Old Bartender went to deal with the bodies, while Donnie circled the two cars, "touching" the new weapons and new alloy with delight. The weapons were one thing—whether silver bullets or UV grenades, they were specifically designed to deal with Vampires. Their effectiveness against other enemies would be greatly reduced.
Silver bullets in particular were outrageously expensive. Using them to fight Vampires was, bluntly put, burning money. Bullets were not easy to recover, either. An ordinary person would go bankrupt after firing a few magazines.
Many Vampire Hunters fought Vampires while also clearing out their wealth, gathering watches, necklaces, and the like to sell for cash, stockpiling a batch of silver weapons before continuing their hunt.
Killing Vampires truly required money. It was a mad, irreversible path of spending heavily—the more money one spent, the more efficiently one killed enemies, and the greater the returns.
Even though humanity had not openly gone to war with Vampires, a large number of active Vampire Hunters still feared no death and wholeheartedly caused trouble for Vampires. Some opposed Vampires for various reasons, some because of grudges, some to rid humanity of evil, and some simply to get rich... They were a bunch of ruthless people who risked their lives, and many Vampire Hunters had close ties with official agencies.
Donnie was about to embark on that path as well: kill Vampires, take their money, and take as much of it as possible. He needed to recruit a few helpers, and definitely not unreliable trash like Old Bartender.
Old Bartender hugged a box of silver bullets, practically drooling. He muttered to himself and refused to let go. "Mine, they're all mine. I've never seen so much money. Every bullet is money! What a waste to use them as bullets. Better to trade them for good liquor."
Donnie kicked him. This old fox said one thing and thought another. For all Donnie knew, he might hug that box of bullets and look for a chance to fight Vampires to the death. The old man was too slippery. He had spent half his life running and hiding, which had made him deeply suspicious. He trusted no one. Even though Donnie had saved him, he would never fully trust Donnie.
He had suffered too much over the years, lived too miserably. He had trusted many people, and had also been betrayed by many people he trusted. He was suspicious by nature and had decided to trust only himself.
Donnie ignored him. What he valued more was that batch of titanium alloy. To him, it was far more important. The quality of this titanium alloy was excellent. Its hardness had actually reached BT-22, which was already remarkably impressive.
In truth, titanium alloy was not the best choice in terms of hardness alone. What truly made it stand out was its high strength, something many other alloys struggled to achieve. It was far superior to alloys such as tungsten steel and titanium steel.
Hardness referred to the property of resisting permanent deformation, while strength was the ability to resist permanent deformation and fracture under external force. Stark's Mark 1 and Mark 2 armors had both used titanium alloy for their shells. It was not until the Mark 3 that the wealthy Stark abandoned titanium alloy and used the gold-titanium alloy developed by Stark Industries, achieving a leap in both strength and hardness.
No matter how high-quality two sports cars were, a collision would still damage or deform their metal frames. Yet Stark's gold-titanium alloy armor could endure countless blows and bombardments while maintaining its general shape. That showed just how formidable the alloy was.
Donnie summoned Optimus Prime. The AllSpark kept pulsing as vast amounts of energy poured into the titanium alloy. Optimus Prime lifted the boxes, and chunks of titanium alloy were poured over his body.
Donnie closed his eyes as one piece of titanium alloy after another became saturated. Every molecular structure within them was wrapped and covered by mysterious Spark Energy. That was also why Donnie could control Transformers to consume metal.
He could add advanced metals to a Transformer, but unfortunately, he could not directly turn a pile of metal into a Transformer. One basic requirement for a successful conversion was a relatively complete energy circuit. He could transform a cellphone into a Transformer, but he could not transform a cellphone case.
More than an hour passed before Donnie finally opened his eyes. He controlled Optimus Prime to pick up chunks of titanium alloy one after another. His arms clattered as they shifted and combined, swallowing the titanium alloy in succession and making it part of his body.
Arcee, the motorcycle, was also controlled by Donnie and began consuming titanium alloy.
Only after the two of them had consumed nearly enough did Donnie begin controlling the other Transformers to consume it. He valued improving Optimus Prime and Arcee's combat strength more. He had to keep one or two trump cards in hand, whether for killing enemies or saving his own life. Rather than distributing the alloy evenly, it was better to use most of it to strengthen those two Transformers.
His AllSpark continued to pulse, flickering between light and dark. After the Transformers consumed the titanium alloy with the continuous flow of Spark Energy, Donnie began modifying the two cars. Wherever the AllSpark swept, it found several hidden cameras.
Donnie sneered. Who had installed them? Fury? Hydra? Or some country? It was completely useless. Before his AllSpark, no electronic device could hide. Another hour passed, and two new Transformers rose up, only to be consumed by the other Transformers and continuously strengthen them.
His AllSpark could not control Transformers without limit, so he could only focus on quality. In the end, he kept the number at five.
Old Bartender sat nearby, propping up his chin as he watched quietly. Only after Donnie was finished did he ask, "You're going to kill Vampires? How confident are you? Forgive my bluntness, but you call yourself Level 4, yet you haven't actually shown the true abilities of a Level 4 Mutant. I don't know how powerful Magneto and the others are, but I think they should be far stronger than you are now."
Donnie said calmly, "Who would dare claim absolute certainty in war? There are too many cases of boats capsizing in a gutter. Besides, we have allies as well. The Vampire Hunters and S.H.I.E.L.D., which is watching from the shadows, will also add fuel to the fire."
He selectively answered some questions, avoiding the subject of his strength. There was no need to answer it anyway, because he was already very strong.
It was true that he had been born Level 4, but rank did not represent actual strength. Phoenix Jean was Level Five too, yet unless her life was at stake, her usual strength was only so-so. Not to mention that the AllSpark's damage had not fully recovered—even at his current level, he could not say for sure against Professor X in his youth, since psychic power was impossible to guard against, but he could completely crush Magneto in his twenties or thirties.
Magneto had awakened his magnetic control in a Nazi concentration camp when he was a teenager and was discovered by the Nazi officer Shaw. Shaw then killed Magneto's mother in front of him just to further stimulate his abilities. Yet when Magneto sought revenge against Shaw, that terrifying leader, years later for murdering his mother, he had to strain with all his might just to barely turn a large radar detector halfway around.
If Donnie faced Magneto from that time now, it would be a complete one-sided beatdown.
Not to mention that the AllSpark was slowly yet steadily improving the essence of his life. His strength alone was already approaching a thousand pounds, something far too astonishing for a control-type Mutant. The AllSpark's enhancement of him was comprehensive. Aside from his mind and soul, which were unknown territory, this evolution was already terrifying enough.
Sometimes, Donnie thought that it was an enormous blessing that he was not as powerful as Dual Polarity was now. It gave him enough room to steadily familiarize himself with and control his abilities, so that he would not lose control and lose himself like Phoenix Jean.
"Let's go, old man. Load up the silver bullets and grenades. I know you want to come." Donnie sat in Optimus Prime's driver's seat. "We're going to New Jersey, to Ocean City, to kick in that bastard Deacon's nest!"
Before you continue