Mannat examined the man. That was the first thing he did. He directly skipped his attributes and skills and went straight to his afflictions.

[Ram Dhari][Lv-0][Class: none][Job: Peddler]

[Age: 21][Mana: 0/12][Stamina: 25/76]

[Affliction: Bleeding, Anemic, Parasitized, hungry, shocked, can’t regenerate mana, can’t recover stamina.]

A bucket load of afflictions and a constantly dropping stamina -- it dropped to twenty-four while Mannat was examining him. However, it was a good result. The Witch was right. He wasn’t suffering from miasma poisoning.

That was a relief.

All he had were a bunch of parasites in his body, not a problem.

A doctor would have been a better choice for him if it were a normal parasite, but faint as it might be, Mannat did sense miasma inside Ram, and if he wasn’t wrong—

Mannat located the parasite inside the man’s intestine with mana vision. It was thick as a rope and covered the entirety of the organ. There was only one of them, but it was long. Entwined around itself like a snake, it stuck to the walls of Ram’s intensities and blocked the passage, robbing every piece of food he ate, every drop of water he drank, nutrient he ingested.

For once, Mannat wanted to ask the Witch’s help but decided to try what he could. Perhaps, he might not need her at all. She could be there to help if he made it worse. She hadn’t disappeared yet. It had to mean something.

“All right,” Mannat put a hand on Ram’s chest, right above his heart.

Kaju and the woman came into motion at the exact same time.

“What are you doing?” The woman asked hurriedly.

“I’m going to cure him. Isn’t that what you want?” Mannat glanced at the woman. She was scared and so was he. He didn’t tell her that.

“With what?”She asked.

“Mana,” Mannat took a deep breath, calming his senses, pulling his attention back to Ram.

“You are going to be all right,” He told Ram and then got to work.

Mannat’s heart pulsed at a unique rhythm as the tornado of mana circulating inside it sped up, further and further until a funnel protruded out of it, reached the top, and entered a vein. Mana flowed along with his blood, passing the lungs, strengthening them in the process before making its way toward Mannat’s right hand. He didn’t let it accumulate and poured it into Ram’s chest.

The parasite might have been in the man’s abdomen, but the path to it lay inside his heart. Mannat would have lost too much strength trying to penetrate Ram’s abdomen.

Mannat’s faced no resistance from Ram’s skin or body.

Ram had not an iota of mana inside his body. There was nothing stopping Mannat’s mana from moving freely.

Mannat kept elongating the mana channel the deeper he went until he was at Ram’s intestine. He found the parasite and it came into action upon sensing a force of mana coming toward it. The parasite was just as aggressive as any infected beast Mannat had faced in the open; it didn’t back down from the fight.

Ram shuddered, his forehead drenched in sweat. Then he started convulsing.

Ram’s sister stood on her knees. “What’s happening?” She exclaimed grabbing her brother’s arm and losing it when foam bubbled at Ram’s mouth.

“He’s dying.” She murmured in shock then recklessly grabbed Mannat’s arm.

“Stop it! You are going to kill him!” She cried and tried to pry Mannat’s hand off her brother’s chest.

She started pushing him when she failed. There wasn’t much difference in the number of their strengths, or Mannat couldn’t have managed to keep his hand still.

Seeing the woman was being no help Mannat turned to the old man.

“Believe me,” Mannat told Kaju. “I can save him. Just hold him down.”

Kaju was a spectacle, but he believed in Mannat, if not for him then for the Witch standing outside, watching. She wouldn’t let a man die on her watch, would she? He grabbed the man’s shoulders and pushed him down.

The woman grew frantic when Ram’s eyes turned back. “No, please stop. Don’t kill him.” She sobbed and tried to push Kaju off, but there was no way that was happening. There was a gulf of difference between their strengths.

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Mannat cornered the parasite. Once it had no way to go, it stopped resisting and started fighting in earnest. Much to his surprise, it wasn’t a very difficult opponent. The parasite directly imploded the moment he forcefully pored thirty points of mana into its head.

It wasn’t a harsh explosion.

The parasite simply died from exposure to mana.

That was the end of it.

Ram stopped thrashing just as abruptly as he had begun. It bewildered Kaju and made the woman choke on her tears.

“Did you succeed?” Kaju couldn’t help checking Ram’s pulse; he felt the nerve on his neck and found the pulse; it was there and getting stronger with each passing second.

“You can let go. He’s safe.” Mannat said retracting his hand.

Kaju repeated his action but the woman stared at them in horror. She didn’t believe them, yet couldn’t muster up the courage to check her brother either.

However, Ram had survived, and when his chest started moving up and down twenty times per minute she had to believe. The woman was in no condition to speak. She hugged Ram’s chest and started weeping.

Kaju instead had questions. To his eyes, Mannat hadn’t done anything other than touch Ram’s chest. He had half expected him to put on a show, chant, and call on to the invisible entities; instead, he received the shock of his life.

Kaju couldn’t calm the butterflies in his stomach. “What happened to him?”

“He had a parasite in his gut,” Mannat said Examining Ram to make sure he hadn’t missed a one, and he hadn’t.

He succeeded; he saved someone. If only words could explain his relief.

Mannat heard a ring in his head and a message appeared in front of his eyes. Examine was now level four. Two more levels and he might be able to learn more about his title.

Ram’s sister raised her head. The last of her tears had streamed down her eyes leaving two bright clear wells of hope. “Will my brother be all right?”

“He’s weak,” Mannat said, keeping an eye on Ram’s regenerating mana and stamina. “I suggest you take him to a doctor as he has lost a lot of blood. As for the parasite,” Mannat glanced at Ram. “I think his body should have no problem expelling it once he recovers.” The parasite had not formed a core. That was the most important thing, or they would have had to remove the parasite from his body at all cost.

The Woman listened to him, wiping the remnants of tears from her face. In the end, she dropped to Mannat’s feet in gratitude. Hurriedly she reached into her top and pulled out a small cloth purse that ringed with coins.

“Please, take this. This is all I have,” The woman urged Mannat, forced the purse into his hand, and quickly retreated to her brother's side.

Mannat stared between the purse and the woman, wanting to return it when he saw Kaju shaking his head.

“Keep it,” Kaju advised. “She can’t pay what the Witch might ask in return.”

Everyone knew the stories. Prepare everything you have if you want to save someone who means everything to you. The Witch never settled for anything less.

Ram’s sister had come prepared in the heart, however, no one wants to jump down the cliff to reach even ground where there's a safer alternative. Perhaps, she hadn't offered Manant the Mannat in kindness, but he still couldn’t take it.

Mannat sighed. “I can’t take this.” He put the purse back on Ram’s chest. “I was only told to help. You owe the payment to the Witch. I can’t help you with this.”

He had no choice. He might have treated Ram, but truth was that he was no different from the servant working in the merchant’s shop where he had bought the slate when he was in town. It was the Witch’s shop and she decided the price, which she did.

“Keep it.” Suddenly the Witch said, her voice breaking, sullenly. “And take the same amount from everyone else.”

What did she mean? Was she telling him there were more people infected with parasites? Mannat inhaled sharply. It was possible. Yes. Saving Ram couldn’t be the end of it. The witch had never been given a task where he didn’t have to fight a monster, a beast, a demon. Did the parasite have a source?

Mannat turned to Kaju who was watching the woman rubbing her brother's hands to warm them. “Are there others who are showing the same conditions?”

Kaju got surprised at first, then understood the question and shook his head. “At least I haven’t heard about any.”

“Might as well check them out anyway,” Mannat said. “There is no need to wait until their condition regresses.”

There was nothing wrong with being vigilant. He vividly remembered reading somewhere the demons never come alone.

“What do you suggest we do?” Kaju asked.

“I’ll go with you. I hope your villagers will take kindly to my suggestion.”

Kaju stared at him for a few seconds, before looking at Ram who was starting to regain some of his colors, and nodded in earnest.

“You are welcome.”

Mannat didn’t know if he was being paranoid, but for some reason, his heart was telling him to be ready for the worst. The source of the parasites was also something he needed to consider and whether it was possible for the infection to have spread to his village. It was going to be one long day. At least he knew someone who would be happy to accompany him to the neighboring village.