The curse brought back from the Iron Whale, the disease that had transformed Doctor Laisen into a grotesque fish.
He was also infected.
Moreover, he had yet to find a cure.
Ink continued to stare at him, its beady eyes flickering with a probing light.
"Are you hiding something from me?"
Lu Yuan looked at Ink's serious expression and remained silent for a moment before finally sighing.
"There are indeed a few things."
His voice sounded a bit weary.
"But now is not the time to talk about them."
"Once I've finished dealing with the matters at hand, I will tell you."
Ink stared at him for a while, as if trying to determine if he was telling the truth.
Ultimately, it did not press him further.
"Fine."
It shrunk back into the notebook, only showing its beady eyes.
"Anyway, you aren't my host. If you die, I'll take good care of Mina and remember you fondly."
Its tone carried a hint of helplessness and concern, but it was quickly masked by its sharp tongue.
"If there is any trouble, remember to speak up early."
"Don't wait until things have spiraled out of control before you remember this book spirit."
Lu Yuan nodded.
"I know."
He looked at the Holy Water Cup in his hand and thought to himself:
This thing might be able to temporarily alleviate the influence of the Strange Dreams.
Low-grade holy water can restore Sanity; although the effect is limited, he had never consumed holy water before, so it might allow him to hold out a bit longer.
But for a complete cure...
He still needed to find another way.
He looked up and glanced out the window.
The sun had already risen, and the dense fog outside was gradually being dispersed.
After the church carriage vanished around the street corner, Lu Yuan returned to the clinic and closed the rickety half of the door.
He pulled the Holy Water Cup from his robe.
The silver-white cup emitted a soft luster in the morning light, the Angel emblem intricate and complex.
Lu Yuan walked behind the counter, scooped a cup of fresh water from the vat, and slowly poured it into the Holy Water Cup.
In the next moment, a faint silver light glowed within the cup.
The fresh water seemed to be purified by some kind of power; what was originally ordinary water became crystal clear, and one could faintly see tiny specks of light flowing within it.
【Conversion Complete: low-grade holy water x1】
【Effect: Restores 2-3 Sanity, purifies mild contamination】
Lu Yuan picked up the cup and hesitated for a moment.
It was morning now, and his Sanity was still relatively abundant.
It would be better to save it for tonight before bed to see if it had any effect on the Strange Dreams.
He carefully poured the holy water into a clean glass bottle, sealed it, and placed it in the cabinet.
"Big Brother Lu Yuan, that cup is so beautiful."
Mina had approached at some point, her eyes sparkling as she stared at the Holy Water Cup.
Lu Yuan put the cup away. "You can't just touch this thing whenever you want."
Mina nodded obediently, but her gaze still couldn't help but drift toward the cabinet.
Lu Yuan looked at the little girl and suddenly remembered something.
"Mina, come here."
He walked to the medicinal herb cabinet and pulled open a drawer.
Inside were several types of dried herbs arranged neatly, each wrapped in oil paper and labeled.
"Do you recognize these?"
Mina shook her head.
"Then do you want to know what they are?"
Mina was silent for a breath, then her eyes blinked.
"I want to know. Are you planning to teach me, Doctor Lu?"
Lu Yuan looked at the young girl and nodded.
"That's right. Your talent is excellent; you can know many things even without studying."
"Then after I learn, can I save people? Like the sickness my uncle had?"
Mina's question made Lu Yuan fall silent.
After a pause, Lu Yuan looked at Mina seriously.
"You can. As long as you learn enough knowledge, your uncle's sickness can be cured."
"Then Mina will learn! Doctor Lu, please teach me!"
Lu Yuan gently patted Mina's small head and said nothing more, merely taking out the remaining medicinal herbs from the counter to test Mina's talent first.
Lu Yuan picked up a stalk of silver-white dried grass. "This is white-tree flower, one of the most common medicinal herbs in Gelimu Port."
He then picked up a few other stalks. "This is blood-stanching grass, this is heart-calming flower, and this is fever-reducing leaf."
Mina listened intently, her small head nodding along.
"Smell it."
Lu Yuan handed the guangyin grass to her.
Mina leaned in to smell it, then suddenly tilted her head.
"It's... singing?"
Lu Yuan was stunned. "What?"
"It's very quiet, like it's speaking." Mina tilted her head and listened again. "It says it likes cold places and doesn't like the sun... it also says it can make people quiet down..."
Lu Yuan stared at Mina for several seconds.
Echo of All Things.
Ink had said that this girl had this talent, the ability to resonate with all things and hear their 'voices.'
He hadn't expected her to be able to directly 'hear' the characteristics of medicinal herbs.
She was simply a born pharmacist.
"Brent," Lu Yuan called out.
Brent poked his head out from the back. "What is it, Doctor Lu?"
"Whenever I teach Mina to identify herbs in the future, you should learn along with her."
Brent's eyes lit up. "You got it!"
Mina also became happy, her smile bringing a bit of color to her pale face.
【Medicinal Herbology: 6.5/50 → 7/50】
Teaching could actually increase experience; that wasn't bad at all.
Over the next two hours, Lu Yuan taught the two children to identify over a dozen common medicinal herbs.
Relying on her talent, Mina remembered almost everything instantly.
Though Brent didn't have the blessing of a talent, he made up for it with diligence, repeatedly chanting the name and use of each herb.
Near noon, Lu Yuan went out to find a carpenter.
The clinic's door had been burned until only half of it remained; if it weren't fixed, the wind would start blowing in.
The carpenter was a middle-aged man in his forties who had a strange expression when he saw the scorch marks on the doorframe.
"Doctor Lu, this door of yours..."
"The stove exploded," Lu Yuan said without changing his expression.
The carpenter opened his mouth, clearly not believing it.
But he didn't ask further; after all, in Gelimu Port, there were some things one shouldn't ask about.
"Fine, I'll have it installed for you this afternoon."
Lu Yuan paid the deposit and added a few extra copper shields as hush money.
The carpenter took the money and worked efficiently.
In the afternoon, the new door was installed.
Made of oak planks, it was even sturdier than the original.
Lu Yuan inspected the lock and added a wooden bolt behind the door.
While these things couldn't stop a transcendent, they could at least keep out ordinary people.
As for the church's retaliation...
Lu Yuan glanced out the window.
Eger said they would increase patrols; hopefully those fanatics would stay quiet for a few days.
The sun gradually sank in the west.
The orange-red afterglow spilled onto the newly installed wooden door, looking as if it were plated with a layer of gold.
Brent and Mina were tidying the beds next door.
Lu Yuan sat behind the counter and took out the bottle of holy water converted earlier that day.
The faint silver liquid glowed slightly in the glass bottle.
He pulled the cork and drained it in one gulp.
The cool liquid slid down his throat like a clear spring flowing through his entire body.
The faint agitation in his mind seemed to calm down quite a bit.
【Sanity: 67/75 → 70/75】
Three points.
The effect was decent.
It was just that Sanity restored too slowly; this thing was a bit like a mana bar, taking a long time to recover once depleted.
Lu Yuan set the bottle down, feeling the clarity that came with the restoration of Sanity.
He hoped tonight's Strange Dreams would be a bit easier to handle.
Night completely enveloped Gelimu Port.
The gas lamps on the streets lit up one by one, casting dim circles of light in the darkness.
The sound of carriage wheels came from the distance, along with the incoherent ramblings of drunks.
Lu Yuan lay on the bed and closed his eyes.
Darkness surged.
He once again fell into that familiar dreamscape...
Rate on N.U.
