In the Core City of Truth, Mike strolled down the street, quickly finding his target. “Shadow Three.”
Shadow Three, adorned with bone ornaments, had been waiting for a while. He greeted Mike respectfully, “Fourth Bro, I’ll escort you to Shadow Fortress.”
The Guardian Shadow had a place called Shadow Fortress, built by Pecker for Shadow Nine. It was thanks to Shadow Fortress that the Shadows could awaken.
On the way, Shadow Three reported, “As per your instructions, the top ten of the Guardian Shadow are all present.”
This time, Mike had summoned the Shadows not just for the tournament against the Nightmare corps, but more importantly, for the upcoming Abyss expedition.
The entire Shadow Fortress was built in white, which surprised Mike.
But when he saw the Guardian Shadows inside Shadow Fortress, he understood.
Shadows were black, and if Shadow Fortress was also black, everyone would be blind as bats.
A white backdrop allowed the Guardian Shadows to live more comfortably within Shadow Fortress.
Shadow Three led Mike straight to the meeting room, where the Shadows were already waiting.
Upon seeing Mike, the Shadows stood up and said in unison, “Greetings, Fourth Bro!”
Mike felt a bit like a mob boss at that moment.
“Sit down, there’s no need for formalities.”
Mike looked around and saw many familiar faces.
Shadow One to Shadow Four, needless to say, were old acquaintances.
He had also met Shadow Five before, a chubby man with a creepy laugh.
Shadow Six was a beautiful woman in blue, the file only mentioned that she came from the Blackwell family, not even her full name.
The current Shadow Seven was Terraon Morrow.
Shadow Eight was a middle-aged man who often operated alone in the Abyssal Plane.
Shadow Nine… He was absent, skip.
Mike also knew Shadow Ten.
It was Darian, who had been in charge of protecting Professor Gregory before. He was Terenas’ instructor and the former corps leader of the Blood Sea corps.
So, out of these ten Guardian Shadows, Mike was familiar with most of them.
“Have a seat, time is precious.”
Mike didn’t waste any time and went straight to the point, “The first item on the agenda today is how to win the Lord tier tournament.”
Speaking of which, Mike just received a message from Maxen.
Maxen had gotten the Nightmare corps’ battle list!
Mike sent the coordinates to Maxen, asking him to come over.
Putting away the communicator, Mike looked at Shadow One to Shadow Ten, glancing around, “Let’s have an open discussion.”
For a moment, the meeting room fell silent.
An eerie silence.
From the perspective of Shadow Ten, Shadow Eight, and the others,
What was there to discuss?
Just send out One, Two, Three, Four, Five in order, wasn’t that enough?
Shadow Four, on the other hand, had learned some inside information beforehand and remained silent.
As for the usually most active Shadow One, Shadow Two, and Shadow Three, the four Shadows were also uncharacteristically silent.
Mike was a little surprised, he looked at the Shadows, lost in thought.
Was something wrong?
Just as all the Shadows were silent, a voice broke the stalemate.
“Thor, I got you the Nightmare corps’ Lord tier battle list, you’ll never guess who it is!”
Maxen barged into the meeting room excitedly, happily announcing to Mike, “The remaining three are: Shadow One, Shadow Two, Shadow Three!”
The Shadows: ???
Using members of the Guardian Shadow to fight for the Nightmare corps?
How audacious!
Maxen didn’t expect the Shadows to be in a meeting.
He smiled sheepishly, “Everyone’s here, never mind, carry on with your chat, I’ll be going
now.”
Maxen left, leaving a mess behind.
Inside the Guardian Shadow hall.
Mike rubbed his temples, “Explain yourselves.”
Shadow One chuckled, “Fourth Bro, this is all Shadow Nine’s fault. The three of us are nominally the top three of the Guardian Shadow, but our contracts are with the Nightmare
corps, our monthly salaries and allowances are paid by them…”
The Guardian Shadow’s poverty wasn’t a recent development.
Although Shadow Nine was a hands-off leader, he still tried his best to cut expenses.
For example, the top three of the Guardian Shadow were all signed to outsourcing contracts, essentially temporary workers.
Shadow Four stepped forward to corroborate Shadow One’s statement, “It’s true.”
Shadow Two added in a low voice, “We’re all vice-corps leaders over there, our salaries are
even higher than Shadow Nine’s.”
Mike was silent for a moment, then turned to Shadow Four and said seriously, “Get me one of those contracts too, I want to get paid by the Nightmare corps as well.”
Shadow Four smiled wryly and shook his head, he didn’t know what to say anymore.
Now the Nightmare corps had confirmed the five participants for the Lord tier:
Maxen, Shadow One, Shadow Two (Bad Woman), Shadow Three, and Joseph.
Shadow Four explained the rules, “In the Lord tier battles, you can’t fight twice.”
Mike looked at the list of five people, feeling a headache coming on.
Bad Man was very enthusiastic and volunteered, “Fourth Bro, please allow me to duel Bad
Woman!”
Bad Woman sneered, “Fourth Bro, according to our previous agreement, I’ll be at level 989, and Bad Man will only be level 1.”
Level 1 versus level 989!
“Alright.”
Mike agreed and looked at Bad Man seriously, “You must win this battle, no defeat is
allowed.”
Of course, Mike knew that great rewards brought great courage, so he offered Bad Man a deal,
“If you win, I’ll reward you. If you lose, I’ll find a way to send you to the Supreme Abyssal to
chat with Shadow Nine.”
Bad Man was confident, “No problem!”
Level 1 versus level 989, although he didn’t know how Bad Man was going to win, Mike still
chose to believe in him.
However, there were still two more troublesome opponents.
Mike smiled wryly, looking at the last two opponents.
Shadow One and Shadow Three.
One was nominally the strongest fighter in the Guardian Shadow.
The other was actually the strongest fighter in the Guardian Shadow.
What was he supposed to do?
Shadow One saw Mike’s dilemma and took the initiative to speak, “Fourth Bro, you have to
trust our loyalty!”
Mike snorted coldly, “We’ll talk about your loyalty when Shadow Nine returns.”
Shadow Nine, return?!
The silence in the Guardian Shadow hall became instantaneous.
“Alright, let’s get down to business.”
Mike glanced at the table and looked at Shadow One and Shadow Three, saying seriously, “You’re participating in the Lord tier tournament. The people in the Guardian Shadow have
level restrictions, you know that, right?”
The two nodded, it was true.
Even Shadow Four, the strongest human in the Guardian Shadow, couldn’t reach level 989.
“I won’t make things difficult for you.”
Mike continued, “I ask you to suppress your levels to the same as theirs, that’s not too much
to ask, right?”
“Not at all!”
Shadow One and Shadow Three both assured that they wouldn’t use strength exceeding level
990.
Shadow Two also wanted to make a guarantee, but he simply didn’t have the ability…
“Alright, let’s settle this matter.”
In the tournament between the Guardian Shadow and the Nightmare corps, the Guardian Shadow was sure to win in the Soldier, General, and Chief tiers.
Even if they lost in the Lord tier, it wouldn’t be too embarrassing.
As for the Ultimate Lord tier, Mike was confident that he would win.
All things considered, their chances of winning were still very high.
“Next item on the agenda, I recently created a skill, take a look.” Mike showed the description of [Thunderclap Fate] to the Shadows and said, “I have a batch
of wolf phantoms that can be enchanted onto equipment through Thunderclap Fate to enhance your combat power. Besides that, help me think if there are any good phantoms that
can quickly increase combat power.”
This topic was obviously much more relaxed.
Shadow One was the first to speak, “On the 72nd floor of the Tower of Truth, there’s a group of
wild ghosts that can enchant SS-level equipment.”
Mike frowned slightly, “The prerequisite for using Thunderclap Fate is willingness, are they
willing?”
Shadow One nodded, “Definitely willing.”
Shadow Three looked at Shadow Eight and said, “I remember there’s a group of lingering
demon creatures in the Second Abyss.”
Shadow Eight, with his bearded face, agreed, “Indeed, is there still time to catch them?”
As he spoke, he was about to get up.
Shadow Eight was a man of action, he usually didn’t talk much, but he was always ready to get
things done.
Shadow Four interjected, “Afterskin is currently in the Second Abyss.”
“Next!”
Everyone immediately ignored this suggestion.
Mike reminded, “Stop all Guardian Shadow operations in the Second Abyss for the time
being.”
Shadow Four nodded, “Already stopped.”
“I trust you to handle it.”
Afterward, the Shadows suggested some suitable phantoms that could be used with
[Thunderclap Fate] to achieve powerful effects.
There were already many Soul Element experts within the Guardian Shadow, and the
[Thunderclap Fate] skill books Mike created could be mass-produced.
The problem of phantom sources was quickly solved. From the Soldier tier to the Lord tier, everything was basically arranged.
It was foreseeable that in the near future, the combat power of the Guardian Shadow would
skyrocket.
After discussing the important matters, Mike casually asked, “By the way, are there any phantoms suitable for me?”
Although he had already reserved Dracula, the Forbidden Prince, the more phantoms he could enchant, the better.
The Shadows fell into deep thought.
Shadow One suddenly broke the silence, “Fourth Bro, I remember now, Shadow Two is
actually a phantom!”
Bad Man/Bad Woman: ???
“Shadow One, are you out of your mind? We’re alive and well!”
“Yeah, look how mentally split we are!”
How did he suddenly become a phantom?
Shadow One turned his head and said fiercely, “Shut up! I said you are, so you are!”