Chapter 96: Fire Plume Ridge

The venom of Golden-Eyed Lizard was so insidious that it was almost impossible to purge it completely.

It was not difficult to preserve one’s life, though—even ordinary doctors could do it. But it was only removing most of the toxins; the toxins which had already invaded the body would continue to lurk there and slowly damage the body from the inside. With this destruction, the person who was poisoned would get weaker and weaker day by day. After about half a month, a vigorous man could turn into an invalid. It was as dangerous as Lin Li’s concentrated Wild Elixir.

Apart from a Cleric’s level-fifteen theurgy, the Life Awakening spell, the only thing that could completely eliminate this toxin was the Detoxification Antidote.

So when Sean mentioned the Golden-Eyed Lizard, Lin Li knew what he had to do.

“Bring me to your house.” Lin Li clearly remembered that he had at least four bottles of Detoxification Antidote in his pocket; it was essential for survival in the Sunset Mountains.

Sean was stunned for a moment, then slowly understood the meaning of Lin Li’s words. The simple-minded young man felt a moment of dizziness and ecstasy; he was so overwhelmed with joy that he even stuttered in his speech. “Thank… Thank you, Mage Felic… Thank you… Thank you!”

So, along the way, Lin Li kept hearing Sean’s constant thanking. He had to admit that the young man, who was strong like a black bear, had little eloquence as all he said was “thank you” and nothing new. It was worlds apart from the businessmen and celebrities at the Castellan’s banquet. However, it felt real and dependable in Lin Li’s ears…

Sean’s family lived in the west of the city, which had the lowest commodity prices and was near the Adventurers Guild. Most of the low-level adventurers would choose to live here.

Of course, in such a place, the quality of life was far worse in comparison to everywhere else.

Most of the buildings around here were dilapidated, and from their color, they seemed to be a few decades old. There were wooden huts in many places; they were simple and decadent, and looked like wind could blow them down. Along the way, they passed by some pedestrians, most of them wearing leather boots—the attire of a low-level adventurer. Sean, who was following closely behind, wore similar clothes.

“Mage Felic, we’ve arrived.” After passing through several buildings, Sean stopped in front of a cabin.

Despite being mentally prepared, Lin Li was surprised to see the cabin. It was just too simple and crude. Even the Jarrosus Exchange at the black market looked 100 times better than it.

It was not that Lin Li had never been to an adventurer’s house. But, it was the first time he’d seen such a shabby one…

The furnishings in the house were even simpler. Two chairs, two beds, and a wooden table were all the furniture in the house. There was a lot of sundries in the corner; various kinds of magical beasts’ fur and herbs like the silverleaf were everywhere. A middle-aged man, who looked to be almost 40 years of age, lay in one of the beds. His skin was tanned and his body was strong, like Sean’s. The only difference was the stubble on his tanned face, which seemed like he had not shaved for some time.

This should be Sean’s father.

He was deeply asleep, with a patched blanket covering him. Looking at the sleeping middle-aged man, Lin Li could not help thinking of McGrenn, who had brought him out of the Sunset Mountains.

“Sean, go get some water,” Lin Li said as he took out a bottle of Detoxification Antidote from his pocket. He did not pass it directly to Sean, but instead asked him to fetch some water. The antidote was too potent; if he drank it directly, the poison would be purged but it would loosen the bowels. Therefore, it was necessary to dilute it with clean water to tone down the effects of the antidote.

Very soon, Sean brought the water in an iron kettle. There was some embarrassment on his tanned face when he brought it in. “This is the only one in the house that can hold water.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’ll be the same.” Lin Li smiled and took the kettle from Sean. He opened the glass bottle and poured the viscous black liquid into the kettle.

To be honest… The smell of the Detoxification Antidote was terrible.

It used a large amount of ghostskin succus. The smell that it gave off after concoction was so smoky and pungent that one could tear up if one came close enough to it.

After the thick and black succus was poured into the kettle, Lin Li quickly tightened the kettle lid and carefully shook the antidote.

“Take this to your father and let him drink it. He’ll wake up in ten minutes at the most.”

“Yes… Yes… Thank you… Mage Felic…” Sean’s voice choked. He had lived for over 20 years, and for the first time he was so happy that he wanted to cry.

In order to find an antidote for his father, Sean had travelled almost the whole of Jarrosus City, looking for one doctor after another, but even the cheapest medicine required 1,000 gold coins. For his family, 1,000 gold coins was simply a huge sum of money they could not afford.

In order to raise the money and save his father’s life, Sean had done almost everything he could. All the things he could sell at home were sold and he even borrowed money from the Adventurers Guild, but it was still far from 1,000 gold coins…

Then, he thought of the double-edged sword…

In fact, even Sean himself had no idea about the origin of the sword.

He only remembered vaguely that his father had said that hundreds of years ago, a great man had appeared in the Poliro Family, and that sword was his weapon.

But the weapon used by a great man did not necessarily mean it could sell at a high price.

With this sword on his back, Sean had gone to almost all the weapon stores in Jarrosus.

But there was no one who was willing to pay 600 gold coins for it.

When he got to the Gilded Rose, Sean had lost all hope.

That was his last chance. If even the Gilded Rose would only give 100 gold coins for it, Sean really didn’t know where he should go to get the 600 gold coins.

And then everything that followed seemed like a dream to him…

The heavy bag of gold coins, like a little light in the darkness, lit up Sean’s eyes in an instant.

At that moment, Sean was like a drowning man struggling desperately in the water; but when he was about to give up, someone had offered him a warm hand…

Sean did not know any general principles. He merely swore to himself that he had to repay the kind mage regardless of what he had to do!

At that moment, Lin Li had discovered something strange.

It was among the sundries in the corner. To be more precise, it was stuck on a few silverleaves. It looked like a piece of black stuff, as if it was dirt…

Apart from those who understood its value, most people would only see it as weeds.

But Lin Li knew that there was another name for it.

Its name was black lotus!

“Sean, did you and your father ever sell herbs in the city?” Thinking back to the original batch of herbs he had collected, Lin Li gradually understood what had happened.

“How did you know it, Mage Felic?” Sean was apparently surprised.

“Sure enough…” Lin Li suddenly burst out laughing as he patted Sean on the shoulder delightfully. “Sean, you have done me a great favor this time!”

“Heh heh…” Sean’s laughter was ingenuous. Although he didn’t understand what Lin Li was talking about, he could see that Mage Felic was elated.

“Come, come… Sean, have a look at this first.” Lin Li pulled the honest young man to the corner. Then, he stooped down and gingerly picked out half of the black lotus petal from the pile of silverleaf. “Do you remember where this herb was picked from?”

“This… This is also a herb?” Sean stared at the half black lotus petals and scratched his head with some doubt.

“Of course!”

“Aiya…” The simple and honest young man was very upset and slapped his forehead severely. With his magical beast-like strength, the slap went down with a loud rumbling clap. “The last time I went to pick the silverleaf, I picked up two of these as well. Later, I thought the flowers were too black and not good-looking. I was afraid that others would not buy them if I mixed them into the silverleaf, so I took them out and threw them away. If I’d known it earlier, I wouldn’t have thrown them away…”

“…” Lin Li wanted to bang the wall all of a sudden.

Mixing the black lotus with the silverleaf, and then rejecting it because it was too black and unappealing… Was this what people would do?

“This is really a herb?” Seeing the strange expression on the Magic Shooter, Sean was much more cautious with his question.

“… Really.”

“Aiya…” Sean slapped himself on the forehead again. “If I had known, I’d have picked up the other two as well!”

“What?” Lin Li jumped in surprise. “There are two more of it?”

Sean dared not be careless seeing that Lin Li had asked with such prudence. He carefully recalled for a while and replied with uncertainty, “It might also be three flowers…”

“…” Lin Li felt all energy sapped from him. “Where is it…”

“It’s in the Fire Plume Ridge. Usually, when I go there with my father for a task, we’ll pick some herbs on the way and sell them when we’re back.”

“The Fire Plume Ridge in Alanna?” Lin Li faintly recalled that Andoine seemed to have mentioned this place before. It was said to be an extinct volcano.

It was actually possible if you thought about it. The temperature of the extinct volcano should be able to satisfy the extreme environment requirement for the growth of the black lotus; but, it seemed a little too much to grow four or five flowers all at a time. Or was that not merely an extinct volcano?