[ "I JUST WANT A FULL MP BAR IN ANOTHER WORLD" ]

Chapter 7: A Night of Blood and New Eyes

Our own self becomes clearest... at the moment we must protect the self of another...

Because in the instant we reach our hand into the darkness...

we discover the light hidden within our own hand.

— From "The Chronicle of the Protectors"

(Age: 7 years old)

My life over the past two years... was a simplicity I never thought I would experience.

I learned to be a "child" rather than a "genius." I had a scar on my knee from climbing trees, clothes stained with dirt from helping my mother in the garden, and a room piled high with wooden toys I had made myself.

The "Shadow" was still there... It never went away. But now, I had enough "light" to make it less frightening. My mental power had become more stable... not because my INT had increased... but because of my father's laughter and the warmth of my mother's embrace.

My father and mother tried their best to get me to make "friends."

They would often invite the neighbors' children over to play... The children in Ashwood were mostly good kids, but I still felt a thin wall between us. Conversations about playing tag or tree-climbing competitions... were things my brain couldn't process as "fun." So I could only be the "friend" who watched from a distance... a part of the group... but never truly one of them.

Until... the night of the storm...

That night, the rain fell heavily, and the wind was frighteningly strong. I was helping my father in the shed, fixing a leaking lamp. Suddenly... we heard a loud crash from the backyard, along with a small, sharp, pained cry.

Father grabbed his heaviest hammer as a weapon and slowly crept to the back door... I followed as quietly as I could.

The scene we saw in the flickering lamplight was... a small figure, curled up next to my mother's rose bush. She wore old, tattered clothes... but what made me hold my breath was... her long, pointed ears and her pale grey skin, like moonlight... and most importantly... the ruby-red eyes that were staring at us with utter suspicion.

She was... a Dark Elf? Or a similar race...

But in a peaceful human town like Ashwood?

There was a deep gash on her leg... dark-colored blood was seeping out nonstop. And what was more worrying... the skin around the wound was slowly turning a dark, blackish color, spreading upwards.

My mother ran out to see. She quickly assessed the situation. "Oh no... this is the poison of a 'Shadowroot'! It will devour her life force until it's all gone!"

[...You have encountered 'Life-Disintegrating Poison'...]

[...Skill 'Gaze of Structure' is activating...]

I stared at the wound... and the image I saw was more complex than I thought.

I saw the "structure of the poison"... It wasn't just a chemical... but it had a "virus-like structure" that was infiltrating the cells' "mitochondria"... It wasn't "destroying" the cells directly... but was "stealing the ATP energy" produced by the cells to power its own replication! This caused the cells to slowly "starve" from within... This was why it spread and turned the tissue black.

Mother rushed to get a "Mid-Grade Antidote Potion." "It won't work..." I murmured.

"What was that, Faelix?" Father asked.

"A common antidote... works by 'destroying' the poison's structure... But this poison doesn't have a fixed structure... It 'replicates' itself using the cell's energy... Using an antidote is like pouring water into the sea... It's meaningless."

Everyone stared at me, stunned...

"Then... then what do we do?" Mother asked, her voice trembling.

I thought quickly... the knowledge of two worlds clashed in my head...

Chemistry... Biology... Magic...

If it can't be destroyed... then its "power source" must be cut off!

"Father! The 'Sunstone' you use as fuel in the forge... I need it!" "Mother! The 'Night Lotus' in the garden that only blooms at night... I need the oldest leaf!"

Though confused... my parents rushed to get the items immediately.

I took them and started thinking, my mind racing with a logic that only I could understand.

("This poison steals ATP energy... the fundamental energy of 'life'... But if we give it 'another form of energy' it can't use... it will stop replicating... Sunstone... it's a source of 'pure light energy,' which has an energy structure opposite to life force, like a form of radiation... As for the Night Lotus... it contains a substance known in my old world as an 'Enzyme Inhibitor'... it will temporarily block the poison's energy conversion process!")

"Grind the Sunstone into a fine powder... mix it with the sap of the Night Lotus... and apply it to the wound... Quickly!"

Father followed the instructions swiftly. He used a hammer to crush the stone into powder... Mother squeezed the sap from the leaf... and they mixed them together... creating a golden, glowing salve... Father gently applied it to the girl's wound.

The moment the salve touched the black skin... a "hissing" sound, like boiling water, erupted... and black smoke rose up!

The spreading blackness... stopped instantly!

[...You have successfully synthesized a 'Bio-Energy Neutralizer'...]

[...Successfully halted the 'Life-Disintegrating Poison' status effect...]

[...Proficiency in 'Arcane Biochemistry' has increased massively...]

[...INT +10, WIS +5!]

[...MP restored by 50 points!]

That night... the mysterious girl stayed at our house temporarily.

She said nothing at all... only watched me with unreadable, ruby-red eyes...

I didn't know who she was... where she came from... or what she was running from.

But I knew one thing for sure...

That my small, peaceful world... was about to change once again.

And this time... it wasn't just a change happening inside of me anymore.