Not only did that man manage to hide his presence from her, but he also visibly wanted to do a show of force to her, as he filled not one, but a few hundred glasses, without letting a single drop of blood fall to the floor.

[...]

She somehow had a strong, imperious feeling that she not only NEEDED to kill him but also had to keep his intact brain and sexual parts…

After some time pondering she didn't find the source of it, but she felt that it came from her entire being.

[…]

She then became Rald again.

Without losing a second, he washed himself of all the blood with one of the blood-sucking plants he kept in his laboratory.

It was already morning, and he had a meeting.

With that fly that bothered him gone, it was now time for him to go to work.

------------------------------

-Good morning, Rald.

It's now been 2 weeks since Rald started his work at the biggest laboratory on the planet. Not that it was particularly impressive, but its scale was still impressive for this world.

This morning, just like every other morning, he entered the building.

-Hello, Rald.

The closer he was from the center of the laboratory, the less polite people were to him.

-Hi Rald.

That did however seem quite logical, as most of the higher hierarchy in this building was closer to the center. He was not the only alchemist working here too.

-Hey Rald.

Even though he did have the highest position, given to him according to his level of ability, people still weren’t bootlicking him.

-How're you, Raldy?

If it was not blatantly disrespecting him. They were way tamer when he arrived for the first time, but they quickly got the hang of his personality.

With the goal of productivity in mind, all the alchemists here are in constant competition, so politeness has little place here.

-Hmm.

To the point no one is even saying hello, too concentrated on their actual experiments to experience anything close to a discussion.

Having everyone working on their own truly wasn’t as good for productivity as you’d think, it was even pretty bad, but that was the best part of the Rald’s day.

Rald stopped before his experiment table.

He took a few, long, deep breaths to concentrate, then went back to work.

Alchemy was still Rald's passion, or else, why would he have spent three reincarnations worth of life doing the same thing?

[…]

-Success!

Rald heard a delighted shout.

But he didn’t even bother to take a look.

From the smell alone, he already knew what the other alchemist did. Rald already knew what he was experimenting on days ago, and it probably didn’t change since.

He transformed a deer into cooked chicken. Even worse, using an artifact as support.

They would never accept this solution. Not only can you not mass produce with an artifact, their goal wasn’t to get the cooked chicken itself, it was to produce it with maximum efficiency and minimum cost. A deer is way bigger than a chicken and way harder to raise.

If that was what they wanted, they would have raised chickens long ago and be done with it! Potatoes are the easiest, cheapest thing to cultivate and mass-produce in this world, this is why Rald chose it in the first place, and why they kept that base too.

If an alchemist wasn’t able to get that, he might as well be killed on the spot.

Rald went back to his experiments.

A while later, he indeed heard a tragic scream.

He sighed… Again an alchemist killed by the sword…

-What are you sighting at?

Rald was surprised someone managed to hear his sigh. That proved that that person’s ears were really good.

It was a man, one of the supervisors around here. He probably came to inspect their work. They are the ones spending money, after all.

-I need more resources.

Rald said with a calm tone.

That seemed to anger the man, who immediately shouted:

-More resources? Who do you think you are? The best alchemist of… all…times…?

His voice clearly died down towards the end. There was indeed a doubt on whether Rald or Gimmindiot’s daughter 400 years ago was the best alchemist of all times. Saying there is a doubt was an euphemism, which the company used as much as possible. There was no way Rald wouldn’t have progressed over several centuries.

-... … ...

-Hmm?

Rald didn’t hear what the man was saying just now.

-Nothing! I said nothing!

-Didn't you say that the best alchemist of all times is the only one who'd be able to obtain more resources?

-I…

-Then thanks! It happens that I need resources.

Rald didn’t give him any time to reply. While it was true he tended to be a pushover, he did have undeniable dedication to his craft when it came to alchemy, and did whatever he needed for it.

Knowing fully what would happen, he left the room, leaving the man dumbfounded and hesitant.

After leaving the room, he waited, and started counting.

30…

29…

[…]

3…

2…

1…

-Wait!

He never gave him the list of materials he'd need before leaving, and having to be the one to wait put him in a position of strength.

[...]

He exaggerated a bit on the amount of materials he needed, and the urgency of the matter. The result was, expectedly, that the company put money on his debit card, so he would be able to go buy the materials himself. They’d rather not waste the salary they’re paying him, after all, and express delivery is rare enough to be exorbitantly priced in this world.

The debit card is another thing that came with this world entering in contact with the technologically advanced one. This level of technology did however stand out compared to everything around the city. Seeing people in stone houses accept debit cards payments was indeed quite a sight.

As for why Rald had one, it was simple. As much as Rald preferred the old-fashioned coins he could see and touch, he still had to have one to work for Gimmindiot.

Time to go to do some shopping!

Rald entered the toilets.

He then took a bottle from a bag he always carried with him.

He put a little piece of brain on the side of his actual brain.

Rald now had a new ability. He could fly!