Chapter 617: Antidote
On the following day, the elves suddenly sunk into low spirits. Although they had no idea what exactly had happened, no one dared to stir up trouble with the humans. The day was surprisingly really calm for human adventurers, and it even made them doubt if the elves were planning to take revenge.
Even Cheyenne and Borg had acutely sensed that something was amiss, but they did not get any answers from the high-level elves they had consulted. After several guesses, they still did not have a clue, and the two parties had no choice but to continue restricting their subordinates and get ready to deal with the changes that might appear anytime.
The entire campground was suddenly shrouded in a depressing atmosphere, and even the bright sun could not dispel the gloom within their hearts. Both elves and humans seemed to have lost their vitality, and were waiting for something.
The only person in the campground who was not affected was none other than Lin Li, who never got himself involved in the business of others. He read the Book of Eternity and carefully tried to understand the meaning within it. However, enlightenment could not be obtained just by brainstorming. Lin Li stretched his body and looked out at the s.h.i.+ning sun outside the tent. He walked out of the tent and slowly advanced towards the campground while experiencing the feelings mentioned in the book.
After some time, Lin Li suddenly snapped out of his trance because of an abrupt cry. At this moment, Lin Li finally discovered that he had already arrived in the Malfa Family’s campground, and was in a certain spot of the elven camp. The sound he heard just now was actually from the Moonsaber Panther that was lying on its back, not too far away from where they were.
Although the Moonsaber Panther was a rare find, Lin Li still knew some things about it. It was said that it was born with level-20 strength and was proficient in nature magic. When under the moonlight, its strength would be greatly improved, thus giving it the name of Moonsaber.
It was a Moonsaber Panther that had just matured, and was supposed to be at the peak of its vitality. However, it seemed to be in a bit of trouble at this moment. It had scars all over its body and looked extremely disheveled. Lin Li could tell at a glance that just like the elves, Moonsaber Panther had been infected with Viper’s poison, which was now killing the Moonsaber’s vitality. Even with the strength of the Moonsaber Panther, it had no choice but to lie down and wait for its death.
Lin Li’s eyes glistened when he saw the dying Moonsaber Panther. Although he thought that he was confident enough to create an antidote for Viper’s poison that was derived from theoretical knowledge, he had yet to perform any experiments. Hence, he thought that it would be a good idea to conduct an experiment on the Moonsaber Panther since it was already dying anyway.
Lin Li approached the Moonsaber Panther, squatted down, and took out two potions. The Moonsaber Panther seemed to have lost all of its energy, and was too powerless to react to the stranger in front of it.
That was great for Lin Li, for he needed not waste any energy on feeding it with medicine. Lin Li opened a bottle of potion, and the instant that the cork was removed, an overbearing stench filled the air. Even the Moonsaber Panther painstakingly c.o.c.ked its head to the side.
That odor was definitely familiar to adventurers who frequented dangerous places, because every adventurer would definitely carry such potions with them wherever they went to deal with toxins. The nauseating potion known as the Detoxification Antidote could be regarded as a low-level one, but it did have a good cleansing effect on many kinds of toxins. Since it was low-level, it naturally wasn’t expensive, and could definitely be described as a necessity for adventure.
Of course, it was not enough to count on a low-level antidote to eliminate the Viper’s poison in the body of the Moonsaber Panther, even though the toxins were diluted. Hence, Lin Li’s other potion was still the key in removing the poisoning of the Moonsaber Panther.
That potion was not a low-level product, but was a real Master-level potion. The preciousness of this potential Life-awakening Potion lay not only in the mastery skills required, but also in several precious herbs that were hard to find.
Pharmacists had never racked their brains to come up with a fancy name for their potions. Hence, the effects of every potion could be deduced just by looking at their respective names. Just like its name suggested, this bottle of Life-awakening Potion helped to stimulate vitality. Even if it was taken by a dying person, it could instantly rejuvenate his life, almost achieving the effect of resurrection.
However, despite having such a potent effect, the potion remained only at the Master-level because its effects were not perfect. Although the effects of this medicine were not as big, the side effects were still serious. After the effects of the potion wore off, the user would remain weakened for a long time, and might even experience a decrease in level. However, the advantages outweighed the shortcomings. If one were to lose his life, he would never be a high-level master, either.
The two potions were actually not that rare, especially the Detoxification Antidote that was sold for a relatively cheap price. However, when the two potions were mixed together, the effects would be extraordinary, though Lin Li would be the only one who knew that. They would become a magical potion that was sufficient to dispel the viper’s poison.
Actually, the viper’s poison was not the most toxic of all, and while its toxicity alone might be fatal to ordinary people, it was far from lethal for powerful people. In this world, there were many more poisons that were more toxic than Viper’s poison. Some toxins would make the poisoned person turn into blood, while some would destroy the poisoned person’s soul immediately.
However, why did the Pope of the Brilliance Shrine get infected by Viper’s poison and was unable to expel it? It was precisely because the other intractable characteristic of Viper’s poison was its low detectability. Regardless of whether it was repelled or removed, the toxin had to be found before it could be dealt with. If the toxin couldn’t be found, even the best antidote wouldn’t have an effect on it. It was so obscure that even the powerful Pope of the Brilliance Shrine could only let the poison eat away at his body.
Therefore, the first step to removing the Viper’s poison would be to find it, not detoxify it. The toxicity of the Viper’s poison was very simple, and it would just devour the vitality of the poisoned victim until he died. Under normal circ.u.mstances, this process of engulfing would be obscure, but with the effects of the Life-awakening Potion, the vitality of the poisoned person would suddenly increase explosively, yet the poison would continue to devour the victim’s vitality, thus exposing itself instantly. When the viper’s poison was exposed, it could be removed easily with an ordinary Detoxification Antidote.
Of course, so far, this was just a theory developed by Lin Li. After all, the viper’s poison could not be located that easily, and he hadn’t had an opportunity to experiment, either. Now that the Moonsaber Panther had sent itself to Lin Li, he decided to take the chance to put his theory and conjecture to test.
Lin Li pulled the head of the Moonsaber Panther and pried its mouth open forcefully, ignoring its pitiful gaze. He then forced the potion down its throat. The poor, powerless Moonsaber Panther had no choice but to stare at Lin Li, too weak to even make a sound.
At this moment, a high-level elf walked towards him worriedly, and happened to see Lin Li forcing the potion down Moonsaber Panther’s throat. The elf panicked because the Moonsaber Panther was special to elves, though humans only deemed it a magical beast. In the elven race, the Moonsaber Panther, like a unicorn, was a sacred animal that was the purest form of transport for the elves. That Moonsaber Panther belonged to Princess Elune.
This high-level elf was not out for a casual stroll. At this juncture, he was no longer in the mood to take care of anything other than guarding the several poisoned elves. However, Princess Elune who had been unconscious suddenly woke up just now, and said that her Moonlight was back.
Moonlight was obviously the name of the Moonsaber Panther. If it weren’t for the Moonsaber Panther clinging onto a horrifying magical beast, the elves probably wouldn’t have made it back. However, Princess Elune had not waited for the Moonsaber Panther’s return, since the injuries that she and her companions had sustained had to be treated immediately. Hence, she had to return first.
However, the fact that Princess Elune had come to made the elders and high-level elves happy yet scared. They had no idea if it was a good sign or her last moments of consciousness before death. However, they did not believe Princess Elune’s words that much, though they had no choice but to come out and check since Princess Elune continuously urged them to do so.
To the elf’s surprise, he actually found the Moonsaber Panther in the camp, though he also saw the horrendous Lin Li, who was forcefully feeding the Moonsaber Panther with some unknown liquid.
The Moonsaber Panther was not only Princess Elune’s ride, but also a holy beast for the elves. No matter what, it would be absurd for a human to feed it. Besides, Lin Li often hung out with an Undead creature.
“Stop it. What are you doing!?!” No matter how magnanimous and well-mannered the high-level elf might be, he could no longer suppress his exasperation at this point. He snapped and scurried towards Lin Li.
However, at this moment, Lin Li had already forced the potion down Moonsaber Panther’s throat and tossed its head on the ground before standing up and clapping his hands. Whether or not his theory was correct depended on the next reaction of this Moonsaber Panther. There was nothing to be guilty about, since the poisoned panther would die anyway even without Lin Li’s experimenting.
“You… what did you feed it? Who are you humans to touch the sacred beast? How dare you feed it something? If anything happens to Moonlight, no matter who you are, you will pay for it.”
However, Lin Li did not respond at all; he did not even frown or look at the elf. Instead, he put the potion bottle back inside his ring and walked away.
“You! You…” The elf tried to chase after Lin Li, but he turned around to see that the Moonsaber Panther was still listless. He had no choice but to take care of it instead, hoping that he could find out what Lin Li had fed it.
Unfortunately, the high-level elf could only smell a faint and pungent odor, but could not find any traces at all. In desperation, he had no choice but to say a few syllables to the Moonsaber Panther before taking it to Princess Elune’s tent.
In the tent, Princess Elune, who had just woken up, had once again slipped into unconsciousness. The elven elders who had always been concerned and on edge were filled with worry at this point. The other high-level elves, too, looked depressed and seemed to have lost all hope.
The high-level elf walked into the tent with the Moonsaber Panther. As soon as he did, he said to the the elder, “Dear elder, Moonlight has indeed returned, but when I went to get it just now, I saw the dirty human mage feeding Moonlight something.”
“What?! How can that despicable human do that!?!” Before the elven elders spoke, several other high-level elves had already yelled in exasperation.
“Elder, Moonlight is the sacred beast of our elven clan. That human being and the dirty Undead creature are companions. They might have fed Moonlight something filthy. We cannot tolerate this at all,” the high-level elf said while gritting his teeth in anger. The elves would rarely display their anger unless they bore a certain extent of hatred.
“Hey!”
The elders did not respond to what the high-level elf said, and instead stared at the Moonsaber Panther that was lying beside Princess Elune. They suddenly gasped in shock.
Seeing that the elders were paying attention to the Moonsaber Panther, the high-level elves s.h.i.+fted their attention to it too. However, that made their hearts sink even lower because they could tell that it had been poisoned just like Princess Elune.
Since the strong Moonsaber Panther could not withstand the toxic effects of the poison, Princess Elune and the other poisoned elves would probably be unable to create a miracle, either. At this point, the high-level elves were all in despair, and they reckoned that the day of Princess Elune’s death would be the day of disaster for their family.
However, the expressions of the elven elders were different from those of the high-level elves. One elder stood up and walked towards the Moonsaber Panther, touched it, and closed his eyes to sense it for a while. He turned to look at a few high-level elves, and exclaimed, “The toxins in Moonlight seem to be dissipating!”
“What!?” The high-level elves suddenly tensed up. The fact that the toxins were disappearing meant that the poison could be removed. However, the question was: how?