[I'm back! How is everything going-]

What the hell?!

As I enter my laboratory I see the young guy right where I left him.

Except he seems to be paralyzed on the ground.

Sitting near him is the warden.

He seems to have a really sharp tool in his hand.

I can hear him whispering.

"That is the first part of what I will do. Then we will continue for the …Ah! Young master, you are back!"

The poor guy seems terrified.

He cannot move but I can see the horror in his eyes.

[What is happening here?]

"Hehe, I found this little rat here trying to steal. I was waiting for you to be back to start the torture. This can become a wonderful teaching opportunity."

[Yeah, about that. He's a friend.]

"What?! How come?"

[Eh, my new assistant you could say.]

He feeds the young man something. Then he seems to regain control of his body.

"Please don't kill me?! I'll leave! I won't ever tell a soul about any of this and-"

"You seem to be mistaken. The only reason you aren't dead yet is that my young master said you had some use. Now, what can you do?"

What's with him going all evil all of a sudden?

Ah, guess he is trying to ascertain his motives.

But I'm the one that approached the poor guy not the other way around.

He asks the shaking guy how long he has been studying alchemy to have the guts to be my assistant.

Except that anyone is qualified knowing I only started learning a few days ago myself.

The poor guy seems about to shit his pants, but then I intervene and just say that I believe he has potential and that the warden should leave him alone.

Then the warden leaves.

Leaving behind a crying mess of a man.

He's just mumbling over and over that he's just a pig and chicken breeder.

That he never signed up for any of this.

[Sorry about that, here take this herb. It has calming properties.]

"Brother, that's the poisonous one."

*Taste*

[Yep, you are right. My bad.]

That somehow gets him laughing.

He's wondering how the hell I managed to catch the warden's interest.

Then I simply tell him that he's simply trying his own way to help me.

Even if I don't seem that talented in the domain.

Then again, I do not believe it matters.

After a while, I'm bound to learn.

Just a matter of experience.

We get back to brewing.

This time he is actively helping me.

Before long we have some results.

Some elixirs.

We quickly head to the farm to test it all.

I gotta admit, follows the most impressive scene of all time.

Let's just say the aphrodisiac clearly fixes the problem.

We test on a few animals.

They instantly go into a rut.

The pigs with the pigs.

The chickens with the chickens.

A chicken with a pig…what the hell?!

But at least it's working and…that is when all the chickens die.

Suddenly and without warning.

We get close to them and notice the issue.

They are smaller so the dose needs to be different.

Then we go back to the lab.

Now, one could argue that poison would work well for my revenge, but nope.

If possible, I'd like to cause despair, then death.

Rather than simply death.

Also, I do believe we are still at a level that only can work on dumb animals.

Thus we keep working over the course of the next few days.

Poor guy is now forced to be my assistant.

We just hire someone to take care of the animals and we keep at it.

Before long we have a new version.

This one is even more potent while having fewer risks of death.

After testing it works pretty well.

Then we go back and try to improve again.

The goal is for it to become a chemical weapon.

That is when we hit a wall.

We run out of herbs.

Also out of funds.

But there is no way this will stop me.

I head toward the Mystery Gems House.

There is the crippled guy that welcomes me.

"Oh? It's you? Are you here to rob this place again?"

[Hehe, what do you mean rob? I'll just try my luck.]

He gives a wry smile, remembering my previous performance.

Then I simply start picking rocks.

Putting everything on the Greberos family's tab again.

The attendant in charge doesn't even question it for some reason.

I'm legit gambling someone else's money.

Before long I have picked some rocks and a crowd has assembled around.

Then comes the unveiling.

Again it's all profit.

I quickly sell some cheaply and leave the rest for more profit.

"You beggar! How dare you look at me?!"

What's happening now?

Some well-dressed guy is kicking the old man at the entrance.

[Hey you! Stop that!]

"*Scoff* That beggar looked at me with his disgusting gaze!"

He's on the ground groaning in pain.

What is wrong with this man?!

[Why are you even in public if you don't want to be seen?]

That is when the old man whispers: "Hey, at least mine still works."

That gets the guy raging.

He gets a sword out and aggressively points at him.

"Do you believe I won't kill you!"

[Look man, this is a lawful city. Please just ignore him and go.]

He snorts then leaves.

I help the Talion guy up.

[What was that even about?]

"He's arrogant and mad is all. Ah, also impotent haha."

[How is that even possible? Healing magic exists.]

"It's apparently the result of a curse. That is why he hates me so much."

[Because you are a curse user? You weren't related to the incident, right?]

"Nope, I wasn't. Still, every time he sees me, he is reminded of what he lost."

[Damn that's pitiful.]

"Don't pity him. He's a dick."

[Yeah, seems like it. Anyway, take care man.]

I swing by the market, get more ingredients.

Then it's back to creating an aphrodisiac.

I have figured out two important aspects.

First, I want to somehow turn this into a smoke bomb kind of thing or perhaps incense sticks.

I need something that can affect an entire sect.

Also, it needs to be potent enough to not easily be cleansed.

We go back to the farm with our new product.

The results are glorious.

[What do you think?]

"Total success!"

[Yep, now we just gotta start the human trial.]

"You! You're kidding right?!"

[Nope.] ^_^

0_0