“Then… why are you not getting dizzy?”
He blinked up at the woman, who had yet to look away from him. Her eyes bored into his as if she knew the answer to some question that he did not even know he had. He frowned at that and looked down at the plant.
Why wasn’t he getting dizzy?
A normal human, at this point, should be dizzy enough that they wouldn’t be able to even sit properly, and it would only get worse with continued exposure. But Emilio felt perfectly fine. In fact, the soft buzzing of the trees around him made him feel more refreshed.
“I … don’t know,” he said softly.
Professor Gias sighed. “Lamnia, take him to the hogweeds.”
“Hogweeds? But Professor-”
“It should be fine. Hogweeds are less potent than dreamersbanes. And if something happens, we can treat him immediately and take him to the infirmary.” She turned to Emilio. “You will see a cluster of white flowers. Touch them and see if something happens.” She then tilted her head towards Lamnia. “Lamnia, remember to take the emergency ointment just in case. I will be here if you need me.”
And with those rapid instructions given, she was off, going back where she came from.
Emilio turned to Lamnia, raising an eyebrow. “Well?”
The halfling sighed. “Wait here, let me bring some emergency medicine and then we will be off.”
Emilio had no choice but to wait. Fortunately, though, it was only a few minutes. Lamnia came back with a satchel in her hands, which were now clad in gloves.
“Let’s go!”
She walked ahead and Emilio followed without a word. The girl led him outside towards a more open area. “This is where we keep our non-magical toxic plants.” She walked forward to a crowd of trees around 10 feet tall, with large leaves to match. The stem, leaf and flower stalks were hairy. It had small white flowers in big clusters scattered across the branches.
“Here, these are hogweeds. Can you tell me about them?”
He tilted his head. “Giant hogweed is a herb that’s related to carrots, cilantro, and parsley. It grows naturally in the Bowriun Mountains, which stretch between the Sea of Storms and the Empire of Arjash. The plant is an invasive and dangerous species because it’s harmful to humans and disturbs the natural habitat. A hogweed sap can cause severe rashes on human and animal skin. It grows very large and can spread quickly, allowing it to crowd out other plants that grow naturally. Hogweeds can be 15 to 20 feet tall when it’s fully grown.”
He frowned. “Which means that these are not fully grown. But-” he stepped forward, “they seem to be of an age to be fully grown. Something is… inhibiting the growth. Magic?” His frown deepened. “The magic doesn’t seem to be harming it though.”
“Impressive.” Lamnia nodded. “Yes. Professor Gias used her druid magic to essentially stunt their growth at a certain point.”
“Essentially? Does that mean that they are actually growing?”
“Yes,” the girl nodded. “But the growth is so slow that it will take them years to grow even by a foot. Druid magic is different in that it can be directed into nature itself without being invasive. Druids can give instructions to plants, and direct the flow of things in them… that is why potions and poisons brewed by druids are extremely powerful and can cause greater effects in humans than they can handle. That is why, druids must also be careful when directing their mana.”
“I see.” Honestly, he never knew all that much about druids. But if what Lamnia was saying was true, then that meant that druids were far more dangerous than he had initially thought. It was incredible how a seemingly harmless creature who likes plants can be so dangerous. But then again… that seemed quite on par with nature itself. Nature was beautiful, but it could swallow you right up.
“So?” He asked. “What do I have to do?”
Lamnia took out a knife and gently cut across the stem of one of the plants. Emilio winced with the spike of the buzz that he felt from the tree. It wasn’t exactly … pain. More like… uncomfortable stimuli.
Lamnia turned to her. “You have to touch the sap and see if you feel anything. Make sure to pull back immediately if you feel something. I will need to administer medicine and take you to the infirmary.”
Well, if he had to be taken to the infirmary, it might just end up being his permanent residence at this point.
He sighed and gave a small nod. “Alright.”
He stepped forward and then pressed a finger on the cut, letting the sap leak onto it. He waited for a moment. Nothing. He felt nothing except the coolness of the sap.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Is it supposed to take time?” He asked, not looking back.
“No.” The answer came immediately. “Usually, the rashes start within seconds. You can wait a while longer if you want.”
“How much longer?”
“Well… let’s see. Two whole minutes? That should be enough. Once again, pull back if you feel something.”
Emilio nodded and gently lifted the finger from the cut, before settling it upwards just below the cut, along with another one, letting the sap gently fall onto them. He watched, almost fascinated, as the sap dripped onto his fingers and ran down the length of them onto his palm. What he thought would take quite a while was actually over in an instant.
“Alright. Time’s up. Anything?”
Emilio shook his head. “No. Nothing. But let me try something.”
He pulled his hand back and reached for his other arm. Rolling up his sleeves, he exposed his pale skin before smearing the sap onto his skin. “Let it stay like this for a while. I will let you guys know if something happens.”
Lamnia looked at him with worry. “Are you sure about this? If it ends up working on you, the symptoms could break out anytime!”
Emilio nodded. “I will be fine,” he said, though he was only about… half sure of it. He supposed having lived through the havoc that had been his academic life until now, he had developed a bit of a fearlessness.
Lamnia sighed. “Alright. How long do you plan on keeping that one?”
“Let’s see. Maybe until tomorrow? That should be a long enough time, right? I will be in the Magical Creatures department tomorrow but I can pop in for a bit to let you know if anything happened or not.”
“Sounds good.” She reached inside her satchel and pulled out a small round pot. “Here, if any rashes or blisters break out, make sure to immediately put this on them and run straight to the infirmary.”
He took the pot from her and gave a small nod before he looked back at his arm. He went to roll down his sleeves when something else occurred to him. He looked back at Lamnia curiously. “Is there something you can do to make sure this doesn’t move even with my clothes over it or when I shower?”
Lamnia seemed thoughtful for a moment before nodding. “I am sure I can manage that.” She extended her hands and created a triangle shape over the stretch of skin that the sap smeared on it with her forefingers, middle fingers and thumbs. She seemed to whisper something and Emilio saw the faint silhouette of sigil being formed on his skin.
Spellcasting. One of the most fascinating subjects of magic and one of the hardest to master. It did not come as naturally as elements or body enhancement. You had to grind at it, working with runes and formulas and finding just the perfect mixture of structure and mana. It was one of the few subjects of magic that you could excel at with back breaking, mind numbing, hard work, no affinity needed. Not everyone could master it though. The fact that Lamnia could do this at such a young age was proof of her genius. In this, at least, she was leagues above her peers.
Emilio felt a sticky feeling appear on his arm where the sap was. It disappeared almost immediately, making him look at the girl with a curious gaze, his question unspoken.
Lamnia gave a smile. It was a rare thing, but it lit up her face, especially with that proud glint in her eyes. “It’s a permanency spell. The sap won’t move unless the spell is either broken or removed by me. If you start to show symptoms, it will break immediately. Other than that, it should stay, unless someone throws some sort of nullification spell at you. But who would do that?”
Emilio smiled at her. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”
“Alright, let’s get you back to the Professor and see what she has to say.”
The rest of his time there was spent looking at different plants, with him explaining what he somehow suddenly knew about them. He ended up speaking about several new uses for some of the rarer plants. By the time he walked out of the place, his mind felt numb and exhausted by the constant badgering of the two. Still, it had felt good. He was useful, for once. It was a nice feeling.
He looked back at his hand and murmured to himself. “I wonder if anything will happen.”
“No, it won’t.”
He almost jumped at the voice. Sal, who had become a comfortable weight on his hand, had been so still and silent this entire time that Emilio had almost forgotten he was there.
“It won’t?” He asked, blinking down at the Leviathan who was now peeking out of his sleeve.
“It won’t.” Sal’s head moved in a manner that looked like a shake of his head if he were a human. “You have a certain level of immunity to all sorts of poison.”
He blinked again, surprised. Though… he should not be all that surprised after what happened.
Still, he asked, almost in an awed whisper, “I do?”
Sal ‘nodded’. “Yes.”
“But… why? How?”
“Well… you are a friend of nature, are you not? Nature will try her best not to hurt you. Of course, some poisons are too potent for humans to handle. Nature sometimes ends up destroying everything around her, herself too. So, you might not always leave unscathed if you bite off more than you can chew. But, generally, you should have a high amount of resistance and immunity. Something that would burn through a normal human would probably leave you with some first or second-degree burns that can be healed easily by any competent healer.”
That was … unexpected. A boon, of course, for which he was grateful. It was just … a lot to take in at the moment.
Something else occurred to him. “Wait, is that why your poison didn’t affect me?”
“Yes and no,” was Sal’s confusing answer. He continued speaking though, thankfully. “I pulled back most of my poison when I realized it was you I bit. A tiny amount did get into your blood, but that was within the limits of your resistance. If I had ended up injecting the entirety of it into you, you would have ended up in severe, unspeakable agony. A normal human would have died.”
He blinked. “Wait, was that what you were going to do to the Prince?!”
There was a pause. “No,” he said. It didn’t seem like a lie. “I would have just put in a bit more than what went into you. That would have ended up with him in significant pain for the rest of the week, unable to brother you.”
“Sal!”
Emilio ended up scolding the serpent the rest of the way to his dormitory.