Strongest Superhuman System - Chapter 692

Chapter 692: Expanding Influence
The number of members in the new Vanguard was only about five hundred when it was first founded and many of them were from the Moonlight Guild that had merged itself with Vanguard, but as time went on, the number began to soar as many guilds both in America and abroad started to join Mark’s cause. Many S-rank guilds that knew they would get a lot more missions by being a part of a larger guild like Vanguard went under the umbrella of the larger Vanguard guild and their members also joined the guild. Guilds from China, Australia, France, Egypt, Nigeria, and many others in the world had joined Vanguard.

Mark’s company, Vanitas Motors, served as the parent company for Vanguard and supplied most of the funding and necessary equipment that the Vanguard guilds around the world would need for their continued activities. Governments all over the country were very vocal about their disapproval at first. The government did not like how the guilds in their countries were leaving to join an American guild and they were afraid that this would lead to their country growing weaker and America growing stronger over time, but with the backing of the Superhuman Alliance and Mark’s own presence as the strongest man in the world, there wasn’t much that the governments could do about it at all.

And since the Vanguard guild had done nothing but help out those who really needed it, there was nothing that the government could do about the guilds that really wanted to join Vanguard.

In order to properly fund all of these guilds that were joining them, Mark knew that Vanguard would need more money than ever before. Mark and Pat were already filthy rich after their many investments and businesses and when they added their wealth to the absurd amount of money that Luna had in her possession from running one of the largest guilds in America for so long, they had enough money to run a large country between the three of them.

But that was still not going to be enough. Mark knew that they would need more. A lot more.

So for that, Mark tasked his godfather with buying off many businesses around America and expanding the Vanitas Motors company into the Vanitas Franchise.

It was no easy feat.

For something like this to be done you would normally need to go through a lot of yellow tape and government officials would need to be bribed many times over in order for things to work, but things were different in America right now due to the previous attacks on the country. Many businesses were desperate for funding and even more of them were desperate to sell their businesses and leave America once and for all.

It was this loophole that Mark exploited as he managed to easily purchase a large array of automobile and technological companies for his franchise. Mark bought up majority stocks in all of these companies using loans from various banks and investment companies in the country and then he paid off those debts and reclaimed the equity that he got on those debts to use in investing in more real estate that was repaired and sold off for higher than what he had bought them for.

When Mark presented this idea in a meeting among all the high-ranking executives of Vanitas Motors and Vanguard, there had been stunned silence as they all just looked at him in shock and awe. It was nothing new to want to buy off struggling companies to increase your own standing in the business sector, but using the system in such a roundabout way was something many of them were not used to. Mark was basically going to create a cycle of money where he never holds any physical funds and instead creates a funnel where money comes from the higher organizations and spreads out into the lower organizations properly.

It would be fragile for the first few years, but if they managed to handle it well, they would be creating one of the most watertight financial systems in America.

Everyone at the meeting were stunned because they never thought someone like Mark would even know how to handle such a complex financial system so easily. They had all formed an image of absolute power in their heads when it came to Mark, so hearing someone like him talking about the delicate financial market and how to manipulate it so well was shocking!

Mark had studied business under his father for a long time before his father died, and even though Mark never bothered to use those skills since most of the business-related activities were handled by his godfather, that did not mean he forgot what his father had taught him for so long.

After that meeting, Mark’s godfather gave him a hug and told him just how proud his father would be of him. Mark’s plan might look like exploitation to many, but Mark’s godfather knew that this was just Mark’s way of taking care of the world.

The acquisition of companies and processing of loans began the next day, and over the next few months, the Vanitas Franchise managed to amass more than forty-five percent of the businesses in the IT sector of America and possessed majority stocks in nearly thirty percent of the other businesses.

With the trillions gathered using these deals and the rise in stocks and sales from the companies that had been rebuilt and rebranded using the Vanitas prestige, money started flowing like a river and the Vanitas Franchise’s main child company, Vanguard, benefited the most from this funding.

After only five months of activity, Vanguard had grown from a mere five hundred members to more than five thousand members in various continents all over the world with enough of a reach to send first responders to any region that needed help almost as quickly as the Superhuman Alliance!

Mark’s networth ballooned in this time, rising from the hundreds of millions into the billions and finally into the hundreds of billions in almost no time.

But for Mark, none of that mattered to him. Mark was not present in the day-to-day running of the business or the activities in Vanguard for the most part. After the warning that Mark received from Sozin all those months ago, Mark hadn’t gotten any more messages from his Patron God. Mark had tried contacting Sozin many times, but there had been nothing so far.

Mark decided that he was going to take Sozin’s warning seriously and he began to train seriously once more. In fact, calling it training would be an insult to what Mark was doing. It was like Mark was a man on a mission.

…

[Reports just coming in, the Vanguard guild has dealt with a large Ant swarm in Argentina. The leader of the Vanguard guild, Mark Vanitas, was on the scene…]

…

User has defeated the High-level Eldritch-class Ant anima colony

+2000 Stat Points

+2500 Skill Points

…

[A large colony of Worm-based anima that threatened the people of Peru was recently subjugated by Luna and Arit Clayborn of the Vanguard guild. The leader of the Vanguard guild, Mark Vanitas, was also on the scene and he was responsible for defeating the leader of the colony, a large Eldritch-based anima…]

…

User has defeated the Worm-based mid-level Eldritch anima

+1500 Stat Points

+1000 Skill Points

The user has gained the title [Eldritch Abomination]

[Effects of Eldritch Abomination]

+20% boost to Fear when used against Eldritch-class anima and below.