What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

Inside the Labyrinth Workshop, Leon and Rena were each busy at their own workbenches.

After finishing a batch of potion preparation, Rena let out a long breath and prepared to take a short rest.

She looked toward Leon and noticed that he was not handling Magical Beasts.

Instead, he was fiddling with several test tubes filled with different liquids, seemingly conducting some kind of experiment on his own.

“Are you trying to extract Mana again?” Rena asked.

After obtaining Moilai’s blessing, Leon had indeed tried to learn to extract Mana using the Moilai Altar the way Rena did.

He had successfully extracted Mana, but for some reason—whether due to his magical power level or proficiency—after several attempts, the quality of the Mana he produced had never matched Rena’s.

Using the same raw materials, the Mana Leon produced was on average about five percentage points lower than Rena’s.

Rena had assumed that he had already given up on extracting Mana himself.

“No, I’m doing other experiments,” Leon replied.

“What are you doing?” She leaned over curiously and casually picked up two test tubes from the rack to examine them.

“Don’t touch—” Leon was just about to stop her when he realized she had already picked them up.

He sighed softly.

“Sigh.”

“What’s wrong? I’m wearing gloves and a mask! You’re not wearing anything yourself and you’re still touching things. Is this something dangerous?”

Rena asked in confusion as she examined the two test tubes in her hands.

One contained a transparent, pale yellow liquid, while the other held a very small amount of a white, paste-like viscous substance.

“I’m doing these experiments precisely to determine whether these things are dangerous,” Leon explained.

“What kind of potion is this? If you’re bringing potions into the workshop, you have to report it to me in advance!” Rena said seriously.

All potions in the workshop were managed and handled by her.

If Leon brought in anything hazardous or capable of reacting with other stored potions without her knowledge, it would undoubtedly pose a risk to the workshop.

“These aren’t potions. They’re biological samples prepared for testing,” Leon said.

“Biological samples of what? Animals? Magical Beasts?”

“Mine,” Leon replied calmly.

“Huh?” Rena failed to react for a moment.

“My blood has already been confirmed to possess a special cursed property that can be controlled by my will. So I started wondering whether my other bodily fluids might carry similar dangers—if so, whether the intensity differs, and whether they can be controlled…”

Leon explained slowly as he picked up a test tube in his own hand.

“At present, it’s been preliminarily confirmed that these don’t have any obvious toxicity. That’s good—at least I won’t accidentally poison someone to death just by spraying droplets.”

“I see.” Rena understood, then suddenly realized something and widened her eyes.

She hurriedly put the two test tubes back onto the rack.

“Wait, then what are those two?”

“One of them is urine. The other…” Leon hesitated for a moment.

“You work in breeding. You shouldn’t not know. I don’t want to spell it out too clearly.”

Rena raised Magical Beasts, so she certainly understood reproduction principles.

Leon felt there was no need to give her a lesson in basic biology here.

Rena took a deep breath, her face flushing bright red.

Then, with a pained expression, she turned and rushed to the sink, tore off her gloves, threw them away, and started washing her hands frantically.

After quite a while, her shouting finally erupted: “Idiot! Moron! Stupid! What kind of things did you make me touch?! W-what if something goes wrong by accident? Can you take responsibility for that?!”

“These are just normal biological samples for research. Don’t be so overly sensitive. Besides, I told you not to touch them—you picked them up first. You were wearing gloves, and everything was sealed in test tubes. What could possibly go wrong?” Leon said lightly.

“Then why did you put them into test tubes and bring them in here?! Do you know how expensive these experimental containers are?!” Rena said angrily.

Those delicate glass and metal experimental vessels were very expensive on the market.

“We’re not short on money now, and I didn’t damage them. Just wash and sterilize them and keep using them,” Leon said.

“But can I not feel grossed out?! Let me make this clear first—I don’t want any of those tools anymore! You keep them yourself! Don’t mix them with mine!!” Rena said angrily.

“Then just write your name on your own stuff,” Leon replied indifferently.

Rena dried her hands.

She had finally calmed down a little, but she still stared at Leon and complained, “The others are one thing, but that… was it really necessary to test it?”

“How could it not be necessary? After receiving a blessing, I need to thoroughly examine what changes have occurred in my body. What if I find a partner someday and accidentally kill her without realizing it?” Leon replied.

“Find a partner?” Rena blinked.

“I’m male and I prefer females. Wanting to find a partner is normal, right?” Leon replied while organizing the equipment.

Rena felt her heart stir slightly.

She moved closer to Leon and leaned over, probing cautiously.

“So that means… you don’t have one right now?”

“No. Why?” Leon asked in return.

“N-no reason…” Rena didn’t know how to continue.

She herself didn’t understand why she had suddenly become curious about this.

“I was just thinking—you’ve done so many things that could get you executed. What kind of partner could you even find in the future? If you find an ordinary person, wouldn’t you be ruining her life?”

“It’s fine. Once I have money and wash my hands of this business, women will be easy to find. I can keep a few—however many I want, whatever types there are,” Leon said casually, running his mouth.

The moment Rena heard this, an inexplicable surge of anger rose within her.

She lifted her foot and kicked at Leon.

“Go die, you scumbag!!”

“Hey, that’s dangerous!” Leon dodged quickly.

“What are you doing? That was obviously a joke!”

“Even as a joke, it makes me uncomfortable!” Rena argued forcefully.

“What does that have to do with you? Why are you uncomfortable?” Leon frowned.

“I…” Rena was momentarily speechless.

Right—what did it have to do with her how this bastard found a partner or women in the future?

“Talking to you is a waste of time. Get back to work!” Rena changed the subject and turned back to her workbench.

Leon shook his head in confusion and continued with his work.

Not far away, Rena secretly glanced over at him again.

Ever since Leon had killed that Director of the Inquisition, Rena found that she didn’t know why, but whenever they were in the same space, her gaze would drift toward Leon from time to time.

And occasionally, her mind would inexplicably replay the scene of them hiding together in the labyrinth—she had been terrified, clinging tightly to Leon.

In that moment, it was as if the entire world had been reduced to just the two of them.

All sounds faded away, leaving only the clarity of each other’s heartbeats.

Before that, when Leon had turned his back and walked away, she had once thought he had truly abandoned her.

But in the end, Leon had still chosen to risk his life to protect her, engaging in a deadly fight with that terrifying Inquisitor…

No, no—thinking about it carefully, if he hadn’t dragged her into this business in the first place, how would she have ended up facing such danger?

Rena tried hard to straighten out her thoughts.

This guy had promised to protect her from the beginning.

If he said it, he should do it!

“All right, I’m heading inside again,” Leon said as he finished tidying the experimental table.

He grabbed a pickaxe and a shovel from the toolbox in the corner.

“What exactly have you been messing around with in there since yesterday? Mining?” Rena couldn’t help asking.

“I studied the internal structure of the labyrinth earlier and found an entrance that was blasted but not completely collapsed—it was blocked again through backfilling. I want to dig out another exit.

“That way, entering and leaving the labyrinth from there will be safer.

Even if someone suddenly comes in through this side’s entrance, you or I inside will still have a route to escape,” Leon explained.

After the incident of Caron suddenly breaking in, Leon realized that they had always been at risk of being trapped like turtles in a jar inside the labyrinth.

The entrance they had been using was registered with the Inquisition.

If someone followed that route in, whoever was inside would be completely sealed within the labyrinth.

Thus, he decided to reopen a concealed passage and hide it, leaving them another way out in the labyrinth.

Having the workshop sealed was serious, but it was nothing compared to being caught red-handed on the spot.

“Will this place… still be discovered?” Rena asked uneasily.

“No one knows what will happen after Caron’s death. But Magical Beasts still have to be raised in the labyrinth, so we need to prepare ahead of time,” Leon said, carrying his tools and lantern as he walked deeper into the labyrinth.