As Maria was reading one of the books, she stood right up and spoke to Kyle out loud,

“Fuck, I think I just waste my time reading the same book all over again” Maria said, “I need a rest before I have a mental break down”

“Calm yourself Maria, I made sure that all the books that we have now are different from yesterday” Kyle replied.

“Are you sure because I swear they only talk about the same thing over and over again?” Maria said. At that exact moment, an idea both spark in their head. Maria quickly opened another medical book to compare with the one she was reading and Kyle ran out to look for books that were said to be more advanced. And the result was just like what they thought.

“It is a different book, it's just that the medical knowledge in this world is so little that to me it just seems like I am reading the same thing all over again because I actually am” Maria said.

“All of this book has only very little knowledge about medicine and not all of them were actually true.”

“All of the so-called ‘advanced’ books also look quite the same to me, one only even mentions how to treat a disease that has a lot in common with a common cold. And that is actually in the advance medical book” Kyle said “Clearly they are very far behind in science”

“That is an understatement. Many of the books talk about how the Temple and healing magic is the only way to go. Some diseases are listed as certain deaths, which could be easily cured with simple surgery or medicine. Worst yet, they could only perform natural birth and not c section so the death rate of giving birth is crazy high” Maria said. “We truly are in a Medieval time”.

They both continued to find some more books to research, this time it was about technology and the result was the same, it was very heavy magic relied and technology science was very low. In addition, they found out why the Temple was so powerful. Turns out in this world, not a lot of people can perform magic or at least to a point where those magic would actually matter. That was why those who had magic were so highly rated and the Temple where powerful healers stayed,which as far as the people knew were the only one who could cure them and save their life, would of course hold so much power.

This time around, it did not take them the whole day to study in the library but only until the afternoon. Maria and Kyle then proceeded to explore the city as they decided they got all the information they needed. They heard about an area called the walking death zone, where people with disease or fatal wounds that the Temple could not cure or heal must stay and wait for their death.

“Can we go there, I want to see what is actually going on” Maria asked.

“Too dangerous, we will be surrounded by dead bodies and countless diseases that could spread to us” Kyle answered.

“We don’t need to get that close, maybe just have a look from afar, wearing masks and washing our hands and body after” Maria pleaded. Seeing that look of determination in Maria's eyes, Kyle knew she was going to do this one way or another so he agreed to go with her if she followed his safety rules to the teeth.

The walking death zone really lived up to its name. In there, the streets were filled with people lying on the ground, some were unconscious or as Maria and Kyle suspected already dead. One can hear the moaning of pain and prayers to the Temple to seek out help from the divine. They were there for different reasons, but most of them as Maria said could be helped if they were in their world or if she could just perform some minor surgeries. They then saw a group of people wearing the Temple symbol and clothing enter the zone and tried to treat some of the people, without much success of course.

“Fuck me, those preist are useless” Maria said, anger filled her tone.

“They are trying their best Maria, it’s not their fault that those people are sick and that they can not do anything to help”. Kyle replied.

“But…” Maria responded. As they were speaking, a young boy coughed roughly seemingly dryly then suddenly dropped to the ground visibly gasping for air, the priest nearby tried to use healing magic on him but nothing worked. He then stood up, said some nonsense and walked away from the boy who was just lying on the ground with his mother crying and begging desperately for the priest to try again. It was heart wrenching for Maria, who just stood there seeing a little boy dying in front of her eyes, knowing that she might be able to save his life.

“We should go now,” Kyle said. He took Maria’s hand and tried to turn her away from the scenes. At that moment, Maria remembered why that scene was so huanting to her. It was almost the same as when she first got into this world. Luna was on the ground, her life was on the line and all Maria did was stand still, watching as Luna was facing certain death. She was too scared to move and too powerless to help, she just took Allan's hand and ran away, leaving Luna to die. But not this time, this time she did not have the excuse of being powerless or scared, this time she had a choice to keep running or face it head on. She let go of Kyle’s hand and started to sprint toward the little boy. Kyle immediately ran after her and caught her before she could reach him.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“What do you think you’re doing ?” Kyla said. “Saving that boy's life” Maria replied.

“I thought we agreed on staying on the safeside and keeping our head low,” Kyle said.

“I’m sorry but I just can’t. I can’t just stand by and watch someone else die when I could do something about it, not again.” Maria replied “So one way or the other, I’m going and you can either get out of my way or help me”.

Kyle looked straight into her eyes, he could see the determination to save the boy's life burning in her beautiful green eyes and although he was very intimidating, giving her his classic stone cold and serious look on his face and grabbing her hand tightly, Maria did not waver at all. “ You know there is no turning back right, we could get sick or they people might treat us with hostile intention if we do something wrong” Kyle said.

“ I know” Maria said “But I must”. Kyle let go of her and they both headed to the little who was still gasping for air. When they got there the boy had already lost his consciousness, time was running out.

“What are you doing, leave that poor boy be and pray for the Goddess to bless his soul” the priest said. Maria stared back at him and said.

“Shut the fuck up and stay out of my way”. The priest was furious at Maria, priests from the Temple were very highly respected by the people in this country, even higher than some nobles. To be insulted by Maria, an unknown woman, was something that never happened to them before. “What did you just say girl?” the priest spoke out with a face full of anger. However, before he could make a step closer to Maria, Kyle stopped him.

“She is a doctor, let her help him, it’s not like you are going to do anything anyway.” Kyle said. All of the priests laughed hard and they told Kyle and Maria that

“Hahahaha, a mere doctor, and you think you can do better than us Temple priests. Stop trying to make a scene and go back to where you came from.”

Maria did not give them any mind and Kyle did not move back an inch. They were focusing on saving that little boy's life and that is all that matters right now.

Checking the boy's condition, Maria noticed that he showed signs of pulmonary effusion (basically someone got a buildup of fluid in the pleural space, an area between the layers of tissue that line the lungs and the chest wall). However, without any additional tests or technological support, there was no way for Maria to be 100% sure. But time was running out, she needed to make a decision now.

“I need a clean and sterilized blade,” Maria told Kyle. He looked around and then focused on one of the priests. He stepped to him and casually took his water bottle away.

“Hey hey what do you think…” the priest said. “Calm down drunky, I will buy you some drinks later” Kyle replied. It Turned out that the water bottle was filled with liquor.

“How did you …” The priest said. “Oh please, your breath stinks with alcohol. Your hands are visibly weaker than the other and your eyes are lazy as hell. How could someone not noticed” Kyle replied as he returned to Maria. He pulled out a small knife and poured the liquor on it. “Is it good enough?”.

“Now I need some kind of tube and a bucket of water,” Maria said.

“How the hell am I going to get that ?”. Kyle said. “Can you save my son ?” the mother asked both of them, Maria looked at Kyle then nodded. Without a second thought, the woman screamed and cried out, asking everyone for what Maria needed. She begged and cried a painful and heartbreaking scene for anyone to watch, a mother desperately trying to save her son. And fortunately, her prayer was answered, someone did have what Maria needed. But by that time, the young boy had stopped breathing, there was literally no time to spear.

Maria quickly sterilized all of her tools and immediately prepared for her surgery.

“Two rips down” she said out loud. Maria took the knife and prepared to make the first incision.

“What are you doing ?Are you crazy? Can you see that he has already stopped breathing. Someone stops her from torturing that poor boy's dead body”. The priest said as all of them started to try to stop Maria.

“One step closer and I will cut your throat” Kyle pulled out his sword and pointed it at them.

Maria was too focused on the boy to notice what was going on. She had never done a surgery on her own, she was still a resident and not a full time doctor, but it did not matter now. Maria made the first incision, it was perfect, her training taught her well. She then inserted the tube through the incision she just made and on the other end of the tube, she put it in the bucket of water. Blood was pouring out of the fresh cut and the mother almost fainted. But to everyone's surprise, they were all going to witness a miracle. The boy started gasping for air and his eyes opened. He had come back from the dead, everyone was shocked out of their mind.

“Why the bucket of water ?” Kyle asked. “So that when the liquid in his lung is pushed out by the pressure of the air inside, the air pressure from the outside environment couldn’t get in, slowing down the liquid movement or causing infection.” Maria replied.

“A one way valve, smart” Kyle replied. They both looked back at everyone who was watching them. Of course their jaw was on the ground, but for the priest, there was a mixture of surprises, anger and fear in their eyes.

“The Goddess, the Goddess has turned, please save us” so spoke the crowd. Everyone started to surround Maria and begged for her help.

“Is he alright now ?, because I think we need to go now.” Kyle said.

“No he still needs special care, one wrong move now could still mean death” Maria replied.

“Fuck, so much for keeping a low profile.” Kyle said.