章 34: 2 months and Changes

September 24th, 1348 of the Fifth Epoch

With another month passing, and Max earned another 75 pounds! They had expanded the number of Dunant's Department stores across Backlund to 6 in total using the funds from Ms. Hall. Of course, not all of these stores were as profitable as the others, resulting in a smaller increase in profits despite the doubling in the total number of stores, and a further increase in the number of employees.

Other than that, an experienced CEO was hired for handling the entire organisation, and a headquarters was set-up in Hillstone Borough. This was done to better manage the overall Dunant's Department Store company, handle its finances and employees, as well as goods and obligations to suppliers and the government.

Unfortunately, over this past month, Max had not found a suitable investment option. He had searched various platforms including even reading through the newspapers one at a time to find something, but either the start-ups were bound to fail due to an inherent flaw in the concept or execution, or it required in incredible investment to actually work out, something he lacked at the moment.

Max had played with the idea of creating something modern like the Bike that Klein had invested in and proliferated all through Backlund. However, he almost immediately shoved the idea aside as he recalled the fact that a certain goddess was also from his era, and would recognise it for what the invention was. As such, unless he had someone in this era personally come up with the idea, without his involvement until the investment was needed, he would not be able to bring out the past… or future inventions depending on whether you were talking from a historical or technological point of view.

However, Max had had other benefits! Max had been able to source 2 of the 12 ingredients for his [Fool's End] potion. And, it would only take him another week for him to get his hands on another 3!

Speaking of Beyonder potions, Max realised something very important. The uniqueness of his pathway required a Beyonder characteristic from all of the 22 orthodox pathways for it to be created. But more importantly, for him to advance to a Great Old One; the Outer God Unity, Max would need to get small samples of each of the various Sefirot!

This would only mean one thing. Just like the fact that he was an enemy of the individuals of his neighbouring pathway, the three other transmigrators still orbiting the Earth, Max would have to allow Klein to grow, and preferably speed up the process until he was able to free the other Sefirot from the seal placed by 'Him', all while preparing to utterly destroy Klein and other possible Great Old Ones who are formed from Earth, since he was an Outer God.

Well, he would also have to fight off the other Outer Gods and prevent them from firstly utterly destroying the Earth and everything living on it, and secondly, assimilating with other Sefirot from Earth since that would create an unending spiralling of merging of Beyonder Characteristics until the creator was reborn, or something worse came about.

Thus, his original direction of just being completely opposed to Klein would have to be reformed into helping Klein reach Great Old One before killing him, but only after he unsealed the rest of the Sefirot.

'Sigh what a headache…' Max thought as he realised he would have to place a delicate juggling balance between various Beyonders, forces, and other beings all while plotting not only to kill most of them but also growing his own strength in the process. It was an absolute mess that even the smartest minds would have a hard time following, and Max would have to handle them on his own…

Sighing, Max took another sip of the freshly squeezed grape juice, which looked similar to wine in more aspects other than the colour and consistency. Though from a distance it did look like wine, and that was exactly what Max was going for. Currently, he was at another one of the parties for nobility, but this time he did not have to suck up to some random rich merchants to bring him along.

This time, however, he was cordially invited by the host, and all of this only happened because he had been invited to the Hall banquet, where he was first introduced to Ms. Audrey Hall who was officially the one to own a significant part of Dunant's Department Store.

Sipping on the grape juice, Max observed the various individuals around him. The group of elderly gentlemen, casually discussing serious business within their group, as though the world around them did not exist. In sharp contrast, the group of elderly women just sitting by the side, glaring daggers at everyone as though they owed them money from countless years ago.

However, the groups that stood out the most were the young women, who were rather loudly conversing amongst each other, randomly bursting out into fits of giggles. Somehow, this also attracted random strays of young and peacock-like men, who fancied themselves the main characters of their lives, despite that fact being true to some extent. These young men would try and ask for some of the young women for a dance, however many of them ended up getting rejected.

Unlike the extremely high-classed parties hosted by the likes of the Hall family, this one was a lot simpler, only in comparison though. It still had a vast array of foods and beverages, and had sufficient staff to run an upper-middle-class family to the ground in under a few weeks just from salary alone!

Still, compared to the exceedingly organised Hall banquet, the current one had a much more informal and lackadaisical atmosphere that allowed two things. It lowered the nerves of first-timers, while also reducing the requirements for people to insert themselves into the conversations of others since the hierarchy was a little less strictly handled at this party.

As such, Max took a slightly larger sip of his juice and placed the wine glass onto the table behind him, before casually walking towards a certain group of people. This was a group of middle-aged individuals. They wore considerably decent clothes, but nothing too extravagant. Among these people, Max also had a few 'friends' who had similar views as himself, thus bringing him along with them to the first few parties.

These people were not nobility, and instead were moderately wealthy individuals or had high political or financial standing among non-nobles. As such, they are in a state of limbo, an odd social status of the in-between, neither a noble nor a commoner.

Max, despite being just a child, confidentially walked up to this group and inserted himself without any issues, with the people here almost instantly accepting him as one of them. To their credit, Max's body had grown to look closer to an adult after consuming his Bender potion, and his way of speaking made them forget about the age he looked. To them, he was one of them, someone from the lower rungs of society, who clawed their way up to their current position through hard work, determination, and sheer will. He was a self-made man, just like them.

In order to fit in with these individuals, Max was thankful for Samuel's life experiences as he made use of his considerable life and business experience to almost immediately hit it off with the middle-aged group.

Unlike the gossiping young women, the judgy old ladies, the horny and bombastic young men and the super-stuck-up old men, this group of middle-aged men were more goal focused. They were here at these functions for two specific interests; the first being networking and coming into contact with potential business partners, and the second being finding individuals of similar interests with whom to align their families with.

Well, Max was mainly here for the former, and perhaps the latter after a few years. Despite his body having aged to that of a young adult, and having Samuel's memories, Max was still a child. His interests did not lean so desperately towards gaining an intimate partner yet.

After a while of talking, Max shook the hands of three of the individuals present, before taking his leave. He was, after all, not a member of their group, and only someone with similarly aligning interests who was temporarily accepted.

It was something similar to high schoolers playing football, accepting Max; a 10th grader to join their team just to make up the numbers since he was conveniently there. As soon as the match was over, he would naturally be meant to leave them alone. However, if he was able to be selected to join them to play often enough, he would ultimately be accepted as one of them, and this was his final goal.

Gaining power and rich potential partners in his future endeavours would allow him to reduce the risks and oppositions he might otherwise face. Max was not trying to become the richest person in Backlund. Far from it. He was just trying to set up a stable portfolio of investments that would supply him with a decent amount of money to allow Max to focus on other aspects.

Thus, Max departed the banquet a little before normal, and this was due to the significant gains he had made this time.