2 weeks deadline

Leo was like a rootless plant drifting in the underworld without any reputation or background. If he wanted to launch his stamina potion then he had to tightly hug a big tree for protection. Using the protection of the tree he could tide over the storms and heat while he firmly plant himself in the meantime. Eventually turning into a tree himself.

For the tree candidate, he had 2 options. Option one, Royal family: they were already at their end of the rope, if Leo provided them a new opportunity, they would scramble to embrace it. But the problem was, whether they would be able to protect him if a storm comes in his direction. What if they just sold his potion in the upcoming competition as a bet?

Leo had no answers to his doubts so for the time being he stopped thinking about option one.

Option two, potion hall: Leo could simply sell his potion to the potion hall and sign a royalty contract. But he was not sure about the consequence but one thing for sure, it was a better and sturdy tree compared to the Royal family.

To know more about the potion hall, Leo headed to the potion hall administration office. If the terms and conditions could satisfy his need, Leo was willing to sign a deal right then and there. He didn't want to involve himself in the political affairs of the Royal family and become their scapegoat. He had a vague guess that someone powerful was deliberately targeting the Eastern region's Royal family. As for the reason, he was not aware and he didn't really care.

Potion hall admin office,

Leo asked the first person he saw in the office.

"Hello, I want to talk about an important matter, can I talk to the person in charge here?"

Lady in the reception responded with a standard answer, " Please wait for a moment, I will let you know in a moment."

Leo nodded and sat on a sofa nearby and began to organize his thoughts. ' First, I will check the waters before diving into it. What if the person in charge simply kills me off on the spot after realizing the potential of my new product?'

There was no such thing as too much security, more the better.

Leo was called into the office in a moment and the person he met was none other than the current head of the potion hall, Robert. He was also the father of the most talented guy in the potion hall, Richard.

Robert appeared around 40 to 50 years old, he had a very thick eyebrow and an intimidating look that deterred anyone from making eye contact with him. But Leo knew from his experience on Earth that first impression was everything.

If he showed any sort of timidness, the entire conversation would be controlled by the other party. His leadership skill finally became useful to him for the first important negotiation in the underworld.

As soon as Leo entered the office, he gave a standard smile and gave a slight bow to express his respect. He met Robert's eyes without getting intimidated and said in neither servile nor arrogant tone.

" Hello sir, my name is Leo, I work in the equipment maintenance department. I have a business proposal for you. I am wondering whether you are interested?"

Leo's question didn't give any room for Robert to talk nonsense. He could either say, yes or no. Leo had a response to both of them. But Robert was not a rookie either. He had a keen eye to judge people and knew how to handle situations. Moreover, he had lived God knows how many years and how could he get outsmarted by a young man.

"Looks like our potion hall got a good talent this time. Young man, I see a lot of potential in you. Let's talk about business later, first tell me your background."

Robert effortlessly took back the conversation flow with a friendly smile. But in Leo's mind, that smile didn't seem friendly from any angle. Instead, it appeared as an expert hunter showing an interest in prey. Since he was a hunter himself back in his days, he could easily recognize one with just a glance.

Leo smiled back and asked, "Can I take a seat before that?"

Robert nodded and gestured like a gentleman. The more he interacted with Leo, the more he liked the young man. He became extremely curious about Leo's background.

"Thank you, sir. I don't have any big background as you presume, I entered the underworld not long ago. Just a few weeks back. Royal family helped me settle here. Over the past few weeks, I have been diligently working in the potion hall."

Robert was surprised, " They are already at the end of their rope, how can they help a nobody? I think your soul potential must be at least above-average grade if they decided to invest in you."

Leo's heart skipped a beat. ' Oh crap, I didn't think this through. Mission abort!'

Leo smiled and nodded but Robert still caught a momentary shock in Leo's eyes. Robert thought Leo was just surprised by the correct guess and didn't think much. Even in his dreams, he couldn't imagine a divine-level soul was sitting in front of him.

After seeing Robert's nonchalant expression, Leo finally heaved a sigh of relief.

Leo could have said that he possessed a high potential soul to gain more leverage but he knew that not everyone could be fooled like the Royal family and could immediately determine something was wrong with his soul the moment they check.

Moreover, Robert was not an ordinary guy. He was in charge of the entire potion hall and his knowledge. experience and world view would be naturally more than an ordinary Royal family.

Leo didn't want to risk his life just to get more leverage points. It would be something like going for wool and coming back shorn.

Robert continued " Not bad, with the above-average soul, you are already in the top 10 percent of the underworld population. What sort of business proposal you are talking about and how is it related to potion hall?"

Robert lost interest in Leo and quickly came to the point without intending to beat around the bush.

After taking a deep breath Leo replied " The main reason I came to potion hall was that I can easily relate my previous work back in my mortal world to the potion hall workings. I was a well-known chemist in my previous life and even won many prestigious awards for my discoveries.

After I got an overall understanding of the mechanism in the potion-making. I have been tinkering around potion hall's signature potion, the stamina potion. Yesterday, I accidentally stumbled upon a new and improved version of the stamina potion. Please take a look."

Leo took out his stamina potion and placed it on the table.

Robert readily believed in Leo's made-up story. He was aware that there were countless mortal world's and many of them had magic in them. Stamina potion was essential to any magical world and not unique to the underworld.

Robert's interest in Leo quickly came back. He carefully took the bottle on the table and examined it. " Have you followed all the standard procedures while making this potion? like noting down every minute step?"

Leo nodded and said " Yes, don't worry about that. I will naturally provide it after I sign a contract. Before that, you can test this potion however you like and come up with a suitable offer. My virtual ID is already with the potion hall, you can contact me any time."

Leo stood up, bowed again, and immediately went back to his apartment.

' That was a close call. If I slipped a single word about my soul, God knows what awaited me. I was too careless. Next time I need to think about every possibility before I make a rash decision.'

' Although Robert was fooled now, he could always ask the Royal family about my soul. I am 99% confident that they would not spill the secret about my soul as they would lose me immediately. It's like giving up on a potential gold mine. But there was still that 1% chance where greed was unpredictable.'

'Even if they tell I have just a high potential soul, I can't protect myself. High potential is already within top 1% of the underworld population.'

'With the potential of my new potion, they will definitely try to replicate themselves. But I am confident that they won't be able to find or identify the secret ingredients as it was provided by the system. I think they need at least 2 weeks to finally give up their futile efforts and contact me with a good offer.'

'Within 2 weeks I am confident that Alice would reach soul apprentice level. All that is left is me. Let me contact Emma and see if I can get some soul treasures for my breakthrough otherwise I can only go for an entry mission in the adventure alliance. I need to reach the soul apprentice-level as soon as possible and start the soul alter exchange system to protect myself.'