Fenrir continued to teach us more.
"Today, I'll be teaching you how to deal with Pathogens. However, to understand this lesson, it is a prerequisite to have learned and developed a comprehensive understanding of Enhancing and Deteriorating Elements. To put it simply, you need to understand the concept behind Amplifiers and Nullifiers" Fenrir said.
"Concordia's Dad taught us about those" Saito said.
"Let's start with Amplifiers then" Fenrir said.
We nodded.
"Usually, a person eats to maintain their Healthy State. The Nutrients present in each Food Category, you could say, grants the person who eats them a particular 'buff'. You could say they act as a boost or an Amplifier. Proteins for instance enhance Growth, Carbohydrates grant Energy, Vitamins boost Immunity and Fats and Oils grant Energy and help to regulate a person's Temperature. Do you understand this? Every Nutrient grants a particular buff and aids in maintaining the overall Healthy State of a person" Fenrir said.
"We understand" Arlene said.
"That brings us to Nullifiers. Nullifiers only become necessary once Pathogens enter the mix. A Pathogen as I explained earlier is a living organism that causes disease. Pathogens can only cause disease once they invade a person's body. The first defensive measure against a Pathogen thus is to prevent it from invading your body. This is the first method to Nullification. It's to create as many barriers as you can between the Pathogen and yourself. Having said that, to be able to do this effectively, there is another prerequisite" Fenrir said.
"Another prerequisite?" Arlene asked curiously.
"Exactly, when a person is bitten by a Snake and sent to the Hospital, one of the first questions asked by the Doctor is what kind of Snake inflicted the injury. Every Pathogen has a unique modus operandi or you could say style of attack. The same cure might not necessarily work against all Pathogens though the basic rules in dealing with Pathogens tend to be vastly similar. The first thing you need to do is to be able to identify the Snake that inflicted the bite. In other words, you need to have a comprehensive understanding of the Pathogen that inflicted the ailment. Only when this has been achieved can one devise a cure or set up barriers" Fenrir explained.
"That's true" Ariel realized.
"That brings us back to the first method of dealing with Pathogens, that is, setting up as many barriers as possible between you and the Pathogen to prevent it from invading your body. This is achieved by creating an environment that is hostile to the Pathogen you wish to keep away from yourself. Of course, you can only do this when you understand how the Pathogen works and the sort of environment that suits its purposes or might cause harm to it" Fenrir explained.
"I see, so with this method, you combat the Pathogen via your environment" Ariel realized.
"Exactly" Fenrir said.
"Then there is the second method, Nullification via Polarity. This method only becomes necessary once the Pathogen has invaded your body" Fenrir said.
Ariel listened closely.
"The point of this method is to turn your body into a hostile environment for the Pathogen. This is achieved through the intake of diets containing Nutrients that evoke symptoms that are antithetical to the symptoms of the ailment caused by the Pathogen. For instance, Pathogens that cause Cellular Degeneration can be combatted via Proteins that trigger Cellular Regeneration. Pathogens that cause Energy Loss can be combatted via Carbohydrates that supply Energy to the body or Oxygen which triggers energy release in the Red Blood Cells. Every Pathogen that invades a person's body tries to turn it into an environment that suits its purposes. By evoking symptoms that counterbalance that process, you can turn your body into a hostile environment for the Pathogen and it may eventually die out" Fenrir explained.
"I see, it's like the methods we applied during the Cancer Level of the Game" Ariel realized.
"This brings me to the third and final method, Nullification via Synchronization" Fenrir said.
"That can be applied to Healing as well?" Saito asked.
"Yes, it can. You and Ariel should already understand the method. The body has its own set of unique responses to Pathogens. Usually, a Pathogen is most dangerous the first few times it invades a person's body. This is because at that time, a person has almost no resistance to the Pathogen. Think of it like this, you will find it extremely difficult to solve a problem you have never encountered before. However, once you solve that problem, you gain a certain level of experience with regards to the Solution you employed. Due to this experience, it becomes easier to solve the same problem if it ever confronts you again. In a sense, that is how a person's Immune System works. The first time a Pathogen invades a person's body, it can cause extensive damage because the person has almost zero resistance to the Pathogen since the White Blood Cells responsible for defending the body from Pathogens have never encountered that Pathogen before. However, the White Blood Cells 'learn' from that combat experience by 'assimilating' the Pathogen. The next time the same Pathogen invades, the White Blood Cells can produce benign forms of that Pathogen to combat the antagonistic Pathogen. You could say the White Blood Cells learn to fight the Pathogen via its own style of combat. It is around this concept that 'Immunization' revolves. It involves giving a person a weakened dose of the Pathogen that inflicted the ailment while simultaneously boosting their immunity to that Pathogen. This allows the White Blood Cells to assimilate the Pathogen for defense" Fenrir said.
"I see, sounds like the Immunization Level we had to play under Aquarius" I realized.
"However these methods cannot be applied without a comprehensive understanding of the Pathogen and it's mode of attack" Fenrir explained.