After the initial shock, Vladimir was ecstatic. He was going to crush Dracula under his heel and become the most powerful vampire!
“Good.” Mike nodded, taking note of this information. “One last question, what valuables does Dracula have?”
Both Mike and Vladimir knew the score. Vladimir was bankrupt, he had nothing left to squeeze. Even if he did have something, it would be a trump card he wouldn’t reveal unless absolutely necessary, something that could potentially save his life, and he wouldn’t trade it for a bit of blood essence.
Therefore, the only thing Vladimir could trade was information.
Fortunately, as a “traitor” to the blood clan, Vladimir felt no guilt about selling out Dracula. Forget about morals, there was no way to restrain Vladimir.
When it came to betraying his teammates, Vladimir was becoming bolder and bolder.
Betraying Dracula once was fun, betraying him always was even more fun!
Vladimir whispered, “Among Dracula’s many titles, one is [Manipulator of Gods]. You’ve heard of it before, right?”
Mike nodded, “Yes.”
“Dracula had more than one God Puppet back then, from level 990 to 999, he had them all!” A hint of awe flashed across Vladimir’s face. As a once prominent figure in the blood clan, he never underestimated Dracula.
“A level 999 Puppet, how is that possible?” Mike knew very well that even in his prime, Dracula could never defeat a level 999 enemy and capture them alive.
“Did the former Blood Ancestor help him capture it?”
Vladimir nodded, confirming, “Yes.”
“Alright, I understand.”
All the questions had been asked, it was time to negotiate the price.
Vladimir tentatively offered a price, “The information I gave you, can it be exchanged for 100 drops of blood?”
If he could get 100 drops of Forbidden Prince blood essence, he would have a chance to recover to the strength of a nine-star Lord!
“I think your offer is a bit high.”
Mike patted Vladimir’s shoulder and offered his price, “Three questions, thirty drops.”
Thirty drops of blood essence were worth nearly 100,000 Lord merits!
Mike was so generous,
On the one hand, he got this blood essence for free, practically a gift.
On the other hand, he was about to go to the Abyss, and having stronger subordinates would make Mike safer.
Thirty drops of blood essence were enough for Vladimir to level up to 920-930.
That was enough.
Vladimir wasn’t surprised by this outcome.
He had offered 100 drops, fully prepared to be haggled down.
After leaving the small room, Vladimir glanced at Dracula, and they both snorted coldly, passing each other by.
Dracula closed the door behind him after entering the room and leaned forward slightly, as a greeting to Mike.
“Dracula, please have a seat.”
Mike pointed to the chair opposite him, even getting up to pull out the chair for Dracula, patting his shoulder, and inviting him to sit down.
Dracula looked at Mike warily, he felt something was off.
Soon, Dracula realized what was wrong!
Thor’s left hand was somehow covered in dust.
As a result, there was a glaring white handprint on the left shoulder of Dracula’s clothes.
But!
There was nothing on his right shoulder.
Dracula took a deep breath, resisting the urge to brush off the handprint, and went straight to the point,
“What did that traitor talk to you about?”
“Don’t worry, let’s talk about something more relaxing.”
Mike was very friendly and asked proactively, “Dracula, do you want an additional Fire Element sub-class?”
“No.”
Dracula frowned slightly. Vampires had many secret techniques related to burning their blood, but they hated fire.
The sun, which vampires hated the most, was a giant fireball.
“Think about it carefully, we can cooperate.”
Mike offered his terms, “I’ll use the effect of [Thunderclap Fate] to let you slumber in equipment, and you can learn an additional Fire Element, it’s a win-win situation, how about
it?”
Sealing a phantom of Dracula’s level into equipment would bring huge benefits!
The most obvious benefit was that Mike could summon a nine-star Lord level vampire to
fight for him anytime, anywhere.
“Don’t even think about it!”
Dracula abruptly stood up and snorted coldly, “What do you take me for? Your slave? Or your
pet?”
Mike offered, “100 drops of blood essence.”
Dracula turned his head away, his face full of disdain, “Stop talking, I will not agree.”
Mike went straight to his final offer, “300… forget it, 1000 drops.”
He wasn’t interested in haggling bit by bit, this was the highest price he was willing to pay.
1000 drops of Forbidden Prince blood essence were worth 3 million Lord merits!
With such a huge fortune placed in front of him, Dracula’s reason told him he had to refuse, but his mouth clearly had its own ideas.
“Alright, I agree!”
Dracula began to bargain, “First, you can’t seal me in SSS-level equipment! Second, the wear and tear from each battle must be compensated with blood essence! Third, you can’t transfer
the equipment to anyone else in any form!”
“No problem!”
Mike agreed to these conditions directly.
The last two conditions were very reasonable.
As for not wanting SSS-level equipment, Mike understood this point.
Dracula didn’t want to become a true equipment spirit. If the equipment tier was too high, it
would become a cage for Dracula, trapping him.
But if it was SS-level equipment, Dracula wouldn’t have this concern.
Actually, even if Dracula wanted SSS-level equipment, Mike wouldn’t want him as an
equipment spirit.
He was getting ahead of himself.
Activating [Thunderclap Fate] required Dracula’s cooperation.
With Mike’s current strength, forcing Dracula to do this… was actually possible.
He didn’t even need Apollo’s help, just a jolt of lightning would do. However, the power of lightning was difficult to control. If it was too weak, it wouldn’t be enough to deter Dracula. But if he went all out, Dracula would probably be turned to ashes.
And ashes were worthless and couldn’t be sealed into equipment.
Mike was always very clear about where the line was in these matters.
Mike added, “1000 drops of blood essence, but I can’t give it to you all at once, it needs to be
paid in installments!”
Dracula nodded in agreement.
He had guessed that Thor wouldn’t be so generous as to give him all 1000 drops of blood
essence at once.
Seeing Dracula agree so readily, Mike asked tentatively,
“How about… we do interest-only payments first, I’ll pay you 1 drop every day. On the last
day, I’ll pay you 900 drops in one go, how about that?”
Dracula: ???
You call this an installment plan?
Where’s the interest?
Finally, the two reached an agreement, 10 drops per day, Mike would hire Dracula as an
equipment spirit for 100 days.
No matter from which angle you looked at it, Dracula had made a killing in this deal.
Except for the addition of an embarrassing past.
Next, Mike took out a contract,
“If there’s no problem, we can sign the contract!”
“Wait!”
Dracula raised his hand and casually brushed off the white handprint on his shoulder,
“No need for a contract, I only need your word.”
There was such a good thing?
Just as Mike was about to swear an oath, Dracula interrupted him again.
Dracula said seriously, “And… don’t let Vladimir know about this!”