The Alchemists

It was only during the official launch of Holodeck that the directors of Splitz found out who Alaric really was. It was when he came as the new leader of Rhionen-Meier Industries, of which Splitz was one of the numerous subsidiaries.

They never expected the big boss to be this young and mysterious.

Alaric then soon became a topic of conversation among the high-class ladies who hoped to get a chance to meet him or, better yet, date him.

"You are now on the list of the most eligible bachelors in the world after you came on top of the Forsythe's 100 Most Influential Men, which was released last week. This time the list is the Ritz List's version," commented Aleksis, his digital assistant, when Alaric was reading some files in his house after dinner. "Luna has already rejected hundreds of interview requests for you."

"The most eligible bachelor?" Alaric furrowed his brows and spat out with a disgusted face. "What nonsense. I can't be attracted to regular people."

Before, Alaric had always disliked humans in general. But when he learned that he was actually an Alchemist, he became aware that he actually did not hate humans. He just hated ordinary people whom he thought were evil for loving warfare and destroying nature.

The world of the Alchemists was a perfect and ideal society, so, for the first time, Alaric felt that he had found his true place. Alchemists had a perfect system; they were never in a rush to get married or have children, and they lived in harmony with nature, not at all interested in warfare.

Alaric agreed with Sophia and Portia that Alchemists should set an example for ordinary people by getting out of their secret lives. Ordinary people should know who the real people behind the scenes were and understand how corrupt their own society was.

Alaric snorted when he heard from Luna that he had become the number one or the most eligible bachelor in the world, the dream guy of so many women, at least according to many versions of business and lifestyle magazines.

He did not have the slightest interest in women from the ordinary bunch. He thought they were not equal to him. Regular humans could have beauty and wealth, but none of what they possessed could buy class, he thought.

Aleksis was an exception for Alaric. Of course, he made this exception because he loved the girl. In matters of love, humans would always make up various criteria to reject the ones they were not interested in. But if they truly loved someone, none of the criteria would matter.

"What's with that snorting? You're the only person who doesn't like getting awards," Aleksis chided.

"It's a rubbish award," Alaric remarked, continuing to read the document.

"So you don't want to come to the Ritz Gala year-end party in New York to receive it? It's the most prestigious socialites event in the world. They deliberately invited you to attend and receive the award because they plan to use Virconnect 4D to broadcast the party for the first time." A while later, Aleksis' voice then turned into a whisper, "Actually, Pavel's digital assistant told me to persuade you to come because he said it would be very good marketing for Splitz."

Alaric frowned, "Aleksis, you should be my assistant, not the assistant of Pavel's assistant. Why are you on his side?"

"Ugh ... because I want to see you appear on stage, and be admired by many people. Your place is there, not here reading documents alone." Aleksis' voice sounded seductive, "Master is very handsome, I can't wait to dress you up for the party."

"Ish ..." Alaric just shook his head. "When is the event? You didn't forget that I also have to attend the New Year party in Glasgow, did you? I can't miss that one as it will be held by Portia."

"This time I didn't forget. The Ritz Gala event is on December 20 while Mrs. Portia's New Year party is on December 31. This will be a good opportunity for you to introduce yourself to the whole world." Aleksis became very excited, "If you want to rule the world, they must know who you are."

Alaric felt that Aleksis had a point. Portia and Ned planned to announce him to the entire Alchemist Clan at their new year's party.

But, of course, it would not hurt to first appear to the world through the Ritz Gala award event. That way, once it was time to be introduced by Portia, many alchemists would have already heard of him.

They certainly would not expect the leader of the largest corporation in the world today to be an alchemist like them. That should benefit him if he wanted to get their support in becoming the clan leader.

Hmm .. later this year he would be very busy.

***

Terry sat on his chair, looking at the invitation in his hand with a very happy heart.

Finally! After working so hard for many years and becoming one of the most respected business figures in New York, he got a special invitation from the Ritz Gala committee, made specifically and delivered directly by human couriers. 

After Caspar handed over his entire corporation to Terry last month and made him President of the Schneider Group, he finally made it to the list of the most eligible bachelors in the world. This reminded him of various ridiculous polls on campus when he was still competing with Nicolae in the past.

Ha ha ha. Terry didn't think he was still as competitive as before. Apparently he was. Even though he had, so far, never dated any woman and was preoccupied with work, getting on the list of the most eligible bachelors still gave him personal satisfaction.

He could not wait to show off to Nicolae.

Ah, he would show off to his best friend directly in the party using the new technology, Virconnect 4D. He noted in the calendar the date of the event and made sure to order his assistant to arrange his schedule well.

He couldn't wait for December 20th to arrive!

***