Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

"Is that blood?" Irma asked and looked up from the contract to Hal who shrugged,

"Of course it is... What else could be more binding than a blood-signed contract?" he asked and there was a sort of gleam in his eyes that Irma decided to ignore.

She signed the contract in her blood and watched as her blood glowed along with the rest of the words on the scroll.

And then the words all began to peel off the page and as they did, weird symbols representing the various dialects of demon and Devil kind appeared as well and then they joined the words floating in mid-air, and together, they formed a scroll made mostly with thick Devil energy.

The scroll split into two copies with one sinking into Hal's right palm while the other copy which appeared much less clear, pasted itself on Irma's forearm.

Hal granted her the ability to manipulate the contract enough to have her recruitment sign their names in it if she wished to bring more into the production.

It did not matter to Hal either way on account of him possessing the Harem space within which all production would take place.

There was more than enough time and more than enough expertise between Arya and Irma to get the pill business running relatively well.

That said, Hal had a feeling that Irma would offer a chance to her apprentice who were also likely to receive the technique that she got from Hal.

Speaking of the technique, the moment the contract was signed and a copy appeared on her forearm, the technique appeared in her and this time, it was here to stay.

Hal stood up from the chair he was seating in and sent the chair back into his inventory before he opened a portal into the Harem space.

"Come on, time to introduce you to your new workstation," Hal said and walked through the portal with Irma who followed quickly after.

Hal could better manipulate the Harem space on account of him taking control of Grimoire and turning it into a Codex. He more or less had maximum control over the space to do with it as he deemed fit.

Anyway, the mansion had a separate and massive section that was dedicated to Alchemy and it was here that Arya was busy at work.

When Hal arrived in the room with Irma looking all about in awe, Arya looked up and walked towards him to bow to him with a smile.

There was excitement clear to be seen in her eyes and app the while, she gave off the feel of a mad scientist, which was better described as the joy she took in her craft.

Alchemy, actually performing Alchemy will always be a source of joy for Alchemist, and add to that, the thrill of creating products never once seen before and the joy increases.

Just as Runemasters take pleasure in tinkering with the various runes and coming up with more combinations and uses, Alchemists took pleasure in poring over cauldrons and mixing ingredients.

"Master..." Arya said and presented Hal with Ten pills as evidence that she had not only succeeded in creating a prototype, but she had also built on that success to make ten out of the requested hundred-starter pack.

"Good work," Hal said with a proud smile before he picked up one of the pills and did a quick inspection that revealed it to have been very well done.

There was a bit of disparity in quality especially once he inspected the other nine but he chucked that all to the troubles of mass production and it did not affect the quality of the pills enough to derail from original plans.

Of course, he encouraged Arya to do better but the pills were good enough as they were.

He turned to Irma,

"This is your work station where you will henceforth work with Arya who I believe you know as Alchemist Nadia," he said just as Arya did a curtsy and said in a respectful tone,

"Lady Irma"

Irma stopped looking about and finally better saw Arya's face with the name 'Nadia' having jolted her memory so that she spoke with clear remembrance,

"Nadia, I heard you returned but I was already in seclusion at the time. I would not have thought you had something to do with this" she said.

So recluse had she been for so long that she did not know that 'Nadia's apprentice was also named Hal and thus could not possibly piece together that both Hals were one and the same.

"Here... Eat this" Hal said and presented her with one of the pills that was a curious mix of red, blue, and black colors.

Irma took the pill and plopped it into her mouth only to experience an immediate high that also gave her a feeling of being free from her body.

She felt ethereal... Peaceful... Gleeful... Powerful... Confident... She felt like she could do no wrong... She felt good and while she did, she could also just barely take note of her body refining energy from the pill she had just taken.

Then Hal placed a hand on her shoulder and sped it all up so that she was back to normal in a matter of seconds as opposed to an hour.

They did not have the time to let her truly and fully experience the high of the pill that was yet to be named.

Hal had given Lucile the privilege of naming the pill as she was the one who would be in charge of the marketing.

Anyway, those few seconds were enough to give Irma a good idea of what the pills were capable of... Not to mention that the manner in which it had been beneficial to her cultivation made it seem as though it had no drawbacks.

"How was that?" Hal asked.

"Incredible... A bit unreal but incredible" she said.

The pills were just like any normal cultivation assisting pill and the only special part was how the body absorbed it without being prompted it guided which leaves the taker more time under the Influence of the narcotics.

While the pills will be marketed as leisure cultivation resources, the real reason anyone will want them is to get high and the more of it taken, the more addicted one becomes while their self-control is chipped away and a connection to the Devil seed in Sapphire city gets forged to lie dormant in preparation to be activated.

"That's what the customers will feel when they take the pills and while the occasional taste and responsible use is encouraged, you are prohibited from getting addicted.

Your addiction is pointless since you are already contracted and are especially charged with producing the pills.

The boost the pills grant is absolutely worthless, especially when compared to the progress you will get by making use of a cultivation technique from me."

Hal then pulled out a communication talisman that had been receiving messages for a good while now but he had mostly ignored.

He read the message silently and it was from Tanya who was seeking an audience.

Hal sent the Talisman to his inventory before he once again faced Irma and Arya who were now conversing silently.

Irma received the recipe from Arya which opened her eyes even further to the nature of what she had agreed to be a part of.

The two told Hal they were sure to have a hundred pills ready before the end of the day (A normal day outside the Harem space) to which Hal nodded before he prepared to leave.

Arya would explain whatever he had not been able to and he might as well be on his way to take care of other matters.

He gave Irma a Harem key and made sure her point of exit would be her seclusion room should she decide to return and needed the illusion that she was still in seclusion.

He then requested a portal out of Harem space and walked through it to leave Arya and Irma alone to get to work.

There was a brief learning moment where Irma was made familiar with things as Arya had set them up and then, work began. The hierarchy was clear and Arya was above Irma.

It did not matter that Irma was more respected outside of the Harem space and whatever fame she had, she needed to temper and put herself in the hands of someone who had worked long enough with Hal to know exactly what they were doing.

Plus, Arya was very well on her way to becoming a Seventh rank alchemist just like Irma so the difference was not so wide.

Irma had nothing against the chain of command and just fired up Hal's technique and used it while she refined pills.

As soon as she got a break, which would surely come once she and Arya fulfilled on the first quota of a hundred pills, she would exit the Harem space and actually attempt recruitment.

There were a good few she felt could really benefit from the Spiritual sense developing Technique Hal had given her and that good few were her apprentices.

...

Meanwhile, Hal exited the Harem space into Lucile's office from where he made his way to the Rose Petal Hotel to meet Tanya in regards to a matter he felt he could very accurately guess.