A Sorcerer's Journey - Chapter 56
Chapter 56: Lymph
That night, Peranos started the official teaching of sorcery—Intoxication Sorcery.
“Before learning the sorcery of intoxication, there is one thing you need to keep in mind: We keep trying to improve our mental strength through the power of elements. Then we utilize the principle of “lever and fulcrum” to produce the most formidable offense power. Different from us, sorcerers in the Underground World use a way related to dragon taming in advancing their sorceries, and intoxication originates from dragon taming.” Peranos smiled.
Peranos then continued, “Do you know how toxic substances are categorized?”
Pondering on the question for a moment, Grimm gathered his courage and answered:
“I think there might be three types: toxins produced by animals, by plants and toxins linked to metals.”
“Uh…that’s a very generic classification. Sorceries related to toxins are complex and hard to master. And the first thing to be not accidentally killed by your toxins is to remember how they are classified,” warned Sorcerer Peranos.
Grimm nodded heavily to demonstrate his consent.
Peranos walked to a counter, took out a scroll and spread it out on the table.
It seemed that the scroll might have had a long history, for it had a light green shade. but it was not deformed at all—it neither crumbled nor frayed.
“Look at how this book recorded the categories of toxins.” Peranos moved his head slightly, signifying Grimm to come closer.
Grimm had great trouble in discerning the words on the scroll, because the words on the Sorcerer Continent differed a little bit from humans’, and they were written in ancient words. Therefore, it took Grimm a long time to recognize them. After he finished reading, Grimm said in a surprise, “They were divided according to toxic reactions?”
According to the scroll, the sorcerer who made this scroll divided all the poisons he once dealt with into seven categories.
Category one was blood-poisoning. Drugs of this kind damaged the blood circulatory system; for example, congealing the blood in living organisms.
Category two were neurotoxic drugs. They could hold up or completely block neural response of living organisms.
Category three was about detoxification. This sort of toxin was able to vitiate the detox system and thus cause the operation of the vital organs to malfunction.
Category four was about necrotic substances. They could acidify the cells in a living body to a degree that they would die.
In addition to these four commonly seen toxins, there were another two kind of poisons recorded in the scroll, which were said to only exist in a few sorcerer worlds.
One was radioactive matter. They intoxicated the nearby living organisms by giving off rays and thus resulting in a complete failure of cellular metabolism. Its origin would surprise all who had no knowledge of it. This magical poison was produced by a kind of rare stone in nature, which was named as the Radioactive Stone by the sorcerer who documented this scroll.
The other scarce toxin was parasites. They were too tiny to be visible to human eyes and thus could only be observed through microscopes. These parasites lived on cell walls. They were highly adaptive to the changing environment within the host’s body. And they would, by feeding on the host’s nutrients and energy, multiply and proliferate until the cells couldn’t afford them. As a windfall, a membrane would form on the cell walls because of this, which would protect the cells from other damage.
The scroll also introduced a sort of intoxication method that belonged to no kind. That the target would be poisoned just by being stared at for some time was one. Such strange ways of getting people poisoned included producing a sound or controlling the target’s mind. Sight intoxication, sound poisoning or will control could be categorized into Cursing Sorcery or Occult Sorcery, but sorcerers of both branches didn’t recognize them.
After reading the scroll, Grimm had a big picture of how Intoxication sorcery would work, yet he didn’t know how to exploit the toxins mentioned above. So he inquired:
“Sorcerer Peranos, where shall I begin, then?”
“This.” Peranos pointed his finger to the word ‘parasite’.
Grimm predicted something horrible. He thought:
‘Is Sorcerer Peranos gonna ask me to invite these parasites into my body?’
“Grimm.” Peranos moved his finger off the scroll and faced Grimm. “Success is reserved for those who are willing to take an unusual path. And we may need to run a little risk along the way…”
“Alas!” Grimm burst out when he heard “risk”, which stopped Sorcerer Peranos from talking!
“Hmm?” Peranos remained calm.
Grimm hastened to make an apology to Peranos about social faux pas, and told him his idea of parasite cultivation.
Peranos was amazed at Grimm’s vision.
“See? Grimm just deciphered the way of parasite culture. What a brilliant boy. One thing I always stress on is that creative minds rule!” Peranos gave Grimm a praise that he seldom bestowed on anybody. But he provided further information about these Lymph parasites.
“When these parasites settle in your cells, they will make the cell wall thick by the day. And when your body and these parasite reached a state of symbiosis, you would benefit.”
“Sorcerer Peranos, this lymph is still a kind of toxin, so would my body objects them? Or would I be in danger because of them?” Grimm looked worried.
“You will be in peril until they couldn’t multiply further. And only then, you and these things would live in harmony!”
Grimm looked at this august sorcerer before him, wondering if he cared about his life at all.
“What sort of peril would I be in, then, Sorcerer Peranos?”
“First, you are infected, and you will be, of course, weak. Besides, your energy would be consumed significantly while they multiply, and you would then become weaker. Even a knight could easily kill you then, for sure. Thus, to make sure you’re safe, you would be staying in that room for three months.” Peranos raised his head slightly and threw a look at a room stuffed with sundries.
“I’ve to stay here for three months?” Grimm again lost his cool and said the words in an annoyingly high pitch.
In Grimm’s memory, he had never been grounded. He had no parents, and his adopter Old Ham was tolerant with him. So, on hearing about such a long time of solitary confinement, he was sort of miffed for a second.
“Hah. You don’t really have to stay for now.” Peranos continued.
Grimm was all ears.
“Because you have a four point constitution! Once infected by these things, you would die soon.”
“But that puffer fish I’ve had…”
“The fish will not work until some time later!” Peranos smiled.
Grimm got Peranos’ joke and returned the smile.
“If constitution is under 5 points, the victims die; between 10-30 points, body festers; higher than 30, lymphs couldn’t live. So, you will soon be in perfect condition to start this this once the puffer fish in your stomach is absorbed.”
