Gravis, Yersi, and Orthar looked at the building in front of them. It didn't look as imposing as a lot of other buildings on the main street, but it also didn't look cheap. Overall, the building looked perfectly average on this street.
Yet, that was already good enough. As long as no one overlooked the shop and actually noticed it, there wouldn't be any problems. Most Cultivators wouldn't look at run-down stores, but if the shops looked normal, they would glance at it at least. That was all that Gravis needed.
The entire building was light blue and about two stories high. The ground floor would act as a reception and demonstration hall, while the second floor would hold the forge.
At least, that was how it was supposed to be. Gravis didn't really need a forge, which was why the second floor basically only had some scattered furniture.
Meanwhile, the ground floor had a lot of different contraptions. These contraptions allowed the customer to try out their weapons directly, similar to the contraption that one woman had used when she tried out her bow.
Behind the counter, the rarest ores that Gravis owned were displayed, including the Middle World Core. When customers saw these ores, they might decide to use some in-house ores instead of using their bought ones. Additionally, not every customer already had their ores ready. Most of them would ask what they needed first before purchasing them. After all, they were not forgers and didn't know much about materials.
The price differences between materials at the same Rank came down to their rarity, not power. When one looked at the ores for their Realm, every ore would be just as powerful but with different strengths and weaknesses.
In the end, it came down to what kind of weapon someone preferred, but that also meant that some Cultivators with certain Battle-Styles needed to spend more money since their Battle-Style needed rarer ores.
These Battle-Styles were not inherently weaker or stronger than others. It was simply that the materials to support them were more expensive. Sadly, there was no positive side to them needing to spend more money. They were simply shit out of luck.
So, what were the most expensive materials?
Funnily enough, the generally used materials for Space Cultivators were the most expensive, with the exception of some very exotic, rare materials. The reason for that was that the ores fitting for the Law of Space were only of average rarity, but the demand for them was ridiculous. Every Space Cultivator wanted a good weapon, and there were a lot of Space Cultivators.
On the right side of the building, beside the entrance, one could see a two by two meter stone board. Having this board was a necessity for every shop since this was the place where the Certificates had to be put in. Because of this, every passerby could immediately see all the skills and services a shop could offer.
The Certificates were very trustworthy. After all, if they weren't trustworthy, the Certificates would become worthless, and the company that issued them would have huge issues since no one would spend money to get them. This was why the company always had to be strict and fair in evaluations.
Yet, that didn't make it impossible for some rare conmen to game the system. As long as the head crafter of the shop had these skills, there wouldn't be an issue. Sadly, this didn't make it impossible for someone to hire an employee that didn't have these skills.
So, the Certificates only showed that someone inside the shop could do that. These Certificates alone wouldn't convince everyone to enter.
That was where the Certificate of Honesty came into play.
Advertising or saying one thing but doing something else was inherently deceiving. Yet, if the head crafter and/or owner of the place knew the Law of Honesty, it was almost certain that the customer would get what was advertised.
If someone comprehended the Law of Honesty, it showed that this person had a high affinity towards honesty, and therefore a low affinity towards deceit or lies. If someone knew the Law of Honesty, the chances were very high that they despised lying or deceiving others. After all, if they didn't have that mindset, they probably wouldn't have comprehended the Law of Honesty.
And when the boss of the shop was an honest person, the boss would want their employees to also be honest with the customers. This was why this Certificate was so important.
Gravis put the Certificates into the appropriate slots and looked at them as they shone with light. The Certificate of Honesty shone with a warm white light. The Certificate of Middle World Forging shone with an earthen brown light, and the Certificate of World Forging shone with a powerful and radiant purple. The Certificate of World Forging was by far one of the most overpowering and noticeable Certificates that existed.
Nearly all the different Certificates of the surrounding shops paled in comparison to this overpowering, radiant purple light. Only the Certificates on a similar level could rival this purple light. After all, one shouldn't forget that there were other jobs besides forging.
In comparison to beasts, humans needed to upgrade two things. Beasts only needed to strengthen their body by eating other beasts, while humans needed to strengthen their bodies and Spirits. One shouldn't forget that, at the Law Comprehension Realm, the Energy and Spirit fused into one entity.
The best way for humans to increase their physical power was to get natural treasures and then mix them with materials that complemented and elevated the natural treasure's effect. These were called pills, and creating pills was not an easy job at all.
If one made a single mistake while mixing the materials, the pill could become toxic, lose its power, straight-up burn, or other things could happen to it. On top of that, in comparison to forging, if you screw up the pill, the natural treasure would be wasted. If Gravis fucked up a weapon, he could simply reforge it. That was not possible for pills.
The Law of the Dead World could also elevate someone's pill concocting ability to higher levels. Some materials and ingredients had complementing effects but couldn't be fused as simply. This meant that they had to be fused on an Energy-basis, which meant comprehending the Compositions of said ingredients and materials.
Of course, pill concocting didn't rely as much on the Law of the Dead World as forging. The real equivalent of the Law of the Dead World for pill concocting was the Law of Life, the Law that combined all life aspects.
Yet, the Law of Life was considered to be harder to understand than the Law of the Dead World, which was why this emerald green Certificate slightly outshone Gravis' Certificate of World Forging.
There were also other, equally as radiant Certificates. Another one would be the Certificate of True Weapon. One could only get that one if they managed to understand the level four Laws of all common weapons, which meant comprehending eight different level four Laws!
Understanding that many level four Laws was probably nothing special for an Immortal Emperor, but having all of them be from only one category was impressive. Because of the difficulty, this Certificate was just as bright as the Certificate of Life.
This Certificate was mainly used for teachers. Understanding a weapon was far different from any other Law. Instead of trying to understand the truth of how things worked, the process of understanding Weapon Laws was to craft their own personalized path.
Because of that difference, many people required guidance in their weapon Laws.
Gravis looked at the Certificates of the surrounding shops and smirked.
This place was perfect!
There were a ton of powerful shops in Gravis' vicinity but no comparable forging shops. Most comparable forging shops were far down the road.
'Mom sure knows how to pick a good shop,' Gravis thought. 'All these elite shops of different categories pull in a lot of wealthy customers, and they might also be interested in weapons.'
Gravis watched the shops but quickly noticed someone looking at him through a window.
Gravis looked back.
This was a young, blonde-haired man wearing luxurious green robes. He was on the second floor of the store just beside Gravis, the pill shop with the Certificate of Life.
After looking at the person for two seconds, Gravis smirked.
And the person smirked back.
Just like Gravis was happy that these other powerful shops attracted customers without competing against him, this person was also happy that the new shop beside him had powerful credentials but didn't encroach on his customer base.
"Want to come over for tea later?" the young man asked Gravis.
"Sure, but I need to open up first," Gravis answered.
They looked forward to their mutually beneficial cooperation.
