[BL] Accidentally Becoming the Healer of the Deranged Archduke-Chapter 274: Throw The Hero Complex

The transportation crystals shattered like brittle glass, fragments spraying in every direction. The sound echoed like a scream through the stone chamber.

If it weren’t for the protective barrier enveloping Xion, he would’ve been scratched bloody.

That was an expensive trip, he mused, glancing at the glimmering mess of broken shards crunching beneath Darius’ boots.

As for him, well, the Archduke didn’t let him take a single step before carrying him like a princess.

It was as if he were some naughty kid, who, if not held tight, might get himself hurt for running around.

Xion was distressed, but there was another being who was even more distressed.

[No! My crystals! MY PRECIOUS CRYSTALS!!] The system wailed, [They are all gone...gone just like that...]

Xion raised a brow. ’Of course they are. Why are you crying over them?’

And what ’my crystals’ ? They never belonged to them in the first place.

After spending so much time together, the system had evolved into a dangerously entitled little gremlin in his mind. It read him well—perhaps too well.

Sure enough, the next second the system replied to him even when Xion hadn’t said it out aloud.

[Obviously! His Grace is yours. And whatever’s his is ours. Including his treasury. Especially his treasury!]

Xion nearly laughed aloud, amused at how the system got more frantic after hearing the crushing sound of the crystals under heavy footsteps that led them out of the chambers and into the corridor.

[Host, why are you not the least bit upset?! Do you know how much those long-distance teleportation crystals cost in total? That’s, like, seven premium healing elixirs! Or—wait—an entire custom outfit from the luxury Beasthide Boutique! You could’ve had tailored boots, host! Boots that buff your agility by 5%!]

That was one of the most expensive items in the system mall, one that despite being the VIP of the mall, he wasn’t allowed to buy it.

Just like that, there were many things that were completely grey and out of his reach.

Though the system was powerful, it had its own limits, like the strengthening pills or mana boasting liquid, they all were expensive and had a very short span of time of activation.

Most of them were limited to a one-minute time limit. So, he was more focused on buying things that could stay for a long time. Like books.

Thinking about when he tried his best to help those in Faymere, and even ended up in system debt, only for the head to betray him so easily.... he actually felt betrayed.

And here was Darius who hadn’t said a single word about the loss he had to bear because he insisted on going to Haldris.

[Host, do you really not care about it?]

Xion didn’t respond immediately. His gaze shifted to the silver-haired man’s side profile.

His fingers tightened slightly over the shoulders as they walked through the almost empty hall before turning toward the familiar way that led to their room.

Sharp jawline. Elegant silhouette. His nose was perfect too. Even the bone structure was so damn handsome.

The system, "..." Can we not include biology everywhere? What beautiful bone structure? Who even talks like that? Doctors are weird creatures.

’I am distressed,’ Xion admitted with a sigh. ’He’s working so hard just to fulfill my wishes. I don’t know how to repay him.’

[Repay—?! Host.] The system had the urge to shake Xion and put some sense into him.

[You repaid him last night. In full. With interest. In ways I cannot unsee even with a full system wipe!]

Xion turned pink, burying his face into the crook of Archduke’s neck. ’You weren’t even watching.’

[Yeah? Well, I had to watch the educational videos on a loop. It was ten hours, host. Ten! I had to watch fourteen lectures on the anatomy of dragon-bulls just to overwrite the codes you guys messed up.]

Xion tried not to smile, but it was a losing battle. ’So dramatic.’

[I am dramatic! I’m a high-functioning, now emotionally aware system who just witnessed a luxury teleportation array get nuked. It’s like watching someone burn down a designer mansion to cook instant noodles!]

Perhaps, it was right. Perhaps he shouldn’t have hurried Darius for this at all.

But... What can I do when my heart just won’t let me stop thinking about the people dying?

It was precisely this stupid heart that was now beating for an entirely different reason.

’It just feels like... I keep receiving more than I give.’

The system didn’t respond immediately.

Then, in a softer tone than before, it said, [That’s not true. You give people peace just by existing near them. You give them a reason to live, host. Have some confidence in yourself just like you have in your healing abilities.]

Xion was almost moved by his system until he heard the later part. [Just throw your Hero Complex, Host.]

Xion felt his lips twitch. If he could, he would have done that a long time ago. However, before he could rebuke the system, he was placed on the bed.

A big hand rubbed his head, "You rest here. If you feel hungry just ring the bell, okay?"

"And you?" Xion asked, blinking up at Darius.

It was almost how a wife would ask her husband not to go but can’t voice it out directly due to her shyness, and very reluctant to part. How cute.

"I have some things to take care of." Warm fingers pinched the soft cheek. "I’ll be back in a few hours, yeah?"

Xion hummed lightly watching Darius place his bag on the table. The plant inside was worth more than just a fortune.

Just as the Archduke was gone, Xion didn’t waste a second. He dragged his bag straight into the lab.

It had already been a week since he arrived in the North. In that time alone, countless variables could have changed. He knew too well how quickly infections could evolve in different climates, especially when magical interference was involved.

Fortunately, the only thing working in their favor was the plague’s trajectory, It was spreading slowly from the South, crawling toward the Eastern territories. That geographic delay bought them precious time.

Too precious to waste.

He placed the plant specimen gently on the sterile surface, his gloved hands moving slowly as he adjusted the lens on the white specimen.

The mutation had warped its bioluminescent patterns, giving it a dark purple hue and shifting its properties from restorative to antimicrobial.

With the system map, Xion knew exactly where the Mutated version, Tenberis was.

[It had been growing perilously close to the abandoned area declared as haunted by the villagers.] The system hesitated before adding, [It’s the same place where the Archduke had demolished the church before destroying even more.]

"How poetic," Xion muttered while carefully isolating the tiny gnarled roots of the plant. "A corrupted blessing growing in the shadow of a fallen god."

With the system assisting in compound analysis, much of the groundwork was done in a few hours.

They had mapped the altered genome, traced the toxin’s metabolic pathway into the human body, and even predicted its dormant state behavior.

He’d extracted what appeared to be the last active serum from the plant’s root matrix. After doing various tests and adding other agents to stabilize the antidote serum no.1, he let the system run a mock test.

[Recorded compound isolated. Structure labeled: Proto-Antitoxin-X1. Preparing mock trial.] frёeωebɳovel.com

Xion, with heart thrumming wildly in his chest, entered the data and leaned back, watching the simulation begin.

Red and blue strands lit up on the holographic screen, a digital bloodstream replicating the plague’s path through a host.

The plague toxin latched onto hemoglobin, forming a tight chelate with the iron ion at its core, eating on it.

The mock serum entered and for a heartbeat, it seemed to delay progression, trying to stop the eating of the iron.

Xion’s eyes widened as he watched without blinking. The hemoglobin didn’t reject the serum. The two sides fought to get the upper hand.

Then the red lights returned, along with the blaring alert signals.

[TRIAL FAILED]

[Hemoglobin binding: Inhibited 12%]

[Iron-toxin complex: Uninterrupted]

[Onset of hypoxia: Accelerated]

[Tissue oxygen saturation: Critical at 7 min 58 sec]

If it had been a real patient, that timestamp would have marked the moment of death.

Xion exhaled slowly, shoulders sagging under the crushing weight of fatigue as he slumped on the chair.

He’d been standing for nearly five hours, flicking his tools with a heavy dose of concentration.

And for all that effort—the answer was a blaring red screen.

"Still too weak," he muttered, eyes scanning the breakdown. "It slows the metabolic cascade, but it doesn’t disrupt the iron chelation. Once the toxin latches onto the Fe²⁺ ion in hemoglobin, it’s irreversible."

[All we need to do is make it stronger or maybe weaken the toxin before pushing the antidote?]

Because the toxin was highly volatile under heat, it was hard to control the damage.

Just as Xion was feeling lost, a thought came to his mind. Mana.

"If we shield the agent in a membrane, maybe something like frost-damp moss cellulose—it won’t trigger the heat during delivery and won’t force the toxin to react more violently. And if we tune the release to core body temperature after adding purified mana to it..."

[That will strengthen the antidote!] The system yelled in excitement. [Host, you are a genius! If we succeed, we will be able to earn so many merit points!]

Though Xion wasn’t doing it for merit points, the system’s enthusiasm made his lips quirk up.

Looking at the fungus he had collected from the cavern sitting in the preservative boxes, his eyes shimmered.

Darius said it would take him some hours, so he still had plenty of time to spend in the lab.

With a new idea, even his tired body felt energized. Then the system watched Xion rushing here and there in the lab, tinkering with the antidote once again.