Chapter 2

Galius was quite happy, as happy as a Magos could be without joy-inducing drugs or the joy of finding a new archeotech. He was really quite happy.

The reason for his happiness was because he had gain the support of the Archmagos Triach and was even able to get several systems in this sector under his personal control and had been given the get go to establish forge worlds in those systems. This was because he had handed over the start charts to the Archmagos he had inside the box, hidden in secret compartments and going by the star charts they indicate locations of ancient lost archeotecnologies, one that was a great boon for both the Imperium and the Mechanicus.

The Archmagos used the artefacts the boy had given him and subdued the Ecclesiarchy and gain numerous benefits for the Mechanicus, and was pleased with Galius so much the Archmagos, he had been given full carte-blanch to do as he wished in this sector.

The only condition that the Archmagos layered on him was to treat the boy, Riser Phenex, who was had recovered and protected the artefacts in the first place as king and give him a ship of his choosing, even if it was a Battleship, as the higher ups had decided to make the boy a Rogue Trader and had even issued out an official warrant for him in record time.

The Archmagos was really keen on keeping the boy happy and had in fact even set aside some space in the nearby shipyard to create his own ship. It was kind of crazy in a sense but the star charts the boy had recovered were more than worth it.

Galius was happy and felt quite indebted to the boy who with just an exchange had changed his life so much. He was going to give him the news and tell him of the deals and ask him about the type of ship he wanted.

"Ah Magos Galius, how are you doing?" Riser greeted him as Galius entered Riser's room.

"I am doing well and by the grace of the Omnissiah all my systems are in optimal conditions and performing at peak condition." Galius replied and observed that the boy was literally knee deep in books and dataslates all ranging from the various laws of the imperium to the types of ships the imperium used. "I see that you are preparing yourself quite well for your new duties Riser."

"That I am." Riser said grimacing a bit. "Being a literal outsider with no knowledge of the imperium, I have a lot to catch up to and learn about running a ship and the logistics behind it and finding a good recruiting world, learning about the cultures of those worlds to better lay down the laws to keep order in the ship, looking up the trading routes, items and commodities of interest, learning the names of the influential noble houses, all this and more and I am feeling really overwhelmed Galius and I don't think I am doing enough right now to prepare myself for my role."

"That is truly quite a lot list of things." Galius remarked blinking as he processed Riser's words and oh, boy, did he underestimate much work a Rogue Trader had to do. "But I am sure you would be up to the task."

"You think so." Riser said, as he slumped into his chair.

"I know so." Galius assured the boy. Honestly, impressed by the boy's work ethics. "Now, I see that you are interested in some of the technologies of the Imperium." Galius said as he picked up a dataslated detailing some blueprints and the theory behind the working of some vehicles and communication devices. "Tell me which ones you are failing to understand?"

"Ah, I am not quite sure how the runes and symbols increase the flow of energy? How do they work exactly?" Riser asked and Galius smile at that question. It was frequently asked question by the citizens of the more industrial worlds who had recently become part of the imperium shunning the wisdom of the Mechanicus as religious nutcases and ignoring the teachings and wisdoms of the Mechanicus cult as nothing but superstitions.

"The runes and symbols work by creating acting as circuits and control the flow of energy in the device. If you study the runes and symbols table you would see that each rune and symbol is assigned to various devices depending on the make of the device and even the size and mass of the device.

This is because like I said the runes act like circuits and like circuits the shape and their placement of the runes is of utmost importance as carefully placed runes and symbols can easily handle the massive power surge and safely dispense it into the air or direct them to other parts of the machine where they can be easily be brought under controlled or simply use those excess energy to fulfil their tasks.

The shapes of the runes have been made as they are so that the excess energy of a machine that not even proper insulation can handle can be directed to other parts of the machine easily there by preventing heat build-up and degradation of the structures of the machine.

The next component when it comes to runes and symbol crafting is the usage of the ink and forging items involved in it. The list of components needed to create an ink for rune crafting is important as well as following the necessary steps to create the right solution. The ink created from the process is quite an efficient energy conducting solution and easily bonds with the molecules of the metal without altering the structural integrity of metallic molecules and protects the metal molecules from degradation via heat and high energy surges."

"Really a solution created from Chicken blood and lime juice?" Riser asked sceptically.

"Yes as both products have the required amount of plasma and acid that allows the other components to blend in well and create the final product and even then Tech priests know better than to use the solution as they tend to be not only volatile but easily peel off machines and cause more harm. Not to mention smell bad in general."

That seem to get a laugh out the boy and Galius was glad for it, no one laughed at his little joke.

"So the ink is more like a highly energy conductive solution with some really fascinating properties?" Riser said as he contemplated the whole thing.

"Yes and you would be remiss if you do not create the solution properly when you attempt to use runes. The solution's properties allows even the most primitive machine to better handle the flow of energy and excess heat thereby increasing their performance and overall operation time, this in and off itself makes it a valuable commodity and vital for the rune crafting. Why masters of rune crafting even breed special animals like the Veltricious Venom Slime, whose skin and vicarious blood contains special organic metals and acids that allows rune crafters to easily created high quality ink in large volumes and export it across the imperium."

"I see, many daily use products do make use of animal parts like animal fats and plant oils like shampoos and other things so I guess a high energy-conductive solution that makes use of is not so far out of realms of possibility. Though I have to ask if you know of the makeup of the solution why not just create it artificially?"

"Mostly because creating it in labs would require not only specialised tools and the rare materials but it is also not a cost effective solution too. The cost of the tools, specialists and materials is just too high and not efficient in producing large quantities of the ink. Even with automation the cost is just too high compared to simply following the current recipes and creating the solution.

The current set up allows even feudal worlds to craft a strong economy by rearing the plants and animals needed to mass produce the ink and creates thriving industries in multiple worlds. Creating special labs to specifically create the ink would create massive political and economic upheaval, creating far reaching consequences not only for the individual worlds but also for entire sectors." Galius explained patiently and Riser seemed to understand.

This was the problem with most industrial worlds especially one that were recently integrated into the imperium. They seemed to get into their heads that they were more educated and thus had the right to dictate the lives of the people that lived in the feudal worlds of the Imperium not knowing the reality of the things for those worlds.

The feudal worlds contrary to popular beliefs were not run by primitive and ignorant rulers who did not accept change and simply kept on living and ruling like tyrants and curbing progress whenever they could.

Sure the imperium did not actively interfere with the development of those worlds but that was because they respected the choices that the people living those worlds and bided their time for their rulers to pass on or outright kill their rulers who stifled the progress of the people.

The good rulers actively sought the aid of the imperium and slowly but surely crafted powerful economies and a stable administrative polity with the help of the Imperium and brought their people into a golden age and made sure that their line ruled the planet for generations to come while preserving the customs and traditions of their people and forge it into one that even bleed into the way of life of the sector itself.

Just because they were primitive and ignorant about the galaxy did not mean that they were stupid. Many people living in the hive worlds seemed to forget that.

"Though while the ink is important in rune crafting there is another more important thing and one without which the very foundation of rune crafting cannot even exist as it is."

"And that is?"

"Why, Geometry of course."

"Huh?!" Riser mumbled confused by his answered.

"Geometry is the science of shape and size, one that is important in rune crafting as one has to shape and design the runes in such a way to get the maximum benefits. The positioning of the runes, the thickness of the ink, the shape of the surface, the area that the runes cover and many other factors is decided using the geometrical knowledge that we have and thus craft the most perfect runes.

It is one of the purest applications of geometrical knowledge on a practical scale, one whose mastery is an art form in and of itself. Many Magos keep on searching for that one perfect rune, that one perfect rune that is the culmination of a lifetime worth of knowledge, skill and effort and one that they can proudly say that it is theirs and that they have taken a step in reaching the wisdom of the ancients." Galius explained while reminiscing how he one travelled that path too when he was a Rune Priest but found his calling as an Artisan creating and designing crafts that could sail across the void and stars.

"And what about the hymns and oils?" Riser asked snapping Galius out of his thoughts.

"The hymns are a way to communicate with the machine spirit and placate it. As you may know that music is quite codified and the beats and tempos and notes can all be mathematically be arrange and interpreted in binary, the sacred language of the machines.

What we say we are communicating with the machine spirits via the hymns and songs we mean it literally as the musical notes and structures of the hymns and songs is created in such a way that allows it for the machine spirit to easily interpret them despite the language they are sung in, which can be quite the problem when there are so many languages in the imperium.

This is why we Tech Priests are quite stringent about singing the hymns in a proper tune and singing the right hymns and songs at the right time as unlike Tech Priests, normal humans cannot speak binary fluently or are able to perceive the reply of the machine spirit like we do, most of all they do not want to add the added parts to speak to the machine spirits too not without them getting blown up first then they get all too enthusiastic all of a sudden.

I don't get them sometimes, wouldn't it much less painful and efficient to swap out their organic parts without getting them blown up first?" that got a chuckle out of Riser and Galius continued on with his explanation.

"Still like I said the hymns and songs are part of the communication aspect with the machine spirit which the ritual and the oils help too. The rituals and oils along with the hymns create a sympathetic link with the machine spirit via a combination of sound, empathic imprints and binary conversion.

As you know that sound is nothing but another form of energy, the rituals are designed in such a way that it transform the users body into a form of living circuit and via the combination of oils, sounds, energy and empathic imprinting, converts the songs into a different type of energy and emotional imprints which allows a person to communicate with the machine spirit." Galius explained and smile as he saw Riser's face go into contemplation and show an expression of understanding. Galius was really lucky to have found someone who without being part of the Mechanicus still understood their ways so well. "There is more to it but I will leave those for later now what else has you confused?"

"Ah I don't seem to understand how the engines of the Lemun Russ are so efficient and how they seemed to run on just about any fuel source, from crude oil to even water?"

"Ah that is an interesting question." Galius said and began to explain the theory behind the engine, the history of it and why the engine was designed in such a way.

Time passed by as he went on explaining and clarifying Riser's doubts and found himself even debating about the finer details of the technological marvels which work on principles that resembled more like magic than science.

He was having quite the good time but alas, all good things must come to an end.

"It is getting late now Riser and you need to get some rest to properly refresh yourself to better handle your work." a bit sad that he had to end their little session.

"Do I have to?" Riser whined as he looked equally sad that their discussion had to end.

"Yes." Galius replied, before launching into a lecture how a good day's rest could do to one's working efficiency.

"Okay, I get it. I'll get some rest." Riser said cutting off the explanation mid-point.

"Good and before I forget I was here to ask whether or not you had decided on the ship type you would be using."

"Oh that." Riser said perking up, "I have decided on the Oberon-class Battleship. I found it to be quite up to my mark and the modifications I am requesting should be easy enough to implement."

"Really?" Galius said shocked at the boy's choice of ship. Most Rogue Traders normally stuck to cruisers and freighters due to their huge cargo capacity and good power to mass ratio. A battleship was the opposite of a cargo hauler with vast swaths of the ship dedicated to weapons and redundant armour points, for maximum survivability and immense firepower.

An Oberon-class Battleship was also one of the largest battleships around, measuring at 15 Km long in length, 2 km in height and 3 km in breadth, was faster than an invincible-class battleship and had armour that far outclassed most battleship. It was a behemoth plain and simple, not something a Rogue Trader should even dare to command but here Riser was asking for it to be his first ship.

He looked at the dataslate that Riser handed over and went over the list of modifications he listed.

Apart from its usual weapons, the Oberon-class Battleship would have two manufactorums, cloning vats, a temple, a palace-fortress for Riser's residence, High-power agurs and lots of extra point base defences, a powered-hull to further increase the durability of the ship, Heavy Void-shields, Warp shields and fitted crew quarters that would be more like small cities in their own right.

Galius was unsure of the capabilities of the ship on both its offensive capabilities and its support capabilities as the Oberon in its base form was not the most powerful battleship-class and had a really high maintenance cost even for a Battleship due to its specs, and the modifications would skewer those numbers even more.

Galius wondered if the boy was thinking long term if he wanted his first ship to be an Oberon. He was also going to have to be extremely lucky for the Mechanicus to grant him an Oberon Battleship even if they had one to spare which had been recently salvaged in a nearby sector with its crew lost to the perils of the warp, leaving it empty and drifting across the void.

Galius just hope that Riser was well aware of the immense upkeep cost that came with the privilege of commanding such a powerful vessel and had planned for it accordingly.

"Very well, we do have an Oberon Battleship that had been recently salvaged. It is not damaged in any sense but there are some rituals that need to be performed to sanctify the Battleship and build all the modifications you have requested which should take about 3 months, after which it will be delivered to you with the utmost haste." Galius said, knowing just how quick the ship could be modified on Mars and it was only the long journey across the warp that would take the most time.

"Well that would give me time to find good recruits and crew and get some other resources too." Riser said letting loose a sigh of relief, he must be happy to have a time-table to work with.

"The Mechanicus is also willing to give you a special warrant that would allow you to purchase and buy rights to build certain technologies, Riser. It would do you good to go over the list and plan out a suitable trade model." Galius added, handing Riser a dataslate that contained the list and all the necessary information, "Though I have to warn you Riser that you will just have to send a 60% of the manufactured technologies as Tithe to the Imperium for getting the privilege of manufacturing these technologies."

"That's great." Riser shouted in joy "I am forever grateful for that Galius."

"Oh don't thank me." Galius replied waving away his thanks, "Just remember the Mechanicus and the help they have given you bring back lost acheotechnology and pay your tithes and taxes, and we would consider the deal as fair." That was all the Mechanicus asked and frankly it was a cheap price to pay as most of the items were quite cheap and could easily be manufactured in any forge world so it was not a great loss for the mechanicus and besides it was not like one or two manufactorums could out-produce multiple Forge worlds.

The fact that Riser had to give 60% of his produced goods as tithe to the Imperium which was more than what the other Rogue Trader who gave basically NIL as tax and tithe, a condition set by the Archmagos for allowing Riser to build sacred technologies like the Quake Cannon of the Banehammer and the Volcano Cannon of the Shadowsword and the various Las-lock Rifles, the Las-rifles and the varied power armours fit for a normal human, would put easily put him on the map for the various hereteks and other traders who would clamour to trade with him and keep a close tab on him and his ship.

Combined that with Riser wishing commanding a Battleship and Riser would have a difficult time building up his empire due to its extremely high upkeep costs and make him susceptible to some of the more elaborate schemes of the Mechanicus, Ministorum and the Inquisition to make him dependent on their aid and thus bind his loyalty to the Imperium as a whole. The higher ups were really interested in the boy for some reason.

"Now get some rest and we will continue our discussion another time." Galius said as he left the room and Riser went to sleep in his bed.

As Galius went to his room to rest for the day, he wondered just what was Riser planning and what would the boy achieve in the future and how the schemes of the various factions of the Imperium would affect the boy's future.

##############################

The next day Riser woke up and felt refresh.

Yesterday's discussion with Galius had enlightened him of the various technologies that the Imperium used and gain insight on the many new fields of technology and sorcery itself and he marvelled at how the Mechanicus blended the two together so seamlessly into their rituals and daily life all the while still allowing even the most primitive of minds to easily grasp the process and become an enginseer so easily yet still spend a lot of time becoming a good Tech Priest.

Time, that was spent on mastering on not just practicing and perfecting their techniques but also communicating and understanding the spirits of the machines themselves and their unique quirks, learning the rules and the reasons for why they were there and preparing themselves as they were given knowledge that shattered and rebuilt and shattered their concept of reality and repeat the process until their dying breath.

Riser without any doubt or shame would admit that the men and women of the Mechanicus, mere mortals and humans, one that he looked down upon with disdain had gain his utmost respect, even if they came of as religious nutcases and cultist. Riser respected their dedications and the immense work they did.

Riser was becoming quite enamoured with the Mechanicus and the Imperium as a whole as he read more and more about the Imperium and its 10,000 years of history. It was just a mind-boggling concept that a polity like the Imperium as vast as it seemed could survived for 10,000 years despite having such a slow, inefficient bureaucracy and being beset from all sides by enemies both within and without.

He wondered why the Emperor called the Imperium dying a slow death when it had stood tall for so long but he guessed that the Emperor wanted the Imperium to thrive not just survive and exist in the state it was currently in.

And to do that Riser had to use the power he had been granted and explore the new worlds and realms.

He was quite scared about going to the different worlds and realms and search for lost relics and new technologies which was why he was busy preparing himself familiarising with the technologies and the tactics used by the Imperium and commissioning a Battleship. He would need all the help he could get.

He was also on the lookout for people of interest whom he could add to his Saint Peerage and use gain access to the skills embedded in the Saint Pieces. Even though the Emperor had told him that he had used Devil magic to craft the pieces, Riser still could not wrap his head around how powerful the pieces were, thus he was looking for men and women of great merit and skills and looking over them with a fine comb. Men and women who would no doubt make great additions to any peerage back home were being examined with a doubtful eye and discarded as Riser found them wanting.

He had been doing that for many days, reading and learning and scrutinising the list of people. But today, he was not going to shift through thousands of dataslates and books, to read about the history of the Imperium or learn about the technologies that they employed or even look up list of viable recruitment worlds while making a short list for the officer position for his ship.

No, Riser was going to test his new power. He had put off testing it for some time but he could do so no longer for he wanted to learn what lied on the other side.

Riser closed his eyes and delved deep into his mind and found his flames eager to obey his command. Yet it was not his flames or devil power that he sought and thus he dug deeper and found a spark inside of him beckoning him to command it and flue it.

He touched that spark and found himself filled with new knowledge and found himself knowing the intricacies of his new power. There were two ways he could use his. Riser could open portals of various sizes and connect them to other realms, he could also create structures around the portal and make them permanent allowing him to create a permanent path to the new realm or He could also simply teleport himself across the plains of reality if he just wished to travel alone.

Since he was just testing his powers for now Riser decided to go with the second mode and closed his eyes and activated his powers, propelling him across the Multiverse and thus he took the first step to achieve his goal with the first stop being his home-universe.

########################

Riser opened his eyes and found himself in the same place where he had met the strange woman and looking around he saw that he was still in Paris.

He exited the alleyway and went up to the local newspaper outlet and found that it was the day he had been flirting with the woman despite spending almost several weeks in the Imperium, that was May 5, 2010.

"Um, excuse me sir. May I ask the time please? My watch seemed to have some problem with it." Riser asked one of men who was buying a newspaper.

"Sure, it is 11:24 A.M."

"Thank you sir." Riser said as he left the stall.

He tried to recall the details of what he had been doing on this day and the time of his departure and thinking about it he recalled that he had left his hotel at 9 in the morning and it was around 10 that he had his breakfast in a local restaurant.

"So if I took around a few 10-15 minutes to get to the place where I flirted with the woman and put in some 10-20 minutes of small talk. I am left with a time-line of my departure and return at between 11 o'clock to 11:10 A.M. which means only a few minutes have passed by despite me spending weeks in the Imperium." Riser deduced.

It was an interesting phenomena Riser deduced and he wanted to see if this would held true if he spent months here at home and see how much time had passed in the Imperium.

"I wonder, how does the 21st Century tech stack up to that of the Imperium?" Riser wondered recalling that Galius had explained how the imperium did not have a standard tech base due to it being so large that it stretched the supply lines to its limits and the varied culture and government types of individual worlds meant that each world followed its own brand of production and approach technology in a different way.

Riser had gone over the list of the worlds and their tech base and wanted to see where Earth and the Underworld would rank as.

"I guess that I have to do some research." Riser said and headed to the local public library to study about the technology of his world. "Maybe I could even set up a business. Galius did say that I had to learn about economics and business now that I was an official Rogue Trader, so setting up a business should be a nice way to get some experience."

The question now was how and what kind of business should he set up?

"Ah, well I'll look into it when I am in the library." Riser shrugged as he headed to the library and made plans for his economic domination.

##################

"The Technology of this world is quite primitive." Riser concluded as he put down the latest tech manual.

It had been a week and Riser had scoured the library and the bookstores for any and all tech manuals and latest science and gadget magazines and frowned at how primitive his world seemed when compared to the average hive-worlds of the Imperium.

He while had been expecting such thing due to the ridiculously advanced nature of the Imperium and their varied tech base, he was still hoping that Earth would be rated a bit higher that it was due to the fact that the some of the worlds of the imperium had literal cavemen inhabiting them.

"I can't say I was not expecting it but…it is still quite the shame." Riser mumbled as he compared the average technology between Earth and the Imperium and was disappointed at the massive disparity between the two tech bases.

Still this meant that Riser now knew what kind of business he was going to enter and with his knowledge of the varied tech base of the Imperium Riser knew that he could easily become a massive business tycoon by introducing 'revolutionary technologies' to the world which were out-dated by the standards of the Imperium.

"And I have just enough capital to jump start my business." Riser mused as he wondered just what kind of Revolutionary Technology he should introduce to the world first.

"Hmmn, I think I should look into electrical engines that last for days and months. That should be enough to jump start my company." Riser smirked as he thought about the idea.

He was going to have to do some initial investments like buying a warehouse, securing some contracts buying a factory, building up the tools and assembly line to create the cars, tool the production line properly and… "Wow I have a lot of work to do." Riser thought as he went over the list of things he had to do in order to set up his business. And that was not counting the legal side of things.

It was going to take some time to set everything up but nothing that judicious amount of money could not hasten. And with that in mind Riser pick up his phone and called someone who could help him.

"Hello mom, it's me Riser. You see…I am in need of some money."

#########################

One week later. May 16th, 2010
Phenex Mansion, Underworld

Riser had somehow convinced his parents to go with his idea of setting up a new business at such a young age. But they were still sceptical about it especially since it was an automobile company that was going to market new technology as Riser made plans to introduce a new line of electrical cars.

This had made his parents sceptical about his plans as not only was the automobile industry controlled by business giants who had years of experience, history and reputation that had seen them through some of the worst of times, combine that with him propagating new technology something that while would garner attention would still be subjugated to suspicion due to not having a brand name attached to it that would give the populace a sense of reliability and recognition that was associated with well-known brands.

That was not to mention that if Riser chose to follow a bad business model or made a bad deal due to his inexperience that his company might not last long enough to made profits or be subsume by the bigger companies. The nature of the technology involved would also attract business tycoons and politicians like moths to flames. It was an utter mess and this had made them hesitant to support their son.

Sure they could give him the capital to jumpstart his company but due to the complications involved and the uncertainty of the company making a reliable profit, thus his parents wanted him to give them a small demonstration and had ordered him to create a car with all the technology he was seeking to implement.

Thus Riser set out to build his car which was quite an easy task as all Riser had to do was order the required materials and mould them into shape with his magic. From the circuits to the frame of the car Riser moulded them and turned it into a thing of beauty.

Riser spent day and night moulding and building the car, and programming the various electronics and computers, setting the wires correctly, building the circuits from ground up and more. Even with magic it took him 8 days of constant work to finish it and today was the day where he was going to unveil the car to his family.

There in front of the family garage stood the members of the Phenex family, his parents, his elder brother Ruval and his younger sister Ravel. The stood in front of the car and examined his handiwork.

"So what do you think about it father?" Riser asked as he showed them the car.

"It is quite good and its engine is different from the ones I have seen in other cars and the lack of an exhaust is quite interesting too. Not to mention the display panels and the driving wheel." His father commented as his eyes roamed around the vehicle, absorbing every detail of the car and taking apart is capabilities using the details he was able to find.

"I don't see what is so good about this. Isn't it just a Maruti Alto?" Ravel interjected as she pitched in her own opinion of the car.

"I am not going to even ask how you know about it being a Alto."

"The only thing left now is to test drive the car. Only then we can be sure about its performance." His father commented and eyed Ruval who seemed to be rearing to sit in the car and try it out.

"Ruval go and drive the car around the estate would you. I'll give you three hours to test drive this thing" his father commanded and Ruval giving them a two finger salute sat inside the car and started it.

"Father, is my car going to be all right?" Riser asked his father nervously, as he saw Ruval skid the car out of the garage, nearly missing some of the other cars in the garage.

"That would depend on the overall structural integrity of your car and the amount of punishment it can take." His father nonchalantly replied, not bothered by his eldest son's antics at all.

Riser could only see the dispersing smoke trail left by his brother in fear and silently prayed that his brother would not mess up his car too much.

"Come now Riser let's head to the rooftop, from there we would be able to see how your brother is driving the car." His mother offered and surely from the roof of the garage they could clearly see Ruval driving the Alto and pull all sorts of crazy stunts with it.

Ruval drove the car off the ledges, into the small forest, off the road and into the golf course then into the forest again and into the hills where it performed multiple jumps and nearly went into one of the ponds.

For three whole hours Riser had to endure seeing his brother pull off the insane stunts and watch as his car while retaining its previous shape, sport multiple dents and most of its paint being scratch out and was completely covered in mud and dust, with even the tyre threads being worn out.

All in all it was a mess but his brother was sporting a big smile on his face as he step out of the car. "I must say brother this car is a really good piece of work."

"Really?" Riser asked a bit surprised by his brother's praise.

"Yes and the fact that it is still able to even move after all the stunts I pulled and that too at an average speed of 40km per hour is insane. Really brother, I was not expecting an electric car to move so smoothly nor have such a high top speed of 210km per hour not to mention that I have only used 6.3% of the battery and with plenty more to spare. You have really out done yourself brother." Ruval praised him and it was an honest praise too as the car truly deserved it.

"Thank you big brother." Riser replied basking in his brother's praise.

"Although…"

"Although what brother?"

"There are still some things which could be improved upon."

"And those might be?" Riser asked whipping out a pen and notepad.

Seeing his brother's action Ruval grinned and began to list of the things that could be improved upon.

"First the transmissions needs some fine tuning it was a bit wonky at times, then you need someone to design the interior to make it look more appealing, look into the suspensions to make it more comfortable, add in some features like GPSs systems, a good audio and music system, better seat placement and finally get it some fresh coat of paint. All in all these just some nitpicks but one that the competition would challenge you on all front and not let you go on that." Ruval commented before asking one thing that was bugging him.

"Say Riser where did you get the tires for this car, they lasted very long and were quite good to despite my best efforts to burn them out. Which company from are they again?"

"What do mean which company? I made the tyre alongside the car." Riser replied a bit confused at his brother's question.

"You did?!" Ruval asked indecorously. "Well…um…that's amazing. Can you supply tyres for my other cars too brother of mine?" Ruval asked sweetly making Riser take a step back from his smiling brother.

"I'll see what I can do." Riser replied trying his best not to look disturbed by his brother's actions.

"That is all I ask." Ruval said giving Riser a pat, he then began to whistle a strange tune and with a skip in his steps went inside.

"You sure did make you brother happy." His mother commented blandly giving his father an accusing look which his father replied by whistling innocently.

Riser looked at the byplay and decided that he did not want to know what that meant and began to check on the car for the damages and the going over the data of the test drive.

"Say Riser, how did you make the car?" his mother asked as she examined the car.

"With magic of course." Riser replied.

His replied must have startled her as she raised her eyebrows and said "Oh, is that so."

"Yes…" Riser replied feeling a bit apprehensive at the now scrutinizing gaze of his mother "…did I do something wrong?"

"Yes." His mother replied, "I believe that you are going to set up you company and factory in the human world correct?" she asked and Riser nodded. "Then using magic to manufacture the cars is a no go as it would jepordise the secrecy of the supernatural. And unless you have some sort of manufacturing method up your sleeve to reduce the production costs that is not reliant on magic. Your father and I can in no good conscious approve of you selling the car and setting up your company."

"Oh don't worry mother." Riser replied nonchalantly as he breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing his mother's words. "I have already taken that into account and it was why I chose to model the car after the Alto. It is a cost effective design and with my modifications it would be much cheaper to produce in the long run."

"I think that you can do better than the Alto as a cheap design base but since you have decided I won't push it but give my blessings for your future." His father interjected.

"Also Riser, you must take care and learn to balance between low costs and quality. You can go for cheap alternatives but remember you are a Phenex and as a Phenex you must not compromise on the quality of you products ever and I would expect you to live up to that, by giving your customers products of the highest quality and you must learn to balance that with its prices." His mother added.

"Do that Riser, and you would have successfully laid the foundation of a large business empire one that is sure to last for centuries."

Hearing his parents words Riser really wanted to tell them about the Imperium and the vast technology they possessed and the various manufacturing techniques they had which was a masterpiece of low cost, great reliability and good quality.

And Riser was going to use one of the lesser manufacturing techniques due to the low technology and lack of some of the more exotic materials that were vital to build fabricators to further cut the production costs.

Riser knew that he was going to dominate the market with his products for years to come but seeing his parents support and give him advice and their expertise on the matter made him realise that he should not do this half-heartedly and Riser decided that he would decimate his competitors with everything he got and not let them challenge his family name.

"Mother, father." Riser said looking at his parents with firm conviction. "I promise that the company I would establish would not be the best in the world but also last for a millennium."

Yep, Riser was going to unleash hell on his competitors.

########################

Florence Phenex, Marquis of the Phenex Household was currently in his study thinking about the new changes that had occurred and how it would shape the future. His wife, Vivian, was also contemplating on the same topic and both of them were discussing about it and thinking about what steps they should take.

"So what is the plan Florence?" His wife asked him and honestly speaking he was also a bit lost too as the technologies Riser had invented would have far reaching consequences.

"To be honest I don't have a plan, Vivian. I am still in the process of digesting the aspects of the car and how they would all impact the various associated industries." Florence said sighing as he looked at the blueprints of the car and its individual parts. "The success of this car would have a far reaching consequence on multiple industries, especially the oil industry and that in and of itself would earn Riser lots of enemies in the industry and even in the field of politics on the international scale and would their best to make sure that the company is destroyed or the technology banned."

"We also can't use our families political clout too as that might aggravate the other supernatural communities and see it as us interfering in the mundane matters and things might escalate from there." His wife added being quick on the uptake. "Well that means Europe is out and so are the two American continents as I don't want Riser to be dragged into the politics of those continents. That just leaves the Asian and Australian continents for Riser to set up his base of operation."

Florence smiled upon hearing his wife's words, trust her to find some solution to the problem. "Not Africa?"

"Unless Riser decides to suddenly become a conquering dictator, no, not to mention the extremely high Nundu population and other mystical creatures. That is not mentioning how the Egyptian pantheon while are on friendly terms with us won't be too happy with us setting up shop in the African continent."

"So Asia and Australia." Florence said agreeing with his wife's reasoning.

"Yes, there are several countries there that are quite secular in nature making it quite easy to gain access there without annoying any factions too much and due to their less developed state gives Riser to cheaper labour and a market that had high demand for cheap and fuel efficient cars. Something that Riser's car would easily dominate with good marketing." Vivian remarked and Florence nodded at that.

"The only problem I see is that Riser might be limiting himself too much by just focusing on the automobile industry." She added.

"Truly?" Florence asked a bit confused by her statement.

"Yes." Vivian said seriously and Florence knew that she was scheming something. "The car engine that Riser has created is a masterpiece and a work of art. The fact that it was able to provide enough power to run a car up to 210 Km per hour and only use about 6% of power after such rigorous test drive means that the engine if up scaled properly could be used to propel other vehicles like ships, bikes, planes and even military vehicles.

It could also be used as a power source for homes and buildings and even if it fails to provide electricity to an entire city, it would still be enough to corner the invertor market and its rechargeable nature would just make it so much more appealing than the current models out there."

Hearing her point those out Florence could not help but be astonished by her words. Those were truly some valid applications for the engine.

"And that is just some of the few things I can think on top of my head, I am sure there are other applications for the engine." she continued, "I have yet to list of the benefits of the tyres as well which despite being so worn out still had such good grip and stability to it making it ideal to replace most types of conventional tyres in the market and thus could easily become a customer favourite too."

"True, true," Florence mumbled as he contemplated his wife's words. "And due to the car being so brand new and unique most motor servicing shops would not be able to repair or service it and if we set up specialised servicing shop that would cut down the risk of people discovering the secrets of the technology by a considerable margin and give us some extra revenue."

Yes that was one path his son's company could head towards. "The rechargeable nature of the car engine would make the people flock towards the servicing stations if we offer to recharge it for a small price with some free tuning and servicing. Add in some customisation options for a small cost and it would drastically cut down the complaints that people would have for making people reliant on the company to recharge their engines." There would be some problems but Florence could really see it work.

"We would really have to have high quality servicing force for the company if you plan is to succeed." His wife added and Florence agreed.

"Also if Riser is able to manufacture the car along with its interior at a low cost then we may even have an in to the furniture industry too. You have to admit that the seats of the car were beautiful and comfortable too." Vivian added and Florence was now having a headache from hearing about all the number of opportunities that they now had all due to his son building a car.

His family now had a chance to make their mark and earn big profits and prestige on Earth but that would also put them on the map of the mundane politics and make them a target which would prove troublesome and that was without mentioning their supernatural backers and how the other factions and pantheons would begin to make their own moves on the mundane businesses and drag the faction politics into the mess.

Despite this Florence was not about to tell his son to give up on his project and would do his best to encourage it, after all this was his son's first work and stopping him might snuff out the absolute brilliant ingenuity and drive his son was showing and turn him into something hollow.

The nature of devils was such that when one's passion was snuffed out it was rarely ever ignited again and turns the person into a hollow husk of a Devil, who could become a monster in his quest to fill the emptiness of their soul. For a Phenex this was even worse as their very flames would be snuffed out and might even result in a slow agonising death.

No, giving up and scarping the project was not an option as he did not want that fate to befall his son and to be honest Florence really like the idea behind the project too and wanted to see how far it could go.

"Yes Vivian" Florence addressed his wife, "the number of opportunities before us are numerous and would grant us incredible amount of prestige, wealth and influence but to fully take advantage of them we would have to expend a lot of our influence and create new bonds and contacts to ensure smooth sailing." Smiling he asked his wife. "That would mean that we are going to be quite busy for the coming months and you would miss out on your tea parties, are you ready to make such sacrifice?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Vivian replied leaning forward and giving a light tap to his nose, "Also I'll have you know that I can both create new contacts and gather information without missing out on any of the tea parties. I am after all good at multitasking unlike you."

"I doubt that Vivian."

"Care to prove me wrong." She said challenging his claim with an impish smile on her face, taunting with her seductive gaze and what happened next was better left among the two lovers, though Florence inwardly decided to give his best in making his son's project come true, after all this was the best stress relief sex he had in years.

#####################

Three weeks later
Phenex Mansion, Underworld.

The party to commemorate the opening of his company was underway and Riser loved every second of it. It was grand, pompous and over the top, featuring guests that held immense sway in the underworld and were considered giants in their respective crafts.

From Lords who brew the most magnificent wines to the ones that owned the best orchards in the underworld to those that were publisher of countless books and keepers of secrets that could shatter the underworld with well-placed words. From politics, economy and administration, the men and women gathered in this ballroom were people of great import barring the Dukes and the Satans themselves, these people were the pillars of their society and Riser was eagerly mingling with them and establishing ties that he knew would help in the future.

It was really good practice for him as Riser knew no doubt that he would in the future have to mingle with the nobles and lords of the Imperium and would not have the same advantage that he had right now later on without doing something truly momentous in the Imperium, which he was not eager to do so without getting a few centuries worth of experience first.

Here though he could mingle with the lords of the Underworld and learn a thing or two about impressing others and learn to make others own him favours and the likes, and so far Riser considered that he was doing quite well.

"…do consider my daughter for you peerage Riser. I know that she would fit right in."

"Of course, Lady Bifron. It would be my pleasure to have someone from you house as a member of my peerage." Riser replied thinking about the consequences and benefit of having a member of the Bifron family as his peerage member. "Though I would like to say that I have some strict requirements and thus even though I wish to add someone like her, if she fails to stand up to my requirements than I am afraid I would have to reject her." yeah, he was going to have to play.

"Oh, are you looking for something specific?" looking more than a bit intrigued at the info.

"Yes, but I would like to keep my requirements a secret so as to not stir up a huge fuss." Riser replied, not wanting to say too much. He left the Bifron matriarch with some few parting words and joined the other guests.

Over the course of the party he received many offers from the other lords some offering some good deals and some wanting to outright buy his company out of his hands as they thought him inexperienced and naïve.

Yes, he was inexperienced but that did not mean he was that inexperienced to not see through the transparent attempts to threaten him and buy his company which was just going to grow and dominate the markets and become an industrial giant on its own. That still did not stop the others from trying though.

It was really a stark contrast to the previous parties and balls that he had attended, where he was mostly mingling with the heirs and gossiping about inane things. Here and now, Riser was now officially in the big leagues and he knew that he had to keep his guard up or like the demons of old they would tell him sweet lies and ensnare him in plots that would either ruin him or make him a puppet to their whims, and if they were truly devious they would make him want to be their willing puppet and gladly march towards his own doom.

It made his spine tingle but not out of fear or anxiety but with excitement. It made him feel more alive than he had ever been as his blood sang with joy and his heart raced with unbridled excitement. The whole thing made him feel like home, as strange as it was, and Riser realised that it was his devil side that was the cause of this excitement and Riser now knew why Devils as a whole could not resist a good plot.

'What are we a bunch of addicts that are addicted to plots and schemes?' Riser snorted as he finished his drink. 'Hmmn, Moonlight Eternal Apple, maybe I could export it to the Imperium. I am sure that the Genetors would be all over it and be clamouring to uncover the secrets of its ability to extend one's life by centuries and give a person mild regenerative abilities.'

'Yes, I'll do just that and with the time-dilation between the worlds, the apples decade long harvest cycle would be negligible and I could harvest them in tonnes and made a mad, mad profit out of them. Heh, I wonder if the Genetors would be able to modify the Moonlight Eternal Apple and increase its yield and growth rate. Now that would be a huge coup.'

'Come to think of it, I can literally make a killing by growing some of the many exotic plants that are abundant in the Underworld.' The more Riser thought about it the more he found the idea appealing. 'It would also allow me to earn profits and I would not have to pay the tithe for it too due to it not being a part of the deal I made with the Mechanicus.'

Yes, being a Rogue Trader that dealt in not weapons, technologies and tonnes of manufactured finished goods but in fruits and exotic plants had a strange appeal to it and Riser would love to see the faces of the other Rogue Traders when they realised just what were his main exports.

"Enjoying the party, little brother." Ruval said as he gave him a light pat.

"Yes." Riser replied with a smile. He was really enjoying this night and his mind was filled with ideas and plans about the future.

"Ah, I see that you have awakened you inner devil Riser. I see plots, plans and mischief dance in your eyes, waiting to be put into motion and marvel at the chaos they create." Ruval grinned as he raised his glass for him in acknowledgment. "Though do take care, Riser," Ruval said his face taking on a serious expression, "not to let the excitement of the plots and mischief rule over your life and blind you towards the obvious."

Riser knew what his brother was warning about and he vowed to temper himself and control the rising urge to become a Magnificent Bastard. No, really it was like an inborn urge to plot and be as grandiose and over the top as possible.

"I will brother but I am not sure how good well I will be able to control myself when I look up to someone like you." Riser jibbed and he could practically feel the tick mark on Ruval's head.

"I don't know what you are talking brother." Ruval said with a strained smile.

"Your wedding anniversary party that we held last year and the whole convoluted planning we had to do to keep it a secret from elder sister, so that you could surprise her." Riser replied with a deadpanned stare. "I did not understand then why we had to do all those complicated things in such a roundabout way but now I know that you just love being able to plan such a convoluted mess of a plan and watch us squirm as we rushed headlong not understanding that we were being used for your amusement."

Ruval, in the first time in many years that Riser had known, pouted. "Come on. Teressa loved it and don't tell me you did not have fun too while planning all that."

"True but then we did the same thing again for Ravel's birthday when you hijacked her school's function and turned into a giant birthday party." Riser said pointedly, "Don't think I have still not forgiven you for throwing me into the den of hungry wolves that were your fangirls."

Human Fangirls were scary but Devil Fangirls, they made succubae look tame when it came to seducing their target even going as far as to try and seduce their siblings to get to their target. Poor Ravel would never look at her seniors the same way again after that party.

"Ah…sorry." Ruval said with a sheepish smile knowing that the event had somewhat scarred his two youngest siblings. "Still don't deny that you didn't had fun, you horndog." Ruval said nudging him no doubt wanting him to remember how Riser had somehow gotten laid with multiple girls during that event. It was a really good thing that Devils had low fertility or else there would probably have been multiple girls carrying his child. Devil constitution was weird like that.

'I really have to check up on them now that I think about it.' Riser thought as he was reminded of the girls. "I won't deny it but that is simply another reason why you are banned from planning any celebrations, Ruval."

At those words Ruval began to sulk as his whole body began to emit an aura of despair. "Don't remind me, Riser and I had such grand plans for you birthday this year."

'Thank the Emperor that you aren't.' Riser silently prayed giving his thanks that his brother was not inn charge. He really did not want his sister to be more mentally scarred form the experience. 'And Sona and Rias complain how embarrassing and scarring the antics of their elder siblings are. They should witness Ruval and his brand of mischief, only then they would know the true meaning of scarring and embarrassing.'

Yeah, he was not going to let Ruval plan his birthday ever again.

"Oh, well I am sure that I would still get lots of opportunities in the future to plan some events and when that time comes I will make them so grand that they would be the talk for centuries to come." Ruval promised, "For now enjoy this party Riser, tonight is your night. Go and celebrate to your heart's content." And he blended back into the crowd of devils.

Seeing his brother go, Riser wondered just what kind of parties his brother would throw if had the resources of the Imperium at the back of his call.

'Let's not go down that dark road shall we.' Riser shuddered and made a note to himself to never make Ruval in charge of his parties when he was in the Imperium. He feared his brother would rearrange entire star systems if he was put in charge of arranging a party.

Which brought about the question, when should he reveal his status of being a Rogue Trader to his parents?

'Maybe after I get my business running and find myself some Queens that might be the best time to reveal my status.' Yes, that sounded like a good idea and it was a totally sensible one that allowed him to not only buy time to explain things properly but also prepare and show his parents the benefits of his contract.

'Ah, well I will worry about that later. Now let's see what the strange gossips and deals the others have to offer.' Riser thought as he put the plans about revealing his status in the back of his mind and joined the others in the party, and enjoyed playing the ancient art and tradition of noble intrigue.

########################

Ruval sighed as he saw his brother mingle with the nobles and but the four princes was Riser handling things well, almost too well like he was doing this for years.

But Ruval guessed that all that flattery and sweet talk and mood reading skills that Riser had learnt to seduce women had transferred over to his socialising skills as he weaved through the crowd of nobles charming the ladies with his smile and confident attitude while impressing the lords and giving them the appropriate respect they deserved, a by-product of impressing the fathers and brothers of his target and making them his friends all to get to bed of the girl he set his eyes on.

Ruval knew that Riser must have used those skills in Paris and polished them to great heights as he deflected thinly veiled insults and praise and kept his cool and played his part of a confident playboy while getting away with deals that would make even the Fallen green with envy.

"…And there is the fifth lord who fell to Riser's playboy act." His Queen and Wife commented. "Even a blind man could see that the deal is too one-sided towards Riser and what does he get out of it, a vague promise to upgrade his greenhouses. He does know that Riser runs an automobile company right not a farming industry."

"That I can agree but Riser flattered him and buttered him up a bit too much that the man seemed to have forgotten that not to mention Riser had slowly been refilling the man's wine cup with Honey Grape Juice, and judging by the amount the man drank he is not going to be too coherent and would be in a great jolly mood for the rest of the party." Ruval said as saw Riser butter the man more by giving him advices on how to win the hearts of his wife more and get a nice present for his daughter.

"Can't believe that the man is Seekvaria's Father, the two are nothing alike." His queen commented and Ruval had to agree with her statement as the man was just too jolly while his daughter was the perfect example of an ice queen.

"Well at least I can understand why Seekvaria is like that but the Agares family have nothing on the Sitri and their weird personalities." Ruval added and boy, oh boy, were the personalities of all the Sitri family members different as night and day.

"True." His queen conceded as she continued her observation. "Do you think that Riser is going to accept the offers that the lords are making?"

And Ruval knew which offer she was talking about "You mean the offer of sending a member of their family to become his peerage member?"

"Yes"

"No, not unless said family member is extremely beautiful and is able to charm my brother but those types are much better suited for political marriages disregarding some excruciating circumstances, thus I am afraid the nobles would just have to settle for the being conned by my brother to butter him up for now." Really their plans and ploys were quite transparent once he got down to it and Ruval knew that they were just humouring Riser and letting him get a taste of how the deals went to create a better relationship with him.

The Lords were playing the long game not making too much obvious ploys nor risky moves but one that nurtured a good working relationship with his brother. The fact that they were even doing this much, was a sign that the gathered Lords regarded Riser as someone with great potential and were willing to nurture that potential to its height and reap the harvest they were sowing this night.

Ruval was really interested how his brother's future would develop from here on out.

For now he would do what the Lords of the underworld were doing, stay back and see how his brother grows and the future he would create for himself.

##########################

AN: Yes this is not the most polished chapter but frankly after rewriting it three times this is the best I could offer for now. I might decide to rewrite some parts of it but I would need input on that and thus Please Review it and give me your honest opinions on the matter.