I'm a Proper Student, I Only Take Nine Potions a Day - Chapter 44

"Just giving me a Beyonder Characteristic?"

Evan sneered and lightly tapped the table twice with his fingers.

"More likely, he wants to turn me directly into a blood slave."

After drinking the Transformation Potion, Evan read for a while before going straight to sleep.

The next morning, the moment he opened his eyes, he reached for the pocket watch on his bedside table.

The hands on its silver casing pointed to 6:10.

"Damn it, I didn't review enough yesterday."

He sprang out of bed, buttoning his shirt as he walked to the desk. He poured out a Copper Pill from the bottle and tossed it into his mouth.

"I need to find some Phenobarbital. That thing boosts concentration by three hundred percent. It's too useful."

Fortunately, his restored mind was exceptionally sharp.

Combined with the foundation he had laid during five hours of study last night, he opened his textbook, his fountain pen racing across the scratch paper.

After an hour, he had gone over all the key points he would need today.

Evan rolled his wrist, and his joints gave several soft cracks.

He walked into the washroom and splashed a handful of cold water over his face.

When he raised his head to look at the cracked mirror, he remembered to check the panel.

[You reversed the side effects of the Diluted Transformation Potion.]

[Your Self-Awareness has increased. Spirit permanently +0.1.]

[You like sunlight even more. Spirit permanently +0.05.]

"Just as expected."

Evan stared at the face in the mirror, which had already regained some color.

"The Transformation Potion's side effect is reducing Self-Awareness and making people gradually fear sunlight."

"It seems Pulis really intends to turn me into a Bloodthirsty Species."

Water droplets fell from his chin, landing in the enamel basin with a soft chime.

"I need to talk to Hill after school today."

As he was thinking, that familiar voice rang out again, as though it had crawled straight out from the shadows in the corner.

"Still no side effects?"

Evan sighed without turning around.

"I'm guessing you came in through the window again today."

Hill leaned against the washroom doorframe, dressed the same way she had been yesterday.

One button of her white shirt was undone at the collar. She wore a short brown wool jacket with plaid trousers, while several strands of golden hair peeked out beneath her black newsboy cap.

Evan wiped his face, hung the towel on the washstand, and turned around.

"Right. No obvious reaction."

After thinking for a moment, he told her what had happened last night.

"Master, I think Pulis is about to make a move against me."

"The medicine he gave me yesterday seems to have lowered my Self-Awareness and made me dislike sunlight more."

Hill's smile vanished instantly.

She stepped forward, her expression grave, and pressed a hand against Evan's carotid artery.

In that instant, her blue pupils contracted vertically into golden slits. The light in her irises glowed faintly in the dim washroom.

She held that pose for several seconds, then frowned.

"There's no tainted blood of the Sanguine in your body. You haven't been infected."

"I just feel..." Evan shrugged.

"The thing he gave me yesterday wasn't ordinary."

He went to the bedside, took one of the four remaining bottles of brown liquid from his jacket's inner pocket, and handed it over.

Hill accepted the bottle, pulled out the wax seal, and brought it to her nose for a sniff.

Her expression immediately darkened.

"A diluted Transformation Potion. You drank it?"

Evan nodded.

"Yeah. I feel pretty energetic."

Hill's mouth twitched twice.

"Can you let me taste your blood?"

Evan instinctively shifted half a step back.

"I'm afraid of pain."

Hill narrowed her golden slit pupils.

"You're a grown man. What the hell are you afraid of?"

The moment she finished speaking, she flicked her wrist, and a silver needle as thin as a hair slid out from between her fingers.

She grabbed Evan's left hand and lightly pricked the pad of his index finger. A dark-red drop of blood immediately seeped out.

Hill extended the tip of her tongue and lightly licked the blood droplet.

She savored it carefully for three seconds.

Then her expression changed completely.

"Ugh! Pah! Pah pah pah!"

She whirled around and lunged toward the toilet, spitting into it several times.

Evan watched her back. Dark black veins had spread across the side of her beautiful face.

They extended from her jaw all the way up the side of her neck, like a living black vine that constantly twisted and grew.

Her long golden hair visibly faded and turned white, eventually becoming silver like moonlight.

Under the dim washroom lighting, those golden slit pupils actually emitted a faint glow.

"Verdammt!"

She rinsed her mouth while gritting her teeth.

"Is your blood entirely medicine?"

"One drop of your blood actually triggered my Black Blood System!"

Warrior of the Demon Hunter Circle

Hill's face was filled with shock and bewilderment.

Looking at the Demon Hunter woman, now pale and seductively sinister, Evan hurriedly forced his thoughts elsewhere after feeling a wicked impulse stir within him.

This sort of alluring, bad-girl older woman was exactly Evan's type.

"What is the Black Blood System?"

Hill turned her head, her golden slit pupils staring straight at him as if she were looking at a person with three heads.

She took a deep breath and began to explain.

"There are three major signs when Demon Hunter traits are activated: white hair, golden slit pupils, and Black Blood."

"All potions are highly toxic. Demon Hunters fight by consuming potions, so we need a powerful detoxification system to counter those poisons."

"This system allows us to drink multiple potions at the same time and stack their different effects for battle."

"Black Blood is an important part of it. It's a hallmark byproduct of resistance to toxins."

She pointed at her neck.

"And that drop of your blood just now was treated as a potion by my Black Blood System."

"Damn it, the toxicity in your blood right now is almost comparable to when I drink a bottle of Basilisk Potion."

Evan blinked, trying to ease the atmosphere.

"Maybe you're just too sensitive?"

"Heh..."

Hill discovered that when people were speechless enough, they really could be angered into laughter.

She took out a handkerchief and wiped the corner of her mouth. It was immediately stained by a streak of black liquid she had spat out.

"Brat, let me put it this way."

She pointed at Evan's chest.

"There isn't a single drop of clean blood in your body right now. It's all medicine."

"This body's worth of blood... no, it should be called bodily fluid, is enough to temporarily paralyze a low-level Bloodthirsty Species."

Hearing that, Evan instead felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction and pride rise within him.

So if he took enough medicine, his blood could actually have such extraordinary effects!?

"Then, Master, will you protect me in secret?"

He asked tentatively.

"My blood definitely won't work on Pulis, and if he directly makes a move, I won't last more than a few seconds."

Hill had already digested most of the toxicity by then.

She spat another mouthful of black saliva into the toilet. The black veins on her neck visibly faded, her golden slit pupils returned to blue, and her silver hair slowly regained its original warm golden color.

"I don't have time," she said as she straightened the collar she had messed up herself.

"I have other work to deal with lately."

She paused.

"But I'll have my senior brother come protect you. You should get to know each other anyway. You'll both be fellow disciples from now on."

"He's much stronger than I am."

She pulled her cap brim lower and blinked.

"Just keep attending class as usual. Starting today, he'll be watching over you in secret."

"Anyone who wants to make a direct move will have to get past him first."

After hearing that, Evan's shoulders finally relaxed completely.

"Thank you so much. Now I can keep taking medicine without worry."

Hill's mouth twitched.

Evan glanced at his pocket watch. It was almost seven.

He hurriedly grabbed his schoolbag and dashed out of the washroom.

"Master, I'm leaving first. If I don't head out now, I'll miss the tram."

Hill was left standing alone in the washroom.

Watching Evan's back disappear through the doorway, she held the edge of the washstand and shook her head helplessly.

"Are all people from Arkham this strange?"

Evan boarded the tram on time and arrived at school before 7:30 as usual.

Today's classes were still the same.

But he could clearly feel that the looks his classmates gave him had become much gentler.