Hunger, Poison and Medicine
"I AM HUNGRY!"
*The reason why the absorption speed varied was simple - hunger directly affects the speed at which your body is absorbing energy!*
Elias was so excited, that he completely forgot about the herbs. He ended up doing breathing exercise for a whole hour without realizing that he forgot something important.
It wasn't an empty endeavor nonetheless, as he was able to raise his mastery up to five.
[CB+0.052]
Every time he saw a message about his CB point gains he wanted to giggle like a fool. The rate at which he gathered energy grew steadily and the Qi Condensation realm was within his reach now.
*In the next couple of days I'll be finally able to break through… Oh, shit, herbs!*
Elias's gaze fell upon the lonely looking herb basket nearby.
*I can't bring this much back, unless I want that greedy bastard Yel to increase my quota again. Do I really have to abandon them?*
His current options were scarce to say the least. He could try stashing herbs somewhere, but there was no guarantee they would be fine until he returns the next day. He could find some place like a cave and try to build it up into a safe cache for the case having to escape from the tribe, but there was no guarantee he can keep it secret, people here seem to be pretty good at stealth, probably because they have to live practically side by side with dangerous beasts.
*I will have to find a way to identify those that are watching me. If I can set up a trap, I may be able to finally get the remaining blood samples I need.*
Frustrated by his lack of options, he started to look through his herbs. Even though most of them were of Blue Alacita species, there still were others. He would simply pick all of the herbs he could find. After sifting through them all, he found several interesting ones:
[Firbin's Peony]
Type: Plant
Grade: Low
Properties: Energy accumulation
Energy: 4
Estimated Value: N/A
[Warm Leshet]
Type: Plant
Grade: Low
Properties: Mild body tempering effect
Energy: 2
Estimated Value: N/A
[Bitter Falpon]
Type: Plant
Grade: Low
Properties: Mild detoxifying effect
Energy: 1
Estimated Value: N/A
[Twisted Skunkweed]
Type: Plant
Grade: Low
Properties: Mild paralysing effect
Energy: 2
Estimated Value: N/A
Elias's mind raced at the sheer amount of possibilities those herbs provided. There were other ones, but largely they did not stand out as they provided the same effects as the ones Elias picked out, just to a lesser degree. To make the best of the scarce time he had left today, he decided to try the effects on himself. He used some stones to grind the herbs into a mush, making sure to use a different stone for each one of the herbs to avoid mixing them.
First one he decided to try was the Twisted Skunkweed. Since it had a paralysis effect, it was a best choice he had for an ambush, or self defence in general, as he was unable to find any poisonous herbs.
He made a small cut on his arm and placed some ground Twisted Skunkweed on the cut.
[Ding!]
[Harmful substance detected.]
[Detoxification function is unavailable. Host is recommended to seek treatment.]
Just a second later he felt his arm go stiff and numb, and a moment later, this feeling started to rapidly expand up his arm.
*Damn, I applied too much of it!*
The numbing feeling continued to spread through his body, making it extremely hard to move. He tried to reach for the ground up Bitter Falpon, but instead he just made himself fall face first onto the rock he used as a table.
Crack! Sharp pain and a nauseating feeling appeared spread throughout his face. However the broken nose was the least of his worries right now, since the paralysing effect has finally reached his lungs. A burning feeling slowly appeared as his lungs stopped pumping the air.
*Did I just poison myself to death?*
His gaze fell upon mushed Bitter Falpon mere centimeters away from his face.
*I still have several minutes until oxygen deprivation!*
Since his head and face weren't paralyzed yet, he did his best to turn his head and reach the Bitter Falpon with his tongue. When he finally did it, a taste reminiscent of badly burnt sugar, just many times worse, appeared on his tongue. Somehow, he managed to swallow some of the mush. Now he could only pray that it was not too late.
Luckily for him, when his sight was already darkening, he finally regained his ability to breathe. The first thing he did when he finally could move was to swallow some more Bitter Falpon.
*That was extremely stupid of me. But at least now I know that Twisted Skunkweed is very potent. It should suffice for a trap, but I am not sure how local strengthening methods affect the potency of the herbs. There is bound to be some level of resistance if they use these herbs to train.*
Elias took some time to execute several cycles of breathing exercises to bring his body back to normal condition.
*Thinking about it, I have no sure way to deliver the poison. Whoever comes for me, won't just stand and wait for me to grind and feed them paralytic herbs.*
Elias looked once again at the big rock he used as a table, and noticed that paralytic herb juices were slow to evaporate. While other herbs were already starting to dry up, the Twisted Skunkweed still looked the same. He dipped his finger in it's juices and felt a familiar numbing feeling appear.
*So even just skin contact is enough for some effect to appear… If I grind up enough of it, even if I just splash it onto someone, it will still be effective.*
Looking at the set up before him, he realized the need for a dedicated safe place where he could run research and store everything. Doing it back in the village wasn't felt right to Elias, so he decided to look for a good place in the next few days. He thought of looking for some natural shelter like a cave, but quickly abandoned this thought, since a natural shelter like that should be already occupied by some animal like a tiger or a bear.
Unable to come up with any new ideas, he stashed extra herbs he found in an indentation on one of the big rocks, which was hidden enough for someone to overlook it, unless they knew what to search for. He covered it up with some fern leaves and stones he found nearby. Now, unless someone watched him directly, herbs should be relatively safe. But if anyone was watching him, they'd probably have already killed him when he was paralyzed.
Having finished hiding his stuff, Elias headed back.
*System, can you give me an analysis on the herbs, for example, how can I use the Warm Leshet?*
[Ding!]
[Deep chemical analysis is unavailable.]
[Preliminary analysis requires 15 CB and 8 hours. Proceed?]
*Yes!*
[Ding!]
[Energy received. Analysis in progress. ETA: 8 hours.]
The rest of the day was uneventful. Elias returned to the village and practiced his breathing exercises until he fell asleep. For the next couple of days he would go to the forest and look for a good place that can serve as emergency shelter, but he had no luck in this regard. He did find a field filled with plants that were similar to burdocks as their seeds stuck to your clothes when you passed there. They were pretty hard to get rid of, so Elias made a mental note of this field, as it may help expose anyone who is following him.
He also did not slack on his breathing exercise, but he had to spend almost all his gains on herb analysis, since aside from analyzing herbs by themselves, he also opted for analysis of their combinations. He didn't want to risk his life once again.
His greatest find was a way to use the body tempering properties of the Warm Leshet. His body lacked the ability to process the energy inside the herbs, but he could still apply the herbal solution from outside. According to the system's analysis, he could bring all his stats to 1 this way, and in his situation, he had to take everything.
He started to bring out the things he needed to prepare the solution out of the village. Thankfully, he did not need any special tools, he only had to boil and simmer Warm Leshet with Blue Alacita for a set amount of time and then cool it rapidly from hot to warm. Metal tools were a rarity here, but local ceramic pots could handle heat pretty well.
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Deep in the forest, in a rather secluded part of it, a young man was standing before a campfire. Over the fire, a ceramic pot with herbal soup was propped. Bubbling liquid gave off a pungent medicinal smell that wafted through the area. In the young man's vision, a timer was ticking. Just as it reached zero, young man took the jar off the fire and put it into a larger jar, filled with water, which instantly bubbled up. Thirty seconds later, he moved the herbal liquid into another similar water jar. This young man naturally was Elias.
"It is ready!"