CHAPTER 566: CHAPTER 531: INDIGENOUS REMEDIES

Although the medical team claimed they didn’t rely on the microscope for their research results, their breakthrough was indeed aided by it.

After all, only under the microscope can the process of the virus being killed be directly observed.

And the method of killing the virus came with the help of the locals.

Previously mentioned, this quarantined settlement is primarily composed of indigenous tribes and some Northern Territory immigrants, with the indigenous tribe constituting the vast majority of the population.

Therefore, when facing the monstrous plague before, it was the local Pioneer Knight, together with the Ancestor Warriors of the indigenous tribe, who resisted the plague’s devastation to local residents.

Though their efforts were not highly effective, they still bought precious time for the locals to escape into underground shelters.

Among those locals who fled underground was the tribe’s shaman, or witch doctor, fulfilling the role at least informally.

A bit counterintuitive, the indigenous tribe’s shaman had more experience treating illness than conventional doctors.

This advantage wasn’t from any advanced technique but accumulated wisdom and experiences from generations of shamans.

In a time when modern medicine was just emerging, with doctors treating patients often using bloodletting or surgery without anesthesia, relying on various folk remedies and pills, it was hard to say exactly which was more effective: an experienced indigenous shaman or an academy graduate doctor.

At least the shaman’s methods had literally been tested against life and death, whereas a medical academy graduate? Sorry, having a medical license only means they’re qualified to practice, but how much medical knowledge they’ve truly mastered?

Licenses and diplomas required for a doctor to practice could be obtained through bribery.

Certainly, for minor illnesses like headaches or fevers, any doctor would be able to handle them if they didn’t slack off during class.

However, whether they give you some opium or a vintage Coke depended on luck.

In contrast, a witch doctor or shaman proficient in using various herbs and barks might really surprise you with an effective herbal remedy.

At least in this case of plague treatment, the local tribe’s shaman played a significant role.

Through prayers to the Ancestral Spirit for guidance and combining her herbal medicine knowledge, she concocted a special potion, employing a dual approach of topical application and oral administration to treat the infected.

This did not result in everyone being cured; such folk medicine, seemingly steeped in superstition, often relies purely on experience, with little control over the active ingredients and thus a diagnosis dependent on luck.

But even if just one person’s condition improved, it was a marvel for the perplexed medical team.

More significantly, someone indeed was cured in the process.

Thus, the medical team immediately forged a collaboration with the shaman, leveraging more professional equipment to help create potions, and recorded and observed their efficacy through comparative experiments to determine the best treatment plan.

Furthermore, they did not forget to observe and record through microscopes, dropping refined and purified active ingredients into virus samples to watch the reaction.

The results were remarkably promising, as the refined and purified potion provided significant inhibition and destruction of the virus, with rather effective results.

They hurriedly reported their findings upwards, leading Eldest Princess Annie to inform Perfikot, resulting in Perfikot personally coming to hear the report.

For this result, Perfikot felt somewhat surprised; she hadn’t expected a plague she deemed might be incurable was resolved by a local tribe shaman.

Such stark contrast was as baffling as a two-meter tall muscular man in Steam Knight armor suddenly donning a maid outfit to clean.

While not impossible, the perceptual impact was jarring.

However, Perfikot, being practical, didn’t care whether it was the shaman’s folk remedy or the doctors’ medical plan that solved the issue.

Especially after summoning the tribal shaman to inquire, receiving confirmation the prescription came from Ancestral Spirit inspiration.

"The Ancestral Spirit, huh? Seems I’ve overlooked some crucial elements," Perfikot recalled her earlier research on tribal totems and Ancestral Spirits, finding it perhaps not so incomprehensible now.

With Ancestral Spirits existing on this land for centuries, even millennia, the accumulated knowledge and insight far exceeded ordinary imagination.

Even if an Ancestral Spirit lives confined within the tribe it protects, understanding may seem limited, yet even a pig surviving centuries may gain wisdom.

Not to mention, Ancestral Spirits possess certain magical abilities and can seek nature’s assistance when faced with unsolvable issues.

This interaction may bring natural responses or occasionally others from Ancestral Spirits.

Since they weren’t imprisoned captives, despite residing in totems, Ancestral Spirits could leave and engage freely.

Thus, an Ancestral Spirit capable of issuing a plague curing prescription, was entirely plausible.

This realization prompted Perfikot to begin valuing the previously overlooked indigeneous people.

Considering they once had a comprehensive extraordinary system and civilization, capable of challenging the Victor Empire in strength.

Though now defeated by the Empire, with much of their valued heritage lost, it didn’t mean these natives wholly forfeited their foundation.

The Empire only overcame, crushed, and expelled them, without explicitly treating them like scalp trophies.

"Perhaps compiling some of the natives’ ’folk remedies’ might be wise?" Perfikot contemplated, noting the ’folk remedies’ encompass more than just prescriptions.