Plague Doctor

After the initial shock, Wu Siyu quickly came to. When she saw the grimace on Gu Jun’s face, she was desperate enough to plunge the scissors at the old man.

“Damn you, Gu Jun, why did you fight with me for this‽ I have never liked dreaming. Do you know how taxing that is? Dreams are nothing but a disturbance. One should be able to lie down and rest peacefully until they wake up naturally!”

Just as she was lunging forward, she saw the expression of the old man shift. He mumbled with disbelief, “Your power?”

“Ah!” The image that rose in Gu Jun’s heart became clearer and clearer. He could see the beautiful statue of the Goddess of Life standing in the middle of a fountain. Water, the source of life… There were buildings of ancient and impressive designs in the background. ‘Is this Carlot Academy? Perhaps this is the chance I’ve been waiting for.’

With the shred of consciousness left, Gu Jun flipped open the spell book in his mind and tried to trigger its illusion.

As he did so, more images rushed forward. He could see rows of students sitting inside a spacious classroom. They were all dressed in white, clean robes.

“When you study spells, it is instrumental to read beyond just the words.” Someone who appeared like the teacher was lecturing at the lectern. His tone was very stern. “You have to use your mind to embrace and accept it. Allow its mental power to transmute your own. Allow its life force to transmute your own.”

The students were listening quietly and taking notes. One of them, though, reminded Gu Jun of the man who was dissecting the Necro-skins down in the underground morgue. He was whispering to the people around them. They snickered among themselves, apparently sharing some inside jokes.

“Landon!” The teacher suddenly scolded him sternly. “Pay attention in class!”

‘Is this Orlem, the teacher who was mentioned in Landon’s notes?’

Landon made a face at his teacher, and this caused his classmates to burst into laughter. Gu Jun felt a warmth enveloping him. This illusion was probably counted as a sweet dream.

As the illusion faded away, a new notification came from the system. “Your mind has been cleansed. Corruption lightened by two percent. Current corruption rate is three percent.”

‘Hmm?’ Gu Jun did feel a sweet rejuvenation coursing through his body. More foreign words were awakening in his mind, and the dark consciousness of the Son of Misfortune was ebbing like waves. Gu Jun was surprised that the illusion from this spell book would have this kind of recovery effect. This illusion was unique from the ones he had experienced before; it was warm and treasured. Perhaps this could be called a ‘light illusion’? And the ones that would cause pain and exhaust mental power were the contrast, ‘dark illusions’?

This time, not only was his mental power not drained, he felt strangely refreshed. According to the system, even the corruption had decreased. This proved that the corruption could be reversed! One of the methods was exactly this—digest the power of the Son of Steel. This was like a scale. Should one side go high, the other would have to go low, and vice versa. In that case, Gu Jun at least had hope that he could find ways to survive…

It was right then that he could feel another external force in his mind. It was strangely unfamiliar. It had to belong to the gray-bearded old man.

‘So, it is this force that is attempting to drain away my sweet dreams, huh?’

Gu Jun focused his mind and tried to sense it. Instantly, another vision jumped out at him. It was not as clear as the earlier vision, but he could hear someone shouting in delight, the voice becoming shriller and louder.

“The wisdom of Barzai hath made him greater than earth’s gods, and against his will, their spells and barriers are as naught!”

There was maddening joy in it as if all the sweet dreams a human mind could ever imagine had come true. But in a split second, the shouting became such a deep cry, a cry wherein reverberated the horror and anguish of a haunted lifetime packed into one atrocious moment!

“Outer hell… Look away…” The pleading voice was mumbling incoherently, but Gu Jun could feel the painful abyss mentioned in the warning. It was trying to draw him into it. Gu Jun immediately used his refreshed mental power to exile it out of his mind. “Leave. No matter what you are, get out of my mind!”

“Hmm.” The old man groaned in shock. The wrinkles on his face became darker and stranger. From Wu Siyu’s point of view, the silvery strands snapped and slithered back into Gu Jun’s head…

“Your sweet dreams…” The old man spoke suspiciously. “You…”

Gu Jun staggered for a bit as he came to. Wu Siyu immediately rushed forward to support him. Gu Jun turned to ask her, “What happened?”

“It looks like the draining has failed?” Wu Siyu did not quite understand it either, but she tried to explain what she had seen as best she could. While she did so, she fixed her eyes on the gray-bearded man. If there was a boss in this dream world, it was definitely not this old man. He looked more like someone on a payroll, the kind that they could overpower. She whispered, “Are you sure we cannot just knock him out?”

Gu Jun was also studying the old man. Even though he had protected himself against his power, he still had little understanding of the old man’s strength, and Gu Jun had a feeling that draining people’s sweet dreams was not the only ability the old man possessed. The earth’s gods? What was that supposed to mean?

In any case, he did know more than before, so he asked probingly, “Old Sir, your name is Barzai, right?”

This old man appeared to be a common man a long time ago, but his sin was his pride and arrogance. For that, he was punished by terrifying madness. Perhaps that was how he found his way there, doomed to ferry this ship forever… Now Gu Jun felt like this old man was more like a prisoner who had lost all of his sweet dreams and had to rely on others for temporary sustenance.

“Barzai?” The old man’s face changed slightly. “That is a name that I have not heard in a long time already…”

Gu Jun had a feeling, but he could not confirm it, so he asked, “Mr. Barzai, we come from the same world, don’t we?”

“Young man…” The old man paused for a moment before the earlier indifference settled back. “There are things that you do not need to know. That is not the purpose of your current journey, but heed this warning, the more you know about this place, the harder it is for you to leave. This time… forget it. Take the things that you want. Consider them a gift.”

Gu Jun and Wu Siyu shared a look. Since the old man could not retrieve Gu Jun’s sweet dreams, it would be totally logical for him to go back on his end of the bargain too, so why would he give them everything? Was it because they did come from the same world? In any case, this was when Wu Siyu’s shamelessness kicked in.

“Then, can we take more food with us?” Wu Siyu asked openly. “The doctor said I was born with a naturally big appetite. Am I right, Doctor Gu?”

“She is.” Gu Jun nodded. “Her stomach is about 1.6 times larger than normal…”

The old man looked at the two of them. After another pause, he said, “She can take an extra loaf of bread.”

The pair could hear the warning in the old man’s voice, so they did not push further. But since they were given permission, Wu Siyu immediately turned to grab their grub. She went to grab some food and wine from the food barrel. These food items appeared to be quite special. Just from smelling them, they felt quite full. And then each of them selected two sets of cotton outfits and two pairs of leather shoes. They had that exotic look to them. Then, they opted for an oil lamp, a small vial of gasoline, and a weapon each. Gu Jun went for a sword, and Wu Siyu took a bow. They could switch depending on the situation. Finally, the spell book.

“You two are very unique.” The old man personally handed the ancient tome over to Gu Jun. His tone was indifferent, but his words were kind. “I have one last piece of advice to give you. No matter how deep you have studied any spell book, there will always be the inscrutable within it. It is the same with this one. Be careful of it.”

Gu Jun nodded silently as he accepted the book. Finally, he had access to a complete spell book. ‘Barzai, has he studied the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan before?’

Gu Jun held the spell book and walked to the other side of the deck. He took a deep breath and turned the pages. Wu Siyu looked over his shoulder, reading the same material while she munched on the piece of bread.