Unable to enter the Tower of Truth for the time being, Mike had nothing else to do, so he began to organize his spoils from this journey.
“Vampire essence blood: 19 drops of Count, 12 drops of Duke, 1 drop of Prince.”
Prince essence blood was an SSS-grade material, Duke was SS-grade, and Count was A-grade.
Mike held a false tooth in his hand, which contained the essence blood of Vladimir at his peak.
“This is some good stuff.”
Maxen Stoneheart glanced at it and offered an explanation,
“Vampire essence blood can be used to enchant equipment. Enchanting a weapon grants a lifesteal effect. Enchanting other equipment gives it self-healing capabilities.”
Mike nodded, forming a plan in his mind.
Using this directly for Nightmare’s Breeze would be a waste.
Nightmare’s Breeze required a large quantity to be effective, and one drop wouldn’t even be enough to fill its gap.
“I can sell the Count and Duke essence blood, and consider enchanting Force of Nature with the prince essence blood.”
Besides the vampire essence blood, the White Wolf King had also given Mike two wolf fangs before he left, which were also SSS-grade materials.
According to his agreement with Ares, the demon race master smith would forge a piece of equipment for Mike.
Since it was a free forge, the higher the material grade, the better.
In addition to the vampire essence blood and the White Wolf King’s fangs, Mike also had a vampire Duke’s head and a golden mask.
After taking inventory, Mike stood up, ready to head to the mines. “I’m going to sell some ores. Remember to buy me a drink when I get back.”
Maxen Stoneheart: ???
You own two mines and are already so wealthy, yet you still want me to buy you a drink?
Do I look rich to you?
I only have two Supreme Being godfathers, that’s all!
Before Maxen Stoneheart could refuse, Mike had already left for the Mysterious Mine.
…
Next to the Mysterious Mine.
The lizard was still lying on the ground, sleeping, but it wasn’t fully asleep. It was still diligently supervising the miners as per Mike’s instructions.
If anyone drank while mining, it would severely punish them.
“Boss!”
The miner leader and the dwarf leader Bromli both came up to report,
“During this period, the mine has produced 15,000 tons of B-grade raw ore, 12,000 tons of A-grade raw ore, and 1,000 tons of S-grade raw ore!”
“We prioritized refining the higher-grade ores, resulting in 800 tons of S-grade ore, 8,000 tons of A-grade ore, and no B-grade ore due to a lack of manpower and furnaces.”
Following Mike’s instructions, they prioritized producing higher-grade ores, which were what humanity currently lacked.
Listening to their report, Mike nodded slowly.
“I understand. The manpower issue can be resolved, but as for the furnaces…”
The Storm Forge, a reward from the Tower of Truth, was highly efficient at smelting ores.
Building new furnaces would waste some ores, but without doing so, production capacity couldn’t expand, limiting daily output.
The key issue was that building another furnace would cost money!
Mike thought for a moment and said, “I’ll find a way to solve it.”
S-grade finished ores were baseball-sized diamond-shaped transparent crystals, each weighing a ton, heavy in hand.
After storing all the ores in his storage space, Mike prepared to head to the Trade Secret Realm to find Foreskin.
“Boss!”
Dwarf leader Bromli hurriedly called out to Mike.
“What is it? Out of beer?”
“No, the beer that kind-hearted Maxen Stoneheart sent will last us a year. He’s such a good man.”
Bromli rubbed his thick hands, looking a bit embarrassed,
“Boss, we dwarves are not only masters of smelting but also excellent blacksmiths. Seeing so many good ores makes our hands itch…”
Mike raised an eyebrow, realizing he had forgotten about this. He asked, “Can you forge SSS-grade equipment?”
“No.”
“SS-grade?”
Bromli’s face turned red, and he shook his head, “No.”
Then he quickly added, “But we can forge S-grade!”
“Alright, I understand. I’ll make arrangements.”
S-grade equipment, even if Mike couldn’t use it himself, could be sold at the Mystic Market for a good price.
Leaving the Mysterious Mine, Foreskin was ready and waiting in the Trade Secret Realm.
“Congratulations, Fourth Brother.”
As the Mystic Market Manager, Foreskin naturally had access to more insider information. An SSSSS rating was unprecedented and would definitely go down in history.
In a way, this was the culmination of three hundred years of effort by humanity’s four Supreme Beings, achieving the tenth floor’s SSSSS conquer.
“Alright, let’s see the goods.”
A-grade ores were worth 1 million gold coins per ton, and S-grade ores were worth 5 million gold coins per ton.
Given the output of the Mysterious Mine, Foreskin was already numb to it,
“A-grade ores worth 80 billion gold coins, S-grade ores worth 40 billion, totaling 120 billion gold coins, equivalent to 12,000 Battle Lord merits.”
In just one day, Mike had earned the equivalent of ‘killing three demon race Battle Lords’ in merits.
Adding the previous 4,000 Battle Lord merits, he had a total of 16,000 points.
With so many merits, the next step was to spend them, converting wealth into personal strength!
“You want to enchant your weapon with vampire essence blood?”
Hearing Fourth Brother’s request, Foreskin nodded slowly, “It can be done. Prince-level essence blood costs 10 Battle Lord merits per drop.”
Mike didn’t hesitate, “Find me a prince vampire and drain him dry!”
Owning two Mysterious Mines, Mike’s wealth was endless, and he couldn’t spend it all!
“Ahem, that’s not necessary…”
Foreskin looked a bit embarrassed. Draining a prince vampire dry was a bit too extreme.
“Could you show me the weapon you want to enchant?”
Mike took out Force of Nature (+4) and handed it to Foreskin.
Thunderclap Hammer, being Mike’s trump card, wasn’t something he wanted to reveal. Besides, as an SS-grade weapon, it couldn’t accept this enchantment.
“It’s already upgraded four times!”
Even though he was prepared, Foreskin couldn’t hide his shock upon seeing Force of Nature.
After composing himself, he explained,
“You can use 1 drop of Blood Ancestor essence and 36 drops of prince essence blood to enhance the lifesteal effect to over 80%. Any more, and Force of Nature’s current tier wouldn’t be able to handle it.”
“No problem, do it as soon as possible,” Mike said.
Foreskin quickly listed the costs: 500 Battle Lord merits for the Blood Ancestor essence, plus the enchantment fee, totaling 860 merits.
8.6 billion gold coins, and Mike didn’t even blink.
“Also, make a list of life-saving items. I need to see what I can use…”
Preparing for the upcoming battle, Mike spared no expense.
Money not spent was equivalent to having no money!
Only by converting money into resources to enhance his strength did it have value.
As Mike was selecting life-saving items and equipment, a long-awaited announcement finally arrived.
“Participant Thor has conquered the tenth floor with an SSSSS rating, granting all humans in the Tower of Truth the buff [Explorer]!”
“Permanent buff [Friend of Werewolves]: Humans in the Tower of Truth gain werewolf favor, and werewolves won’t attack humans!”
“Permanent buff [Friend of Vampires]: Humans in the Tower of Truth gain vampire favor, and vampires won’t attack humans!”
“Permanent buff [Human Glory]: Humans in the Tower of Truth deal 30% more damage to non-human races!”
“[Explorer]: When settling Tower of Truth scores, if the Exploration Rate is below 80%, it increases by 10%!”
Four buffs, all permanent!
The friendship with werewolves and vampires would only be useful in special levels, but as permanent buffs, there was nothing to complain about.
The key buffs were [Human Glory] and [Explorer]!
The former increased humanity’s overall damage output!
Most monsters in the levels were non-human, and the 30% extra damage could change the outcome of a battle!
And it was a permanent buff!!
As for [Explorer], its utility was even greater!
A 10% Exploration Rate boost for everyone was invaluable to humanity!
Foreskin couldn’t contain his excitement, even starting to dance and speak incoherently.
“This, this is just….”
Just the [Explorer] buff alone gave him a chance to reach higher levels.
And the creator of all this was the Fourth Brother standing before him!
In his ecstasy, Foreskin blurted out, “To thank you for your great contribution to humanity, tonight’s expenses are on me…”
Smack—
Mike checked off everything on his previous list and placed it in front of Foreskin,
“No more picking, I’ll take it all!”
“I love free stuff!”