My Cell Prison - Chapter 57

Chapter 57: Chapter 57 – Plague Control

The Full Academic name – The Seed of Destiny.

For the rest of the book he was reading, it was referred to as ‘seed’.

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(Actual text from the book)

When a novice first clears a Space of Destiny scenario and is given the option to allocate his or her Fate point toward their Specialization Class of choice, the person would be ‘seeded’ through the Instrument of Destiny, with a different seed implanted for the different specializations.

Furthermore, because everyone has different personalities, and their future development would differ, all of these become factors that would cause a change to the internal structure of said seed.

The seed becomes the foundation for Trainee Knights, determining the future development of its carrier… Yet at the same time, it also exists as energy storage.

Every time the carrier unleashes whatever mysterious ability they possess, be it Divination, Suture, Plague, a portion of the internal energy stored in the seed would be used. As more Fate points get allocated, the seed would also be able to store more and more energy inside it.

When the Specialization Class attains 5 Fate points, the seed will ‘sprout’ and enter the next stage of growth… (This chapter did not elaborate on this since Han Dong was still in the section of the book that was going over the basics.)

There are generally two methods available to replenish this energy.

The first is to absorb similar elements, so if one was proficient in the Plague variant ability, they would be able to draw energy from diseased organisms.

The other way was to draw it themselves. In the case of Divination, that would be the absorption of energy from the stars of the universe during a certain time period.

From there, even more avenues to replenish this energy would open up as the carrier’s ability develops further or through the support of specialized equipment, such as ‘forceful absorption’, ‘passive regeneration’, and other such abilities.

Take note: During the Trainee Knight phase, the moment the energy inside the seed was to be used up, the carrier would no longer be able to use any sort of magic or ability, thus it was important to take note of just how much energy they still have left during combat.

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Just the opening chapter of this ‘Plague Studies’ book gave a detailed explanation to Han Dong regarding the mass of energy that he had in his mind.

“Seed of Destiny… According to what this book said, the moment I’ve allocated 5 Fate points, the seed will sprout and grow into what is known as the skill tree, right? Of course, there might still be a transition between the seed and the skill tree.”

Han Dong more or less had a grasp of just what the mysterious energy in his mind was.

What he needed to learn next was how he could use the energy inside the seed.

“At the moment, I am able to use the shortsword as an intermediary to convert the energy in my seed into the Plague attribute and shoot it out from my sword… Better keep studying.”

Han Dong had a very unique way of reading, needing him to take notes at the same time. He would have the book that he was studying in his left hand as he set his notebook on his right.

His right hand would be holding a pen as he scanned through the book with his peripheral vision. His right hand would automatically write down the keywords and important phrases that he came across, recording them all down on his notebook and from there, he would deepen his understanding and memory of what he was learning.

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(Actual text from the book)

Plague is considered to be the most powerful offensive disciplinary branch within Mysticism, committed to the study and research of strong pathogenic microorganisms.

Most would focus on fungi, with a minority of Plague Scholars that would deal with bacteria, or the even more elusive virus (Due to the limited scientific advancement of their current age, the discovery of a microscope had stopped at the optical microscope, difficult to study cells, much less the observation of viruses)

Once Knights learn a level of control toward fungi, they would be able to imbue the Plague attribute to every attack. When cutting the enemy, Plague would be able to deal increased damage to their physical bodies.

At the same time, the user would also be able to control fungi to engage in exploration and investigation in a small area.

Alternatively, they can specialize in poisonous fungal gas, combining that with a magic staff to dish out long-ranged attacks. It would be able to ignore the enemy’s exoskeleton or armor, directly damaging the physical body.

Next, we will talk about [Plague Control].

Before we get started, it is important to split the beginners into two groups.

The first is the Trainee Knights who have never come across Plague before.

Before beginning their study, they will have to expose themselves to a pathogenic amount of fungi, over 300 Simpson Index (A dimensionless unit that is used to measure the distribution, or in this case, the number of pathogenic fungi, within one unit space) worth.

This sort of beginner would have to infect themselves with three or more species of systemic or subcutaneous fungal infections. They must not depend on any foreign means to treat themselves and solely depend on their own constitution and the energy of their seed to adapt to the infection, letting their physical body undergo the painful process and slowly acclimate themselves to the fungi, forming a diverse fungal ecosystem within their bodies.

This was simply referred to as attaining a fungal physique.

Once such a physique is obtained, the trainee can then continue with the subsequent training within Plague Studies.

The second sort are Trainee Knights who have come into contact with Plague, either after subjecting themselves to a severe infection of the plague and subsequently recovered or by owning a source of the plague ability that they could conveniently activate.

This sort of beginner possesses a partial or a recessive fungal physique, so direct activation would be required, and the specific method to this would be dependent on the carrier’s physical state.

If unable to be activated, please proceed with using the first method of getting started.

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All in all, in order to get started in Plague Studies, there was a need to first form a fungi physique.

Even though his ghoul’s arm and his Plague Doctor’s Shortsword were both Plague attributed, Han Dong had no intention of focusing on just this one route.

There was no need to mention all the five main specialization classes. Just Mysticism alone had ‘Plague’, ‘Divination’, ‘Suture’ as well as other academic branches that he did not know of yet.

Since Han Dong had the ability to draw Cell Essence and collect strength, he was completely capable of considering a multi-pronged development.

“Plague… This would do as long as my right arm has the ability in it. I still have other plans for the other parts of my body.”

Han Dong has prepared a rigorous plan for his future, and he was very clear as to what he should do for this current stage.

“My ghoul arm has already accomplished what the book has described as a Plague physique, so all I need is to put the emphasis on this arm, cultivate it and that would do.”

After he finished reading what was written about ‘Basic Plague Control’, Han Dong changed into his Plague Doctor outfit, intentionally leaving his right arm bare as he returned back to the Old Sewers.

The walls that were covered with fungi as well as the air that had clouds of fungi spore floating in mid air; Was that not the perfect location to refine his Plague ability in?

Slowly lifting his right arm, he recalled the relevant explanation inside the book.

Han Dong concentrated all on his arm and tried to establish a connection with the surrounding fungal plague… The seed’s energy began to slowly diminish.

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Inside the office, Instructor Pasha, whose fungal ecosystem inside her had been thrown into disarray as a result of her drinking, was slowly waking up after her body automatically adapted to what was happening while she was asleep.

“Where did that rascal Nicholas run off to?”

Pasha stretched her back as she walked out of the lounge, and her eyes instantly picked up the open book on Plague Studies left on her desk as well as the notebook that was cramped with english words.

Searching for the traces in the air, she walked out of her office.

The scene that Pasha walked out to in the Old Sewers left her completely dumbfounded, shaking off every bit of drowsiness in her.

Han Dong was standing about 3 meters away from her, and mycelium tendrils were all creeping up around his pants leg, with him right in the center.

There were even a few small mushrooms that were sprouting on his leather shoes.

But what was most surprising was Han Dong’s right arm.

The pores on his entire arm were ‘open’.

It was as if he was using the skin to breathe, as these openings slowly sucked in the fungal spores that were drifting in the air, replenishing the energy that he lost while controlling the Plague.

It should be stated that when Pasha first came to the Old Sewers, she had to spend three whole days before she could learn the basics of Plague Control after she had taken her first steps in achieving her plague physique.

Meanwhile, Han Dong had accomplished all that in just a few hours that she had just spent napping.