s Responsibility
ACT 8 Ark’s Responsibility
One idea could change the world. It was a commonplace phrase in CFs but it was certainly true. When his heart changed, Ark was immediately determined to help the cockroaches. Their appearance didn’t matter once he changed his mind. That’s right. Racism, religious wars, and even bullying were all social issues that occurred differently. But that all occurred from arrogance and different thoughts….. Anyway, Ark wasn’t disgusted by touching the Galgin’s hands and feet anymore. He forgot all thoughts of a quest reward. Ark examined the patients like hoped a doctor would. Then he wondered about new questions that he never considered before.
‘There’s something strange.’
There were approximately 50 Galgin gathered in the camp. But they all had different symptoms.
‘They should have the same symptoms if they caught the disease from here. The Galgin are showing over 10 different types of symptoms. It isn’t just some simple symptoms but a mixture of them. So it must not be a simple disease. There must be some other reason.’
Ark decided to interpret the events in a different direction. In the world, there was no effect without a cause. The Galgin became sick after entering the forest so they must’ve done something different. And that act might’ve evoked the disease. Ark asked the patients what they did after entering the forest.
“Forest….after coming….nothing unusual…..huk huk huk.”
“Anything is good. It is important so please describe in detail.”
“Just…..as always…..gathered to celebrate….ate some food….danced and played…..and not long after…..one by one we started feeling sick…..”
‘Ate some food?’
Ark eagerly asked again.
“Did you use any different ingredients?”
No….. The ingredients here are scarce….we used a few obtained here….but we mainly ate what we normally do…..”
‘I got it wrong?’
Ark thought they might’ve eaten toxic ingredients. But if he thought again, they were professional travellers so the Galgin should be quite experienced with ingredients. They wouldn’t blindly eat mysterious ingredients found in a forest.
‘But there might be something that tricked them so I should check it out.’
“Where is the place you obtained the ingredients?”
“We couldn’t get any proper ingredients near this area…..so we went far away…..fortunately…..we found a few near the river…..we mixed it with our ingredients….. Just head in the direction of that large tree…..”
“Lariette-nim, wait here for a while.”
Ark left the patients with Lariette and Buksil and went to find the river.
“Dedric, head towards that large tree and look for the river.”
“I’ve found it.”
After a while, Dedric came back from scouting and directed him towards the river. It was a rainbow river commonly found in the Netherworld. But it wasn’t easy to find ingredients near the river. The foxes had a keen sense of smell and they would swallow the plants whenever it grew. Ark was patient and finally found one.
“Let’s have a look shall we? Ingredient Identification!”
Asatarod
An edible grass which grows naturally on the riverbank. The roots and leaves can be eaten and it can be used as a spice.
“Was it a useless thought?”
Ark sighed and shook his head. Then there was a lively sound as an information window appeared again.
The advanced effects of ‘Ingredient Identification’ had obtained further information.
The Asatarod you are currently holding has been deformed because it grew beside a polluted river. If a person with no resistance consumes it, the fatal symptoms of headache and fever will be displayed.However, the Asatarod can also be used as a medicine to treat the toxicity. Thus, depending on the processing method you can extract a medicine to treat the symptoms caused.
When Ingredient Identification became an advanced skill, there were no additional effects. He never paid it that much attention, but he never thought that it would help in this manner.
“What the, polluted river?”
Ark obtained some water from the river and used Ingredient Identification again.
Polluted River Water
Water from a river running through the Forest of Life, which can be used to make food.*Advanced Additional Information: It looks like ordinary water but a closer look shows that it has been polluted with an unknown mixture of chemicals. The effects of consuming too many kinds of chemicals are unimaginable, and the level of contamination even affects the surrounding flora and fauna.
“As expected, there was a problem with the food the Galgin ate.”
Ark was convinced of his reasoning after investigating. And he was able to guess the reason for the Galgins’ multiple symptoms. The river had numerous chemicals mixed into it. Those chemicals could either be good or bad for the body. And the plants growing around the river would be deformed by those chemicals. If the Galgins had learned advanced Ingredient Identification then they probably wouldn’t have eaten such dangerous ingredients. But the ingredients looked like normal ones so they just used it casually in their food. Therefore, the Galgin had a mixture of food poisoning and chemical poisoning. Therefore Lariette’s Cure Disease and Ark’s Nursing didn’t have an effect.
‘Even so, the Galgin have food poisoning……’
The environment pollution was a more serious problem for them.
‘Well, there’s a solution now that I’ve found the cause.’
Ark recalled the information discovered using Ingredient Identification. The river didn’t just have toxic chemicals mixed in. There were also some good medications. So he had to treat the food poisoning and toxic materials with the good medication. Medicine could also become a poison. So he had to extract the good parts while neutralizing the toxins using the same processing method. Ark looked at the river with a serious expression. He had figured out a method. But there were several problems implementing it. First, he had to investigate what ingredients the Galgin ate. It was in order to determine the cause of the symptoms and how to treat it.
‘Hopefully the Galgin will be conscious so I can question them and figure out how to make the medicine…..’
The information window showed the method of processing the food ingredient to obtain the medicine. Soaked in water, dried, fried, steamed etc…..there were numerous methods to extract the medicine. He needed a large amount of time and effort to investigate the right methods one by one. But that was a problem for the future.
‘The urgent problem is that I have to collect at least 20~30 samples of each ingredient in order to research it.’
Ark looked gloomily around the river. The river in the forest was quite large. But he couldn’t find any ingredients no matter how he looked. The Bandit Foxes ate everything. He barely gather one after 10 minutes so he couldn’t imagine how long collecting 20~30 would take.
‘I also have to keep using Nursing on the Galgin so I can’t spend the whole time collecting ingredients. Lariette and Buksil’s Ingredient Foraging skill is only at the beginner level so it would likely fail even if they find an ingredient.’
Ark was worried for a while before he thought of a method.
‘That’s right. It’s a little expensive, but it is possible with that skill.’
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“Dedric, Razak. Drive them out!”
“Understood, wooooo!”
Clack clack clack clack!
Dedric and Razak yelled wildly through the forest.
“Lariette-nim, drive them out with Buksil!”
Lariette and Buksil were swinging sticks at the bushes on the other side. Ark closed his eyes and concentrated everything on his hearing. After a while, he heard the sound of something stepping on leaves nearby. Ark opened his eyes and raised his hand.
“It’s near, Mind’s Eye!”
Then the eyeball ring on his finger rolled around and shot out sonic waves. At the same time, there was a blurry picture where previously he couldn’t see anything. There were Bandit Foxes disguised with Protective Colouration. Even though it changed colour to camouflage with the surroundings, the foxes became surprised and ran away as soon as Ark headed towards it. If someone approached it, the Bandit Fox would use its enormous speed to run away.
That was why Ark was so worried about the Bandit Foxes.
‘Huhuhu, it is still an animal despite its speed.’
Ark grinned and laughed.
Kaheong!