Madness meet madness, the beginning of a friendship

Throughout the day, Damien found himself navigating the labyrinthine paths of the university campus, his vehicle serving as a shuttle for students rushing between lectures. His true objective, however, was far from the mundane task of transportation. He was on a quest, a quest to find an alchemist who could aid him in his pursuit of the divine.

As the day wore on, a conversation between two students caught his attention. "Excuse me," Damien interjected, "I couldn't help but overhear. Are you discussing an alchemist?" The students, a pair of eager undergraduates, looked taken aback. "Yes, our professor. He's quite the character, always engrossed in discussions about alchemy and its potential," one of them replied.

Intrigued, Damien inquired if the professor would be open to assisting someone outside the university. The students exchanged uncertain glances before one of them responded, "He's always on the lookout for new research subjects. He also undertakes side projects to fund his work. But he's a bit… unconventional." Unperturbed, Damien asked for the professor's address. The students hesitated, but eventually divulged it, cautioning Damien about the professor's eccentricities.

With the address in his possession, Damien felt a surge of hope. He was one step closer to finding the alchemist, one step closer to his goal. As he drove off, he was filled with anticipation. He was about to meet an eccentric alchemist professor, and he couldn't wait to see what would unfold next.

Upon reaching the given address, Damien found himself standing before an old Victorian house, its walls shrouded in ivy and the windows adorned with curious symbols. He knocked on the door, and it creaked open to reveal a man who could only be the alchemist, Picatrix. Picatrix was a sight to behold, his hair a wild mane of white, his eyes gleaming with a mix of madness and brilliance. He wore a robe that seemed to be patched together from a hundred different experiments, stained with various substances.

"Ah, and who might you be?" Picatrix said, his voice a peculiar mix of enthusiasm and distraction. "The students told me of you being a great alchemist." Damien lied without blinking once, he took a deep breath. "I seek a catalyst, one that could help me contact the divine. I was told you might be able to help".

Picatrix, upon meeting Damien, was immediately intrigued by his request for a catalyst to contact the divine. However, he was in the middle of a peculiar line of research and couldn't simply abandon it. Picatrix clapped his hands together, leading Damien into a cluttered laboratory filled with strange devices and bubbling potions.

"I am attempting to distill the essence of laughter into a liquid form. Imagine the possibilities! A drop of joy to brighten the darkest of moods, a potion to induce mirth in the most solemn of gatherings!" He wanted to create a potion to make the people who lost their reasoning in helplessness and anger remember their happy times, he was trying to regain the calm of the mind of warriors when faced with danger. And for that, he needed the laughter of someone who had truly known sorrow, as it was the most potent.

Damien couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of it. "And how exactly do you plan to achieve this?" Picatrix pointed to a series of intricate glass apparatuses. "I've been collecting the laughter of various subjects, but it's not pure enough. I require the laughter of someone who has truly known sorrow, for it is the most potent. Help me capture this, and I will aid you in your quest for the divine".

Damien, whose life had been filled with challenges, knew his laughter was hard-earned. Not to be deterred, he offered to assist with the research. Picatrix's eyes lit up at the proposition. He warned Damien that he wanted to hear his story first and wanted to know about the reason for his request.

Over the next few days, they worked together, sharing stories of laughter and tears. They eventually succeeded in creating a vial of shimmering liquid that seemed to dance with light, which Picatrix proclaimed as the purest essence of laughter he had ever seen.

Unbeknownst to Picatrix, Damien was not your typical old man, in his essence he was still a teenage boy, a chuunibyou who had dreamt of conquering his enemies and claiming himself to be the best that ever lived. Fueled by his hate of his fate, Damien found himself imagining his nemesis begging for his forgiveness, regretting the thought of them opposing him, having control over their life and fate.

While taking the woman as his maids and concubines. He killed whoever he wanted, took the chastity of whomever he fancied, and was worshiped by many. The thought brought a smile to Damien's face, a sense of satisfaction that was both unsettling and exhilarating. A sense of satisfaction that was both unsettling and exhilarating came upon him. His stern face broke into uncontrollable laughter, his dignity crumbling away.

At the thought of him taking his first step toward domination and having the ability to do whatever he wanted. However, due to Damien's special gift and his twisted thought, the potion was not as benign as it seemed. When consumed, it induced a state of manic laughter, a joy so intense that it bordered on madness. The drinker would laugh uncontrollably, their mind filled with a singular desire to spread their mirth, even if it meant resorting to violence.

Picatrix, witnessing the effects of the potion on a test subject, felt a chill run down his spine.

"Picatrix's intrigue towards Damien deepened as he wondered, 'What kind of experiences have you endured, Damien? How is it possible to combine all the correct elements and still achieve an incorrect outcome?'"

The laughter was not joyful, but terrifying, a stark reminder of the thin line between joy and madness. He realized then that Damian's earlier fantasies of his nemesis succumbing to him, made the potion, born out of a desire, not of justice, but a darker, more sinister part of him.

This potion, when consumed, induces uncontrollable laughter in the drinker. However, in Damien's fantasy, the effects of the potion are twisted. Instead of simply causing laughter, the potion drives the consumer into a state of maniacal frenzy, where they desire nothing but to kill. This is a significant deviation from the typical effects of a laughter potion, which are generally harmless and often used for defense or distraction.

In Damien's fantasy, he successfully uses this potion on his enemy, the top expert. The expert, driven mad by the potion, laughs uncontrollably, his mind filled with a singular, overwhelming desire to kill. However, in his frenzied state, he is unable to focus his attacks and eventually succumbs to his own madness, effectively being killed by his own hand. This victory brings Damien immense satisfaction, and he laughs along with his enemy, reveling in the success of his plan.

However, it's important to note that this potion is not a "good" potion. Its effects are dangerous and unpredictable, and it could easily backfire if used improperly. The potion's ability to drive someone to madness and violence is a significant risk, and it's likely that such a potion would be considered highly illegal or unethical in most cultivation societies. Furthermore, the use of such a potion could have serious consequences, potentially provoking retaliation from the victim's allies or destabilizing the balance of power within the cultivation world.

Despite the disturbing nature of the potion, Damien couldn't deny the thrill he felt at having been part of such a groundbreaking research. He had helped create something that had never existed before, a testament to the boundless potential of alchemy. But he also understood the dangers of such power, the potential for harm if it fell into the wrong hands.

Damien, not caring about the potion not achieving the desired result, but having the opposite effect of what was intended, argued with the alchemist and asked him of the catalyst that he needed. Throughout the last week, when Damien was not helping Picatrix in his research, he was doing his best in driving clients and creating more connections.

He was thrilled about the news he had just got. The time for the extra work from his boss had come. He was given two days to familiarize himself with the route that he would take the goods and deliver them to the underground auction. Damien thought that this would be dangerous, but the Boss assured him of having a couple of police officers in their pocket and enticed Damian with a gadget. If everything went well, Damian could start walking again. And with the help of the alchemist, Damien's first step toward power was close by.

True to his word, Picatrix then began his work on concocting a series of alchemical mixtures in pursuit of the catalyst Damien sought. Through this strange and unexpected partnership, Damien not only found an ally in the eccentric alchemist but also rediscovered the joy in his own life, the lust for power and dominance, a feeling he thought he had lost forever.