Gravis left the building and teleported back onto the streets with a smile. Finally, he had all the Certificates he needed! Now, he only needed a good shop.
"Hey, mom," Gravis transmitted to his mother. "I got all the necessary Certificates. Should I get a shop now?" he asked.
"That's great!" his mother answered happily. "Orthar and Yersi need around a year more to get fully ready. They both have to learn a lot about business and how to properly act in front of customers. Additionally, they need to learn how to spot a good and bad customer."
"One year, huh?" Gravis asked, not feeling happy about waiting longer.
"You need to wait two years anyway," his mother said. "Let me ask you, do you plan to stay in the highest world for more than 10,000 years before you resume your journey? This is important."
Gravis furrowed his brows. 10,000 years? He was planning to stay here for a while, but not for that long. "No, I think I'm only aiming to comprehend all the other level three Elemental Laws. These should be Middle Laws according to your classification."
"Do you have any idea how long that will take?" his mother asked again.
Gravis scratched his chin as a ton of people and beasts passed by him on the streets. "I think it would have probably taken me around 8,000 years to comprehend them while battling the middle Heaven. Yet, father said that I have options to comprehend them even faster here. So, around 5,000 years sounds about right, I think."
"Okay," his mother answered. "Then I would suggest renting a store instead of buying one outright. By buying one directly, you would save on money and then be able to resell it later, but it's not that easy to find buyers for the correct price."
"Owning a store also comes with costs. You need to keep the Formation Arrays running, even if you are not there, which costs Immortal Stones. Additionally, the Formation Arrays decay over time, which would require you to commission a Star God to repair them, which is costly," she said.
Gravis scratched the back of his neck. "Can't I just let the building stay inactive while I'm gone?"
"Gravis, do you have any idea how long people in the Immortal and God Realms cultivate at a time?" his mother asked. "If everyone were allowed to do that, this city would feel empty and dead. To keep the city alive and keep the economy going, you need to keep the Formation Arrays active all the time and the shop open for half of the time. If you don't, the building will get repossessed."
"Because of this dynamic, only a minority of shopkeepers actually own their store. If you own it, you gotta keep it active, which will result in your cultivation getting disturbed all the time. Only established shopkeepers that gave up trying to get more powerful actually buy their stores," his mother explained.
Gravis nodded. This made sense. It felt a little shitty that his building could become repossessed, but if he didn't follow these guidelines, everyone else also wouldn't need to follow them. Then, Opposer City would genuinely feel like a ghost town with tons of empty buildings just standing around.
"So, how do I rent one? I presume that the good shops are all taken up already," he said.
"That's not the case," his mother explained. "Most of the stores get leased per century. Shops in a good location get set up for auction one year before the lease ends. The one willing to pay the most will pay one century's worth of rent and will be allowed to work there for one century. After that, the shop gets auctioned again. Of course, the previous owner can participate in the auction."
Gravis found this system quite interesting, and he also found several good things about it. He could work for one century, earn a ton of money, and then cultivate for like a millennium or so. Then, he could just rent a new one.
"What is the ratio between rent and actually buying the building?" Gravis asked.
"Paying rent for your future shop for about 10,000 would equal its purchasing price," his mother explained. "But the landlord is responsible for keeping the Formation Array running, which costs a lot. So, even though the landlord would receive the purchase price of the shop from you after 10,000 years, it would take around 20,000 years for him to make the purchasing price in actual profit."
Gravis thought about this for a while. If he stayed 5,000 years in the highest world, he would probably forge for only around 500 years or so. This meant that he would pay only 5% of the purchasing price of the shop. Sure, buying a house, renting, and then reselling it would make more money, but not in this city.
If Gravis were willing to continually work and keep the shop running, buying a shop would definitely be the better option. Yet, he was not planning on forging all day for such a long time. Gravis' goal was not to become rich. His goal was to earn enough money to quickly learn useful Laws. Cultivation in the highest world needed money and time.
"Alright," Gravis transmitted. "Then I will get one for a century. How much money do I need to prepare and what shop should I get?" he asked.
"There is a good one up for auction in a year. I don't want you to waste your materials yet. You can get far more money out of them if you transform them into weapons. Everyone can get money, but finding the right materials is difficult for a lot of people. They would be willing to buy a weapon out of these materials at a premium."
"So, for the first century, I will rent it for you," she said. "You can pay me back for that later. It shouldn't take much time for you to earn that much."
Gravis nodded. If his mother were to gift him the shop, he would adamantly refuse, but accepting a loan was no problem. If his mother were in a financial crisis, Gravis also wouldn't accept the loan, but she wasn't. Being afraid of taking out a loan was only relevant if one couldn't pay it back.
"Okay," Gravis answered. "How much will it cost, roughly?"
"Somewhere between 500,000 and 750,000 Immortal Stones," she said, making Gravis gasp.
"Shops are that expensive!?" Gravis asked. "Then, wouldn't buying the shop cost over 50 million Immortal Stones!?"
"Shops in this city are expensive, Gravis," his mother answered with a chuckle. "If you sell all of your ore, except for your Middle World Core, you would be able to get around 20 million, but you can easily make 50 million out of that by converting it to equipment."
Gravis released a sigh. It was far more than he had expected, but it was better this way.
Gravis had not even considered converting the materials into equipment without a client. Sure, he could sell the finished weapons, but Cultivators at his level had precise requirements for their weapons. It would be difficult to find a buyer for an already forged weapon. Because of that, the weapons would only sell for a little more than their material was worth.
"What about an apartment?" Gravis asked. "I want to have my own place together with Orthar and Yersi. It should also be big enough for us to feel comfortable."
"That would be a three Immortal all-inclusive apartment," his mother answered. "That would cost around 1,500 Immortal Stones per year. So, for a century, that would be 150,000 Immortal Stones. You guys can stay at our place until you have had your first customers. After that, it shouldn't be an issue for you to rent a place. In comparison to shops, you don't need to visit an auction since there are enough apartments to go around."
Gravis scratched his chin. "Would a place like this have enough space?" he asked.
"Gravis," his mother said with a chuckle. "The owners of the apartments are Cultivators themselves. They know what an Immortal wants. Such an apartment is not of the cheap kind, so you can expect for it to be more than good enough."
Gravis also chuckled a bit. "Okay, maybe that was a stupid question from me. Anyway, I will be waiting for a year until Orthar and Yersi are ready. After that, we can relax for another year until it is time to open our shop."
"Have fun!" his mother transmitted with a kind voice.