The Results of Three Years of Work

Hearing Xio's description, Fors pondered for a moment. "It's also possible that he has a powerful Sealed Artifact."

"That's another strange thing," Xio said. "I heard that someone used a corresponding Sealed Artifact to observe the 'Leader,' yet they didn't find any powerful Magical Items on him. They only saw several Beyonder Weapons."

She paused before continuing, "The 'Leader' never seemed afraid of investigations, nor was he afraid of information about the gathering leaking out.

"Just like Byron. I caught him, and he told me some intelligence about the gathering, but his punishment was only to provide five pieces of valuable intelligence for free.

"If information is leaked but not reported at the gathering, only then will there be a severe punishment."

Fors naturally knew the difference between Magical Items and Beyonder Weapons. "Then that's strange. Could he be on the same Pathway as me...

"No, that can't be right. Door Opening has distance limits too. If the barrier is thicker than a certain point, it can't be opened."

At the time, she had yet to establish stable contact with the Abraham Family, and her ways of obtaining mysticism knowledge were limited. Given the level of Occult Gatherings she had encountered so far, she did not even know about the ability of Travel.

In the end, Fors could not help but sigh. "He truly is a mysterious gentleman."

Xio nodded. "That's why I feel uneasy. If I pass the so-called routine investigation, I don't know whether I should join that Research Society."

Fors thought for a while before saying, "I'd advise you to join if you get the chance."

She said, "Think about it! Even selling out information about the gathering doesn't result in severe punishment, and the person who initiated the investigation wasn't punished either. This gathering is highly tolerant of its participants!

"At the very least, you won't be in danger. As long as there's no danger and you can trade for high-level intelligence, isn't that enough for you?"

Xio dipped her bread into the vegetable soup. "That's true."

After confirming his advancement, Odys did not immediately begin preparing the potion. As usual, he had Kainer watch the workers replace the display window glass while he taught Aria in the backyard how to make ammunition for Arrow of Flames.

Today's lesson was relatively simple and ended shortly after ten in the morning.

With all the lessons finished, Aria only needed to come collect the ten Arrow of Flames weapons when the time came.

She left behind a mailing address and told Odys that he could write to her if he needed anything.

After seeing Aria off, Odys mixed some paint with Kainer and brushed over the wall that had been scorched by the fire yesterday. Only after finishing everything did he take a carriage to the Backlund Mechanical Research Society and invite his old friend, Max Livermore, to lunch.

Odys spent 1 soli to reserve a private dining room.

The reason he called it a "private dining room" was that, in Odys's opinion, it could not be called a private room or an elegant booth. It was too cramped, with only one dining table and two chairs, yet it cost so much.

After ordering, the waiter left the room before Max smiled and asked, "Why are you being so generous today?"

Odys was stunned. "Am I usually that stingy?"

"Not exactly stingy." Max teased, "The last time you formally invited me to a meal like this was a year ago."

If Odys had truly only been the owner of a herbal shop, it would not have meant much. After all, given Backlund's prices, this meal would cost at least 2 pounds if they added a decent bottle of red wine.

But Max knew perfectly well that the man before him was no ordinary herbal shop owner.

Odys had two identities. On the surface, he was the owner of a herbal shop. His gray businesses included the Nanmu Ballroom and Nanmu Restaurant, as well as two bars and a casino run through Enoch as his agent.

His second identity was as an informant for the Machinery Hivemind. That was his protective talisman, and it was easy to uncover. Yet few people could discover that he was also the founder of the Mysticism Research Society.

Max did not know whether the Mysticism Research Society made money, but no ballroom in Backlund was more profitable than the Nanmu Ballroom.

What Max did not know was that Odys actually had a third identity. He was a scholar pursuing knowledge within Knowledge Moor. Though he was merely Sequence 9, he had research results beyond the reach of most other Beyonders.

Using Magic Formations to create a unique method for making Beyonder Weapons was merely the most basic application of those research results.

Additionally, he was now a member of the Tarot Club.

Almost no one could uncover either of these identities.

These were the results of Odys's three years of work in this world.

After Max teased him like that, Odys smiled somewhat sheepishly. "You know my experiments cost a lot of money."

"It wasn't just the experiments that cost money, was it?" Max said. "The factories you opened last year went bankrupt one after another too. That must have cost quite a bit."

At that moment, the waiter began serving the dishes. Max told him, "Bring me a cigar."

Odys reminded him, "One costs 2 soli!"

"Then bring two."

"One is enough. I don't smoke." Odys sounded helpless.

After the waiter cut the cigar and lit it for Max, Odys said, "Back then, I always wanted to try a few things."

At the time, he had wanted to open factories and try to solve some people's employment problems. Based on the novels he had read before, a transmigrator should have been able to make a fortune no matter what kind of factory he opened.

But after the factories opened, Odys discovered that he had absolutely no talent for business.

The factories had not gone bankrupt because of poor management, but because Odys was unwilling to lower the protective standards for his workers.

For example, his enamel factory required multiple layers of protective measures during the polishing process, while other factories ignored such things and treated workers as consumables.

As a result, his factory's products had no competitive edge in terms of price.

Then there was the impact of the overall environment. With the announcement of the Corn Laws, large numbers of middle-class people and farmers went bankrupt, while Loen's industrial capacity continued to rise, causing the market to become saturated.

That was also why the international situation was so tense at present. Everyone wanted to dump their goods into each other's countries or colonies.

After three factories went bankrupt in succession, Odys stopped considering that direction and focused wholeheartedly on developing the Nanmu Ballroom's business.

The waiter opened the red wine and poured each of them a glass. They ate and talked.

Odys said, "I'm planning to advance to Melee Scholar."

What had always prevented him from advancing was the Machinery Hivemind's surveillance. Odys knew very well that encountering a Beyonder incident would not draw the Machinery Hivemind's prolonged attention, but it would be different if that incident involved a High Sequence Beyonder Characteristic or Sealed Artifact from the Seer or Savant Pathway—actually Knowledge Moor.

Three years ago, he had vaguely sensed that he had been secretly examined more than once. If he had exposed that he understood what it meant to "digest" a potion at the time, he might very well have been arrested and interrogated directly.

Now that three years had passed, Odys had not displayed any more abnormalities. Moreover, he was useful to the Machinery Hivemind, so he finally dared to apply for advancement.

Max's hands, holding his knife and fork, froze slightly. "Have you thought it through? I heard that at Sequence 9, although you occasionally hear the whispers of evil gods, they can basically be ignored.

"But at Sequence 8, the whispers of evil gods become relatively obvious, and it's easy to be tempted."

He had already asked around about this for Odys.