Just call me Thor

Lightning Dominion.

It was a lightning skill Mike had learned from Apollo.

Although he couldn't replicate 100% of its power and could only grasp the basics, under Mike's powerful Lightning Dominion ability, it was more than enough to obliterate a Supreme Demon God projection.

The white lightning struck the black cloud, instantly dissolving it. A brilliant golden light shone through, revealing its true form.

Mike saw... a giant radiating golden giant?

However, before Mike could even get a good look, the golden giant collided with the white lightning!

After obliterating the Supreme Demon God projection, the residual power of the white lightning remained.

Rumble!

Countless golden fragments flew through the sky like meteors streaking across the night.

The Supreme Demon God's projection was dead, and the golden giant was also severely injured by the white lightning. The situation instantly became incredibly delicate!

Mike looked at the heavily injured giant, not letting his guard down, while closing the distance between himself, Afterskin, and Ace.

"What happened?"

After meeting up, Mike pointed at the charred giant, looking him up and down.

"Did we just cremate him?"

Ace took a closer look and shook his head. "Not dead yet."

"No shit, I know he's not dead."

Mike rolled his eyes and made a throat-slitting gesture with his hand. Everyone instantly understood.

If they worked together, they had a chance to take down this heavily injured deity!

The giant had taken a direct hit from Lightning Dominion, and his level had plummeted.

Mike didn't know what level he was before.

But now, the giant was only level 989.

Because of Poseidon, Mike's impression of the deities in the Tower of Truth was actually quite average.

Plus, the demon gods in the abyss were actually deities who had escaped from the Tower of Truth.

His impression of them kept dropping.

Level 989, if they used all their trump cards, they might be able to kill this giant.

"No need to kill him."

Afterskin spoke slowly. "He's worse than dead now..."

"Oh, why?"

As everyone looked at him in confusion, Afterskin explained his bet with this deity.

"I bet with him that I could conquer the 29th floor of the Tower of Truth within 10 attempts. With an additional condition that he wouldn't drop below level 990 before I conquered it. If the additional condition was met, he had to do one more thing for me."

Mike gasped and took two steps back, keeping his distance from Afterskin.

When he saw the God's Dice before, Mike had been puzzled.

With Afterskin's terrible luck, could he really win a bet against a deity?

No way!

Now, Mike seemed to understand a little.

Afterskin's bad luck was contagious.

Even betting against Afterskin would be affected by his bad luck!

When both sides had the bad luck buff, the bet returned to its original starting point, fair and just!

And Afterskin, with his rich experience in being unlucky, could always defeat his opponent!

It was reasonable and convincing.

Was this how deep the套路 went?

Mike secretly warned himself, "Stay away from this guy, being near him is truly unlucky!"

Ace spoke again, looking at Afterskin and asking, "What happens if he loses?"

"If I successfully conquer the 29th floor, and the additional condition is also met..."

Afterskin recalled, "He has to build a temple in the Core City of Truth and take in a hundred disciples every year. He can only leave after training a thousand Chiefs and ten Lords for our human race."

That sounded... so-so?

Ace rolled his eyes. "What good are those few people?!"

Afterskin spread his hands helplessly. "When we made the bet, how could I have known that the human race would become as strong as it is today? Based on our understanding of the Tower of Truth back then, this condition was already very harsh!"

Ace didn't say anything more. Afterskin was indeed telling the truth.

The golden giant slowly disappeared, and a bald man with a blackened body walked towards the three of them.

Facing Afterskin, the bald man said persuasively, "I can sense that your heart is filled with killing intent. This doesn't seem good. Why can't you try to be more peaceful?"

A sneer appeared on Afterskin's lips, a rare hint of killing intent in his smile.

"As long as the abyss remains, how can I be peaceful?"

These words silenced everyone present.

After interacting with the older generation more, Mike easily noticed one thing.

They might seem carefree and unrestrained on the surface, with different personalities.

But when it came to the abyss, everyone's attitude was surprisingly consistent.

Blood for blood.

This was probably the only thing Calderon and Cedric could agree on.

"Why bother?"

The bald man frowned, sighing and lamenting.

"It was my mistake back then that led to this bet. But clearly, I lost in the end, and I'm willing to accept defeat."

With that, the bald man bowed again and was about to turn and leave.

"Please wait!"

Mike hurriedly called out to him, hesitating to speak.

Hearing Mike's words, Ace frowned and urged, "If you want to fleece him, do it quickly, be careful he doesn't run away!"

Mike raised his eyebrows, surprised that Ace was so perceptive.

Good job, Ace!

He was on the right track.

Mike suddenly realized that Ace and Calderon were actually quite different in personality.

Old Calderon, although also outwardly cold and inwardly warm, was somewhat stubborn and self-righteous in his attitude.

Domineering, arrogant, believing himself to be the only one who mattered.

These words perfectly described old Calderon.

Little Ace was more immature, but also more open-minded.

He had a certain magnanimity about him.

Actually, this was related to their strength and experiences.

Calderon, in a way, was the true first Ultimate Lord of the human race.

He had almost killed the Archdemon.

This was the most dazzling achievement of the human race, apart from the Supreme Beings.

Because he was strong enough, Calderon had the right to be arrogant.

Ace, on the other hand, was a challenger, still climbing, so naturally, his mentality was different from Calderon's.

If Ace maintained this mentality, surpassing Calderon in time wouldn't be difficult.

Ace was right.

Mike really did intend to fleece him a little.

Looking at the bald man with blue flames flickering behind his head, Mike bowed and asked seriously, "Master, would you mind lending me some fire?"

[Steal Fire success rate: 0.15%]

The bald man looked at Thor, shook his head, and replied respectfully, "Sorry, I don't smoke."

"You misunderstood." Mike looked at the bald man with a kind smile. "May I ask if you have a status called [Karma]?"

The bald man didn't try to hide it and nodded. "Indeed, I do."

Seeing the others' confusion, the bald man explained, "Karma, it originates from Buddhism..."

Ace rolled his eyes and interrupted, "Don't tell us how Buddhism explains it, speak plainly."

He hated these roundabout explanations.

Whether it was Buddhism, Taoism, or anything else, Ace found it confusing.

He didn't have the patience to listen to these twists and turns, directly speaking his mind and cursing was more his style.

"Alright."

The bald man was very cooperative and translated it into plain language. "The effect of this status is simple. If someone casts a spell on me, the price they pay will be transferred to me."

Everyone pretended to suddenly understand.

So that's how it is, I get it!

Ace's face darkened. "What does that mean? I don't understand."

Afterskin and Vladimir glanced at Ace, silently giving him a thumbs-up.

With an upright and straightforward man like Ace around, they didn't have to worry about embarrassing themselves!

Ace would take care of that!

If he didn't understand, he didn't understand. He wouldn't pretend to know something he didn't.

To cater to Ace's level of understanding, the bald man patiently explained, "For example, if someone casts a fireball at me and consumes 30 MP, I will recover 30 MP."

This time, everyone truly understood.

The bald man looked at Thor and asked curiously, "Benefactor, I do have the [Karma] status, so what?"

Mike grinned, a loophole-exploiting smile spreading across his face. "Do you also have a status called [Ascetic's Ban], which prevents you from carrying gold coins?"

The bald man nodded again.

"Indeed, your eyesight is the sharpest I've ever seen."

"Then that's it!"

Mike was already rubbing his hands excitedly, eager to borrow fire from him!

Steal Fire consumed 10,000 Truth Coins each time it failed.

The bald man had the [Karma] buff, which meant that the 10,000 gold coins Mike consumed would be transferred to him!

And the bald man was also affected by [Ascetic's Ban], preventing him from carrying gold coins.

In other words... a perpetual motion machine!

Could such an obvious loophole escape Thor's Eye of Truth?!

Every time Mike failed to Steal Fire, he could pick up 10,000 gold coins next to the bald man, using Steal Fire without any cost!

Initially, when Mike saw the 0.15% success rate for Steal Fire, he was ready to give up.

There was only a 1 in 1000 chance of success, it wasn't worth spending 10 million gold coins for a buff!

However, after carefully studying the bald man's statuses, Mike immediately discovered the loophole and hurriedly stopped him.

After briefly explaining the situation to the bald man, Mike comforted him, "Master, I'll be quick, you won't feel any pain."

To successfully Steal Fire, he still needed the other party's cooperation.

After all, Mike understood one thing clearly.

This bald man would become an NPC in the Core City of Truth in the future, and it would definitely be beneficial to build a good relationship with him in advance!

After listening to Thor's explanation, the bald man pondered for a moment and spoke again.

"What you're saying is not impossible to discuss."

As he spoke, several terrifying flames appeared around the bald man.

"I've cultivated for many years and have some achievements in fire magic. I was once friends with the Fire God. So I possess the Wisdom Fire, the Azure Fire, the Tranquility Fire, the World-Burning Fire..."

The bald man introduced them one by one.

"The Wisdom Fire, when placed in the Sea of Truth, can randomly increase Intelligence by a certain amount every once in a while..."

"The Azure Fire, I only learned a little from an ancient scroll, but its power is terrifying. A single spark can destroy heaven and earth..."

"The Tranquility Fire, when immersed in it, one is immune to negative effects below the Quasi-God level..."

"..."

Listening to the bald man's introduction, the meaning in Mike's eyes was very clear: I want them all!

Unfortunately, Steal Fire could only steal one type of fire at a time.

The various fires introduced by the bald man all had excellent effects.

While Mike was tempted, he also felt a sense of caution.

This bald man, could he be lying?!

"You can rest assured."

The bald man said with a smile, "Thanks to your Lightning Burst earlier, I successfully removed the Supreme Demon God's influence on me. I owe you a debt of gratitude, so I will repay it with these flames."

With the other party offering himself up, Mike felt a little embarrassed to exploit him.

"How can I accept this?"

As he spoke, a pile of gold coins appeared at the bald man's feet.

No more, no less, exactly 10,000.

Everyone: ...

Just as Mike was about to collect the gold coins on the ground, they disappeared in a flash.
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The money was gone!

"Ace!!"

Mike was furious!

Ace, how dare you!

"Give me back my 10,000 gold coins!"

Ace said nonchalantly, "Why are you looking at me? The money is in Afterskin's lap."

Just now, Ace had instantly picked up the gold coins on the ground and put them all on Afterskin's lap.

Afterskin looked at Thor and gave a helpless smile. "Do you still want this money?"

Mike: ...

If he said no... that was 10,000 gold coins.

If he said yes... Mike really didn't dare to take it!

Mike turned to Vladimir and said seriously, "This is your bonus for next month."

Vladimir: ???

I've already put up with you not paying me, and now you're joking with me?

Could he take Afterskin's money? Even buying a coffin with it wouldn't bring him peace!

Mike took a deep breath and continued with Steal Fire!

Whoosh!

Another 10,000 gold coins dropped beside the bald man.

Mike was quick and snatched back 6,537 gold coins.

The rest of the gold coins were sent to Afterskin's lap by Ace.

The two of them were now competing, scrambling for the gold coins.

Steal Fire was completely forgotten.

At first, Ace and Mike were evenly matched in their gold coin snatching speed.

But as they went on, Mike snatched more and more, his efficiency clearly surpassing Ace's!

By the middle stage, out of every 10,000 gold coins, Mike could snatch back 9,000!

Seeing that the situation was unfavorable, Ace snorted coldly and punched himself!

Near-Death Power Up, activated!

Ace returned to the competition with his stats maxed out, on fire!

"Using your talent ability, how shameful!"

Mike scorned Ace's loophole-exploiting behavior and continued exploiting the bald man's Steal Fire loophole.

The two of them were fully focused on their competition, going back and forth, the scene was intense.

Afterskin was already buried in money, at a loss for what to do.

Whoosh!

A flash of lightning, but no gold coins appeared.

Ace was stunned.

Where was the money?

Mike was also stunned. Yeah, where were his 10,000 gold coins?

Why didn't it deduct gold coins this time?

"Steal Fire successful!"

"Obtained fire element status [Endless Infernal Fire]: Receive 600,000 burn damage per second, duration: 360 years."

"[Fire Thief] activated, Constitution attribute +50,000."

A huge question mark appeared above Mike's head, and his entire body turned into a man of fire!