Riddle Tomes were the most efficient way to comprehend Laws. They were still expensive, but not nearly expensive as the Virtualization Arrays, and they only created a slight dependency.

Meanwhile, Virtualization Arrays were the most expensive, except for some genuinely exotic methods, but were also dependency-free. They simply showed a Law Comprehension Area. That was it. Everything else depended on the Cultivator.

The woman was happy when she heard that Gravis was looking for an apartment with a spot for three separate Virtualization Arrays.

This was a big customer!

Chapter 696 - 696 – Apartments

The woman summoned around a hundred different jade tokens, which floated over to Gravis.

"These tokens give you an image of our apartments, which will be available in 95 years. Some of these apartments currently have tenants, and we can’t just enter these apartments," the woman said with an apologetic smile.

Gravis nodded. "Thanks," he said.

The jade tokens floated around him, and Gravis turned to Orthar and Yersi. "Let’s check them out!" he said with a smirk.

Yersi smiled in excitement while Orthar remained silent, but he was very intrigued deep inside.

One of the jade tokens floated between them, and they all looked at it. As soon as they concentrated on the token, they felt their senses being pulled into it, and they finally saw the appearance of the apartment. It was like the apartment was inside the jade token.

Yet, could this really be called an apartment?

They entered a mountain range filled with volcanos and lava. This looked very similar to the Law Comprehension Area Gravis had been in when he comprehended the Composition Law of Fire.

Gravis looked at this mountain range and even noticed that the entire Composition Law of Fire was displayed here. Someone could use this room to understand the Composition Law of Fire without any issues. That was truly incredible! On top of that, the mountain range was about 50 kilometers across.

Orthar and Yersi looked with wonder at the mountain range.

This was an apartment!?

This was obviously a Law Comprehension Area!

Gravis exited the Jade Token while Orthar and Yersi continued looking around. When Gravis exited, he turned his gaze to the woman from earlier. "Are you sure this is an apartment?" he asked.

The woman laughed. "Yes, this is one of our apartments," she said. "The centralized area where you can all meet also serves as a free Law Comprehension Area. All of our apartments have a centralized Law Comprehension Area for an Initial Law. This is one of our services."

Gravis had known a lot about the highest world, but he was still shocked about the sheer luxury. Having an entire Law Comprehension Area acting as their living room? Sure enough, his mother had been right. The people running these places knew exactly what Cultivators wanted.

Gravis’ Spirit Sense entered the jade token again.

"Father, look!" Yersi said with excitement as she pulled Gravis’ Spirit Sense in a seemingly random direction. Gravis chuckled a bit and allowed his senses to be pulled by his daughter. In an instant, their senses stopped before a gigantic door nearly five kilometers tall. This door was built inside one of the tallest mountains.

"I think this is one of our three rooms," Yersi said.

Gravis checked the entire mountain range out, and sure enough, there were two other doors. "It seems so," Gravis said.

"Wanna go inside?" Yersi asked Gravis with excitement.

Gravis laughed a bit. "Sure," he said.

The two of them entered, but the inside was surprisingly barren.

There was nothing.

It was simply an empty, square room, 10x10x10 kilometers big.

Yersi frowned when she saw the room, but Gravis quickly understood. Gravis pulled Yersi to the middle of the room. There, at the floor in the middle of the room, was a tiny hole, just big enough to fit a jade token in.

"I think this hole is for the Virtualization Array," Gravis said. "As soon as you put the Virtualization Array in this hole, the entire room will probably transform into a Law Comprehension Area."

"You think?" Yersi asked with skepticism. She hadn’t had much contact with Formation Arrays, which was why she was so skeptical.

"Let me ask," Gravis said.

Gravis exited the Jade Token and looked at the receptionist again. "Could you show us a visual of how the cultivation rooms would look like with a Virtualization Array?" Gravis asked.

"Sure," the receptionist said, "but the room won’t have the Laws for obvious reasons. Is there any specific Law you wish showcased?" she asked.

"Could you show us one for Punishment Lightning?" Gravis asked.

"No problem," the receptionist said. "I just so happen to know this Law."

Gravis nodded. "Thank you," he said.

"No problem."

Gravis entered the room again and looked at it. Some seconds later, a small jade token entered the hole in the middle, and the entire room began transforming.

The walls turned into dark clouds. Some seconds later, thunder and lightning rumbled around the room as lightning bolts exited one cloud and entered another. Some more seconds later, some clouds left the "wall" of the room and started floating around the room.

After a minute, the entire room was filled with small and big clouds filled with lightning.

Gravis and Yersi looked around in wonder. The barren room had transformed into a seemingly living storm filled with Punishment Lightning. Orthar also quickly arrived and looked at the room with fanatic interest. Sure enough, it had been the correct decision to go to the highest world!

"This is amazing!" Yersi said with astonishment. "I would have never thought that something like this was possible!"

Gravis nodded. "I’m also very impressed."

Orthar also nodded wordlessly.

The three of them looked around for a bit but decided to exit the jade token. The central area was not to their liking.

After that, they entered several more jade tokens. One was filled with storms, while others were filled with water, light, darkness, and even blood or flesh. There were all kinds of different apartments available.

After looking through all the jade tokens, they were stuck between two of them. One had a forest, while the other one had a massive lake in the middle.

Orthar wanted the one with the lake, while Yersi wanted the one with the forest. Gravis was fine with both of them. Both options had their strong point.

The one with the lake demonstrated the Composition of Water, while the one in the forest demonstrated the Composition of Bark.

The one with the lake had the additional advantage that it reminded them of the Grand Lake in the middle world. Yet, the one with the forest was still in the running due to Gravis’ conversation with the Black Magnate.

Neither Orthar nor Yersi knew anything about plants. After some time, they would have no problems with understanding water, but taking a step into the Life Laws of Plants was harder.

The Black Magnate had said that looking at something one already understood was not as enchanting as looking at something one didn’t understand. Because of that, Gravis believed that the forest would be more attractive for a longer period of time.

After thinking for about a while, Gravis turned to the receptionist again. "Can we commission a remodeling?" Gravis asked.

"Sure, but you need to provide the funds," she said.

The two jade tokens floated over to the receptionist. "Can we combine these two?" Gravis asked. Then, he showed the receptionist an image of the Grand Lake in their previous middle world. "Is it possible to remodel the apartment so that half of the apartment looks like the beginning of a huge lake while the other half is a forest?"

"Sure," she said. "Do you want both Laws to be showcased? I must warn you, keeping two Laws active at all times quintuples the price."

Gravis scratched his chin. "How much would that be?" he asked.

"The one-time remodeling will cost 200,000 Immortal Stones. Renting the finished apartment for one century will cost 900,000 Immortal Stones," she said.

That was a lot of money, but Gravis was willing to spend that. They had made a profit of 300,000 Immortal Stones in one month. In a year, they would probably make several million, and they would be working for an entire century. After the century, they would probably have several hundred million Immortal Stones. Renting the apartment for an entire millennium would only cost between 1% to 5%.

Gravis nodded. "Please do so, but we currently don’t have the funds," Gravis said. "We have only been running our shop for a month. How about we return in a year? Then we can finish the agreement."

The receptionist became shocked for the first time. The three of them earned 300,000 Immortal Stones in only a single month? This was insane for their Realm!

After some seconds of staring with shock at the three of them, the receptionist smiled again. "Sure," she said. "You can come back whenever you like."

Gravis nodded. "Sounds great. See you in a year!" he said.

"Thank you for your visit. Wish you a good day," the receptionist said with a slight bow.

Orthar and Yersi also said their goodbyes, and the three of them left.

"Well, time to get back to work, guys!" Gravis said.

Orthar and Yersi nodded. Now, they knew what they were working towards!

It was time to earn more money!

Chapter 697 - 697 – Big Business

Years passed.

After around five years, the Gravitas’ profits stopped growing and evened out. There were many customers coming in and out per minute, and Yersi had to keep up with all of them. Sometimes, Orthar even had to help out.

Sadly, the fact that Orthar had to help out distracted him from his main job, which was to procure new materials and inspect all the visitors. Because of that, some wrong calls were made, and some customers left displeased due to not being treated correctly.

Gravis quickly saw the potential damage this could cause over the long run and changed the policy. Now, Yersi was only responsible for the trade while Gravis took over the exchange. Before that, the customer would talk with Yersi, exchange materials, the weapon would be delivered to Yersi, and Yersi would hand over the weapon to the customer.

The last two points were taken over by Gravis to make it easier on her. This basically cut Yersi’s work down by 40%, which allowed her to keep up with the customers.

With this change, Orthar could return to his normal job.

Yet, constantly interacting with customers was stressful. Sure, all of them were powerful Cultivators, but dealing with customers for years on end without a pause still put a drain on Yersi. Because of that, Yersi got a day off every couple of years.

This would seem like pure exploitation for mortals, but one had to remember that powerful Cultivators had a far more resilient mindset and could regenerate their concentration far faster. Just one hour would have been enough, but Gravis gave her a full day nonetheless.

Orthar was rising up to the challenge and was handling it with his full power without running out of Energy. Yet, he also never overexerted himself. He was basically functioning like a Formation Array, perfectly at 100% without going below or above that number.

In comparison, Gravis was underworked. Creating the equipment took less time than finalizing the trade. This meant that Yersi was the bottleneck of the financial flow of the Gravitas.

Yet, Gravis didn’t really care. She was doing her best, and she was doing an excellent job. Sure, if he wanted, he could hire an additional helper to increase the money earned in the shop, but he didn’t even consider it.

If Gravis hired someone new, there would be a huge issue with the distribution of profits.

A good receptionist could be hired for 20,000 Immortal Stones per century. This was excellent pay for that job. Someone in the Immortal Realm, with a soft longevity of 50,000 years, only needed to work 100 years to buy two appropriate weapons for them.

Yet, Gravis couldn’t hire someone like that with that pay. After only ten years, they already made tens of millions of Immortal Stones. Yersi would already get several million Immortal Stones for only working as a receptionist for ten years. This would transform to tens of millions in a century.

This would mean that Yersi would earn a thousand times the amount of Immortal Stones as the second receptionist for the same work. Obviously, this wasn’t fair at all, and Gravis would feel like he was exploiting that person.

What about giving the receptionist the same pay?

That would be ridiculous. The only reason why Yersi was getting that much was that she was Gravis’ daughter and that he wanted to help her. Giving that much money to someone else for being a receptionist was ridiculous. Gravis was not a saint.

So, in the end, no one was hired. They would simply continue on like this until the lease of the shop was finished.

The years continued passing.

After 34 years of running the store, the Gravitas sold its first World Weapon. Additionally, since it was the Gravitas that provided the Middle World Core, an astonishing profit of ten million Immortal Stones came out of that one exchange alone. This was the equivalent of more than one year of work.

After 50 years, they sold their second one.

After 83 years, they sold their third one.

And after 90 years, a big client arrived.

A Star God walked into the Gravitas.

With his power, he was able to keep himself hidden from everyone, including Gravis. He only observed how everyone worked for several hours and watched how Gravis forged the weapons. This store was not made to resist Star Gods. After all, why would a Star God be interested in such a small store? Because of that, the Star God could do whatever he wanted in the Gravitas.

"Looks good, doesn’t it?" a voice transmission reached the Star God, who nodded.

"You were right. The weapons are good, and the speed is also incredible for an Immortal," the Star God answered.

"So, do you agree?" the voice asked.

The Star God only smirked. "Even without coming here to check, I would have accepted either way," he said. "Your words are always trustworthy."

"Thanks," the voice said to the Star God.

"Well, time to meet them," the Star God said.

After that, he exited the Gravitas and entered as a normal customer. Surprisingly, he didn’t skip the queue and waited like everyone else.

Meanwhile, Orthar informed Yersi that he couldn’t get any read on that guy, which meant that this was, at least, an Immortal.

Gravis also checked him out and was shocked.

He also couldn’t get a read on the guy!

One had to know that Gravis was able to even feel the power of an Immortal King. So, this person was, at least, a high-rank Immortal King.

’Interesting!’ Gravis thought. Then, he immediately contacted the new customer and introduced himself.

After a bit of testing each other out, the Star God confirmed that he was a Star God. He was actually quite surprised when Gravis had said that he was an Immortal Emperor. Usually, not even highly ranked Immortals would come here. A good guess would have been the Immortal King Realm, but Gravis guessed the Immortal Emperor Realm.

Gravis almost couldn’t believe that a Star God was inside his store! What would someone with such an impressive power want with the Gravitas?

"How many Middle World Cores do you have?" the Star God asked.

"You can see them at the back of the store," Gravis answered.

The Star God looked at the chunk of Middle World Core and frowned. "We can only equip one and a half teams with that," he murmured.

’Teams?’ Gravis thought. ’This is obviously a higher-up of some big company, looking to equip several teams with World Weapons.’

"Let’s try two teams," the Star God said. "Please reserve the World Core you currently have. I will provide three more later."

Gravis saw a metaphorical wave of Immortal Stones drowning him when he heard that. "Sure!" he answered.

"Can we book you out for tomorrow?" the Star God asked. "We want the weapons to be perfect, which requires you to work with the recipients of the weapons. We would like the weapons to be done in one day. I have heard that you can do that," he said.

Gravis nodded. "No problem," he answered.

The Star God smiled, and a jade token appeared in front of Gravis on the second floor. "Please come to this address tomorrow and show the receptionist the jade token. She will bring you to the correct place."

Gravis nodded. "Will do," he said with an excited smile.

The Star God said his goodbyes and left while Gravis activated another Formation Array. This Formation Array showed a deadline when the shop would close and for how long it would be closed.

It would close in 15 hours and would remain closed for 48 hours, just to be sure.

The customers noticed the change but didn’t really care. 15 hours was more than enough to finish their business.

Yersi and Orthar were also surprised. What had happened?

"We are going to make a huge amount of money tomorrow," Gravis said with a smirk. "I was just contacted by a Star God for an order of ten World Weapons!"

Yersi and Orthar were shocked.

A Star God?

Meeting a Star God was actually even rarer than meeting an Ancestral God due to the Opposer’s actions around a century ago. This meant that every living Star God was either related to the Opposer or had reached that Realm in the last century. Obviously, there were not many of them.

Luckily, due to the incredible amount of higher worlds, one Peak Immortal Emperor after the other arrived in the highest world. The higher worlds were shitting out Peak Immortal Emperors like crazy! Because of that, the population of Star Gods was also recovering.

"Which company is he from?" Orthar asked. The fact that he ordered several World Weapons for Immortals meant that he was inside some big company.

Gravis looked at the jade token and was shocked.

He knew that place!

This was the Research Company, the company that he had been part of!

Additionally, the jade token had one addendum at the end.

"Your brother says hi!"

Chapter 698 - 698 – Trip Down Memory Lane

Gravis visited his old place of employment alone. He wouldn’t need Orthar or Yersi here. Instead, Orthar walked around the city, procuring more materials again. Usually, he always had to quickly run and get materials when there were fewer customers since the Gravitas was going through materials like crazy. Yet, with the Gravitas being closed for two days, Orthar decided that this was just the perfect opportunity for Orthar to get more.

Meanwhile, Yersi decided to spend the next two days with her grandparents and relax. Yersi and Gravis’ mother hit it off rather well. Gravis’ mother was very fond of Yersi’s humble and approachable mindset. The fact that Yersi looked like a killing machine was no deterrent to her.

Gravis entered the building and looked at the familiar hall. Whenever he had come to class back then as a Research Assistant, he had gone through this hallway. He still remembered greeting the receptionist every time with his best friend.

What was his name again?

Gravis couldn’t really remember the name of that friend back then. It just had been far too long, but he still remembered how he had felt when that friend died in the first practical exam.

Yet, that was to be expected. Some people would have thought that the death rate was only there to scare the new students. After all, which company would allow their recruits to die?

Of course, such thoughts were naïve. The cultivation world was cruel, and only very few managed to get back from the lower world. If they couldn’t even get through these practical exams, they would have no hope of coming back to the highest world.

Luckily, their families received a generous one-time payment when the students had signed up. The payment was comprised of three Immortal Stones.

That was generous?

One had to remember that the teenagers that went into this company came from weak backgrounds. These backgrounds couldn’t even afford proper cultivation techniques for their children, and even if they could, this powerful company obviously gave better training. After all, it was the company’s business to get as many people to ascend as possible. They were pretty good at it.

With these three Immortal Stones, the families could give another heir a powerful start or use it for their own lives. Three Immortal Stones was a ton of wealth.

In the lower world, Gravis had used Spirit Stones to buy all of his stuff. He still remembered that he had needed a little less than 6,000 Spirit Stones to reach the Spirit Forming Realm.

Yet, three Immortal Stones would count as three million Spirit Stones, which was the equivalent of an entire Elemental Sect in the lower world. This showed how much three Immortal Stones were for these families.

"Can I help you?" the receptionist asked as she saw Gravis spacing out.

Gravis quickly shook his head to break out of his nostalgia. "Yes," Gravis said with a polite smile as he summoned the jade token in front of her. "I’m here to meet someone."

The receptionist nodded with a smile and checked the jade token. When she saw the contents, her eyes widened in surprise. This was an important guest!

The receptionist stood up. "Please follow me," she said as she walked down a hallway.

"Sure," Gravis said as he followed her.

While Gravis was walking, he was also checking out the different rooms he had access to with his Spirit. If the company didn’t want him to snoop, they would just isolate these rooms. That literally cost no Immortal Stones and wouldn’t need more than a mere thought.

Gravis saw several classes with young cultivators being taught. When Gravis saw that, he fell into nostalgia again.

Gravis also very quickly found a familiar face.

It was a bored-looking, Mid Unity Realm Cultivator teaching a class of teenagers.

This was Gravis’ old teacher!

Gravis still remembered how it had been that teacher that told him of his friend’s demise. Additionally, Gravis also remembered how he had curbed Gravis’ Will-Aura before the final practical exam. However, that was understandable. Gravis had had his Will-Aura constantly unleashed, and when someone unleashed their Will-Aura on Gravis today, he would also take that as an act of aggression.

’What was his name again?’ Gravis thought with furrowed brows. ’I think it started with an m,’ he thought as he scratched his chin.

"Are you interested in our classes, sir?" the receptionist asked from in front of Gravis. "I can tell you more about them if you’re interested."

Gravis only smiled. "No need. I was in one myself," he said.

This made the receptionist halt. "You were?" she asked. "But I don’t recognize you. I have a pretty good memory."

Gravis showed his Obsidian Ring. "I’m called Gravis," he said.

"Oh!" the receptionist said as she immediately remembered the small kid from back then. At first, that kid had been timid and nervous but then turned into a cold and unapproachable killing machine.

This small kid survived? Additionally, he was already an Immortal?

"Sorry for not recognizing you earlier, Gravis," she said, more approachable now. "I still remember you, but you really changed. What happened?"

Gravis had to laugh a bit as he fell back into memories. "I returned very quickly and got my Research Adept Emblem. Sadly, someone in the Sky Community stole it from me back then, making it impossible for me to return here. Yet, thanks to my background, the loss of the emblem was not an issue."

"I could have simply bought a new one from some random trader, but there was no need. My father was the one that sent me to the next middle world," he said.

The receptionist sighed. "I never was a fan of this policy. Young people make mistakes. Disallowing them from continuing just because they lost something seems far too extreme to me, but what can I do? I’m just a receptionist."

"Well, sometimes there are just shitty policies," Gravis said in a joking manner.

The two of them talked about the old times but stopped when they arrived in front of a door. The receptionist opened the door and motioned for Gravis to enter.

Gravis thanked her and entered.

Gravis stepped into a humongous and chaotic area. At first, Gravis was quite surprised about the look of the area, but when he inspected it closely with his Spirit, he grew shocked.

This was the best Law Comprehension Area he had ever seen!

It was a relatively flat room, ten-by-ten kilometers big. At one spot was a lava lake, while there was an even hotter lava lake beside it. At another spot, Gravis saw two different kinds of water. There were even an insane amount of ore and materials in this place.

’There are so many Laws demonstrated here!’ Gravis thought with widened eyes. ’There are even several level three Laws! This is absolutely insane!’

Gravis looked with surprise at the areas when he heard a voice.

"Hey, new guy!" someone transmitted to him as the person teleported in front of Gravis. "You’re late! The others are already waiting!"

Gravis looked at the person. It was a middle-aged man in the Late Minor Revolution Immortal Realm.

"I’m sorry, but I think-"

"Stop your excuses!" the man shouted as he interrupted Gravis. "I won’t have latecomers in my class!"

WHOOOOM!

And then, that man constricted the Space around Gravis and pulled him into a certain direction. He had also summoned his Avatar while doing so, and Gravis saw that the Avatar was comprised of the three primal forces, Space, Time, and Gravity. Quite a powerful Avatar.

Gravis’ eyes narrowed, and he summoned his own Avatar.

Chapter 699 - 699 – Power Of Honesty

PLOP!

The Immortal was surprised as he suddenly lost hold of Gravis. He still felt that his Space Constriction was active, but Gravis suddenly simply popped out of it. It was like a slippery eel had glided out of his hands.

"Huh?" he uttered as he looked at Gravis again.

WHOOOM!

He reactivated his Space Confinement and pulled Gravis.

PLOP!

But Gravis wasn’t even moved a little bit. It was like the space around him was a liquid, and he was a heavy stone. It pressed into him, but in the end, it only managed to flow around him.

The Immortal blinked several times in surprise as he couldn’t comprehend this situation. Why didn’t his Space Confinement work? It had always worked, and even if it didn’t, his Space Confinement would have needed to be broken first, either by a powerful Law or by the Space Law of someone else.

But something else quickly gained the attention of the Immortal.

Gravis’ Avatar.

He had never seen an Avatar that looked like this, but that wasn’t what grabbed his attention. What grabbed his attention was the fact that Gravis had an Avatar in the first place.

"You’re not supposed to condense your Avatar yet!" The Immortal shouted. "You were supposed to wait until we found the correct Law for you! Now I have to contact my manager and inform him about your decision!"

Gravis only looked into the Immortal’s eyes. Obviously, this was a misunderstanding.

"I’m not one of your students," Gravis said.

The Immortal was taken aback. "You’re not?" he asked.

"No, I’m the forger that is supposed to make the weapons for two teams," Gravis said.

"Oh," the Immortal said. "Then, please excuse my rude behavior. I thought that you were one of my students."

Gravis nodded but didn’t smile. "No problem."

What was going on?

This person believed Gravis just like this?

Not only had the Immortal not doubted Gravis words, but he had immediately accepted them as the absolute truth. One had to remember that there were probably fewer than ten Early Minor Circulation Immortals that had comprehended the Law of the Dead World. On top of that, none of those would want to forge some weapons. These Immortals didn’t need money since they were the Core Disciples of the Peak Sects.

Additionally, this Immortal was supposed to have the ability to create a World Weapon in just some hours?

No sane person would believe any of that.

Yet, the Immortal didn’t even doubt Gravis.

Why was that?

Simple, the Law of Honesty.

Powers could be used with peaceful intentions in mind and with malicious intentions. Darkness could protect and shroud its allies, but it could also poison them. The Law of Honesty was not different in this sense.

The Law of Honesty could show the honest mindset of the Cultivator, but it could also overpower the mind of someone else.

When Gravis said that he was the forger, the Law of Honesty directly told the Immortal that Gravis had spoken the absolute truth, no matter how unbelievable it was. One had to remember that the chances of running across an Immortal with the Law of the Dead World were far lower than running across a random, nine-headed chicken.

The thing that defined the power of the Law of Honesty was the Will-Aura, surprisingly. Nearly no Laws used the Will-Aura as a medium. Nearly all Laws used the Energy inside the Cultivator to fuel their power. Only the Emotional and Situational Laws used the Will-Aura as a medium.

If Gravis told the truth to someone with a more powerful Will-Aura than him, after level suppression, this person would realize that Gravis believed that he was telling the truth. Their critical thinking was still active. They would also recognize the Law of Honesty.

If the Will-Auras had about equal strength, after level suppression, the person would not be able to tell if Gravis was using the Law of Honesty or the Laws of Deceit or Lies. Ironically, this meant that the Law of Honesty was at its weakest against someone just as powerful while being more effective against someone more powerful.

Yet, if the person had a weaker Will-Aura, after level suppression, they would take Gravis’ words at face value without any critical thinking. Of course, that was only true when Gravis really said the truth. After all, the Law of Honesty only worked with honest claims. Misdirection and half-truths belonged to the Law of Deceit.

This Immortal had a Will-Aura more powerful than their Realm. In actuality, his Will-Aura had reached the power of the Early Major Circulation Realm, one level higher than themselves. Yet, due to him only being two levels above Gravis, his level couldn’t counteract the overwhelming power of a Will-Aura on the level of an Immortal King.

Because of that, the Immortal believed absolutely everything Gravis just said without questioning his words.

Did Gravis have any kind of reservations about using his power like this?

No.

Why would he? He was simply stating the truth. It didn’t matter if someone was forced into believing in his words. They were the truth anyway.

Sadly, this situation was not so clear-cut. One could argue that taking away the ability of someone to evaluate claims, even if they were the truth, bordered on brainwashing or slavery. Yet, others might say that it didn’t matter as long as the claims were true.

But shouldn’t everyone have the freedom to deny the truth?

But wouldn’t denying the truth mean running away from life?

But was the truth really the truth? What if someone wholeheartedly believed something to be true when it wasn’t? The Law of Honesty would still work then.

This situation was not simple.

Yet, Gravis didn’t care. His opinion was that there was no issue with forcing someone to believe the truth. He was simply stating what he thought to be the truth. Was there anything wrong with simply saying what one thought to be the truth?

"Please follow me. The team is already waiting for you," the Immortal said.

Yet, Gravis only looked at the Immortal. "Do you know that I have just used the Law of Honesty on you?" Gravis asked.

The Immortal nodded. "I know, but I’m not one to run away from the truth," he said politely. "If you hadn’t used the Law, I would not have believed you. In the worst-case scenario, I might have even offended you, ruining a great trade between our companies."

"How are you so sure that I used the Law of Honesty and not one of the other two?" Gravis asked.

The Immortal scratched the side of his head in thought. "By myself, I couldn’t be sure. Obviously, your Will-Aura is far stronger than mine, which makes it impossible for me to discern truth from falsehood."

Then, he extended his right index finger. "But the place gives me assurance!" he said with a smile. "No Immortal would dare to lie to an employee of the Research Company inside their very building over something that involves so many Immortal Stones. Several Immortal Emperors keep watch over everything in the building, and if you had lied, you wouldn’t be here anymore."

"Therefore, even if I wouldn’t have believed you, I would still be certain that what you have said is the truth. After all, we are talking about around 100 million Immortal Stones here. I know my worth, and I know that I am not powerful enough to be trusted with such an insane amount of wealth."

Gravis scratched his chin but nodded in the end. "Makes sense," he said. "Alright, could you please bring me to the ten people that require my weapons? Also, I need three more Middle World Cores for all ten weapons. I only have enough for seven."

"That won’t be a problem," the Immortal said with a smile. "Follow me."

Then, the two of them teleported to a location inside the room, which had ten Immortals standing around, just talking.

As the two of them appeared, the ten Immortals bowed politely in greeting. "Greetings, teacher," they said in unison.

The teacher nodded once and gestured to Gravis. "This is the person that will be forging your World Weapons."

The ten of them looked at Gravis but quickly furrowed their brows when they felt his power.

Gravis was only an Early Minor Circulation Immortal, the same level as them. This Immortal was supposed to be able to forge World Weapons in such a short amount of time?

"Hmph," a burly-looking young man harrumphed with disdain.

And Gravis lifted an eyebrow.

Chapter 700 - 700 – Dancing Fools

Gravis looked at the man. "You seem unconvinced," he commented.

The guy harrumphed again. "No, I believe our teacher," he said, "but I just can’t believe that you have thrown away your future in order to make money now."

The other nine kept themselves out of this, though they were on the burly man’s side.

"Elaborate," Gravis said.

"You know exactly what I mean," the man said with a sneer. "To make money, you decided to artificially learn the Law of the Dead World. There is no other way. After all, no Early Minor Circulation Immortal can possibly comprehend such a powerful Law."

Not everyone knew that there were Immortals out there that understood the Law of the Dead World.

"What makes you so sure?" Gravis asked.

"Stop these meaningless questions," the guy said. "You’re only here to make our weapons, not to defend your fragile ego."

Gravis’ brows furrowed, and he looked at the teacher.

The teacher only kept himself out with a smile.

"Am I allowed to activate my Will-Aura?" Gravis asked the teacher evenly.

"Go ahead. As long as you don’t kill or cripple someone, everything goes," the teacher said.

Gravis looked back at the burly man.

Yet, the burly man only laughed a bit. "Seems like your attempt of showing off your power backfired," he said. "You expected that our teacher would say that fighting is forbidden, right? Sadly for you, we are not conflict-averse."

His laughter continued. "On top of that, you decided to threaten me with your Will-Aura? Me? The one with the most powerful Battle-Strength out of everyone present?" he said, but when he saw his teacher’s frown, he corrected himself. "Except our teacher, of course."

"I know five level three Laws, rookie," the burly man said. "If you want to have a go, simply say so. I’ll gladly accompany you. Otherwise, hurry up and make our weapons."

Suddenly, Gravis relaxed as he looked to the side.

The burly man saw this as a sign of weakness and spat to the side. "Knew it," he said.

"It has been a while," Gravis said.

"You’re still talking?" the burly man said.

Gravis looked back at the burly man. "I have been in a natural world for the past 2,000 years," Gravis said. "This world was full of beasts, and nearly no beasts acted like this. I have completely forgotten that this was a common mindset amongst human Cultivators."

"What?" the burly man said with a sneer. "You’re not only someone that threw their future away, but also a grandpa? Who the fuck takes 2,000 years to become an Immortal? Even the slowest among us only took 800 years. 2,000 years," he said as he laughed loudly. "Man, two entire fucking thousand years."

Gravis looked at the burly man, but his face didn’t show any ill will.

He only looked at the person with pity.

This was someone that had been blinded by their own accomplishments so much that the thought of someone more superior than them on their level didn’t exist. One had to remember that a middle world could only count as a puddle. In comparison, a higher world would be a lake, and the highest world would be an unimaginably vast ocean.

This person had been the most powerful person in his tiny puddle and jumped into the ocean, thinking that he’s also the most powerful there.

When he had initially heard the man’s words, Gravis felt a bit annoyed, but the more that man spoke, the more Gravis’ annoyance vanished. The reason for that was Gravis’ dwindling respect for the man.

When a stranger insulted someone, it was annoying. Someone might even become a bit angry.

When a friend insulted someone, it was hurtful.

Yet, when a kid insulted someone, it was meaningless.

The kid didn’t know anything about the world, and the kid’s mind had not been fully developed yet. They were talking about things they had no idea about. One couldn’t fault such a kid for coming to these conclusions. After all, they were simply kids.

This was how Gravis viewed this person.

This person had no idea what he was doing.

Gravis sighed as he lamented about the stupid person. Initially, he had planned to teach him a lesson, to show him that there were people far more powerful than him out there.

Yet, Gravis decided against that.

He would do absolutely nothing.

Why?

Because Gravis didn’t care about this man. Showing someone that they were wrong was showing them what they could do better. If Gravis "faceslapped" this poor man, he would allow him to see the error in his way.

Yet, why should Gravis give him a chance to better himself?

With such a mindset, this person would not survive the higher world. Gravis could increase the man’s chances to survive the higher world by showing him the error in his mindset, but he decided against it.

This person had nothing to do with him.

"Please tell me what kind of weapons you want," Gravis said.

The ten students sneered in arrogance. Sure enough, the forger was only bluffing.

The teacher furrowed his brows. This was not good!

In a different room inside the building, someone else also furrowed his brows.

Then, he sighed. "This is not good," he said to himself.

This was the Star God that had commissioned Gravis’ services.

One of the reasons why he had commissioned Gravis was to show the new Researchers that there were taller mountains behind the horizons. Whenever a new Researcher appeared from the middle worlds, they had a high likelihood of being quite arrogant. After all, they could already see that 90% of Immortals in the city were weak. Additionally, they had just dominated an entire world.

Gravis was supposed to show them what amazing people lived in the highest world. He was supposed to humble them and show them that they needed to work even harder on themselves.

Yet, Gravis let them play and feel powerful in front of him.

The Star God sighed again. "Seems like my plan backfired. Instead of curbing their arrogance, they became even more arrogant."

After some seconds, the Star God contacted Gravis. "One million extra Immortal Stones if you show them the error of their ways," he said.

"I apologize," Gravis answered politely, "but I’m a forger, not a teacher. It is not my job to teach your students."

The Star God sighed again. "Okay, excuse me for the inappropriate request," he answered.

"It’s okay," Gravis answered.

Meanwhile, in an entirely different office, someone was drinking some coffee as he watched all of this.

"I wonder, does this development have something to do with Gravis’ Law of Freedom?" Orpheus mused with a smile. "Lurner had incorporated Gravis into his plan without informing him of it first. If someone were pedantic, they could say that this is a form of suppression."

"And just like this, the carefully laid out plan of a Star God backfired," Orpheus said with a slight chuckle to himself. "I think, by now, Gravis doesn’t even consciously go against every form of suppression. His entire being just instinctively fights against anything that encroaches on his freedom."

And with this, the path the day would take had been set.

Under the students’ scornful eyes and the teacher’s worried eyes, Gravis created ten perfect World Weapons. The additional three World Cores had been delivered by an Immortal King after Gravis had been halfway done. The rude behavior of the ten of them didn’t influence the quality of Gravis’ weapons.

It took Gravis around 15 hours to finish all weapons, and the students told Gravis that the weapons were good enough. Gravis didn’t really care.

When Gravis was done, the Star God appeared and gave Gravis his payment, 79,000,000 Immortal Stones.

Gravis thanked the Star God and left the building.

The Star God looked at the students, who were demeaning Gravis, and sighed. Then, he turned to their teacher. "Try to find a way to curb their arrogance," he said.

"I’ll try, but it’s not easy," the teacher said. "This would have been our best opportunity."

"Just do your best," the Star God said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. Then, he teleported away.

Gravis didn’t think more about these kids.

To him, they were dancing fools on the edge of a volcano that was about to erupt.

If they wanted, they could continue dancing.

Even if they danced themselves to death.