Returning to Restock

"Karn, where did you dig up all these treasures?"

Carl had been lucky enough to accompany Karn to the Caltex Auction House in Washington. The items Karn had brought back had been promoted for over ten days, drawing quite a few interested Japanese bidders.

They could very well represent an undocumented gap in history. That single remark from a Caltex appraiser was enough to raise the auction items' value considerably.

"My grandfather inherited them from his grandfather. They'd been sitting in the back of our basement all this time. If I hadn't read my father's notebook, I wouldn't even have known we had them."

Karn gave Carl an excuse he had made up on the spot, then turned his attention back to the Caltex auction. Auctions in the early twenty-first century were not as sophisticated as they would become later, and even the Caltex Auction House was no exception.

He had only come to see how much the items he had brought back would sell for. He had no intention of buying anything.

Karn's current assets were not enough for him to start indulging himself. Perhaps if his wealth increased a millionfold, he would try some of those decadent pleasures, but for now, his most pressing goal was to build up his influence.

This was Carl's first auction. She was only astonished by the prices the items fetched, then complained about the lack of a collectible Lightning Lad manuscript. If there had been one, she would have put up twenty thousand dollars to bid on it.

Karn's items were not particularly valuable. There were simply a lot of them, and they carried some historical significance. Otherwise, most would have been worth nothing more than their weight in gold.

Karn had already sold off the jewels and similar items, netting over six million dollars. That was a little less than he had expected, but without legitimate provenance, it was the best he could do.

As the pieces Karn had brought were sold one after another, the smile on his face grew brighter.

Karn had originally thought three or four million dollars would be about right. Although there were many items, plenty were merely jewelry and ornaments. He had not expected them to sell for nearly nine million dollars in total. Including the jewels he had already sold, he had earned over fifteen million dollars this time in cash alone, more than he had made on the stock market over the past three years.

On the way back, Carl said excitedly, "Karn, you're a multimillionaire now! That car doesn't really suit your net worth anymore. What are you going to replace it with? I'd recommend a sports car."

"Carl, I've been worth over ten million for a while now. Besides, my current car handles perfectly well. I'm not replacing it anytime soon."

Karn tried to put a stop to Carl's chatter, but failed. She kept talking the whole way and only stopped after boarding the plane, when she finally grew tired.

After returning to New York, Karn went back to school and requested another month's leave, then hurried straight to his company.

The pharmaceutical wholesale and trading licenses had been approved. Karn hired several more people to handle business in different countries and assigned them their tasks, getting the company up and running as quickly as possible. The Karn Pharmaceutical Wholesale Company had also signed contracts with pharmaceutical manufacturers for bulk purchases and arranged to rent cargo ships and warehouses.

Professionals handled much of the work, but Karn personally oversaw the company's finances, purchasing, and warehouses. He also made separate staffing arrangements for those areas, since he had trading partners in another world.

"I should set up the biotech company too. But an empty shell won't do. I just don't know which research direction to pursue."

There were many things Karn wanted to research, such as a powerful body, gamma rays, and an eternal lifespan, but he lacked the necessary academic grounding. Although he had done well in high school, he had never studied biology or medicine. His most suitable role was that of an investor and collaborator, not a researcher.

Karn planned to build a research facility for his biological research company. The funding and staff were ready, and even the construction crew had prepared the plans. He simply had yet to find a suitable research direction.

"Tony Stark? That guy casually donates as much as I saved up in three years... Wait, the extremis virus!"

Karn suddenly realized what the first project his biological research company should invest in was. The extremis virus was a good choice. Killian had probably been rejected by Tony Stark around the end of last year or the beginning of this one. Only a few months had passed, so at most, Killian would have approached Maya by now. They might only just have begun their research.

Both of them were geniuses, and perfecting the extremis virus would represent a significant step in human evolution.

Most importantly, Killian and Maya both worked in biotechnology. Karn could take their research to trade with Orochimaru. Three biological researchers studying human evolution were bound to have plenty of common ground.

Perhaps research into the extremis virus could help Orochimaru achieve a greater breakthrough with hashirama cells. If it succeeded, Karn's dream of gaining supernatural powers could truly become a reality. Otherwise, even if he learned to use chakra, he would remain a Genin forever.

Still, learning chakra was worth a try. At the very least, the Three Basic Techniques and Shadow Clone Technique would be useful to him and greatly improve his chances of surviving encounters with some of the minor villains in the Marvel Universe. He would just need to ask a ninja from the Shinobi World for guidance.

"I need an assistant who can handle all the little things perfectly."

After some thought, Karn decided to have a headhunting agency find him two assistants first. That would make things much easier. Whether it was business for the pharmaceutical wholesale and trading company or the biomedical research company, at least he would not have to seek out Killian and Maya himself.

Of the more than fifteen million dollars he had earned this time, Karn spent some on enough supplies to fill the Spatial Backpack and invested the rest in developing his two companies. He also entrusted several million to Connor. The reason he did not give it to Carl was that, without him around, she sometimes struggled to make decisions.

Simply put, there was a chance she would lose money. Although Carl was Karn's good friend, he preferred to avoid anything that might damage their friendship.

Excluding his hospital shares, Karn's total net worth was now approaching forty million dollars. It had taken him less than two months, and most of it had come from trading with the Shinobi World.

At that rate, earning such a sum would be difficult unless he swapped the trading system for a stock market system.

"I can spare two slots for weapons. I also need to bring three production lines and cacao trees. Everything else can stay the same."

Karn was still operating right under Konoha's nose. Apart from the daimyo and nobles, Konoha was the only military organization allowed in the Land of Fire. If Karn wanted to build an armed force of his own, he would have to wait until his influence extended into the Small Countries. Otherwise, Konoha would target him.

"That should do it."

After checking everything once more, Karn set out for the Shinobi World again.