Inside the office at the Lord's Manor, Veylin and Valerius stood shoulder to shoulder, studying a glass container.
A dark green vine soaked in clear nutrient solution. Its main body still had the texture of a plant, but its roots had taken on the grotesque form of muscle fibers.
At the tip of the vine, a blood-red flower bud the size of a fist trembled faintly, the scarlet of impending maturity showing through the gaps between its petals.
This was a [Bloodsucking Vine] that had consumed a large quantity of the Giant Crocodile Chief's blood.
"I swear on my paltry sixty-eight years of life, Veylin, this is nothing short of genius."
Valerius's grizzled beard quivered with excitement. He had practically pressed his face against the glass container.
"Its roots have completely transformed into fascial tissue... that means it's beginning to move beyond the category of 'plant'! It no longer needs soil. As long as there's flesh and blood, it can take root! This... this is creating a new species!"
His voice brimmed with heartfelt admiration.
"In the past, those of us alchemists who studied life always turned our attention to those ancient, noble [Primordial Bloodlines]."
Through the glass, Valerius traced the vine's outline with his finger.
"We tried to purify and strengthen those shared bloodlines through painstaking crossbreeding of parent specimens. It was a reliable path, but an extraordinarily long process."
He turned his head, his eyes shining. "But you, Veylin, took an entirely different path! You didn't seek out some rare specimen. Instead, you evolved an unremarkable Jute Vine through a Necromantic Potion and material-induced mutation!"
The old alchemist's voice rose, carrying the fervor of someone who had discovered a new continent.
"This is unlike any direction in the history of alchemy! If you can develop more new varieties