Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

There was clear curiosity in Tanya's voice as she made her assessment and continued to wonder.

As for Ehrlich, once Tanya had made this assessment and wondered aloud, he also thought to how it had been quite peculiar for Hal to come out on top.

"Would you like me to find out?" Ehrlich asked tentatively.

Tanya seemed to have been pulled back from her thoughts by his voice and recomposed herself and keep her mystery-loving instincts in check while she addressed Ehrlich and shook her head, 

"There's no need. Not for now at least. There's no need to worry about something that still works so far." 

With that, she went silent and returned to her thoughts while Ehrlich eyed her with a frown. Knowing full well, that the princess was not really ready to let this go.

She just did not want to rock the boat that was Hal's potential helpfulness and preferred to, for the time being, let things run their course.

...

Meanwhile, once out of Rose petal restaurant, Hal boarded a carriage while thinking back to his Carriage, the golden chariot which he had left at the Alchemist organization.

He also thought about the merit points system and how it looked to be intent on making him work his butt off if he even entertained the thoughts for the highest level of merits.

It was while he was having this thought that he reasoned that his merit points awarding were actually quite accurate. If not far too generous.

Sure, he defeated Beldar, but that was not exactly a really noteworthy accomplishment and had not even been part of his mission in the first place.

Beldar had been a small fry in the grand scheme of things and although if given time, he might amass enough to be a nuisance, before the great men and women in the Haron continent, that was all he was going to be...

A nuisance...

The only ones who could actually consider this as something noteworthy were people on Hal's power level which to be fair was actually low and only worthy to really be a part of the royal academy as a student in times of both age and strength.

He was not trying to bring himself down or downplay what he had achieved because he would never do that and still deemed what he had done as impressive, he was just looking at it in the grand scheme of things.

He was no longer in Sapphire city but now exploring the Continent at large.

He was now out of that bubble of mediocrity and needed to see the bigger picture.

Which was that in a city like the Duchy capital which was crawling with Cosmic Pagoda experts who he could not even attempt to stand against, he was no more than a small fry.

And that was with him not even counting the semi-saints and the patron saints of many powerful families.

As proven from this initiation mission of his, there were only so many ways he was useful.

'Oh well, we might as well just go with the flow and simply work hard to grow stronger as soon as we can.' He thought.

'That was always the plan' Grimoire commented very aware that while Hal would never admit to it, both vocally and mentally, the reason he now cared about merit points was because he had had the time to think and see its potential usefulness.

In a case where Isabella picked a powerful expert to wed Melinda and even went as far as making use of her impressive strength to keep Melinda away from him and incapable of making an escape, the points might be his only way of calling for reinforcement.

Of course, he would rather not do that... but if left with no other choice, he saw it as a perfectly viable option. He would never allow anyone to take Melinda away from him.

Of course, there was another option which referred to Doxon forces, namely his estranged mother who he still did not yet feel quite right about meeting.

The carriage stopped in front of the Alchemist organization building and waiting for him right at the door was Arya and Karmen who could barely contain their joy upon seeing him even though they had been informed prior that he was not really in any danger.

Then again, he had been on a mission and technically was still in danger.

Anyway, 

He alighted from the carriage but before he found even take a step towards the two, there were already guards in front of him, 

"Alchemist Hal, we are so glad to see you are well. Please come with us" the one leading them said.

Hal sighed and mentally rolled his eyes, 

"Sure, why not" he said and they formed formations around him and led the way into the building.

Hal felt this was incredibly unnecessary, especially since these men were merely using him to show that they had been useful in his search which they had not.

A point that should be further reiterated by how he had come here on his own two feet. Figuratively of course since he had actually arrived in a carriage.

When he and his improvised entourage passed the two ladies by the door, Hal gestured at the guards and rolled his eyes in exasperation, earning a giggle from Karmen who hurried to follow him inside.

Soon, the guards led him to the meeting room that had once been used by the Alchemist masters or more accurately, they led him to the door of the room and waited until he had walked through to disperse with many of them mentioning their names to see if he could put in a good word.

"Of course I will" Hal said generously before adding "Not" under his breath.

Being cultivators as well, the guards all heard it and their expressions froze. Remaining that way until Hal was past the door and could no longer see them.

They had been annoying and he had no intentions of humoring them.

Why should he be bothered to put in a good word for them? That he had no intentions of being overly arrogant and overbearing did not mean all tom, dick and harry could somehow get him to grant favors.

Inside the room, Hal only met the Branch head and Alchemist Glenn who had tested him during his ranking tests.

"Hal- I mean, Alchemist Hal, I am so glad to see you well. Please do take a seat" the branch head said and Hal had only just taken a seat when Arya made her presence known at the door and upon invitation, she entered with Karmen.

Karmen's entry raised the branch head's brow but he did not comment as she had come with Alchemist Nadia and obviously had a connection with Hal himself.

Hal on the other hand, knew what this sit-down meeting was most likely about, and sure enough...

"It was such a terrible thing that you were abducted in the Alchemist organization. And we have gone to so much trouble... which we have gone to with joy mind you... to show how sorry we are to your Alchemy master, Alchemist Nadia.

We also planned to extend our search for you outside of the Duchy capital and we are glad to see that there was no reason to do so as you are now back in good health.

However, we would still like to know what exactly happened and who exactly is responsible for this heinous act of kidnapping an Alchemist in the Alchemist organization" the Branch head.

Hal could detect a sort of change in the Branch head's voice which pointed to this conversation not being out of courtesy to Arya who was well known, as it had been when he had been here before, 

This time, the branch head was addressing him directly and only occasionally making mention of Arya as more of an afterthought because he now saw Hal as personally valuable.

Not because of his master but his own personal ability.

Hal did not really give a damn but decided to play along. There was no need for those not close to him to know how apathetic he really was to all these proceedings.

Besides, getting on the good side of this sort of important individuals was one of the reasons why he had gone through with becoming a certified Alchemist in the first place.

"Well, it's kind of a long story. You see Branch head— I'm sorry, that feels and sounds so impersonal. Could I call you by your name?" Hal asked.

It was his way of bridging any gap that still remained between him and the older and more powerful man.

Glenn looked surprised that Hal would actually be so bold.

However, the branch head while finding it peculiar was not against it, 

"Of course you can" he told Hal.

Hal nodded, 

"What is it?" He asked.

"Toto" replied the branch head.

Hal smiled,

"You see, Toto... Wait..." He paused as he was hit with a sudden realization.

"...did you just say, Toto?"