Lightning Is the Only Way

"You don't need more money," the Opposer said.

Gravis was a bit surprised when he heard that. "But I need a shop, and I need additional resources to forge. I probably also need other things."

"Gravis," the Opposer said as he stopped him. "You have half a middle world of ore in your Spirit Space. That's plenty enough to buy a shop."

Gravis was taken aback. "That ore is worth so much!?" he asked in shock.

Of course Gravis was shocked. There were plenty of Immortal beggars in the city. This showed how expensive it was to buy a property in the city. He had expected that he needed much more. Additionally, a shop was more expensive than a house.

The Opposer sighed. "You have been in a natural world for far too long," he said. "Every ore node is worth incredibly much, and you have several of those inside your Spirit Space. You are sitting on several mountains of gold."

"Huh," Gravis uttered as he scratched his chin. "That makes things easier, but I still need to know how to create a business."

"Gravis," the Opposer said. "I might be nearly omnipotent, but creating a business is not something I have ever done. I only fought without a home or business until I became as powerful as the Old Bastard."

Gravis sighed. "Fuck, that makes things harder. Who am I supposed to ask then?"

BANG!

Gravis felt the powerful flick of a finger on his forehead.

"Am I only air to you!?" Gravis' mother asked with puffed cheeks.

"Mom?" Gravis asked in shock. "You know how to create a business?"

Gravis' mother seemed insulted, and she huffed. "Where do you think we get all our money from? Your father only sits on his ass all day, glaring into the room."

Gravis shook his head. "Wait," he said. "Does that mean you are earning all the money?"

His mother huffed again. "Who else?"

Gravis looked at his father with a weird expression.

"I'm letting her earn the money because it's her hobby," the Opposer said, feeling his dignity being threatened by Gravis' expression.

Then, Gravis looked at his mother again, who huffed and looked to the side. "So what?" she said. "I like earning money."

It was obvious that the Opposer could get all the money he wanted. He only needed to kill some supremely powerful cultivator and loot all their belongings. Yet, there was no reason to do that. After all, at his level, money was irrelevant. The progress of his power didn't rely on money at all.

It also made sense that Gravis' mother had a hobby. If she had nothing to do for her entire life, she would get bored to death.

Gravis' mother puffed her chest out. "Your father's title might be in the name of the city, but I own this city!" she proclaimed with pride. "I can ruin all the businesses in this city with but a flick of my finger. Do you think every business owner in the past has been so deferential to you because you're your father's son? No! They were afraid of angering me!"

"Your father might not do something to them if they mistreat you, but I will ruin the life of anyone that mistreats my baby boy!" she said with power.

Gravis became red in the face. "Mom, I'm not a kid anymore."

Suddenly, a kind smile reappeared on her face. "Oh, I know, honey," she said warmly. "I was talking about the past, not now."

Gravis felt like he saw his mother's true self for the first time today. His mother had such a ridiculous amount of soft power? He had always thought that his mother only lived her life in peace. Apparently, that wasn't true. She was also a scary businesswoman.

"Okay, mom," Gravis said. "Then, can you help me with creating my business?"

"20%," his mother said.

Gravis was a bit confused. "What?"

"I want 20% of your shares," she said.

Gravis was still confused. "What are shares?" he asked.

His mother huffed. "You want to create a business but don't even know what shares are?"

Gravis just stayed silent with a confused look on his face. Wasn't he just supposed to forge stuff and sell it?

"It's the ownership of your business," she said. "You can publicly trade the ownership of your business with other people. They give you money for partial ownership. Of course, since you already have a large enough capital and are not planning on expanding, you shouldn't need that."

"But if you want my help, I want to own 20% of your company," she said.

Gravis felt like this was a bit much, but he had already felt the pressure of his mother. He needed her, and she knew that Gravis knew that he had no other choice.

Gravis sighed. "Okay," he conceded.

Suddenly, Gravis was pulled to his mother and found himself in a firm handshake.

"Happy to do business with you," his mother said with a smile.

Yersi watched this with interest. She still didn't exactly know what a business was, but she somehow felt like her father had just lost to her grandma.

"And that's how she makes her money," the Opposer commented, eliciting a venomous glare from his wife. "She only needs to give you advice without having to invest any money into your business. Like this, she will earn a ton of money with just some words."

Gravis looked with shock and betrayal at his mother, but she held firm with her smile. "Take this as your first lesson. Inform yourself before you make any major decisions, or you will be taken advantage of."

"But how am I supposed to inform myself when I don't know how to inform myself?" Gravis asked.

"Well," his mother said as she stopped speaking for a while.

…

"Sucks to be you, I guess," she said after some seconds.

Whooop!

Suddenly, a ten-meter-long parchment appeared in front of Gravis. Gravis looked at it and saw that the writing on it was tiny!

"This is our contract," she said. "Sign it."

Gravis looked at the bottom where he was supposed to sign but stopped. Instead, he decided to read through the contract. Gravis was an Immortal now, and reading through such a ton of writing didn't take long.

One passage made Gravis blink a couple of times.

"I forfeit every right to me as a person and will forever make my mother lunch."

Gravis looked at his mother with narrowed eyes and pointed at the passage.

PACK!

His mother put her hand on Gravis' shoulder. "Well done!" she said happily. "Always look at what you sign."

Whooop!

A new contract appeared, and this one was much shorter. He looked at the contract, and it basically only said that his mother should give him guidance and that she gets 20% of the company.

Yet, Gravis felt that something was different.

"This contract doesn't exhibit the same fluctuations as the last one," he said.

PACK!

Another hand on his shoulder. "Well done!" his mother said. "Important contracts need to be issued by the Contract Officiation Office first. Normal paper can be altered easily after signing it, making it unfit for contracts between people that know Laws. Because of that, every important contract needs to be sent to the Contract Officiation Office for processing. This makes it impossible for the contents of the contract to be altered."

Gravis was taken aback. He thought doing business was much more straightforward.

Another contract appeared, but Gravis found a tiny clause, which he wouldn't have found if he hadn't looked carefully. Once again, he was supposed to make lunch every day.

"Great!" his mother said. "This clause is just big enough to still count. Anything smaller wouldn't be counted as official."

Another one appeared, and Gravis saw another problem.

'This isn't going to end soon, is it?' Gravis thought.