Back on earth Hal had been with a lot of women, his looks were just a little above average but he was far from terrible looking, he had a muscular, fit physique from his regular workouts, taken together, he was a real package with raw sexual magnetism. He had trouble with commitment, in the sense that he did not want one. However after arriving in this world and sleeping with Melinda, he had made a decision, if he likes a woman enough, he will accept her into his fold. It was his best compromise, seeing as he planned to remain a philander.

Amelia was the first he would pitch the idea to and as such, how he handled the situation would help to better handle the situation with others in the future and also making use of his pheromones were helping him gain better control of it.

However when Amelia's face continued turning more flushed he decided to rein the pheromones in.

"You have no shame. What did you do to me?"

"Nothing. Yet" and with that he leaned in over the table and took her lips, he meant it to be just a peck but she leaned into it and kissed him as hard as she could with the table between them. When their lips parted for breath, Hal smirked

"See, you are not much of a saint. you just took advantage of me" He said

"I don't see you complaining,besides you kissed me first" she smiled back at him. After the kiss she felt much more bold, his lips were like a drug of courage that melted away all her inhibitions.

Hal nodded and stood from his seat "I have to go now, I will see you again in a few days"

"Why, where are you going?"

"This incident with rad has pointed out just how weak I am. I will use this few days to increase my strength"

He acted so freely with her that she had almost forgotten he was just at 3rd stage of the energy sensing realm, plus, he said it with such zeal that she almost believed him

Almost.

"You're going after the ghost salmon aren't you"

"Of course not"

She raised her brows skeptically, but Hal just smiled and kissed her forehead before heading out of the restaurant

"Bastard" Amelia sighed as she watched him leave touching the spot he had kissed

...

Hal made his way back to Master Swanson's store and asked to leave for the rest of the but not before giving in a reproachful look

"I could have died, and you did nothing" Hal told him

"No, you wouldn't, I would intervene before things got out of hand, but you need to fight your own battles"

'Why do the 'good' guys always have to be so principled, this is insane. The bad guys don't care about such stupid Principles, they just try everything to win. The 'good' guys however fight without support and claim to have fought with 'honor'. What a bunch of baloney' Hal thought

"I will be away for a few days" was what he actually said

"Why?" Master Swanson asked and Hal gave him the same excuse he had given Amelia only adding that he would also have to tend his broken ribs.

"Here, take this" master Swanson said and tossed him a green pill of a darker shade than the one Amelia had given him.

Hal accepted it, nodded his head in thanks before leaving the store to return home.

***

Hal told Melinda his plan and as expected she was against it

"It is too dangerous, the 'salmon's' lair is supposedly in Tretch forest and the place is crawling with demon beasts, you will be swarmed before you find it " she said

"Don't worry I will be fine" Hal said stroking her hair and while she was still a little worried, she decided to trust him.

Once Hal was alone in his room

"Now I wish I could improve my strength, it might not be useful against the salmon but it would help me protect myself until I find the salmon. Too bad I can't refine the essence I got from Melinda" Hal sighed

'Actually, since you have the Primordial Cosmic Art, you only need to wait a little while after a breakthrough before attempting another. You could have refined the essence the instant you got it'

'What? Why didn't you tell me that? If you had, Rad might not have been able to break my ribs' Hal mentally yelled

Grimiore was silent at first before he said 'I seriously want to point out that you technically did not ask me, but the truth is that my mind is still a little messed up so I tend to forget certain details'

Hal gritted his teeth before beginning to refine the essence.

His cultivation began to improve and in a few seconds the increase capped

'Sixth stage of the energy sensing realm. I thought it would be more than this. She's a whole realm above me' Hal wondered

'For a average cultivation technique, the increase would have capped at the seventh stage probably. but the purity of the cosmic energy won't be at it's highest. That's another one of the advantage of the Primordial Cosmic Art; it provides you with the highest possible cosmic energy purity'.