“Theoretically… Yes.” Klein frowned, “Unless…”

“Unless it’s a Banned Word.” Verna narrowed her blue eyes and explained, “Nobody knows what Words are ‘banned’ or not. At least no normal people would know. Because once a Banned Word is discovered, it’s ‘erased’.”

“Wait, why?” Oliver touched the tattoo on his chest, “After I became a Uranium Miner, I stopped getting burned by Greenstone as easily. I can also control and manipulate it, just like how Jade can play with stones.”

“Over the years I’ve been researching the Greenstone Plague, I’ve actually made a pretty disturbing discovery.” Klein sighed and rubbed his slightly wrinkled forehead with his right hand, “Rather than a ‘plague’, this disease is more like poisoning. And the source of that poison is all around us.”

“Do you mean… The green glowy stuff?” Jade looked around the kitchen and then at everyone, “But… Doesn’t that mean we’re all infected? It’s everywhere! Are you all going to get sick?!”

“Yes.” Breathing out another sigh, Klein conjured up a labelless glass bottle of fresh water and asked, “What about this? Is it glowing?”

“No.” Oliver shook his head and smiled wryly, “I usually… Sprinkle some Uranium crystal dust into my water to make it taste better and give more energy. But basically all the regular water is contaminated to a certain extent. Even a lot of the bottled water shipped here from other places. The food, the air, the paint, cigarettes, jewelry… Greenstone or ‘Uranium’ is everywhere. If that’s what’s making people sick, then it’s not just about Greenstone Mountain.”

“Exactly!” Klein placed the glass on the table and grimaced, “The Greenstone Poisoning, as I called it before, is spread across the whole damn continent. Even if people like you and Jade can detect the contamination, what else can we do about it? I submitted a report to the Kresvallia Department of Medicine about the dangers of Greenstone and do you know what they told me?”

“You’re full of shit?” Peridot snorted, “What else?”

“They said that if I tried to spread misinformation and panic again, they’d revoke my medical license and arrest me!”

“In other words, they probably know more about the dangers of Uranium than you do and they’re intentionally pretending everything is fine? Why?!” Jade gritted her teeth, “My Papa probably died from Uranium Poisoning!”

“Not just your father.” Verna bit her plump golden lip, “My parents, Ollie’s parents, Peri’s parents… Our friends and family! Does the plague even really exist?!”

“Uh, yeah, the plague definitely exists.” Klein glared at the silly little girl and explained, “Greenstone-sorry, Uranium Poisoning can weaken the body’s immune system and make it harder to fight against viruses, bacteria and other types of infections. From the tests I’ve done, I’ve noticed that whether it’s humans, animals or plants, even microorganisms are negatively affected by the presence of Uranium. Even just being close to it can kill, damage or mutate cells.”

“Then what can we do?!” Peridot grumbled, “It’s impossible to just rely entirely on Conjured food and water to survive, right? How do we avoid something that’s everywhere?”

“It’s everywhere, but some things are more glowy than others.” Jade looked around and then pointed to herself, “I’m really bright when I use my abilities a lot, but usually my body is pretty dark. Only my eyes, mouth and… Other places are brighter. Oliver is always pretty bright, especially after he became a Uranium Miner. Klein is also pretty bright… Peri and Vera aren’t as green.”

“Maybe I can control it? Remove all the Uranium from a person’s body? Like this.” Oliver reached out towards a random porcelain cup on the table and it flew into his hand. The other hand was placed over the cup and he struggled for a bit… Then the whole cup shattered into tiny pieces. Those little flecks of green powder flew up into one palm, while the other white dust just floated down onto the table.

“Now think about what’ll happen if you do that to someone’s body.” Klein rolled his eyes, “From the moment we’re born… No, from the time we’re conceived, we’re taking nutrients from our mothers in the womb. Those nutrients include Uranium. Do we ‘need’ Uranium? How much is a healthy dose? It’s really hard to study any of this shit when I also have to worry about the damn government finding out about it!”

“And if we do what Ollie did and get Cursed by the Word Uranium, then we’ll be hunted down by the Censorship Bureau.” Verna pouted, “What else can we do? Maybe I’ll try to be like Jade and turn myself into a statue? Instead of Stone, I’d much prefer Gold… That actually doesn’t sound too bad, heheheh~!”

“Turning everyone into statues isn’t the solution.” Jade shivered and shook her head. She hugged Oliver’s right arm and looked like she was about to start crying at any moment.

“Jade’s right. There has to be a biological solution.” Klein nodded, “Since we can already survive for so long with Uranium everywhere, then all I need to do is let people survive even longer… There’s a reason why most miners end up dying before they ever become real ‘Miners’. But Oliver might be the first Uranium Miner in hundreds of years. Most people don’t have a Rank 5 Doctor or Plague Doctor nursing them back to health as they kill themselves in the mines every day…”

“There’s more to it than that.” Oliver snickered and sucked up all the Uranium dust from the air in the kitchen, gathering it together into a small silvery-gray metal bead in the palm of his left hand.

“I’ve always had a certain connection with Greenstone… Uranium. Maybe it’s like you said, we’re all born with it inside of us. My Mom was a miner, just like my Dad. She never gained a Word from it, but… Well, Klein, you were there when I was born. I don’t remember it, ‘cause I was a baby, but my Dad told me I was born right after they found a decent sized green crystal lode.”

“Yeah… You were born in the mine tunnels.”

“Exactly.” Oliver smirked, “In other words, my parents sacrificed their lives in order to bring me into this world. It didn’t happen right away. But they weren’t even thirty when they died.”

“Not many women are crazy enough to go mining when they’re nine months pregnant.” Peridot rolled her green eyes, “Besides, there should be other ways. I’ve heard of Dwarves that lived for over a hundred years. And Elves can live for hundreds of years. Humans might not be able to live that long, but other ‘Races’ are different.”

“It’s not impossible for Race-related Words to be passed down directly, just… Not realistic on a large scale. Usually Word Changes related to ‘Race’ or other extremely physical changes happen around Rank 5.” Klein rubbed his temples and sighed, “There are over a billion people in Kresvallia. Most of them are Wordless. The average life expectancy of the Wordless is only 40 years old. That’s not including all the children and babies who never even get to grow up…”

After a minute of awkward silence, Verna giggled and hugged Oliver’s left arm, rubbing her makeup all over his shoulder.

“Ollie~! Since you need to hide out anyway… Why don’t you go find that Mother Lode again? That’s millions of gold!”

“Did you completely ignore everything that we were just talking about?!” Peridot screamed at her stupid ‘friend’, “Uranium is poison! I might be a cold-hearted bitch most of the time, but even I have a conscience!”

“Yeah! Oh no, doesn’t that mean we’ve killed lots of people?!” Jade cringed, “Not just bad guys… But random innocent people! Even babies!”

“So what?! Even if we didn’t mine and sell Greenstone, somebody else would!” Verna retorted, “I don’t give a shit about saving the world, but if I wanna save myself and the people I love, I need money! Klein also needs money to fund his research! It’s not like we’re selling slaves, weapons or drugs! It’s just Uranium!”

“But you ‘are’ selling slaves, weapons and drugs!”

“Wait, what?” Oliver and Jade looked over Verna, “Slaves? Really?”

“Isn’t slavery illegal?” Jade frowned, “I thought slavery was abolished hundreds of years ago…”

“It was. Officially.” Oliver sighed, “Verna… Seriously, I know money is important. But don’t sell your body or your soul.”

“I wouldn’t sell ‘my’ body…” Verna pouted and pushed him away, crossing her arms in front of her bulging chest, “Besides. I’ve never ‘sold’ anyone who didn’t deserve it. Mostly bandits and scumbags who would normally be put to death, imprisoned for life or sent to perform hard labor… Basically slavery, except the government gets the money instead of me.”

“Okay, you brats can argue about morality while I go back home and get some sleep.” Klein pushed his chair back and stood up, then wobbled a bit and almost fell down.

“Are you okay?!” Jade shouted anxiously, “Are you sick?!”

“I’m fine. It’s fine. I’m just a little dizzy from standing up suddenly…” Klein waved his hand and sighed, “I’m getting old. I’m already thirty-six now… Time really flies.”