Chapter 4 Venom in the Veins
The brew boiled in the pot again.
It was becoming routine now. Wake up, drink the poison, swing the sword until my limbs collapse, and somehow I'm still alive.
Aeren didn't believe in easing into anything. If I survived yesterday, then today could be harder. That was the logic.
"Drink," he said, handing me the wooden cup.
The taste didn't get better. My body still reacted violently sweat, nausea, blurred vision. But I stayed on my feet longer. That mattered.
"Now, time to learn what you have been drinking," he said.
That got my attention.
He picked up a leather pouch and slung it over his shoulder. "Come over here."
We moved deeper into the woods. Not far, just to a shaded glade with a flat stone slab at its center. Moss crawled along the edges, and dead leaves had piled up in the corners like forgotten memories.
Aeren knelt and opened the pouch.
From it, he pulled out a burlap-wrapped bundle and unwrapped it carefully.
A dead rat.
It was large, nearly the size of a small hare. Its eyes were glazed over, and there was a single puncture on its side.
"Pale Fang," Aeren muttered. "Snake bite. Fresh."
He laid it on the stone and produced a small ivory-handled knife. Too delicate for combat. It was a surgeon's tool or something close.
"Watch closely," he said.
The knife worked fast. He slit the belly open with practiced hands, exposing organs with clinical precision. The smell hit me a second later wet iron, bile, and something sour.
"This here," he pointed, "is what Pale Fang venom does."
The muscle tissue around the bite was an ugly purple. Rot had already begun, though the rat was barely cold.
"Clotting," he explained. "It thickens the blood. First, it stops movement. Then, it overloads the heart."
He nicked a vein with a thin pin. The blood that oozed was tar-like too thick, too slow.
"Heart will beats faster. It can't push the blood. Eventually, it bursts."
I stared.
He didn't flinch. "Most people think poison kills from the outside. Pain, swelling. No. It kills from within. Silently."
He handed me the knife.
"Your turn, cut."
I hesitated.
"It won't bite," he said, "unless you think too much."
"First, you will carefully remove the skin of the rat to expose the muscles"
With a dry mouth and trembling fingers, I pressed the blade into the chest. It took effort. The skin was tougher than expected. The tissue squelched.
"Too shallow," Aeren said. "Deeper. Let the blade sit the skin but don't pierce the organ or blood will gush out."
I obeyed.
"The rat is a vertebrate, which means that many aspects of its structural organization are common with all other vertebrates, including man. The similarity of structures among related organisms shows evidence of common ancestry. In a way, studying the rat is like studying a human." Aeren emphasized "for every structure observed in the rat, there is an equivalent structure in your own body what is the structure and where is it located."
A thin gush of dark blood spilled as I went deeper. Aeren didn't say anything so I just continue what I was doing .I saw the lungs beneath collapsed, foamy and something shifted in me. A quiet understanding.
"This is what venom does," Aeren said. "Some thicken blood. Some thin it until it leaks from your eyes."
I looked up.
"Spider venom is different," he continued. "Most spiders carry neurotoxins. Not meant to kill quickly. Meant to paralyze."
"Paralyze?"
He nodded. "Shuts down nerves. You feel everything but can't move. Can't scream. Can't run."
I swallowed.
"Why?"
"So they can feed while you're alive."
My stomach twisted again. From the brew or the lesson, I wasn't sure.
He pointed at the rat's liver. "This organ tries to filter toxins. Fails most of the time. That's why your daily brew targets the liver first. To make it stronger."
"You're poisoning me... to make my organs tougher."
"To make you harder to kill."
"Tommorow we will learn how each organ function "
I stared at the rat's open body, and the thought struck me this was the closest thing I'd had to a classroom in this world.
But there were no lectures.
Only corpses.
Only truth.
---
We returned to the cottage before nightfall. My hands still smelled of blood and herbs. My head buzzed with too many thoughts.
Aeren placed another scroll on the table. This one was faded and creased with age.
"Poisons are weapons," he said. "But knowledge of them? That's survival."
I unfolded the scroll. Inside were sketched diagrams snakes, spiders, herbs, glands. Small notes in tight, old script labeled each one.
"This is your next lesson," he said. "You'll copy the drawings. Label each."
I looked up. "Why not just memorize them?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Because if you can't draw it, you don't understand it."
Fair enough.
---
That night, I lay on the floor beside the fire, eyes heavy but mind racing. Aeren's words circled in my head.
"Some poisons clot. Some thin. Some paralyze. Some destroy from within."
I had thought I knew pain from battle. From grinding endless bosses in a game where death was a reset button.
But this… this was different.
Here, death meant silence.
No checkpoint.
No second try.
And somehow, that made every breath feel earned.
---
[System Log – Updated]
Field Note Logged:
Subject: Pale Fang Rat (Venom-Exposed)
Analysis Level: [Basic]
Keywords: Coagulation, blood thickening, cardiac strain
System Insight Unlocked:
Trait: [Applied Anatomy I]
Description: "You've performed basic dissection and observed venomous effects firsthand. Your understanding of bodily systems slightly improves your effectiveness with healing and toxins alike."
---
[Quest Panel]
Category: Sub
Title: Venom in the Veins
Clear Conditions:
Dissect one venom-exposed animal
Record anatomical and venom effects
Reward:
Trait: [Applied Anatomy I]
+1 Intelligence
Bonus Objective:
Identify and diagram 2 other venom types
Bonus Reward:
Unlock Passive Skill: [Venom Knowledge I]
Penalty for Failure:
None, but opportunity may not return
---