Chapter Thirty-Four: Mastering Chakra and Returning

“Learning how to sense chakra feels wonderful...”
After returning to the Marvel world, Karn continued to experiment with ninjutsu. As an ordinary person who had just encountered such extraordinary power, it was only natural for him to be excited for a while. The amount of chakra Kakuzu possessed was indeed incomparable to that of Natsukawa. When Karn received Kakuzu’s chakra, he felt as though he were drifting in an endless ocean, able to sense the energy surging through every meridian in his body. In that moment, Karn felt almost superhuman.

What’s more, Kakuzu maintained the transfer of chakra for a considerable length of time. It took nearly an hour of this ceaseless flow before Karn finally managed to refine his own chakra. Originally, Karn came from another world. In the shinobi world, those who could refine chakra had been granted that ability by the Sage of Six Paths a thousand years ago, and by now, that energy had already become hereditary. That’s why nearly everyone in the shinobi world could refine chakra.

But Karn lacked this inherent ability. Compared to the inhabitants of the shinobi world, he was akin to someone being taught to use chakra for the first time. His body was also slower than that of the shinobi. After Karn finally managed to refine his own chakra, Kakuzu immediately narrowed his small green eyes and commented that Karn’s body was too weak; even with good talent, he’d only ever become a chunin at best.

Yet Karn didn’t mind. With the ability to traverse worlds, who would bother with orthodox cultivation?

After refining chakra, Karn spent another half month learning ninjutsu from Kakuzu, offering him five million ryo in payment. Kakuzu, naturally pleased with the arrangement, agreed without hesitation; earning money here was far more satisfying than the underground exchange.

After spending a little more than a month there, Karn finally mastered the Transformation Technique, the Body Replacement Technique, and the Shadow Clone Technique. He wasn’t very skilled yet, but that could be improved with ongoing practice. However, his chakra was still quite weak; he could only produce a single shadow clone, and even then, it would only last for half an hour at most. Though Karn was an adult, his chakra reserves were equivalent to those of a ten-year-old shinobi student, and not even a particularly talented one.

For Karn, though, this amount of chakra was more than sufficient in the Marvel world. As long as he wasn’t staring down the barrels of a dozen guns, or crossing paths with some extraordinary force, no one would be able to track him down. The Transformation Technique was by far his best card for concealing his identity.

“The funds here are sufficient for the moment. There’s no need to sell off these jewels and gold yet; I’ll keep the gold in reserve, and as for the gems, I’ll wait until I’ve established a new identity before selling them...”

Karn’s pharmaceutical wholesale trade company was gradually getting on track. The biopharmaceutical company was still just an empty shell, but his assets included several tens of millions of dollars. Karl was overseeing part of his investments, including a stake in a private hospital.

Upon returning, Karn checked his emails. During his absence, he’d accumulated six or seven work-related reports; the rest were routine business, nothing he couldn’t handle with a visit to the company. However, one email especially caught his attention: the headhunting agency claimed they had made contact with Professor Maya.

Upon learning this, Karn immediately sent a sincere invitation to the email address provided, eager to cooperate—Maya and Killian were well worth the effort. After sending the email, he drove to the pharmaceutical wholesale company.

All told, Karn had been away from the Marvel world for less than two weeks, but the overseas market had developed well. There was tremendous demand for pharmaceuticals in Mexico, and since the United States had yet to implement an export ban, they had been dealing not with public hospitals but with private organizations.

Within those two weeks, the company’s sales had tripled. According to the marketing department’s research, even this volume still fell short of meeting Mexico’s needs. Over the coming year, demand would only increase, and the market would ultimately fall under Karn’s control.

But the company now needed to expand. If the Mexican market was this strong, other regions would be just as promising—Asia, Australia, South America, and beyond. The overseas sales team needed to grow rapidly. There were only seven people now; even increasing that number tenfold would be manageable, and if even a third of seventy employees succeeded in opening up new markets, the profits would be immense.

After arriving, Karn met with several department heads to discuss and set the next phase of plans and objectives, then left them to their tasks. For now, the company was still small enough for him to manage with a single assistant, but after another round or two of expansion, he’d need to hire more.

With the company’s business settled, Karn soon received a reply from Maya. She said she was currently in New York and suggested they meet at a café in Queens, providing the address and proposing to meet that very afternoon.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, Karn saw he had plenty of time. Since he’d finished all his work, he decided to take a look at some documents, then grabbed his coat and headed to the parking garage. He drove over and arrived at the café well before the appointed time.

He had barely sat down when two people approached his table.

“Karn Pent?”

“Miss Maya, Mr. Killian, please have a seat.”

When Karn heard his name, he immediately guessed their identities. Killian’s clothes were still a bit shabby, and he seemed somewhat somber. Karn wasn’t sure if the two had already begun collaborating, but judging by their situation, it was likely that even if they had, they were short on funds.

“Mr. Karn, I hear you’ve been trying to find us for quite a while?”

Killian didn’t seem very talkative, so Maya spoke up as soon as they sat down.

“That’s right. I’m preparing to establish a biomedical research center devoted to unlocking the mysteries of the human body, with the aim of developing preventive treatments and cures for terminal illnesses. Although the center hasn’t been set up yet, all the preliminary work is complete.”

As he spoke, Karn handed them both documents outlining the research center under construction, its future plans, and information on the pharmaceutical wholesale company—ample evidence of his sincerity.

Killian had his own organization, but it was desperately poor. He’d tried getting sponsorship from Tony Stark, only to be strung along. As for Maya, she could manage the early research, but once it came to clinical trials, she needed substantial funding. Tony Stark, meanwhile, had little interest in the Extremis virus—otherwise, he wouldn’t have left the morning after their night together.

“I’ve made inquiries across the industry, but I believe you two are the most suitable partners. That’s why I sought you out.”

Maya carefully looked over the documents, then raised her head and said, “Mr. Karn, I have an ongoing project. If you’re interested, the project I’m working on with AIM would be open to your investment.”