Chapter 170: What a Waste of Talent!

  Although Nanalie had always known that her friend Culia had an unventional side, she couldn’t help but be stunned when she heard Culia’s fident response.

  Was this even a legitimate way to operate?

  “You just don’t get it, do you?”

  Seeing Nanalie’s expression, Culia grabbed her hand and began expining iail.

  “Don’t dismiss the idea of judging by appearances as unreliable. In our line of work, looks are actually the foundation.”

  Culia wasirely exaggerating. As a staff member of the Alchemist Association, her primary responsibility involved precisely this type of assessment. She had to identify who came with geentions and who was merely trying to freeload. Giveure of the Alchemist Association’s work, distinguishiween fringe pseudosce, groundbreaking innovations, and amateur tinkering was a critical skill. It wouldn’t do to mistakenly report something like “turning water into oil” as a revolutionary alchemy breakthrough—that would only make a mockery of the association.

  However, staff members like Culia weren’t alchemists themselves. While they had some familiarity with alchemy, their job often required evaluating a dizzying array of iions from all ers of the nd—things that flew in the sky, crawled underground, or swam in water. It was impossible for them to master every field or know every teical detail.

  If they were expected to have that kind of knowledge, they might as well work as library archivists instead of front desk staff.

  By parison, judging people was much simpler.

  At the very least, one could deduce certain traits from someone’s demeanor, behavior, and overall presence. A boastful person might present iions that warrant skepticism, while an ho and reserved individual might have ideas that ck clear articution but hold promise. In short, while Culia might misjudge iions, she was fident she would never misjudge people.

  Initially, she had beeical of Nanalie’s so-called “retive.” Especially with Nanalie’s hesitant and evasive attitude, her suspis only deepened. Having grown up together, Culia knew Nanalie’s personality i. The way Nanalie behaved made it clear she was hiding something, so Culia had decided to apany her and uhe truth.

  Culia’s stant criticism of “Ezio” during their journey had also been a deliberate strategy to gauge Nanalie’s rea. If Naruly disliked him, she would unsciously agree with Culia’s remarks. Oher hand, if she were infatuated with him, she would likely defend him to some extent.

  uzzled Culia, however, was that Nanalie did her. She didn’t seem to view Alex as an adversary, nor did she defend him with the fervor of someone infatuated. Instead, she merely offered polite yet troubled responses, as if she held a sense of respect for him.

  And then, when Culia met Alex in person, she immediately reized his extraordinary nature.

  This young man, barely in his early twenties, exuded an aura of sophistication and elegan both his attire and demeanor. His gaze was calm and posed, free of malice or ulterior motives whether he was looking at her or at Nanalie. Moreover, when Alex looked at her, Culia felt a powerful, almost oppressive presence—like the gaze of a ruler anding the entire world. It was so overwhelming that she nearly started trembling!

  More importantly, the young man in front of her was too handsome!

  Unlike Nanalie, who spent most of her time cooped up at home immersed in research, Culia had met many aplished youhe field of alchemy was full ies and geniuses. While this pce wasn’t the association’s headquarters, over the years it had still produced its fair share of so-called “geniuses” and “child prodigies.” For example, there was that blond shorty dreaming of obtaining the Philosopher’s Stone, or the big guy obsessed with human transmutation...

  Alchemy was both an expensive and lucrative profession. As a result, Culia had entered plenty of noble heirs ahy bachelors in this field—some handsome, some elegant, and even a few with both looks and charisma.

  But none of them came close to Alex!

  Although Alex’s appearance hadn’t ged much from his pre-rebirth self, he wasn’t unattractive before. Moreover, his body had undergone some fiuning during restru, which elevated his natural charm to an almost supernatural level. Coupled with the anding aura granted by the Heart of the Swarm, Alex’s bination of looks and charisma was simply unmatched.

  Naturally, Culia couldn’t possibly have a ive attitude toward Alex. How could anyone dislike such a graceful, poised, and strikingly handsome man? It was a wonder she wasn’t ging to his leg, shouting “Oppa, I love you!” and begging for his autograph—that alone showed remarkable self-restraint.

  But when Culia followed Alex and the others to the greenhouse, she was immediately captivated by the breathtakingly beautiful se before her.

  “This is truly unimaginable…”

  Standing amidst the lush greenery of the greenhouse, Culia stared in awe, momentarily at a loss for words.

  Sihis was only an experiment, Alex hadn’t chosen to cultivate crops like wheat, as their growth cycle was long and the results less visually striking. For example, with wheat, you’d have to mill it into flour and then bake bread—a process that took far too long.

  Instead, they chose to grow a fruit called eberry, a local equivalent to strawberries. These fruits had a shrowth cycle, could be eaten directly, and were both fvorful and visually appealing—ideal for experimentation. Now, after several days of cultivation, the eberries were nearly ripe. The vibrant red fruits hangih the lush green leaves, coupled with their intoxigly sweet aroma, were enough to make Culia’s mouth water.

  Even more astonishing—it was winter! Winter!!

  eberries were a highly sought-after fruit, beloved for their sweet and tangy fvor. They had a broad appeal among both aristocrats and oners. However, eberries were notoriously difficult to grow and could only be harvested in summer. While many people cultivated them due to their popurity, they rarely sted beyond autumn. Although it ossible to preserve them using frost magic, the cost was exorbitant, and the preserved fruits cked the same fresh fvor.

  Culia, a devoted fan eberries, had always binged on them every summer until she felt sick. She knew all too well that ohe season passed, they’d be goil year.

  She had often fantasized about sitting by a r firep the dead of winter, sav a cold, sweet, and crisp eberry. But until now, it had been nothing more than a dream. And now, looking at these plump, fragrant fruits...

  If not for the people around her, she might have already rushed in and started g herself! Thankfully, her rationality kept her from ag out, though she couldn’t stop herself from swallowing hard as she stared at the fresh, juicy fruits.

  “This is absolutely incredible!”

  Wiping the er of her mouth instinctively, Culia turo Alex with aed expression.

  “Sir, may I taste one?”

  To her, the request seemed entirely reasonable. But to her surprise, Alex shook his head, rejeg her proposal.

  “They’re not fully ripe yet. Evehey are, I don’t pn oing a them immediately.”

  “What? Why not?”

  Culia was stunned, uo prehend his reasoning. These eberries weren’t just fragrant and sweet; they were also much rger and more vibrant than any she’d ever seen on the market. Just looking at them made her salivate. Logically, shouldn’t this be the perfect time to have someoaste them and showcase the success of their iion?

  In Culia’s eyes, growing eberries in the middle of winter was already a phenomenal achievement!

  “Because they’re not fully mature yet, and their safety isn’t guaranteed.”

  Alex remained calm and posed. He wasn’t a research fanatic, but he knew better than to rush experiments. To be ho, even he had been surprised by the effectiveness of this “fertilizer.” The solution that Ikaros and Nanalie had cocted using slime secretions had accelerated the growth of the eberries to an almost unnatural degree, leaving Alex a bit uneasy.

  Chemical fertilizers iy didn’t even produce such rapid results. If this were a se from a sci-fi horror movie, it might lead to some kind of geic mutation… What if ing them caused unforeseen problems? Even if nothing happened immediately, what if it led to birth defects in future geions? Who would take responsibility?

  “Then… who are these eberries meant for?”

  Culia, clueless about Alex’s train of thought, was utterly fused. If he wasn’t going to eat them, what was he going to do with them after they ripened?

  “Well, for now, I pn to test them on animals… probably feed them to some dogs.”

  “What?!!”

  This time, Nanalie remained calm, but Culia exploded in shock.

  He was going to feed these amazing fruits to dogs?!

  This was sheer wastefulness!

  (End of chapter)

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