I'm a Proper Student, I Only Take Nine Potions a Day

Evan leaned back in his chair, and the old, loose wood groaned under his weight.

He flexed his fingers. Every joint felt like a rusted hinge—stiff, sluggish, and faintly sore.

"Good thing I have a cheat."

A translucent panel appeared in his vision, like glowing words branded onto the inside of his retina:

[Nine Dragons Panel loaded.]

[Profession: None]

[Rank: None]

[Traits: None]

[Physique: 0.5] (The normal adult baseline is 1. Affects physical fitness, strength, speed, immunity, and resistance to blows.)

[Mental: 0.6] (The normal adult baseline is 1. Affects willpower, memory, processing capacity, reaction speed, and resistance to corruption.)

[Spirit Vision: 0] (The normal adult baseline is 0. Affects insight into and control over the supernatural and mysterious.)

[Talent: Power of the Nine Dragons]

[Power of the Nine Dragons: You may reverse the negative effects of up to nine drugs at the same time.]

"These stats are truly awful." Evan sighed, and the breath that left his throat carried a tang of rust.

"But this Power of the Nine Dragons is kind of interesting. Heh heh."

Once the panel finished loading, he noticed an additional status list in the lower-right corner of his vision.

It resembled a prescription list posted behind a pharmacy counter, except this one was filled with nothing but bad news:

[Syphilis: 46%]

[Pneumonia: 12%]

[Anemia: 65%]

[Liver Damage: 41%]

[Digestive Tract Ulcer: 12%]

[Brain Nerve Damage: 17%]

"How the fuck did you even survive this long?"

Evan stared at the string of numbers and couldn't help cursing aloud.

This body was practically a crumbling building ready to collapse at any moment. Every support beam was cracked, and only the resilience of an eighteen-year-old was keeping it upright.

"No. I just transmigrated here. I can't die like this."

"I have to survive. Heh heh..."

His gaze fell on the table.

A heap of medicine bottles lay scattered across the scarred, burn-marked brown wooden table.

Most of the bottles did not even have labels. Some held bluish-gray pellets, while others were open metal tins filled with dark paste that gave off a pungent metallic smell.

There was also a small bottle of milky-white liquid, its stopper sealed with wax bearing a blurry imprint.

Some of these were medicines for syphilis that he had secretly bought from a pharmacy in the south of the city after school yesterday.

The others were freebies given to him during previous drug trial experiments, supposedly "for conditioning the body."

Potions Are Still More Potent!

Evan looked at the panel, regret in his voice.

"Power of the Nine Dragons... Looks like the panel's effect doesn't count the drugs I took before. What a pity."

"In that case, I'll test it out with two Mercury Pills first."

With that thought, his eyes settled on the two things he had used most often.

Mercury ointment and Mercury Pills.

The former was applied externally, while the latter was taken orally.

They were the cheapest, most commonly used, and most poisonous medicines available to the lower classes for treating syphilis in this era.

No exceptions.

A tin of mercury ointment cost seven cents, while one Mercury Pill cost three.

They were as cheap as peanuts on a street vendor's cart.

Ordinary poor patients could usually hold on for a few months with this stuff. The lucky ones could even drag things out for years.

Of course, by the end, their teeth would fall out one after another, their gums would turn black, and their mouths would forever reek of sweet, cloying rot.

But given Evan's current financial situation, this was his only option.

He picked up two small grayish-white pills.

They were slightly larger than peas, with rough surfaces that shed a little powder beneath the pressure of his fingers.

He tossed them into his mouth.

The pills forced their way through his swollen throat, scraping against the inflamed mucosa as they slid into his stomach and leaving behind a burning trail.

Evan frowned and swallowed twice before suppressing the urge to retch.

Then a notification appeared in his vision.

[You have taken Mercury Pills. Duration: 6 hours.]

[Effect: Syphilitic rash slightly subsided.]

[Reverse side effects?]

Evan's heart filled with anticipation when he saw those words. "Reverse them!"

[You have reversed the side effects of Mercury Pills.]

[Your digestive tract ulcer has been alleviated! 12% → 11%]

[Your brain nerve damage has been alleviated! 17% → 16%]

[Your mouth has been strengthened. Physique permanently +0.001.]

After reading the notifications, Evan grinned.

In this moldy, rundown apartment plastered with old newspapers, a sickly nineteen-year-old finally showed his first genuine smile since transmigrating.

"0.001? Fine. Even a mosquito leg is still meat."

With that thought, he casually picked up the tin of mercury ointment, twisted off the metal lid, scooped out a lump of dark-gray grease with his index finger, and was about to smear it over the red rash on his arm.

[Warning: Only one medicine of the same substance may take effect.]

Evan's hand stopped in midair. He curled his lip, scraped the ointment back into the tin, and wiped his finger against his pant leg.

"Fine, then let's look at the other medicines."

He picked up a small glass bottle.

It was barely thicker than his thumb. There was no label on it, only a symbol he did not recognize carved into the bottom.

After he pulled out the stopper, four black pellets rolled out. Each one gave off a strange smell.

It did not smell like medicine, but more like humus in a forest after rain, mixed with an indescribable spiciness.

Professor Pulis, who taught him biology, had given this to him earlier that day.

When the pale professor handed him the little bottle, his eyes behind the lenses had not even blinked.

He had only said, "Take it on schedule, record your reactions, and it can improve your physical condition after you take it."

After all, as a recipient of the poor student aid agreement, it was Evan's duty to cooperate with the school laboratory's experiments.

It was written in black and white on the contract.

He had originally felt somewhat uneasy about these black pills of unknown origin.

But now that he had his talent, he directly picked one up and tossed it into his mouth.

The moment the pellet entered his mouth, a fierce bitterness hit his tongue, followed by a bizarre numbness that spread from the base of his tongue to his throat.

\n[You have taken an incomplete Night Demon Potion. Duration: 12 hours.]

[Effect: Physique permanently increased by 0.2.]

[Reverse side effects?]

"Holy shit... a potion?"

Evan abruptly sat upright, and the chair legs scraped sharply across the floor.

"Isn't this the kind of medicine only those people from the legends who wield supernatural power use?"

"How could it appear in a university...?"

His mind raced, and his pupils narrowed slightly in the dim glow of the kerosene lamp.

"Wait... Could it be that someone is using us ordinary people to test supernatural drugs?"

The moment that thought surfaced, a chill crept up his back.

It was not baseless speculation.

In this prosperous yet filthy city, all kinds of rumors had never ceased.

Workers in the Dock District said there were ghouls deep in the sewers that devoured the corpses of homeless people, and the names of those who disappeared would never appear in any newspaper.

There had been an inexplicable gas explosion at a textile mill in the East District last year, and the factory was demolished overnight afterward.

The land was bought the next day. There was no investigation, no reporting, nothing at all.

And then there were his own parents, who had suddenly "committed suicide."

There was also the rumor that repairmen had once run screaming out of the school's underground pipeline system.

They said they had seen something, then were sent to a sanatorium, never to be seen again.

The lower classes believed in the existence of the supernatural.

In taverns, laundries, and the back pews of churches, people lowered their voices and traded impossible stories.

But the authorities always denied it.

The explanations in the newspapers were always perfectly reasonable: gas leaks, mental breakdowns, alcoholic hallucinations, cases closed.

Science was the new gospel of this era, and nothing outside that gospel was allowed to exist.

"Since there's even an Arkham, that means there's definitely something wrong with this world."

Evan's eyes lit up. It was not the light of fear, but the burning gleam only a gambler who had seen his hole card possessed.

He smacked his lips, savoring the bitterness left behind by the black pellet, and looked once more at the small glass bottle in his hand, at the remaining three black pills.

"Since you're using ordinary students like us as disposable test subjects, don't blame me for ripping your fake masks right off."

"Reverse."

[Reversal progress: 4 hours.]

"Tch! There's a casting time too?"

Clearly, potions and ordinary medicines were not on the same level.

The side effects of the Mercury Pill had been reversed instantly.

"But I don't feel any discomfort..."

"In other words, while the medicine reversal is charging, the side effects don't take effect."

At that moment, a faint warm current rose from his stomach and climbed up his spine.

The warmth came quickly and vanished quickly. When it passed through his heart, it gave a sudden jolt that made his whole body shudder as though he were about to take flight.

Then that withered, cold body, which had felt as if it had lain in a morgue for three days, finally regained a little of a living person's warmth.

Not much, but enough to let him know he was still alive.