Chapter 92

  Anti-Corruption

  I knew it was over, when I heard Mr. Yi’s immortal the words, “you’ll be fine, so long as you do not let any of the crystallized remains get into your body by ingesting the crystals, or through open wounds.”

  The words were simple, and something everyone should know and follow. If you have a wound, try to keep it clean, particularly from known biohazard materials. These were lessons that were stressed to us relentlessly in my past life, lessons that I tried to continue to utilize even now.

  There was just one problem with that statement, for I already had those very crystalline fragments grinding their way into my body and bloodstream. Logically I knew that this was an almost assured way to spread highly contagious diseases.

  In fact, looking back on the crystallizing and explosive death burst created by the Death Eater, I had to assume that this was some form of survival mechanism. A last-ditch effort by whatever agent was causing the corruption of the Death Eater to make a desperate attempt to spread via an explosion that would send its shards outward, where it could impale any nearby creatures and spread the infection. In this case, I was that nearby creature and my body the incubator for this infection.

  Even now, I could feel the rot tingling within my body, a sign that it was actively transferring in my body.

  “It’s a little late for that,” I admit as I roll over and show my exposed side, where my clothes were ripped apart as rib bones and part of a pelvis were lodged into my skin and body. A simple use of Trash removed the impaling bone fragments, and particles of crystallized bone dust from the floor around me. After which time I was able to begin the healing process with my Streamline Healing* Skill. Yet, all of this was lipstick on a stuck pig, as it did little to reduce the look of shock and concern on Mr. Yi’s normally stoic face.

  Seeing the look on Mr. Yi’s face was quite possibly the scariest part of this, as he looked on at me with concern, his sword glowing golden in his hands. As he stared at me, I got the impression that he was ready to strike me down where I knelt. Looking up at him and that golden sword, a sword that I saw cleave through layers of thick alligator hide not hours ago, was now being directed at me.

  “Okay, you must resist, there is still a chance to save you,” Mr. Yi spoke, his voice trying to show the same confidence that his body posture was currently lacking. I looked and saw the slight signs of deception, the slight trembling of his hands, causing an almost imperceptible wiggle to the blade that was amplified over its length.

  As he spoke, I could feel the shadows of the others leaning over the ring and look down at us. We probably made an odd sight, me kneeling with a slowly healing wound on my side, with Mr. Yi wielding a glowing holy blade before me.

  I could hear the shrieks of a few people from the ring, one of which I was almost certain was Luna. A glance out of my periphery spotted her grabbing at her mouth in anguish before turning and walking away. If her reaction was anything to go off of, then it was clear that she thought this was going to end badly.

  “You need to fight, dig into your body and remove the fragments, cut deep inside and remove the rotting tissue before it becomes too infected to stop from spreading,” Mr. Yi began coldly, grabbing a dagger from inside his jacket with his left hand, before he began to infuse it with Holy energy. Once it was full, he tossed it down to the ground, at me and quickly regained a two-hand grip over his sword hilt. This time there was no trembling in his hands, a sign that he had resolved any inhibitions he had a moment ago and was ready to do what was needed. In this case, what was needed was the resolve to strike me down, should it be required.

  As he spoke, I could feel a deep tingling sensation in my body, right where the impact areas were. I tuned that sensation out, as I could all but feel the killing intent radiating off of Mr. Yi. Not the lust for battle, but the intent and focus that goes into purposefully needing to take down a life before violence can ensue.

  I paused and held my breath but ultimately reached out to grab the blade. As I moved, Mr. Yi continued his explanation. His words seeming to calm himself down, as if able to justify this and make it so he is quoting a historical account of how black fever, or the Nipah virus spread. Yet, this wasn’t due to fleas, or by bats or pigs, but to an invasive species that sought to take over a host body so it could spread as far and wide as possible.

  “If you feel a sting in your hand once you grab the blade, it is a sign that the infection is already too far along,” Mr. Yi stated, as he did, I grabbed the blade and held it, half expecting a burning sensation to course through my hand.

  Fortunately, nothing happened. Seeing that nothing happened Mr. Yi and the others all seemed to let out a sigh of relief immediately. I could tell the others relaxed by their shadows that all seemed to half-deflate from the act.

  “Good, now you can either wait for the purple veins to appear around the impact sites, so you can see where to dig, or you can begin carving out the areas already.” Mr. Yi continued, as he spoke I paused realizing he was serious about this self-mutilation part. I paused as this was unconscionable to me.

  Then focusing inward, I mentally felt around and finding any foreign bodies within my body, I used my Trash Skill to remove any shards. Only to find that they were all gone, from my first clean up attempt.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “They’re gone,” I commented, even rubbing the blade against my side to show that there was no reaction, even under direct contact from the blade. Mr. Yi paused as he stared, a slight look of shock on his face as he seemed to realize that I was telling the truth. Nothing was happening when I rested the blade against my skin.

  We stayed like that for a moment, but that moment felt like an eternity. As we waited, I could see and feel the moment that the green mist of life energy that had exploded upwards now fell down and covered us all. I was trying to understand why this was happening, when Mr. Yi continued his clinical diagnosis of what was happening.

  “The mist that you are now feeling, it is the final curse of the Death Eater. Normally, you would be on the verge of life and death, as your body would be fighting off the infection ravaging your body. While it might seem like this falling mist of life energy would be your salvation, it would in fact be the exact opposite, as it would cause a chain reaction that would push you to survive long enough to be turned by the corruption growing within you.” As Mr. Yi spoke, I could see his mouth end with a slightly open expression, one that spoke of shock and hope.

  We stared at each other, as the last few motes of green life energy fell onto the now open ground. That’s when another lesson from Mr. Yi came forth.

  “The falling life energy would also serve as a final fuel source for shards of the corruption that survived outside the body. With the energy, the corruption would create a layer of crystallized protection that would protect it from extreme heats and cold, until it could ultimately be awoken by being ingested by a living creature. The most common method of survival in a crystalline state is to be wedged into and grow into plants and fauna. Plants that will all bear poisonous fruit that local animals will eat and use to spread the corruption outwards. That is why it is important to burn entire forests, when one corrupted tree is spotted, as it could easily corrupt the entire forest by the time one cursed tree is found.” Mr. Yi spoke, staring at the vacant ground. Ground where tiny broken shards of crystalline glass fragments had remained a moment ago but were now gone. As was any sign that a Death Eater had ever existed here.

  While Mr. Yi spoke and kept my attention solely on him, I could feel the intense piercing gaze of someone peering at my soul from behind me.

  “I think you should let her take a moment to check out her system updates,” Sal’s booming voice called out over the speakers. His voice amplified as he was once again in his command booth. Yet, looking up, I could see the all too familiar blue of evaluation magic filling his eyes and letting me know that he had seen something while looking at me.

  There was a pause, before Mr. Yi ultimately nodded and relaxing slightly, stated.

  “Project your system announcements from the past ten minutes to be visible for all of us,” Mr. Yi commanded. As he spoke, I felt a wave of fear not quite knowing what he meant. Only then did I remember my conversation with Madame Bloom from earlier, where she showed me how to do this. Well not this precise of an exercise, as Madame Bloom had me project my entire screen to her. Yet, this was different as I was just reading the messages over the past hour.

  To my shock the process was rather easy, and less straining than showing my entire status screen. But that’s when things started to change for I saw just how dangerous things had gotten by the first few warning messages. Messages that had apparently happened while I was focused on clearing the debris from under me and that had inserted itself inside me.

  For a moment I wondered how this had all happened. Then I saw the next message which helped it all make sense.

  I didn’t even know that the above message was possible, but the system wasn’t done as the information kept rolling through.

  I got that message, and then I felt what had to be the awakening of a reward within my body.

  The last message was oddly the one that seemed to have the most impact on my consciousness. Mentally I knew I only needed one more magical slot to be opened to go from my Mediocre status to High, but seeing that I had somehow done so, and by not really doing anything felt off. At least, it felt like I hadn’t done anything, until I realized just how many mana infused Skills I now had and had to use to get to this point. Even my odd Skill of Mana Extraction, my first real Skill related to mana usage that wasn’t part of my bloodline or my personal Skill proved useful. No, more than useful, as I could tell by the system messages that this Skill, a Skill that had mostly remained stagnant was now directly attributed as the only reason I survived.

  I’m slowly breathing, as I remember the mental state I was in when I had gained that very Skill by fighting ghosts. How I was almost tempted to dismiss it for a more powerful Skill that could grow faster. Only now, seeing its impact and the fact that without it, I wouldn’t have been able to dissolve the foreign energy in my body, and would have apparently become corrupted without this Skill, did I realize how powerful this Skill was all along.

  It was at this revelation that I remember when Madame Bloom all but encouraged me to keep the Skill. Then when I unlocked my Class, the Skill slid over easily, and while I had slowly felt that it wasn’t a Skill worth having, as its uses seemed far too limited, I now found myself realizing that it was a blessing all along.

  Again, I found the same question filling my mind. A question that I didn’t know if I would ever get the correct answer for. A question that helped me understand the fanatical devotion of why Markan and so many others religiously followed Madame Bloom. For if it was true, then it showed that Madame Bloom had knowledge and foresight that were beyond the realm of coincidence and ability to perceive probabilities, but they bordered on the supernatural expanse of true Foresight.

  That question, one that would haunt me for a long time to come was, had Madame Bloom been able to see this all happening?

  My thoughts were apparently not going to be answered anytime soon because I heard a loud thud, as one of the arena doors were slammed open, letting me know that we weren’t done here at all.