Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis entered the city. He could have teleported if he wanted to, but he preferred walking. He wanted to take a closer look at the streets and feel the bustling atmosphere.

As soon as someone became an Immortal, they automatically understood the level three Law of Space, which allowed them to teleport to any spot inside their Spirit Sense's range. The distance was irrelevant for Energy consumption.

In his fight against Heaven, Gravis had learned all about battle with teleportation. Surprisingly, teleportation couldn't replace the speed of a fighter. The reason for that was that every other Immortal also knew the Law of Space.

Because of that, they could disturb the space if someone tried to teleport. The journey itself was instantaneous, but the entry and exit took a tiny amount of time. This allowed others to react appropriately.

Yet, stopping a teleport was not the worst thing that the enemy could do to someone. Even worse was that the enemy could feel where the fighter would appear. Because of that, the enemy could attack that spot with all their power, knowing that the fighter would appear there.

Teleportations had to be used in just the right circumstances. Otherwise, one would hurt themselves more than the enemy. Because of that, speed was still critical in combat.

So, if Gravis wanted, he could reach the edge of the city in less than a second. If he were to fly, he would take a couple of seconds to get there. This showed the superior speed of teleportation.

Gravis walked around for a couple of minutes, looking at the bustling streets. Now that he was an Immortal, he was able to feel the power of basically everyone he could see. The people walking on the streets were either people below the Immortal Realm with a backer or beggars. Beggars were generally in the earlier ranks of the Immortal Realm, which allowed Gravis to feel their power.

'Back then, it was nearly impossible for me to see through the power of anyone in the city,' Gravis thought. 'But now, I can feel all their power. These distant, seemingly invincible beings are now even weaker than me.'

Gravis stopped as he sighed. 'I would have thought that I would feel better after seeing this comparison. Yet, it just feels natural to me. Additionally, so incredibly many of them have such incredibly weak Will-Auras. About 70% of the beggars have a Will-Aura that is even below their Realm.'

'Yet, I shouldn't forget the truth,' Gravis thought with narrowed eyes. 'I can only see the weakest beings in this city. The truly powerful beings are inside the buildings, and I can't even come into contact with them unless I am in the same building as them. All the buildings, even the shops, have some kind of Formation Array that stops my Spirit Sense.'

Gravis had to chuckle a bit. 'I think with my Avatar of Freedom, I should be able to look through these Formation Arrays, but I don't want to be an intrusive dick.'

After walking around for some seconds, Gravis reached the first address on the map that his mother gave him. Gravis saw quite an ostentatious building at the edge of a vast and busy street. This was probably one of the more upscale traders.

Gravis approached the door and felt the aura of his ring vibrate slightly. When he had been only at the Unity Realm, he had never felt this vibration. This was probably how the ring communicated with the Formation Array that he was a member of the city and not a beggar.

As soon as Gravis entered, he saw that the building was far bigger inside than outside. The building was maybe 20 meters wide from the outside, but inside, it was over a kilometer wide. This was quite a difference.

Additionally, Gravis saw a ton of powerful Immortals and even some Immortal Kings talking to some people. By the looks of it, they were probably trading.

Gravis approached one of the counters and waited.

Some seconds passed, and Gravis looked around. The clerks of the establishment wore some kind of badge on their clothing, making it easy for Gravis to identify them.

Two minutes passed, and Gravis noticed that no one came to him. Gravis' expression transformed into a neutral one. He wouldn't mind if the store were packed with customers, but the clerks were obviously even talking to each other. They certainly weren't overworking themselves.

Gravis waited for another three minutes, with no one showing up.

Then, finally, someone teleported over to the counter.

"What do you want?" he asked with annoyance.

Gravis blinked twice. "Okay," he said with boredom.

Then, he turned around and left.

The clerk was confused for a second. Did that random guy just say okay and leave? What was up with that?

The clerk had worked here for a long time, and he knew a lot of people. He hadn't been as friendly to Gravis because he felt that Gravis had just reached the Immortal Realm. Additionally, he had no idea who Gravis was.

For the first time, the clerk looked closer at the leaving Gravis and noticed the Obsidian Ring on Gravis' finger. He hadn't noticed that ring earlier since he had completely ignored Gravis. His eyes widened when he noticed that. He had really screwed up!

Whoop!

The clerk teleported in front of Gravis and bowed politely. "Excuse me for my blunt-"

Whoop!

Gravis teleported behind the clerk and continued leaving. This time, the clerk didn't stop him. The clerk only cursed himself for this mistake, sighed, and went back to work. He vowed that he needed to be more careful in the future.

This had been a son of the Opposer, and even more importantly, a son to the Trade Empress. This could have been a massive business opportunity! Yet, he just had to screw it up!

Gravis went back to the streets and looked for the next building. Trading with this company was obviously not worthwhile. The fact that the personnel in the store lazed around and didn't even inspect their clients was a good demonstration of their work ethic.

It wasn't that he was mad about them not noticing his status, but that they didn't serve their customers. If he offered a trade, there was a high chance that they would try to screw him over, thinking that they could scam him.

Should he have made a ruckus?

No, why should he?

He would simply leave. Gravis didn't need to prove some kind of superiority by acting all insulted. Power was power, and money was money. If this was a one-time event, they would continue having great business, but they would naturally lose customers if that was the norm. He was just another lost customer.

Gravis entered the next building, which was just as ostentatious as the last one, and as soon as he entered, he saw a ton of people. There were far more people in here than in the last one.

Yet, all these people were at the lower ends of the Immortal Realm.

'Interesting,' Gravis thought as he scratched his chin. 'The last shop probably caters to wealthy and powerful customers, earning a lot of money per customer, while this one caters to as many customers as possible. One way of doing business is not better or worse than the other. They both simply cater to different demographics.'

'I think the last business was not fitting for my current status. Sure, I should have quite some money on me, but my wealth probably can't compare with an Immortal King's. This one should be more fitting for my current circumstances.'

Gravis noticed something peculiar and moved over to a separate counter, which was placed away from everything else.

'Draw a number, huh?' Gravis thought as he looked at some kind of paper dispenser. Gravis took a number slip and moved to the side, where a ton of other Immortals waited.

From time to time, Gravis saw Immortals beside him vanish. They were probably summoned to a separate room to talk about business.

After some minutes, someone contacted Gravis.

Gravis felt his senses being pulled to a separate room in the shop. In the beginning, Gravis' Spirit Sense couldn't look at any room besides the main hall. Yet, this room, which was in the middle of a seemingly blank area inside his Spirit Sense, suddenly appeared.

Whoop!

Gravis blinked into the room and sat down.

"Welcome to the Average Trading Firm. How can I help you?" the person sitting on the other side of the table said with a monotone voice.

The room was rather barren, only having a table and two chairs, nothing more.

"Average Trading Firm? Really?" Gravis asked with a lifted eyebrow. He hadn't taken a look at the shop's name.

"We, here at the Average Trading Firm, are the go-to partner for the Average Immortal. We pride ourselves in our ability to help anyone with their business, even if it is one of the more modest ones. That is why we are the Average Trading Firm," the person said like he had said that line over and over again.

'No wonder there were so many Immortals at the beginning of the Realm. This shop probably even allows the beggar inside it to do business,' Gravis thought.

"I have ores from a middle world to sell," Gravis said.

The clerk furrowed his brows and looked into Gravis' eyes. "Excuse me, but do you mean ore on the level of cultivators in a middle world or actual ore from a middle world?"

"Both are correct," Gravis said.

The clerk looked with more interest at Gravis now. "So, what do you have to offer?"