Tarot Club 10th Meeting

'Time to return to the grind…' Max frowned at the books he would continue to learn by heart, and then an idea finally hit him.

'I should try writing a novel once I am able to. It would be great practice, and also help me remember my life as Samuel,' he thought as a grin gradually appeared on his face. Max had the perfect book for this time period in Independent. 

'But first I need to be able to write properly…'

…

Another week passed by in a flash with Max mainly studying the language and writing pages of text.

August 27th, 1349 of the Fifth Epoch

Above the grey fog, Klein leaned back into his chair and tapped his left molar twice to stealthily activate his Spirit Vision. He saw that the mottled colour deep within the Sun's Ether Body had turned pure, akin to the light of dawn. 

He smiled and said, "Congratulations, Mr. Bard." 

At the same time, he saw the stars behind The Sun's chair shift quickly, turning into the symbol of the Sun.

Audrey greeted everyone before telling Klein she had pages of the diary and asking Derrick for the Telepathist potion formula. After that, they completed the deal normally. 

Well, not quite. Derrick's potion formula had a lot of ancient names for ingredients, and so Klein had to translate them to modern names for Audrey to understand what they were.

And it was only then that Max had an epiphany. The previous time he had come here he had been too concerned with trying to leave and return to Independence as soon as possible to get rid of the outside influence on his mind, he did not think of the possibility of asking Derrick for his help in finding the Monster potion formula.

Audrey, meanwhile, offered extra cash to Klein, who gladly accepted it and told her to send it to his follower; Klein. 

"Mr. Sun, I would like you to check if you have the Sequence 9 Monster potion formula. It should be the one descending from… Silver Snakes related to fate?" Max tried his best to describe the Snakes of Mercury in the novel but stopped himself from mentioning that name.

Although the other king of angels was rather insane on their own, this one was particularly so due to its abilities being tied too closely to fate. Max would rather entirely avoid him… it?

"Silver snake… I am not quite sure. But a pathway related to fate should exist. I will check and bring you Sequence 9 of that pathway next time."

"Alright. Do tell me what you need, when you need it."

After that, he returned to silence and just observed the meeting like a Spectator… though that was not truly his job.

Audrey and Alger once again became their nosy selves and tried to dig into Derrick's real location despite Max having warned them. And Max himself also just gave up as a few days of pondering should have given them a good guess on where Derrick lived.

Then Klein began to read the diary pages he had received, before allowing the others to begin their normal discussions. Everything seemed to go according to the original novel, in fact, Max felt that everything seemed to be going too close to the original novel, as though his very existence did not mean much in the greater scheme of things.

But this was a good thing as it meant that there would be very few butterfly effects in the short run from his intervention.

Then Alger spoke about how he discovered that Qilangos was in Backlund, and how he was there for a mission that could cause a lot of death and destruction. He explained how the Pirate admiral believed that after completing this mission and obtaining an item as a reward, his power would reach High Sequence and he would become equal to the Four pirate kings, increasing the number to five.

The Alger tried his best to bait Mr Fool into sending his believer to help in Alger's mission, with the greet of a mysterious object that could help someone reach a high sequence but failed.

On the other hand, Klein was lampooning about not being able to help Alger and get the item for himself, solely because he was too weak to interfere in such matters.

Seeing the odd situation and matching it to the inner thoughts of Klein he recalled from the novel, Max just tried his best to hold back his laughter.

And with Klein deep in thought, he ended the meeting right there.

…

Max returned to his body and took in a deep breath to settle his mind. Compared to before thought, this process was a lot smoother and easier since he had already fully digested his potion.

"Mister! You are awake! Come and have some snacks. We made it ourselves!" Ademisaul said while tugging Max's sleeve. Max smiled but halted in the process of getting up, and instead closed his eyes for an instance where he quickly entered the Amalgamation of All and cleansed his mind and soul before returning to his body.

"Sure."

He left his hotel room and went to the one next door, which he had rented out for all the kids to stay at. He did not mind Ademisaul and Tom bringing along 3 other kids. Money was not a problem for him, and their background was also not a problem. They were all orphans, their parents having been either killed on the streets of Tingen or elsewhere and had nowhere to go.

As such, taking them in and indoctrinating the teachings of the Primordial Unity was a good plan, and he left it up to Tom and Ademisaul to complete this task. It was also something to keep them busy while he learned the new language of Athens in Independence, away from the constant corruption in his mind.

After a bit of high tea with the rather poorly made honey biscuits made by Max's 2 subordinates and their own 3 subordinates, he thanked them for the delicious meal and returned to independence.

…

August 31st, 1349 of the Fifth Epoch

Over these past few days, Max had become considerably more comfortable with speaking, reading and writing the language of Athens. Though he was not completely fluent, he would still be able to understand the other person as long as they had a second gap between sentences. 

And how had confirmed this by conducting three tests on three 'very willing experiment partners' who met with unfortunate accidents while being let go?

Max had, surprisingly not felt much upon killing those he did not care about. Perhaps it was the fusion of two souls that created this effect. Perhaps it was the soul of Unity that did this, since it likely saw all humans as nothing but insects created by a powerful being, the creation itself going against what the reality should be. Or perhaps it was just the way Max was from the beginning. 

Although Samuel was cruel and would do anything for his goals back on the original Earth, he had definitely never taken a life and had never planned on doing so. Yet here his soul was, casually dealing with problems before they could come back to hinder his progress without batting an eye.

But that did not matter as he could finally begin his plans. First, he closed his eyes and entered the Amalgamation of All, then appeared Castle Black, then right outside it within the black liquid. The castle itself did not have any windows or doors for the projections of individuals from inside to leave, so he had no worries about that. Still, some parts of the wall were see-through, so he created a wall of opaque blackness to stop those from Castle Black from seeing this area of the Amalgamation of All.

Then, he raised his palm and immediately the black liquid churned and rapidly formed another isolated space like Castle Black. Only this one was not just a large room but seemed more like a modern-day church but with an incredibly tall throne in the middle.

At a glance, the throne appeared to be made of absolutely nothing, and yet, everything at the same time. And emptiness that seemed to contain all of something.

In front of the throne were rows and rows of seats made of blackness, with an aisle for walking in the middle and to the sides. There were black flames lighting up the entire space, as well as a door that led to private rooms for private discussions that would not require him to constantly divide people up like Klein had relegated himself to doing in his Sefirot.

After that, set up screens in front of each of the seats, all connected to a central system. This would facilitate communication and exchanges that could be done without talking in person.

Max did not use this for Castle Black because he did not want to confuse each person who arrived with a new system of information and technology that did not belong to this era. 

He also put the doctrine of his church into the central system, involving praying before eating, praying before combat, and praying once a day either when waking up or in the morning. Naturally, he did not make any compulsory Sunday praying, since he would rather his followers either rest on those days or work, either making themselves more productive for the future or being productive in the present.

After that, he set up a lot of rules, which would automatically force people out of the church, which he decided to call the Unity headquarters. Of course, he had also set up things that would cut the connection between the people whose connections Max created personally if required, like in the cases of them somehow managing to become corrupted by some supreme creature.

After all, Samuel had this vague memory of there being an 'Endless' number of pathways out in the cosmos… which meant there were basically an infinite number of potential Great Old Ones like the Outer Gods, who might have either not reached that level of power, or were somehow not affected by the Law of Beyonder Characteristics Convergence.

Thus, it was always better to be careful with such things.

Then, Max returned to his body, and went back to Earth…

"Ademisaul and Tom, I will be leaving for some time. Ademisaul, remember that Praying to Unity will allow you to gain the protective energy that will keep your powers at bay, but you need to have either the bracelet or the ring with you for it to actually work."

"Tom, I have given you a bracelet and ring as well, but they will not suppress your abilities unless you want them to. These are mainly there in case Ademisaul loses his. Do take care of him."

"And Ademisaul, take care of the three kids you have taken in. I have made a bank account for you, Tom, with enough money, but you it only when needed for things like food and a place to stay. Make sure not to spend any on toys and chocolates unless needed. I will know where you spend everything."

"Also Tom, I hope you have learned a lesson from Pritz Harbour about not letting Ademisaul do whatever he wants to do. He is still too naïve. Also, I want you two to teach those three about mysticism. Properly. And about Unity and praying to Unity. But make sure never to tell them about your powers unless the two of you are in danger."

"Ademisaul, I do not want more children being adopted by you or Tom, or those three either. 5 children is enough and I do not want to babysit any more children." 

'Not that I actually do much of the baby-sitting of the new kids… but still.'

"Alright, now comes the most important thing. Once I go through the door, I want you to pray to the Primordial Unity. The door is already placed on the symbol, and the candles are also lit. Just pray and offer the door to Him. Then, when I need to return, He will call on you to set up the ritual once again in a safe place, and you will summon the door back. Remember, without doing it properly, I will not be able to return, so this is a very important burden I am placing on the two of you. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"Yes, mister!"

Tom and Ademisaul responded, the former speaking as though he was in the military, while the latter just trying his best to imitate Tom, but ending up calling Max what he calls him normally.

"Good. And Tom, remember what I told you about the official Beyonder. If they come to recruit you, do not resist and just join them. They will not be able to read your mind and any other form of getting secrets out of you will not work, and all you have to do is lie about me the Primordial Unity and His ability to contact you. Just blame it on me forcing you to become Beyonders and you just barely surviving."

"Yes sir! I have remembered my backstory, and so has Ademisaul. I checked it myself!"

"Good. Then I will be going. Goodbye… for now."

"G- Goodbye Sir!"

"Bye, mister!"

Max pulled out the Wanderer's key and walked through the door…

[AN: Sorry for the long break between chapters. I had gone out of town for a while and then fell ill]