Kindness

In a dry, open stretch of the limestone cave tunnel, several people dressed as fishermen and sailors lay on the ground, groaning and wailing without end. Most were men in their prime, their faces twisted in agony. Even though the cave was freezing, they were still drenched in sweat.

Among those lying on the ground, only a slightly stooped old man remained comparatively calm. Yet it was clear that his legs were covered in swelling, with several dark-blue spots faintly visible beneath the skin, darting about ceaselessly.

A youth of about fourteen or fifteen held medicines and a small knife, his face full of worry as he operated on the groaning, screaming ordinary people and applied the medicine.

"Everyone."

From time to time, he would helplessly remind them, "Please keep your voices down. This is a cave region, and sound can carry very far. If it draws other magical beasts here, we'll really be in danger."

The blond youth was Isengard.

When the South Sea Anomaly occurred, he, Master Gose, Ian, Sha Sha, and the pirate captain had all been swept into the relic by the fierce winds unleashed when it opened.

As Master Gose lacked the strength to continue, Isengard could only step in, activating his sublimation arts and protective accessories to shield everyone.

He succeeded, but in the end, he was still only at the First Energy Level and could not achieve perfection. Everyone was scattered, and he had only managed to protect the already unconscious Master Gose as they fell into the relic.

Protected by his accessory, he awoke quickly. After observing his surroundings, he began trying to find an exit by following the direction of the wind—though fire was his main specialty, he had some skill with wind as well.

The tunnels branched in all directions, deep and gloomy. Before Isengard could find an exit after searching for quite some time, he first came across a group of ordinary fishermen and merchant ship traders who had been attacked by magical beasts.

The South Sea Anomaly had affected more than just the open sea.

When the anomaly struck, whirlpool breaches of every size appeared around Odell Reef, Sighing Cliff, and even the northeastern waters, dragging many ships and outsiders into them and sweeping countless ordinary people away.

Only the main entrances of the tidal currents were turbulent and surging. The smaller openings elsewhere were quite gentle; some fishermen's boats had not even been damaged.

Though Isengard lacked emotional intelligence and was somewhat naive, he was not so foolishly sweet as to save people without a second thought—if he could find one of those gentler small entrances, it would surely be of tremendous help to their current situation.

He had driven back that somewhat bizarre Shellless Lobster—a giant shrimp without a shell, but with a layer of tough grease covering its body. This kind of giant shrimp was the main course at the finest whole-shrimp feasts of wealthy coastal city magnates, and its savory shrimp oil was an exquisite delicacy. But at this moment, it was hard to say who was whose meal.

After killing that magical beast in a one-on-one fight, Isengard was astonished to discover that nearly all the ordinary people hit by the lobster's sprayed water foam, as well as Master Gose, had developed high fevers. Extremely conspicuous lumps and cysts had appeared on their bodies.

"These are parasites. Ordinary antidotes and deworming agents are useless. Instead, sedatives that slow blood flow, along with anesthetics that numb neural perception, can reduce the activity rate of these unknown parasites."

With medicine and a small knife in hand, the youth deftly moved through the groaning crowd, lancing their pustules, killing the parasites whose movements had slowed, then cauterizing the wounds with fire before using medicine to heal the burns.

Having entered a professional state, he treated everything as a biological alchemy experiment and instead calmed down. He then analyzed and handled the situation with composure. "These parasites are following the bloodstream, but their goal is not to spread throughout the body. They are trying to reach the 'blood-brain barrier' and enter the brain."

"This is a parasite that specifically attacks the nervous system, so anesthetic agents are the most effective."

After Isengard's treatment, most of the infected patients improved, though they could not be cured completely. He could not locate the source of the illness in such a short time, and even if he found it, he did not have enough time to heal every one of them.

Coming before an old man who was drenched in sweat yet keeping his breathing as steady as possible, the youth knelt on one knee before him, lifted his robe, and carefully examined legs swollen to twice their original size.

Master Gose had been silently observing every move his student made. He watched Isengard analyze the situation, concoct medicines on the spot to treat the patients, and carry out pharmaceutical and biological analysis.

Though he was in pain, a gratified smile appeared on his face.

He had thought Ethan would become despondent because of his uncle's betrayal. He had not expected that, at such a crucial moment, the child could still hold fast to his original heart, remain compassionate, and not lose even a shred of his alchemical fundamentals.

Perhaps not a good noble... but a good student.

Only when the youth came before him did the old man resume his usual calm demeanor.

"Teacher, mobilize your Origin Matter and suppress the blood flow in your lower body. I'll handle it."

Speaking earnestly to Master Gose, Isengard was not afraid of infection himself—the blood of a Light-Eater Dragon inheritor was itself a special, poisonous alchemical substrate. Moreover, their inheritance was itself a kind of alternative parasitic organism that attached to the body, making it almost impossible for other organisms to parasitize them.

That was why he could handle everyone's condition so freely.

"...Not bad, Ethan. You're finally starting to look the part."

The old man nodded slightly, then shook his head. "My legs are already beyond saving. While I was unconscious, these magical-beast-level parasites corroded all the neural systems in my legs. Rather than heal them, it would be better to cut them off and grow new ones with regenerative medicine."

"Is that so..." Isengard paused in stunned silence, then said with even greater resolve, "...At the very least, I should ease your pain a little, Teacher."

"This is the blocking medicine I formulated. It should be able to stop these parasites from moving for a while. The other patients have responded well, and there is no risk."

"Mhm."

Master Gose glanced at the people nearby, whose screams had already weakened, though their limbs, like his own legs, were swollen and covered in cysts.

At first, his brows knitted tightly as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he merely sighed. "Saving them... may make them suffer even more."

"What?"

Isengard, who had seen too little, was somewhat bewildered. The old man, who had seen far too many such cases, merely shook his head. "It's nothing. In the end, it is your kindness... and perhaps they may not be beyond saving."

Raising his head as the youth injected him with the blocking medicine, Master Gose looked toward the far end of the limestone cave and sighed softly. "I wonder what exactly is going on with this underground relic complex. There are actually so many terrifying parasites here. I wonder how they maintain their populations, and what the other biological communities are like..."

After a pause, he added, "Ethan, do you remember which direction Ian fell in?"

"No."

Isengard thought for a while, then shook his head slightly. "The wind and waves were too fierce at the time. Just slowing down and protecting everyone took everything I had."

"But seeing that even these ordinary people survived, I believe Ian will definitely be all right."