Chapter 198: Chapter 152: Hereditary Grand Duke (Part 3)
Ron’s tone suddenly became somewhat anxious.
Andre hesitated for a moment, sighed softly, and slowly untied the bandage.
When the last layer of cloth was uncovered, Ron’s pupils suddenly contracted.
The wound had already started to rot, the surrounding skin showing an unnatural black-purple color, like ink seeping into paper.
The most worrying part was that the black lines were slowly but clearly spreading upwards, already close to the shoulder.
"Damn it!" Ron stood up abruptly: "How could you delay this for so long? This is obviously a manifestation of spiritual contamination materializing!"
Andre stared at his wound, shocked: "I thought it was just a normal wound, the bloodline power would soon repair it..."
"Would a normal wound turn black like this?"
Ron cursed under his breath, then turned to Lily: "Prepare the lab, we need to perform a minor surgery."
Lilia immediately took action, her expression professional and calm: "What instruments and potions do you need?"
"Full set of surgical knives, bone-etching agents numbers three to seven, repair active potion, and..."
Ron quickly listed a long string of items, Lilia memorized them one by one, quickly went to prepare.
"How serious is it?" Andre’s face had already turned pale.
"Quite serious." Ron said bluntly:
"Marcus is clearly already in a state of severe contamination, his saliva and blood both contain strong pollutants. You only did a simple treatment after being bitten, the contamination has already seeped into the bloodline."
He motioned Andre to follow:
"What needs to be done now is to cut out the tissue that has been deeply infiltrated, then use a special potion to purify the wound. The surgery is a bit painful, but delaying it will only make it worse."
The lab was quickly prepared.
Ailan also joined in, her vines were very suitable for intricate operations, making her a competent assistant.
Andre lay on the specially designed experiment table, Ron had already put on white sterilized gloves, Lilia was next to him handing over instruments.
"This will hurt."
Ron warned, while injecting a numbing potion into Andre’s arm:
"But I must ensure your consciousness is awake to monitor the real-time response of the contamination."
Andre gritted his teeth and nodded: "Go ahead, I can endure it."
The surgery began, Ron first used a special technique mastered after advancing his Elemental Perception, using a beam knife to slice open the epidermis, exposing the discolored muscle tissue underneath.
The contamination was even more serious than he had imagined, black liquid had penetrated deeply, almost reaching the bone.
"Start the excision."
Ron signaled Ailan to stabilize the wound, then picked up a special surgical knife emitting purifying light, beginning to clear the contaminated tissue.
Each incision was incredibly precise, needing to remove all contaminated parts without harming healthy tissue.
This work required extremely high Spiritual Control and anatomical knowledge, fortunately Ron was well-prepared in both areas.
Despite the pain relief, Andre couldn’t help but let out a low groan of pain.
The constitution gifted by the Dragon Blood allowed him to endure more pain than average, but this direct cutting into the deepest points of contamination was still an unimaginable torture.
"Just bear with it a little longer." Ron focused on his work, his hand moving with unwavering precision:
"The worst part is over."
With the removal of the last piece of contaminated tissue, the wound looked alarmingly large.
Almost twice the original size, exposing red muscle and stark white bone.
"Now’s the crucial point." Ron picked up a bottle of golden potion, a compound purification potion he specially formulated:
"This will eliminate residual contamination and promote the regeneration of healthy tissue."
He poured the potion into the wound, the golden liquid immediately reacted violently with the remaining black substance, emitting white smoke.
Andre let out a painful groan but quickly gritted his teeth and persevered.
The whole process lasted nearly an hour, eventually the wound was completely cleaned and coated with a special regenerative ointment.
"It’s done." Ron breathed a sigh of relief, helping Andre bandage the wound:
"The contamination has been removed, but due to the delay, it will leave a permanent scar."
Andre weakly smiled: "Compared to death or deformity, what is a scar. Thank you, Ron, you’ve saved my life once again."
Ron shook his head: "You were too careless, if this injury was delayed a few more weeks, the contamination would have seeped into your core bloodline, even an Official Wizard couldn’t save you. Luckily, you weren’t completely foolish to come to me..."
He walked to the side of the cabinet and took out three bottles of Magma Dew:
"This is my newly developed improved Magma Dew, its effect is better than the original version. Take them according to the instructions, it will accelerate your bloodline growth."
Andre looked at the bottles of glowing golden-red liquid in shock: "This... this is too precious!"
"Once the Bloodline Activation reaches a certain level, it should be able to repair those permanent damages."
Ron said calmly: "Besides, I just replicated it according to the formula, the cost isn’t too high."
He knew Andre was recently financially strained due to the immense food consumption after Bloodline Awakening, and didn’t want to add to his burden.
"I... I don’t know how to thank you." Andre’s voice choked slightly:
"Not only have you saved my life again, you’ve given me such precious potion..."
Ron smiled and suddenly joked:
"When you become the King, remember to grant me a Duke title or something, that would also bring glory to the Ralph Clan ancestry."
Andre paused for a moment, then said earnestly:
"Not just a Duke, if I truly get the chance to sit on that throne, I promise that the Ralph Clan will become the hereditary Grand Duke of the Kingdom, second only to the royal family."
Ron looked at the determination in his friend’s eyes and couldn’t help but chuckle:
"Being too wealthy could swell the hearts of the clan members, I just hope the Ralph Clan has a protective umbrella and lives peacefully."
He paused, half-jokingly added:
"Perhaps arranging for my elder brother’s descendants to marry into your branch, that would be more secure."
Andre laughed and shook his head: "You always manage to talk about grand matters so lightly."
He gazed at the sunset outside the window, an unprecedented determination manifesting in his eyes:
"But I’m serious, Ron. I used to think the throne was too far from me, but now..."
The blond youth clenched his fist:
"Having a genius like you constantly helping me makes me begin to believe, maybe it’s not just an unattainable dream."
Ron didn’t respond, just quietly picked up the cold tea liquid, took a sip, and moistened his throat.
Everything he was doing for Andre now, was done within his own abilities, as a convenient gesture.
No one can predict the future.
But one thing is certain, he believes he can make it to the end, even if it might take a long time...