Chapter 679: Housing Market (1/2)

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.”