To protect himself from future reckoning, Nick did his utmost. For example, right now, to his left sat the Mage King, to his right a young man with a somewhat weathered face. And in front of him sat a dozen well-dressed, aged-looking elders, their lifeblood fading.
"Okay, now that you've reviewed the agreement, let me confirm with you again: are you sure you want to accept employment from Lord Mephisto of the Hell Dimension and contribute to his banking business?" Nick sighed, looking at the dozen or so elderly men. He knew almost every one of them. "If you don't want to, you still have a chance to withdraw. However, after you withdraw, according to the confidentiality agreement we signed earlier, you will not be able to disclose today's information to anyone, by any means."
"Can you give us more longevity potions?" One of the old men glanced at Nick and said with difficulty.
"Sorry." Nick said helplessly, "The allocation of longevity potions is fixed. If you want to change it, you have to wait until next year's longevity conference."
"Our influence is declining, and the longevity potions we can compete for at future conferences will also be even fewer. Since there's a new path, why not try it?" Another old man coughed. Despite his well-maintained appearance, he looked even older. His wrinkled palms stroked a parchment contract, his eyes filled with persistence and desire.
These people were nearing the end of their lives. If it weren't for the longevity potion produced by Heibo Lun, they would have died long ago. They were delighted by the emergence of the longevity potion, but frustrated by its limited production. In the later period, Heibo Lun, through the exchange of interests and compromises among various parties, did not conceal its longevity technology. Industries including Osborne could indeed produce the longevity potion according to the technical process and materials provided by Luke, but the cost and effort required were terrifyingly high.
Maybe it's a problem with the process, or maybe it's a problem with proficiency. With the same technology, the longevity drugs produced by other biological and pharmaceutical giants are simply worse than those produced by Haibolun, and the qualified finished product rate is also lower.
So although the technology is semi-public, and even some giants have innovated and come up with their own things based on this technology, Haibolun's authority and voice in longevity drugs are actually greater than before the technology was made public.
Who would want to use inferior products if there were something superior? Especially those so-called bigwigs. Without a comparison, they naturally chose Heibolun. But after a period of balancing interests, while other giants could also use Heibolun's specialized equipment to extract vampire factors from vampires and use them to synthesize longevity potions, after verifying the effectiveness and making comparisons, they found that Heibolun's longevity potion was still their only choice!
They seem to have more choices, but in fact they still have no other choice.
Of course, this doesn't mean that the longevity potions licensed for production by other pharmaceutical giants are useless. As long as the market for such potions isn't saturated, there will always be a market. Furthermore, due to the limitations of the vampire race and their technology, the production of longevity potions will likely be in short supply for a long time to come. The highest-end crowd naturally enjoys the highest-quality longevity potions produced by Hebolun, and no other company can compete with Hebolun in this area. However, these giants will certainly not be shy about reaching the lower-tier markets that Hebolun doesn't consider.
Official organizations like the Longevity Conference, the Longevity Alliance, the Bloodline Factor Research Society, and the Mutual Aid Association were established, either covertly or openly. Each giant clung to the other, favoring Haibolun, the technology provider and licensor, while the other enjoyed the biggest slice of the pie. But then, they engaged in a fierce internal competition.
Research on the vampires, as well as the competition for their business, was a constant source of worry every year. At the same time, they also took the initiative to help Heibolun withstand all the pressure from outside.
Want to join in and get a piece of the pie?
No problem!
Submit your application first, and then wait for notification. As long as everyone evaluates and tests you and agrees that you meet the organization's qualifications, you can join.
What are the eligibility requirements?
First, you need to understand and research vampires, right? You can't be completely clueless, right? And if you want to join in and have a piece of the pie, you need at least a certain amount of raw materials to produce the cake, right? What? We have all the raw materials on the market? Even some small businesses with a few vampire factor materials have been acquired by our two-pronged approach. So who's to blame for being slow?
Don't say we announced the eligibility requirements only after we've done all this. If you can't even guess and get the most basic rumors and information before others, it only means that you don't have the ability or qualifications to join for the time being.
Apart from other things, over the past few years, the longevity potion has initially formed a stable circle of interests. Although this circle was formed because of the longevity potion, those who are smart and have a lot of resources have long since expanded its margins and added a lot of halo to it.
Once humans start playing in circles, it's basically the same hierarchy as in online games.
The annual Longevity Conference is where those dignitaries discuss how much to distribute the Longevity Potion. Under the rules established by "Smart People," distribution is ostensibly based on contributions to the organization or the world, but this is a very broad and difficult-to-define term.
The dozen or so old men present here who once had a high reputation in the financial industry, although their era has passed, their influence and financial resources still allow them to join this circle. The only difference is that they cannot be allocated Hebolun's longevity potion.
"Now that you've made your choice, sign the contract," said the weathered young man sitting to Nick's right. "Once this contract is signed, there's no room for regret. You can play with words and laws when dealing with ordinary people, but these tricks will have no effect on the owner of the contract. Once you sign the contract, your souls no longer belong to you. Instead, they belong to the owner of the contract, a powerful demon lord."
"Ahem! Mr. Blaze, the contract was signed with Mephisto under the witness of the Supreme Sorcerer and Luke. After signing the contract, these people will only work for the Energy Bank, not for Mephisto and the Hell Dimension." The Mage King on Nick's left coughed twice. He felt that he needed to speak out.
"What's the difference? I understand the binding force of this contract and Mephisto's unpredictable cunning better than you do," said Johnny Blaze, the modern-day Ghost Rider, casually, slouching in his chair. Although he was Mephisto's spokesperson, he held little trust or affection for the cunning demon.
"There's a difference. At least they haven't been naturalized in the Hell Dimension," the Mage King corrected him. "This contract is backed by the power of the Supreme Mage, God-King Odin, and Luke. The relationship between Mephisto and them isn't one of master and slave, but rather one of employee and employer. Mephisto pays them in exchange for their work for him, the Supreme Mage, and the others."
"Where do their souls go?" Blaze turned his head and looked into the eyes of the Mage King. On his weathered face, his eyes seemed to have the power to judge people's hearts!
"Data Dimension! That's the headquarters of the Energy Bank and where they work." The Mage King slightly avoided Blaze's eyes, but then glared back.
"Although Mephisto is the first president of the Energy Bank, the three Supreme Sorcerers are also shareholders of the bank. Strictly speaking, they don't just work for Mephisto."
After saying this, the Mage King turned his head away, no longer meeting Blaze's eyes. Although the Supreme Mage and Mephisto were now collaborating, this didn't mean they were all on the same side in the Hell Dimension. The Mage King still had to make this clear.
"Okay, we're just here to get things done." Nick interrupted the two men, who were somewhat at odds with each other, and sighed inwardly. Speaking of collaborators, his SHIELD was also one of them! However, looking around, Nick felt that SHIELD had a long way to go before it could stand up.
Blaze represents Mephisto in the Hell dimension.
The Mage King represents the Supreme Mage of Midgard.
As for him? Let's just say he represented himself and Luke.
As for the God King Odin? He was currently engaged in a fierce battle with the Dark Elf Malekith's alliance and had no time to bother with such trivial matters. With limited manpower, he certainly didn't bother to send anyone as a representative.
After witnessing over a dozen people signing their respective contracts, the contracts floated in mid-air, splitting into four and drifting towards Nick and the other two. The Mage King and Blaze each took one, while the remaining two fell into Nick's hands.
"Here's your hard work fee." Blaze watched the contract in his hand burn out in a ball of flames, and took out a sheepskin bag with a bad attitude and threw it to Nick.
"I prefer to call it an agency fee." Nick took the sheepskin bag thrown by Blaze, and for a moment he felt a little complicated.
"It seems that he has a lot of opinions about you." The Mage King said to Nick as he watched Blaze stride out.
"I don't care what he thinks." Nick thought about his debts and tightened the sheepskin bag in his hand.
"If there are no problems, I will also report the results to the Supreme Mage." The Mage King nodded slightly to Nick, ignoring the dozen or so old men, and directly drew a portal under their surprised gazes and stepped in.