It felt like he had stepped into a new world.
Jayden went from a dry and arid desert plain, to a lush, green, humid jungle brimming with life.
Large trees over three hundred feet tall were spread across the jungle. They had thick canopies, blocking over ninety percent of sunlight from reaching the ground.
Thick bushes, lianas, epiphytes and various carnivorous plants were sprawled all over, alongside insects and small animals.
The distant sounds of roars reminded Jayden that this area wasn't safe. It was deadly to most First Year students, and a few Second Years.
Jayden had come here on multiple occasions and had to make large detours before he got to his destination. The Godspawns residing in the jungle weren't weak by any means.
Godspawns were ranked based on the amount of energy they possessed, and assigned Grades. And unless the Seven Senses Pearl was feeding him wrong info, he found out that the lowest Grade of Godspawns in the jungle were Grade 2.
Still, he went there anytime he got the chance.
His research on alchemy wasn't limited to his body and elixirs and potions and whatnot. He sunk deeper into all forms of it, and his current study was… Unique.
It was a mix of Spagyrics and Vitalism, in which his Alchemy was targeted at animals, as they were believed to possess the most complex form of the life force, or as it was called, pneuma.
Jayden turned around, again, waiting for something—or rather, someone.
Not long after, just as he was expecting, Samantha walked through the barrier with careful steps.
She studied her surroundings, taking in every little detail she could spot. Regardless, she failed to spot Jayden standing five feet away from her.
'Hmm… It worked perfectly,' Jayden thought with glee.
He felt no pity for Samantha as she kept looking around before choosing a path and going through it in search of him.
She never minded her business, and it had gotten her in trouble lots of times. She just didn't seem to understand the concept of privacy, and poked her nose in everyone's business.
This, though, was a step beyond that.
Jayden's secret wasn't something he could share with just anyone. He knew the state of the world at large. He was walking on eggshells by doing what he always did in the jungle.
If the authorities found out about his mad science, death was literally the best option he would be given.
Jayden waited for a few minutes. As the leader of his team, it was his duty to learn and understand how his teammates worked, so he had done just that, and it was time to reap the fruits of his labour.
He might not know in depth how they reasoned, but he could guess how they would react to some things.
His speculations turned out to be true, because not up to ten minutes later, a loud roar tore through the jungle, and a shockwave rolled out.
The trees swayed, the little animals and insects scurried away, and the weaker Godspawns dipped.
Samantha was no different. Right before Jayden's eyes, she burst out of the dense fauna of the jungle and through the Convergence Point, into the rain-shadow desert.
Jayden couldn't help but chuckle to himself.
Who wouldn't run when a Grade 3 beast was irritated by something and decided to vent on the nearest victim?
The ground shook violently, the tremor sending droplets of water falling from the wide canopy of leaves, but Jayden didn't move.
Even as he sensed the energy level of a Grade 3 beast approaching him rapidly, his relaxed smile remained on his face.
And then the beast revealed itself.
Out of the jungle, its form came into view.
Its piercing red eyes were the first thing Jayden noticed, followed by a large paw stepping out of the cover of a tree.
Suddenly it pounced, leaping to a stop at Jayden's front, its tail wagging and its tongue hanging out of its mouth.
Jayden raised a hand and rubbed its head, and the Tiger growled in return.
It didn't make any attempt to touch Jayden but just kept jumping around him. It knew that it could squash Jayden beneath its paws without any effort, so to avoid hurting its master, it kept a safe distance.
The Tiger had white fur and red stripes. Its body was excessively muscular for its species, and it had sharp white claws that dug into the ground with every step.
Its two canines were longer than usual—almost like a Sabertooth Tiger's—protruding through its mouth a little and digging into its lower lip.
"You've grown so big, Roan," Jayden said, still rubbing the Tiger's head.
"You're doing good. Just one more test and you'll be on your way to Grade 4 in six months."
His Dimensional Inventory opened up, and Jayden took out a disposable syringe. He coupled it together with practiced expertise and took some of the Tiger's blood.
As he tried to store the barrel and needle back into the Dimensional Inventory though, it was rejected, surprising Jayden.
He squinted his eyes and looked back at Roan, as if expecting him to explain what just happened.
Jayden returned his gaze to the syringe and stared at it for a while.
The blood within was viscous; it appeared to be…
"Alive?"
Roan was only a Grade 1 cub when Jayden had discovered him, and he had tamed him after a tough, drawn out, gruesome battle.
Roan was fierce—too fierce to be normal—and Jayden had taken a liking to him, only because he needed a strong beast as his test project.
Any other beast with a weak will and body would have folded after a series of Jayden's tests.
Luckily, it seemed like Jayden had struck gold.
"Is this the cause of his unnatural aggression and tenacity? An Infector?"
"Or are the dormant genes finally awakening?"
Jayden's green eyes almost sparkled.
He had been working on Roan for close to a year, and he had seen lots of progress. But this… This was the best so far.
Jayden had originally tried to use Veneficium to tame Roan after their battle, but his 'genes' were just too powerful and his 'nervous system' had overridden it.
This came as a surprise to Jayden as the texts he had read said otherwise.
He smartly deduced that it was probably due to Roan being a Godspawn and not a normal beast.
Regardless, he didn't back down and took Roan's blood.
If he couldn't tame him immediately, he'd just develop a toxin that could work on him when he returned.
That action had led to him discovering a whole new species of Godspawns, and now it was time to reap what he had sown.