Despite what Shane said, it was taking more than a week for the guild to set up everything for people to travel to the new rooms they found beyond Boothudurn. The White Desert was open, but the Wailing Valley, which was their desired destination, was still among the ones that people shouldn't go to. It wasn't like the guild would stop people from going, but they didn't have any actual infrastructure like hotels, campsites, or even bathrooms there. If they wanted to go, they would have to camp outside, heal their own wounds and take care of their own basic needs like food or water.

Considering the size of their party and the possible encounter with the spiders, Shane decided to wait. According to the guild, they would probably need 3 days to arrive at the Wailing Valley. It wouldn't be so much because of the crossing limit, but because the rooms were considerably large. It took about 6 hours to reach the other doorway of the White Desert, and another 4 to do the same in the following room. This was all considering that the environment helped and there weren't too many monsters on the way. There was a possibility of heavy snowstorms covering the White Desert, which would make the travel much more complicated.

This delayed the group's departure but gave Helena and the others time to figure out a spell to make one's own mana harm their body. It was called Mana Burn and it would quickly drain the target's mana while dealing damage in the process. Ogryn had tested the spell on himself and it hurt a lot. He described the feeling as having his blood boil inside his body. It was like the worst fever he ever had accompanied by unbearable pain. Still, everyone knew Ogryn wasn't exactly the most resilient person. He worked with the mages from a young age and the first thing they learned was how not to get hurt.

Helena believed completely that this spell could help, but for it to work, she would need a way to recover her mana while the affliction was eating her up. She tried to use a mana crystal, but that didn't work.

"What if I cycle my mana with yours?" Hera asked.

"Are you crazy? If you do that there is nothing that guarantees that the parasites won't spread to you," Helena turned around.

"There is nothing that says they will either," Hera shrugged.

"Look, this is not on the table. I won't risk that," Helena shook her head.

"Let's talk to Risli first. She might be able to do something to help or tell us if that is a good idea or not. We also need to see if the spell will do anything. I know you only have a little bit of mana and… Actually, what if we do that inside one of the A-heart rooms? I felt my mana regenerating stupidly fast in there," Hera suggested.

"Can more than one person enter?" Helena asked.

"I mean, I don't think there are any rules about that. But we could ask. I know that it's 5k per hour. If we can get the dwarven discount, it would be just 2, but I doubt that."

"That might help. We were trying to avoid increasing my mana regeneration because we didn't know if that would make the parasites grow."

"For starters, we need to check if the spell will work. You haven't tried it just yet, right?" Hera asked.

"Yeah, let's head to Risli."

"Lena, it's almost midnight. If you want to do a proper test we need to sleep, rest, and call everyone to help. I know how much you want to fix this, but we need to be careful," Hera placed one hand on Helena's shoulder, "This is going to work."

"You're right. I know. I just want to take these things out of me," Helena sighed.

They talked some more before heading to bed. Helena decided to take a sleep potion that Risli gave Hera a while ago since she was too anxious to rest. The next morning, they headed out to the Shaman before even eating breakfast. Everyone seemed to be anxious about the idea, even Ogryn arrived in a rush. While Risli was preparing for some emergency healing, Hera asked about her idea.

"If I cycle my mana with Lena, would the parasites go to me?"

"That is… possible. I'm not sure how likely it will be. Your mage friend has much more mana than you, and since she now has more mana than they can eat, there is no reason for the parasites to look for a new food source," Risli placed a few of her tools on a table, "Now come here. Let me check how you are doing."

"I feel the same. My mana keeps going back and forth between 456 and 457," Helena replied.

"Yes, I can see that this is steady. Even with my spell, the parasites can still eat up all the mana you recover. Now, what about the spell? Should Ogryn be the one who uses it or we leave it to Bonnie?" Risli put one thing that looked like a dreamcatcher away.

"Ogryn. I think that Bonnie won't be able to hurt the parasites. The guild tried using other types of spells to kill these things, but the spells were too weak and they didn't want to hurt me," Helena replied.

Risli nodded, "Very well. We can try," she turned to Ogryn, "Do a strong version, but not too strong. Make her spend the 4 hundred mana in… a minute. Can you do that?"

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Ogryn nodded, "I believe that is within my power, yes," he put his hand on Helena's shoulder, "This is going to hurt. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Absolutely."

"Very well," Ogryn looked at Risli, who got ready to heal and gave him the signal to start. The mage simply tapped Helena, and the spell took hold. In less than a second, they could see her veins glowing from under her skin.

Helena yelled and Hera quickly shoved a belt in her friend's mouth to stop her from biting her own tongue. Their eyes met but before any reaction, Helena jerked back with the glow becoming even stronger. For an entire minute, she kept screaming nonstop, her cries of pain echoing in the shaman's hut. During all that time, Risli was burning a small piece of sage and moving it around Helena while her other hand was just on top of the mage's head constantly healing the patient.

When Ogryn reached the one-minute mark, the spell stopped and Helena's veins returned to normal. No one spoke while she caught her breath. Large drops of sweat had formed all around her body due to the intense pain. After a while, she turned to Risli.

"Did it work?"

"In a way. The spell hurt them. I can tell that, but it didn't destroy a single one of them," Risli sighed.

"Shit!" Helena slammed her fist against the frame of the bed.

Risli slapped the back of Helena's head, "Stop that! I don't care if you are frustrated, I will not watch a patient hurt herself for naught."

"Sorry…"

"Also, let me finish. It hurt them, while the spell was going I could feel their life force becoming smaller, but trying to regrow. It's a very small reaction, but I believe if the spell went on for longer they would be destroyed," Risli continued.

"How much longer?" Hera asked.

"If we make it the same strength. Maybe five, six hours," Risli said.

"What!" Helena tried to jump up but her body forced her to stay still. Everything still hurt.

"Is that a good what or a bad one?" Bonnie turned to Helena.

"Both…" the mage replied after a pause.

"Why?" Bonnie pressed.

"I need to prepare myself if that will last for 6 hours. The pain is no joke."

"Is it really that bad?" Hera asked.

"Have you ever had kidney stones?" Helena turned to Hera who just shook her head, "Well, it's like my entire body is passing kidney stones. I never imagined that this type of pain could be possible."

"I suppose that saying I could make the spell stronger if your regeneration was better is out of the question then?" Ogryn said.

Helena turned to Risli, "Would that help?"

"Yes. The issue here is that the parasites can recover most of the damage they are taking, the stronger the spell the bigger the difference between what they regenerate and the damage will be."

"So let's get an A-heart room. I'm positive that it will help Lena's mana recovery."

"Oh, that is a good idea," Ogryn nodded, "Even my own recovery in there is at least three times as strong as normal."

"Three times… that may cut the time by three, so instead of six hours it would be just two, maybe even less," Risli said after considering it for a moment.

"And if Helena can actually recover her mana, we should let her top it all off. That way the spell can be even stronger and take even less time," Bonnie added.

"The pain will also be at least three times stronger if we do it like this. Are you sure you want to do this?" Ogryn turned to Helena.

"My answer hasn't changed. I don't care if I have to be boiled alive. I want those things out of me."

Understanding that there was nothing anyone could say to change her mind, the group headed towards the guild. Hera talked to the clerks who were a bit unsure on how much to charge for the A-heart room. Usually, only two people could be there at once, but after explaining the situation, they agreed to rent it out for 4 hours, but it would cost 40 thousand gold. For a single person, one hour inside one of the rooms here would be just 2 thousand. Hera knew she was getting scammed, but she was more worried about Helena than anything and just paid the fee without discussion.

Inside the A-heart room, everyone was taken aback. Hera and Ogryn were the only ones who had seen the training room before and understood its effects.

"This is… incredible," Helena gasped. Despite the parasites, her mana was recovering even faster than it used to.

"It is indeed. I was able to try a lot of spells here," Ogryn was looking around the room.

"Yeah, yeah. Just keep it in your pants, will you?" Risli rolled her eyes and asked Helena to sit down in the center of the room.

Helena moved over, and they waited for a few minutes while her mana recovered to full. During that time, Ogryn was tweaking the spell to hit just hard enough to keep up with Helena's increased mana regeneration. The idea was to leave only a little bit of room so the spell could keep going without stopping.

"This is… an issue," Risli said after checking the energy coming from the parasites.

"What happened?" Helena turned around.

"Whatever is inside you is also being affected by the room. Their energy is stronger than normal."

Helena opened her status, "My mana is still increasing, and I don't remember how much of it they got it before. Hang on," she got up and left the A-heart room. A few moments later, she returned, "Yeah, we need to take them out today. Even when I leave here, they are still eating more mana than they were before."

Risli looked down for a moment, "Perhaps those parasites are made out of pure mana. That's how they can eat it to survive. If that's the case, the regeneration provided by this place might be helping them more than we imagined."

"So let's stop wasting time and kill these damn things," Helena sat in front of the shaman once more.

Ogryn nodded and walked over to her, "This is the last time I will be asking. Are you sure about this?"

"Positive," Helena replied without looking back.

Ogryn and Risli nodded, Hera took that chance to put the belt she brought in Helena's mouth. To protect her from hurting herself. The mage smiled just before Ogryn activated the spell. It took less than one second for Helena to feel her entire body burning. It was like someone had put molten rock inside all of her veins. At the same time, she felt like she was passing kidney stones through her entire body. Helena bit down on the belt and screamed feeling as if her own flesh was being ripped asunder.