Extraordinary Voyage-Chapter 471 - 432: Origins and Original Strains

"Poison Plague School? Dr. Taylor, do you know anything about the masterminds behind creating this Super Fungus?"

Aiven did not expect that by merely inviting the other party to assist with the large-scale treatment problem of patients, he would obtain such an unexpected gain.

This medical doctor seemed to know the person or group of Black Wizards suspected to have mastered the technology to modify pathogens.

At this moment, after settling the recently operated patient, the group had found a place to sit down.

Dr. Taylor, always clutching the experimental report tightly, looked at Aiven with a face that held implicit apology:

"Know? I should say very familiar.

Although this issue leaves an unhealed scar on the ’Vesalian School,’ there’s nothing to hide from you all.

Because some elders among the initial creators of the ’Poison Plague School’ were originally longstanding members of our Vesalian School!

Yet, they ultimately chose to diverge from our philosophy, falling to become Black Wizards who stop at nothing."

From Aiven’s description earlier, Taylor already knew what his former companions had done around the Golden Sea.

It could very well be a super disaster event sweeping the entire New Continent, even more devastating than the casualties caused by war between nations.

Although those people were no longer connected to him, as a doctor witnessing former like-minded companions utterly fall to the opposite of ethics, and human group, he couldn’t help but feel a pain difficult to express.

"This..."

Hearing this, Aiven and the others exchanged a glance, surprised at the deep connection between the skilled medical doctor and those pathogen spreaders.

However, judging from his earlier act of treating a mere slave’s son with sincerity, it appeared Dr. Taylor was at least a compassionate good person with high medical ethics.

Such things wouldn’t require a disguise, and even revealing the link between them wasn’t necessary to tell Aiven and the others.

So, even knowing the relationship between the two, Aiven and the others’ attitude towards the doctor hadn’t changed negatively.

Especially Apsuya, who was concerned about the safety of her kin, was first to question the middle-aged man impatiently:

"Dr. Taylor, since one harms and one heals, you surely know their methods well. Can you help us develop a medicine for large-scale treatment for ordinary people?"

Dr. Taylor smiled bitterly:

"You speak too highly of us.

Consider it, if the ’Vesalian School’ were really strong against the ’Poison Plague School’, after gaining greater power, their first target to eliminate would be us!"

"Let me explain to you, so you know the former relationship and current status between our ’Vesalian School’ and the ’Poison Plague School’.

Although it seems on the surface like spear and shield — one good at attack, the other should be good at defense — in reality, the connection is complex and far from simple."

In Dr. Taylor’s narrative, Aiven and the others quickly gained insight into these two small, historically young schools.

The "Vesalian School" is located in the Southern Old Continent near the Treasure Sea in the small nation of the "Tramo Duchy," and the headquarters "Silver Ring Hospital" has both treatment and teaching functions.

The foundational knowledge of the School comes from three aspects: [Magic Potion], [Human Anatomy], and [Introduction to Pathogens].

As a new school with no deep reserves, the first two originate from Alchemists and Necromancers, and only [Introduction to Pathogens] is unique to the school.

In the Vesalian School’s theory, the main external factors causing illness in humans are various pathogens: fungi, bacteria, viruses between biological and non-biological...

And in ordinary populace, recently discovered bacteria have already been verified to weigh up to three kilograms inside the human body collectively, all of which are subjects for the school’s wizards to use.

Of course, these dangerous entities can save countless lives when used beneficially and bring untold harm when used for ill purposes.

The school was founded two hundred years ago by Dr. Andre Vesalius, the father of modern anatomy, primarily composed of doctors pursuing medical truth.

Dr. Vesalius’ book "The Structure of the Human Body" marked the transition from empirical medicine to experimental medicine in humanity, itself a truly revolutionary medical scientist.

Thus the school was named [Vesalian School].

According to the Witchcraft School tradition, regardless of the height of their limits, an ultimate creation or extreme knowledge is preset as the ultimate goal for school members to strive for.

Then from the "source", reverse engineering is done to create unique witchcraft, systematic advancement rituals, and even Rune Writing System, among others.

Constantly absorbing outstanding talents with similar research directions, pooling collective effort to refine the corresponding knowledge system, and ultimately achieving the great feat of materializing the "Mysterious Source."

This group of doctors, adhering to the simple notion of healing and saving lives, set an ambitious target — to manifest the legendary "Panacea" capable of curing all diseases!

However.

Despite the ambitious goal grandiosely claiming the title of school, it existed in a loosely organized secret association form for the first century.

Not much different from a group of Wild Mages banding together for warmth.

In reality, witchcraft for them was merely a means to explore medical truth, with most having no desire in pursuing strength.

And since the dissemination was limited to specific small profession circles, the progress in establishing the school’s unique witchcraft system was quite slow.

Moreover, due to being led by School Chief Andre Vesalius, they often stole bodies collectively for research, becoming wanted by the Church and frequently going into hiding.

Eventually, even Andre Vesalius himself, as the chief, was captured and killed by the Church for sticking to his ideals, severely damaging the school.

It wasn’t until a hundred years ago that another exceptionally gifted doctor, William Osler, received another part of the "Necromancy School" legacy [Suturing Technique].

Relying on a very similar approach and his wisdom, he completed some foundational knowledge of the Vesalian School and established the "Silver Ring Hospital," widely attracting talent, allowing the school to finally thrive.

At this point, Dr. Taylor emphasized the principles of the Vesalian School to Aiven and the others:

"Chief Osler is someone we all deeply admire, he had noble ideals.

His frequent saying was: Doctors should be uncompetitive and quiet; their duty is to relieve pain, save the needy, and treat the sick. The best doctors are also the least known.

This saying is a common pursuit for all our school members."

However, in the admiring gaze of Aiven and the others, Taylor changed his tone:

"But although his efforts led to an explosive emergence of a batch of Official Wizards in the school, myself being a direct beneficiary of this knowledge.

However, the power gained wasn’t the imagined prosperity of the school; rather, some members finally saw the benefits of Official Wizard power.

Thus violating the original intention of saving lives and turned to pursue so-called power!"

The middle-aged man looked up at Aiven’s group with a slight self-mockery on his face:

"Can you imagine how simple it is for a doctor very familiar with the human body to kill an ordinary person?

Cerebral hemorrhage, thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, cardiac paralysis... just a flick of the finger.

When they, who originally interacted with death in a human body, suddenly possessed this power, many lost their way, yes, many..."

The few people did not speak, quietly listening to him recount the turning point of the Vesalian School.

"And then..."

With the continuous exploration of the New Continent and the stringent control of the Church, many Black Wizards who couldn’t stay in the Old Continent flocked to this "Magic Element" active golden land.

The radicals within the Vesalian School quickly conspired with the bloody Black Wizards.

Then, from some unknown Black Wizard Organization, acquired a part of bizarre knowledge inheritance, gaining a strange power similar to yet different from that of the school.

Even going so far as to completely split the Vesalian School, after absorbing some other Black Wizards, they established a new Black Wizard School "Poison Plague School" with support from Black Wizard Organizations in the southern New Continent Cabraal Region. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Creating a terrifying Mysterious Source opposite of the [Panacea] — [Plague Tree], the ultimate evolutionary form of all pathogens in the world.

"So, although I can use the ’pathogen’ knowledge of the same origin as the opponent to find a way to kill this pathogenic fungus.

As a doctor, I am also willing to fulfill my duty and rectify the mistakes those bastards made.

But the premise is to obtain the original strain of the pathogen, then there’s the possibility of finding a corresponding medication."

Dr. Taylor readily agreed to help but also clarified the limits of his ability and presented his request.

At least, the fungus version modified by witchcraft wouldn’t work, just as it’s impossible to revert denatured protein back, so is the magically altered fungus.

Hearing his words, a feeling of joy emerged among them, but then they frowned.

Even with the Sea Bird Reconnaissance Network, after a week they only saw a few black clouds descending to the ground, but never discovered those behind-the-scenes Black Wizards.

Not to mention the unknown location of the original strain.

However, after Dr. Taylor looked over the experiment records, he also gave them some good news.

The fatality rate of the [Super Cystic Fungus] should decrease with the generational extension of the pathogen, similar to the [Parasitic Spore] Aiven had.

At least there’s no need to worry that the already spread pathogens will turn the entire continent into a dead zone.

Yet, in this period, a large number of casualties have likely occurred, which they cannot afford to wait for.

"I have a broad-spectrum antibacterial recipe here, including soil juniper bark, ageratum, raw tiger ginger, bitter herb root, Sichuan pepper... all are herbal decoctions that ordinary people can normally acquire and prepare.

Although it can’t specifically kill the pathogen, it can buy patients more time, allowing them to hold on until the moment the specific medication is born."

Dr. Taylor took out paper and pen, wrote a recipe, pondered, and then added a few names and general descriptions of appearances and abilities at the end.

Then handed it to Aiven, apparently the extent of help he could provide in the current situation.

"Alright, thank you for your help, Dr. Taylor. You can wait for us in the Phaletis colonies; we’ll come back to trouble you once we have the original strain."

From Taylor’s previous narrative, Aiven already understood that this wizard with a doctor’s profession has no strong combat prowess.

Rather than taking this burden along, they might as well act on their own, then bring back the strain all the same.

I’m not very professional, but handling ordinary situations is more than enough!