After such a direct invitation to the imminent beat-down, Gilim was smart enough to shut his pie hole and shrink into his coat to avoid everyone's gazes. Eik had heard of several such duels in the past two years and apparently so had everyone else, because it didn't take many seconds for them to lose interest in that and return to the matter at hand.

"How long did it take you to come up with the recipe for the Legendary Mystery Medicine?" someone called from one of the back rows.

For a moment, Eik contemplated how to answer. "It took a little over five years, I think."

"But I thought your world didn't even properly merge into the Unified Mass until about three years ago?" someone broke in.

"Uuh, well…" Crap… "It felt like five years, though. that's for sure," he laughed nervously. A quick scan of the front rows told him that a lot of people weren't buying it. How long did it even normally take to develop a new alchemical recipe? Fuck, time to guess, then. "In reality it probably took me more like… uhm, three… months?"

"Three months?" a few people yelled in shock. "That's miraculous!"

"And how long did it take you to actually succeed in the creation process itself?"

"Oh, uuh, I just did it all at the same time," Eik said.

"Y-You did it in—… You did it all in th-three months?" a member of the Alchemist Guild stammered incredulously. "But how?"

"I wish I could tell you, but I can't."

"Why not?" she asked

"Well, because I don't really want to. It's my secret to keep." She grumbled at that.

He picked someone else to ask. "Can we expect other common potions to become subject to your eternalization technique in the future?"

Eik smirked. "Who says they haven't already?"

Whispers broke out as people discussed frantically among themselves. Finally, someone piped up. "Uhm, so, are you saying that, besides the Potion of Mighty Strength, other potions have already been made into Legendary Mystery Medicine? Which ones?"

Eik narrowed his eyes for a couple of seconds, thinking. "Well, I wasn't actually going to disclose this today, but since you asked, yes, I have been successful in the development of a few other recipes."

"Which ones?" a very young woman asked with fervor, almost pushing over her chair in her haste to ask. She wore a robe and a wide-brimmed hat. Stereotypical mage much? "Which ones have you managed to produce successfully thus far? Potion of Magical Empowerment? Oh, man, please say you made Potion of Magical Empowerment!" She seemed almost desperate.

Truthfully, Eik had successfully converted nearly all additional recipes he had tried until then. It was just that not all of them were fit to be permanent effects. The booster potion were fine, like Potion of Mighty Strength, Potion of the Metal Body, and, as the young mage had hoped for, Potion of Magical Empowerment.

Others, such as Kiq's Temper—the insect repellent—or Climber's Adhesive, which allowed one's hands to cling to surfaces, would probably not be ideal for the conversion. Just imagine your hand kind of sticking to everything you touch. Forever.

Glass of water. Pens. Clothes. Dirt. Your own face. Other people.

But as for Potion of Magical Empowerment… Eik sent her a cheeky grin. "I might have made than one already."

Hopping in place, the young woman nearly exploded with glee. "Pl— "

Suddenly a remarkably large Gohkamorian dressed in multiple layers of decorative furs and fabrics stood from a seat near the center of the rows of spectators. He didn't wait to be asked, living up to the Gohkamorian image. "I wish to purchase pills in bulk. Where can we meet after this?"

Eik's jaw tensed. "I believe I addressed this exact question earlier. Currently there are no plans to change the way we're doing things," he answered with a nod at Andihar Dayarunar.

That didn't make the Gohkamorian sit down. "I demand to be heard in private to discuss this matter further." His face was like that of a stone sculpture. "I and a delegation of officials will visit you at your offices at Eik's Excellent Elixir Emporium within five days."

Eik suppressed a sneer. Having knowledge of the name of his company meant his identity hadn't been news to him today. So he wasn't here as an individual buyer. He was sent by the Gohkamorians. Filthy bastards. "You will do no such thing," Eik told him firmly. "The moment you step onto Earthen soil without a proper invitation from me or another person authorized to make it, it will be treated as hostile action and you will be detained."

By this time many of the other attendees were looking askance at the exchange. It was a secret to none how the Gohkamorians tended to conduct business—straightforwardly and crudely. They weren't dumb but at times they could appear to be because they much preferred to get to the point and put the cards on the table.

"I must remind you what it means to offend the Gohkamorian Empire, Mr. Magnasen. I don't doubt that you are already aware of some of what we are capable of."

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For a moment, Eik saw red. He would be an idiot to miss what the large man was referring to. The Gohkamorian representative probably expected that a veiled threat would shake Eik's resolve. That he wouldn't dare talk back to a civilization so far ahead of his own on a cosmic scale. Well, tough luck. If the Gohkamorians wanted the cards on the table, then Eik would slam his whole hand down.

Eik failed to keep the acid from his voice as he spat back, forgetting momentarily where he was as wrathful aura crackled with a shrill pitch.

"You're right. I am aware of what you're capable of. What you're capable of are unprovoked attacks on a defenseless sprout world, causing the deaths of more than eighty percent of the total population."—The presence of important people to hear his words, as well as the fact that he alone held the secret to unlimited power, spurred on his fury—"And all without having the guts to set a single pair of feet on our world, isn't that right, Gohkamorian?" he snarled, the brilliant blue crown of a Worldbreaker rising into the air above his head as glimmering energy flowed from his eyes.

Eik didn't know how disputes among civilizations were conventionally handled and resolved but he suspected it usually included quite a bit more private negotiating, deception, and veiled words. Fuck that.

Earth didn't have the presence in the Unified Mass to go against the Gohkamorians like that. As a matter of fact, only Eik really had any sort of pull. So if they didn't have a chance behind closed doors, let it all be public.

For the first time since he had stood up and started speaking, the Gohkamorian looked taken aback. He clearly hadn't expected Eik to take his veiled threat, shove it into a barrel of gunpowder, and light the fuse for everybody to witness.

"Preposterous!" was all he could say as he collected himself. "You're resorting to empty accusations!"

"They're only empty if there's no proof," Eik pointed out.

"And what proof do you have?" the Gohkamorian huffed. This was developing further and further away from the event it was supposed to be.

"We have monsters. Many monsters. They have been attacking us without end for more than ten years after all," Eik said and turned to the rest of the spectators with arms spread out wide. The monsters had been what helped Mikla figure out who had been attacking Earth. "To anyone interested, we of Earth will provide you with as many specimens of Gohkamorian bred monsters as you care to receive. I encourage everybody to verify my accusation on your own. We will welcome you to Earth where you can pick them up. We have live specimens as well as corpses."

Again, the Gohkamorian couldn't believe that Eik would invite any and all delegations to Earth with free access to their property. It was reckless. But Earth was already on the lowest rung of the cosmic hierarchy. A bit of recklessness should be a given in Eik's mind. Literally anything was better than letting the Gohkamorians control the narrative.

"Precision breeding or covert acquisition." the previously stone-faced man shouted. Warlike was right. "Anybody would know that such monsters prove n—"

"Would know that such monsters prove nothing, yes, so you say. But as was pointed out by someone else earlier, Earth has not even had contact with foreign civilizations for three years as this point. It would require minimal digging to figure out that we have neither the resources nor the knowledge to breed anything, let alone something that mimics yours perfectly, nor the connections to trade with anyone who could," Eik said. "With our extremely brief and infant history here in the Unified Mass, it is really an incredibly simple fact to verify for anyone who cares to try." This last remark was directed at the rest of the attendees as much as at the Gohkamorian.

Eik eyes went to his friends and family. Most of the Earthlings looked worried. He hoped there wouldn't be a reason to.

Clan Leader Gul had been grinning ever since Eik began talking back to the hostile representative, while Andihar's expression was the difficult one to read for once.

Wordlessly, the Gohkamorian drew his blade, but both Clan Leader Gul, Andihar, and a few other unfamiliar but clearly powerful individuals stood up to deter an escalation of the conflict.

Even with their inborn bellicosity, this particular Gohkamorian apparently had the brains to realize when he was facing a losing battle and returned his weapon to its sheath. "This cowardly and deceitful transgression will not be forgotten!" he hissed as he turned and left.

He remained silent as he watched the man go. Even if not a single person was interested in investigating Eik's claims further, the seed he had planted in their minds today would hopefully give Earth ground to stand on in the future.

***

Despite the excitement at the end, after the event there had been so many people eager to meet him that Eik had been forced to stick around and answer questions for a couple of hours straight. Finally, however, he managed to slip away through a clever combination of appropriately timed super speed and feigning the sudden urge to puke.

"God, that was a horror show!" Eik groaned as they walked up the walkway to the main building of the Dayarunar estate.

"I'd say it was rather successful," Andihar noted.

Eik shot him an eye of disbelief. "Did you not see me go off on that Gohkamorian? How was that successful?"

Andihar just shrugged. "Confronting your enemy when the time is right is a good thing. And you caught him off guard in public. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Well, I mean, yeah, but…"

Clan Leader Gul thumped him in the back, grinning widely. This was probably the most animated Eik had ever seen the old man since he'd first met him. "I thought it was absolutely hilarious, my boy," he said.

"Well, great," Eik grumbled. "I might have just doomed my whole world, but I'm glad you had fun at least."

"Oh, come on," Gul said. "This is the best you could have hoped for. The guy brought it up himself. You should always pay back what you're given twice over. You did good."

Eik sighed. "You guys don't know what it's like to be at the bottom…"

"You might not have endeared yourself to the Gohkamorians, but what you have done is show everyone else that you, and extension your world, don't take threats or attacks lying down. Nobody likes a coward, and talking back to an older civilization has certainly proved that you're not," Andihar said.

"Honestly," Michael joined in. "As horrified as I was when you first went against that bastard, I'm more and more on board with it as I think it over. They've already been attacking us for years. And they can't just send S-rankers to Earth willy nilly because they get mad, right?" he said, looking to Andihar and Gul for confirmation, getting nods from both of them. "So clear opposition is the only way forward that I can see. Anything else is just stalling. With this, at least other member civilizations will know what's going on."

"Yeah…" Eik said with a nod. He hoped that's how it would turn out. Honestly, he also thought the Gohkamorian situation had been due for some serious opposition, but he couldn't help but imagine being responsible for worsening the situation.

"But you're bringing that guy Vendekaabe in front of a council tomorrow, right?" Ihasu asked, handing Eik a glass of chilled juice.

"Thanks. Yeah. I'm pretty nervous."

"You're going to do just fine," she said and kissed him on the cheek.

"We damn well better…"

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