The Legendary Novice Turned Grandmaster

Jam didn't return to his house upon leaving Latoya's private pill concocting chamber. Instead, he went to the Hall of Affairs and traded his old Alchemist Badge for a shiny new one. The look of bewilderment Jam left the poor attendant that chanced upon him truly was the only thing he felt was fun.

He had played the part of a mortal for eight years, seeking out and trying various avenues for deriving fun, but in his eyes there was nothing more amusing than crushing someone's perception of reality. The look on the attendants face when Jam handed over a Tier 1 Novice Alchemist Badge and asked for a Tier 7 Grandmaster Alchemist Badge…

Honestly, at that moment even though Jam was clearly emanating the aura of a Saint Master before the attendant, she almost couldn't handle herself and laughed in his face. It was a miracle that she managed to hold herself back from what was obviously a joke. 'Tier 7? Kid, I've seen Sage Kings come by to ask for Tier 6 badges. Who are you kidding?'

Finding someone who could concoct pills at what was considered the max potential through cultivation was already rare enough. Thus, her derision and perception of Jam being a joke was justified. Here he came asking for a badge two ranks higher than what his max potential ought to be.

Luckily, the attendant managed to save herself from sure humiliation as she asked for confirmation from upper management as to whether Jam had been cleared to receive his Tier 7 Badge. She almost played herself into a corner, by first asking "Hello, I'm uh… receiving a young Saint Master, who's asking for a Tier 7 Badge..."

She didn't get to say Jam's name before the person on the other end of the line nearly blasted her eardrums into powder "A Saint Master asking for a Tier 7 Badge?! Why are you calling me for such an obvious scam? You know what, never mind that, please go on and tell me which idiot dared to waste my time… Saint Master or not, that fuck-tard will pay for his little prank."

The attendant had a priceless look on her face as the man on the other end of the line was speaking so loudly, Jam could obviously hear the entire thing from a couple feet away. She gave him a helpless look but didn't say anything, as Jam had taken it upon himself to says "My name is Jam."

"Jam? What the fuck kind of name is Jam? Lets see..." The man on the other end of the line stopped talking as a barrage of clicks could be heard through the phone; it honestly sounded more like gun fire than typing. "Jam, no surname. Here it is. He really is just a Saint Master, and one that only broke through recently! Hmph, that idiot better not come across me in the future, else I'll..." His voice stopped suddenly, before a myriad of choking noises replaced what had previously been a rather robust speech.

"H-h-he's r-really been g-given c-clear-ance t-to get a T-tier 7 b-badge… T-the H-head herself passed h-him through t-the system..." Teeth could be heard chattering thought the line connecting the man to the attendant before Jam, as the man was losing his mind, thinking of how he had provoked someone he couldn't afford to offend.

What could a mere supervising manager do against a Grandmaster Alchemist? A Grandmaster Alchemist, mind you, that transcended their cultivation's supposed max potential. The manager had also seen a bit more information about Jam which nearly caused his heart to fail him. He discovered that while Jam was just a Saint Master, he was also just 18 years old. Even in the Academy that was record pace for the best of the inner disciples. It wasn't that impressive when compared to past core disciples but Jam had lost eight whole years to the mortal world.

Jam wouldn't even need to wait a while before he could personally deal with the vulgar manager. If he really felt like it, he could tempt some stronger cultivators with some Tier 7 pills to deal with him at an earlier time as well. If only the poor manager knew Jam didn't need anyone's help to deal with him; after his breakthrough he didn't know about Sage Kings, but Greater Sages would not have a good time if they annoyed him.

"Young Master Jam! Please look the other way and grant mercy! I-I have eyes but couldn't see Mt. Tai. I have eyes but..." He kept repeated the same phrase over and over again so pathetically, Jam could help but say "Its whatever. I don't really care. I just want my badge." He really couldn't care less what other's opinions of him were. But, thought that might be the case, he felt that the savory shock offered up through the transponder was more than enough compensation for the hold up.

After getting word through the transponder that Jam was the real deal, the attendant that had been working with Jam up until now went through a noticeable change. Where as before, she was trying her damned best to not laugh at Jam with unparalleled derision, now, she had transformed into the most shy and nervous person Jam had ever seen.

She shakily ended the call and staggered out of Jam's view, before returning, still staggering, with his Tier 7 Badge. "Y-young M-master..." He slowly moved to put Jam's badge down on the table separating the two of the, not daring to touch Jam for fear of upsetting him. But, Jam didn't really read into the her intentions as he moved to the Badge from her hands.

He took the badge and tried to put it away, but the attendant's hand was still glued onto it. "Um, Do you want something else?" Jam asked the attendant, she wouldn't have been able to tell anything from his neutral face, even if her brain wasn't short circuiting at the moment.

She took a second to let the current situation sink in before finally letting go and absentmindedly saying "No… H-have a nice day."

"You too~" Jam gave her a little wink before skipping away in a fashion most unbecoming of a prestigious Tier 7 Grandmaster. He could almost feel the attendant's last thread of consciousness connecting her to reality shred to pieces, even if he didn't turn to look back at her expression.

After making his way out of the Hall of Affairs, Jam decided to go visit his friend Arnold and deliver a much needed Tier 7 Regeneration Pill. Unfortunately, he had no idea where Arnold lived, so he first made his way to Rina's house. If Rina didn't know where he lived, he could just go to the others until eventually, Arnold's dwelling was discovered.

…

"Rina dear, what's gotten into you? All I asked was what happened next!" Rina's face had reddened as if in a drunken stupor, as the older woman before edged her on to reveal more details about her trip to the pocket dimension in Afrov.

She, and the man standing next to her, could tell without a doubt that the look on Rina's face definitely had a scandalous story behind it. And while the woman wished to know every detail and support Rina with her first love, the man though silent and calm, internally planned to ruin whomever stole his little gem's heart.

"A-after, Cynthia got her equipment back… I-it was m-my turn… When t-the equipment was cooling off… I… I..." Rina was having trouble retelling what she experienced as it was far too much for her to say before her own parents. Luckily, a knock on her door saved her from the embarrassing situation.

Rina morphed out of her drunken-like state and hurriedly got up, saying "I'll get it~" She wanted nothing more than an excuse to be excused from that interrogation. However… that face of hers which was filled with nothing but joy upon being excused, slowly froze over as she opened the door to find Jam smiling back at her.

If you compared the reddish tone her face now took on, to the one she had when merely trying to retell her experience with Jam, their brightness were worlds apart. "Jam! W-wh..." Rina lost all her mental faculties at that moment as only the worst case she couldn't even imagine had been realized. She tripped on… nothing? And fell over only to be caught by Jam.

"Are you… ok?" Jam certainly didn't expect for Rina to fall over to him on sight. He knew she was still not over their experience from the time he used his massage on her, as she had directly avoided him ever since they separated on that fateful day.

Rina's parents were getting worried after their daughter had left to get the door only to then hear a loud thudding sound. Their surprise was clearly expressed as they saw their daughter collapsed atop a stranger they didn't recognize.