Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1407: Deadly Poison and Fever
At this moment, the stabbing pain in Shard’s chest had completely disappeared, but the side effects of drinking the entire perfume vial in one go had manifested.
"This time there’s no need to purify the land. The power of the Evil God directly drained those black muds. Is this an alternative method of purifying the land? However, the heart of the statue disappeared, and I couldn’t find it..."
Seeing Shard’s unusual expression and abnormally flushed face, for reasons she didn’t even understand, Miss Benanis hurried ahead of Luviya to try and support Shard, but Shard, clutching his forehead, refused:
"Please... don’t, don’t touch me, I feel very strange."
He declined the goodwill of the two ladies and then stumbled back to the campfire with them.
In his current state, Shard certainly couldn’t leave immediately, so Miss Benanis started casting spells around the camp to prevent the church members, who were gradually waking up, from finding them.
Shard sat on a large stone by the campfire, holding his violently thumping heart, feeling his whole body burning, so much so that he really wanted to strip off his clothes and roll in the snow:
"The Guardian has left, but I now know the truth about the Guardians."
"We only saw that his spiritual body seemed very strange."
Luviya looked at Shard with concern, and Shard responded with a nasal sound. His current state of burgeoning desires was unexpectedly quite weak, but his body was clearly out of sorts—feverish, weak all over, headache, and even unable to open his eyes properly:
"There is no such thing as multiple Guardians. The Guardian has always been just one. Haven’t you noticed? No one has ever seen two different Guardians appear at the same time."
"Is it really soul fusion?"
The witch, shocked and curious, asked as she returned to the campfire.
"Yes, and it’s not just simple soul stitching as in necrology. In my view, it’s as if hundreds of souls were perfectly fused together, creating a brand new soul."
Shard grabbed a handful of snow from the ground and pressed it to his left cheek, which made him feel a bit more comfortable so he could at least finish speaking:
"I used to question why Mr. Lathis was so indifferent to Miss Lathis when he reappeared. Now, this can be explained because Mr. Lathis was no longer just Mr. Lathis."
Luviya fully understood:
"So, the Chosen of the Earth is indeed not a group, but can be considered a group? Is that even possible?"
"This fully complies with the rules."
Miss Benanis sat close to Shard, also not expecting things to be so complicated:
"Based on Shard’s description and the recent battle, the situation can be simply understood as: a body with hundreds of brains, all brains jointly deciding..."
"No, not jointly deciding."
Shard said as he rubbed his face with snow, inexplicably feeling extremely cold all over again:
"At the same moment, there should be only one dominant soul, which will, which will decide whose image appears. Ha, sorry, I don’t know why I’m out of breath. I can feel it, yes, when Mr. Thomas Granger, Mr. Lathis, Mr. Fleming appeared, their tones and habits were different."
"But this is also unbelievable. How is it even possible to achieve this?"
The witch remained puzzled, while Luviya still worried about Shard’s condition:
"How are you now? Something seems off; why is your face so red?"
She hesitantly bit her lip:
"Do you need me and Miss Benanis to help you... wait, your current state doesn’t seem like..."
Only then did she realize that Shard’s condition was not just about increased desire.
"My head hurts... my body feels heavy... and when I was walking over just now, I felt like my body wasn’t responding."
Holding his forehead again, he felt freezing to an extreme:
"I guess I’m... having a fever."
"What?"
Luviya couldn’t care less about Shard telling her not to approach, immediately bending down to touch his forehead with the back of her hand, feeling an astonishing heat:
"Why is it so hot?"
"Can a Five-Ring Sorcerer also get a fever?"
Miss Benanis also wanted to confirm, but unexpectedly, Shard’s body, sitting on the stone, tilted to one side. The two ladies quickly supported him, and when they called out to Shard again, they found he no longer responded, having already lost consciousness.
In the light of the campfire, his lips were pale, his body shivered, his brows knit lightly, and his breathing was extremely rapid.
"So it turned out to be a fever. I just thought... sorry, why did he suddenly have a fever? Was he cursed just now at the summit?"
Miss Benanis still couldn’t understand.
Luviya tightly hugged Shard, wanting to provide him with warmth:
"Get him back to the city as soon as possible. With his physical condition and Circle Sorcerer level, this can’t be an ordinary fever."
(Mia is running...)
Shard felt as if he was in a long, torturous nightmare, where burning and severe headaches tormented him. A forgotten melody from the song sung by a bard at the Abundant Land Inn kept echoing in his throbbing head, intensifying the pain.
Luckily, someone was softly singing a lullaby from this world beside his ear. The gentle woman’s voice was a bit unclear, yet it comforted the Outlander greatly.
In his dream, he felt as if someone was holding him. The feeling was very familiar; at the summit of Sicarl Mountain, after losing the last drop of divinity and fainting, it seemed the same embrace held him then.
When his consciousness became clear, realizing he was lying on a soft bed with dazzling morning light on his face, it was Wednesday morning, and his fever had lasted through the night.
He wanted to sit up, but felt weak all over. So he tried to struggle out of the warm but heavy quilt, and a surprised voice by the bed immediately stopped him:
"Oh, Shard, you’re awake? Don’t move; I’ll get someone. We’ll check you again!"
His eyes still somewhat pained, Shard squinted to see the black-haired girl with an enchanting figure; surprisingly, it was Miss Sylvia.
The young Witch hurried out of Miss Benanis’s bedroom, and soon chaotic footsteps echoed in the corridor. The door was pushed open, a group of people rushed in, and when Shard looked around, the bed was surrounded by people.
Luviya, Miss Benanis, Miss Lathis, Miss Sylvia. Even Miss Aphrola, with her long brown wavy hair whom he’d not seen for a long time, was standing by the bed, looking at Shard with concern.
A young maid, brought by who knows whom, helped Shard sit up. He tried to greet them but felt his throat sting. It all felt like recovering from a major illness:
"Long time no see, Miss Aphrola, Miss Sylvia."
He greeted with difficulty, while Luviya, already sitting sideways by the bed, took the tray from the maid’s hand. The purple-eyed girl placed the tray on the small cabinet by the bed, then scooped a little white rice porridge from a bowl, blew on it gently, and handed it to Shard, speaking softly:
"Eat this first, there’s a Magic Potion added in. After eating, we’ll check your physical condition."
"I’ll do it myself... alright, you can do it."
Shard could only open his mouth, while Miss Aphrola, holding a parchment, worriedly said to Shard: 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
"Last night, Sylvia and I arrived by train around 11; we heard about you upon arrival. We did a comprehensive check and determined that your symptoms were caused by the common cold, leading to a fever."
The parchment probably recorded the examination results.
"That’s why I said, I’m fine."
Shard said, but Miss Sylvia worriedly asked:
"Shard, do you really believe that after drinking an entire bottle of something whose exact components none of us know, resulting in a fever that even Five-Ring Sorcerers could faint from and the examination revealing it to be just a normal fever, we shouldn’t worry?"
The three Witches and Miss Lathis and Luviya beside the bed were all looking at him with concern. Miss Lathis added:
"No matter how we check, it’s truly just a normal fever; that’s what makes it so unbelievable."
"Now, I feel not fully recovered yet but already fine."
Shard insisted, very certain about his feelings. Luviya fed him again, leaving him no chance to speak.
"Yes, an hour before you woke up, I already checked you, severe cold symptoms easing, your body recovering from this ’ordinary illness.’
Miss Benanis was very worried:
"We only thought before that the side effect of the essence in your vial was to amplify desires, never expected this result. After checking, we found residue in the vial, so we used a test tube to store it and took it to the Council, for Witch experts in Magic Potions there to identify it. The identification result was out four hours ago, around 4 AM."
She looked at Miss Aphrola, who glanced at the parchment:
"Pink luminescent liquid, rose-like aroma, components unknown, suspected Spirit Restoration Potion.
Upon identification, the sample provided has the effect of restoring the Spirit, but due to the high liquid concentration, it increases toxicity. It is estimated that about 1 fluid ounce (about 28.4mL) of such substance can instantly be fatal to an adult dragon or unicorn upon consumption. Since the sample’s effect diminishes upon leaving its original container, it is recommended to swallow it in small sips to avoid toxicity."
Miss Aphrola looked at Shard:
"Your vial holds about 3 fluid ounces. This means you drank enough last night to poison an entire population of Pureblood Dragon Species, or an entire Unicorn tribe."
"But your manifestation was not poisoning but ordinary fever. We’ve never heard of a normal human experiencing such a thing."
Luviya pursed her lips and said.
"It’s possible that the Witch who identified the essence misestimated the toxicity."
Shard explained while Luviya, sitting by the bed feeding Shard, prevented him from speaking:
"I know the fever has subsided and your body shows no other symptoms, but promise me, unless absolutely necessary, even if encountering the Crazy Earth but lacking Spirit to purify, don’t use this Relic casually again, okay?"
The pair of purple eyes looked at Shard, their worrying gaze wouldn’t allow Shard any room to refuse.
