Just call me Thor - Chapter 617

Chapter 617: You have a Mystic Market to sign for
“You actually moved an entire mountain?!”

Fool Master stared at the snowy mountain in front of her, momentarily at a loss for words.

But she quickly realized something was off.

“Wait! This must’ve been Apollo’s doing, right?!”

She circled the mountain, inspecting it carefully.

The more she looked, the more certain she became—this was Apollo’s handiwork.

“Fool, I’ve got a question for you,” Mike said casually, sitting comfortably atop the snowy mountain.

He felt completely at ease, as if the mountain itself was rejuvenating him.

“Why do I feel so much lighter after my talent materialized?”

Fool Master shot him a cold glance, her tone dripping with disdain.

“Are you really this dense, or are you just pretending?”

Mike ignored her sarcasm, adopting a posture of attentive listening.

It wasn’t worth getting worked up over, and Fool Master, despite her sharp tongue, patiently explained:

“Do you even understand what a Truth Source fragment is?

When the Nine Races agreed to build the Tower of Truth, do you know what [Truth] promised them as payment?”

Mike actually did know this one.

Truth had promised that, upon completion, the Nine Races would share the Truth Source.

As for how much each race got… that was beyond Mike’s knowledge.

“I know! I know!”

Lilith, the golden pig, waddled over, sniffing the air as she spoke.

“My sister said she got two fragments of the Truth Source back then!”

Two fragments.

That was enough for the Blood Ancestor to bet the entire Blood Clan on the Tower of Truth.

The value of a Truth Source fragment was unimaginable.

Mike turned back to Fool Master, still confused.

What did this have to do with him?

Fool Master, clearly annoyed, snapped,

“You’re just an ordinary person. The fact that you didn’t die from holding a Truth Source fragment is already a miracle.

Do you have any idea how much it restricted you, how much it suppressed you?”

Humanity’s potential Supreme Beings could withstand Truth Source fragments only because they held Supreme Marks.

Without that, even if the fragment were sealed nine times over, it would still be too much for Mike to handle.

Now that his SSS-level talent had materialized, the restrictions and suppression on him had naturally been lifted.

Of course, he would feel much lighter.

However, there was one thing Fool Master didn’t mention.

Before an SSS-level talent materialized, the worse a potential Supreme Being performed, the greater their potential.

This was because a higher compatibility with the Truth Source meant they could absorb more of it, which in turn led to greater suppression.

Among humanity’s first three generations of potential Supreme Beings, the one with the lowest compatibility with the Truth Source was actually Apollo.

Because Apollo didn’t care about the Truth Source at all.

Of course, Fool Master would never admit this.

Praising Thor? Over her dead body.

After inspecting the snowy mountain, Fool Master finally said,

“Don’t get too excited.

Aside from this mountain, you’ll still need a lot of auxiliary materials.

Even if you dismantled the entire Mystic Market, it might not be enough.”

Mike, of course, understood this.

But the most important material was already in his hands.

The rest could be gathered over time.

After spending a short while in his private space, Mike returned to the void.

Upon his return, he noticed someone familiar standing next to Maxen.

Foreskin.

What was he doing here?

Mike had a decent relationship with many people in the Sheepfold, but Foreskin was an exception.

Their interactions had always been strictly professional.

In the past, whenever Foreskin sought Mike out, it was usually to ask for help dealing with some problem related to Apollo.

But now, Apollo was guarding the Supreme Abyssal, and his personal issues were resolved.

There was no reason for Foreskin to be so eager to find Thor.

Surely he wasn’t here to say thank you?

“What do you want?”

Mike looked at the long-lost Foreskin and joked,

“Don’t tell me you’re here to hand over the Mystic Market to me?”

Everyone knew Thor had been eyeing the Mystic Market for a long time.

“Ahem…”

Foreskin cleared his throat, ignoring the joke, and said seriously,

“You actually do have a Mystic Market to sign for.”

Mike: ???

What was this about?

Apollo was still in the Supreme Abyssal.

How could the Mystic Market’s ownership possibly fall to him?

Mike frowned, puzzled, and waited silently for Foreskin to explain.

After some thought, Foreskin began recounting the events of the past.

Why would Apollo, who found the mortal realm boring, create the Mystic Market?

Apollo never did boring things.

A hundred years ago.

Ares had visited the Supreme Abyssal.

When he returned, he was no longer humanity’s Supreme Being.

He looked at the newly ascended Supreme Being, Apollo, and asked a question:

“I left you a life and a blade.

What will you leave for the next generation of Supreme Beings?”

The materials for Apollo’s Lyre had been provided by Ares.

The materials for Ares’s Broken Sword had been provided by Shadow Nine.

By tradition, each Supreme Being left something for the next.

This wasn’t a difficult question.

Apollo answered seriously,

“My instructor taught me that when giving a gift, you should give something the other person likes.”

Ares pressed further,

“And what will the next Supreme Being like?”

Apollo shook his head.

He didn’t know.

He was Apollo, not omniscient.

How could he possibly know everything?

What’s more, Apollo hadn’t even started looking for the next potential Supreme Being.

The person might not even have been born yet.

How could he know what they would like?

But this wasn’t a hard problem.

When you don’t know the answer, there are two approaches:

Elimination and Exhaustion.

Apollo was better at the second.

After returning from the Supreme Abyssal, Apollo sought out Foreskin and gave him an order:

“Collect all things under heaven and store them away.”

No matter what the next Supreme Being liked, the Mystic Market would have it.

If he was going to leave a gift for his successor, it had to be something they liked.

What seemed like an unsolvable problem was, in Apollo’s hands, reduced to a simple solution:

Give them the Mystic Market.

—

“He actually gave it to me?”

Mike was utterly dumbfounded.

He never imagined Apollo would actually gift him the Mystic Market.

Foreskin could only smile silently.

Whether or not to give it wasn’t his decision to make.

As the Mystic Market’s Manager, he had to follow his boss’s orders.

From the very beginning, the Mystic Market had been intended for Thor.

Otherwise, with Apollo’s personality, he would never have created the Mystic Market in the first place.

Making money?

Such a boring endeavor held no meaning for Apollo.

Among humanity’s first four Supreme Beings, the only one who seemed to enjoy making money was probably Thor.

In hindsight, there had been clues all along.

Shadow Nine and Ares had co-founded Guardian Shadow.

In truth, Guardian Shadow had been Nathan’s idea.

Nathan had even completed the most difficult part of the work.

Guardian Shadow was meant to protect humanity’s Supreme Being seeds and serve as a protector for potential Supreme Beings.

Ares had originally intended to leave Guardian Shadow to Apollo.

But Apollo found it boring and didn’t take it.

Later, Shadow Nine passed Guardian Shadow to Thor, bringing it back into the hands of a Supreme Being.

If you thought about it carefully…

The Sword Servants had returned to the Forest of Truth.

Without Ares, the Arbiters were a second-rate organization at best.

Guardian Shadow was now in Thor’s hands.

And now, the Mystic Market had been handed to Thor as well.

Humanity’s most elite organizations had all fallen into Mike’s lap.

“Well… I’m not really ready for this… ahem…”

Mike hesitated for a few seconds before reluctantly saying,

“I’ll hold onto the Mystic Market for Apollo for now.”

Maxen: …

Man, you’re practically drooling.

Setting aside his obvious excitement, Mike turned to Foreskin and instructed,

“Keep everything as it is.”

The Mystic Market had been running for over a century and was the most fair trading platform within humanity.

For other races, trading in the Mystic Market required steep fees.

But the Mystic Market was fair.

It never engaged in robbery or extortion, and its fees were always clearly marked.

With the golden reputation of humanity’s Supreme Being Apollo, the Mystic Market practically printed money.

Now that Apollo had disappeared along with the Supreme Abyssal, and the Mystic Market’s ownership had passed to Supreme Being Thor…

The Mystic Market was bound to grow even stronger.

Mike clearly understood this and added,

“Don’t announce this publicly yet.”

Foreskin nodded repeatedly.

“Understood, understood.”

For humanity, the best outcome was for everything to remain as it was.

Mike understood this, and so did they.

As for what to do with the Mystic Market later…

Getting a free Mystic Market was undeniably satisfying.

But Mike’s only real use for money was building Thor’s Tower.

Of course, he didn’t need to pour all of the Mystic Market’s resources into it at once.

Slow and steady.

Using the Mystic Market’s profits, he could gradually build the tower.

Once the tower was complete, the Mystic Market would still be the Mystic Market.

Win-win.

Once Thor’s Tower was built, Thor would face the Supreme Demon God in the final battle.

At that point, money would truly become meaningless.

The group hadn’t traveled far in the void when Mike suddenly stopped.

He calculated something on his fingers.

It’s nap time.

“Hold on, it’s time. I’ve got something to do. I’m taking a nap.”

With that, Mike closed his eyes and entered a dream.

Maxen and Foreskin exchanged bewildered glances.

They could see the faint energy flowing from Thor’s fingertips as he entered the dream.

But… the precision of his control over his aura was astonishing.

Even if someone claimed Thor was already a true Supreme Being, neither of them would have doubted it.

But he was still only level 899…

Foreskin couldn’t help but wonder what Thor had experienced over the past ten years.

Inside the dream.

Aside from the child, there was now a stone statue of a middle-aged man.

The man’s features were indistinct, but he sat cross-legged with his hands resting on his knees, exuding an air of divine authority.

This dream space had originally been guarded by Morpheus’s lingering soul and Dream Come True.

After those were taken by Shadow Nine, someone else had to take over.

This was why Apollo had waited for Shadow Nine to reach the summit.

Morpheus had preserved the Supreme Demon God’s goodwill.

Destroying it outright would have been a waste.

Mike was clearly familiar with this place.

He first took out some fresh food and handed it to the child, sending him off to play.

Then, he placed four hamburgers on the table, along with two bottles of beer—one in front of Apollo’s statue and one for himself.

Taking a bite of his burger, Mike greeted the statue,

“Third bro, good morning.”

Apollo, ever meticulous, corrected him,

“It’s noon.”