Chapter 91: A Cure for Lingering Hunger

The next day arrived, bright and full of sunshine.

When Karl opened his eyes, Charlotte Linlin was already up and out of bed.

Sounds from next door drifted into his ears.

“Mama mama mama!”

“Come to Mama, my sweet girl.”

Hearing Linlin’s voice, Karl realized she was playing with the three babies and sat up in bed.

Since John’s problem couldn’t be settled for now, he turned his attention elsewhere…

“How do I treat this food craving illness?”

He rubbed his chin, pondering over what exactly caused this condition.

There didn’t seem to be much detail about it in the original story.

But digging into his memories, he thought he recalled something about it from the manga.

Charlotte Linlin was a product of a giantification experiment on infants carried out by the World Government—a program that had spanned centuries.

Apparently, she escaped during an accident, and as she kept growing larger and her cravings grew uncontrollable, she destroyed her hometown. That’s when her parents abandoned her at the orphanage.

That sounds like a genetic disorder, doesn’t it?

If it’s genetic, then maybe it can be treated with medication.

Wait, he remembered in the original story that when the nun’s photo broke, Linlin’s Iron Balloon trait vanished.

So, maybe the nun’s soul still lingered somewhere inside Charlotte Linlin’s mind, influencing her.

“Open the System Store!”

A translucent blue screen popped up before his eyes.

At the very top were skills like Qi Body Origin Flow and Fiery Eyes of Truth—signature techniques, all pricy, each costing over 100,000 points.

Looking over the menu, Karl sensed something was off.

“Wait a minute, why is everything over 100,000 points now? Wasn’t it exactly 100,000 before?”

The System’s cold, mechanical voice replied.

“That was during the newbie support phase. Now that your strength has reached Admiral level, that phase has ended. As a result, all System Store pricing has been appropriately increased. Thank you for your understanding.”

Karl quickly waved his hands, resisting the explanation.

“I don’t accept this at all.”

If he’d known this would happen, he would have hurried through more quests and bought as much as he could before. Now, he couldn’t afford anything.

Oh well, he thought. No point looking—just makes him anxious.

“Open the Medication section.”

“One Perfect Genetic Enhancement Serum—1,000,000 points. One First Stage Golden Core—1,000,000 points. One drop of Imperial Marrow—1,000,000 points…”

Karl glanced at his remaining points in the lower right corner.

A strained but polite smile crept across his face. He scrolled all the way to the last page.

“Stamina Recovery Potion—10 points. Body Tempering Pill—10 points. Single Yang Herb—10 points…”

Running his finger along the list, Karl guessed the items were sorted by science, fantasy, herbal components and so on.

After several minutes searching, Karl at last found three medicines that might help with the food craving illness.

They were: a Human Genome Repair Serum—10,000 points, one Dragonblood Pill—10,000 points and one Millennium Vermilion Fruit—10,000 points!

“Let’s skip the genome serum for now. What if it removes Linlin’s Iron Balloon ability? That’d be a real mess.”

With a look of distaste, Karl put the serum aside and opened up the info on the Dragonblood Pill.

Dragonblood Pill: Crafted by a master alchemist from a fantasy world, this pellet is refined using jiaolong blood over forty-nine days. It can grant the user the bloodline of a water dragon, with a small chance of awakening draconic talents, and corrects certain innate defects.

“Bloodline powers should work too. Even if a jiaolong isn’t a true dragon, in the One Piece world it should be powerful enough.”

He saved the Dragonblood Pill as an option and then checked the Millennium Vermilion Fruit.

Millennium Vermilion Fruit: Grows only in places rich with spiritual energy. Its medicinal strength is impressive—the main use is for refining talent-boosting pills, but it can also be consumed directly to raise one’s innate aptitudes.

He felt torn, uncertain which of the two could really cure Linlin’s food cravings.

“If she takes the Dragonblood Pill and sprouts dragon horns, turning into a dragon… isn’t that going to make her clash with Kaido?”

He pictured Charlotte Linlin and Kaido, both in dragon form, soaring across the sky, and a shiver ran through him. He shook his head hard.

“Wait, that’s not right!”

“At this time, I don’t think Kaido has eaten his Devil Fruit yet.”

“If memory serves, the Azure Dragon Fruit was grabbed by Charlotte Linlin at God Valley and only later given to Kaido.”

There was no telling if she’d still hand it over now.

“Clap!”

Karl smacked his right hand into his left and an odd little smile appeared on his face. If she really became a dragon girl…

“That settles it!”

With the food craving problem settled, it was time to focus on Linlin’s soul.

“According to the source material, only fragmented pieces of her soul remain with no primary will.”

“Linlin’s the current Soul-Soul Fruit user, so if a complete consciousness stayed, it would’ve been found by now.”

“First, I’ll teach her the Spiritual Tranquility Mantra and see how it works.”

Karl was surprised he figured it all out so quickly. Clearly, he was a real genius—a hint of pride appeared on his face.

After making his decision, he went straight to the nursery to find Charlotte Linlin.

“Mama mama mama!”

“Karl, you’re up.”

“Yeah, I missed you, so I came to find you.”

Karl pushed open the nursery door and saw Charlotte Linlin smiling down at three babies in her arms, with three maids fussing alongside them.

Catching Karl’s look, the maids took the babies and stepped out of the room.

“Mama mama mama!”

“Karl, do you have important news? Are we going after John?”

Seeing Karl’s excited face, Linlin guessed he was getting ready to deal with John. She couldn’t help feeling eager.

“That can wait. Right now, there’s something even more important.”

“Tada!”

“What’s this?”

Linlin looked at the dragon-eye-sized, bright red pill in his hand. Clearly, it was way bigger—and more fragrant—than the pill he gave the babies yesterday.

“This is something special. It can cure your food craving illness.”

Karl raised his eyebrows, making a show of dramatic gestures.

“Seriously?”

“You’re telling me this little thing can really cure my cravings?”

Of course Charlotte Linlin knew about her own strange condition. She’d sought out different doctors over the years, but no one had a cure.

She’d all but given up hope, so Karl’s surprise today was unexpected.

Linlin’s mood was visibly lifted, since she’d already seen yesterday how effective his pills were.

She picked up the pill and, under Karl’s expectant gaze, swallowed it down.

“Gulp!”

The pill melted instantly in her mouth, releasing a torrent of energy all through her body.

“Thump!”

“Thump, thump!”

Her heart started racing—pain shot through her body.

“Ugh—mm!”

It felt like every muscle and bone was grinding and rebuilding at once. The pain only got worse, but she was Charlotte Linlin.

No way was she going to scream just because it hurt.

Seeing Linlin’s face turn bright red with tension, sweat like beads streaming from her forehead, Karl gently dabbed her brow with a handkerchief.

The pill must have been tough for her, so the whole process took just three minutes. Her size stayed the same, but her skin looked finer and softer.

“Mama mama mama!”

“Whoosh!”

Charlotte Linlin shot to her feet, feeling renewed, and threw a punch to test her new strength.

“Whoosh!”

“Crash! Bang!”

Wind from her fist tore through the nursery like a typhoon, leaving chaos in its wake.

“Mama mama mama!”

“This is incredible power.”

“Karl!”

Linlin leaped at Karl, knocking them both back onto the bed.

“Alright, check how you feel,” Karl said.

Snuggled in Karl’s arms, Charlotte Linlin focused and searched her body for that familiar hunger.

“Mama mama mama!”

“The hunger’s gone!”

“For real?”

Karl hugged Linlin tight, bursting with excitement. If the hunger was gone, odds were her food craving illness was finally cured.

“Boom!”

“You’ve inherited the flame talent of the water dragon.”

Karl was shocked. She awakened a talent after just one pill? Truly gifted!

“Mama mama mama!”

“So this is a talent? It feels like it was always a part of me.”

“Amazing.”

Linlin twirled her hand, summoning flames out of thin air, making them dance before Karl’s eyes.

“Okay, okay, I get it—you inherited the ability.”

He pressed down her right hand.

“Let me teach you a mantra.”

“Spiritual Treasure Celestial Lord, calm my form and spirit. Disciple’s soul and organs held in hidden depths. Azure Dragon, White Tiger, stand in orderly guard. Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, defend the true self. By command of great law, let it be so.”

Linlin looked confused—this mantra sure sounded awkward.

“What’s this?”

“Recite it twice every day from now on.”

“I’d never harm you. Trust me.”

“Mama mama mama!”

“Fine!”

Seeing Linlin reluctantly agree, Karl decided to keep a close eye on her practice.

With that sorted, he remembered the matter of John.

“Next up, we need to plan how to deal with John.”

“Are we striking now?”

Linlin withdrew the flames from her hand and looked to Karl.

“No, we can’t kill him yet. We have to wait for the right moment.”

“But not killing him doesn’t mean we can’t make him miserable.”

“Mama mama mama!”

……