Haemish pottered about his lab. He was trying to find a cure for a particular type of poison that had thus far eluded the other Alchemists in Darf. He was their last hope, and as the highest-level Potion Master in the country, he could not allow this solution to slip through his fingers, figuratively or literally. He would not lose to anyone!

“Come on now…easy does it…”

He had developed a habit of talking to himself after many years of working alone for many hours each day. But he hadn’t become a Level 147, Potion Master by slacking off. He had evolved from an Alchemist at Level 100 about 15 years prior. Odd habits aside, he was still very much dedicated to his craft.

With a slow, careful motion, he tipped the beaker he held gingerly in a pair of two-meter-long tongs over and let the contents ooze into the conical flask that held yet another liquid below it. His goggles and leather suit were enchanted with chemical protections against the most corrosive substances known to him, and he knew a lot. Concentrated Green Dragon Venom was one of the worst substances that he had personally handled. It was difficult enough to find considering most who had access to it often ended up in a liquid pool of their former selves 9 times out of 10 anyway.

This experiment had reached its current stage with a combination of many rare substances provided to him by the Monarchy of Darf, and he would find a cure for the young, ailing Prince even if it killed him. The Royals had been good to him and treated him with respect as well as indulging him on occasion. This was the least he could do. In addition, discovering a new cure was something he had not done for some time, and it would definitely boost his growth significantly more than the factory-line production of things he had already made. At this level, apart from combat, this was the fastest way to grow, and he would take it.

When the ooze made contact with the fluid in the flask, there was a massive explosion far greater than the Alchemist could have anticipated even with all his decades of experience and knowledge! These chemicals and combinations should not have caused this reaction! What had gone wrong?!

He was blasted away, and the whole of his lab seemed to explode at the same time as more and more chemicals held in cupboards and cubbyholes were heated beyond their temperature storage enchantments. Everything added to the powerful mixture to form an even more volatile mixture of chemicals.

The Potion Master was quickly knocked unconscious, his life saved only by his high-level mastery. The lab lost its walls and half the house besides.

A soft whine came from within the mass of mixing and churning chemicals that no one could have heard. A small amount of that slime, perhaps two or maybe three centimeters in length and less than a centimetre in height began to wriggle free. There was a smaller than infinitesimal chance of such a creature being created and yet it had occurred. There was no going back though it could easily have been crushed inadvertently and no one would have known.