Knowledge Magisters back again

Max looked down at the note in his hand before taking a lighter from his pocket and lighting it on fire before letting go of the small soiled paper until it fell to the ground, where it continued to burn until it turned to ash.

In front of him was an old and decrepit house, made of rotting wood and worn-down stone to the point it looked like it could collapse at any moment. This was the location he had gotten of the Knowledge Magisters from the underground marketplace after paying a hefty sum of 60 Pounds.

Information was indeed expensive, but worth it. After all, these people would have already investigated their leader's disappearance and would have likely searched for him and collected a lot of clues. Since they had remained in Tingen all this while, they should have a lot more information that would be useful to Max compared to just directly buying such information from no-so-secure sources or searching for clues himself.

He pulled out his Beyonder Sword just in case, while holding a few bullets in his other hand to use as a scatter-shot for attacking a wider range of people, to either kill them, incapacitate them, or slow them down enough for his escape.

The Knowledge Magisters were real Beyonders after all, and one can never be too careful around them. Take the king of Angels he had just recently encountered. 

If Max did not have his Unity Sefirot; the Amalgamation of All, the angel would have taken control of his mind and scoured it for everything, not just gaining deep knowledge about the history of this Earth, and Samuel's original Earth from where he was taken, but also of the future of this world.

Plus, he would have more than likely killed him instantly. In fact, Max was sure that the angel was keeping a close eye on him while he stayed in Tingen, something he could not avoid. 

However, he needed to get information on the old man in order to plan how to save him. And if he was dead, at least get some closure… but he would rather it be the former despite how many more risks would become involved.

Using the hold of the sword, Max knocked on the door only to find it collapsing into the building, shattering into chunks of rotten wood as it hit the floor, allowing the first rays of sunlight to enter the eternal darkness of the room. 

After all, the windows had been barricaded with wood on the outside and covered in newspaper on the inside as though trying to prevent the outside from seeing what was going on inside… or the other way around.

Despite being around 5 in the afternoon, the orange sun had yet to set since it was currently summer, with longer days and shorter nights. The orange light entered through what was previously the door and illuminated the inside.

Unfortunately for Max, what he found was the dead bodies of all three members of the Knowledge Magisters he had met in their first meeting. Not only that, they were also gutted, their skin and flesh opened up to allow the organs inside to spill out.

Using the blood, Max observed countless symbols being drawn.

'Aurora Order…' was the only thought Max had as he put away his sword and gradually backed away. He did not wish to be involved in something of this level unless he knew that they were directly related to the old man.

'I suppose I will just rely on divination. And I know of one very gullible Seer… or at least a soon-to-be Seer. Kek… just imagining the look on his face when he sees someone from his Tarot Club standing right in front of him.'

Max had already made his decision as he quickly put his sword away and began to make his way away from this location. For now, he would return to his hotel and relax for a while until the second Tarot Meeting.

Max had understood something. And that was how to digest his potion. How did he know this? Well, it was actually rather simple. Once he returned from the Tarot Club's first meeting, Max felt his spirituality being slightly calmer than usual, but he did not know it was from digesting a small portion of the potion.

More significantly, when Adam agreed to leave him alone for the time being, Max felt his spirituality become incomprehensibly smoother and calmer than normal. It was only because of this that Max understood one principle of his Bender potion was to influence others without actually becoming too involved.

And the stronger the people who he influenced into changing their original decisions, the more digestion he would be able to get from them. Unfortunately, he had influenced too many people back in Backlund over the past year, but he had not received a single portion of feedback that allowed him to digest the potion.

This led to him coming to the conclusion that the lowest level of strength for his digestion was for the individual ignoring him to be at least a Beyonder.

'Ultimately, it all comes down to making more bolder moves at the Tarot Club, but not enough for Klein to get overly cautious and suspicious of me, and report me to the nighthawks when we meet at the Tarot Club.'

Maxx thought as he returned to his home and sighed internally.

'While I could get a lot of feedback from the few Beyonder gatherings of Tingen, it will be a lot safer to make use of the Eye of Wisdom's Beyonder gathering to influence other Beyonders to get digestion in a safer location. Tingen has too many interests of too many incredibly powerful people for me to take a step into it just yet.'

'Should I just head back to Backlund, digest the potion and return here once I am ready? Perhaps… I should wait until the next Tarot Club meeting and see how much digestion I can get from it, and make plans from there.'

Max was still overjoyed despite the fact that his only lead to Old Man Uxas had been cut off. This was because he had a backup plan in the form of Klein. And more importantly, he finally knew how to digest his potion. 

He now had a path to follow instead of just being blindfolded and told to reach the finish line. At least, now he knew the direction he had to run in to reach that finish line.

[AN: Happy New Year (Belated or In Advance) Everyone!! May the year to come be filled with joy and success]