Chapter 929: First Customer (1/2)
After Gravis had his fill of looking at Stella, he turned back to the Gravitas with burning eyes.
”It's time to make some money!” Gravis said with a wide smile.
Stella giggled a bit as Liam only rolled his eyes. It was only money. Who cares?
”I will now commence with the first phase of my plan,” Gravis said. ”For the first phase, I don't need you, Siral. I will take care of the beasts personally.”
”Yes, Master,” Siral said.
”Just watch and learn,” Gravis said.
”Yes, Master.”
Gravis went to the beast side of the Gravitas and waited at the entrance.
WHOOP!
Gravis transformed into his beast body. Since he had to deal with beasts, using his beast body was better.
Liam was on the other side, and he didn't have the luxury of knowing the Law of Freedom. This meant that he sadly couldn't look at the other side.
”Narcissus,” Gravis said.
”Yes?” Narcissus asked.
Sure enough, Narcissus was everywhere, even here.
”The Gravitas is now open,” Gravis said. ”For the first couple of customers, I'll have to trouble you. After all, the beasts don't know about the Gravitas yet.”
”And why should I do that?” Narcissus asked.
”You want the beasts to become more powerful, right?” Gravis asked. ”It's also in your own interest to send them here.”
Some seconds of silence passed.
”What do you intend to sell them?” Narcissus asked.
”It's not really selling,” Gravis said with a smirk. ”I will forge equipment for the beasts with whichever ore they bring.”
”Plate armor, metallic claws, metallic teeth, tail blade extensions, spikes, whatever is useful in a fight, I will forge for them. The payment will simply be the ore they bring. If they bring enough for two sets, I will give them one set and keep the remainder for myself,” Gravis explained.
”I don't think the beasts will be interested,” Narcissus answered. ”Beasts are not really interested in external power.”
”And that's why a human is on average more powerful than a beast, Narcissus,” Gravis said. ”Could you imagine fighting against a human if they don't have a weapon or armor?”
”You can't strip the enemy of their equipment, but you can create your own equipment. Won't this cancel out the advantage of humans?”
Narcissus thought about these words for a bit. ”You are correct in your logic, but that doesn't change the mindset of the beasts.”
Gravis only smirked. ”That's because no one is cheating yet,” Gravis said.
”What do you mean?”
”Imagine a tournament among beasts,” Gravis said. ”The prize is something valuable, like a couple thousand years in a level five Law Comprehension Area. There is a clear favorite amongst the participants, but suddenly, one unknown beast wins by relying on armor and weapons forged with ore.”
”Everyone will become enraged since they believe that this beast has cheated. Yet, they can't change the results. The one that relied on external power has won, and that win allows them to increase their intrinsic power by comprehending an additional Law. In that sense, a momentary reliance on external power increased their intrinsic power.”
”So, after this tournament, the winner doesn't even have to rely on armor or weapons anymore. They would win on their own, regardless.”
”Then, the next tournament rolls around, and even though most beasts are against relying on external power, a couple of them have been swayed. So, now, there are three with armor and weapons.”
”This continues, and, at some point, every beast has to rely on armor or weapons if they want to get these juicy rewards.”
Gravis lifted his right index finger.
”And the most important thing is that the beasts have not become weaker but stronger.”
”So, in the end, the beasts become more powerful, and I get more customers. Win-win- right?” Gravis finished.
Narcissus thought about Gravis' words for a while.
”You humans truly have an impressive ability to look far into the future,” Narcissus admitted.
”Fine,” Narcissus said. ”I will send a couple of beasts.”
Gravis nodded. ”Thanks. If you want to see the greatest result, I would advise you to find beasts with a metal affinity. Beasts with a metal affinity like to fight in close combat the most, and equipment makes the biggest difference with them. Fire and water affinity are also good.”
”Okay,” Narcissus said.
Gravis nodded with a smile and then simply waited.
A week passed.
CRRRRRRRRRRR!
Stella was talking with Liam on the human side when she looked towards the beast side. ”I think our first customer arrived,” she said.
Liam didn't really care.
In front of Gravis, a ten-meter-tall, silver tiger was pulling a long mountain of ore behind him with his tail. This was what created this grating noise.
'Oh!' Gravis thought. 'Yes, the entrance to the beast territory is a bit too thin. This could make it troublesome to pull these ore mountains into the tunnel.'
'Well, luckily, this tiger has a metal affinity, and he simply changed the shape of the ore mountain into a long cylinder.'
BANG!
As the tiger reached the actual cave, he pulled the ore out of the tunnel and let it hit the ground in front of him.
The tiger looked around but only saw two beings, Siral and Gravis.
When he saw Siral, he snorted with disgust.
However, he had been told that he should simply ignore the human.
So, the tiger looked at Gravis.
”I'm here to test the effectiveness of your so-called armor and weapons,” the tiger said neutrally.
He didn't talk respectfully but also not disrespectfully to Gravis.
The tiger was a Peak Immortal King.
The only reason why the tiger was talking to Gravis at all was that Gravis was a Black Demon, and Black Demons were always very powerful. So, even if Gravis was two levels below him, the tiger still treated him like he was on the same level.
Gravis inspected the ore, and his eyes shone.
'Early Minor Circulation Immortal Emperor ore, and so much of it,' Gravis thought. 'Beasts sure are rich!'
How much was this long cylinder of ore worth?
Too much!
Hundreds of millions of Immortal Stones!
Gravis smirked. ”Sure,” he said neutrally. Being polite to beasts would only damage one's own reputation.
”What do you want?” Gravis asked.
Nearly every human customer would see such a comment as a passive-aggressive taunt.
Luckily, beasts liked talking without anything unnecessary added.
Glug! Glug!
The tiger shrunk until he was only four meters long. Then, a part of the ore mountain behind him began to liquify. In nearly an instant, the ore enveloped him.
The ore hardened again, and now, the tiger was completely encased in powerful, make-shift metal armor.