Beyonder Powers

After his experience of nearly losing control, Max now felt a connection with not just all three parts that were spinning around the earth in a decaying orbit that would sooner or later bring them down to it, but also with the Unity Sefirot still hiding behind the moon. 

With these connections, Max would not only be able to know where they had landed, but also which body they had taken over. However how long this connection would last, what other information he could get, and whether the connection worked both ways was something he did not know.

However, Max still had an advantage. He could just go and kill them off as soon as they land on Earth before they get the chance to become a Beyonder. This would nip the problem in the bud, but would also create a new problem. He would never be able to reach the rank of an Outer God. As such, he would end up having to leave his fate in the hands of the Great Old Ones and hope they were able to protect Earth and himself along with it.

For this, he would have to protect Klein and help him a little, considering how he and the other 3 individuals whose souls were brought here would affect the timeline.

However, if he truly wanted to become an Outer God, then restricting Klein and preventing him from becoming the Lord of the Mysteries was his best option. After all, he did not have the potion formula or ritual steps for the other Pathways.

Two options he had on how to proceed forward, with the first option entailing leaving his entire survival to others, whose chances of success were already almost 0% without the butterfly effects from 4 existences that should not have appeared. If he killed these individuals to save future problems for himself reduce the changes to the story and hope Klein advanced, he might lose the possibility of becoming an Outer god altogether. 

And he did not know if the Law of Indestructibility of Beyonder Characteristics applied to them or not. If it did then the characteristics might end up in the hands of someone else over time, who he did not know about, and if they somehow got the memories of the pathway and how to advance, it would be very difficult for him to survive.

The second option, on the other hand, had an even lower chance of success though. He would have to not just reach Sequence 0 in less time than Klein, who had a lot of 'concealed' Plot Armour, but he also had to help these four individuals reach Rank 0, then kill them one at a time and assimilate their characteristic in himself to advance to an outer god.

Alternatively, Max could try to force them to leak their potion formulas all the way to Sequence 0, and make someone he trusts use them to advance, but he could not trust something said by someone he was torturing or threatening in any way. Especially if any ingredient was wrong by even a single gram or order you used them in, it would end up in a situation he would much rather not describe.

So, he could only allow them to grow normally and reach higher Ranks, while also ensuring their safety from other higher beings whose very names were cursed. All this while also growing in strength, influence and capital himself.

Taking in a deep breath, Max calmed himself down and sat down on the bed. He glanced outside and noticed that it was still early afternoon and he had a lot of time left for the day to come to an end.

However, now that he was a Beyonder, he needed to be extra careful with each step he took since being discovered by anyone would mean he would likely be reported up the chains as a Beyonder, and likely discovered by other much stronger Beyonders.

'Alright, I can plan about my future in some time. But first, my powers as a Beyonder!' Max thought to himself as he silently stood up and looked around.

His powers were rather simple compared to the powers of some of the other pathways. His first and primary power was the ability to attract and repel objects; both living and non-living from him.

Unfortunately, the extent of its effects depends on the weight of the object or person, as well as whether it has Beyonder powers. How the effects differed was something Max would have to experiment to find out just like he had to with his Beyonder Sword. 

Max's second power was the ability to temporarily change the density of non-living objects that he touches directly. How this worked and what were its limits was something he would have to check with experimentation. And that was exactly what he was going to do now.

Max stretched out his hand and concentrated on trying to pull the pen on his table.

At first, there was nothing, no movement or sound, just unmoving silence.

Then the pen trampled ever so slightly, only visible to someone like Max who had almost all his concentration on the item.

And then nothing again.

Sighing, Max decided to take a break and wipe the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead from the several minutes of stifling concentration.

'How the hell did Klein perform his divinations and grafting perfectly from the very first attempt? I get it that the information was directly drilled into his mind on how to use the skills, but knowing the exact process, and actually being proficient at it.'

Max rested for a while, before practising again.

All of a sudden, the pen moved. But it did not move how he wanted it to. Instead, it propelled itself right at Max at an incredible speed. It was so fast, that Max would not have been able to dodge it, the pen going straight through his hand and into his face, killing him on the spot.

However, as soon as the pen moved, the entire world suddenly turned black and white, and to Max, it felt almost as though time was running out. However, he also realised that his Spirituality was also being spent at an insane speed and he would not be able to keep this up for more than a second.

Immediately, Max moved his head, or at least initiated the movement, and by the time the pen had reached him, his head was already out of the way.

The pen continued to move along its path and finally landed squarely within a plant of wood, half its body had gone through the wood. Max pulled out the pen to see that its leaf-shaped tip had been deformed beyond repair. 

However, this gave him an excellent idea. With this power, he had the perfect assassination tool. All he needed was a metal ball or object of sufficient hardness and light weight, to perfectly launch a bullet at his target.

'I can fire bullets without a gun!' Max exclaimed in delight, only to realise that if someone were looking at him while he did this, they would definitely notice his Beyonder nature.

'So it will be a weapon of last resort.' Max thought as he imagined the look of surprise his enemy would have after somehow disarming Max of his weapon, only to have Max pull out completely normal steel balls and blow his brains out.

Max then used the same pen that was now unusable and focussed his spirituality on it, only to fail terribly in trying to activate his second ability, despite knowing how to use it.

Max continued to practice and take breaks all through the evening until it was time for dinner when he went down to the restaurant/bar on the ground floor of his motel. Unfortunately, no meals were considered to be part of his rent, so he had to pay 2 Soli for it. 

'I really need to start getting an income. But first I need to wait for my identification papers from Detective Isengard. Without it, most of the work I wish to do will go to waste.'

Max could only sigh and return to the practice of his Beyonder powers. Unlike others, he would much prefer it if he could actually use his powers very effectively in combat or otherwise to further increase his chances of survival.

June 6th, 1348 of the Fifth Epoch

The next morning, Max spent the early morning after waking up to the not-so-refreshing Backlund air reading the morning newspaper with a cup of tea, before returning to his practice.