Chapter 30

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Chapter 030: Poison of Undeath

After Greed sold the two elf weapons, he gave Jesse 6 silver coins. In this journey to Duskwood, they received a total of 24 silver coins.

The cost of the trip, including accommodation, was less than 5 silver coins for both of them. So, they made a net income of almost 20 silver coins.

On their way back, they paid 4 silver coins for rent at the street corner where they collected rent. When they got home, they lay on the bed, counting the remaining silver coins and copper pieces.

He no longer wanted to think about things like weapon depreciation. When those things went wrong and broke, he would think about the loss then.

The process of gathering herbs this time was much more terrifying than Jesse had anticipated. They even encountered very threatening competitors and found themselves in dangerous situations several times.

The problem in Azeroth is that if you want to make money, you either need to be born into a noble family, or you have to risk your life.

Is it feasible to only search for herbs in the northern Elwynn forest and focus on common herbs like Peacebloom, which are in high demand?

If you’re close to the settlement, you won’t find any herbs even in a dangerous place like Raven Hill, let alone here.

Even if you go far away, like Elwynn Forest, where else is safe far from the settlement area?

Gnolls, Murlocs are dangerous creatures, especially when it comes to gathering herbs. Both Gnolls and Murloc tribes are tough competitors. Ruth Lumere told them that many Herbalists among Gnolls and Murlocs are more professional than those in Stormwind.

Finding a way to improve one’s strength is urgent.

He thought for a long time before falling asleep, only to wake up abruptly before dawn the next morning.

With nothing to do, Jesse arrived early at Malin’s study to clean the room and started reading a book about alchemy called "Alchemy and Common Ailments."

This afternoon, he’s going to start preparing medicines. He needs to master Wicked Claw’s grinding techniques and the drying and grinding methods of herbs.

When Malin entered the room, he saw him earnestly reading.

"Are you interested in alchemy, Mr. Seso?"

"Yes," Jesse said. "When I was young, I dreamed of becoming a pharmacist or a doctor, but I never had the opportunity to apprentice. It’s too late now, so I’ll just satisfy my curiosity by learning some related knowledge."

"I have an Alchemy Room, right next door," Malin said. "It may not be as equipped as the Alchemy Room in the Wizard’s Sanctum, but it’s enough for making simple recipes. You can experiment there, but you need to bring your own materials and can’t use anything from my cupboards."

"Really? That’s great!"

Jesse was genuinely happy. On his way here in the morning, he was contemplating whether to buy a crucible from ‘The Need of Alchemists’, but then he thought about the risk of causing a fire by boiling water in his rented place.

Now everything was resolved with a readily available Alchemy Room. The job didn’t pay well, but the benefits were excellent.

"Please make me a pot of tea, Jesse," Malin beckoned. "Go to the Alchemy Room, boil the water in the brown pot from the water bag, let it cool for 5 minutes after boiling, wash the teapot while it cools, add a teaspoon of Goldthorn, and then you can brew the tea. Bring the teapot to me when it’s done."

Jesse walked out to the Alchemy Room with a book in his hand, and the wide variety of pots, kettles, and bowls almost overwhelmed him.

He found the bag of Goldthorn, a teaspoon, and the small brown pot on a small shelf, and then followed Malin’s instructions to start the fire and boil the water.

He glanced at the label on the water bag, which read ‘clear spring water’. This was probably the clear spring water needed for the Shadow Protection Potion, meaning it was pure water without any magical contamination.

After the water boiled, he turned off the fire, quickly washed the pot, put it on the Goldthorn, glanced at his pocket watch – he still had to wait for four minutes. So, he sat down and started reading a book on alchemy.

As he read on, he suddenly came across a passage describing the early symptoms of the Poison of Undeath: difficulty falling asleep no matter how tired at night, a smell of decay around him, feeling sensitive to sunlight during the day, and inexplicable fatigue.

Upon reading this, he felt a shiver – could he have been poisoned by the corpse poison?

Flipping to the next page, he read about other symptoms: vomiting green fluids and visible purple veins on the arms.

Jesse reluctantly rolled up his sleeve and noticed some vague purple lines on his arm.

Is this for real? Could he really be affected?

Underneath this page, it was written that severe cases could lead to death within three to five months, but if detected early, proper treatment could lead to full recovery.

Recalling the fights with the undead in the Raven Hill Great Mausoleum, he couldn’t remember when he got injured – even when the ghoul sprayed venom towards him at the end, he managed to dodge it.

The book mentioned that only open wounds exposed to undead decay fluid or ghoul venom had a chance of contracting the Poison of Undeath. If he wasn’t injured, how could he have been infected?

He started searching his whole body, wanting to check if there were any unnoticed wounds. Finally, he saw a few dark holes on his calf.

What’s going on… bitten by a snake?

He remembered the countless black beetles that poured out from the final sarcophagus in the tomb chamber. Greed firmly stated that even if bitten by these insects, there would be no problem… and those beetles had two big teeth!

If there’s no problem, why does the book say getting infected with corpse poison results in death within a few months?!

Jesse suddenly realized that this was something a dwarf had said. Dwarves are creatures evolved from Earthens, with much stronger resistance to poison than other races. Why would he listen to a dwarf on a poison matter?

The water is getting cold!

He touched the pot and ended up burning his hand badly. He hurriedly made tea, carrying the teapot to the study, but all he could think about was corpse poison… corpse poison…

"You seem distracted." Malin sniffed the tea and said, "Not bad, brew it the way I mentioned, and you won’t need my instructions from now on."

After finishing work at noon, Jesse ran all the way to the library, searching for potions to treat corpse poison.

Soon, he found a recipe – Restorative Potion. It was one of the most effective and quickest remedies for corpse poison. Not only could it improve symptoms immediately, but it could also prevent the spread of corpse poison in the following days and further clear any remaining poison. It could even heal the body damage caused by corpse poison. Most importantly, only one dose was needed to solve the problem for good.

Moreover, making this medicine was very simple, only requiring Goldthorn… which was Master Malin’s tea, mixed with another single ingredient and cooked together.

This ingredient was, Jesse turned the page – Elemental Earth?!