Lightning Is the Only Way

"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.