Chapter 56: Hope and Certainty
"This is not good. This is really not good," Xavier muttered while pacing back and forth. His expression was vexed and his lips were pursed in deep ponderation. "There are only a few ways to become a transcendental beastman."
"And the one that is known to the beastmen is called, 'Mana Slay,'" explained Xavier when he saw Damien looking at him in confusion. "Beastmen have powers and skills assigned to them when they are born. However, if a beastman wants to become stronger, he must learn to control his or her mana."
"As long as they learn to control and become mana slayers, they can advance to transcendental beastmen," Xavier closed his eyes as he sat back down on the boulder behind him, his hands resting on his knees.
With his brows furrowed, he said to Damien, "I don't know whether Emiliano is trying to look for an Impert Snake Beast for the sake of becoming a transcendental beastman or something else, but no matter what … it could never be good."
The golden glow of the fire inside the crater cast a shadow on Xavier's face which made him look even more gloomy.
"We will think about this later on," said Damien impatiently, who couldn't care less about Emiliano.
As far as he was concerned, he was going to stay away from that nutter as far as possible.
"First we need to treat Samuel and the venom inside of his body." Even if he was a beastman, Samuel also had his limits and Damien had no desire to test those limits.
Xavier turned and glanced at Samuel who was lying on the ground with a pallid complexion. He nodded grimly and then turned to stroke the fire burning in the crater as he watched the rock mountain meat roasting above it.
Sacrificing Impert Snakes? He had to relay this information to Lord Nicolas and Lady Wistoria as soon as possible. They have to prepare for the worst, if they were not careful Emiliano might start another transcendental beastmen war.
They had to stop that crazy freak, at all costs and in case they couldn't stop him, they should at least be prepared to guard Aeloria.
"Let's do this," muttered Damien, who cared more about his patient than the incoming beast war, placing the tip of the syringe against his vein. With a little push, he embedded it deep enough to draw blood before pulling the blood out.
"Three millimetres more, host," said Dan while eyeing the round container getting slowly filled with blood. "Yes a bit more, a bit more ..yes, that's the ticket."
Damien pulled away the syringe and then emptied the blood into a clean ceramic bowl that he was carrying in his space ring.
Once the last drop of his blood trickled down inside the bowl, Damien added twilight thistle. It was a herb that the ones at the brothel added to their wine to speed up the process of fermentation.
However, according to the information displayed on the screen, this herb could also speed up the reaction speed and the releasing process of the antibodies in his blood.
"What are you doing, Lord Damien?" Xavier asked while eyeing the blood in the bowl. Nothing special seemed to be happening and yet Damien was staring at the bowl of blood as if waiting for something miraculous to happen.
"That's right, Lord Damien. What are you staring at that bowl of blood for?" Maui chimed from beside Xavier as he peered down at Damien and the bowl. "I don't think a normal bowl of blood can treat the venom of this horrible beast."
"Normal bowl of blood?" Damien repeated as he turned to look at Maui. His expression was similar to someone whose ancestors had been cursed. "Do you think this is just a normal bowl of blood?" He asked while staring at the screen in front of him.
[Binding process completed …70%]
[Binding process completed …75%]
"Isn't it?" Maui squeaked.
Damien rolled his eyes as he turned his gaze away from the screen and explained, "No it is not. This is how an anti-venom is made. As long as we inject the venom of the snakes inside the blood of higher ranking beastmen or beasts with robust immune systems, their blood can produce powerful antibodies."
"These antibodies can then bind the snake venom while the immune defences eliminate the toxins."
Xavier and Maui stared at him without saying anything and Damien was willing to bet all the gold that he had gotten from Lord Gilderoy that these two had no idea what he was talking about.
"Anyways," Damien cleared his throat. "That's how an anti-venom is made, if everything goes well and the snake venom is bound perfectly then we can use it on Samuel."
"And what would happen after you use it on him?" Xavier asked slowly. He was slightly dubious as this was his first time hearing such a thing.
The healer had always asked the beastmen who were injected with snake beast venom to prepare themselves for death.
It had always been a fifty-fifty chance with the beastmen. For Damien to say that he could treat the venom of the Impert Snake Beast, was slightly unbelievable.
"If the anti-venom was made perfectly, he would wake up in no time," Damien answered. He paused and pondered a little before adding, "And in case there was a mistake then this man would never wake up. One out of the two cases something would happen, and this case would come to an end."
Of course, Damien was banking on his system and hoping that this anti-venom would work. However, sometimes even the most skilled doctor could make a mistake.
And he who had never created an anti-venom before in his life and had only read and stored enough information —was certainly not going to boast that there was a hundred per cent chance for this man to make a full recovery.
His AI system was excellent but not perfect, more importantly, it worked on information stored in his mind as well as the memories of the predecessor.
Damien was supplying it with new information every day by visiting the library. But doctors were humans as well and not gods. With them 'hope' worked better and not 'certainty.'
[Binding process completed by…100%]
"It is done."