Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Hal sat cross-legged once he was out of the Harem space after spending Thirty hours in the time-warped Mansion, and refined all the essence he had gotten and was pleased to finally be heading ever closer to the Mid-stage of the Cosmic Phenomenon realm.

That said, he decided it was about time he got on this mission he had been given.

If there was one thing Ehrlich had made abundantly clear about on their way to the city out of the forest they had been in, it was that he would not be assisting Hal in any way and Hal would have to solve this all on his own.

Which was another reason he could not bring out any of the ladies in the harem space for support since he would not only have to explain how they were there, he would also be flouting his orders to do this solo.

Anyway, Hal was not worried. 

For one thing, this was pretty straightforward.

Black lagoon from what he had been told by Ehrlich was mostly a lawless town where anything goes, so a supply of such terrible material was bound to not be really frowned upon, hence easy to find out simply by asking.

\'This will be a piece of cake\' he thought as he stood up and made his way to the door of his room.

\'Why did you have to say that? Now I feel like you\'ve jinxed us.\' Grimoire said in annoyance.

Hal furrowed his brows, 

\'First off, what is with the \'us\'? If anything goes wrong and the worst happens, you\'ll just move on to the next host. And second, how the hell does a book believe in jinxes?\' He asked.

\'Well, first you are actually right and I will most likely move on to the next host but it\'s not every time I get to have a promising host such as yourself. I fear I might be getting attached.

As for jinxes, who doesn\'t believe in them?\' Grimoire retorted.

Hal shrugged at the reply and walked out of the room to find Ehrlich right there waiting for him, 

"You were in there for three hours. That\'s one hour too many" he said to Hal.

Hal frowned, 

"I don\'t see how that should be your business. You said you were only going to observe. So why not observe and let me do my thing, I have a process." He said and walked past Ehrlich.

Ehrlich shrugged, 

"Yes, I am only here to observe but I am also here to offer you advice that doesn\'t infringe too much on you doing this on your own." He told Hal and followed him down the stairs.

"Where are you headed?" He added.

Hal glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, 

"The hotel\'s restaurant. And I would prefer no one see us together." 

Ehrlich looked confused at that statement, 

"Why not? No one here knows who we are. For all they know, you are my younger brother." 

Hal shook his head, 

"Who cares if they don\'t know who we are? I just find it annoying that you will stay so close and yet so useless.

Now run along"

Hal said just as he arrived at the restaurant and frowned at how scanty it was.

The few he could see were clearly men of importance but also men dressed in attire that made them look like travelers.

Which was to be expected since this was a hotel.

At first, Hal decided to sit but there was a general feel to this place that did not put him at ease.

Not from fear of getting attacked but that there was no way he would get any of these people to speak to him and what he needed now was information.

He needed someplace indigenous to the Black lagoon. He needed someplace where people spoke freely.

Somewhere an obvious stranger like him could simply butt into a conversation,

He needed a Pub.

As for whether Black lagoon had a dingy bar where rowdy men grouped together to converse about whatever, he would have to go with a big, fat definitely.

And he was right.

After a few directions from quite a few grumpy-looking denizens walking the street, Hal was well on his way to the \'Black Pub\'. Which was a name Hal felt showed they were just too lazy to pick something better.

He entered and it was mostly like how he had expected,

The room was dingy and it had a few rowdy men but emphasis on the word \'few\'.

Most of those Hal could see were dressed respectably and in arguably better attire than his.

He went ahead to the bar and the bartender was a man with a jagged scar across his cheek which Hal felt was most likely by choice, probably for the purpose of intimidation, since there were many simple ways to get rid of scars.

Only a few scars were truly permanent.

Especially in a Black market site such as this.

That said, the intimidation factor was lost in Hal since he could tell the bartender was at the late stage of the Cosmic Phenomenon realm.

"What would you like to drink?" He asked Hal with a smile that took him by surprise.

That along with the mild-sounding voice made Hal more sure of his previous assessment.

Since he did not really have a preference, Hal simply asked for anything good while he scoured the room for potential talkative fellows.

They were bound not to be too hard to find since they would most likely be the life of the party and sure enough, there they were with mugs of alcohol in hand and being as loud as they possibly could.

"You are not from the Lagoon are you?" The bartender said and Hal turned to him to shake his head, 

"No, I\'m not. What gave it away?" He asked with a neutral expression.

The Bartender shrugged, 

"You just look new here... Like you don\'t belong" he said in a tone that told Hal he was hoping not to be offensive.

"So what? Because I\'m more handsome than the bunch you usually get here,  I don\'t \'belong\'?" Hal said with a frown.

The bartender\'s smile wiped off his face as he wondered why he was feeling so intimidated by someone whose cultivation was not even clear, 

"I meant no dis..." He began but Hal interrupted, 

"Because that is Discrimination and I can sue you." Hal said with a serious expression.

Now the bartender was confused,

"Discrimination? Sue? What the hell is that?" He asked and Hal chuckled, 

"Oh don\'t worry, I\'m just messing with you." He said with a smile and turned away only to turn back suddenly and scare the shit out of the bartender as he said, 

"Or am I? Send the drinks over to that table and make sure there is enough for all of us" he said and walked over to the cool table where the laughter was still booming.

Of course, before actually sitting, he did a little bit of recon through which he knew none of them could really threaten him. Well dressed as they were, the men in this pub were clearly very close to being the lowest on the social ladder.

The only person he was weary of was a fellow who sat by himself at a little corner in the pub.

His brown hair was tied in a knot at the top of his head while he took regular sips of alcohol.

Hal went over to the loud table, 

"Mind if I join you?" He asked.

They looked up at him and smiled, though it was mostly drunken smiles due to their intoxication.

The least drunk-looking of them looked up at Hal and said with only a bit of a slur, 

"Of course. The more the merrier. What\'s your name?" He asked

Hal pulled a chair and sat down as he said,

"Hal, Hal Klint"