Chapter Thirty-Nine: Two Methods "Chip, check
Leilin issued the command, and on Gulicha's image, he indeed discovered that some organs inside his body, particularly his lungs, had already begun showing signs of disease.
Apprentices already had magical resistance — just how intense would the radiation have to be to overwhelm even an apprentice?
Leilin's expression shifted repeatedly. "What did the Academy say about this?"
"What else could they say? Niss signed an agreement with the instructor before the experiment — they don't even have to pay compensation!" Duoduolier's voice was tearful.
Leilin fell silent. Many apprentices with poor aptitude and no Magic Stones were randomly assigned to instructors. If they were lucky, they'd get someone like Guofate — that was a stroke of incredible fortune. But if they ended up with one of those Wizards who loved conducting human experiments, they could only blame their own bad luck.
Moreover, many apprentices, unable to endure their instructors' abuse, signed agreements to cooperate with experiments, and it was even possible for them to die directly in the end.
Black Bone Forest Academy had apprentices die in experimental accidents every year. Compared to them, Niss was lucky to have survived at all — her fortune was far better than that of those who had perished.
"So what exactly did you come to me for? If it's about seeking justice or something of that sort, I'm afraid I can't help!"
Leilin made his position clear from the start. Challenging an official
"We don't have that kind of hope. We just want you to take a look and see if there's still a chance to save Niss?" Gulicha quickly waved his hands.
Leilin nodded. After all, Apothecary Guofate was standing behind him. If even Guofate couldn't do anything, then Niss would truly have to despair.
"Do you mind letting me take a look?" Leilin asked Niss.
"I don't mind!" Niss's voice was feeble, almost inaudible.
Leilin moved closer, and the foul stench grew even more overwhelming. He steeled himself and lifted Niss's hand.
Every finger was thicker than a radish, the surface a mottled bluish-purple, covered in ring after ring of nauseating wrinkles.
The young girl's once fair and delicate hand had become this. Leilin estimated that if she couldn't find hope even here, Niss would be driven to the point of wanting to die.
Leilin pressed on the back of her hand. "Can you feel anything?"
"No!"
"Looks like decent defenses!" Lei Lin silently appraised, drawing a gleaming silver scalpel from his waist pouch.
The razor-bright blade glided across the palm's surface, causing the skin to depress slightly — yet it hadn't even broken the skin!
Lei Lin's brow furrowed. He exerted force, channeling all his Knight-level strength into the blade. The scalpel finally pierced Niss's skin, and a drop of yellow pus welled up.
Lei Lin quickly produced a test tube and collected the pus.
He lightly dabbed some hemostatic potion onto the wound. The cut on Niss's hand healed at a remarkable speed, and in mere seconds no trace of it remained.
"Incredible regenerative power!" Lei Lin silently praised, though he dared not say it aloud.
Seeing Dorali and Gulicha both staring at him motionlessly, Lei Lin gave a slight smile.
"Gotama — Shirato!" As the incantation rang out, a faint whirlwind suddenly stirred within the room.
Black mist continuously rose, coalescing into a vague, blurry humanoid figure before Lei Lin.
Gulicha and Dorali froze in place, and even Niss took several steps back.
"I never expected that in just over a year, he'd already reached this level. Could it be that the aptitude gap truly cannot be bridged?" Gulicha watched Lei Lin casting his spell, a complicated expression on his face.
Lei Lin paid no attention whatsoever to Gulicha — his mind was entirely focused on the summoned entity before him.
"Take it!" Lei Lin spoke in ancient Byronic, hurling the test tube containing Niss's bodily fluid toward the dark figure.
The dark figure's eyes glowed crimson red. With no arms, it caught the test tube directly in its mouth — CRACK!
The test tube shattered, and the dark figure swallowed the yellow pus.
WHOOSH! As the yellow pus entered its body, the dark figure's condition became visibly unstable. It roared violently, forcing fine beads of cold sweat onto Lei Lin's forehead.
"Klin — Stamos!" Lei Lin's chant continued without pause. He pulled several dark green stones from his leather pouch and cast them one after another into the dark figure.
After roughly three or four minutes, the dark figure ceased its frenzy and addressed Lei Lin in a few halting, unfamiliar words.
Gulicha and the others pricked up their ears to listen, but the language was entirely foreign — it bore no resemblance to Byronic whatsoever.
From ancient times to the present, spanning countless ages, many Wizard organizations had developed their own unique spellcasting languages — learning them all was as impossible as a dream.
The dark shadow roared ceaselessly until, with one final howl, it vanished.
Lei Lin watched the disappearing shadow and let out a long sigh of relief.
"How is it?" Nisse asked, her concern focused squarely on her own condition.
"Very difficult! Your constitution has been completely transformed, and there's still a large mass of contaminated energy lingering inside you. If you weren't a Wizard Apprentice, you'd already be dead!" Lei Lin shook his head.
Hearing Lei Lin's assessment, Nisse's eyes went blank and she stumbled back several steps.
"But it's not entirely hopeless!" Lei Lin continued.
"What method? No matter what it takes, I'll do anything for Nisse!" Duoduo Li'er clenched her fists.
"Exactly! We'll figure something out together — there's always a solution!" Gulicha chimed in from the side, which left Lei Lin somewhat speechless.
"The first method is for Nisse to advance to a full Wizard. Wizards can continuously alter their appearance through radiation, so with enough time, it's possible to revert back to a human form!"
Lei Lin spoke slowly — this kind of body-altering radiation could only be fine-tuned by the individual, and no other Wizard could interfere, or a severe rejection reaction would occur.
"A full Wizard? I'm only a First-rank Apprentice right now!" A brief spark flickered in Nisse's eyes, then quickly dimmed.
"That's too difficult, but at least it's a glimmer of hope. Are there any other methods?" Duoduo Li'er asked.
"There's a second method — the Aqua Regia Harmonizer! It can purge the contaminated energy from Nisse's body, and after that, changing her appearance would be much easier." Lei Lin went on to explain the second option.
"The Aqua Regia Harmonizer!! Good heavens!! Isn't that a potion exclusive to Wizards? A single bottle costs at least a thousand Magic Stones!" Gulicha's eyes nearly bulged out of his head.
"That's right. The contamination inside Nisse is quite severe — only the potions Wizards use to clear radiation will have any effect!" Lei Lin confirmed.
"These are the only two methods I can think of. I'll also consult my mentor about it!"
These two options were already the best strategies the Chip could offer. Lei Lin believed that even Mentor Guofate wouldn't have a better solution.
"A full Wizard? A thousand Magic Stones? I'll make it happen!" Nisse's eyes burned with determination as she clenched her fists.
"I'm truly sorry I couldn't be of more help. Please accept this potion — it can ease some of the pain you suffer at midnight."
Lei Lin gave a slight bow, took out a vial of pink potion from his bag — this was all he could do.
"How did you know?" Nisse looked visibly surprised.
"Judging from the reactions inside your body, midnight is when the conflict between energy particles is at its most intense! And also the most painful!" Lei Lin said calmly.
"Nisse! Why didn't you tell me!" Dorleer's eyes reddened again.
"You've already done more than enough!" Nisse demurred.
"Take it." Lei Lin handed the potion to Gulicha, turned around, and walked out of the dormitory.
The three people in the room sank into a deathly silence. "What do we do?" Gulicha was the first to speak.
"A full Wizard? For those of us with low-grade aptitude, that's far too remote. It's more realistic to save up Magic Stones and buy the Aqua Regia harmonizing agent!" Dorleer said.
"If the three of us pool our resources and borrow a bit from others, we might be able to scrounge up..." Even Dorleer didn't believe her own words. Whenever apprentices got their hands on Magic Stones, they either spent them on knowledge or used them to boost their strength — who would throw Magic Stones into the water?
"No! I want to try to become a full Wizard!" Nisse shook her head slowly, her tone resolute.
"Thanks to my mentor's help, this body has much stronger defenses than an ordinary person's, and decent spell resistance too. I'll take on more missions and earn resources to advance! I can't keep dragging you two down anymore..."
Nisse forced out a smile that looked worse than crying.
"Why? Why did it have to turn out like this?" Dorleer sobbed.
Gulicha quickly pulled her into his arms to comfort her — it seemed these two had already become a couple.
"If this were a typical novel from my previous life, shouldn't I rush off to sell potions, earn money to treat Nisse, advance to Wizard at the same time, and get revenge for her or something like that?"
Lei Lin walked along, letting his mind wander with idle thoughts.
"Too bad this is reality! Nisse and I aren't even ordinary friends — we're strangers who've met only a few times. Out of consideration for coming from the same place, that pain-relief potion was already the limit!"
"As for Magic Stones, I don't even have enough for myself — why would I hand them over? A person has to take responsibility for their own choices!!!"
Lei Lin's gaze turned cold as he left the area.
From now on, he would do nothing more for Nisse. It was all up to her now.
He walked to the garden beside the dormitory, breathing in the fragrance of the flowers while basking in the simulated sunlight filtering down from above. Lei Lin's mood suddenly improved quite a bit.
He found a bench, sat down, and watched the apprentices walking by, a sense of tranquility settling over him.
"Coming out for a little sun now and then is a fine treat, isn't it?"
A voice came from beside him. A grey-robed youth had walked over and sat down next to Lei Lin.
"Jiamen?" Lei Lin opened his eyes slightly.
"Jiamen — Strength: 1.9, Agility: 2.7, Constitution: 3.1, Spirit: 5.0. Evaluation: Second-rank Apprentice. Low-level Magical Item fluctuation detected on his person. Considerably dangerous!" The Chip fed Jiamen's data directly into Lei Lin's mind.
As a Wizard Apprentice, Jiamen's Spirit was the highest of his attributes, and through radiation, his physical stats had all risen along with it. Generally speaking, Wizards would intentionally increase their Constitution as preparation for future modifications.
Jiamen's Spiritual Power was higher than Lei Lin's, and he was carrying a Magical Item to boot — though there was no telling what his combat experience looked like.
"If I were to duel Jiamen, calculate the win rate!"
"Simulation initiated. Win rate: 57.82%!" The Chip returned the data.
"Only a little over half. Looks like that Magical Item packs a real punch, and Jiamen isn't some hothouse flower raised in a greenhouse."