Runar rushed up the steps at the cave's walls, practically ripping open the door once he got to the top. And what he was seeing was exactly what he thought. To his left, startled by his uncle's sudden appearance was Ryan, who stuck out like a sore thumb because of the dungeon mana in him. The corruption was still wriggling on his chest, trying to dig its way through.

Next to him was Silvia, whose mana was fine, but not anything special. And then, Runar turned toward Kindly the cursed mimic, and the sight of his mana practically assaulted Runar's sight, fully distracting him from Rose's dense mana. But the only thing that he could focus on was that 'hole'. More than just a complete lack of mana, it was like the space taken up by Modak fully rejecting the very existence of mana.

It even took Runar a while to realize what was actually happening here; Modak was treating Kindly.

"What's going on, what are you doing?" Runar asked, still not sure what he was looking at. Rose immediately shook her head and waved her hands around.

"It's not what it looks like! He doesn't have any mana, so he's unaffected by Kindly's curse!" The animal caretaker tried to make sure that Runar knew Modak was safe in what he was doing, "He wasn't even affected by the cockatrice's paralysis!"

Runar stared at Rose, taken aback, "He locked eyes with a cockatrice? How the hell did that happen?!"

Rose was startled at Runar's raised voice, "I-I'm sorry, it was an accident! He fell and-"

"Rose, I entrusted them to you, you should be the one to prevent those exact accidents!"

"Dude," Ryan stepped up to his uncle, stepping between him and Rose, "I get what you're saying, but it really wasn't her fault. Animals get weird around Modak because he doesn't have mana, and a cockatrice tried to jump at him. He fell down, his sunglasses fell off, and that was that."

Runar looked at Ryan for a few moments, sighing loudly, "Fine... as long as he's alright, that's all that matters. But still, why is he treating Kindly? Even if the curse won't affect him, treating a mimic can be very dangerous."

Rose quickly shook her head, "No, with other mimics, maybe, but Kindly isn't the same as other mimics, he's much, much smarter. He's less aggressive, and he understands things at a wholly different level!"

Runar rubbed the bridge of his nose, "That doesn't mean that he can't be dangerous, Rose. Especially an injured mimic can be dangerous. Even more so if it's an awakened mimic."

Ryan's head snapped toward the wardrobe, deeply staring at it, "Excuse me?"

"Hm? What?" Runar asked with a deep frown, massaging his forehead to get it to relax.

"No, just... I thought you just said that the mimic... that Kindly awakened."

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"But isn't Kindly a mimic?"

"I don't understand the problem," Runar looked at his nephew with a confused expression, and Rose quickly explained.

"Ah, about that... I believe that it's not particularly well-known that animals can awaken," she explained, but Runar let out a scoff.

"Seriously? I guess it's a lot rarer than for people, but I figured Ryan would know," he pointed out, quickly turning to his nephew, "Aren't you kind of an Awakening nerd?"

Ryan stared into space for a few moments, trying to really process that information. He had read through every single known class on the AWKND forum, but there was no info about any classes that belonged to animals. But then again, it wasn't like there was anything that said animals couldn't awaken.

"Whatever, that's not really important right now. Modak, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Any scratches, bumps, or other injuries?" Runar asked, looking the orc up and down, but Modak quickly shook his head.

"No, I'm fine..." he replied, slowly looking back at Kindly, "And I'm just treating some wounds on him, that's fine, right?"

Runar hesitated to answer. Obviously there wasn't anything wrong with him taking care of the mimic, but this was just too risky. If Modak did something wrong and hurt Kindly even a little, he could lash out and do a lot of damage to an un-awakened person. That being the case, though, Runar knows how important it is to get Kindly fixed up quickly. It wasn't even possible to use healing magic on him because the curse would break down any spell it came in contact with.

"Fine," Runar let out a long, deep sigh, "But let me do something first."

Runar waved Modak over, and the orc carefully walked up to him. He was trying to keep his hands behind his back, since he was wearing rubber gloves and didn't want to get them dirty. With some swift motions, Runar used his pen to write something right in front of Modak's chest. He activated the runes, and for just a brief moment, Modak was surrounded in a thin light.

With a click of his tongue, Runar put the pen away, "I've put a mark for a physical protection spell on you, so that should do it in case something goes wrong."

"I thought Kindly's curse infects all mana, wouldn't that happen with that too?" Silvia wondered, but Runar shook his head.

"That's why it's just a mark. If something happens, I'll activate the spell from here. Kindly's curse can't infect anything right off the bat, so it should work. I can't keep it active for much longer than a moment anyway because the spell probably won't take proper hold on Modak and will break down pretty quickly," Runar explained quickly, taking a step back to where he could properly watch Kindly and Modak. The orc slowly returned to the mimic, continuing to properly clean and treat his wounds.

Using salves that were specifically created with the minimum amount of mana possible, as well as some medicine that was fed to Kindly directly, Modak was able to finish the treatment properly as Rose carefully guided him through the whole process.

Ryan stood on the other side of the room. His heart was beating strong, as he watched Kindly twitch at the slightest touch. Squeezing his eyes shut, trying to persist through the discomfort. Those thin, wart-covered tentacles curled up, wrapping themselves around the legs of the wardrobe. Through it all, no matter how strange Kindly appeared, no matter how monstrous his form would look to others, Ryan couldn't help himself but think of a child at the doctor's office.

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The fear and pain of being treated, of knowing and understanding that this is what had to happen, but having this unending anxiety in your chest.

"... His curse, what kind is it?" Ryan asked in a whisper, leaning toward Runar. He slightly raised his brow, glancing at his nephew before going back to watching Modak and Kindly.

"It's a type of corruption, one bred to spread, specifically," he replied, and Ryan's stomach sank.

The corruption that was latched onto his chest barely affected him; it burned and was uncomfortable, but the dungeon mana protected him. Richie reacted how he did after just being scraped by it. Ryan couldn't imagine what it was like to be fully infected like that.

"... Can it be cured?"

"Regular types of curses can, but corruption is different. It's like a living thing, latching itself onto others to feed off them. We're trying to find something to counteract it, but..."

"Then what's the plan supposed to be for me?" Ryan asked, glancing down at his own chest. Would he end up having that thing in there forever?

Runar scratched his throat, trying to find the right words, "We're going to try and... force the curse out of your body, I guess? In your case, it just infected your physical body, and not your mana. We could technically just cut it all out, but that's obviously not preferable. So, if everything works out tonight and we're a bit lucky, then... you'll be rid of the corruption in a couple of days."

"Hm... alright... So there's no way to help Kindly right now?"

"Not any more than what's happening right now. Honestly, this is already close to a miracle... Most people or animals that are affected by some kind of corruption don't die because of the corruption itself. But rather, because it drives them wild and they end up injuring themselves to a point where they will die without treatment. And because of Kindly's corruption specifically, we can't even treat him," Runar explained, "The fact that Kindly was able to persist through the mental effects and recover his sanity, and that we have someone that can treat him on top of that... He's quite lucky."

Ryan looked over at Modak and the mimic. Now he understood why Runar was so on edge. But it seemed like Modak was finishing up things for the time being anyway, applying the last of the bandages on one of Kindly's limbs.

Rose loudly clapped her hands together, just with pure excitement apparent in her whole body, "Alright! And that's done! We should let Kindly rest now, I'm sure the medicine has made him a bit tired. Once he feels a bit better, maybe we can finally get him into his new shell!" she said gleefully, as Modak carefully stood up, an exhausted smile on his own face.

"I'm glad I could help," the orc replied, stepping away from Kindly. However, the mimic had wrapped one of his tentacles around his leg, unwilling to let go. Before Modak could really process this, more of Kindly's limbs stretched out toward him, wrapping themselves around the orc's body. Seeing this, Runar flinched and tried to stretch out his hand, but Ryan immediately slapped it back down.

"Dude, calm down. It's just a hug."

Runar stared at his nephew, slowly turning back to the wardrobe. As Ryan has said, nothing happened. Kindly pulled Modak in for a few moments, tightly holding him, and then let go just a moment later.

"For someone that said he's bad with animals, you're sure popular with them, huh?" Silvia laughed, looking at Modak's wet, slime-covered body. With a sigh, the orc stepped away.

"Shut up," he groaned, trying to walk to his friends, but Runar immediately stopped him.

"Nope, stop. With all of that on you, you need to get cleaned up first, so stay a few steps away from everyone," Runar said, stepping away from the door to let Modak step through first. He groaned and nodded his head, making his way outside. Before he left through the door, though, he glanced back at Kindly one more time.

Keeping some distance from the orc, the others quickly followed behind, though Runar stopped Rose from stepping outside. Waiting until the others were out of earshot, he looked at the woman in front of him, "Okay, first of all. Before you let someone that didn't even know mimics existed until an hour ago treat a cursed mimic, run it by me first," he started, his foot tapping on the ground as he stared through the hazmat suit's darkened glass front as Rose took a nervous step back, "And second. I get that meeting someone that won't be affected by you is exciting, but he's barely 18. Keep it professional and respectful, okay?"

"I-I wasn't, I-" Rose stuttered out nervously, trying to turn her head away so that Runar couldn't look at her face. But she quickly realised that hiding from Runar wasn't possible, "... I understand. I'm sorry..."

"No, it's fine. You didn't do anything. I get that your situation is rough, I definitely do. I mean, come on, you're wearing a fucking hazmat suit all day, every day. Just... don't be weird about it to him," Runar turned around and stepped out the door, quickly making his way down the steps. He looked around a little nervously, trying to find someone, muttering to himself, "And where the hell is she?"

"So... what now? If it's so dangerous, Modak can't just walk through the streets like this, right? And especially not that dense forest," Ryan pointed out, and Runar slowly nodded his head. He kept looking around.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll get him some water in a second, don't worry," Runar replied, and just as he did, a cloud formed above Modak. It was almost cartoonish, with the size and shape appearing like someone just plucked a perfectly fluffy and white cloud from a child's drawing.

"I can help with that," Alicia's voice pointed out, and Runar snapped his head toward the source of that sound, staring at her almost pleadingly. She had appeared out of nowhere with that annoying grin on her face. The elf held forward her hand, pointing at the cloud, locking eyes with Runar. He let out a long groan and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Modak, do you have your phone on you? Or anything else that can't get wet?"

"Uh... no, I kept it in the changing room with my other stuff... what's happening, exactly?" the orc asked nervously, but Runar didn't fill him in.

"Just hold your breath."

Before Modak could ask why, Alicia snapped her fingers. A massive flood of water poured out of the cloud. It wasn't even just to the extent of heavy rain, but as if someone was emptying out a bathtub over his head. In just a few moments, all the slime that was stuck to Modak was completely washed off. But weirdest of all, neither him nor the floor around him were wet whatsoever. Like the water just completely disappeared.

"There we go~!" smiling broadly, Alicia took a step closer to Modak, looking him up and down, "So, you're the one without mana, huh?"

Modak slowly nodded his head, staring at the woman in front of him in stunned disbelief. However, Alicia quickly turned to Ryan, "And you're the nephew, the Spirit Keeper, huh?"

"Yep, and who are you?" Ryan responded, raising his brow as he looked back at the woman in front of him.

"Straightforward. I like it," Alicia replied, looking at the young man in front of her with a curious smile, "I'm Alicia. Runar called me over to help you find the last fragment of that spirit core you have."

"Oh! Yeah, that's great!" Ryan replied, his heart almost skipping a beat. He inwardly looked at Gaia's two fragments, floating in her domain. She was still asleep now, as she had been since the two fragments were brought back together. Realising that he might be able to wake her up soon, Ryan looked over at Runar, "Are we doing this now?"

Runar looked over at Alicia, "Are we? Are you ready to go?"

"I don't see why not," she responded, "Let's get going back to Runar's office. That should be a better place for me to work than here."

Without further ado, Alicia turned around and started walking down the dirt path, quickly followed by Runar. Ryan and Silvia were about to follow as well, but Modak grabbed both of their arms, pulling them back for a moment.

"Guys... that..." Modak started, staring at Alicia with wide, open eyes, "Do you know who that is?"

"I don't know, someone from the magic tower that Runar knows. That's what he said at least," Ryan replied, and Silvia looked over at her curiously.

"Why, do you know her? Is she famous?"

"Famous? That's not just 'someone from the magic tower', that's Alicia Ethel Boreard, the Mistress of the Magic Tower. She's probably the most powerful and influential mage in the world right now!"