“Mr. Kraz Ulysses.”

Outside the factory, in front of a small stand‑alone house, Sally pushed open the door. Inside, a man wearing a mask turned around.

“Sally? It’s you. What’s up?”

“Mm… let me introduce you.” Sally said, “These two are my friends. They’re here to work as well.”

Then Sally turned to Xia Xin and the others. “This is Mr. Kraz, one of the managers of the factory and the chief alchemist here. It was thanks to his recommendation that I got my job.”

“Nice to meet you two.” The man called Kraz took off his mask, revealing a pitted, uneven face, as if it had been eroded by alchemical fumes. He spoke, “If you’re looking for work, that’s no problem at all. Kebento Factory welcomes more people with dreams to join us… Hmm, but you do look a bit familiar.”

Kraz stared at Xia Xin, his brows knitting slightly.

“Eh? Must be your imagination.” Xia Xin laughed lightly. “Don’t mind it, I’m just here to work, that’s all… Ahem, but about the pay…”

“Don’t worry. Since you’re Sally’s friends, of course I’ll give you special treatment,” Kraz said. “Same as her—how about fifty gold coins a month? In the Empire of Enpearl, that’s already a pretty sweet deal.”

Fifty gold coins… that’s spare change for a beggar.

“Then what if we’re High Rank Mages?” Xila stepped forward, raising her hand. A tongue of flame flared to life in her palm. “I think we should be worth something a bit more advanced than adjusting potions.”

As she spoke, she was thinking to herself, “I have to help Witch Miss! No matter what, I absolutely can’t let her think I’m useless!”

“Oh? High Rank Mages?” Kraz’s expression shifted slightly, and he lowered his voice. “With that level of control over magic, you really are High Rank Mages… Hmm, you might be able to help me.”

“Help you with what?” Xila asked.

“Forgive my bluntness.” Kraz smiled. “With your talents, you don’t have to lower yourselves to a small place like Kebento Factory. So… I’ve got a job on the side that pays a lot more. I wonder if you’re interested.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“It has nothing to do with the factory. It’s a personal matter of mine,” Kraz said. “To be honest, a certain noble lord in the Empire of Enpearl once commissioned me to create a very special potion. But I’ve never been able to finish it because I lacked help… With two High Rank Mages assisting me, I think we could complete it smoothly.”

“As for the payment for this commission, let me think…” Kraz held up one finger. “Once it’s done, how about one hundred gold coins each? Of course, even if we fail, I’ll still pay you ten gold coins apiece.”

“One hundred gold coins!” Sally’s eyes lit up at once. “If I had that much, I could pay off all those—Ahem, s‑sorry, don’t mind me.”

“This kind of thing…” Xia Xin frowned.

Who cares about you?

Right now, the only thing in Xia Xin’s mind was to hurry up and meet that factory owner named Greid. Then she’d blast him to heaven with one Fireball Spell, grab the Forbidden Spell‑level magic scroll, and get out.

As for that one‑hundred‑gold reward from this alchemist? Xia Xin couldn’t be bothered. Just hearing it sounded like a ton of trouble.

Not to mention, she currently wasn’t anywhere near a High Rank Mage’s level of power. The only spell she knew was Fireball, and even that was at half‑baked noob level.

Besides… Xia Xin didn’t know much about this World, but from what he said, this was a commission from a “noble,” right? That had to be a huge profit margin. And all they’d get was a hundred gold? That middleman markup was insane.

“Witch Miss finds this too troublesome… Got it, I’ll handle it.” Xila gave her a quick look, then turned to Kraz. “Alright, no problem. I’ll help you complete the potion. But we don’t need gold coins as payment…”

She shot Xia Xin another meaningful glance. Xia Xin froze for half a second, then followed up smoothly, “Just introduce us to the factory owner, Greid Zakari. That’ll be enough.”

She didn’t really know why Xila wanted to do this, but Xia Xin still spoke up with the request… Was this future Demon King plotting something again?

“Oh? I see. Of course, that’s no problem.” Kraz nodded. “Then please, come inside… Sally, you can head back to your post.”

“Ah, alright.” Sally nodded, then said, “You two, see you later.”

“Yeah, see you.”

……

Xia Xin and Xila stepped into the small house—only to find that the environment inside was even worse than in the factory.

Looking around, they saw all sorts of different reagents crammed on every surface. On top of that, chunks of flesh and organs from various creatures were laid out on the tables, and some strange, unknown lifeforms were writhing slowly. Just looking at it made their sanity feel like it was dropping fast.

There were also a few white lab mice… probably the most “normal” things in the entire alchemy room.

“Cough, cough… this smell is so harsh…” Xila coughed a few times, covering her mouth and nose. “What kind of potion are you making? What exactly is it supposed to do?”

“Here’s the situation.” Kraz said, “Duke Desale of the Empire of Enpearl needs me to develop a potion that can make a person ‘not need food, water, or sleep, work twenty‑four hours a day, and lose all desire.’”

“There’s no way something like that can exist!” Xia Xin couldn’t hold back her complaint.

“No, to be precise, I’ve already created a prototype.” Kraz said. “I had all the workers in the alchemy workshop inhale it. So far… there don’t seem to be any negative side effects.”

At those words, Xia Xin felt her scalp prickle.

Those workers in the alchemy workshop, shuffling around like walking corpses… they became like that because they inhaled this potion?

“Mm…” Xila frowned, clenching her fists. She forced down her anger and kept asking, “So, what’s the problem with this potion?”

“That’s right. This potion only lasts for a limited time. It’s not permanent unless you inject a huge amount in one go.” Kraz grabbed a vial of potion, the corners of his mouth slowly stretching into a grin. “But if you do that, the body’s functions will start going haywire, and it turns into… this.”

The next moment, Kraz stabbed the potion into a white mouse and injected the whole vial. Right after that, the mouse’s body began to swell nonstop. Purple‑black lines crawled over its skin, and its flesh split and collapsed.

In the end, it turned into a grotesque lump of bloody tissue… just like all the other sanity‑draining things on the table.

There was no way to see this guy as anything but a madman.