“How dare he die?”
Fool Master stared at Mike, her head full of question marks.
You killed Poseidon, and now you’re yelling at his corpse for daring to die?
“Phew-”
Mike let out a long sigh.
The bitterness in his heart-who could he share it with?
The world only saw Thor’s invincible stance as he struck down Poseidon.
But who knew the silent sacrifices he made behind the scenes to achieve that invincibility? “Vladimir.”
Mike stood up, walked to the Heaven Pavilion, and patted the pig’s head.
“What do you think? Should Poseidon’s debt be inherited by the next Sea God or the new Eighth Demon God?”
Vladimir: ???
With Poseidon dead,
If nothing unexpected happened, Vladimir was a strong contender for the next Sea God!
And now, before he even became the Sea God, he was already being saddled with a mountain of debt?!
Vladimir braced himself and replied,
“Why not both inherit it?”
Thor’s single-choice questions always seemed to turn into multiple-choice ones.
After all, he wasn’t the Sea God yet.
And really, what’s the difference between owing Thor $1 and owing him 10 million Lord Merits?
In the end, the interest would make it an astronomical amount anyway!
Vladimir had come to terms with it.
Hearing Vladimir’s suggestion, Mike nodded slightly.
“Although it feels a bit unfair, since you insist, I’ll reluctantly agree.”
Reluctantly agree?
Vladimir hadn’t expected Thor to ever feel reluctant about anything!
As for the Chaos Prince, Mike wasn’t worried for now.
Last time, they had installed Poseidon as the Eighth Demon God. This time, they’d install the Chaos Prince.
The process was the same-the human race had gotten very good at it.
The most important thing was,
Poseidon’s debacle had sent a clear message to the Abyssal Demon Gods:
Stay away from the Supreme Abyssal, or you’ll be cursed with misfortune!
When the Seventh and Eighth Demon Gods defected to the Supreme Demon God, the human race had decisively struck them down. At the time, the other Demon Gods hadn’t fully grasped the implications.
After all, desperate actions leading to dire consequences were somewhat predictable.
But,
Poseidon’s secret defection to the Supreme Demon God had been meticulously planned. He had fooled many.
Who could have predicted that he’d run into someone as reckless as Shadow Two?
Shadow Two, through sheer dumb luck, had ruined Poseidon’s plans and even managed to escape.
The result? Thor showed up, demanded answers, and in a fit of rage, killed Poseidon! From now on,
Any Demon God considering defecting to the Supreme Demon God would have to think twice.
Do they have what it takes to withstand Thor’s wrath?
If not, they’d better behave!
…
Soon,
Mike pulled himself out of his slump.
Looking on the bright side, Poseidon might be dead, but his corpse was still around, wasn’t
it?
And then,
Mike discovered, to his dismay, that Poseidon was broke.
“Damn it, why is a Demon God so poor?!”
Hearing Thor’s outburst, Dracula couldn’t help but twitch at the corners of his mouth.
Why is Poseidon so poor?
Do you really not know?
After much deliberation, Mike could only extract a few million Lord Merits from Poseidon’s
corpse.
As for the over 10 million Lord Merits Poseidon owed him?
That was never getting paid back.
After wrapping things up, Mike forced himself to let it go.
Creating a new skill to resurrect Poseidon? That was out of the question…
First of all,
Resurrection skills and effects did exist, but they were extremely advanced!
Moreover, the stronger the target, the harder it was to resurrect them!
Take Terenas and Michael’s resurrection, for example.
From the information Mike had, their resurrection had required Morpheus’s Dream Come True, paired with Apollo’s The Heart of Omnipotence, and decades of planning to pull off!
Terenas had done a lot of preparation just to die.
Without all that groundwork, bringing him back would’ve been nearly impossible!
And Terenas was only a nine-star Lord!
He had only ascended to Ultimate Lord after being resurrected.
Two Supreme Beings working together could only resurrect a nine-star Lord.
For Mike to resurrect a 999-level Poseidon on his own? That was a tall order.
Besides,
If Mike really had the ability to resurrect a 999-level Poseidon,
Why wouldn’t he resurrect Nathan instead?
Compared to Nathan, Poseidon was nothing!
Lacking the ability to do so,
Mike could only shelve the matter for now.
As for Poseidon’s corpse, Mike didn’t want it to go to waste. He tasked Dracula with turning it
into a Puppet.
Such a Puppet would be incredibly powerful and could serve as a lifesaver in critical moments.
Most importantly, it could be rented out for profit!
Consider it a small bit of interest Poseidon could repay after death.
Putting his frustrations behind him, Mike looked around at his loyal followers who had fought alongside him and felt he needed to show some appreciation.
Clearing his throat, Mike announced loudly,
“Good job, everyone. Keep it up next time!”
With that, he clapped his hands and strolled off.
Sylvanas: ???
That’s it? That’s all?
Everyone risked their lives to help you kill Poseidon, and all we get is a couple of
compliments?
“Be grateful,” Dracula said, walking over with a pufferfish in his mouth as he headed toward
the Heaven Pavilion.
“You helped the master fight, and he didn’t charge you an appearance fee. That’s already
generous!”
Sylvanas: ???????????
The question marks above her head were practically spilling out.
“Thor is like that,” said the Nature Elf Envoy, who, as Fool Master’s subordinate, spoke with a
bit more confidence.
“If you want money from Thor, you have to get it before risking your life. Afterward, the
money becomes his life.”
Sylvanas fell silent.
She couldn’t understand.
Why was Thor’s relationship with his subordinates like this?
And why did everyone seem to think it was perfectly normal-even enjoyable?
“Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it after a while.”
Clearly,
The Nature Elf Envoy understood Sylvanas’s confusion.
If someone could immediately adapt to Thor’s rhythm, that would be the real problem!
Sylvanas frowned and asked,
“What if… I can’t get used to it?”
“Pfft.”
For the first time that day, Gabriel spoke.
His words were sharp and to the point.
“Then you’ll just have to die.”
…
In the private space.
Mike had some free time.
He wasn’t in a hurry to fully master the Greed Source.
For him, it wasn’t particularly challenging.
He hadn’t even finished digesting the insights from his last absorption session.
More importantly, based on Mike’s recent performance, the Greed Source seemed to be showing signs of further evolution.
Both sides needed to give each other some time.
Currently, Mike was at level 599, on the verge of two major milestones: changing class and
talent awakening!
The 41st floor marked the change class realm.
If all went well, Mike could complete his fourth awakening immediately after changing class.
The materials needed for the class change had already been procured through the Mystic
Market.
Some of the costs had been reimbursed, some had been covered by what he’d scavenged from Poseidon, and the rest had been pieced together. In the end, Mike hadn’t spent much.
As for the fourth awakening, the Eye of Truth was eagerly anticipating it.
Mike couldn’t help but feel curious.
“What about the fifth awakening?” Logically, SSS level talents could awaken up to nine times.
The Eye of Truth, after nine awakenings, claimed to be omniscient and omnipotent.
[Sometimes, you know, contentment is happiness. Four awakenings are plenty…]
Mike: ???
What’s going on?
The Eye of Truth doesn’t want a fifth awakening?
Something’s fishy!
Ignoring the Eye of Truth’s warning, Mike went straight to Fool Master.
“I’ve been holding back all day. Answer a few questions for me, and we’ll call it even.”
Mike asked Fool Master about the multiple awakenings of SSS-grade talents.
This was something only the earlier generations of Supreme Beings would know.
After questioning Fool Master, Mike planned to verify the information with Apollo.
Using a roundabout way, Mike subtly asked if there was anything special about the fifth awakening of an SSS-grade talent.
Hearing Thor’s question, Fool Master countered with her own.
“Aren’t you preparing for your fourth awakening?”
Clearly, she knew something. Mike’s eyes lit up. He realized he was asking the right person!
“Spill it. Quickly.”
Fool Master frowned slightly and got straight to the point.
“You know where talents come from, right?”
Mike nodded.
He did know.
But he hadn’t expected Fool Master to know as well!
“Since you know the origin of talents, this will be easier to explain.”
Fool Master continued,
“Your talent has two potential paths: it can either fully merge with you and be absorbed, or it
can become… more human-like.”
To help Mike understand, Fool Master gave an example:
“Calderon’s talent, for instance, was brought out of the Tower of Truth’s 95th floor, wasn’t
it?”
Ah, so that’s how it is…
The strengthening and awakening of talents, at their core, were the strengthening of Truth
Source fragments!
Either the user completely absorbed the fragment, making it entirely their own.
Or, the Truth Source fragment could undergo a super-evolution, eventually becoming
something like Little Nine.
In a sense, Shadow Nine was a similar case.
Except his was a fusion of his shadow and his talent.
With Fool Master’s explanation, Mike immediately understood!
The Eye of Truth was scared!
The fifth awakening was a critical juncture.
The choice was in Mike’s hands.
If Mike wanted to fully control the Eye of Truth, he could choose to absorb it entirely.
In doing so, the Eye of Truth’s limited self-awareness would be mercilessly erased.
It was this realization that had prompted the Eye of Truth to act out of character, urging Mike
to skip the fifth awakening.
Forget awakening-just focus on leveling up!
Wait until the 95th floor, then we’ll settle this!
“Pfft-”
Mike chuckled, shaking his head in exasperation.
He hadn’t decided what to do yet.
He’d consult Apollo for advice later.
If Mike understood correctly, had the first three Supreme Beings all chosen to absorb their
talents?
This question was also added to Mike’s mental notebook, to be asked when he met Apollo.
For now, Mike had a clear plan.
His immediate priorities were changing class, completing the fourth awakening, breaking
through to level 600, and achieving Chief-tier combat power…
And,
One pressing question loomed before Mike:
Should he go to the Void Maelstrom?
Having just killed Poseidon, Mike couldn’t help but feel a bit overconfident.
He had proven through action that nothing below level 1000 could threaten him.
But what about level 1000?
The void was known to contain level 1000 entities!
If he encountered one of them, could Mike survive?
“Maxen… I’ll find a way to bring him along. Cedric might also be a good choice…”
The human race’s Ultimate Lords couldn’t be deployed. Terenas was a solid option!
Strong, fearless, and willing to die!
After surveying his options, Mike finally set his sights on the new Eighth Demon God!
With that, Mike’s luxury expedition team was nearly complete.
[Projected survival rate for the group: 46.56%.]
Mike frowned and adjusted the settings to focus on the survival rate of the human
powerhouses.
He didn’t care if the Demon Gods lived or died.
[Maxen, Terenas survival rate: 100%.]
[Thor survival rate: 45.79%.]
Mike: …
Why is my survival rate the lowest?
But after thinking it over, Mike understood.
As the potential Supreme Being, he was always the flashiest target, bound to attract the most
aggro and fight the toughest enemies.
“Let’s get stronger first!”
The Void Maelstrom had to be added to the schedule.
Life had been relatively calm lately,
But,
Mike knew one thing for certain:
Time was running out!
Once Shadow Three finished digging the passage to the Supreme Abyssal and rescued Shadow
Nine and the others,
Apollo’s inevitable battle with the Supreme Demon God would begin!
Mike had to grow as strong as possible before then!
Dong-
The clock struck midnight.
Mike entered the Tower of Truth and summoned the Truth Core Crystal.
He selected the floor: 41.
A familiar voice echoed in his ears:
“Wishing you an early conquest of the Tower of Truth!”