Startled by Trigger's subconscious rhetorical question, Andrew initially thought she hadn't heard him clearly, so he repeated himself.
Confirming that she hadn't misheard, Trigger momentarily lost her usual composure. Even her consistently calm tone unwittingly developed a slight stutter.
"W-Why would you suddenly ask that?" she stammered. "Why?"
Hearing this, Andrew froze for a moment, then scratched his head and said, "Because I'm not sure if restoring your vision will affect your sniping abilities. And I don't know if you're willing to pay the price of likely losing your Ether Vision to regain your normal sight."
In Andrew's view, Trigger was a sniper in the Defense Force, specifically an elite within the Obols Squad. He couldn't be certain whether losing Ether Vision to regain normal sight was a good thing or a bad thing for her. After all, for a sniper, normal vision and the Ether Vision she described each had their own merits in combat assistance.
So, Andrew spoke his mind: "For such a major personal decision, it really should depend on the person involved, right? Making a decision without your input would be the irresponsible thing to do."
Andrew spoke casually, but for Trigger, his words were like a stormy sea crashing into her heart. Although she hadn't cared much about treatment after being rescued from the battlefield by Vulture due to being too despondent, she clearly remembered what had happened during that time. Her eyes had been sentenced to death by every doctor she had seen; there was never any possibility of recovery from the start.
But... the terminal illness known as Ether corruption sounded so relaxed and easy in Andrew's mouth, as if it were just a minor ailment that could be cured with a wave of a hand.
Thus, she subconsciously opened her mouth to deny it in disbelief: "No, it's not! My eyes aren't damaged by ordinary means, they were caused by Ether corruption!"
But by the end of her sentence, she couldn't suppress the hope in her heart and asked, "Is... is this really curable?"
It was only when Trigger asked this that Andrew realized something. Because he had only ever given his Nulberries to close friends, most people in New Eridu had absolutely no idea that a cure for Ether corruption already existed.
Understanding what she was worried about, Andrew simply waved his hand to dispel Trigger's concerns. "Relax, relax. I've done this thing of eliminating corruption symptoms caused by Ether corruption many times in the Outer Ring. Every time, the medicine cures the sickness without side effects."
Although, there was a part Andrew didn't say. That one time, because the situation was urgent and it was his first attempt at treatment without experience, he almost lost a patient. But ultimately, it wasn't because the effect of removing Ether corruption was poor, but rather because the effect of the Nulberry was too good, nearly causing the patient to vanish along with the corruption.
Andrew decisively skipped over these insignificant details. Now that he had that experience, he could pat his chest and say he had absolute confidence in treating Ether corruption.
Looking at the mask that completely covered Trigger's eyes, Andrew said confidently, "It's precisely because I know your eyes are due to Ether corruption that I think it's easy to handle. You're Belle's friend; would I lie to you?"
As he spoke, Andrew simply pulled a blue Nulberry, looking unremarkable like a large blueberry, out of his pocket and placed it gently in front of Trigger.
Then, he signaled to Trigger: "But I have to state one thing in advance."
Andrew's gaze upon Trigger became extremely solemn as he spoke seriously: "I'm not sure if the Ether Vision you've completely adapted to will continue to exist after the Ether energy corroding your eyes is removed. So, the decision on whether to reclaim your normal vision is up to you."
Andrew's intention was a warning, but what entered Trigger's ears had a different meaning. From another angle, Andrew's words actually implied that, in his view, it was possible for Trigger to retain the Ether Vision she currently possessed!
Yes, in Andrew's opinion, this treatment wasn't just simply curing Ether corruption. There was a high probability that Trigger's Ether Vision could remain after the corruption was eliminated. After all, according to Andrew's past experience, the Nulberry had never removed states or abilities that were beneficial to the host who ate it.
But since Ether energy is a unique energy of this world, and according to Trigger, the Ether Vision was a byproduct gained after her eyes were corroded... in this situation, Andrew wasn't sure if her eyes had this ability because biological tissue was replaced by Ether, or if it was a benign mutation caused by the stimulation of Ether corruption.
This was the reason Andrew didn't dare guarantee that Trigger's Ether Vision would be retained after all the Ether corruption symptoms were eliminated. Just like a doctor must explain the worst-case scenario to a patient before treatment. The psychological gap can be fatal.
However, what Andrew worried about out of conservatism was not an issue at all for Trigger herself. After all, for her, regaining her vision was already the best outcome. If she could keep the Ether Vision, that would be an unexpected bonus. But conversely, losing it wasn't a problem either.
One had to realize that although Trigger joined the Obols Squad as a rookie, in the nearly one thousand days of close to three years, she had grown into a sniper capable of officially serving in an elite squad of the Opal camp. Her own strength was already powerful enough.
After the Fall of the Old Capital, losing her sight, she underwent constant arduous training to search for her former teammates in various dangerous Hollows, successfully ensuring her shooting skills were no weaker than her former self. But this was ultimately the result of forcing herself to adapt without vision.
Now that her hearing and touch had become even more powerful through training during her period of blindness, as long as she could restore her vision, even if she lost the Ether Vision, Trigger was confident that after a period of adaptation, she could take her strength to a higher level.
Therefore, Trigger had made up her mind.
She nodded, gazing at Andrew's silhouette through the mask with what little sight she had left, and said very seriously, "I've thought it through. I want to reclaim my original vision."
Seeing that Trigger had made her decision, Andrew didn't waste words. He directly pushed the Nulberry in front of him forward. At the same time, he took out a golden pill, carefully wrapped in oil paper that looked extremely precious at a glance, and placed it together with the Nulberry.
Then he continued, "Then, this is a secret medicine to be eaten after eliminating the Ether corruption. It can heal all injuries on your body; it's a secret medicine that can basically bring the dead back to life."
In order to make its efficacy more intuitively understood, Andrew thought for a moment and used a more commonly understood name for it. "Where I come from, this thing has a common nickname: Elixir."
"Elixir?!"
The title of 'Elixir' wasn't just casually slapped onto the Max Potion. One had to know that the Max Potion was a genuine super drug. No matter how strong your physical constitution, as long as you had one breath left, eating it would have you jumping around lively the very next second. For a Hunter, this thing was no different from an Elixir of Immortality.
Although he wasn't sure how heavy the traces of Ether corruption on Trigger were, since even her eyes had been so seriously affected... it surely wouldn't be good regardless. At most, it was because her own Ether resistance was high that she could fight in Hollows like a normal soldier even in this condition.
Plus, the part of Trigger that was corroded was her eyes. As one of the most fragile organs in the human body with the poorest self-healing ability, using treatment methods like Healing Potions, which had limited intensity and required several seconds to take effect... Andrew was really worried that if the medicine wasn't strong enough, something might happen to Trigger's eyes.
He had patted his chest and promised Trigger she would be fine. If an accident happened, putting aside the loss of face if he saved her, if he didn't save her, the situation would be disastrous. So to prevent such a situation, purely for insurance, the brute force miracle brought by the extreme stats of a Max Potion was definitely more secure.
Moreover, since Trigger was Belle's friend, if he was going to help cure her, he naturally had to use the best of the best. Both emotionally and rationally, he had to ensure it was done in one go.
Besides, it was no longer the time when Andrew had just arrived in New Eridu and had to scrimp and save on everything. Ever since the Ancient Tree sprouted in Silver City, he had stable means of acquiring both Bitterbugs and Honey. Coupled with the Mandragora he had been planting since opening the Seliana Smithy on Sixth Street, Andrew had completely gathered all the materials needed to craft the Max Potion—the Hunter's strongest recovery item, the Elixir.
It was just that because the Ancient Tree hadn't sprouted long ago, the amount of materials that could be duplicated daily wasn't large, and the material output was slow, leading to a limited quantity of produced Max Potions. But in the final analysis, he had a stable acquisition method.
Under these circumstances, using just one Max Potion to help treat Trigger's eyes made Andrew act naturally more casual and generous. Furthermore, the honey in the hives had recently started to show quality suitable for crafting materials, so the slot in the Ancient Tree used for duplicating honey could soon be freed up. By then, the production capacity for Max Potion materials could be further increased.
However, regarding Trigger's situation, even without the aforementioned conditions, Andrew actually wouldn't have been stingy with this single pill. After all, as the saying goes, items exist to be used.
So, under these circumstances... although Trigger tried to decline upon hearing the nickname 'Elixir,' knowing the medicine was extremely precious, and suggested that the Healing Potion Andrew had Meow-Da distribute at the position earlier was enough—before Andrew's immense strength, Trigger simply couldn't refuse.
Seeing Trigger wanting to decline because she realized the Max Potion's value, Andrew—who had also made up his mind—decided to prevent her from tangling with him over these trivialities. Taking advantage of the moment Trigger tried to open her mouth to speak, he instantly raised his hand and shoved the Nulberry and the Max Potion, one after the other, directly into Trigger's mouth.
Andrew's force was controlled perfectly, and his action was extremely precise. In less than a second, Andrew had flicked both small items directly into Trigger's throat.
The sudden appearance of foreign objects in her throat instantly triggered biological instincts. Accompanied by two subconscious gulps, the Nulberry and Max Potion in Andrew's hand had already vanished completely.
This was a unique skill Andrew had practiced to prevent small monsters flying in the sky, like Wingdrakes, from flying over to disturb him during a hunt! After all, if he accidentally injured them during a hunt, he might kill them outright. If he didn't kill them, it would be even more troublesome.
So, rather than letting these guys run over to attack at critical moments, causing his movements to be interrupted and forcing him to eat a big gift like a Rathalos's breath, Andrew chose to strike first. Before battle, he would specifically feed those little guys flying in the sky a meal first. And what he fed them was nothing else but specially made Dung Pods, sized just right to be precisely flicked out by hand.
Andrew just hadn't expected that the skill he practiced back then would be used again in such a subtle way under these circumstances.
Just as Andrew, having achieved a 'Double Kill', sat leisurely to the side preparing to watch Trigger's reaction after eating, the two items Trigger had just swallowed began to display their powerful effects one after another.
It was as if all the abnormal substances accumulated in her body over many years were swept away in an instant under the incomparably tyrannical effect of the Nulberry. After the energy contained in the Nulberry swept through her entire body, Trigger even felt a sense of emptiness appear within her because of it.
Those empty spots were all areas where hospital examinations had identified obvious symptoms of erosion due to high-concentration Ether energy corrosion after she escaped the disaster of the Fall of the Old Capital.
And now, accompanying the consumption of the Nulberry, the Ether energy that had replaced Trigger's original biological tissue was forcibly driven out of its original positions. In the next moment, it was all purged from Trigger's body.
Perhaps because people with stronger Ether resistance could withstand more Ether energy, Trigger's condition clearly looked much better than the person in the Outer Ring who was about to die from corruption. However, the energy purged from her body was far greater than that person's. This energy expelled from her body had even reached a level visible to the naked eye.
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