Redacted!

After a glance at Melinda's satisfied face, Hal entered into his mind space which now twinkled with brighter starlight to come come in contact with the grimiore. He was incensed that he had to pay a fee to be privy to it's content, even though he had gotten a small fortune (200000 gold coins) from salmon he had no intention of squandering it. After a fee of 100 gold coins, an holographic interface appeared so he could now gain access to the Grimiore's contents.

The first thing he checked was information on his bloodline and the answer he got...

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

"What the fuck. Grimiore explain yourself" Hal was irate

"Well it is like I suspected. For some reason I couldn't understand your bloodline. I could not even tell you what it was. Well now I understand why. Whatever your bloodline is you will have to discover yourself

"Also you will do well to be careful in flaunting it, if it is so terrible to be redacted from the Primordial Cosmic Grimiore then you can be sure you will most likely face persecution for it"

Hal gritted his teeth and was about to lash out when he realized he would eventually understand everything. It was only about patience so he took a deep breath. It would do him no good to to lose his calm now so he switched to other important matters.

He redeemed the Primordial Cosmic Art: cosmic pearl realm manual and the information flowed into his head.

"I want a cultivation technique for Melinda, what do you suggest" He asked grimiore

"I once told you, all those techniques were worthless and now I have proof of their worthlessness, all the impressive cultivation techniques in here are ungraded but will constantly outpace even so called purple grade techniques as long as they are upgraded after every major realm"

"Okay, that's nice to hear, now where's the 'but'"

"What do you mean by 'but'" Grimiore asked

"You know, this cultivation technique is great but..." Hal trailed off

"Why does there have to be a 'but'?" Grimiore asked

"A technique such as this is bound to have a 'but', or else it would probably by unreliable. Even the primordial Cosmic Art has a 'but'" Hal reasoned

What Hal believed to be a 'but' for the Primordial Cosmic Art was simply how much importance it placed on quality as opposed to quantity, something even he knew should be considered a plus.

"Well it does not have a 'but'. However you can only redeem one per use"

"So essentially,I will have to pay for the technique before it can be handed to anyone"

"Exactly"

'This is fraud' Hal yelled inwardly

"So how are this ungraded techniques compared to the Primordial Cosmic Art?"

"They are weaker but can't be compared to any other" Grimoire replied promptly

"Are there any graded techniques?"

"Numerous"

"What about skills?"

"Countless"

Hal nodded. He had a plan for those.

"What if I redeem the technique for someone and they happen to teach someone else"

"Believe me, That's not possible. It is an exclusive technique"

'Exclusive my ass, you just want to keep raking in gold' Hal thought

Of course Hal could also see an advantage in this it would help keep the technique with those he could trust and avoid leakage.

He redeemed the technique for Melinda and was about to turn away when he noticed something

>Upset Victory package: Acquired Equipoise ability

Hal was about to read the description when his astral perception picked up an intruder headed into the mansion.

He withdrew himself from his mind space and moved to intercept the intruder who was presently moving around on the outside.

The intruder was moving across the courtyard when Hal arrived before them and caused them to stop. The intruder happened to be a young lady that looked to be in her twenties but Hal recognized her, she was Rita. The very same one Rad had gone head over heels for. Usually Rita would have either an awe stricken face or a submissive one but the look she had now was simply of mild respect and a little shock at meeting Hal before she got inside. It was quite out of character of her.

"Young master" She bowed

"Hello Rita. What may I ask, are you doing here so late? Did Rad send you here?" He asked her

"I am here on my own accord. I know Rad Payne tried to have you assassinated" She told him

"Are you here to show concern"

"Yes, young master"

"Why?"

"My mistress tasked me with your protection" This time she looked genuinely awed

"Mistress? You mean Lillian?"

"Pfft, what right could she or her husband have to have me call them master?" Rita chuckled cutely

Hal raised an eyebrow "Okay then who is your mistress"

Rita paused as though wondering if it was wise to answer before sighing

"It's Your mother"

...

Payne estate, Gregory's study

Gregory Payne was burning the midnight oil. The news of Rad ordering the assasination of the witch's spawn, he had been far from being disappointed. That was his plan as well. He had actually planned to attack both Master Swanson and the bastard simultaneously, making sure there would be no retribution.

Rad's plan had been well thought out and guaranteed that should Hal (ugh, he hated to even think that name) survive. which was going to be a tough task to accomplish. There would be nothing except suspicions tying the Payne family to the murder.

Gregory sighed. It was time to begin to arm his men, the strength of the Family head was of little consequence if there was no one to defend the home base.

Hector Edgar was the strongest threat to the Ambition of anyone trying to become mayor as he was indisputably the strongest strongest individual in salmon city at the moment so the best way to chip at the strength of the House Edgar was to go after the 'little people' who made up their home base force.

*knock**knock**knock

"Come in" Gregory called and the door opened and a black robed man walked into the study

"Patriarch, I have news. A few hours earlier he returned to the mansion and we have cause to believe he came from Tretch forest"

Gregory nodded knowing fully well who the 'he' referred to and the fact that he had gone to stretch forest was suspected already

"And why are you only reporting it now?" The news should have been reported with haste

"Well...I was following your second order"

"And..."

"Nothing, we found nothing. Although we couldn't search thoroughly for fear of being discovered"

"Sigh. I wasn't really expecting you to. Stop watching him for now, Lillian claims it's turning into an obsession. So we'll be focusing on making me mayor from now on. When I'm mayor I want to see how he survives" Gregory chattered with a craze look on his face that made the informant wonder what could make a father hate his son so much.

...

Meanwhile...

Hal was still reeling from the 'it's your mother' Comment. Sure, ever since he took over this body, he never believed Lillian to be his mother, they had nothing in common. The news however did not garner any change in him because whoever his 'mother' was, she had left him with a father like Gregory Payne and until he he could judge her reasons he could not decide what to think. Yet.

"Okay. Who is she?" He asked

"I can't say"

"Oh, why not?" he asked with his eyebrows were

"I don't really know who she is" Rita sighed exasperated

'Now this is intriguing' Hal thought

After his prompting, Rita launched into a story of how she had been saved and given new life with only one thing asked in return. That she, Rita, infiltrate the Payne family and protect her saviour's son in secret and so she began working on the Payne estate 5 years ago with apparently an abysmal cultivation base

"What about when I was sold" Hal asked

"well, your life was not in danger per se so I was not supposed to interfere if not I would have done so whenever you were mistreated and blown my cover" Rita explained

'If only she knew Hal really died in slavery, and I took over his body' Hal thought

"So are you really only here to show concern" Hal asked as he led the way into the mansion and stopping to sit in the lounge

"No I want to help you destroy the Payne family. I'm sure you are planning it and I want to offer my assistance" She said with a smile on her face

Hal seemed to be considering it as he closed his eyes and took deep breaths

"No" He opened his eyes suddenly

The smile fell of Rita's face

"Frankly, I don't trust you and I won't accept any help from you until I can"