Tower of Truth, Mike’s private space.
“Boss, here’s the latest batch of ore production.”
The miners and dwarves were in high spirits, having exceeded their mining targets.
Mike stored all the ores and took a tour.
Teemo and Pig Vladimir were still in the Mushroom Forest, and everything seemed fine.
Mike observed from a distance.
No one was missing, and progress was steady.
However, Vladimir had somehow grown a bunch of small mushrooms on his pig head, looking both comical and horrifying.
Just then, Mike received a message from Foreskin.
The spoils of the major battle had been tallied and were ready for collection at the Trade Secret Realm.
According to their previous agreement, Mike provided 50,000 copies of [Wind’s Reach], and one-third of the gains from all who had learned [Wind’s Reach] and participated in the battle would go to Mike.
Looking at the miner leader and the dwarf chief, Mike instructed, “No need to rush the ore mining for now. Take it easy and rest. Equipment forging will be on the agenda soon.”
Both nodded repeatedly.
After arranging everything, Mike left his private space and headed to the Trade Secret Realm. In the Trade Secret Realm.
Foreskin had been waiting for a while. Seeing Mike, he nodded in greeting, “Good day, Fourth Bro.”
Mike didn’t stand on ceremony, “So, how much did I earn from this battle?”
Foreskin began, “Strictly speaking, this battle resulted in a net loss for humanity…” Mike: ???
Wait, did Shadow Nine set me up in a scam?
If the final tally shows a loss of 30 million, does that mean I have to share a 10 million debt?
“The costs of the battle were enormous.”
Mike’s lightning elements began to flicker uncontrollably.
He had painstakingly ‘scammed’ a modest fortune from Maxen and earned some income from selling ores.
Could it be… that Shadow Nine was going to wipe it all out?
“It’s not like that.”
Foreskin shifted his tone, reassuring Mike, “The expenses were high, but the gains were also significant. This was the most fruitful battle humanity has had in nearly a century.”
Mike’s mood improved slightly.
“The gold and various resources spent amounted to half of the wealth accumulated over the past century.”
Foreskin counted on his fingers,
“The final gains are these three Abyssal Planes.”
With that, three maps appeared before Mike.
After being thoroughly purified, the Abyssal Planes would return to the Tower of Truth, strengthening the seal on the Supreme Demon God.
As long as the Abyssal Planes existed within the Tower of Truth, they would serve their purpose.
Whose hands they were in didn’t matter much.
Mike guessed a possibility and asked incredulously, “So, that means…”
Foreskin nodded, confirming Mike’s assumption,
“That’s right. You can choose any one of the three Abyssal Planes as your spoils of war.”
The three Abyssal Planes came from the third, fourth, and sixth demon gods.
The third abyss, Stygian Abyss, also known as the Silent Abyss.
The fourth abyss, Blinding Abyss.
The sixth abyss, Suffocating Abyss.
These three abysses corresponded to three parts of the Supreme Demon God’s body: tongue, eyes, and nose.
Based on what Mike knew, choosing the fourth abyss was the most suitable.
Even so, Mike pretended to examine all three Abyssal Planes.
Foreskin provided a brief introduction.
However, compared to the [Eye of Truth], his introduction was somewhat lacking.
[Third Abyss, plane rules]
[During the day, no talking is allowed in this abyss. Speaking will incur a negative buff and continuous health loss.]
[At night, no lying is allowed in this abyss. Words must be followed by actions. Lying or breaking promises will incur a negative buff and continuous health loss.]
[Specialties: ores, gold element monsters, earth element monsters, honesty fruit, oath flower…]
“The plane rules are interesting.”
Mike nodded and immediately ruled out this choice.
Whichever Abyssal Plane Mike chose, he would move it to his private space.
Forbidding the dwarves, miners, and werewolves from speaking was worse than killing them.
Moreover, with the Mysterious Mine, Mike didn’t have a high demand for ores.
[Sixth Abyss, plane rules]
[…]
After pretending to examine the second one, Mike focused on the central Abyssal Plane.
[Fourth Abyss, plane rules]
[During the day, everything is shrouded in fog, reducing visibility to one percent. Various terrifying monsters spawn in the fog, ready to attack intruders.]
[At night, those with the map can move within specific illumination formations. Inside the formations is absolutely safe, while outside, vision is stripped, monsters’ attributes are enhanced tenfold, and damage dealt is increased by 200%.]
[Specialties: fog fruit, blinding mushrooms…]
In addition to this information, the three Abyssal Planes had varying degrees of damage.
The third Abyssal Plane was shattered, with residual sword energy felt even through the map. The fourth Abyssal Plane wasn’t much better.
[Wind’s Reach] had left traces of wind here, causing periodic strong winds that affected the illumination formations.
Additionally, due to returning to the Tower of Truth, the Abyssal Plane showed signs of
collapse and fragmentation.
From the map, the fourth Abyssal Plane was divided into thousands of small islands, all shrouded in fog.
If Mike could place illumination runes on all the islands, he could fully illuminate the fourth
Abyssal Plane.
“This one.”
Mike ultimately chose the fourth Abyssal Plane.
“Alright.”
Foreskin put away the maps.
“By the way, Fourth Bro, I suggest you sell fewer ores for a while.”
Foreskin advised, “After this major battle, many small and medium Abyssal Planes were occupied by human corps. Many of these abysses are rich in ores. The spoils also include a lot of ores, and Maxen alone brought back a significant amount. Most importantly, the third Abyssal Plane has a massive ore yield and is already being developed.”
On one hand, humanity was entering a period of recuperation, reducing the need for ores as they wouldn’t initiate major battles and only needed to maintain existing defenses.
On the other hand, the market supply of ores had surged.
These factors combined to drive ore prices to their lowest.
Selling ores now would be a loss for Mike. It was better to deliver the minimum required by
contracts on schedule.
“The fourth Abyssal Plane will be delivered to your private space soon. If you have any issues,
feel free to contact me.”
“Mystic Market’s business principle is to guarantee quality, with returns and exchanges!”
Mike’s eyes lit up, “Can I return the fourth Abyssal Plane after mining it out?”
Foreskin: …
After finalizing the major battle’s gains with Foreskin, Mike had one more important matter
to address.
“Fourth Bro, about the pricing of [Wind’s Reach]…”
Foreskin organized his thoughts, “My boss didn’t give any specific instructions. According to
the usual process, we’ll have six meetings to negotiate the final price.”
“No need for all that.”
Mike waved his hand, clearly having made up his mind.
“What’s there to negotiate? In the end, it’ll be my price. I’m not planning to compromise.”
Foreskin was momentarily speechless.
Thor was right.
Negotiations required leverage to begin.
To obtain [Wind’s Reach] skill books, one had to go through Thor.
There were ways to copy or pirate skill books.
Firstly, these methods were costly and less efficient than buying directly from Thor.
Secondly, everyone emphasized intellectual property protection and wouldn’t break the rules.
So, the price of this skill book was indeed up to Thor!
Foreskin tentatively asked,
“How much are you planning to sell it for?”
Mike held up one finger.
“100 Battle Lord merits?”
“No.”
“1 million gold coins?”
Mike shook his head again, “Too high! I think you all have a bias against me!”
Foreskin decided to be bold, “10,000 gold coins?”
10,000 gold coins was already a ridiculously low price.
[Windstride Slash] sold for 7,000 gold coins, and [Wind’s Reach] was far superior. Pricing it
the same was very generous!
But today, Thor’s generosity seemed boundless!
“Guess again!”
Foreskin’s voice began to tremble, “100 gold coins?!”
“Guess again!”
Those two words hit Foreskin like a hammer to the heart.
100 gold coins, equivalent to $10,000, was practically giving it away!
In his years as Mystic Market Manager, he had never seen anyone truly indifferent to money.
His boss, Apollo, was one.
But Apollo’s issue was that he wasn’t interested in anything. Even a sexy stripper in front of
him would be boring to him.
Could Thor’s generosity be influenced by Supreme Being Apollo?
Foreskin didn’t know what had happened.
He only knew that what was about to happen might exceed everyone’s expectations!