Max took a seat in one of the common halls of the Paratus palace, as he discussed affairs candidly with Sam Saint Maximus with his friends present.
Before informing Max about his predicament, Sam silently listened to his end of the story as he smiled from time to time knowing that what Max revealed was not the whole truth.
Sam did not mind this, the boy was becoming cautious and it was a sign of him maturing, but the god needed to remind him of his place as he chuckled and said " Congratulations on your promotion to tier4, I can no longer see through you, but you might want to restrain your aura if you don't want others to find out about your promotion "
Max was stunned speechless, he had only revealed parts about him visiting the dragon capital and meeting Mira and Rhea and did not say anything about his tier promotion.
" You are already tier4? " Sebastian asked in surprise as Max nodded in affirmation. Initially he did not wish to publicise this news, but now it was already out in the open.
" You gave up on the path of the perfect warrior? " Anna asked in shock, thinking it was impossible for him to promote so quickly if he completed stat maximisation.
Max felt a headache incoming, these people knew him too well, it was difficult to hide anything from them.
" No- I had some dragon help to reach stat maximisation " Max said as he did not divulge the exact details causing Sebastian to click his tongue and call him a ' lucky bastard '
Asiva only smiled nervously, while she was happy that Mira helped Max so immensely it also made her worried that Max would be attracted to her more now.
Since she was her rival, she did not want Max to be drawn too much towards her side.
Only Anna had a positive reaction to this news as she said " I wonder what University principal would say when he finds out you did in 5 months what took him 30 years "
The four kids giggled at this thought while Sam smiled kindly sharing their mirth.
After this, Max got serious as he said " I have an aura leak? "
Sam smiled, it seemed like the kid had not been taught about this matter yet, thankfully he was here today to teach him about this stuff.
" At the demigod level your aura finally starts to mature and leaves your body in a true sense to impose your will.
Although it's weaker than a true god's, your aura will be able to scare tier0 and 1 newbies out of their minds if you wish to do so.
They will be unable to attack you in such a state unless they are especially brave.
At higher tiers your aura ability will improve, but you must learn how to control it.
I'll give you a spell you can learn, it will help you suppress your aura " Sam said as he handed Max a skill scroll.
[ Aura Expression ] ( Legendary ) - The skill allows the Wielder to effectively express his aura according to his will with perfect accuracy.
Cost - 150 unit of mana/ hour
Max raised his eyebrow in surprise, it was a legendary grade skill scroll, it's value was definitely high.
Not standing on ceremony Max directly learned the skill after which the scroll dissipated in his hands.
Sam put on a bright smile once this happened as he said " With this the debt between you and me has been settled "
Max was puzzled, he did not recall any debt that the patriarch owed him as he asked " What debt? "
What followed was a very painful story which made Max instantly regret his choice of asking the question.
There was a huge mole inside the Saint Maximus administration and it had created a ruckus for Max.
With his true identity exposed, someone crazy enough could use all sorts of methods to blackmail him.
While his nephews and niece were well guarded, there would always be times where they would head out of their guarded manor to attend some events where they might face misfortune because of his identity, just like how they did in Max's past life.
He could not put them in harm's way, especially with his brother being dead.
Thankfully he had just advanced to tier4 and had obtained a cloning ability with which he could make matters of his real identity a little more complex for others to fathom.
Sighing deeply Max said " I'll handle this situation myself, thank you for taking the time to inform me, patriarch Sam"
Max did not blame Sam too much, the patriarch had already shown a lot of courtesy by informing him personally about this development and giving him a subsequent aura concealment skill as compensation.
*************
( Meanwhile Julian Caesar )
" What do you mean our entire information network inside the Saint Maximus Clan had collapsed? It took me ten fucking years and over 3 billion gold coins to set it up " Julian said angrily as he eyed the head of information angrily.
" The patriarch Sam Maximus, seemingly heard elder Gervais's unnatural heartbeat using his ability, and after some inquiry he found out the truth " The information head reported softly as he did not have the confidence to speak boldly in front of the angry Julian Caesar.
" That old fat fuck, how is his hearing so good? Aren't old men supposed to be deaf? " Julian said angrily, as he asked a rhetorical question.
" He's a god…. " The information head replied, not understanding the sarcasm behind the question as Julian gave him an angry look.
The information head flinched and did not dare utter another word.
" I was going to submit your information report to the King today, but now that the entire network has collapsed, I'll wait for a few days to see how Sam Saint Maximus reacts.
We need to validate the authenticity of the report before submitting it, because I refuse to believe that the old fuck simply chanced upon the guilty elder a day after he leaked the news to us.
He might have deliberately wanted to spread this news to us, We might be unknowingly dancing to his tunes.
That fat fucker with his repository of blackmailing secrets.
We can't act rashly against him, as while his clan is 7th in strength, if it opens its gates of secrets it has collected over the years, it will bring down the entire noble society" Julian said as he decided to take a cautious approach and observe for a few more days regarding this matter.
—------
/// Chapter 3/40, let's go! ///
