The top floor of Veylin's three-story lord's residence had been converted into Newborn Town's first laboratory.
This so-called laboratory had no precision glassware, no temperature-controlled incubators, and not even a decent workbench.
Its only luxury was the enormous wooden lattice window that took up half a wall. It faced the heart of Graysea Marsh, letting abundant sunlight pour in unobstructed and illuminate every speck of dust floating in the air.
Several long tables hastily made by amateur carpenters had been pushed together. Their surfaces were pitted and still bore axe marks. Dozens of coarse earthenware pots sat neatly arranged on them, each scrawled with the name of a marsh plant and its collection date in charcoal.
These were the plants Veylin had ordered collected from among those thriving in the marsh. Now he needed to see whether any of them could be turned into food crops.
Among the dozens of experimental samples, Veylin's gaze finally settled on an utterly unremarkable potted plant.
[Graymarsh Poison Tuber] [Level: Unranked] [Bloodline: Saltmarsh rooter 12% (Black Iron tier), rockskin tuber 8% (Black Iron tier), mixed bloodlines 80%] [Ability: Salt absorption] [Overall assessment: A plant highly adapted to saline-alkaline environments. Its tubers are rich in starch, but eating them directly will cause cardiac arrest.] [Possible evolution path one: Sea-salt potato] [Evolution method: Any enchanted loam, moonlight grass juice, and three days of cultivation in an ether-rich environment] [Possible evolution path two: Explosive rock potato] [Evolution method: ...]
A fatal flaw, yet an opportunity lay hidden within it.
Veylin tapped the air over the entries [Salt absorption] and [Sea-salt potato]. This was the one. In this land of extreme conditions, such a poisonous plant could actually prove useful.
Better still, he happened to have all the materials needed for its evolution.
"Enchanted loam..." Veylin looked at the sacks stacked in the corner. They contained the first batch of "nutrient soil" Korn had delivered. It was rich in ether and met the requirements.
"As for moonlight grass..." He took a small earthenware jar from the shelf. Inside were several slender blades of grass that gave off a faint silver glow at night. A few days earlier, the people he had sent to gather marsh plants had come across them by chance. It was a very common magical plant.
Everything was ready.
The experiment began.
First, Veylin dug a graymarsh poison tuber out of its pot.
He fetched a stone mortar, placed several sprigs of moonlight grass inside, and slowly crushed them with a wooden pestle. The scent of grass and earth spread through the room as the leaves were ground into a thick, dark green juice.
Next, he used a sharp little knife to cut a shallow cross into one of the poison tuber's eyes.
This would help the sample absorb nutrients from the growing soil.
He dipped the tip of a feather into the moonlight grass juice in the mortar and applied it precisely to the cross-shaped cut.
For the final step, he buried the treated poison tuber in a new pot filled with enchanted loam.
All the preparations were complete.
Veylin closed his eyes and held his palm in the air above the pot. He began channeling his mental power, reaching out to the part of his bloodline that belonged to the "Song of the Forest."
Springlaw Messenger.
His mental power extended out of his body as though it had physical substance.
In his perception, the evolution process, which should have proceeded slowly, began accelerating under the influence of Springlaw Messenger.
The faintly glowing particles in the enchanted loam activated, and the active components of the moonlight grass juice began breaking down. Together, they surged toward the cross-shaped cut.
It was a highly draining process.
Beads of sweat formed on his forehead. A drop slid from his chin and struck the floor, spreading into a small dark patch.
Just as he began to struggle, the poison tuber's life energy finally intertwined with the external forces, colliding and merging with them.
It worked!
The soil in the pot suddenly bulged slightly.
A tender green seedling burst through the soil, sprouting and growing taller at a speed visible to the naked eye. Vines climbed upward, and its leaves were broader than those of the parent plant, their color shifting from dark green to a more vibrant emerald.
Veylin withdrew his hand and let out a long breath. He braced himself against the edge of the table, his knuckles whitening with the force of his grip.
He reached into the rich, moist loam and pulled out a cluster of newly formed tubers.
They no longer had their ugly, rocklike appearance. Instead, they were a mellow earthy yellow, with smooth skins and considerably larger bodies.
He picked one up, washed it clean, and tossed it straight into the embers of the stove.
A little over ten minutes later, the toasted aroma of baked bread drifted from the dying fire.
Veylin lifted the slightly blackened tuber out with the tongs, blew on it, and broke it open.
With a crack, the charred skin split to reveal a milky-white interior. Steam billowed into his face, and the rich aroma filled his nose. Veylin could not help swallowing.
He tore off a small piece and put it in his mouth.
It was soft and fluffy, the gelatinized starch coating his tongue with a deeply satisfying texture. As he savored it, he could even taste a faint, savory hint of sea salt beneath its sweetness.
Delicious.
Veylin activated [Inspect].
[Sea-salt potato] [Level: Unranked] [Bloodline: Saltmarsh rooter 37%, mixed bloodlines 63%] [Ability: Salt absorption] [Overall assessment: A food crop suited to saline-alkaline soil. Long-term cultivation can reduce the soil's salinity and alkalinity. However, the toxins inherited from the marsh poison tuber have not completely disappeared. Consuming large quantities will cause gastrointestinal discomfort.]
...Next time, I should check the system before eating it.
Still, whatever the case, this was a successful modification.
Veylin inspected the other marsh plant samples on the table again, hoping to build on his success.
[Spiny reed... Evolution requires a Wind Element Crystal. Can be used to make arrows after evolution. Not worth cultivating...] [Marsh duckweed... Evolution requires a Water Element Crystal. Can serve as a supplementary ingredient for an Inferior Healing Potion after evolution. Not worth cultivating...]
After looking through them all, he found that, for now, the sea-salt potato was the only crop in this marsh with the potential for rapid modification and large-scale cultivation.
Their basic food needs would soon be met.
But could this alone make money?
Chewing the potato in his mouth, Veylin quickly ran through the figures in his head.
How much could one mu of land yield? How many jin could sell for one Gold Sun? After labor, transport, and losses, how much net profit would remain?
Then he thought of the Optimized Potions for Barrett and Xiao Lan, and the astronomical number of Gold Suns they would cost.
And what about the level five magical beast that might be lurking deep in the marsh? How much would it cost to study it and fight it?
By selling potatoes? I could sell them until the end of time and still never scrape together enough.
The joy on Veylin's face gradually faded.
Selling raw agricultural produce was a very primitive way to accumulate wealth. What he needed was seed capital-an "angel investment" that could support his expensive bloodline research.
He walked to the window, his gaze passing over the little camp and settling on the distant sea.
Across that sea lay the Haiti Duchy's busiest trade routes.
Countless ships traveled back and forth between several bustling, wealthy ports, and those routes were controlled by the duchy's major commercial powers.
"Looks like I'll have to find a big buyer," Veylin murmured, holding the still-warm sea-salt potato.
"But I won't be selling potatoes. I'll be selling a concept that can turn saline-alkaline land into ten thousand mu of fertile farmland."