Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Once done with the rank one pill which Glenn assessed and graded to have met the criteria while looking mildly surprised that the examinee who had been destroying ingredients just a while ago could actually complete the pill so flawlessly.

It really seemed as though Hal had been faking all along.

Hal ignored him and did not wait to be told he had passed as he asked to take the test for a rank 2 Alchemist.

With furrowed brows, Glenn went over to a different cupboard and withdrew the ingredients which he set before Hal and once Hal ascertained that he had been given the best grade ingredients, he repeated what he had done with the rank one test.

He failed as many times as he could in an attempt to fine-tune his skills and only proceeded to succeed on his very last try.

The whole refining took at least an hour, what with the failing constantly.

Although he needed to be completely focused on refining, even more than normal Alchemists since he needed to actively use Equipoise to separate his Astral sense from any bit of Astral energy, he could not help but chuckle at the look that would be on the branch head\'s face when he saw the expenses of this very wasteful test.

"This is your last chance. Fail now and that\'s it. You won\'t be able to take the test again for a few months." Glenn said.

Hal looked up with his brow raised, 

"Oh, it\'s my last chance already? OK, no problem" and he proceeded to refine the way he should, taking absolute care until he had the finished pill in hand.

Now Glenn was suspecting something was not quite right because although Hal was not as Cavalier with this rank two test\'s last chance as he had been with the rank one test, it was still obvious he knew what he was doing.

At least to a stable extent.

With the Rank two test complete and passed, Hal was ready to move on to the Rank three test and for this time, he decided it was better safe than sorry and determined to be careful with it from the very start.

He had enough basic experience with Alchemy already, he might as well act like an Alchemist now and stop being deliberately wasteful.

Not to mention that this was also wasting time and it was getting late already.

Outside of the test center, the five apprentices still stood and wondered what was taking so long while they also seemed quite determined to remain in place and see the result of Hal\'s test.

Hal moved on to the third test and for the first time, Glenn finally felt he was looking at a wise Alchemist in the making. 

While Hal\'s skills were a tad bit lacking, he was still quite diligent enough to complete the third rank pill in less than two hours.

"Wonderful. So I will now write you a certificate and you can order for your Rank token with the clerk..." Glenn began to say with joy before Hal interrupted, 

"What are you talking about? I\'m not done" he said while standing up and stretching.

"You are not?"

"Of course not, I still need to take the test for rank four" he said as though that should have been obvious.

Glenn blinked, 

"Rank four? Hahahaha, you really think you are qualified to take a Rank four test just because your Spiritual sense is at Rank four? It takes more than that.

I was over two centuries old before I managed to become a Rank four Alchemist and have been stuck at that rank since then. The fact that you are so egotistical to think you can perform a miracle is hilarious." He said.

Hal did not look offended by the laughter and smiled lightly, 

"I know it takes more than having a strong spiritual sense but still want to take the test. After all, that token from the branch head does entitle me to it does it not?" He asked.

"Well, it does, but..." Glenn began but was unable to complete, 

"Good. I\'ll recuperate any lost energy and then take the test." He said and sat cross-legged to begin absorbing cosmic energy from the atmosphere to get rid of any fatigue he was feeling.

He knew being Rank four was a big deal and he could tell that from how the five outside spoke of the only rank four Alchemist among the young generation.

It takes a genius among geniuses to have the finesse to be so capable while so young and while Hal would not call himself an Alchemy genius, he felt he was good enough to just barely get that Rank four token and that was good enough.

He did not care if Adeline Silva was the better Alchemist, he just wanted to have a token that put him above the five on the outside.

Call it his Devil ego if you will.

Besides, he was here and taking the test for free so he might as well do it.

A few minutes later, he opened his eyes and feeling very refreshed proceeded to the cauldron which had been replaced with a better one that was capable of withstanding the strain that accompanied this level of Alchemy.

The look in Glenn\'s eyes was very skeptical because he had tested the genius, Adeline Silva, himself and Hal were nowhere near her level of finesse.

That said, he told Hal he was to refine a Rank four mending pill which was most likely the easiest to mess up since a \'good enough\' pill could prove detrimental to the one taking it.

It needed to be at least near perfect to be taken as success.

The refinement began and despite dedicating all of his attention to it, the first trial ended in failure as expected and so did the second try and many more after that.

Glenn shook his head at the pathetic attempt and was only waiting out the eventual failure of the whole process.

\'Damn it\' Hal groaned.

\'You are really bad at this and this is with all the Alchemy tutorials you purchased from me\' Grimoire mocked.

\'Of course, I\'m bad at it. I lack all the subtleties and I feel like I subconsciously don\'t want to learn it.

I truly do prefer Runemastering. It\'s a little more direct and has fewer steps to follow\' He complained even though he knew certain branches of Runemastering had steps to follow as well.

\'You\'ll get it right though\' Grimoire said in a mix of offering encouragement and stating a fact.

\'I sure as hell will\' Hal said and it was to the great surprise of Glenn when a resonance sounded out of the cauldron and Hal retrieved a completed Rank four mending pill.

"Finally. Hopefully, that is the only time I\'ll ever have to refine a pill for a very long time. Now stop gaping at the pill and write me the certificate already" he said to Glenn who closed his mouth immediately.

"Of course! Oh My goodness, this is incredible." He said with his face alight with joy.

Hal nodded in a non-committal way and received the certificate Glenn issued him.

Glenn then turned away to walk out of the center, 

"Oh, I need to inform the branch head personally." He said.

"Glenn wait" Hal called and there was an authority in his voice that forced Glenn to stop moving and turn back to see Hal\'s eyes were no longer Sapphire blue, but a nightmarish black that instilled fear in him.

"What the...?" He began but Hal smiled wickedly, 

"Why are you in such a hurry? How about you let me know just how much you made from all those high-grade ingredients you stole."

"I don\'t think I want to do that" he said.

"Of course you don\'t want to but that is beside the point. Since I want you to tell me..." Hal said and paused as he released a torrent of Devil energy that caused Glenn\'s knees to buckle.

"...you\'ll tell me"