Chapter 101: Rite of Passage

[Aiden North] – Life Points – [9.615]

⸢Stats

› Mind — S

› Strength — C+ » B

› Stamina — C+ » B

› Agility — C+ » B

› Charm — B+

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No sooner had Aiden upgraded his lowest stats across the board twice, a notification rolled in.

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[Achievements updated!]

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Ignoring it for the meantime, the youth proceeded to upgrade one of his skills.

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{Brewing - I}

└ Upgrade to {Advanced} using 1 LP?

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Mentally affirming, the skill smoothly transitioned into the next grade without fanfare, as did an easy flow of advanced techniques that flooded Aiden’s brain for a brief moment.

This time though, the youth didn’t feel any sort of wooziness or vertigo like he usually would’ve.

Naturally, that was a perk of his Mind attribute being at its absolute peak.

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[Aiden North] – Life Points – [8.615]

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Dismissing the updated panel immediately after, the youth casually made his downstairs and into the kitchen.

In typical fashion, he intended to begin preparing dinner, as well as brew a small bottle of the homemade brandy on the side.

Obviously, Aiden wanted to assess if his advanced {Brewing} skill would cover the gap left to get the brandy to the max grade--assumedly.

Considering there were two untouched gallons in the house too, he saw no reason to make yet another, hence why he’d settled for a smaller portion.

Just as he began retrieving the ingredients from the fridge to make dinner first though, his phone beeped in his pocket, the familiar ringtone he’d designated for his father playing.

Casually, Aiden retrieved it, holding it with his shoulder a moment after as he pulled open the freezer compartment and brought out the frozen ground beef.

"Hey, Pops. What’s up?" he greeted.

"Nothing much, Champ," Richard casually replied and then curiously asked;

"Have you started prepping dinner?"

"Yeah... though I just brought the beef out--"

"Perfect. Just return it." the man interjected then explained;

"Figured I could get some takeout tonight from Haute Cuisine. Give you a chance to cool off from the mental load of doing your AP exams in succession and also celebrate." he explained afterwards.

"But that’d cost you a bit--"

"Ah ah ah~," Richard cut his son off yet again.

"It’s the little milestones in life, Champ. Always remember to celebrate it." he advised to which Aiden smiled warmly and said whilst returning the ground beef;

"I hear you, Pops."

"Good," the man replied, the warmth in his voice palpable as he inquired a moment after;

"Now what would you like?"

Despite having left the restaurant for close to a year now, Aiden’s current memory made recalling their menu a breeze, hence why he responded without giving it much thought.

"Alright then. See you soon, Champ." Richard acknowledged.

"You too, Pops." Aiden reciprocated, the line hanging up a second after.

Now with more time on his hands, the youth pocketed the device and pivoted, turning all of his attention to the brew.

Roughly thirty minutes later, he was done, the current brew sitting pretty on a corner of the counter as he intended for it to rest for forty-eight hours.

’Fingers crossed.’ he remarked to himself as he made his way out of the kitchen and crashed into the main sofa in the living room.

Retrieving his phone, his buddies having already reacted to their credit alerts with funny gifs, stickers and emojis, Aiden amusedly chuckled and then replied.

At the same time, he responded to a text from Clarissa.

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Her Highness: Cereal before milk? Or milk before cereal?

Aiden: The latter, obviously.

Her Highness: I know, right?! The girls and I were having a chit-chat and now they’re calling me a heretic and a traitor!

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Aiden laughed at that. Then he replied a few seconds later.

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Aiden: Funny they’d say that, though. A Queen decides the labels, not her subjects.

Her Highness: Tell ’em, babe!

Aiden: Besides, milk coming first allows you to dictate the amount of cereal you’d like to add into the mix to get the perfect ratio, instead of underfilling or overfilling.

Her Highness: Say it louder for the plebs in the back.

Her Highness: You know what? I’m not even going to bother convincing them again. It’s a waste of my time and energy. I’m way too elegant for all this.

Her Highness: Oh~. They just called us weirdos.

Aiden: Weirdos? More like elites.

Her Highness: I couldn’t agree more. (˘ ˘ ˘)

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Chuckling in amusement, Aiden minimized the messenger app and began eagle-searching on browser app, his gaze relaxed yet scrutinous.

After searching the first page without much luck, Aiden soon found himself navigating into the uncharted territories of Eagle’s second page.

Given he’d intended to find new--and preferably--struggling co-packers, it was only natural that the first page alone wouldn’t cut it.

The reason for this was simple.

Whereas established co-packers would most likely try to rip him off, new yet struggling co-packers wouldn’t... or more like couldn’t.

They would be the one needing him, not the other way around. As a result, he would have far more leeway in setting the pace of things.

As for how Aiden intended to spot a new yet struggling co-packer on the world wide web?

Well, that was rather straightforward, actually.

First, he’d have to locate their website and review the date it was established.

Then he’d have to check their offers and see which one of them was offering steep discounts. Perhaps an offer to do a trial batch at low MOQs (minimum order quantities).

That was the mark of a company that was in dire need of clients.

Still, Aiden wasn’t of the belief that he’d stumble upon a co-packer like that so easily in the wild.

That was the kind of information one would usually only be chanced to get from well-informed industry consultants and brokers. Packaging distributors and regional suppliers for local businesses too, if he was lucky.

However, considering he had no connections to anyone of such, the internet was the only avenue he currently had, so he would just have to make good use of it till he came in contact with--

Aiden suddenly stopped scrolling, his eyes narrowing in deep curiosity.

What had caught his attention, was none other than a peculiar yet obscure blog post--or more specifically, the headliner of said post.

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Stellar Enterprises expands into wine production. Partners with Vitality Holdings after fallout with former co-packer and new start-up, SlurpPAK.

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Clearly, this wasn’t frontpage news, otherwise, it wouldn’t have been buried so deeply in the fifth page of Eagle’s search engine.

It was also dated back to last year July, just before Aiden began his final year session.

Yet, it wasn’t that fact that gave the youth pause. Enterprises, companies and corporations were always falling in and out with each other on a regular basis and earth kept revolving nonetheless.

Rather, it was the name of the enterprise itself that got his attention.

Sitting up properly on the couch, Aiden began reading through the blog post with rapt attention, his expression gradually giving way to concerned intrigue.

Sure, news like this couldn’t be trusted as the source was practically non-existent, but... Aiden happened to have ties to the one person who could actually help him verify its authenticity.

Which was why, after reading through it, Aiden copied the link of said blog and forwarded it to his buddy’s DM.

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Aiden: https:// www.obscurenews.com/article/Stellar...

Casper: Now what do we have here...

Aiden: Ring any bells?

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Having read it, Casper replied a few minutes after.

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Casper: Oh right... that did happen.

Casper: Greedy, selfish old man wanted to buy their startup ’cause he saw a lot of potential in them, but they refused despite all his underhanded tactics to get them to succumb.

Aiden: And... lemme guess? He got pissed and tried running their company into the ground?

Casper: Pretty much. Father does have quite the calculated temper and a god complex, afterall.

Casper: Last I heard of them, most of their clients bailed and moved to Vitality Holdings. I think what happened goes without saying.

Aiden: Poaching, huh?

Casper: Yep. And also a statement.

Aiden: Right...

Casper: One of many sad cases, unfortunately. Yet another company he’d trample on to get what he wants. Wonder how they’re faring these days though...

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For a brief while, Casper went offline after that... only to suddenly pop back in a moment after.

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Casper: Wait a minute...

Casper: Ah~. I see how it is.

Casper: You intend to contact SlurpPAK for your beverage business, don’t you?

Aiden: Yep.

Casper: Sigh...

Casper: You know, you’re starting to become a very shady man, bro.

Aiden: Rite of passage for every aspiring entrepreneur. Thanks for the help.

Casper: Don’t mention it. I could pull up and forward their contact details too, if you want?

Aiden: I’d appreciate it.

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No sooner had Aiden sent that text, his Pop’s vehicle pulled into the driveway.

Rising up from the couch, the youth casually headed out the door to greet his father and help him carry his stuff in.