This Text Adventure Game is definitely poisonous-Chapter 48 - The Paradox of the Poisonous Spring_1
48: Chapter 48 The Paradox of the Poisonous Spring_1
48 -48 The Paradox of the Poisonous Spring_1
‘The Dark Wizard is one who steals strength from nature, always maintain humility and caution…’
He mulled over that sentence again but could not discern any clues.
He decided to leave it be for now.
[The raven sees you drink the potion and takes off again, fanning its wings to urge you to follow.]
The first trial is passed, and the raven resumes leading the way.
Just as Mu You was about to proceed, he remembered something and had his character pick up the leftover potion from the altar.
Even this poisonous spring water could prove useful.
He could use it against werewolves or poison some hostile beasts that he couldn’t beat.
[You stealthily picked up the ‘Deadly Spring Water’ and hid it in your backpack.
The raven glanced back at you but said nothing.]
Mu You sighed in relief; apparently, the raven was indifferent to his action.
[You follow the raven, meandering left and right through the forest, until you finally come face to face with the ‘Mad Pharmacist’, a congenitally warty and ulcer-covered man.]
[The Mad Pharmacist was originally a kind-hearted doctor living near the Black Forest.
Yet, after studying Magic Potions Study under the Calamity Witch for a period of time, he became obsessive and eccentric.
Normal potions could no longer satisfy his desire.
He began to experiment with all kinds of bizarre formulas, seeking all possible combinations, but with no objects to experiment upon, he was forced to use himself as a subject, tasting all kinds of concoctions, which eventually turned him into a grotesque figure that was neither human nor ghost…]
[Seeing your arrival, the Mad Pharmacist is extremely excited, looking at you like a guinea pig.
He sets red, blue, and purple potions in front of you, asking you to drink one.
If you survive, you pass the trial!]
[You survey the ground around you; there are fewer bones scattered here than at the altar but nonetheless, still in the thousands.
Clearly, all these individuals were eliminated at this stage.
You stare at the white bones, envisioning your impending fate.]
[Three potions, you choose to drink…]
Three choices: red, blue, or purple.
Mu You grimaced – the choice was indeed a matter of luck.
Looking at the scattered bones around, Mu You could easily guess that there was poison among these three potions.
Nothing more needs to be said; try tasting each of the potions one after the other.
[You drank the red potion, oh, this familiar taste, isn’t it the ‘Deadly Spring Water’ you just had?
You actually picked it up unheedingly!]
[You collapse again, blood flowing from every orifice.
In your hazy state, you once again hear a whisper in your ear: when you lose control, the path to redemption is to face it, not to transform into another monster…]
As expected, one of them is poison, and another new clue is given.
Mu You quickly jots down the clue, then hurriedly rewinds time.
[You take the blue potion, but nothing happens – it turns out to be just a bottle of clear water with blue dye added.]
“Rewind.”
[You drank the purple potion, an extremely potent Strength Potion!
Your strength begins to surge wildly, skyrocketing by a staggering 1000 points within moments!]
“What?”
Mu You stared at the new gameplay prompt in disbelief, almost thinking he had misread.
A single potion bestowed him with a thousand points of strength?
He quickly checked the panel.
Sure enough, in the attribute list, his strength value had turned into a 1004.
Due to the high value, the game discarded the decimals altogether.
Genuinely frightening, Mu You hurriedly clicked on the Pocket Watch to rewind, his heart still racing.
From the results, it was undoubtedly the purple potion that was the best.
However, the sheer incredulity of it, a 1000 points added to strength, felt eerily unreal.
At that moment, a brainstorm hit Mu You, making him recall the hint from the first trial: Dark wizards steal from nature and must not pursue power they can not control…
Could it be referring to this?
Taking into account both factors, Mu You finally did not choose the purple potion.
[You chose the blue potion and nothing happened after you drank it.]
[Congratulations, you have passed.
However, the Mad Pharmacist looks at you displeased, “Such a pity!
You chose not to drink my Strength Potion!
That is my masterpiece, which, once consumed, could boost your strength by a staggering one thousand points!
The downside, yes, is that it would leave you ‘out of control’, transforming you into a simple-minded baboon…]
Mu Youady could not help but twitch at the corners of his eyes.
There really was something wrong with that potion, it even turned its drinker into a baboon…
Looking at it this way, the hint from the first trial was true.
That is to say, every trial would provide a hint for the next stage.
However, why was this hint hidden in a poisonous potion?
If you drank it, you would die, what trial would you be able to pass?
Mu You hardly knew how to respond; what kind of paradoxical loop was this?
Thankfully he had the Time Pocket Watch that could circumvent these anomalies.
[You have passed the second trial, and now, you may ask the Mad Pharmacist one question, you choose…]
[Ask about ‘Out of Control’]
[Ask about ‘Witch’]
[Ask about ‘Reward’]
The trial had ended, yet this stage did not instantly skip to the next but rather presented Mu You with three choices.
First, Mu You clicked on ‘Out of Control’.
[‘Out of Control’ is a term in Black Magic studies.
Black Magic is very subtle magic, and every bit of its energy must be carefully manipulated.
Even the slightest deviation, either exceeding or below the required amount, can cause the user to immediately ‘lose control’.
The symptoms include, the user losing their sanity, their body mutating into a creature like a spider, monkey, rat, frog, various plants, etc.
The actual mutation is completely random.
In short, a Dark Wizard who has lost control can never revert back to human form again.]
“So, this is the price of practicing Black Magic!”
Mu You finally understood the risk associated with learning Black Magic.
You could turn into a monster at any time, and this effect was permanent.
This did indeed pose some difficulty, but it was not insurmountable.
Based on this person’s explanation, as long as you can control the energy ‘precisely’ enough, you could avoid ‘losing control’.
Mu You rewound time after reviewing the text and then asked about ‘Witch’.
[Tutor Vivian may not be a good person, but when it comes to understanding Magic Potions Study, she is undoubtedly the best in the world!
If you get the chance, you must learn Magic Potions Study from her.]
It seems that not only is this witch powerful, but she is also a specialist in the field of Magic Potions Study!
Mu You was even more satisfied; she was indeed the perfect mentor he sought.
After rewinding, he continued with the third option.
[You inquire about the rewards for passing the trials, the Pharmacist grudgingly pulls out a crucible from behind him.
This is a crucible used by the Calamity Witch during her childhood, and she instructed him to award it to anyone who passed this trial.]
[You received the Witch’s Crucible!]
[Witch’s Crucible: Essential cookware for crafting magic potions, it can concoct all the potions in existence and slightly increase the success rate of potion brewing.]
