Lightning Is the Only Way

It didn't take long for Mortis to calm down. Mortis was someone that liked to remain emotionless so that he could make the optimal, unbiased decisions possible. Because of that, all the rage and hatred vanished in less than an hour.

Gravis sighed and returned to Stella and Liam.

The three of them talked for a couple of hours more. By now, Liam was no longer as taciturn in front of Gravis as before. It seemed like he was slowly warming up to him.

SHING!

Then, someone new appeared in the cave.

Exar had left long ago, making this person the fourth human in the cave.

The three of them looked over.

The person was dressed entirely in black. They even wore a black hood and black mask to hide everything about themselves. The three of them couldn't even feel the aura of that person.

They could only guess that this person was probably a woman, based on her stature.

Stella and Liam became a bit nervous. Only assassins and thieves that wanted to stay hidden dressed like this since they didn't want to be discovered.

However, the two of them had also already heard from Gravis that an Elder from Underworld would come later to set up some Formation Arrays. This was probably that Elder, but they couldn't be sure.

"You're the Elder from Underworld?" Gravis asked with a polite smile.

The Elder turned her head to Gravis and looked at him.

"To think that I would be helping a beast in setting up a Formation Array," she said coldly. "The world is truly changing."

"Exar should have informed you that I don't consider myself a beast," Gravis said. He didn't take the comment lightly, but it was important to be diplomatic right now. As long as the Elder didn't go overboard, everything was fine.

"You even dare to speak the name of our Keeper this openly. If it hadn't been him that had sent me here, I would have killed you for disrespecting him," she said.

Gravis' friendly expression slowly turned to a neutral one. He had given her two chances to remain polite, but she didn't follow. Well, then there was no reason for him to be polite either.

"My relationship with Exar doesn't concern you," Gravis said. "If he doesn't like how I address him, he can say that himself. I don't think that someone of his caliber needs someone else to speak up for him."

The two of them shared a look for a couple of seconds.

"I may have overstepped my boundaries," the Elder said, surprising the three of them. 

"It's fine," Gravis said, smiling politely again. The Elder had acknowledged her mistake, and something like that was worthy of respect. "So, I've heard you wanted to ask me a couple of questions first?" Gravis asked.

The Elder looked around the cave some more. Then, she looked back at Gravis. "The only reason why I'm even considering to help you is that you know the Law of Honesty. Without that Law, I can't be sure of your intentions."

"I do know the Law of Honesty," Gravis said. "However, my Will-Aura is currently on the level of an Early Major Circulation Immortal Emperors. If you want to check my answer, you need to have a more powerful Will-Aura."

The Elder huffed. "Don't concern yourself with my power. It's more than enough to check if your answers are honest or not."

Gravis nodded. He believed that the Elder was telling the truth. After all, this was probably one of the Vice-Sect Masters or maybe even the Sect Master of the Purist Sect. This person was probably at least a Mid Major Circulation Immortal Emperor.

"Then, go ahead. Ask your questions. I will use my Law of Honesty for every answer," Gravis said.

The Elder looked at Gravis for a couple more seconds before she spoke.

"Do you consider yourself a beast or a human?" she asked.

"Human," Gravis said with his Law of Honesty.

The Elder remained silent for a couple more seconds. 

"On which side of the war are you on?" she asked.

"Neither," Gravis answered. "I don't care about the war. I don't care who wins or who loses. I only care about myself and the people close to me."

"Do you consider yourself part of the human camp?"

"No."

"Do you consider yourself part of the beast camp?"

"No."

"Do you consider yourself part of the plant camp?"

"I don't really differentiate between beasts and plants. So, no."

"What is your goal in creating a trading firm that trades with both beasts and humans?"

"Earning money."

This made the Elder halt for some seconds. 

Was this truly the entire reason?

Gravis had no other reason than to just make money?

She had expected that Gravis maybe wanted to manipulate the market so that the power of the beasts increased more than the power of humans. 

One had to remember that only Narcissus and Exar knew the true purpose of Underworld. The other members had no idea that Underworld only existed to make humanity weaker.

In their eyes, they were still part of the human camp.

"Is earning money the entire reason for creating this trading firm?" she asked.

"Yes. Money gives me access to Law Comprehension Areas, weapons, Formation Arrays, and Realm increases. In short, money is power," Gravis answered.

"So, your intentions are entirely selfish?"

"Yes, as long as you include taking care of my close people as selfish," Gravis answered.

The three of them couldn't see it, but they felt like the Elder was narrowing her eyes.

"Then why should I help you?" the Elder asked with a colder tone than before.

"Because, even though my intentions are selfish, my actions will benefit the beasts and humans. My intentions don't matter in this case," Gravis said.

"And you expect me to help you, even though your intentions are selfish?" the Elder asked.

"No," Gravis said, shocking the Elder. Gravis had used his Law of Honesty with every answer, including this one.

Gravis was honestly not expecting her to help.

"Exar said he doesn't like forcing people. This means it's your decision if you want to help me or not. If you don't want to help, I'm not expecting you to help. We are currently strangers to each other, and I'm not someone that thinks that strangers owe me anything."

The Elder fell into thought. She had believed that she was in a position of power since Gravis was reliant on her Formation Arrays. Yet, Gravis just said that he honestly didn't need her help. It was entirely her decision.

"What if I don't help?" she asked.

"That makes it a bit harder to create my trading firm, but not by much," Gravis answered. "I'll just destroy the human side of my trading firm and use this place entirely for beasts."

"The Formation Arrays that you would place only serve two purposes: Keeping the humans and beasts separate from each other so that they don't come into contact with each other, and keeping this location a secret from humanity."

"As long as there are no humans here, the first purpose is irrelevant, and as long as I create another building somewhere else that only serves humans, I wouldn't need to hide this location."

"The only inconvenience would be to get the wares from point A to point B, but I can assure you that as long as no Mid Major Circulation Immortal Emperor tries to stop the transport, I have nothing to fear."

"And as you are well aware, all of the Cultivators on that level in this continent should be part of the upper echelon of the Purist Sect, and therefore, also be part of Underworld. Exar supports my plan, and he is the Keeper of Underworld. Therefore, Cultivators on that level in this continent have no reason to go against me," Gravis finished.

Silence.

Half a minute of silence.

The Elder was thinking deeply about the words that Gravis had said.

Gravis was right. He wasn't reliant on the Elder's help. His trading firm would succeed regardless. The Elder's help would only make it more convenient.

"Fine," the Elder said after a while, "but I want to get paid."

"Like I said, strangers don't owe me anything," Gravis said. "Therefore, I was expecting to pay you. However, depending on the price, I might have to delay the payment. My initial investment into the market has to be as big as possible."

The Elder remained silent for five seconds as she thought about it.

"Promise me with your Law of Honesty that you will pay me as long as we agree on a price. It doesn't have to be immediately, but I want you to make an honest effort to pay for my service," she said.

"No problem," Gravis said with a nod. "I promise you."

The Elder also nodded.

"Good." 

"What do you need?"