A fruit that can cure the calcified state of Ether erosion, an incomparably powerful healing potion... if you took out either one of these, you could become the richest person in New Eridu. Because with such powerful effects, no matter the price, someone would surely buy it.
But in Andrew's hands, they were as common as something picked from a roadside bush.
After confirming the Nulberries were effective, Andrew didn't stop. He quickly checked everyone present and proceeded to give a Nulberry to several others who were showing more severe symptoms.
The result was the same without exception: all symptoms of Ether erosion were completely eliminated. With multiple verifications confirming the Nulberries' effects were still just as powerful, Andrew finally relaxed.
Now that the threat of turning into the Corroded was gone, these ordinary workers wouldn't have to endure a test of their humanity. After all, Andrew trusted Belle's abilities.
Combined with the efficiency of the Silver Squad, they were probably already preparing the rescue. They could definitely get everyone out before any real problems arose.
"Ugh... thud..."
With a thud, the first young man who tried the Nulberry suddenly swayed uncontrollably and collapsed to the ground.
The sudden turn of events made Andrew's heart tighten. He rushed to the young man's side to check his condition.
He saw that a large patch of the young man's clothing was already stained red with fresh blood. The effect of the Nulberry was indeed powerful, perhaps a little too powerful.
After all, the erosion effect refers to an object being infected/replaced/distorted/changed by Ether substances, starting from its smallest constituent units, ultimately leading to a fundamental change in the object's nature. And as long as one is in an environment containing a certain amount of Ether, they will be affected by the erosion effect.
But the Nulberry directly swept away the areas eroded by Ether. For those parts that had been replaced by Ether substances, its approach was utterly merciless.
Annihilation was its only method! It completely scoured the body of all Ether substances that had replaced bodily tissues.
As a means of expelling all Ether substances, the Nulberry's effect was undeniably powerful. However, the thing had no healing properties. It couldn't heal the voids in the body's tissues left behind after the eroded parts were scoured away.
For those with only mild erosion and no crystallization on their bodies, it was fine; the body could quickly repair the damage. But the young man with crystals on his body was a different story.
He truly had numerous small cavities now. It wasn't obvious when the crystals first dissipated, but upon seeing the young man's clothes become soaked in blood in just a minute, Andrew decisively poured a Healing Potion into his mouth.
When the young man opened his eyes again, his first words were:
"I think I just saw my great-grandma waving at me from the other side of the river."
He'd basically taken a round trip to the gates of hell. With Ether erosion reaching such a visible state, the condition of his internal organs couldn't have been much better; they were likely also riddled with holes.
Without a powerful restorative like the Healing Potion, using a Nulberry on severe erosion symptoms would likely have just been a death sentence.
Now that he had confirmed the people here would be alright, Andrew and Caesar prepared to move on. But just then, Susanna's parents approached them.
A nascent Hollow will always have much stronger activity than one that has long since stabilized, even if its activity has temporarily entered a calm period.
And in a Hollow that has entered a low-activity state, the increase in inert Ether energy causes crystals to begin growing everywhere, like bamboo shoots after the rain.
When the inert Ether energy combines with various inorganic materials, a type of black, sharply-angled, crystalline object—an Ether Crystal—begins to grow at a visible rate. In other words, this is actually the greatest mineral resource within this Hollow.
It's just that with technological advancement, direct mining—which can easily cause a massive spike in Hollow activity—has long been phased out.
With the appearance of the Aetheryte Towers, New Eridu's demand for Ether energy shifted from the risks of direct mining—risking lives and reactivating the Hollow—to directly absorbing active Ether energy from the air. The final major source, besides that, is the residual Ether Crystals left behind after slaying an Ethereal.
All three extraction sources depend on the existence of Hollows. Ether energy's non-polluting nature after leaving a Hollow, coupled with its powerful energy conversion capability, makes it the perfect fuel for running this city.
Everything in New Eridu runs on it. It's so light, efficient, and useful that Andrew could hardly believe it.
If it weren't so intrinsically linked to the appearance of Hollows, Andrew would truly praise it as a perfect energy source.
Watching the Ether Crystals gradually appear over time, Andrew felt a bit wistful. Everything about humanity's current way of life is built upon Ether energy, yet the Hollows that provide direct access to it are also a fundamental threat to human survival.
Entangled with each other, it was like an unbreakable knot.
But he wasn't thinking about this to ponder some philosophy of life. As Andrew searched for tracks along the way, he was also calculating something.
He was calculating whether these Ether Crystals would remain after he dealt with the Hollow. If they did, then mining the residual Ether Crystals would mean he'd never lack for Ether Crystal materials for forging again.
And the tracks he was searching for were those of the boss Ethereal.
The ones who provided this information were none other than Susanna and Sulina's parents, who had approached them earlier. Before this, the parents had been searching all over the Hollow, looking for any sign of the two sisters.
They left no stone unturned, checking every possible place, afraid that a moment of negligence might cause them to miss a clue about the girls. And they learned of this Ethereal during a sudden encounter.
From them, Andrew learned that the Ethereal was a humanoid figure wielding a sword and shield, a description he was all too familiar with.
However, the Dullahan that appeared this time had a design that was different from other ordinary Dullahan Ethereals. Compared to other Dullahan Ethereals, this one had some obvious differences in its left-hand shield and the hilt of its right-hand sword.
White crystals formed a perfect handguard on the sword, while a small patch of what looked like serrations appeared on its left-hand shield. The lower part of the shield, which looked as if its outer layer had peeled off, occasionally emitted a fluorescent green glow, but this didn't mean this Dullahan had grown weaker.
On the contrary, it was a being far stronger than a normal Ethereal. In Andrew's words, this was a 'Tempered' individual.
An Ethereal that has undergone countless cycles of growth and evolution to become a much stronger individual. Or, to put it in the terms of Zenless Zone Zero, it would be 'Sub-Name: Dullahan'.
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