CHAPTER 61.

Amber didn’t know what exactly she expected, but as soon as Cecile and her separated from the refugees who joined the outskirts of the outer city ⁠— as the merchant had called it ⁠— the atmosphere changed.

There was an air of death around and everything seemed depressing. Even though the outer city was nothing but a conglomerate of buildings at the foot of Torl that offered various and quick services to travelers, the people around the streets were well covered with cloth and and seemed wary of each other.

“Even though I expected it, the plague is present here too,” Cecile said, evidently bothered. “The refugees didn’t seem to be aware of the current state of Torl either.”

Amber nodded at that. “Now hopefully we won’t contract it.”

“Under normal circumstances there is no chance that you’ll contract it given your level, but…” Cecile frowned as she summoned a cloth and wrapped it around her face. “Given how unusual this plague is, I cannot be so sure.”

Amber nodded and accepted a cloth offered by the merchant, which she also promptly wrapped around her mouth and nose. She didn’t exactly expect the situation to be like this; there were thousands upon thousands of people seeking refuge due to the war, and there was also a deadly plague going around. She had come all this way to meet a Primordial Spirit, one that somehow was aware of her existence for a long time now.

A moment later, Cecile turned to Amber. “I’ll look into the plague, are you interested in finding out more information along with me? I know a doctor, in fact: he is the best doctor here.” Then her eyes curled, she was evidently smiling. “That said, I appreciate you taking me all the way here at no price whatsoever.”

Amber smiled in return. “Well, we are friends aren’t I? And I wanted to come here, remember?”

“I do…” She thought for a second. “You didn’t tell me why though.”

“Let’s just say it is to meet someone.”

“What kind of someone has you travel half of the continent?” Cecile asked raising her brow.

“A special someone,” Amber said simply, she didn’t want to say she was here looking for a Primordial Spirit.

Though, her words were taking as a completely different thing, and it was a misunderstanding that she didn’t care to fix. Cecile’s eyes went wide at what she heard.

“You… have a special someone?” she asked in disbelief. “Are they a guy or a girl?”

“Does it matter?” Amber raised her brow.

“I guess not, but it’s just…” Cecile shook her head. “I never imagined someone as barbaric as you could have someone like that.”

Amber frowned. “Hey.”

“Sorry, sorry.” The merchant shook her head. “Anyway, do you want to tag along with me a bit more as I visit my friend, or do you just want to say goodbye now?”

Amber didn’t need to give it much thought before she agreed with a nod.

“I’ll find out more about the plague with you.”

And just like that, they continued towards the entrance of Torl, where they found themselves on a surprisingly short queue. Apparently, the refugees were entering through a different route entirety, at least according to Cecile. So getting to the city gates didn’t take particularly long, but as soon as they did Amber was met some glances but after Cecile explained the situation, she was practically ignored and let through.

“Any person that is over level 100 tends to draw glances, but since you are a warrior without weapon you draw extra attention,” Cecile explained. “That and you also look like you aren’t from around here.”

“What do you mean?” Amber asked.

“Well aside from guards, have you even seen someone wearing metal armor?” Cecile gestured at the surroundings.

Amber looked and blinked, even the warriors were dressed in light leather armor rather than something else. At most she saw some chainmail, but no one was wearing plated armor like her.

“Most people aren’t a fan of cooking themselves alive, after all,” she added.

“It feels fine though?” Amber raised her arm. “It’s somewhat warm, but the desert isn’t nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be.” And it most certainly doesn’t compare to the fire rooms I’ve fought in, she added in her mind.

“You do you.”

After that, they ventured further into the city, as Amber got to see even more people similarly dressed, and some who were on the ground. Some of them didn’t have arms or legs. Some had flies surrounding them, and she even got to see a fully decomposed corpse in an alleyway. Evidently, while there were people going about their business, there were others that were clearly suffering from the Plague of Rot, which stuck together and kept to themselves. Some were taken away by city guards too.

It was a grim sight. Though there were even fruit vendors who seemed unaffected, trying to sell their goods. Amber to some extent, was surprised that the city remained functioning.

On their way to meeting Cecile’s doctor acquaintance, they never reached the center of the city. Instead they took numerous different streets which took close to an hour of walking given how damn massive Torl was.

The destination looked like an unassuming house made of sandstone with a tarp hanging over the entrance for shade, and Cecile knocked at the wooden door, then there was silence. After a minute she knocked again, and again and again until⁠—

“What do ya bastards want?!” an annoyed voice came from the inside. “I already told you that I cannot cure that damn plague!”

“Open up before I store your door into my ring and go in myself!” Cecile replied.

After that there was a silence, and a few seconds later Amber heard the locks of the door sliding, before it was opened. There, stood a surprisingly small man, in fact, he was the size of a kid, which made Amber confused for a moment before she saw his beard.

A… dwarf?

The man shook his head upon seeing Cecile. “Why make so much ruckus, should have said: ‘Old-friend visiting!’, instead.”

“You know me,” Cecile said, happy to see the man.

“And I see you’ve brought company,” the man said looking at Amber.

Cecile nodded. “A new friend, yes⁠.” Then she crossed her arms. “Are you gonna invite us in or not?”

“Bah, whatever.” The man waved his hand, annoyed. “Come on in, my house is your house or whatever⁠— until I kick you out anyway.”

Cecile walked in and Amber stared at the man for a few moments, before a scoff came her way.

“What, never seen a man with dwarfism before?” he grumbled. “Probably not, rare condition and all⁠— but don’t stare, I ain’t an animal girl!”

“Right, sorry…”

Amber meekly apologized and walked in. The man wasn’t a dwarf, he was a man with a literal medical condition. Hell, it even had the same name as in Earth! Though, she couldn’t help but ask at Cecile something as they walked into a living room.

“Do dwarfs exist?”

“You mean in books, or…?” she asked back confused.

Amber shook her head at that, she didn’t really know what to think about that brief experience just yet. Instead, she just sat down along with Cecile and waited for the man to come back. Which took a few minutes given he served some tea, and during this time, he learned his name was Narnt. Once he was done with everything, he sat down and turned to the merchant.

“So what brings you here exactly, Cecile?” he asked. “I’ll say, if you are infected with the plague, I cannot cure you⁠— and that you should leave now.”

“Not infected,” she snorted. “I’ve come to get more information about it, you are like the best doctor around.”

“Well not anymore given I was fired by the government of the city.” Narnt took a sip of his tea. “Apparently declaring the plague as incurable was me giving up and resigning my position. They still have their doctors hard at work; they even built a damn sarcophagus for the worst cases,” he said in disdain. “But soon enough, we may all die.”

At that, Amber frowned. “What is even this plague exactly if it's so bad?”

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“A magical pest,” he scoffed. “A damn curse upon the land, that is what it is. It doesn’t go, it cannot be drained, and even level 50 people die to it!”

Cecile blinked at that. “That’s…”

“So I advise you to be careful Cecile,” he said looking down at his tea. “As for your other guest, given her strength she is basically immune to it unless she eats something plague afflicted directly.”

Amber nodded slowly. “How are people infected with it?”

There was a brief pause before Narnt answered. “I don’t quite understand it, it can be contracted from contaminated water; food seems to be safe. Though, getting attacked or hurt by someone that is infected will cause you to be infected as well. Smelling the rot from it can also make you contract it.”

At that, the both of them nodded. However, Cecile seemed kind of despondent as she looked down at her tea.

“What is the source of it?” she asked.

“That I do not know.”

There was a pause before he nodded to himself.

“What I can tell you is that, every ten levels an individual has seems to slow down the process. And the plague slowly dies off the body when a patient has no mana,” he said. “So, for those that are below level 10, they die within a week of contracting it. Someone like you Cecile, you’d have about two to four months should you contract it.”

“That sounds painful,” she said.

“I watched people rot to death… once the rot got to their brain, they…”

And he trailed off, his gaze shadowing over. Amber didn’t want to imagine what the man had seen.

“Anyway, that’s all I’m willing to divulge,” he said shaking his head. “If you care to find out more about the whole damn history of this wretched illness, then go to the Grand Library. All of our findings are catalogued there.”

Amber blinked and took note of that, but Cecile, shook her head.

“How am I meant to conduct business like this?”

Narnt harrumphed. “Nothing stops you merchants, you’ll be fine. Commerce it’s still going strong even with everything that is going on. After all, the people have nowhere to go, but they still try to support their families through the hard times.”

Amber frowned at that. “Why not issue a lockdown, or something instead of letting this go on? Or monetary relief?”

“The plague is all over the Great Desert, a lockdown wouldn’t do anything unless the desert itself was locked down,” he said with a frown. “People go about their lives because they don’t want to accept the fact that the city is dying, they are all hoping that the government will find a solution. As for relief? That’s ridiculous, not even the government would give money out of kindness.”

After a moment, he took a breath and spoke.

“But, if you are worried about safety precautions then I’ll give you a step by step thing on what to do to avoid it.”

At that, the atmosphere turned serious. Amber too was interested, after all⁠, she wasn’t someone to just get complacent because a doctor had told her she’d survive a magical plague. First; she’d find out all she could about the plague and then look for things in regards to the Primordial Spirit, that just felt right to her.

And so, she listened to Narnt.

“Boil all the water you consume, for at least three days,” he stated. “Make sure the source of the fire is natural and not mana based. That is the only way that you can ensure the water is completely safe…”

Narnt went on to explain numerous safety measures, from wearing something to cover their mouth and noses to simply staying away from strangers. One of the most interesting ones was recommending an armor just like Amber’s to avoid any type of cuts or injuries that could potentially get infected.

Aside from that, he cautioned to stay away from those that manifested signs of the plague. Which all sounded pretty standard to Amber, though he finished with:

“There are other precautions that can be taken, of course. But my information is a bit outdated given the fact I was fired, so once more⁠—”

“Go to the library, I got it,” Cecile said, massaging her forehead. “Hopefully I survive this.”

“Why not just leave?” Amber asked, raising her brow.

Cecile shook her head. “I can’t on such a short notice, I’ll stay around as planned and survive this stupid mess.”

“You know damn well it’s not worth the money,” Narnt scolded.

But Cecile didn’t say anything, instead she drank from her tea in silence. Something that Amber also followed on and by the end of the meeting found herself enjoying. It had a rich fruit taste while also being sweet, while to some extent; it tasted nothing like other tea she had tried in the past given its strong and rich flavor, she did inquire about its name for future reference.

That said, just out of sheer skepticism, she wasn’t planning on buying any tea inside the Great Desert. Instead, she planned to look for it once she was done with all of this mess⁠— if she remembered anyway.

After exchanging pleasantries, Amber bid farewell to Narnt, and Cecile too accompanied her. In the end, the two decided to share an inn room⁠— at Cecile’s request. She wanted to be able to find Amber should anything happen, and Amber agreed given that it made the merchant easy to find.

Though she did warn Cecile that she may disappear for days at a time if she went to the dungeon, but the woman responded that she her request was just for peace of mind. So, overall, it was a good arrangement, in Amber’s opinion anyway.

The inn was working normally but had some precautions in place: apparently they also fired any infected employees and didn’t let any infected guests stay, surprisingly.

After that, she gathered directions to the library from Cecile, and headed out.

It was time for her to research about the Primordial Spirit.

* * *

On her way to the library. Amber saw people on the street begging for money, parts of their bodies decayed. Hell, even one of them tried to grab onto her hand to beg, something that made her recoil and Quick Dash away. She also saw a pyre of corpses burning. Overall, the city was functioning but it was also evidently plague-stricken.

“Someone stop that thief!”

And Amber paused hearing someone. She turned only to see a man running towards her with a bag on his hand, and Amber⁠— stuck her foot out.

The man tripped and went flying before hitting the ground hard. Amber was sure he must’ve broken a bone, given he was groaning in pain, but she paid it no mind.

Instead, she just walked away as a woman arrived to recover her belongings.

While passed by the different main streets Amber also saw numerous tents, hell some houses had tents on top⁠— evidently the city was housing refugees. Of course, not everyone was a beggar on the street, there were still warriors and adventurers going about their business as usual.

Amber on her way to the library was offered food, some people tried to sell her other things but she declined every single one of them. And finally, after thirty minutes of walking, she reached the center of the city⁠ and paused. She stopped as soon as she got sight of the plaza.

It was a bustling place, and there were still refugees around and the occasional decayed thing, but at the same time there were hundreds of energetic merchants with shops. Just like Narnt had said: the city hadn’t shut down. However, the thing that made her stop wasn’t any of that. Instead, it was what lay at the center of the plaza.

A hole.

A pit that was easily hundreds of meters in diameter. One that had houses hanging from within its walls and numerous descending paths. She had noticed it before⁠— even pits inside the city that led to darkness, but this was different. It was as if civilization continued underground.

And seeing the sight Amber instinctively knew what it was:

It was the entrance to the Grand Dungeon.

Amber, however, didn’t stop to admire it for long, instead she looked around and saw a grand building. One that seemed much bigger than any other with numerous pillars and statues at its entrance. It had a dome for a roof and fancy carvings, and apparently it had multiple underground floors.

It was none other than the Grand Library, and the place she immediately headed to. Overall, Torl was beautiful in her opinion, but at the same time it was evident that the city was suffering. She wasn’t as delusional as to think she could do something about the plague, but she did hope that the cure was close to being developed.

Amber reached the library and to her surprise, there were no guards or even people trying to stop anyone from entering. So, she headed up the steps, and entered the grandiose building.

* * *

Every floor in the library seemed to be labeled, and every floor looked like a library, each having a receptionist.

And through some instructions, Amber gathered all the relevant books in regards to the Primordial Spirit. Then, she headed to find the reports about the plague that Narnt had mentioned, at this point for Amber it was morbid curiosity, which was why she wanted to take a look at them.

And after picking up the documents, she also found a man in robes with black hair and glasses, who also seemed to be reading documents about the plague as well. Though he did give her a glance.

Amber, however, ignored him and instead sat down at one of the many tables. The library seemed peaceful enough, and while she didn’t like reading⁠— she was damn good at it from forcing herself to read in the past. After all, how fast one could read and retain information was a worthy challenge.

So, Amber first started by reading all of the books that mentioned the Primordial Spirit, and a lot of entries spoke about the same thing.

“The guide of the after-life, the guardian of the Great Desert, he only shows himself before those that are about to cross to the other side.”

“The Great Oasis, an illusion only seen by great warriors when they are about to that, only they are worthy of meeting the guide.”

“It is said the guide resides on the deepest floor of the Grand Dungeon of Torl and looks after those who die…”

They all sounded similar to what Cecile had said, but Amber at least had a lead now⁠— the bottommost floor of the Grand Dungeon.

Finally, Amber turned to the reports about the plague, which she chose to skim given she knew quite a lot of information already and just wanted to see a bit more, and while doing so, she quickly found herself grossed out.

“Medical test number one: forcefully drain subject of their mana and deprave them of outside mana.

Report: The subject has shown signs of hemorrhage and vomit⁠—”

They were all incredibly descriptive and to her dismay some included pictures. That said, some did document the results, such as the fact that the plague could be slowed down by increasing one’s Vitality. However, some involved human torture which she found appalling, and it was during reading one of the reports that she was approached by the man with glasses.

A mage.

A strong one.

[Mage. Lvl. 151]

“I didn’t think a warrior would be as studious as to research about the Primordial Spirit here and the plague,” he said.

“Call it curiosity,” Amber answered, while she closed the report she was reading.

“Indeed, luckily for you I happen to know about both things, more of the latter, of course,” he chuckled and then, sat down across from her.

She raised her brow at him, she was dubious of the man’s claims which he seemed to sense.

“The doctors in those reports seem quite inhumane, don’t they?” he asked rhetorically, before continuing. “I see that you’re curious about the plague, and all things considered you are much better than those heartless researchers. And you are strong too so…”

Amber wasn’t quite following what he was talking about.

“What are you getting at?”

There was a pause before he smiled.

“To keep it simple…”

He met her gaze.

“Do you wish to know the truth behind the plague?”