A Proper Student, Eating Only Nine Types of Potions a Day

"The Healing Church distributed medicine for free, specializing in bile disorders, edema, liver swelling, and other illnesses."

"May the Heavenly Father heal you and me."

Two young nuns stood beside her, their heads lowered as they respectfully arranged the medicine bottles in the boxes, their movements gentle and devout.

A small line had formed before the stall, though it was not a long one.

For a place giving things away for free, such a sparse crowd was unusual.

The people in line shared one characteristic: their faces were a strange waxy yellow, the whites of their eyes tinged yellow as well, and their abdomens were swollen to varying degrees. Some even had to support their bellies with both hands just to stand steadily.

At a glance, they were suffering from various liver diseases.

"Healing Church. Liver disease."

Evan's gaze flickered twice between those medicine bottles and the forty-one percent liver damage on his panel.

"I'll give it a try and see what medicine the Healing Church is really selling."

He walked toward the end of the line. Just as he stopped, a voice came from behind him.

"Arkham?"

Evan turned around.

A tall young man stood there, swaying unsteadily like a reed bent by the wind.

"Lane?"

Jack Lane.

He was the tall, skinny student who had suddenly stopped running on the track a few days ago, bent over, and dry-heaved.

They were both freshmen at Sage University and had met during a potion-testing project.

Evan lived on Gooding Street while Lane lived on Miley Street. They had run into each other several times on the tram and were acquaintances who merely exchanged nods.

Chapter 27: The Church Goes All Out with Ruthless Methods

Evan sized Lane up.

At that moment, Lane was utterly different from how he had been before.

Though he had been thin before, his skin had been fair and clean, and there had still been some light in his eyes.

Now, his face was covered in a sickly dark yellow, as if someone had smeared it with a layer of cheap wax.

The whites of his eyes were bloodshot, his eye sockets deeply sunken, and his lips dry, cracked, and peeling.

His breathing was rapid and shallow. Every breath carried a heavy stench, as though something were rotting inside him.

His cheeks had hollowed out, his cheekbones protruded, and his body swayed where he stood, as if a gust of wind could knock him over at any moment.

Lane's gaze fell on Evan, and a trace of disbelief flashed through his eyes.

"My God, how do you look so healthy?"

His voice was hoarse and weak, and his eyes were filled with both envy and confusion.

"Didn't we test potions together? I heard you even took the blood-deficiency medicine under Professor Pulis."

He lowered his voice and unconsciously leaned closer to Evan.

"That guy Tank... he..."

His lips trembled.

"He already died from taking them. I heard his parents got a sum of money and have already moved away."

Evan fell silent for a second.

Tank.

He remembered that name. A quiet, burly man who had signed the same impoverished student subsidy agreement as him and taken the same potions as him.

"Maybe I have a stronger resistance to medicine," Evan said.

He looked at Lane's waxy yellow face and softened his tone.

"Friend, you don't seem to be doing too well."

Lane gave a bitter smile. It looked especially desolate on his withered face.

"Yeah, I feel terrible."

He lowered his head, sounding as though he were talking to himself.

"My stomach hurts badly, and I can't eat anything."

"I feel like something has grown inside my stomach. It's hard, and it hurts when I press it."

"My urine is the same color as tea. The doctor said I have too much bile."

"I tried all kinds of treatments. I took coptis, and it was so bitter I wanted to vomit."

"I took sulfur, and my stomach hurt so badly I rolled around on the floor."

"I even drank water steeped with dandelion root, had enemas, bloodletting..."

He listed those folk remedies one by one, his voice growing lower and lower, like he was reading out a list of useless prescriptions.

As Evan listened, complicated emotions welled up in his heart.

If he had not possessed the Power of the Nine Dragons, he would probably be much like Lane now.

"I feel like I'm going to die."

Lane's voice suddenly trembled, and moisture welled up in his bloodshot eyes.

"But I don't want to die."

His weak fingers clenched the corner of his clothes, trembling from lack of strength.

"I'm only nineteen. There's still a girl I like."

"I got into Sage University. My mother spent three years sewing buttons in a factory for my tuition, and her eyes are nearly blind."

Evan did not know what to say.

Some suffering could not be comforted by a simple, "It'll get better."

Lane took a deep breath, wiped the corner of his eyes with his sleeve, and tried to steady his voice.

"Someone told me the Healing Church has medicine here for liver disease, so I came to try it."

Evan nodded.

"I have similar symptoms too, just not as severe. I was planning to give it a try as well."

Hearing that Evan was not completely healthy either, Lane's expression relaxed slightly.

Sometimes, having someone share the same illness was more effective than any comfort.

The two stood one behind the other in line, chatting on and off.

"I heard about what happened between you and Thompson's group."

At that topic, light suddenly appeared in Lane's eyes, a rare liveliness for someone so sick.

"You're practically our idol and role model!"

"I've hated those rich people for a long time, but what could I do?"

"Which poor student who got admitted here hasn't had their notes torn up or their schoolbag thrown around by them?"

"But you're the first person to dare stand up and fight back—and actually succeed."

Evan gave a bitter smile.

"The whole school treats me like I don't exist. Does that count as success?"

Lane sighed after hearing that, a helpless smile appearing on his waxy yellow face.

"Can't be helped. We're poor, after all."

As they talked, the line moved forward several steps, and it became their turn.

"May the Heavenly Father protect you, child."

The middle-aged nun's voice was compassionate and steady, her gentle gaze falling on Evan's face.

"What illness do you have?"

Evan put on a worried expression and pressed a hand to his abdomen.

"It hurts here in my stomach, and my intestines hurt too. The doctor said there's something wrong with my liver, so I thought I'd come try this."

The nun sighed. "Poor child."

She turned around, took a small black medicine bottle from a wooden box, and handed it to Evan.

The bottle was small, only a little thicker than a thumb. There was no label on it, only a symbol carved into the bottom that he did not recognize.

"This is a week's supply. Take one pill each morning and evening."

She paused, and her tone became slightly more serious.

"To prevent people from coming here to scam medicine and resell it, take one pill here first."

"Believe me, you'll feel much better after taking it."

Evan immediately became alert.

What kind of medicine could work instantly after being taken?

But he did not refuse.

With the panel in hand and talent in his body, no matter what trick this medicine contained, he had the confidence to try it.

He unscrewed the cap and poured out a pill.

The pill was smaller than an ordinary tablet. It was a dull copper-green, smooth on the surface, and glimmered with a faint metallic sheen under the morning light.

It felt slightly cool in his hand and was heavier than a normal pill.

He tossed the pill into his mouth and swallowed it.

[You consumed a test Copper Pill. Duration: 10 hours.]

[Effect: Powerful pain relief. Permanently reduces pain perception; permanently increases your blood quality by 0.1%.]

Evan's heart jolted.

"Copper Pill? A pill made of copper?"

Permanently reduces pain perception.

Those words exploded in his mind.

At first glance, it seemed like a good thing. Who would not want to feel less pain?

But with even a little thought, it was obvious that this was a trap.

Pain was, in essence, the body's warning system.

It made people fear danger and stay alert to injuries and illnesses.

If someone gradually lost their sense of pain, they would ignore minor injuries and fail to notice small illnesses. By the time they discovered the problem, it would already have become irreversible, serious injury or disease.

Their body could be falling apart while they remained completely unaware.

This was boiling a frog in warm water.

"It also improves blood quality? Could this contain Sanguine ingredients too?"

"As expected, it isn't good medicine."

Evan was not surprised.

Free things were the most expensive. That principle was the same in every world.

There was no such thing as a free lunch.

[Reverse the side effect?]

"Reverse it."