First Lesson Part 1

"This is a White Snakefruit. Commonly confused with White Roasya, the White Snakefruit is a deadly poison that can cause death within 24 hours. Symptoms are abdominal pains, swelling of the tongue, and abnormal blood level. Most poison experts use the plant to detoxify another poison."

The White Snakefruit had red seeds that glistened among a fluff of white flowers. This was the hundredth poison plant that she had studied thus far.

And surprisingly, Qing Yue was able to memorize every plant, its characteristics, and its symptoms clearly as if she'd spent a lifetime studying them.

Heh...it might be due to the knowledge, rigorous study methods, and study hours I'd put in my previous life memorizing healing herbs.

"Li Feng, you said poison can fight poison. Do the poisons that neutralize each other need to be from the same categories?"

"Yes and no. Poisons that can neutralize each other, first, have to be of the same lethality. Meaning, a White Snakefruit poison will either have to be cured properly through an antidote. Or neutralized with a poison that is of the same lethally but of different property. It should be able to inhibit all of the poison's active agents."

"Inhibit active agents? Do you mean a poison can fight another poison if the properties in both cancel out their poisonous nature? And is it possible to procreate the same properties in a plant that inhibits a poison's active agent in a modern laboratory?"

Qing Yue was certain that she wouldn't be able to find even half of the poisonous plants present here in the current LiLong Country. If the properties of these plants could be recreated in the modern laboratory, then half of her problem would be solved.

"It's possible to procreate, but it won't be the same as the original properties. You must always remember, Saintess. While the machine can get the job done faster with greater efficiency, it will never compare to the tasks performed by hand. Because most herbs are so delicate that their medicinal property fades away if even an extra force is added to their handling and care."

Machines were great products in multi-tasking and mass-producing. But if delicate herbs are placed in their care, Qing Yue wasn't confident that a mistake wouldn't occur.

"Oh...so I probably won't be able to mass-produce them, then?" If a poisoning incident took place in the future, she could only rely on herself. But she hoped the range of the poison would be small so she wouldn't tire herself to death!

"Who said you can't mass produce them?" Li Feng shot her a disdainful glance for being ignorant and slow on the uptake.

But Qing Yue wasn't bothered by his scorn.

"So I can mass-produce them!?" What could be more exhilarating than knowing you could save millions of lives with little effort?

Well... not exactly little, but knowing that she alone could save millions of lives by just having machines reproduce the required treatment product, was thrilling!

"You can mass-produce the less delicate poisonous herbs. Moreover, you'll have to be very careful in the order you mix them and the time you spend grounding each plant. Any shift in order can change the prescription, and any extension or cut in time can decrease or increase the amount of poison extracted and stored."

In such a fashion, Qing Yue spent what felt like forever learning the different properties of poisonous herbs and plants. She spent another period differentiating similar-looking herbs and herbs with similar uses and treatments from one another.

The space in the Saint Dimension was quiet and devoid of people aside from her and Li Feng.

But since Li Feng was a spirit, it could be considered as her being the only living person, until declared death, present in the space.

The lighting never changed as there were no sun, moon, or stars to mark the passage of time.

Qing Yue had a vague feeling though.

She had the sensation that time was motionless in the Saint Dimension. While she felt like she had spent an eternity memorizing over a hundred thousand plants and herbs, she didn't feel tired.

It was almost as if she was in another nightmare. Only this time, instead of blood and gore, she was tortured with the obnoxious fragrance of medical plants and never-ending lessons on plants and herbs.

"Alright! Now that you memorized all the poisonous herbs and plants by sight, you need to differentiate them by smell." Li Feng casually said.

"What!?" Qing Yue almost felt like crying...

She had just spent who knows how long memorizing the sea of plants and herbs, differentiating them into categories for their uses, possibly mixtures, and neutralizing agents.

But what now!?

Differentiate them by smell!? Was she a dog!?

Eyes burning with rage, dissatisfaction, and a smudge of resentment, she glared at Li Feng as if she wanted to eat him.

"Li Feng, I've already memorized, differentiated, and grouped a sea, s-e-a, of poisonous plants and their ingredients. What do I need to differentiate them by smell for?" She had a very strong sense of smell, okay?

She didn't want to faint from the fume of fragrances...

"Saintess, a poison expert isn't one that can identify a plant by sight, but one that can pick up the presence of poison in a room with a single sniff. Let me ask you. If someone wanted to poison you, would they leave the evidence of their malicious intent out in the open for you to find?"

"..." Well, she had nothing to say to that.

If someone really wanted to poison her, why would they leave the dregs of plants, herbs, or drugs in the open for her to find?

Wouldn't that be shouting to the world that they are the culprit?

In that case, she could understand Li Feng's point.

"The only way for you to protect yourself from such a situation is by picking up the poison by smell before diving in to investigate by sight. Only when you are alerted of the presence of the poison can you take the precaution to protect yourself and identify the poison by its color in the mixture."