Chapter 64 - Invitation

Chapter 64: Invitation

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Early the next morning, Sargon bade his wife and daughter farewell and set out with two slaves and a few ant-people. Each of them, including the ant-people, were wrapped up tightly in gray cloaks.
Lu Zhiyu returned to the castle, entered into the main hall, and pressed a switch by the fireplace, which opened a secret passageway within a side wall. After lighting a torch, Lu Zhiyu followed the steps downward. After descending quite some distance, he came into a large underground cavern, which seemed to be some sort of a relay point.
There were four tunnels that were visible from this location, each leading off into the distance. Lu Zhiyu had used the Source Form to create this sturdy tunnel here after initially choosing the Black Forest as the location for the wizard tower.
Lu Zhiyu chose a tunnel leading to the south. It was laid with track, like an ancient mining tunnel. Along the tracks, parked by its side, was a modified train-like mine cart.
Lu Zhiyu had began designing the tracks ever since the initial construction of the wizard tower began. It had taken half a year and only one route was completed. The other three routes were still awaiting construction. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sent Sargon and the others out on the goldpacas.
As soon as Lu Zhiyu got on the cart and closed the door, the cart started speeding into the darkness at a breakneck pace, bouncing down the bumpy tracks. The ride was quite terrifying and exhilarating, feeling almost like a rollercoaster, as the cart sped along in the darkness.
Two hours later, Lu Zhiyu finally arrived at his destination. He got out of the cart, left the tracks, and pushed away a hidden rock. As the rock rolled away, rays of light from the outside flooded in.
“Not bad. That mining cart is quite interesting after all.”
Lu Zhiyu stepped outside and saw a canyon with a river flowing through it. He followed a muddy riverbank out the canyon. He was met with the SS Eterntiy anchored by the seaside. Its white exterior and bullet-like silhouette gave it a sense of modern beauty.
As he embarked on the SS Eternity, he discovered that there had already been many changes on board. All of the displays inside were already set up, and around ten ant-people crew members were already busy completing the finishing touches.
The bookshelves in the library were filled, and the bar was stocked with an ice bucket and exquisite glassware. The tables in the dining room and furnishings in the kitchen were ready, and the storage cabin was filled with food and water. The SS Eternity could desalinate sea water for its drinkable water store, and the cellar was equipped with an auto-cooling function to preserve food for longer periods of time.
There were four beds, two long tables, and a large closet in every room, similar to the style of a college dormitory. Overall, it looked pretty decent. Lu Zhiyu nodded with approval. After confirming the conditions within the rooms, he went to the control room at the bottom of the ship in order to set their navigation route.
The first stop for the SS Eternity was Luhmann Kingdom. On the way, a few in-land wizard apprentices would be picked up by the shores of some of the larger rivers, before the ship continued heading off toward the land of the orcs and crossing the oceans for the Yala continent of the elves!
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Bohr was a doctor, who owned his own clinic in the city of Masta. Bohr’s father and grandfather were both doctors before him, so their family was quite well-known in the city. Bohr had inherited the clinic at the age of 19 due to an outbreak of the plague the previous year. Though Bohr’s father had managed to contain the outbreak of the epidemic, he still had caught the disease himself, and later succumbed to the affliction.
As such, Bohr still felt quite lost in life. Doctors were priceless commodities to human civilization at this point in time, so medical knowledge was usually closely guarded within family lines. Due to the value of such knowledge, it was kept under tight wraps!
Hence, Bohr only had some basic herbal knowledge to cure colds and fevers, as well as limited skills to treat minor wounds, such as bandaging, and staunching blood flow with simple coagulants. Even so, he had garnered a reputation as being a famous doctor in the region, so even nobles would come to him for treatment!
Ever since taking over the clinic, Bohr had encountered too many diseases beyond his understanding, each with no traceable source. Other than that, what was even more terrifying, was the continued existence of the plague! Although Bohr had read numerous volumes of medical books, diligently recorded every case study, filled his home with resources and spent all waking hours agonizing over these questions, the cure still remained elusive!
Bohr rejected the notion that illness was God’s punishment and their curse upon mankind. Instead, Bohr believed that disease originated from within the human body. Hence, as long as the source of the disease could be identified, it could be resolved. Yet, in this era, where diagnoses were based on experience and inherited knowledge for classifications, there were often misdiagnoses, so Bohr did not yet have a good solution!
At this time, a black raven appeared in the sky, circling a few times around Masta, before slowly descending onto a flag post on top of the roof of Bohr’s clinic.
Bohr was closing up the clinic, preparing to go home after a long day at work, when he saw a strange raven staring at him. It had disconcertingly clever eyes, conveying emotions just like human eyes. Bohr shivered.
“Go away, and stay away from my clinic!”
Ravens were a symbol of death. In fact, they were called heralds of the reaper. As the owner of a clinic, Bohr was uneasy about such superstitions. The raven completely ignored him and continued with its staring. Bohr was quite disturbed, and ran away in a hurry.
The raven murmured to itself, “Yes, it’s him. I finally found him. This man must be Bohr Kelermo!”
Bohr returned home and made himself some potato soup. Then he started to read from his bookshelf while recording the symptoms of his patients of the day. Sometimes, the same disease would have different symptoms while different diseases would have similar symptoms. They would require different treatments. Bohr thought that for his treatment, he could create a tonic in order to cure the coughing symptoms of lung disease.
Bohr recorded his thoughts, while consulting his books under the light of an oil lamp. Slowly, night descended. Just then, a thump came upon his door.
“Thump, thump, thump!”
“Thump, thump, thump!”
Bohr put on a jacket and walked toward the entrance while saying, “Who is it? It’s late, is anything wrong?”
At that time, a strange, raspy croak drifted through the door. “Open the door, I come bringing a letter!”
Bohr was quite puzzled. A letter? Who would write a letter to him? Also, what sort of courier would deliver a letter at this hour? Bohr pushed the door open. Cold wind rushed in through the entrance and Bohr shivered, looking around. There was no one there!
“Eh? No one’s here!”
“I’m right over here. You have such big eyes, but you can’t see me?”
Bohr peered down, seeing now that the voice originated from the strange raven, the exact same one that he had seen on the roof of his clinic! Bohr’s mouth fell open!
“Boom!”
Bohr slammed the door shut. He broke into a cold sweat as he leaned against the door. “Heck, by Maria’s name! What did I just see? A talking raven!”