Hearing the word “win-win,”
Dracula and Vladimir both shuddered.
They had developed a psychological aversion to that phrase.
But Mike didn’t pay any attention to their reactions.
*How could these biased vampires possibly understand my vision?*
After his conversation with Apollo, Mike had gained a wealth of information.
As he processed it, a bold idea began to take shape in his mind.
Talents came from the Supreme Source.
The human race had achieved a qualitative leap in power thanks to these talents.
But… were these fragments of the Supreme Source meant only for humans?
What if other races could help share the burden, also consuming the Supreme Source and weakening the Supreme Demon God in the process?
It wasn’t a bad idea.
However, Mike knew that this approach came with both risks and rewards.
The reward was that the human race could use external forces to weaken the Supreme Demon God, reducing the pressure on the Supreme Beings.
But the risks were clear. First, other races were uncontrollable.
Second, could other races even handle talents?
And if they could, what side effects would there be?
These were questions that would need to be answered step by step.
For now, Mike only had a rough idea, not a concrete plan.
Even if the idea took shape, Mike would have to submit a proposal in the human race’s high- level meetings, under Thor’s name. It would go through a series of reviews, discussions, and votes before a decision could be made on whether to conduct a pilot test.
Of course, Mike could also take a faster route:
He could go directly to Ares or Apollo.
If either of them gave the green light, he could proceed.
And if all else failed, Mike could wait until he became a Supreme Being himself and then push the idea forward.
In any case, having an idea was always a good thing.
After considering all the factors, Mike realized that vampires were the most suitable race for this experiment.
Here’s why:
First, the Blood Ancestor was dead and hadn’t merged with the Supreme Demon God.
This made the blood clan a semi-ally of the human race from a strategic standpoint.
Second, the blood clan wasn’t strong-in fact, they were quite weak.
The Blood Ancestor’s sister was a pig who only liked snacks, and Dracula’s power had significantly diminished.
Vladimir had his own ambitions and wasn’t truly loyal to the Blood Ancestor…
A blood clan like this posed no threat.
In ancient times, the werewolves had been vassals and slaves to the blood clan for a long time. But by the time of the Tower of Truth, the werewolves were on equal footing with the blood clan, both part of the Nine Races, though in the Lower Three Races.
The blood clan’s decline was evident.
Finally, the blood clan had the potential to try integrating talent fragments.
If Mike could find the vampire who had originally suggested using human slaves to build the Tower of Truth, he would be willing to convince that vampire to become a test subject for the human race, to see how well they could integrate talents.
The talent tier wouldn’t be too high, but it wouldn’t be too low either.
Mike planned to start with F-tier talents for the experiment.
At the end of the day, Mike’s actions were always in the best interest of the human race on a grand scale. But when it came to the details, he was always focused on maximizing profit and having fun.
“I really want to find that vampire soon!” Mike sighed, causing the two vampires to shudder again.
“I’m telling you two, when you’re not busy, go help out at the factory. Learn to enjoy life with the common folk, got it?”
After discussing serious matters, Thor revealed his true nature and began sharing the “blessings” of hard work with the two vampires.
After sending them off, Mike wandered around his private space for a while.
He checked on Lilith, tried to Transmute the Force of Nature and the Money Tree, and nudged Fool Master about the progress of the forging.
After his leisurely stroll, Mike took stock of the gains from his trip to the Abyss.
Most of the deals with Poseidon were public accounts, with the bulk of the profits going to the Guardian Shadow.
“Guardian Shadow will earn 12 million Lord Merits in seven days, and Poseidon still owes 13 million…”
Mike did some quick calculations. Including the profits Maxen had shared with the Guardian Shadow, the total income for the Guardian Shadow would exceed 30 million!
A windfall!
But…
From another perspective, when Mike ordered the expansion of the Shadow Fortress, the fragile financial balance of the Guardian Shadow was shattered.
The Guardian Shadow would become a terrifying resource vortex, with consumption growing
exponentially!
Those 30 million Lord Merits could be spent in just a few years.
If it weren’t for Thor being in charge, the expanded Guardian Shadow would soon face a
financial crisis.
As for Mike’s personal earnings…
From looting the Eighth Abyss to the Second Abyss, Mike had made about 2 million Lord
Merits.
And he had a golden tree…
Thinking about it, Mike couldn’t help but feel a bit unlucky.
“Forget it!”
For the first time in his life, Mike didn’t want to count his money.
But the biggest gain from this trip was undoubtedly the creation of the Transmute skill!
Mike couldn’t help but marvel, “The potential people have when pushed to the brink is truly
limitless!”
Time quickly passed, and soon it was midnight.
As the clock struck twelve, Mike returned to the Core City of Truth.
He found a quiet corner and summoned the Truth Core Crystal, ready for another round of
negotiations.
“Tower Spirit, Tower Spirit, Thor calling Tower Spirit!”
Before long, a grumpy voice came from the crystal.
“Shut up! You’re so annoying!”
The Tower Spirit was clearly irritated. “Didn’t we already agree on a price last time? What, are
you trying to back out?”
In their last deal, the Tower Spirit had made Thor choose Mystic Market as the intermediary.
Given what the Tower Spirit knew about Thor, it didn’t think Thor would dare go back on his
word.
But this was Thor!
At some point, the name Thor had gained the same kind of weight and intimidation as a
Supreme Being!
“No, I want to make another deal,” Mike said, getting straight to the point.
“I want access to the Tower of Truth’s permissions, so I can view past events.”
Mike had seen this feature when Apollo was clearing levels!
Now he wanted it for himself!
“Hmm…” The Tower Spirit hesitated.
“You just need to clear sixty floors to get that permission.”
The sixty floors referred to the levels that only potential Supreme Beings with the Supreme
Mark could access.
Other people, even if they cleared ninety floors, might not unlock the corresponding
permissions.
Mike, however, was unapologetic.
“I helped you reclaim so many floors. Don’t you think I deserve a little bonus?”
Tower Spirit: …
*When did I not pay you?*
After some back-and-forth, the Tower Spirit reluctantly agreed to give Mike the permissions,
but with several restrictions.
“You can only view the history of two people, and you can’t view Morpheus, Nathan, Apollo,
or others like them…”
Mike sighed but accepted the gift begrudgingly.
For the two people, Mike quickly decided that Ares would be one, and Maxen would be the
other.
After securing the permissions, Mike placed his hand on the Truth Core Crystal and selected
the 39th floor.
A familiar voice echoed in his ears.
“Wishing you an early conquest of the Tower of Truth!”
…
Mike’s figure appeared in a cloud of black mist, and demon creatures immediately rushed
toward him.
Of course, these monsters posed no threat to Thor.
Mike’s current opponents, even the weakest, were at least as strong as the Chaos Prince, with
a minimum level of 994!
The demon creatures on the 39th floor were no match for Mike!
Mike moved effortlessly among the monsters, converting damage into soul damage and
continuously slaying them!
These monsters were all from the ghost race.
Clearly, the 39th floor had once been the stronghold of the ghost race, but now they had all
fallen, becoming demon creatures.
Unlike the previous floors, the corruption of the Supreme Demon God was particularly evident
here!
Of course, this was also due to the passage of time.
Previously, when Mike had been busy purifying the lower floors, the Supreme Demon God’s
forces had only recently arrived.
But now, after Mike’s trip to the Abyss, enough time had passed for the enemy to grow
stronger.
For Mike, though, this was good news!
The demon creatures had grown stronger, but only slightly. They still couldn’t compare to
Thor’s power.
As Mike continued to kill demon creatures, his research into soul skills also progressed!
He had previously created a skill related to the Soul Element.
That creation had been stored by the Eye of Truth.
If combined
with soul fragments, it would greatly reduce Mike’s own energy consumption
and increase safety.
Being someone who valued efficiency, Mike naturally chose this method.
Having returned from the Abyss, now at level 599, Mike’s strength had increased
significantly, making it even easier to deal with the demon creatures.
His research into soul skills progressed rapidly:
42%… 56%… 70%…
Before long, Mike had cleared out most of the demon creatures on this floor.
At the same time, his research into soul skills, specifically targeting the ghost race, had
reached 85.6% completion!
Only 14.4% more to go!
Mike looked around, but there were no more ghost race demon creatures.
And there were plenty of ghosts in the Abyss.
If Mike wanted to complete his research, he might have to make another trip to the Abyss.
Thinking about it, Mike frowned, feeling a bit reluctant.
He didn’t want to return to the Abyss until he reached level 900.
But if he didn’t go, there wouldn’t be any demon creatures to provide soul fragments…
It was a deadlock. Without a soul skill targeting the ghost race, Mike’s chances of winning his duel on the 40th
floor against the ghost race’s potential Supreme Being would drop below 100%!
And that was something Mike absolutely couldn’t allow!
As he pondered his dilemma, a notification popped up in front of him:
[Why not use the magical Ghost Source?]
*That’s right!*
Mike suddenly remembered the Ghost Source he had obtained!
The Ghost Source had originally belonged to the Progenitor of Ghosts. According to what Mike knew, the Progenitor of Ghosts had failed to merge with the Supreme
Source and had been rejected, like waste being expelled.
And the Supreme Demon God had used Thor to kill the Progenitor of Ghosts, eliminating the
threat once and for all.
During that process, Mike had acquired the Ghost Source!
With this, he should be able to complete his research into the Soul Element skill!
“Awesome!”
Mike didn’t act immediately. He could study the Ghost Source anywhere, and the Tower of
Truth wasn’t the best place for it.
He’d deal with it after he left.
With that problem solved, Mike felt much more at ease.
Now, it was time to make use of the Tower of Truth permissions he had worked so hard to get!
Following the Tower Spirit’s instructions, Mike began to access the historical recordings.
A screen appeared before him, complete with a search function:
“Search for target…”
Mike tried typing in “Ares.”
But to his surprise, the letters began to fade as soon as they appeared.
Clearly, the Tower of Truth couldn’t handle the name of a Supreme Being! freewёbnoνel.com
Since searching for Ares didn’t work, Mike settled for his second choice and typed in “Maxen.”
This time, it worked.
The weight of a Supreme Son was still far less than that of a Supreme Being.
Mike sat down on a tree stump, popcorn in one hand and soda in the other, fully focused.
The screen flickered to life, showing two figures.
One in heavy armor, the other in black robes.
*Maxen?*
*Ares?!*
Mike blinked in confusion. Had he selected the wrong video?
How could both of them be in the same scene? Something wasn’t right. This wasn’t the footage Mike had requested!
Seeing Maxen and Ares together, Mike suddenly realized something and muttered in shock,
“Holy fuck, they’re from the same generation!”
Up until now, because Maxen was Ares’s godson, Mike had overlooked this fact!
Mike’s expression grew strange as another thought crossed his mind:
*Maxen and Ares are from the same generation…*
*Does that mean Ares took someone his own age as his godson?*
Mike sighed, full of mixed emotions.
Watching Ares’s past glories, Mike’s hands itched. When he became a Supreme Being, he
wanted to take on a godson too, just for fun.
“What am I even thinking?!”
Mike quickly reminded himself that Maxen only kept 0.1% of his own income.
Taking Maxen as a godson was no longer profitable-it was a losing deal!
Clearing his mind, Mike refocused on the scene.
172 years ago,
Two swordsmen had entered the 39th floor at the same time. When they met, a battle broke
out!
In an instant, Maxen’s sword shattered!
The black-robed swordsman, wielding an ordinary longsword, had easily defeated Maxen in a
single exchange!
Holding his broken sword, Maxen glared at the black-robed swordsman, his face full of rage
as he shouted,
“Who the hell are you?!”
The black-robed swordsman’s response was simple, just one short, brutal sentence:
“I’m your daddy!”