Enigma of Sin

Next came the treatment of 5 patients. Kayn followed Yu Rin down to the reception area where he looked through the list of patients and their problems before selecting 5 names and writing them down on a piece of paper.

He handed the paper to Kayn before showing him where he would be performing his treatments. Once they were inside the room and Kayn was ready to have the first patient brought in, he noticed that the problem the patient had wasn't listed on the paper he was handed.

Seeing the confusion on Kayn's face, Yu Rin gently chuckled, "I forgot to mention it, but part of the test is to establish the problem for yourself either by asking the patient questions or using a diagnostic spell before treating it. Honestly, this part of the test is more for those who are only in the 2nd stage or seeking an apprenticeship, but rules are rules."

Kayn only nodded before stating that he was ready for the first patient to be brought back.

With Kayn ready, Yu Rin pressed a button on the counter by the exam table in the room before asking the patient to report to exam room 13.

Within minutes an elderly looking beastkin that resembled a lion entered the room before sitting down on the exam table.

While the beastkin was covered in a yellowish-golden fur, Kayn was immediately able to notice that the whites of his eyes were yellow and he had a pretty good guess what the problem was.

After using his diagnostic spell Void Eye on the old lion beastkin, his assumption turned out to be correct. The old man's liver was damaged and also had quite a few fatty deposits.

Yu Rin didn't specify that Kayn had to tell him what the diagnosis was before treatment, only that he would perform a diagnostic spell afterwards to see if the problem was treated, so Kayn immediately set to work.

Fortunately, as long as Kayn had physical contact with the person he was treating, the elements he used wouldn't be discovered, nor was this man a mage to be able to tell.

He first used the dark element to eliminate any damaged areas and all of the fatty deposits on the liver before using a mixture of water and light to heal the organ and restore it to its full working capacity.

"I've restored your organ's health and you should no longer feel in pain or fatigued. Your eyes will return to normal in a few days once your body has had time to adjust to the proper functioning of your liver. As your healer for today, I would also recommend drinking less alcohol going forward."

The beastkin was a little astonished that Kayn knew he drank a lot of alcohol as no other healer had noticed or told him otherwise in the past, nor had he disclosed it before. In fact, he wasn't all that old, only middle-aged, but his drinking habits had caused his body to age far more rapidly than a normal lion beastkin.

Healers in Talgonoth didn't typically care how a patient came to be injured or diseased, only on how it was cured.

Yu Rin had a questioning look on his face, but nonetheless he approached the beastkin and used his diagnostic spell to check that he was treated per the original diagnosis for the patient. To his surprise, the man now had a healthier liver than he himself did most likely.

"Thank you for utilizing White Hand Society, your treatment is complete." Yu Rin spoke and instructed the man that he could now leave and head to reception to pay the second half of his bill.

The original charge was based off of having a stage 3 healer treat him, so that's what he was required to pay even if Kayn was stage 4.

The next three patients really posed no problems at all for Kayn. One had a big gash that he explained was caused by a sword, one was a child with a common cold, and the last was a pregnancy evaluation.

It wasn't until the 5th patient that Kayn saw something new for once. The patient was a 2nd stage demon race woman with a noble title in the Mancean Empire.

She technically had paid to be treated by Yu Rin as she knew him personally, but seeing as how he allowed a different healer to work with her, she trusted that he was skilled enough.

The woman explained her symptoms and also noted that she had already seen a few healers including her family's personal healer, but none had been able to figure out what was wrong with her.

Even Yu Rin was curious and wanted to examine her himself after Kayn finished up, mostly because he wasn't sure if Kayn could diagnose her since he wasn't confident in doing it himself.

He might have been a stage lower than Kayn, but he had several thousand years of healing under his belt and was even taught a few tricks by the society's leader.

'Hmm the patient has a rash on approximately 40% of her body, fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, and after having these symptoms for a week she's started having seizures. This doesn't sound like anything I've seen before, hopefully Void Eye will tell me more.' Kayn thought to himself as he placed his hand on her upper back and cast his diagnostic spell.

Oddly enough, nothing immediately popped out to Kayn as the cause for her symptoms. Her organs were all functioning normally, there was no microorganisms causing any disease, there was nothing.

Finally feeling intrigued at a new problem, Kayn decided to dig a little deeper as he had with Yvaris Earthborn and decided to examine her mana and core.

What he saw immediately made Kayn frown. The woman could only sigh as she figured that once again another healer couldn't figure it out, so she looked towards Yu Rin. Yu Rin contemplated before waiting a little while longer.

Once a little while had passed with no word from Kayn, he approached while speaking. "Don't feel distressed Healer Ashan, as even I'm not positive I'll be able to figure it out if the others couldn't, we may need to enlist the help of someone more powerful."

Yu Rin's words brought Kayn out of his thoughts and responded by removing his hand and looking at the both of them. "Ah sorry, I was lost in thought. I know what is causing her symptoms, but the cause is an issue in and of itself."

"Excuse me? What do you mean?" The woman turned to look back at Kayn while asking as she was caught off guard.

"You're being poisoned Ma'am. However, it's not a poison that affects your flesh and blood, but it taints your mana. This tainted mana is slowly corrupting your core, which is causing your inner symptoms.

"I'm guessing that you've had troubles casting spells since the symptoms started, correct?" Kayn posited his diagnosis and Yu Rin could only stare on in astonishment as mana poisoning was extremely rare and even required special diagnostic spells to correctly pinpoint.

"That's right, my spells take more mana to cast and even take quite a bit longer before they manifest. But that doesn't make sense, can't one normally feel when their mana is being tainted? How am I being mana poisoned?" she asked.

"That brings us to your outward symptom, the rash. As you grow as a mage, your tissue begins to become accustomed to your mana. Your skin is currently experiencing irritation as the tissue is being corrupted from the outside and working its way in.

"In other words, you're being poisoned by something that you or someone else has been placing on your skin. Have you changed soap or began rubbing anything new on your body recently?" Kayn asked as she should have changed something in her skin care routine recently.

After thinking for a few moments, the woman shook her head side to side, "I don't think so. I've been using the same soap brand for years and I always buy it from the same shop…wait. My husband bought my soap this last time since I had been too busy to go shopping myself with my research project. But it feels and smells the same, I also don't think he would try to kill me!"

Kayn could only shake his head at this point, "I'm sorry Ma'am, but that is out of my scope. I would take that soap to be tested though and report it to the proper authorities for an investigation. My scope however, is to eliminate the poison from your body."

At this point Yu Rin interjected since mana poisoning required very specific spells for each particular poison.

"Healer Ashan, I believe we will have to have the soap examined in order to determine the proper treatment. Even then, she most likely will just have to wait to see if her symptoms change and her mana core can eventually push out the corrupt mana.

"It will most likely require the society members that are also healers for the royals to actually remove the poison completely, if it's possible at all."

Smiling, Kayn replied to Yu Rin's speculation, "Actually I can cure her and heal the damaged parts. I just need a moment to adjust a personal spell of mine."

"What!?" Yu Rin couldn't help but to raise his voice a little as he was greatly surprised by Kayn's claim. Quickly clearing his throat, he corrected himself, "Healer Ashan, are you positive? Lady Versa is an important member of the city's research committee. If anything goes wrong…"

"Yes, I'm positive." Kayn responded with nothing but confidence.

"In that case, I will leave it to Lady Versa if she would like to go through with your treatment plan or wait for a member of the royal team to deal with it." Saying so, he looked towards the woman who was still in a daze after discovering that it might be her husband who was poisoning her.

Snapping back to the current situation, Lady Versa thought about it for a moment. "I'm willing. He's the only one who was able to diagnose me so far. Even my family's personal healer, who is part of the royal team, couldn't determine the cause. If Healer Ashan thinks he can do it, I'm willing to allow him to try."

Yu Rin only nodded before the room became silent while they waited for Kayn to adjust his spell. However, it wasn't that Kayn had to adjust a spell, it was more so how he was going to mask what he was really doing.

Usually, injecting mana into another individual's body and mana system would result in mana poisoning as well. Kayn was planning to inject his pure mana that resembled ambient mana and push all of the corruption out while also stirring her core to hasten its regular conversion rate in order to purify itself.

The problem is that she was a mage. She would definitely realize that the mana Kayn was injecting her with had a strange element or lack thereof.

After a few moments, Kayn just decided that he would flood her body with light element mana as well to cover up what he was actually doing. This would also work to heal the tissue after it had been purified, so it was like killing two birds with one stone.

Without any further bravado, Kayn placed his hand on her back once again at the area just over her core and began the treatment. After flooding her body with the light element, he started to inject pure mana little by little directly into her core, slowly pushing out the corrupted mana.

Lady Versa scrunched her face as she was feeling a bit of pain coming from her core, but she also felt extremely relaxed at the same time due to her body being flooded with the light element. It was a very conflicting feeling as she was both in pain and feeling very relaxed at the same time.

As time went on, the rash on her skin began to diminish and was replaced with her normal light skin tone. A few moments after her rash fully disappeared, Kayn stopped his work and took his hand off of her back. "I'm finished. You should be feeling much better already."

Lady Versa was astonished at how good she felt as compared to the last week of feeling miserable. In her excitement, she quickly cast a simple tier one spell that created a floating ball of fire, mainly utilized as a light source.

To her absolute wonder, the spell manifested even faster than it had previously in the past before she had been poisoned. It was as if her casting speed had actually increased by a small amount rather than diminishing after being poisoned.

She quickly stood up and turned around to bow towards Kayn, which caught him off guard and made him feel a little awkward as he had to avert his eyes since her robe had been pulled off her upper body for the appointment and she only had on Talgonoth's version of a bra. So, her healthy chest was basically on full display when she bowed down towards him.

"Thank you so much Healer Ashan. I honestly haven't felt this good in years, in fact I feel like I'm 10 years younger! How much do I owe you? Any amount you name will be worth it in my eyes."

"Just pay the White Hand Society what you had originally agreed upon. Diagnosing and curing you is my job. Plus, I'm not sure I can even accept money personally as I'm not officially part of the White Hand Society yet, you were my last patient to determine if I'm eligible." Kayn smiled gently as he was happy that he could help, but also that he was able to see something new.

Hearing this, Lady Versa pulled up her robe and tied it before turning towards Yu Rin, "Healer Yu, I sincerely hope that the White Hand does everything in their power to recruit Healer Ashan. In fact, I would recommend you offer him 'that' position."

Yu Rin's eye went wide when he heard her mention 'that', but he quickly regained his composure. "I understand Lady Versa, I'll talk with the other elders and we will come to our decision accordingly."

"Then I will be off." Lady Versa once again turned to Kayn and gave him a small bow, "Thank you again Healer Ashan, I'm in your debt."

"You're welcome, Ma'am." Kayn also placed one hand in the other and gave her a small bow and smiled, "Just remember to buy some new soap."

Lady Versa was a little taken aback by the charming smile Kayn gave her, but managed to turn around and leave without delay.

Yu Rin then led Kayn to the room where an assistant had been watching Lara. He had reluctantly left Lara with one of the assistants, but never took his Mana Sense off of her so that he could respond at a moment's notice.

Kayn and Yu Rin once again entered into his private office and sat down opposite of each other.

"First off, let me congratulate you as you have flawlessly passed any requirements we have here. Second, let me thank you for healing Lady Versa. She has been a good friend for many years and I was saddened to see her worsening situation.

"Assuming you'll join us since you came here in the first place, I will get to my main point and what Lady Versa had mentioned. I will need to confirm with the elders as I said initially, but Healer Ashan, how would you feel about teaching young aspiring healers?"