Pain Relief

Professor Rice will understand.

Hope thought.

This was, after all, to save him.

The rhizome of the Southern Mountain Bitter Tree.

Calming, soothing, mood-suppressing, and pain-relieving effects.

It is highly poisonous and requires special preparation; otherwise, its juice can be fatal.

The description of it Common Herb Collection <A Collection of Common Herbs> contains the following sentence:

"Rare quantity, excessively high price."

The book described many poisons, some of which were marked as extremely dangerous, and others as having special effects. Only this one was described as having an excessively high price.

So using it as poison would be a bit of a waste.

Professor Rice's box contained many real poisons, but Hope chose the most expensive bitter tree root.

Besides its ease of storage in the mouth and rapid effect, the most important reason is that it was the only poison for which Hope knew how to administer first aid.

As long as first aid is performed within half a minute, everything will be fine.

Amidst the Night Hawk's wanton howls, a dark figure in the corner of Hope's vision stirred. The slit that served as its mouth opened and closed, uttering incantations that only Hope could hear.

Whether it's Wilbur, the fallen leaves, or the distant sounds and swaying treetops.

Everything slowed down.

three times.

Hope also remembered the approximate range of time variation he had once calculated.

Compared to the outside world, this spell accelerated time at Hope by three times.

Even with his mind blocked by the Night Hawk's cry, Hope's thinking speed was still slightly faster than usual, thanks to the spell.

Compared to before, Hope now has more clues about the shadowy figure's spell.

A continuously depleting spell—it reduces Inspiration by approximately 0.01 every three seconds, which is equivalent to one second in the external world.

Because Hope's time is accelerating, Hope actually needs to begin her first aid within ten seconds of external time.

The Swamp Pepper bark powder in the air hadn't completely dissipated and still smelled pungent, but about half of it remained in the bottle.

Hope raised the bottle again, aiming it directly at Wilbur's eyes, and with the help of a spell, moved so fast that Wilbur had no time to stop.

The bottle was shaken vigorously, the cork struck the neck of the bottle, and fine powder was released.

Wilbur was forced to close his eyes again; his eyelids were covered with fine fish scales.

Hope's Inspiration shifted once again:

0.10--0.09

I closed my eyes, Uncertainty failed me again.

Hope was still hiding behind the tree, out of the sight of the people in the library, so they shouldn't be able to hinder him.

Wilbur had been forced to close his eyes.

Night Hawk swarmed in from all around, but they were all of normal size; their gaze shouldn't have hindered the Uncertainty.

Hope looked down at the tentacles wrapped around her body.

These are the things.

Their tactile sensations, though lacking the ability to provide vision, were part of Wilbur 'Wilbur Self-Sense.

Hope tried to get rid of these things, but was surprised to find that the tentacles were not as powerful as he had imagined.

Taking a deep breath, Hope raised her leg and kicked Wilbur in the shin where he had been shot.

Limited by his body, the kick wasn't fast, let alone powerful, but with the help of three times the speed, Wilbur's muscles twitched, making it almost impossible for him to stand still.

Wilbur released his grip on Hope's arm and instead reached for Hope's neck.

He failed; Hope narrowly escaped.

0.09--0.08

The wound on Wilbur's leg gave Hope an idea. He squinted to get a better look, and saw a blurry red mark on Wilbur's chest.

That area should have been dark green crocodile skin; the red color could only be in one place.

Hope put two fingers together, leaned forward, and disregarded Wilbur's attempt to grab him, plunging his fingers into Wilbur's flesh once more.

Compared to last time, this time it wasn't warm at all; instead, it was somewhat cold and had a sticky, nauseating feel.

Hope had no idea what she was touching, and Wilbur's internal organs were clearly different from those of a normal person.

He stirred his fingers inside, causing blood to flow out continuously.

Looking at Wilbur's unchanged expression and his increasingly weak tentacles.

Hope remembered Professor Rice's bottle of green powder potion.

Professor Rice gave Wilbur a bottle of green powder potion.

The events that had just occurred flashed through Hope's mind:

When Wilbur and Hope met again in the library, he did not appear weak despite having lost an arm.

Wilbur was shot by Hope, but he didn't even stop chanting.

The gunshot wound to his calf did not affect his mobility.

As for that scream—at the time we thought it was the result of being shot, but it was more likely out of instinct or to cover up a spell.

Hope initially thought that Wilbur's abnormal physical condition was due to a mutation in his body, making the gunshot wound to his chest and the massive blood loss insignificant to the Monster.

But now it seems that the green powder potion affected Wilbur's perception.

Hope suspected that Professor Rice had also added some stimulants to the potion, causing Wilbur to become so excited that he was somewhat demented.

Wilbur's intuition or Inspiration certainly wouldn't tell him anything, after all, the potion was indeed fine; it wasn't poison.

As a result, although Wilbur appeared to be in good spirits, he was actually extremely weak and on the verge of death.

0.08--0.07

Hope peeled all the tentacles off her body.

He actually needed to do almost nothing; with Wilbur's excessive blood loss, some of the tentacles themselves had already lost their power.

Wilbur seemed to finally realize his own state of mind.

0.07--0.06

Hope closed her eyes and returned to the third tree, leaving Wilbur alone in the same spot.

This only takes a split second while the shadowy incantation is in effect.

He picked up the old hunting rifle, closed his eyes again, and went to the library entrance.

Looking at the three people in front of the library—it was unclear what Wilbur had done, but the two professors had already lost their ability to move.

Hope glanced at Lizzie, focusing particularly on the muscles in her arms.

Spirit Body: 1.37

Unfortunately, she seemed terrified, leaning against the wall, barely able to hold her pocket pistol.

"Give me a knife," Hope said. "Or any other weapon, as long as it's not too heavy."

As he spoke, Hope placed the old shotgun on the ground.

These were originally the weapons he had prepared for the three of them, but unfortunately, none of them could be of any help.

It seemed he spoke too quickly; it took Lizzie a moment to react.

0.06--0.05

It was a fruit knife, also found in Mr. John's cottage.

It's half the size of a regular dagger, but surprisingly, it's still quite sharp.

"Are there any bullets left in the gun?" Hope asked Lizzie.

He did not wait for Lizzie's reply.

Just as Lizzie began to shake her head, she turned to look at Wilbur.

The mutated Son of God had already realized what was happening and actually turned his body upside down, walking towards Hope.

"Pick up this shotgun," Hope said, then turned to Lizzie again. "It's out of bullets, but when that guy comes over, try to tap him a few times with the butt."

7

The other effects of the Bitter Tree are taking effect, and Hope's emotions are fading.

Emotions such as fear, joy, worry, and excitement were difficult to generate, which actually calmed Hope down.

He had a brilliant idea.