Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis mainly just walked around the city for the following year. He was sightseeing, but also informing himself about the general prices. He had to get a good grip on the prices to properly evaluate what he should charge.

A big criterium for the price was the number and evaluation of the Certificates in front of each shop. The prices of a forge with the Certificate of Honesty generally were about 20% higher than the forges without one. Gravis guessed that the reason for that was that many people were generally willing to pay 20% more if it meant that they could fully trust that shop. After all, people didn't like being scammed.

Another important criterium was the Certificate for Middle World Equipment. The shops with a high evaluation had prices nearly 50% higher than shops with a low evaluation. Yet, that was nothing in comparison to the shops with the perfect Certificate.

The shops with the perfect Certificate often wanted around ten times the money of the shops with a high evaluation. Gravis guessed that these shops probably catered to the rich minority of people that had money to throw around. Fewer customers but more money per customer was their philosophy.

The World Weapon forges also had insane price margins. Yet, there was an issue. Gravis could only make equipment up to two levels above him, and the resulting weapon might become imperfect. After all, perfectly hitting a nail with a bit of strength was easier than when using all of one's strength.

Most World Weapon forges created weapons up to the peak of the Immortal Emperor Realm. Meanwhile, Gravis could only create World Weapons for the lower half of the Immortal Realm. This meant that his customer base for World Weapons was tiny.

Because of that, Gravis decided to make the prices of his World Weapons lower than everyone else with a high evaluation for their World Forging Certificate. With Gravis having a perfect Certificate, he should be able to find some customers.

As for general equipment prices, Gravis also decided on going a bit lower than forgers with a high evaluation. For many forgers, time was money since they needed to spend hours on every weapon. A forger generally wanted to have enough customers that they could continually forge without having a queue or without having any downtime.

This was not true for Gravis. The more customers he got, the better. If he only requested about 80% of the regular prices of forges with a high evaluation, he would get far more customers than any other shop with a similar evaluation. Gravis could make weapons in seconds. The more customers, the better!

After around a month of informing himself, Gravis noticed something very peculiar as his eyes narrowed. Then, a sneer appeared on his face.

After that, Gravis vanished.

Gravis reappeared in a different kind of space. White mist was constantly flowing around, and a ton of different kinds of merchandise filled the space. The Energy density in this space was also incredibly high.

Instantly, someone appeared in front of Gravis. It was a young man with fiercely shaped eyes. Yet, his fiercely shaped eyes only showed nervousness, confusion, and fear.

"Greetings, Senior," the man said very carefully as he bowed deeply. "Could you please tell me the reason for your visit?"

Gravis looked at the young man with a grin. The person in front of him was not an actual person but the Spirit of a person.

That was right. Gravis was inside the Spirit Space of someone else.

The High Priest from the lower world had been able to do that to Gravis with his wood element since Gravis was a major Realm below him back then. Now, Gravis could do the same to others with a lower Realm. After all, Gravis also had access to the wood element now.

Invading someone else's Spirit Space was about as rude and aggressive as it got. It was basically the same thing as holding a blade to someone's neck.

"Don't recognize me?" Gravis asked with a smirk.

The young man looked at Gravis. He couldn't see through Gravis' power. Additionally, he hadn't seen this black-haired adult before. He had absolutely no idea who Gravis was.

"Excuse me for my negligence, Senior," he said with a bow. "I can't place you in my memory."

Gravis huffed with a sneer. "About 22 years ago or so, you scammed me," Gravis said. "I bought a scanner and a Life Ring from you for some ore from a lower world. Yet, you stole my Research Adept badge during the trade."

The man quickly remembered the time he scammed a young teenager with white hair and weird eyes. He was certain that this person would die soon since he would have to cultivate in the highest world. Even if the person didn't die, it would take hundreds of years for him to become powerful enough to rival the trader. Was this truly that young person?

"I can't remember doing that, Senior," the man said carefully.

Yet, with his early Nascent Nourishing Realm, it was impossible to lie before an Immortal. Gravis immediately noticed the lie, and his smirk widened.

"I don't care if you remember or not," Gravis said. "I remember, and I'm more powerful than you. So, you either give the Research Adept Emblem back with a bit extra, or I will take whatever I want."

'Give it back?' the young man thought in shock. As if he had that kind of money! Such a Research Adept Emblem was worth over 500 Immortal Stones! He didn't have such an insane amount of money!

"I don't have this kind of money. Can I pay you back later?" he asked nervously.

Gravis Spirit Sense stretched out of the man's Spirit Space and encompassed the Sky Community. After that, Gravis cross-referenced the different kinds of things this trader had and how much his stuff was worth.

In the end, Gravis came to a pitiful conclusion. His Research Adept Emblem was worth around 700 Immortal Stones, while this poor bastard only had a collective 27 Immortal Stones in his possession. This was not even close.

Suddenly, a new person appeared inside the Spirit Space.

Gravis had already noticed that the young man had called for help as soon as he had arrived. This was probably his backer…

Or beggar, more precisely.

Apparently, this young man's backing was one of the beggars in the actual city, a level two Immortal.

The beggar looked at Gravis with cold eyes.

Then, his eyes transformed into fear when he felt Gravis' power and Will-Aura.

'Fuck that!'

Whoop!

And the beggar was gone, leaving the young man in despair. He left just as quickly as he had appeared.

Gravis turned back to the young man. "Now, as for my payment," he said.

"You-You can't kill me!" the young man said in panic. "Killing is not allowed in the Sky Community!"

Gravis chuckled a bit. "You should have thought of that before stealing from me," he said.

After that, Gravis left the young man's Spirit Space. Initially, the young man felt relieved, but that was quickly replaced with despair.

The young man opened his actual eyes. At least, he tried to. The young man couldn't open his eyes. Not only that, he couldn't even move!

In the Sky Community, Gravis hovered in front of a statue. He had summoned some of his Law Comprehension Ore and encased the young man in it. This person was not nearly powerful enough to move.

"Did you know that the longevity for the Nascent Nourishing Realm is about 3,000 years? I'm planning on spending around 5,000 years here. No worries, before I'm leaving for the higher world, I will release you."

"Now," Gravis said with a smirk. "You can still communicate with others with your Spirit. You better find a way to give me 1,000 Immortal Stones, which is about 50% more than the Research Adept Emblem is worth. Go call in some favors, take out a loan, or whatever. Come up with the money, and I will release you immediately."

"If you can't, you might become an attraction in the Sky Community for a while," Gravis said with a smirk.

The young man pleaded, but Gravis didn't care. If this guy was able to pay reparations for his actions, he would be able to continue living. If he couldn't, well, then he shouldn't have taken the Emblem in the first place.

The surrounding traders of the Sky Community looked at the statue with discomfort. Sometimes, things like these happened, but it was still considered a rarity.

Gravis used his wind element to keep the statue floating and infused it with enough Energy to keep it running for a couple hundred years. Keeping one statue levitating didn't take much out of his vast pool of Energy.

"Wish you luck," Gravis said as he turned around.

And then, Gravis teleported away.

The traders and customers looked at the statue and sighed.

At least it wasn't them.

What Gravis didn't know was that this seemingly random and unimportant act grabbed the attention of a powerful being.