Two Mystic Markets?
Hearing this answer, Mike’s mind went blank, his thoughts buzzing as if his brain had short-circuited.
The cost was simply too much!
Asking Mike to spend the equivalent of two Mystic Markets to build a tower was worse than killing him!
And Fool Master knew this all too well, which was why she was so enthusiastic about the project.
“Uh… can we make a simplified version?” Mike tried to lower the requirements, hoping to cut the budget.
“Make the first floor sturdy, and just use newspaper to patch up the other eight floors.”
Everyone: …
Asking Thor for money was truly more painful than killing him!
And Fool Master’s opening demand was already set at Mystic Market levels.
Mystic Market had now become a unit of measurement for wealth!
“That’s exactly how I designed it!” Fool Master retorted.
Mike: …
Building one floor to suppress the apocalypse and house eight generations of Supreme Beings would require Mike to empty his coffers—and then some—to the tune of two Mystic Markets!
“I need a moment…” Mike took a few deep breaths, his face pale.
Even the golden glow of Thor’s Sea dimmed slightly.
Clearly, the Greed Source had been triggered!
“When you have time, you can ask Apollo Lawson about it,” Fool Master said, tossing the design plans and budget to Mike.
She grumbled, “This massive expense is entirely due to your ridiculous design. Putting eight generations of Supreme Beings on the first floor requires an absurd amount of resources.”
According to Fool Master’s vision,
If each generation of Supreme Beings guarded one floor, the tower’s structure would be much more balanced.
The material requirements would also be significantly reduced.
“No way. That’s non-negotiable,” Mike said firmly.
If each generation guarded a separate floor, the strength would be too dispersed, and they’d all end up as cannon fodder!
It was better to gather everyone on the first floor and block the enemy right at the entrance. That was much fairer.
Besides, assigning one generation per floor would create ranking issues!
Who would guard the first floor?
The potential for conflict was endless!
It was better to stick with Mike’s original plan.
“The real issue is time…” Mike exhaled deeply, his brows furrowed with worry.
There were only 100 years left.
Even if Mike became a Supreme Being and held the line for 100 years, that would only leave the fifth generation of potential Supreme Beings with another 100 years to grow.
No matter how hard Mike worked, there was no way he could scrape together the equivalent of two Mystic Markets in that time!
Mystic Markets weren’t built in a day. Even Apollo only had one Mystic Market.
“Overthinking won’t help.”
Mike put away all the documents, deciding to put the matter aside for now.
For him, the most pressing task was to increase his strength.
Once he fully absorbed the Greed Source over the next couple of days,
Then changed his class and officially crossed the level 600 threshold, followed by the fourth awakening of the Eye of Truth…
Once everything was ready, he’d take a trip to the Void Maelstrom.
With a clear plan in mind, Mike quickly adjusted his mood, unaffected by the earlier discussion.
Fool Master, who had been watching from the sidelines, sat in a chair beneath the Heaven Pavilion.
She was munching on popcorn with one hand while pushing Lilith on a swing with the other.
“Higher, higher!” Lilith squealed.
It was just another day of slacking off for Lilith.
…
Tower of Truth, 99th Floor.
A new visitor arrived.
Gregory, who had been climbing the Tower of Truth, suddenly received a summons from Apollo and hurried over.
“What’s the matter?” Gregory asked.
He knew the current situation was precarious. One wrong move, and the human race could face total annihilation.
“Mm.” Apollo, having rested for a while, seemed more refreshed.
He briefly explained the apocalypse to Gregory.
As a key member of the human race’s think tank, Professor Gregory’s authority and responsibilities needed no explanation.
After hearing the news, Gregory didn’t seem overly concerned. In fact, he appeared to have expected it.
“We’ve considered this possibility before and have contingency plans in place,” Gregory said.
The human population on Earth wasn’t too large or too small. Moving everyone into the Tower of Truth was a viable option.
There was a way to survive.
For the past 300 years, the human race had set aside everything else to focus on fighting the Abyss. They had stockpiled an entire warehouse of escape plans.
“If things really come to the worst…” Gregory’s face, lined with the marks of his 800 years, was filled with weariness.
“What do we need to do?”
Apollo shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
He hadn’t calculated it, nor had he thought about it, so he didn’t know.
In Apollo’s view, the road ahead was for the human race to walk, and the tasks ahead were for the human race to complete.
He had served as a Supreme Being for 100 years, fought the final battle for the human race, and repaid his debt to Ares. They were even.
So, he hadn’t thought about the future.
Because Apollo didn’t believe he had a future.
Professor Gregory’s expression remained unchanged. He asked another question.
“Mr. Apollo, will you survive the final battle?”
This time, Gregory used “Mr.”—a rare occurrence.
Normally, when speaking with Apollo, Gregory would simply use his name.
Apollo, in Gregory’s eyes, was more of a student.
But this “Mr.” was a mark of respect for Supreme Being Apollo.
Will you survive?
Apollo shook his head again.
“Unlikely.”
The conversation fell into silence.
Silence was the norm on the 99th floor.
Apollo lived there for the peace and quiet.
After a moment, Gregory spoke again, his voice slow and heavy.
“I believe in Thor. I also believe in the Mike I know. Since he appeared, we’ve analyzed every word he’s said and every action he’s taken in recorded situations. We might even understand Thor better than Mike himself…”
After a long preamble,
Gregory finally asked the question he had been building up to.
“We need—no, the human race needs to know—whether, 100 years from now, Supreme Being Thor will kill the fifth generation of potential Supreme Beings.
You once promised Nathan that you would perform divination for the human race three times.
Nathan used it once. Shadow Nine used it once.
Now, on behalf of the human race, I’m using the final opportunity to ask you this:
Will Thor choose to kill the fifth generation of potential Supreme Beings?”
Gregory trusted Mike.
But,
Who could predict what Supreme Being Thor would be like 100 years from now?
In 100 years,
People change. Thoughts change.
Nothing in this world is permanent.
The relationship between the human race and its Supreme Beings had always been delicate.
The Supreme Beings protected the human race for a century.
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If a Supreme Being turned against them, they could drag the entire human race into the Abyss, making the situation irreparable.
Gregory’s question was also on behalf of all the human race’s powerful beings.
This question would determine what the next 100 years would look like for the human race.
The more rational someone was, the less they relied on emotion.
Even the ever-calm Gregory couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous.
He had spent his entire life in research, only to end up relying on divination for something like this.
It was ironic.
“No need to calculate.”
Apollo picked up the teacup in front of him, took a sip, and said calmly,
“He will not.”
Those three words, spoken by different people, carried different weight.
And Apollo’s words carried the most weight of all.
Gregory believed him.
Regarding the apocalypse 100 years from now,
Gregory asked a few more questions.
“Killing the Supreme Demon God requires nine generations of human Supreme Beings…”
Gregory already knew this.
For other races, reaching level 1000 was enough to be called a Supreme Being.
But for the human race, a Supreme Being specifically referred to someone with an SSS-grade talent, awakened nine times, and reaching level 1000.
The pinnacle of a human Supreme Being also required one more thing: mastery of the complete Supreme Mark.
When Mike was on the 40th floor, Apollo had made a special trip to tell him he could leave. But there was another purpose:
If Thor chose to leave, Apollo would reclaim the Supreme Mark.
Gregory then asked,
“Can those who have already awakened an SSS-grade talent become Supreme Beings?”
Apollo’s answer was straightforward.
“No.”
Once an SSS-grade talent was downgraded to an SS-grade talent, the process was irreversible.
In the human race’s 100-year history, this had happened three times.
Maxen was one example. Gregory was another.
Their SS-grade talents were incredibly strong, making them invincible among SS-grade talents.
But,
They could never touch the realm of the Supreme.
In other words,
To cultivate the fifth generation of Supreme Beings, the human race would have to wait another 100 years and nurture a new candidate.
This was a hard requirement, dictated by the rules of Truth, and could not be changed.
After receiving this answer, Gregory’s expression remained neutral, and he nodded slightly.
The conversation came to an end.
In truth,
The apocalypse had shaken Mike deeply, leaving him feeling anxious and needing to take action.
After all,
100 years from now, barring any surprises, Mike would be the Supreme Being of that time, facing the great calamity head-on.
But for Gregory’s generation, hearing such news didn’t cause much of a ripple.
In their eyes, the true apocalypse had already begun the moment the Abyss opened.
There was no need to wait 100 years.
The human race had struggled to survive until now through sheer determination.
…
In the private space,
Mike didn’t return to Earth. Instead, he focused entirely on studying the Greed Source.
Once he started, he lost track of time!
Mike had never felt this way before!
Fully immersed, endlessly learning, absorbing, and refining, he refused to let even the smallest detail of Greed slip by…
As Mike studied the Greed Source,
A crowd of onlookers gathered around.
Most of them knew nothing about the Greed Source and couldn’t possibly master it.
But,
Most of them had studied sources before—except for Vladimir.
Watching Thor in action, Dracula couldn’t help but sigh.
“Are we sure this isn’t Thor’s companion source?”
Fool Master shook her head and sighed.
“Poor dragon race potential Supreme Being…”
What should have been its companion source had instead become Thor’s…
Sylvanas was more shocked than anything.
“This level of compatibility is insane!”
She had never imagined that Thor could be so compatible with both the ghost source and the greed source.
“In this regard, Thor is truly remarkable,” Fool Master said, munching on popcorn while occasionally tossing Lilith into the air for fun.
Lilith, for her part, was having a great time.
She had fully embraced her role as a pet.
Aside from eating and sleeping, a bit of exercise helped with digestion, allowing her to eat even more!
After a full day of Thor being immersed in Thor’s Sea, Fool Master finally took action.
She stood up, intending to throw a brick at Thor.
But then,
Fool Master decided that might be a bit rude.
So, she opted for a more elegant approach.
Fool Master pulled out a golden leaf…
The moment she did, everyone stepped back to maintain a safe distance.
Even Lilith was carried away by Vladimir.
Fool Master tossed the golden leaf into Thor’s Sea.
Soon,
A startled voice echoed from the depths of Thor’s Sea.
“Whose gold is this? If I find it, it’s mine…”
“Holy fuck!”
Thor’s Sea churned violently, and the golden leaf was ejected, flying back into Fool Master’s hand.
An enraged Thor emerged from the sea.
“What the hell?! Are you trying to mess with me?!”
Fool Master snorted, unimpressed.
“If you want to die, keep studying the Greed Source.
I’d like to see whether you end up controlling Greed, or if Greed ends up controlling you.”
For someone like Mike, whose compatibility with the source was so high, there was also a risk of being influenced by the source.
The stronger he became, the greater the influence.
Mike’s first deep dive into the Greed Source had lasted too long, making it easy for things to go wrong!
Fool Master had interrupted him not to cause trouble, but to help him.
Mike rolled his eyes but didn’t argue.
In truth, Mike knew she was right.
According to the Eye of Truth, Mike could have lasted another 30 minutes.
But Fool Master had underestimated him.
She probably hadn’t expected Thor to push things to such extremes.
With his study of the Greed Source interrupted, Mike didn’t continue.
He needed some time to digest what he had learned.
Checking the time, Mike realized it was already past six. He had been so absorbed in studying the Greed Source that he had completely forgotten about challenging the Tower of Truth!
He checked his communicator and found several unread messages.
With the ACT exams happening, New York Superpower Universities was on break, so Mike didn’t need to return to school.
Among all the messages, the one from Maxen stood out the most.
Earlier, Mike had sent Maxen the locations of the hidden materials he had learned about from Dracula.
For anything below the 90th floor, Maxen was the most reliable person to handle it.
In just one day, Maxen had already replied!
“I’m exhausted. I checked all the locations you sent me, and only one had anything…”
Maxen attached a list of the materials he had found. The total was less than one-tenth of what Mike had expected!
Mike: ???
Where’s my profit?!
Dracula looked equally confused. That couldn’t be right—he had definitely hidden the materials in those locations. There was no way he was wrong!
“I swear on the Blood Ancestor’s life, I’m telling the truth!”
Lilith, in a fit of rage, charged at Dracula and headbutted him in the heel.
“If you’re going to swear, swear on your own life! Don’t drag my sister into this!”
“…”
The scene descended into chaos.
Staring at Maxen’s message, Mike fell into deep thought.
“What’s going on here?”
…
First Abyss.
Today, Ares and Cedric were playing checkers.
Cedric casually jumped a piece across the board and asked,
“Is Maxen busy today?”
“Thor probably roped him into something again.”
Sometimes, Ares couldn’t help but wonder.
How could someone as smart as him have such a foolish godson?
It didn’t make sense!
“There’s news.”
Cedric received a list and placed it beside the board.
“Huh, isn’t this the stuff you stole back in the day? Maxen wasted his time.”
Ares glanced at the list and said calmly,
“I borrowed it. It doesn’t count as stealing…”