Even with the determination to rule the world, even with the divine power to change the world, these gods and immortals are ultimately just humans with divine power. Being touched by gentle words will eventually soften even the hardest heart.
But this is fine too.
Because no matter how strong you are, people always need a warm and peaceful environment.
Fortunately, the conference room had a beverage dispenser, a coffee machine, and an angel-shaped sugar bowl. So Hayden didn't call Angela in, but instead made himself and Karen a cup of coffee. The two of them picked up their cups and sat down again at the conference table to rest. Karen added several spoonfuls of sugar, and after taking a deep breath of the coffee aroma, her previously stiff expression gradually relaxed.
"I'm sorry, Hayden, for troubling you."
Before long, she adopted a somewhat embarrassed and blushing expression and whispered this to Hayden.
Now that only she and Hayden remained in the conference room, Karen no longer needed to worry about her slackness and weakness being exposed to the other gods.
"What do you have to apologize for?"
Hayden shook his head.
"We're partners who want to change the world together, with the goal of improving the lives of ordinary people. That being said, you're actually the one who does most of the work. I just wander around and discover some strange technologies. In that case, it's reasonable for me to help you with some of the complicated social interactions."
"Karen, you can be domineering to others as you please, but you and I are always equal. So you can rely on me a little more, without worrying about fairness or anything like that. After all, my back is always in your hands; and I treat your money as if it were my own."
His words made Karen's cheeks visibly flush red, and she lowered her head to take a small sip of the unbearably sweet coffee.
Hayden also picked up his cup, gazing at the coffee as he pondered.
Including Karen, these four new gods each have different thoughts, personalities, powers, and ideologies. However, if they can unite, dedicate their wealth, labor, and even lives to each other, support one another, and work together towards a common goal, then they will almost certainly be able to forge a new path through the darkness and reach their desired objective—even if that objective is still very far away.
Because nothing in this world is more powerful than different people coming together.
Now, no matter how embarrassed Hayden is, he has to admit that he himself seems to be at the core of this unity.
In that case, he should play this role even better.
Because Hayden had realized, and even seriously considered, the need to find a direction for this unique power. He had no doubt that this power was the fulcrum that the ancient Greek mathematicians were searching for, the one that could be used to move the earth.
One day, he will move this earth.
——————————————————————————————
As Karen lowered her head and sipped her coffee, she could feel her mind calming down a bit.
Having coffee with Hayden always helped her regain some peace and quiet from her daily life. It was only when she was alone with Hayden and her parents that Karen dared to show her vulnerability and weakness.
Furthermore, Karen didn't want her father to see her weakness, so she was always on edge in front of the Peacock King. Although the Peacock King loved his daughter, he habitually played the role of a strict father in the family most of the time.
(Although the fallen angel Peacock King doesn't actually have a gender, the so-called father is more like a social role.)
As for Hela, this mother is a bit dim-witted and doesn't really take her daughter seriously. She spends all her time teasing her, so the atmosphere between her and Karen isn't very serious. But Karen is strong-willed, so she doesn't like her mother seeing her get the short end of the stick.
In other words, Hayden was actually the only person Karen was able and willing to expose her own weaknesses to.
Taking a small sip of her coffee, Karen looked up at Hayden, who was deep in thought beside her. Just looking at his calm face made Karen blush.
Hayden, that man, what he just said—it was absolutely outrageous! What does "Since you're unwilling, I'll do it for you from now on" even mean?! And then he added "okay?" at the end, this is simply... simply maddening!
Just recalling the conversation made Karen's heart race.
"what happened?"
Hayden noticed Karen's gaze and turned back to ask in confusion. Karen found his voice comforting. Moreover, she guessed that Hayden himself might not have realized it—but ever since he had been eating the food Angela fed him for the past three years, and also consuming the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir he had refined himself, Hayden's appearance had become increasingly pleasing to the eye, and he possessed a free and elegant ethereal air.
After all, people tend to look better when they're healthy, especially since Hayden is already in a superhuman state. A handsome guy, completely oblivious, offers a lethal dose of tenderness for free, saying he'll help you, telling you you can rely on him, and offering you his back... It's perfectly normal for Karen to want to tear her hair out!
Fortunately, Karen's pride is probably ten times that of a normal person, which is why she managed to keep her persona from crumbling. Actually, every time Karen saw Panya acting cute with Hayden, or Hayden feeding Panya, she felt a little jealous. Luckily, she knew that Hayden only saw Panya as a child.
At the same time, this was also largely thanks to Pania's habit of transforming back into a child's body when she wasn't livestreaming. Otherwise, if she were to come to her senses and constantly transform into a curvy, barely clothed beast girl to fawn over Hayden, he probably wouldn't be able to handle it.
Ironically, thousands worship and rely on modern capitalist gods like Karen, Pania, and Alastor. Yet, at the same time, these very gods themselves rely on and trust Hayden at their core. Without Hayden's help, none of them would have achieved what they have today. And if they didn't believe Hayden would continue to help them, they probably wouldn't have as much confidence in the future as they do now.
Perhaps this is the true miracle.
Thinking of this, Karen smiled slightly and drank the overly sweet coffee in one gulp.
"Okay. Since you've said so, I'll rely on you even more from now on. Let's start with this next thing."
With that, she slammed a revised business plan by Hayden onto the conference table, a radiant expression spreading across her face.
"You just spoke nonsense to Alastor without my authorization, claiming that you would make two investments at the same time, affect two networks simultaneously, and not connect them to each other. That's no small undertaking."
"Money is one thing, I do have ways to scrape together the funds. However, we really don't have enough experts for the StarNet project."
Ah this
Hayden can be a bit underhanded sometimes. He scratched his head and immediately tried to shift the blame: "Wouldn't Professor Albion work?"
"The professor is just a person, not a god. Besides, this isn't just a matter of design difficulty; it's a massive project. Just one careless word from you could require an entire engineering team. And everyone here is busy with their own things."
As Karen finished speaking, she raised her eyebrows, seemingly amused by Hayden's predicament.
"Keep it up, Prophet. I'd like to ask you to find more skilled workers to work on that project you came up with on a whim."
噫
"Uh, isn't this kind of HR work something you're better at?"
"You've already taken my wallet, and you're still saying things like that?" Karen, back in work mode, laughed heartily. "Besides, recruiting these cybersecurity experts is to help you with your work. Let me see how good you are at hiring people this time."
Okay. Since Karen said so, Hayden didn't really have any objections. Besides doing research lately, he didn't have anything urgent to do. But Hayden still scratched his head and asked, "Aren't all my connections here? Where am I going to conjure up more skilled workers for you?"
Karen was speechless at this remark. "Hayden, since you're going to use my wallet, you should at least act like you know how to use money. Do you think big companies hire people based on connections? Do you think other financial gurus find their employees this way?"
good question.
Hayden hadn't really thought about this in detail, given his limited experience in regular work. But while he lacked relevant experience, he could compensate by thinking things through. So he considered it and tried saying, "Recent graduates? Public job fairs? We should also post some ads online. However, this will make screening people more difficult. And recent graduates generally lack experience in skilled labor."
Thinking this, his thoughts expanded further: "However, the professor must know better which students are ready for practical application immediately. We have Professor Albion here, a reliable public university professor. Although he can't handle everything alone, he should be able to tell us which students are usable, and even which other professors we can recruit. It really comes down to Professor Albion's connections..."
However, Karen sighed upon hearing this: "Hayden, why can't you think outside the box when it comes to this kind of thing?"
what?
"Okay, let me give you a simple example for reference: Suppose you have the ability to donate a building to your alma mater at will, do you really need to rely on just one professor's connections?"
This really stunned Hayden: "...Is this how you capitalists spend your money?"
Karen calmly shrugged: "This isn't the first time you've said something like that, is it?"
"Money is magic, money is divine power. While the strength of one's financial resources is certainly a key factor in distinguishing between a great god and a lesser god, the understanding and application of that financial power is even more important. The ability to spend one's money correctly in key areas is the difference between the levels of a financial god."
"So, Hayden, how are you going to make the most of my wallet?"
Hayden really wanted to tell her, "I'm not a capitalist god," but that would be too tactless.
240: A warm welcome to our school
"You should go and learn properly how to use money!"
As a result, Karen's demands on Hayden eventually turned out like this.
To my shame, although Karen complained that Hayden was inflexible in this regard, he actually... really wasn't very good at managing money. The way the capitalists used money was truly frightening to Hayden, a guy who was used to being poor.
Now, Hayden needs to come up with a brilliant way to spend money to solve the company's shortage of highly skilled workers. The key is not just to spend money, but to spend it well, spend it effectively, and spend it brilliantly! — That's a really difficult task.
After much thought, Hayden couldn't come up with a good idea. So, he decided to take a shortcut and go to Professor Albion for his opinion.
The professor and Angela had just accompanied him to the conference room, and now they were back adjusting and fiddling with the magic of the Tree of Life when Hayden came running over for help again. Angela, of course, had no objections and was as happy as ever. Professor Albion, of course, wasn't angry either, but couldn't help finding it somewhat amusing.
However, after Hayden explained the new task Karen had just given him and asked the professor for advice on whether using his connections in academia would work, Professor Albion shook his head.
"I'm afraid I don't have time to help you with this right now. Even if I had extra time, there's not much I could actually do to help you."
Hayden wasn't surprised when the professor said he couldn't help. He'd never considered Professor Albion a panacea. But his statement that he was probably too busy right now surprised Hayden. Turning to look at the Tree of Life, he immediately guessed, "Is it because you're adjusting the Tree of Life's magic that you're so busy? I'm sorry to trouble you."
“No, Hayden. Quite the opposite. Helping with the Tree of Life makes me very happy. It’s my most relaxing pastime.”
Unexpectedly, the old professor smiled and then chuckled softly.
"Furthermore, I am not adjusting the magic of the Tree of Life. In fact, it is impossible for me to adjust the magic of the Tree of Life. No one has such a way—I am doing the opposite, adjusting our magic to adapt to the form of the Tree of Life. To do this, I must first understand the Tree of Life, and that is how I have learned so much. The highest secrets are hidden here, dancing among the branches and leaves."
His expression was gentle as he reached out and carved the numbers [11001111] into the ground outside the Tree of Life. Next to it, he wrote [a=1, y=10, n=50, s=60, v=6, ph=80].
Hayden couldn't understand why the professor had written such a sequence of numbers. He was an intuitive person and not very good at this kind of numerological magic. But the silver and green leaves immediately began to sway, making a pleasant chiming sound.
Meanwhile, on the land surrounding the Tree of Life, there were about thirty similar arrays, filled with rows and rows of numbers and symbols, densely packed, looking like a mathematical version of a magic circle. Frankly, it was a little frightening. It was as if Professor Albion had punched a hole in reality, revealing something beyond comprehension, something infinite.
“This knowledge is enough for me to study for another hundred years, a thousand years, maybe even more.” After writing down this string of numbers, the professor said with a strange sense of amazement and regret, “It’s a pity I can’t stay here forever.”
This puzzled Hayden even more: "Teacher, of course you can stay here. If you don't want to continue teaching at Evergreen State University, we can hire you full-time. We can even start a university in Newbeam City."
On closer inspection, this might not be a bad idea. Starting a university in New Sprouts City, hiring trusted teachers, and paying to educate the next generation of technical talent… the only problem is that it takes too much time. But if Karen really wants to become the Empress of the Land, she'll have to do this sooner or later anyway.
"No, no, good boy, it's not because of that."
But the professor was still shaking his head.
“I really have other things to do. Very important things—but getting involved in education is indeed a good idea, especially in the current situation. I also suggest that you really go back to your alma mater, and you don’t need to use any of my connections, because the principal will naturally welcome you.”
"Huh? Why?"
Hayden simply couldn't understand why the principal would welcome him, a student who had accidentally blown up a statue during an experiment back in the day. Unless he was genuinely going back to his alma mater to donate a building using Karen's money.
However, the professor found Hayden's question rather strange. He raised his eyebrows and asked thoughtfully, "Hayden, how long has it been since you've paid attention to the recent job market?"
"About half a year. Ever since I returned from Fallen City, I've been pondering the wisdom of the upper realm's spacetime that I've comprehended." Hayden answered subconsciously, then thought for a moment and added, "Strictly speaking, I may never have really 'paid attention' to the job market. After all, I haven't seriously looked for a job in ten years."
Freelance mercenaries are clearly not part of the regular job market, and Hayden is not exactly employed normally either.
"I'm curious what new spacetime wisdom you've figured out. Unfortunately, now is not the time."
Professor Albion sighed.
"Hayden, the job market is a complete mess lately."
——————————————————————————————————
Half an hour later, Hayden teleported to New Jersey and returned to his alma mater, Evergreen University.
Angela had volunteered to come with Hayden, but Hayden refused. Since the events in Fallen City, Hayden hadn't kept Angela by his side much.
Because Hayden wanted to grow. If Angela continued to take care of him like a nanny, how could Hayden possibly elevate himself to the same level as Angela?
Angela didn't strongly object to Hayden's idea... Even so, she would still firmly feed Hayden three healthy meals a day on time, and force him to exercise appropriately and go to bed on time every day. Although he was now practically a celestial being, Hayden couldn't resist these things.
Sometimes this did give Hayden the illusion that Angela was treating him like a child. However, after returning to his alma mater and seeing the headmaster he no longer missed, Hayden quickly stopped thinking that way.
That's what happened.
First, out of courtesy, Hayden sent an email to the president, informing him that he would be returning to his alma mater that day as an alumnus and might discuss some business collaborations—though Hayden didn't expect a particularly strong or positive response from the president. After all, Ivy League University was a large and excellent institution. His alma mater had no shortage of business partners and opportunities to make money.
At least that's what Hayden originally thought.
As soon as he teleported to the school gate (there was a barrier inside the school that blocked teleportation), he saw that the principal was actually waiting to greet him with several people at the school gate, all with smiles on their faces.
Hayden had never seen the principal smile at him before. What was wrong with him today? Or did the school genuinely want Hayden to donate a building to them?
This made Hayden very wary. But in reality, things didn't seem to be as exaggerated as they appeared. The headmaster didn't make a big deal out of it, nor did he grovel or even immediately discuss business; he simply took Hayden for a walk around the school. Although it was awkward to have the headmaster around, as he walked through these familiar places on his alma mater, Hayden couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia and a feeling of coming home.
Hayden’s alma mater has always been a very meaningful place for him.
...This feeling of coming home lasted until Hayden saw his own picture hanging in the school corridor.
When he saw his photo hanging in the school corridor, even Hayden was stunned: "...Huh?"
Then Hayden looked more closely and discovered that there was a biography of him under the photo, and even a lot of little stories about him!
What the hell! ?
Hayden quickly turned his head and saw the headmaster smiling kindly: "Hayden, you are now the ideal that many students in our school emulate. Many freshmen from poor families can hardly believe your story after learning about it, thinking it's some kind of fabricated inspirational myth. But many others, after verifying it, are encouraged by your success and work even harder."
Ah? ?
"That's why we put your photo here as an outstanding student of our school, so that students can emulate you and draw inspiration from you. Of course, there's also a photo of Karen. But since she comes from a privileged background, most students don't feel as close to her."
Hayden wasn't stupid after all. After standing there for a second, he immediately understood what the principal meant—the school was using him as an inspirational alumnus who rose from humble beginnings to achieve great success, as if he were being advertised!
...That being said, it doesn't seem to be a big problem.
So, despite feeling extremely embarrassed, Hayden forced a smile and played along with the principal, saying, "That's wonderful. Actually, I wanted to represent Karen and myself in giving back to our alma mater today..."
When Hayden mentioned wanting to fund professors, students, and equipment in the StarNet engineering program, the principal's smile widened. He immediately recommended a renowned professor from the School of Computer Science and his research group to Hayden.
And so, though it was quite embarrassing, Hayden still managed to get his first batch of men. Of course, he would have to screen and review them again afterward, so this number was definitely not enough.
Universities are not job markets. If you're going to undertake a major project, how can you rely solely on a few professors and graduate students willing to take on the work?
So what's next? Should they simply post a job ad, hold interviews and recruitment exams? Or should they just go to the next university and repeat the process a few times? At least other universities won't display Hayden's photo, so it won't be as awkward.