American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

"Sounds like a great position, but how are you going to solve the issue of having nothing to start with? It's a difficult beginning." Mephisto rubbed his hands together, glanced at the composed faces of the Ancient One and Odin, walked over to Luke, sat down on the floor next to him, placed his staff on his knees, and asked.

"What's your reputation like? I mean, among the various dimensional demon gods." Luke looked at Mephisto sitting in front of him, touching his chin as he asked.

"Well, um, it should be like the bankers in your Midgard, I suppose." The green flames in the hollow eye sockets of Mephisto's bony mask flickered twice, as he replied in a wavering tone.

"Are you sure?" Luke retorted.

"I'm not sure." Mephisto shook his head straightforwardly.

"Then consider it non-existent." Luke concluded.

"Actually, there's a little bit. At least I abide by contracts." Mephisto defended himself. Then his gaze followed Luke's to look at the parchment on the table, a crack appearing in the mouth area of his mask, forming an awkward smile, "You have to understand, the competition in the Hell dimension is very intense, and our Hell dimension doesn't have a very good reputation in the universe, but please believe that we never go back on signed contracts. What's written on it is exactly what it is..."

Luke was momentarily at a loss for words.

"You want me to use my reputation to 'raise funds'? I'm sorry, I can't do that." Mephisto said to Luke very cleverly in the Midgard language, able to discern the meaning in Luke's words, though it was a bit difficult for him. Most importantly, although this pie looked big and delicious, Mephisto instinctively didn't want to invest too much.

"Then we can only take it one step at a time." Luke also understood Mephisto's true thoughts, which was what Odin had said: not letting go of the hawk until he sees the rabbit. He was a true pragmatist, a standard dimensional demon god type.

Luke continued, "We'll first absorb the assets of some weaker gods, form a certain scale and rules, and then bring people in."

"You want me to trade with those weak gods? That's probably difficult, because most of these gods are shut-ins who haven't left their homes in ten thousand years, and it's hard to know where they live. Even if we find them, they're likely to be stingy cheapskates. Trying to painstakingly persuade them to hand over their energy to us, you might as well just kill them and plunder all their energy; it'd be easier." Mephisto curled his lip.

"Who asked you to trade with them right away?" Luke retorted.

"Aren't we trading with them?" The flames in Mephisto's eye sockets flickered twice.

"What do you think of those so-called minor demon gods? How about things like morality and responsibility?" Luke gestured with his hand and asked.

Mephisto showed considerable surprise at Luke's question, "Morality and responsibility? What are those things? We don't have those things. Although I don't know if those weak dimensional demon gods have them, based on my knowledge, they basically don't. If there really is one who talks about morality, then he must be a rare treasure."

"So, he would ignore the life and death of those beings who believe in him?" Luke asked again.

"Who cares about the life and death of those ants? I wouldn't care either." Mephisto muttered.

"Then, a loyal and fanatical believer, because of faith in a certain god, ends up losing everything because of the god's neglect. Do you think this believer will turn to the dark side?" Luke guided Mephisto to imagine.

"Based on my understanding of the lives in the universe, those with rich emotions are very likely to completely turn to the dark side," Mephisto said definitively.

"Then can you use your special skills?" Luke clapped his hands.

"My special skills?" Mephisto's eyes lit up a bit.

"Taking advantage of someone's distress,呸, it's helping those in urgent need." Luke, after laying the groundwork for so long, finally revealed his true intentions: "I think you'd be happy to provide a little help to that darkened believer, and offer a little bit of pertinent advice and guidance."

"Seduce him to kill that god?" Mephisto's eyes lit up even more. Although it's very difficult to kill a god with the body of a mortal, it's not impossible to manipulate, right? At that time, let that person sign a contract, and if he succeeds in killing the god, he'll receive everything from the god. If he fails, then he'll just take away the darkened one's high-quality soul; he wouldn't lose too much. He liked this way of profiting from behind the scenes.

"How can you say it's seduction? You're generously bestowing the power of resistance to a desperate person out of justice and indignation. There are too many evil gods; this universe needs some cleaners." Luke corrected Mephisto's words.

"Yeah, how can you say it's seduction? I like your hypocrisy." A huge crack appeared on Mephisto's mask, and he laughed silently. "I have to consider the initial amount of power to invest."

"You don't necessarily have to invest your own power." Luke looked at Mephisto, who had moved closer: "You've lived for so long, don't you know about some strange treasures with great power in the universe? You can just point them out to the other party to find. If that doesn't work, steal them or create them yourself. You provide the materials, and I'll provide the technology. I'll help you create a series of god-slaying weapons and equipment, and you can distribute them throughout the universe."

"No problem!" Mephisto nodded reservedly. The Hell dimension still had many materials, but there were too few demons who could forge them into powerful equipment. Not everyone was like the God-King Odin, with dwarves under his command who were good at processing all kinds of materials to forge equipment, and could even create artifacts.

Odin and the Ancient One, who were standing aside and watching Luke and Mephisto chatting happily, had very strange expressions. The Ancient One had a calm and collected look on her face, with even a hint of a smile in her eyes. As for Odin, he looked at his son, who was sitting next to Luke but couldn't get a word in, and sighed deeply in his heart. Well, at least this wave of energy infusion and nourishment would allow him to last a few more years. There was still some time to train him.

Even though Asgard looked very primitive, it certainly had a monetary system. Moreover, as the God-King, Odin understood even better how much benefit this bank would bring to its participants once it was successfully established. Before, these old antiques only knew how to fight and conquer, and their brains couldn't quite process it. Or, some had thought of it, but sighed in the face of huge obstacles and difficulties, throwing their flashes of inspiration back into the ruins of their minds.

Although Luke's proposal seemed a bit whimsical and its future prospects were unclear, Odin still felt a bit itchy and wanted to participate. As for the Ancient One? Odin glanced at the Ancient One, who was drinking tea calmly. In any case, if it really took off, Luke shouldn't leave out the allies of the Sorcerer Supreme lineage.

"There's a problem. How are you going to find the whereabouts of those weak demon gods?" Mephisto asked with a bony mask full of desire. Those weak demon gods weren't like him, with their names spread throughout the multiverse. The Hell dimension was just too large; everyone knew where it was. But those weak demon gods hid themselves well and wouldn't easily reveal their whereabouts. The world of dimensional demon gods was somewhat similar to a dark forest.

"It depends on whether they have believers and whether they are evil gods." Although Luke's idea was temporary, once it was born, his brain was constantly adjusting and perfecting it based on information.

Mephisto sat upright and listened to Luke's words.

"You should know that I've created a new energy called emotional/spiritual energy." Luke looked at Mephisto.

"The Ancient One and Odin have already told me about it. I like some of it very much, and I think the Hell dimension will also like them." Mephisto nodded. He had just personally sensed that energy up close, and it really suited his and the Hell dimension's preferences. If possible, he really wanted to take it for himself. Unfortunately, with Odin and the Ancient One participating, this idea was destined to be difficult to succeed.

"I already have an idea. In the future, I can quickly upgrade it again and use it as a foundation to establish a universe-wide emotional/spiritual network. With this network, we can listen to and receive the emotions and mental voices of lives from all over the universe. Then, we can use technology and authority to filter them, select some areas, and assign personnel to investigate. Then, we can gradually correct the data based on feedback and improve the accuracy. When the time comes, for convenience, I can also make you some instruments to detect high concentrations of energy around you." Luke made it sound very plausible, and then casually drew Mephisto another sweet pie that looked very likely to be eaten.

Mephisto nodded again. It wasn't that he couldn't tell that Luke was drawing him a pie, but as a powerful dimensional demon god who was relatively down-to-earth, or simply put, whose thinking was more inclined towards intelligent species like humans, he was very receptive to Luke's approach.

If someone else had said the same thing to him, then Mephisto would certainly have smiled and first seduced him into signing a contract or simply plundered his soul to show the punishment for deception. But Luke was different. His life level was strictly speaking equal to his, and he had truly created new energy. In particular, the manufacturing technology he received was indeed unique.

In other words, the same words coming from Luke's mouth had a high degree of credibility! With not much investment, Mephisto was willing to invest a little for the sake of the big pie that Luke drew. He could only blame Luke for accurately grasping his greed.

Similarly, Mephisto also understood that once this network of emotional/spiritual energy was established, Luke would have a powerful card in his hand. Even if he really became the first president of the so-called dimensional demon god energy bank in the future, Luke and the others wouldn't have nothing to restrain him. Although it wasn't clear what other cards Luke had in his hand or what his intentions were, based on his understanding of demon gods and humans, the other party couldn't really let him dominate the future.

This was something that he regretted.

But Mephisto wasn't resistant to this kind of game. Compared to fighting and killing, he still liked the mental confrontation of demon gods.

"You provide the technology, and I'll provide the manpower." Mephisto said, already prepared to drive most of the demons and devils in his territory in the Hell dimension out to pull in business for him all over the universe. In the early stages, there was no need for any training. Their business skills were hard enough in this regard.

"As it should be. But I think your subordinates should undergo some training before officially taking office," Luke suggested.

"Training? No, no, no, they're all very skilled in their business, I guarantee it! They're all top-notch at negotiating contracts!" Mephisto raised his hand, his bony face full of seriousness and solemnity, vowing.

"No, I mean your appearances and lines need to be rehearsed first. If that doesn't work, then they need to be packaged. I believe you're professional in the business of bewitching people and signing contracts, but believe me, you may not be so professional in other trivial matters. For example, in terms of service attitude. I've heard a lot of examples from your Hell dimension," Luke shook his head.

"What are you referring to?" Mephisto smiled awkwardly.

"Ghost Riders and the like," Luke shrugged.

"He should be grateful to me! I gave him power!" Mephisto made a lip-curling expression.

"If you don't want customer complaints everywhere in the future, I think you need to take service seriously. In addition, you need to pay attention to packaging. If you appear directly in front of people with that terrifying appearance, everyone will think you're bad people, and trust will naturally be much lower. Although you have the ability to bewitch, why not do it perfectly if you can?" Luke said, "No matter what, if we want to do it, we must appear very formal, even if it's just superficial formality! This is the establishment of order and rules, understand?"

"Okay, I'll send you a batch of subordinates later, and you can dress them up according to your own wishes," Mephisto said indifferently.

"That's also fine. I'll send you the packaging and training fees later. If you don't want to pay, you can deduct it from the future profit-sharing," A satisfied smile appeared on Luke's face.

A smoky exclamation point slowly appeared above Mephisto's head!

"Still need 'money'?" The green flames in Mephisto's eye sockets flared up, looking just like a human's eyes widening.

"Of course, just like after you become the first president, all the demon gods who want to do business here will need to pay a certain service fee to the bank. You have to accept and get used to it before others," Luke explained to him confidently.

"I know you're talking nonsense, but I kind of agree with the reasoning you're saying," Mephisto thought for a while and nodded slowly. It was just some insignificant expenses; he could accept it.