After being dragged to the lounge by Mike, Cain went through several more takes.
Watching the final version of the video, Mike nodded in satisfaction. “Not bad, should fetch a good price.”
Putting away the camera, Mike didn’t try to hide anything from Cain and asked Ace directly, “How much are you planning to pay the actor?”
Ace was taken aback. “What?”
Pay Cain too?
Mike started counting on his fingers. “Making these short videos has costs, you know. Actor’s fee, director’s fee, channel fee, marketing and promotion fee…”
“Stop right there!”
Ace stopped Mike’s insane calculations and said directly, “Don’t make it so complicated. After deducting all costs, we split the profits fifty-fifty. And the costs can’t come out of your pocket.”
Mike nodded in agreement. “No problem!”
That was fair.
Mike looked at Cain and asked, “How about I give you 50?”
50 what?
50 gold coins wouldn’t be a small sum for Cain right now.
Ace frowned slightly but didn’t interrupt.
50 Lord merits seemed a bit too much.
Although Cain had a low level and a poor talent, he had a cheerful personality and was usually very frugal.
Giving such a large sum of money to Cain wouldn’t be helping him, it would be harming him. However, Ace could see that Cain and Mike were on good terms.
50 Lord merits, it was just a small price to pay.
It wasn’t his place to tell Thor what to do.
Cain waved his hand. “It’s just a small favor, no need for money. It’s too formal between friends.”
Cain himself had also gained something from sparring with Ace. Talking about money would ruin the camaraderie.
Mike interrupted Cain, his tone serious. “It’s not formal at all. Seeing Ace lose money makes me happier than earning it myself!”
Mike took out a card and stuffed it into Cain’s hand. “You have to take this 0.5 million gold coins!”
Looking at the gold coins in his hand, Cain was speechless for a moment.
“Th-th-this…”
Mike whispered to him, “This guy comes from a filthy rich family, and it’s not even his money, just take it!”
“Th-then…”
The sudden windfall left Cain at a loss for words.
After a long pause, he said,
“Mike, how about I pay you back the money I owe you first?”
For the [Windstride Slash] skill book before, Cain had given Mike an IOU for 10 million dollars, worth 10,000 gold coins.
Now that he had the money, Cain’s first reaction was to pay off his debt.
And then…
Deposit the rest of the gold coins in a bank?
Faced with Cain’s request to repay the debt, Mike shook his head and refused. “There’s no
rush for the 10 million gold coins you owe me. We’ll talk about it later.”
At first glance, there seemed to be nothing wrong with what Mike said.
But upon closer inspection, there was a huge problem!
With Cain’s acting fee settled, Mike said goodbye to the two of them. “Alright, I’m going to sell this short video. If I get a good price, I’ll be rich!”
With that, he walked out of the lounge, found a secluded spot, and contacted Immortal Cedric.
Secretly taking out his Lone Wolf badge, Mike entered a string of identifiers and sent a message to Cedric.
Mike: Senior, are you there?
Cedric: Busy, slaying demon creatures.
Mike: Senior, fresh out of the oven short video, good quality, low price, interested?
After waiting for more than ten seconds without a reply, Mike typed again.
Mike: Senior, it’s a video of Ace.
[Message sent, but rejected by the recipient.]
Hiss-
Mike never expected that Cedric would block him directly!
Fortunately, Mike was prepared.
He opened his contact list and found the first person on the list-Maxen.
Thor: Stone, big money-making opportunity!
Maxen: Hello, I’m busy right now, I’ll contact you later!
Thor: I swear on Apollo’s name, I’m not messing with you this time!
Maxen: Tell me more.
Thor: Help me deliver a message to Cedric. Whether it works out or not, I’ll give you 180,000
Lord merits as a thank you!
Maxen: I’m right here with Cedric. I’ll put you on speakerphone, tell him yourself.
Oh…
Mike never expected that Maxen wouldn’t even have to run errands, directly freeloading the
errand fee!
Three sentences, and Thor cost 180,000!
But it didn’t matter.
Everything was going according to Mike’s plan!
This 180,000 would be deducted from the cost.
In other words, only 90,000 Lord merits belonged to Mike.
And Maxen, after receiving the 180,000 Lord merits, would have to hand over 90% to his big
godfather.
Half of that would then be allocated to Guardian Shadow.
And wasn’t Guardian Shadow’s funding Mike’s money?!
In other words, 45% of the 180,000 would go directly back to Mike!
As for the 90,000 that Ace lost, it was a real loss.
Don’t forget, the money left in Maxen’s hands would eventually belong to Mike anyway.
So in the end, Ace suffered a huge loss, Mike made a huge profit, and Maxen’s wool grew back
only to be sheared off again.
A world where only Ace got hurt, achieved!
Mike cleared his throat and said seriously,
“Senior Cedric, I have here a video of Ace’s three hundred rounds of battle against a D-tier
talent…”
After a brief introduction of his product, Mike waited for the other party to make an offer.
Cedric said impassively, “I’ll take it.”
Good, it was time to negotiate the price.
Mike tentatively asked, “Will you pay 800,000?”
This price was already pushing the limits of Mike’s imagination, and it was the package price
for several videos!
“No, I’ll pay 1.8 million.”
Cedric said directly,
“The more you pay, the more you get. 1.8 million for three videos.”
Mike tried hard to contain his excitement and immediately agreed, “No problem!”
Mike never expected this.
He had shot a single short film.
And the client directly invested in him to make a series!
The first installment, “Ace’s Debut: Battle Against D-tier Cain,” was a wrap.
600,000 Lord merits, Cedric paid up readily.
As for the script for the second film, Mike didn’t need to worry about it at all.
Cedric had already arranged everything!
“Have Calderon fight against someone above D-tier talent. Both sides must use more than
three types of weapons. Calderon can’t speak throughout the fight, but he’s allowed to cry out
in pain when he’s hit…”
Cedric listed a bunch of requirements, and Mike noted them down one by one.
It was a custom-made film.
“One last thing.”
Cedric emphasized,
“I’ll send you the information of the other lead actress. You must get her to star.”
Mike: “…”
There was even someone paying for a role?
For the sake of the 1.8 million Lord merits that Cedric had coughed up, Mike endured!
So be it if someone wanted to pay for a role. It wasn’t him getting beaten up anyway, what
was there to be afraid of!
After finalizing the deal, Mike received the first payment of 600,000 Lord merits.
He readily paid 180,000 to Maxen and returned to the lounge with the remaining 420,000
Lord merits, ready to split the money with Ace.
…
In the Ninth Abyss, Cedric finished watching the freshly baked short video and nodded in
satisfaction.
It was worth every penny!
He glanced at Maxen beside him and said, “Go, send this video to the Mystic Market.”
Maxen hesitated,
“Is that a good idea?”
He was starting to develop a phobia of the Mystic Market.
The last time he visited the Mystic Market auction house, he got a little too trigger-happy and
lost 0.6 million Lord merits!
A lesson learned in blood!
“Put this video up for auction at the Mystic Market.”
Cedric said seriously, “Anyone who views it once will be rewarded with 1 silver coin.”
The joy that Calderon’s embarrassing past brought him was not something he wanted to enjoy
alone.
He wanted the whole world to know.