The inside of the shop was even uglier than the outside. It was a large building, but everything was occupied by shelfs filled with books, strange bottle with colorful liquids and other things which use Nameless couldn't figure out. Everything inside was contaminated by some extremely unpleasant smell. It nearly made the boy throw up everything inside his stomach.
The old man immediately noticed the boy's condition. – "See!? You're not only wounded but also severely ill." – Suddenly he turned back and threw in the boy's face some sort of gray dust. The next moment Nameless noticed, to his extreme horror, that he couldn't move and was completely paralyzed. – "Sorry for that, lad. But ignorant people and kids are often afraid of the medical treatment that I offer and try to escape from here…"
He put the rigid body on something like a dissecting table. 'Somebody, help me…' He could only make a silent plea with his eyes, since his mouth wouldn't move.
Meanwhile in the old man's eyes was burning some frightening passion.
"I know what you're thinking! Something like 'This old man is such a marvelous man because he wants to help me for free.' But I don't do my work for money!"
'No! YOU ARE WRONG! NACISISTIC BASTARD!' – Nameless was screaming internally while the old man continued. – "I do this for science! For medicine. For the people of this land. Every single one who laid down on this table had the same look that you have now. And everyone was very grateful to me in the end."
He took out a rusted kitchen knife mumbling something that Nameless couldn't completely understand but the things he managed to hear still caused to appear some drops of cold sweat on his forehead. – "…At least…everyone…who survived…"
'Hei, are you really planning to cut me with this knife? I'm not a loaf of bread or something!'
Fortunately, the old man put away the knife.
And after that he took out a twenty centimeters long needle. Nameless was already somehow numb to different horrors he had to face at this shop. 'At least it's not rusted…'
But even this bit of positiveness was immediately disintegrated. The old man suddenly thrusted the needle straight into the boy's chest. 'NOOOOO!'
But after the initial fright he found out that there was no pain, nor he was dead. But even so it was particularly uncomfortable to see a huge needle stuck into own's chest.
"Ok, the first one is the most difficult one to place...The second one is easier to insert."
'What?! Could you at least be more careful…Wait…The second one?! Other needles? – To confirm his guess the old man took out an entire set of needles and started rapidly inserting them. There were tens of them, shining brightly inside the wooden box.
After a few minutes of impaling he was more like a hedgehog than a human being.
"Ok, that should work!"
The old man was visibly satisfied while the boy was blankly looking un on the celling completely numb to everything was happening to his body.
The next thing that old man did was to connect to each needle a metal thread which was connected to a small orb. On its surface there were dancing small lightnings.
Nameless started twitching uncontrollably once the electricity was connected.
He already accepted his death on this table than he suddenly saw some blue mist came out from the points where the needles were inserted.
"Do you know what's the most dangerous thing for the outsiders on our island?" – Asked the old man while carefully extracting the needles. – "Ah yes, you're paralyzed. I forgot about it…"
'…'
"Well, aside from the ice dragon who is usually sleeping, it's the so-called cold corrosion."
'Cold corrosion?'
"There is really a great amount of cold energies which are harmless to the people who were born here or to some powerful individuals who can block them. But for anyone else they're dangerous and can lead to an extremely painful death."
Nameless was internally shocked. 'Why no one told me about it? WHY YOU DIDN'T EXPLAIN IT BEFORE ABDUCTING ME?!'
"It can't be considered a common knowledge, so don't blame Gherda if she didn't old you about it."
'The only one I blame now, is still you!'
There was still some cold energy leaving his body. Once it stopped the old man injected some green liquid into the boy's vein and after a few minutes he started regaining the control over his body.
But he immediately wished non to have this control. Some tearing pain covered his whole body. – "OLD MAN!"
"I'm not old. I'm only dirty."
This answer blocked every single insult he was going to tell. Nameless thought for a moment and calmed a bit. – "Thank you."
"You're welcome." – A smile appeared on his face. – "You know, since I saved your life, can you help me with something?"
Nameless threw him and inquiring and alerted look.
"No, no, it's nothing much…" – He went towards a nearby shelf and took some bottles. – "Help me to test some medicines I created recently. You can obviously refuse but I don't think that you're such an ungrateful person to refuse such an easy request from a man who saved your life…"
Nameless, who exactly was about to immediately refuse, stopped. After a moment of hesitation and seeing the man's hopeful expression he could only nod.
[…]
He was able to leave the old man's shop only after a few hours. His head was heavy, and he was feeling dizzy. The daylight was hurting his eyes and every single muscle of his body was immersed in pain.
He couldn't even remember how many different potions he drank. Strictly speaking there were moments when he couldn't remember who exactly he was, and on a second thought he had a strange recollection.
'I was a chicken. I'm sure than I felt that I was one and behaved accordingly…'
He swore to escape the next time he saw the old geezer. After making this solemn vow Nameless threw up on the ground.
*Pshhhhh*
Some green smoke appeared from the unsightly liquid, and the frozen ground melted a bit. 'What the hell did I drink?!' – And he threw up again.
After a few minutes, he managed to return to Gherda's house. He opened the door and fell forward hitting the floor. He was still conscious but was exhausted.
The woman was reading a book next to the window. – "From the smell I presume that old Joakim abused you with his potions?"
Nameless, still on the floor nodded. – "I threw up acid which melted the ground."
"Oh, that's a bit worse that usual." – She placed the book on the table and went to close the door. – "But there were a lot of cases when people threw up their innards followed by their lives."
She grabbed his leg and dragged him near the fire. After that she returned to her book.
"Why do you keep that madman in your village? He is dangerous."
She turned the page. – "Yes, he absolutely is dangerous, but he also is a brilliant doctor. Do you know that the cold energy he drove out of your body is normally impossible force out? In the whole Broken Ocean, no one managed to do so without the help of extremely powerful bloodline energy and without damaging permanently the body."
"And there is another reason. The old Joakim is extremely powerful. No one in our village is his much, and only a few individuals in the whole Third Island can overpower him in combat, only to be killed by some deadly poison immediately after the victory."
Nameless remained silent. Only the flipping of the pages could be heard in the small house.
After some time Gherda looked on the boy and found out that he already fell asleep. She closed the book and covered Nameless some fur.
[…]
The next few days went smoothly without incidents. Luxar challenged him a few times but lost miserably. From these fights Nameless's proficiency with the spear went up and even some adult warriors weren't sure to be able to beat him without bloodline powers.
After the second fight he started using the dagger to fight and with this the things became more balanced and he frequently crushed under the Luxar's spear.
The second day the residents somehow discovered that the old madman Joakim tested his potions on Nameless and some pity appeared in their unfriendly gazes.
So arrived the moment for them to depart towards the Holy City. The best warriors of the village gathered in the central square.
Gherda was among them, and somehow it seemed to Nameless that she was also the leader of the group. He was also surprised about the absence of the old man.
To his question about it Gherda only shook her head. – "He is not interested in becoming the Ice King. Also, he can protect the village in our absence, so it's also good."
After that the whole group leaved the village.