I'm a proper student; I only take nine kinds of potions every day.

Chapter 154 The Treant Assault Against the Copper Plague: Dead Tree Disease Cluster

After experiencing the completely new panel, Evan immediately took stock of his money and status.

Now those three old men have finally passed away thanks to his outlasting.

The three debuffs—seeing the truth, suffering a spiritual blow, and the sin of peeping at God—finally returned to zero last night.

He can now perform rituals and concoct potions normally.

He opened the elegant black wallet and took out all the banknotes inside to count them.

Seven hundred and fifteen dollars, or twenty-four cents.

"Damn! It cost that much?"

Seeing the small amount of money in his hand, Evan was amazed at how expensive potions really were.

Think back to the crazy spending of the past week.

Five bottles of the Conceit Potion cost $1,400, and the Energy Potion and Purification Potion cost another $371.

If it weren't for the kind-hearted Willens leaving him a $1,500 inheritance in his wallet, he would be bankrupt and unable to afford food by now.

After all, he only had a little over a thousand in savings left.

"It has to be you again! My good brother Willens, you really are—"

1

He sighed, then couldn't help but grin and laugh.

"Good riddance! Hahaha!"

After expressing his gratitude to his benefactor once again, Ivan put on his respectable black three-piece suit, slipped on his shiny brown leather shoes, and strode out the door.

Breakfast was still a 60-cent gluttonous meal, and then I took the tram to school.

Before class, he went to Professor Byron's office as usual.

As soon as I pushed the door open, I saw Byron sitting behind the table, fiddling with the notebook with the black sun drawn on it.

The moment he saw the pattern, Ivan activated the Fog Brain Plague.

A grayish-blue mist instantly rose within his skull, slowing his thinking and making his reactions sluggish.

He stood there blankly, his eyes vacant, like a mentally challenged person.

Byron saw Evan standing blankly in the doorway, a smug smile playing on his lips, and nodded with immense satisfaction.

He then put away his notebook and came over, asking with concern.

"Arkham? Are you alright?"

As he spoke, Byron used his keen insight to observe every detail of Ivan.

He wanted to confirm one last time whether this guy was faking it or not.

Then, through those eyes, he saw a clear delay and stagnation in thinking.

The feeling of blockage, like rusty parts, made my pupils focus a second or two slower than normal, and even my blinking frequency decreased.

This is something no normal life can fake.

At this moment, his dull eyes slowly regained their light, and his sluggish thoughts finally became sharp again.

"What did you just say? Sorry, I haven't been sleeping well lately." Evan scratched his head sheepishly.

Byron gave him a concerned smile and patted him on the shoulder.

"Your health is more important. If you're really feeling unwell, you can stop taking the medication temporarily."

Evan immediately shook his head: "Let's keep eating, I need the money right now."

He then sat down and, as before, reported on the various side effects, rubbing his arms as he spoke.

"Recently, my arms have been feeling increasingly numb, and sometimes they even feel like they don't belong to me."

He stretched his shoulders and asked curiously, "Professor Byron, this side effect doesn't have any permanent effects, does it?"

Byron laughed and said, "Of course not, it's just temporary. You'll recover once you stop taking the medication."

Then he said insincerely, "I've noticed you haven't been doing too well lately, so take a couple of days off."

"I also need to adjust the formula here. The drug has entered the final experimental stage, so you should take good care of your physical condition."

When Evan heard that he didn't need to take medicine, he was a little reluctant, and then tentatively asked...

"Will I still receive my salary for these few days?"

Byron instantly suppressed the sneer that was about to rise from his lips.

"After all, you are one of my excellent trial participants, and our cooperation has been quite smooth."

"Okay then! I'll give you ten dollars a day for the next few days to help you take care of your health."

"You should rest for a week first, and the final drug trial will begin next week."

Ivan smiled happily: "Thank you, Professor Byron! It is my honor to have such a conscientious professor as you test the drug!"

17

After receiving the seventy dollars, he turned and left very happily.

After Evan left, Byron covered his face with his hands and couldn't help but let out a low laugh.

"That's about right, the seeds should sprout by now."

It was Sunday, and there were no classes at school. Evan quickly met up with Morales and they took the tram to the medical school on the north side of the Charles River.

Recently, Morales has looked somewhat tired, completely lacking the excitement and eagerness he had on his first day at medical school.

He asked wearily, "Arkham, how have you been lately?"

"It's still the same," Evan said listlessly. "I get all the hard and tiring work."

Morales sighed, "Me too. It's very different from what I imagined. I didn't expect that I wouldn't be able to rest on Sunday and would have to come and work."

Ivan patted him on the shoulder: "There's no other way, we all get through this. Hang in there, kid."

The two first reported to the medical school; Morales went to the laboratory, while Ivan took a commuter carriage to the hospital.

After arriving at the hospital, changing into a white coat, and signing in, Dr. Banner said, "Arkham, hurry over to the backyard and keep Dylan company."

"Sir, please don't let anything happen to him."

Ivan nodded and ran over quickly.

On the nearly withered lawn in the backyard, a middle-aged man wearing a hospital gown underneath a luxurious fur coat stood there.

He was observing a small tree that had already withered and died.

Lee Dylan, 38, is a renowned botanist and photographer.

He is well-known in the industry and has published many books and picture collections about plants, making him a fairly comprehensive naturalist.

Because he spent years traveling through wilderness and wild lands across continents, he unknowingly contracted tuberculosis.

I've been hospitalized here for over a month now, and my condition hasn't improved much.

This is normal; with current medical technology, tuberculosis can only be managed by the patient's own immune system.

Drugs that can treat this disease are still decades away.

Ivan was a learned and witty expert I met four or five days ago when I accompanied Dr. Forem on his ward rounds.

At the time, Dylan was still drawing various plant illustrations on his sickbed, looking quite serious.

His face was pale, and he coughed as he talked about finishing this science book specifically for children.

After realizing that this expert was a truly pure academic, Ivan would use copper iodine to kill a small amount of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in his body each time they met.

His health has improved significantly recently.

The two became acquainted as a result.

When Dylan saw Evan approaching, a happy smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Arkham! Come quick, come see this tree!"

He had a very good impression of Ivan, even to the point of admiration.

He had been suffering from tuberculosis for a long time.

My body is deteriorating every day, and there's never been a cure.

Until he met this young man who always had a sunny smile and worked hard without complaint, he found that his body had undergone an incredible improvement.

The cough has subsided, breathing has become much more even, and the weak body can now walk a few more steps.

Even the doctors were amazed when they examined him, praising his excellent physical condition.

But Dylan knew his body well, and he had a vague feeling that this was not his doing.

Having possessed exceptional insight since childhood, he began to secretly observe Ivan.

His keen observation skills, which allowed him to meticulously observe the subtle changes in seeds overnight, led him to discover, to his astonishment, that this sunny and cheerful boy always brought smiles wherever he went.

Patients who were always frowning and worried experienced incredible gradual improvement in their health after coming into contact with him.

Throughout the entire process, Ivan did not ask for any money or valuables. He never claimed credit for himself, nor did he ever proactively remind others.

He was like an unsung angel.

In that instant, Dylan, who had always believed in science, suddenly felt that the content in those theological classics was not entirely fictional.

Evan walked over and said with concern, "Mr. Dylan, it's very cold outside now. Your lung condition shouldn't allow you to catch any more typhoid fever or colds."

Dylan laughed and said, "I'm feeling much better now. I've stopped coughing, and I can even breathe very deeply and easily."

He turned and pointed to the dead sapling: "Look how this tree died!"

Ivan glanced at it: "Doesn't it just wither away in winter?"

Dylan shook his head, pointing to the dark brown, wavy stripes on the broken tree trunk.

"Trees can get sick too."

"This is some kind of bacteria that I don't know the name of yet. This bacteria is quite deadly to trees, especially elm trees."

"It reproduces inside the tree trunk, producing a special kind of hyphae that blocks the water transport channels inside the tree, thereby damaging the tree's healthy growth."

"The hallmark feature is the appearance of these dark brown, wavy stripes on the cross-section of the withered tree trunk, which is a sign that the internal passages of the tree are blocked."

Ivan leaned closer for a closer look, and indeed there was a very peculiar pattern on the cross-section.

Unlike regular wood grain, it instinctively presents a morbid distortion.

In the next instant, Ivan's eyes suddenly lit up, and he thought to himself.

"etc!"

"That's right! Trees and plants aren't invincible either; they get sick too! Many pathogens can be fatal to them."

"If I let the copper plague devour these pathogens, wouldn't that create a natural counter to the Treant profession?"

"The two viruses work in tandem, affecting both the human body's tissues and the tree's tissues."

Thinking of this, Evan immediately asked excitedly, "Mr. Dylan! Could you tell me more about the types of pathogens that can affect trees and plants?"

Dylan was quite pleased to see Ivan's interest and corrected him with a smile.

"This is not a virus, but a fungus or bacteria, and it is different from what works in the human body."

"Besides this, there is another symptom I have observed so far, which I call the 'dryness disease'."

"Trees infected with this disease will have cracked bark that oozes a yellowish-brown sap, forming large, ulcerated lesions. It mainly affects chestnut trees."

"There is another type, which I call root rot."

"This will cause all the roots of the tree to rot and fall off, and the bark of the young roots will rot so badly that it can be torn off with a single rip."

"It causes the leaves in the tree crown to become sparse and yellow, resulting in a large number of leaf drops. The impact is very wide, and azaleas, palms, citrus trees, and eucalyptus trees are all susceptible to it."

He took a breath and continued.

"The last one I call blue stain, which mainly affects pine trees."

"It will cause the needles to lose their color, wither and die quickly, stop resin secretion, and the cross-section of the trunk to turn blue."

Dylan truly deserves his reputation as a botanical expert.

Although he has not fully understood the pathogenic mechanisms of these diseases, he has explained the scope of their impact and the detailed symptoms very clearly.

"Mr. Dylan," Evan asked curiously, "where can I get these fungi and such?"

Dylan thought for a moment and said, "They should be on those diseased trees, or in the roots of some plants and the surrounding soil."

Ivan nodded knowingly: "Thank you for the explanation! You should go inside, it's getting colder."

Time passed by in a flurry of activity.

By 5:30 p.m., it was completely dark.

After finishing today's lessons, Evan said goodbye to Dr. Forem and quietly left the main building.

He didn't go straight home.

Instead, they quickly went to the lawn in the backyard.

The December night wind was biting, and the moonlight shone down, vaguely illuminating the withered trees.

Ivan found the withered elm tree from earlier that day. He reached out and broke off the diseased branch, then smelled it.

A damp, musty smell.

Then he stuffed the branch directly into his mouth and began to chew.

An indescribable sour and bitter taste lingered in my mouth.

The sound of wood fibers cracking between teeth is dozens of times more stimulating than chewing a betel nut.

But this taste is nothing to Evan now; he has eaten far more disgusting things.

A prompt appeared on the panel very quickly.

[The copper plague has devoured the elm wilt pathogen, refining the plague cluster!]

Evan grinned, clenching his fist with obvious delight.

"it works!"

In the following days, he began searching for a target around the hospital.

Soon he spotted a tree that didn't look quite right, and Ivan immediately ran over to it.

The coppery hand immediately dug several handfuls of soil deeper, looked at it, smelled it, and then stuffed it directly into its mouth.

In an instant, the smell of soil, the smell of decaying plants, and an indescribable sour stench rose up.

"The taste isn't bad."

"This can be considered a rehearsal for what happens if I run out of money in the future, a preparation for living on a shoestring budget!"

He chewed while sighing, making a constant crunching sound.

A large amount of soil particles mixed with fine sand stuck to my tongue, between my teeth, and on the palate.

Although the taste was so unpleasant that I wanted to spit it out, the control panel hadn't shown any warning yet.

So Ivan simply swallowed the soil.

Glug!

The copper plague has devoured the root rot fungus. The plague cluster has been refined!

The copper plague has devoured the honey fungus. The plague cluster has been refined!

"Great! It works!"

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