Just call me Thor

1.42 million Lord merits.

Hearing this number, Ace fell silent.

Adding the 45% forging and design fees, the total price exceeded 2 million Lord merits!

This amount of money, if used sparingly, was enough to support the Guardian Shadow for a year!

You know, the Guardian Shadow had to provide protection for all Lone Wolves, a terrifyingly large number, and also pay the salaries of hundreds of Lords!

And that was just for one year.

Spending so much money to craft a longspear was a bit too extravagant!

After quoting the price, Mike, unusually, offered some explanation.

"Don't think that this longspear is expensive and not cost-effective. The materials used are all the best. It wasn't easy for me to convince Master Fool to do this, so the quality of this spear is guaranteed! In the end, if you miss the opportunity to spend 1.42 million Lord merits to craft a piece of equipment, you won't even have the chance to be a sucker!"

Ace glanced at Mike.

You know it's being a sucker?

Although his words were harsh, the logic was sound.

To fuse materials worth over a million into a single piece of equipment, ordinary people couldn't do it!

Only that master smith had the skill.

Ace clearly knew more secrets about Master Fool.

For one thing, the Killing Coffin, an SSS-level equipment, was actually crafted by Master Fool!

In other words, Master Fool had been secretly crafting equipment for the top powerhouses of the human race all these years, in exchange for something she desired.

Of course, Ace was very good at keeping secrets.

Even if Mike asked about such old matters, Ace would be indifferent and unwilling to say more.

As Mike had said earlier, while costing a massive amount of resources, the upper limit of this longspear would also be terrifyingly high!

It could not only accompany Ace's growth all the way to level 1000, supporting him in battles against demon gods, but after fusing with Ace's Sea of Truth, if there were any further opportunities, it might even be upgraded to SSS-level!

Money couldn't buy what the heart desired.

From the moment he saw the design draft, Ace had decided that he wanted this longspear!

Money wasn't the biggest problem.

The biggest problem was that Ace didn't have the money!

Ace mused, "2 million Lord merits..."

Mike interrupted, "Correction, it's 2,070,474.94 Lord merits."

He was always meticulous when it came to calculations.

"You don't have to pay the 45% forging and design fees for now, no interest! Just pay for the materials first, that's not too much to ask, right?"

Even though Mike was being unusually generous, Ace still had to come up with 1.42 million Lord merits.

This was by no means a small number.

Ace did the math.

From the short videos, he had received 210,000 Lord merits.

Later, Mike sold another one to Cedric for 200,000 Lord merits, giving Ace 100,000.

But that was only 310,000, not even enough for a fraction of the 1.42 million.

Cedric's order for short videos still had 1.2 million Lord merits unpaid.

In the best-case scenario, Ace could get 600,000.

142 - 91 = 51

He was still short 510,000 Lord merits.

So, if he scraped together everything he had, he might be able to make it in time?

Actually, if Ace was willing to use what Calderon had left behind, this amount of money wouldn't be a problem for him at all.

But Ace was stubborn, with a "stone head" personality.

After finishing his calculations, Ace nodded.

"Alright."

"You start buying the materials, I'll find a way to get the rest of the money."

"Okay."
Enjoy more content from empire

After receiving Ace's confirmation, Mike started placing material orders with the Mystic Market.

Some materials required some time to order, as they were the "made-to-order" kind.

Moreover, due to the large quantity, if he bought everything at once, it would easily cause large-scale market price fluctuations, driving up material prices and increasing costs.

Therefore, the procurement contract Mike signed with the Mystic Market was at a price slightly higher than the market price.

These materials would be delivered in three days.

During these three days, the Mystic Market would slowly buy up the materials, maintaining market price stability while obtaining the materials Mike needed.

After settling Ace's weapon, Mike didn't rest. Another matter came knocking.

A message arrived on his Lone Wolf badge.

Maxen: I've arranged a meeting with the person in charge of the Nightmare corps. Where should we meet?

So efficient?

Without thinking, Mike immediately replied: "Trade Secret Realm."

Mike called Shadow Three, Shadow Four, and Shadow Five, and they headed to the Trade Secret Realm together.

Shadow Three was the bodyguard, responsible for keeping things under control.

Shadow Four and Shadow Five had been managing the Guardian Shadow for many years.

They knew more about many things than Shadow Nine, and even more than Mike.

He couldn't handle this negotiation without them.

Mike had interacted with Shadow Four a few times before. He was a steady middle-aged man.

Shadow Four had great respect for Shadow Nine, and because of this, he treated Mike with great respect as well.

Mike had only met Shadow Five briefly a few times, and this was the first time they were truly interacting.

Upon seeing Mike at the Trade Secret Realm, Shadow Five let out a series of barbell-like chuckles. "Fourth Bro, hello."

After the greeting, another series of barbell-like chuckles.

Mike looked at him. He was a strange, chubby man.

Afraid that Mike might misunderstand, Shadow Four explained, "He's always had this problem with his speech, please bear with him."

"It's okay."

Mike waved his hand, indicating that he didn't mind.

After witnessing Shadow Two's condition, everyone seemed normal to Mike.

Shadow Five's little quirk was nothing compared to Shadow Two.

After the four of them gathered, they headed to a meeting room.

This meeting room was specially set up by the Mystic Market Manager for this negotiation.

And the person in charge of the Nightmare corps was waiting for Mike in this room.

Mike was also curious about this person.

The Nightmare corps, as one of the three major Supreme corps of the human race, was the elite of the elite!

How could the person in charge of such a powerful corps be weak?

It must be a powerhouse among powerhouses, definitely not an ordinary Nine-tier Lord!

Mike knew very well that even within the united human race, negotiations involving the division of interests would inevitably be heated.

Everyone was working for the human race, and they were taking resources to fight the abyss.

If the Guardian Shadow took a bigger bite, the Nightmare corps would have to eat less.

There were only so many benefits, it was impossible not to fight for them.

And the basis of negotiation was equal strength.

To prevent the other party from being too strong and the Guardian Shadow being at a disadvantage, Mike had specifically brought Shadow Three along!

This showed how much importance Mike attached to this person!

Pushing the door open, Mike laughed heartily.

His voice arrived before he did.

"I've heard so much about you, and today I finally get to..."

His words got stuck in his throat, unable to continue.

Mike's smile slowly froze.

Sitting in the hall were two people Mike knew.

One was Maxen, and the other was Joseph.

Mike: ???

The person in charge of the Nightmare corps?

This? This was it?

Hearing Thor's opening remarks, Joseph's eyes were filled with curiosity, and he asked with a hint of surprise in his tone, "Oh? You've heard of me?"

Mike pulled Maxen aside for a private chat.

"Didn't I ask you to find the person in charge of the Nightmare corps? Why did you bring Joseph?"

Maxen looked confused. "He is the person in charge!"

Mike looked at Joseph again. "Him?"

"Yes, him!"

After receiving Maxen's confirmation, Mike asked, "Joseph doesn't know I'm Thor, right?"

The fact that Thor had taken over the Guardian Shadow was only known to the top brass of the Guardian Shadow and a very small number of top powerhouses.

Maxen shook his head. "He thinks you're Shadow Four."

"That's good."

Mike was about to return to the negotiation table when Maxen stopped him.

"Joseph is a close friend of mine, a brother who has been through life and death with me..."

Mike was taken aback. "Why are you suddenly saying this?"

He had to be wary of Maxen playing the emotional card!

"Screw him over good!"

Maxen gritted his teeth.

"Seeing Joseph lose money is more satisfying than earning money myself!"

That's our Stone!

Mike had already seen that Maxen had the potential to be an 'Arthas'.

Screwing over Joseph was essentially screwing over the Nightmare corps.

And Maxen was Morpheus's godson...

What a ridiculous situation.