Other than experimenting with his Beyonder Blade, Max also continued to perform the exercises that Old Man Uxas had taught him, to try and rebuild his body. In this world, even the slightest advantage he would have over his enemy would mean the difference between life and death.
Thus, having a fit body would allow him to if not anything else, then try and use close combat in places where Beyonder powers were restricted. As for now, having a fit body would actually give him power that he could use for self-defence.
Other than that, Max also paid some interest to the newspaper he had been receiving as a perk of being a guest at this hotel. It had indeed become one of the highlights of Max's daily life of being a shut-in to protect himself and prevent unforeseen contact with individuals and creatures he did not want to come into contact with just yet.
Max also went through each and every 10-pound note he had with him, making sure to use various means to make it seem older than it actually is. The reason? Well, not-so-well-off individuals should not have brand new 10-pound notes just lying around to be used as though they had gone and robbed a bank.
In this process, Max realised that he had finally counted his total wealth at the moment, and it amounted to 4,000 Pounds, 5 Soli, 14 Penny. This was a considerable sum, and Max had already thought of many things he could do with it. In the future, when he is trying to advance to higher sequences, he will definitely need his own Beyonder organisation to handle things for him, while also needing his own financial empire to support the former and himself.
In fact, the latter was more important to set up quickly and stabilise himself by the time the plot actually began. Perhaps… his very existence had already changed the plot in ways he could not predict, and perhaps he was already the centre of attention for countless beings.
But if there were things outside his power, he could deal with them once he had enough power to deal with them, or a way to deal with them without being powerful enough. Either way, such matters were not important at the moment, for today, Max was going to go and check on the Knowledge Magisters and whether or not they had got his item for him or not. He had low hopes for them, but he had already planned a lot of it out.
June 4th, 1348 of the Fifth Epoch
Today would be his last day in Tingen, whether he got the ingredient or not.
On his way to the Knowledge Magister's hideout, Max stopped about 2 blocks away and looked into one of the nearby alleys, finding exactly what he was looking for.
Bending over, he whispered with a smile.
"Hey kid, how would you like to earn 5 pence?" This was enough money for his to buy a good slice of beef and have a considerably fulfilling meal for a young child near the age of 5.
The child's blue eyes immediately shone as he stood up, quickly dusting off his rags and nodded at Max. Max turned to point at a particular house and said,
"You see that blue house with the brown door over there? Yes, that one. All you need to do is go there and knock on the door."
Max handed over 1 Penny, saying that the rest would be given after the job while waiting for the child, who quickly understood everything and ran towards the house.
'For such a chaotic world, the children as still just as naive as back on Earth.' Max thought to himself as he slowly took more and more steps away from the house, in case the Knowledge Magisters had been waiting for Max and came rushing out to capture him.
This was also why he had employed the child, allowing him to maintain a safe distance from the location of Beyonders, preferably allowing him to escape to a church or other official Beyonder organisation to save his life due to the head start he would have.
Unfortunately, despite the child having knocked twice, nobody responded, so Max beckoned the child to return to him.
"Since nobody responded, I will give you only 2 more pence. However, if you check if the door is unlocked, and if it is unlocked and you go inside and check for anything or anyone inside, I will give you 5 more pence. So, do you want to do it?" Max asked with a smile, knowing he was likely sending the child to his death, or at least being injured to some extent based on the personalities of the Knowledge Magisters. They did not seem like bloodthirsty savages, but were also clearly not saints; in the sense of a pure being rather than the Beyonder sequence classification.
The child nodded again accepting the 2 soli, before running towards the house. Twisting the metal handle, the child heard a crisp sound and the door was opened, with no resistance whatsoever.
Max then saw the child enter, leaving the door hanging in place as he continued to back away from the house. His heart was racing as he did not know what would happen next, and it would determine if he had to get involved with the official Beyonders of Tingen or if he would be able to leave peacefully.
Time ticked by and Max had already taken 50 steps away from the house, to the point it was already starting to get a little hazy from the mist in the morning air. He had decided to stop here, since the street would start becoming narrower the further back he went, meaning his field of view would also constantly get smaller and smaller, and so would his chances of escape.
Suddenly, the half-closed door was swung open as the child exited the house, completely unharmed and seemingly holding a bottle and paper in his hands.
Elated, Max beckoned for the child to come to him, and the child followed through, but he did not come very close. About 20 steps from each other, the child stopped and looked up at Max, who only seemed around 7 years older than him, and said.
"I want 50 Soli for this."
"Nope," Max stated, his tone not shifting or changing as though he was a robot.
"10 soli"
"Nope"
"20 Pence?" The child was getting more and more agitated with each passing second, his panic was also becoming visible on his face. He had seen those from the street gangs do this with people in desperate need of something, but he had never seen that person in desperate need acting as though the item meant absolutely nothing to them. He did not know what do to in such a situation.
"Nope"
"F- Five Pence will do then."
"Nope. You tried to bargain. The price of your services has been reduced. 4 Pence, take it or leave it."
"o…. okay! Okay! Here!" The child handed the two items to Max, who tossed two coins to the little child and shooed him off. Although he was not a stingy person, he did not like getting taken advantage of. Samuel's first few years on the job and the original Max's life were filled with being taken advantage of, and he would much rather not live through that.
Max did not open either of the items and instead headed directly to Old Man Uxas' house. But he did not enter. The little pieces of wood he had stuck into the gap between the door and its frame in multiple locations were still there, meaning either Uxas had not returned, he wanted it to seem that way, or a third party had intervened.
Either way, he did not need to return to his home in Tingen anymore. Not until Klein was about to die and he needed to advance, or he found clues regarding Old Man Uxas. Either way, he would still prefer to act on those clues after Klein's death and the powerhouses shift their attention from Tingen to Backlund.
Turning around, his back facing what he had called home since he came to this world, Max left, heading for the train station. Along the way, he purchased all the materials needed for his Sequence 9 potion from the marketplace.
…
He paid 10 Soli to the ticket vendor, to get a second-class seat, something that matched his appearance, as well as allowed him to save money for his ventures in Backlund.
Max sat at his seat, waiting for the rest of the passengers to board the train while looking outside the considerably smaller windows compared to first class. A sense of relief and guilt was washing over him at the moment. Relief of finally having left the city that was under a True God and a king of Angel's watch, and guilt at having left Old Man Uxas out to hang, even though the Old Man had done that himself by Imprisoning Max using his Beyonder powers.