Blightbloom Fever

Hearing the words “Silver Lily,” a grave look flashed in his eyes.

‘As I thought… the event has already begun.’

After seeing off Irena and Jianye, the small wooden cabin fell silent once more.

The sounds of celebration from the Golden Feast could be faintly heard from outside.

But to Black’s ears, it sounded like the countdown to an approaching disaster.

He leaned against the headboard, the dull ache from his abdominal wound a constant reminder of his condition.

But what made him even more anxious was what Irena had unintentionally mentioned: “Silver Lily flowers.”

These words were like a key, completely unlocking the floodgates of his memory regarding the “Blightbloom Fever” disaster.

The root of the incident was a type of spore called “Blightbloom Fever.”

“Blightbloom Fever” was an extremely rare, naturally occurring spore.

This spore relied on various types of flowers to survive.

According to the game’s setting, this spore was not simple at all.

It could be said that it was a famous ancient virus.

Almost all priests and healers had heard of this virus.

Its great renown stemmed from the era of the Great Human-Dragon War several eons ago.

At that time, the Twelve Sages led humanity into an all-out war with the Dragon Kings.

The dragons used all sorts of insidious, vicious, and brutal methods.

Blightbloom Fever was one of the dragons’ methods.

Originally, although this spore could be transmitted to humans through flowers and affect their minds.

Its harm was minimal, at most causing dizziness, a severe cold, and so on.

However, by a chance discovery, the Dragon King of Madness, Demeter, found that this spore could actually fuse with and be catalyzed by her power.

This Dragon King’s power was in the psychic domain, which was a perfect match for this spore.

Under the catalysis of her power, both the harm and the infectivity of Blightbloom Fever became astonishingly high.

Thus, after being catalyzed, this spore was released into human city-states.

It caused a severe and widespread plague.

Hundreds of thousands of people died in this epidemic, and several towns were directly destroyed.

In the end, it was the Alchemist among the Twelve Sages who personally intervened, spending considerable effort to research a special potion and completely end the disaster.

After the Dragon King of Madness was sealed, Blightbloom Fever was naturally no longer a threat.

Humanity’s memory of it also gradually faded.

It faded to the point that even the method for brewing that special potion was lost in the river of history.

However, this time, the Blightbloom Fever incident would allow this spore to bare its fangs once more.

Black tapped his fingers on the bed board, his mood growing heavier.

The origin of this incident was also a conspiracy meticulously planned by the old Pope Randolph.

He had gone to great lengths to find the Blightbloom Fever spores.

His goal was not only to destroy Kristine’s spirit but also to deal a heavy blow to the academy.

After all, he and Headmaster Troy had a deep-seated hatred for each other.

An undercover agent under the old Pope’s command, a controlled academy gardener.

Mixed these Blightbloom Fever spores into the pollen of the Silver Lily flowers that Kristine was cultivating for the festival.

This turned the pollen, which originally symbolized purity, into a deadly carrier.

Thinking of this, a strong sense of irony welled up in Black’s heart.

In previous years at this time, the Silver Lilies that Kristine personally grew always decorated every corner of the academy.

She was even called the “Silver Lily Saintess” by the students because of this.

People saw her as a symbol as elegant and flawless as the Silver Lily.

Who could have thought that this act of kindness, of sharing beauty, would become the sharpest weapon in the hands of an enemy.

The spores spread through the Silver Lily pollen, invisibly infecting many students at the academy.

The initial symptoms of infection were extremely similar to a severe cold.

High fever, dizziness, and weakness.

This did not attract the attention of the students or the academy’s higher-ups.

But this was only the first stage of the event.

The second stage was the most vicious.

This spore could fuse with and be further catalyzed by the power of the Dragon King of Madness, Demeter.

Normally, with the Dragon King long since sealed, the harm of the spore would end there.

But now, the Dragon King’s soul had begun to awaken.

Although Black’s repeated interventions had prevented it from further corrupting Kristine’s spirit.

A trace of the Dragon King’s power had been mixed into Kristine’s magic long ago.

When the first stage of the event caused some students to fall ill.

As the president of the Volunteer Corps, Kristine would inevitably participate in the treatment along with other students.

Once she cast a healing spell, the Dragon King’s power hidden within her would become a catalyst for the spores.

The catalyzed spores would undergo a terrifying mutation.

They would break free from the pollen carrier, gain the ability to spread through the air, and become extremely deadly.

In the original plot, patients would develop dark red spots on their faces resembling withered flowers and become delirious.

Finally, the nerves in their brain would gradually fibrose, and they would die in extreme agony after going insane.

All cases of rapid deterioration had occurred after Kristine personally cast a healing spell on them.

The patients she treated would briefly improve before falling into an even deeper abyss, and those around them would fall ill one after another.

Her faith completely collapsed at that moment.

The former “Silver Lily Saintess” became the “Blightbloom Witch” that everyone shunned.

Although her followers argued forcefully that it was an accident.

That the Saintess would never do it on purpose.

But this defense was too pale and weak.

Everyone knew the Saintess could not possibly harbor malicious intent, but one fact could not be changed.

“It was the flowers she brought that spread the plague!”

Ignorance is still a sin!

The once respectful titles turned into the most vicious curses.

Every malicious whisper was like a knife cutting Kristine’s heart.

Even though the academy and the Church later suppressed the rumors and initiated a quarantine, they couldn’t stop the mutated spores from raging.

The worsening condition of the patients and the eventual appearance of deaths crushed the young woman, whose heart was filled with grievance and guilt.

She could never understand why kindness would bear evil fruit.

Why the hands that saved people would instead push them off a cliff.

What made her despair even more was that even the academy’s higher-ups suspected that she had some kind of connection with the dragons.

If not for her status as the Saintess, she would have likely been placed under house arrest.

“Damn chain of schemes…”

Black cursed under his breath.

The Silver Lily flowers laid the groundwork for disaster, and the healing spells catalyzed it. These two links were intertwined, forcing Kristine into a desperate situation.

His original plan was to stop Kristine from casting healing spells on the infected at the very beginning of the event, cutting off the possibility of catalysis at its source.

But now, the Golden Feast had been going on for a week.

From his chat with Irena just now, Black knew that the first stage had already passed.

Now was the midpoint of the second stage.

Kristine had already, unknowingly, extended a helping hand to the early infected.

The patients she treated had briefly improved.

But this improvement would only last for less than five days.

Then they would fall into a deeper abyss, and those around them would be infected one after another.

Therefore, his original plan had failed.