Hal returned to bed and went back into his mind space where he decided to checked in on what had caught his attention earlier but first...

>Bloodline: ???? {? Means redacted) To speak of it would bring chaos and incur divine punishment

Bloodline abilities: Pheromones Manipulation || Essence King ||Fear!! ||Erogenous touch ||Regeneration ||

Descriptions:

-Pheromones Manipulation

Effective against the opposite sex. Capable of inducing lust, and a calming effect. When used as a domain can be integrated with emotion and illusion type abilities

-Essence King

Capable of sharing and siphoning the essence of the opposite sex for the progressive strengthening of the bloodline and Flesh of the bearer.

-Fear!!

Subjecting the victim to the most primitive urges of all beings. FEAR!

-Erogenous Touch

Making every part of the bearer's body pleasure inducing.

-Regeneration

So far, can mend sliced up bones!

————————–————————————

The {Essence King} ability when paired with the Primordial Cosmic Art was one of Hal's favorites. With it he could improve his Bloodline and the energy from the essence refining process could be further refined by the Primordial Cosmic Art.

According to Grimiore, the Primordial Cosmic Art always evolved to better suit the host as another one of it's advantages. For a battle-crazy freak it became a body strengthening technique and for him it became a dual cultivation type technique capable of even siphoning the Cultivation of another.

With both his bloodline and the Primordial Cosmic Art, he could strengthen his body and Dual cultivate.

The fact that the Grimiore predetermined that he would get to sleep with a lot of women soothed his Ego to no end.

"Nicely arranged, easily accessible. Now for that attention grabber..."

>upset victory package: Acquired Equipoise Ability

"Grimiore, what does this mean?" Hal asked

"Every time you achieve something of a 'grand' scale you are awarded an upset victory package. Think of these events as impromptu quest which when completed award you abilities usually fitting the completed tasks"

Hal pressed on it...

-Equipoise:

Are you tired of being told what energy you can or cannot store in your body?. Are you tired of being unable to match up to your peers? Or are you just tired of being normal and mediocre? Well Equipoise can help you change all that. With this ability you can store any type of energy inside your body without fear of repercussions.

(Warning: use wisely and only store energy of your level)

"Why does this seem more like a sales pitch?" Hal wondered

"Nonsense. This is going to be very useful to you"

"Of course it's going to be useful, now I would no longer need your help when storing up astral energy"

Hal became lost in just thinking of the possibilities. For once the grimiore was finally acting like a useful artifact.

After this Hal exited his mind space to cultivate the essence he had received from both Melinda and Valerie, focusing more on his bloodline but while all his available abilities became stronger, no new ability surfaced and no new information did either.

He then revolved the Primordial Cosmic Art to refine the remainder for his cultivation. When he was done his cultivation was at the peak of the ninth stage but his Flesh had longed surpassed that point ensuring that below the mid stage of the cosmic pearl realm, it would take monstrous strength to injure his flesh. His Flesh now rivaled that of a mid stage pearl beast. His Regeneration also now guaranteed a quick mend even if his bones were smashed to pieces.

He rose from the bed stark naked and stretched not entirely surprised to find himself several inches taller.

...

It was a little late in the morning when Melinda woke up after which hal passed the information of the ungraded technique to her, she accepted it without question and instantly refined Hal's essence inside her and found her cultivation at the brink of another breakthrough.

With the help of the Primordial Cosmic Art, the essence passed to Hal's partners were in ready to use form and allowed them to refine it as though they were absorbing Cosmic Energy.

When she was done with the refining and inquired about the technique he waved it off and she decided not to bother about it. She trusted him that much and besides if he had stolen it, all the better.

Instead, She looked him straight in the eyes

"I don't like it" she told him

"Really, what don't you like?" Hal asked and pinched her nipple lightly

She moaned softly but refused to be distracted. Again.

"Are we not together?"

Hal gestured towards their naked form on the bed "Judging by this I will say we are"

"Then you should learn to share your plans with me and indulge me when I worry about such plans"

"But I do that" Hal said and sat up suddenly looking at Melinda with her face down "*sigh* You know, you are getting too clingy. I might have to ditch you"

The seriousness in his voice caused her head to snap up but when she saw him grinning she lifted herself from the bed to sit on his lap, pouting

"You wouldn't dare"

Hal chuckled "maybe not. You are my baby girl, after all"

"Shameless, I'm older than you" she said with a blushed face

"And what does that have to do with anything?" Hal said before filling her in about everything that had happened after he had left the city the day before, including the assassins and the encounter with Valerie and the red garbed lady.

"Seems to me like you just went into the forest to meet chicks" That seemed to be her only takeaway glossing over the assassination attempt.

"What? Are you jealous?" Jealousy was not an attribute he would attest to Melinda and sure enough...

"What's there to be jealous about? On the contrary I need more hands on deck or dick to be more accurate, I don't think I can handle you alone. so it's alright as long as I remain your baby girl"

"I thought you did'nt want to be called that"

She kissed him deeply "I'm warming up to it" another make out session ensued

"So what's your plan now?" She asked once they separated to breathe

"Well, you wanted to be involved, so what do you say to causing a little chaos" Hal trailed suggestively

"Mhm. Sounds like a 'smashing' idea"

...

Payne Estate

Rad listened to the sobs of the woman who had captured his heart and they made his heart burn with rage.

Rita had come to him this morning with a tale of how she had been molested by a masked figure. She was bruised and her clothes torn into rags, she was only lucky that the day was about to break and the assailant left to avoid being caught by witnesses but not before taking the ring that he had given her.

When Rad listened to the tale he felt a little relief, after all it was only one ring, it did not matter to him, at least she had not being defiled. However just thinking of how close this assailant was, he could not help but see red. Rita was his, how dare this mysterious assailant try to claim her body when he had not.

"Grrr. If I ever find out who did this, I will make sure to tear them limb from limb" Rad growled angrily as he consoled Rita who appeared devastated like a lady who had lost her innocence

*sob*sob*sob*

However Rita was cringing in her mind "Master, where are you? If you don't come soon, I might kill him myself"

At that time...

Boom!!!

A sound akin to a small explosion sounded and it followed was by a bellow

"RAD PAYNE, YOU DISGUSTING COWARD. SHOW YOURSELF!!"