It jumped a few meters into the air, and Ryan was unable to keep holding on. He fell back into the water right next to the toad, letting go of the bottle in the process. At least it was still closed, so the cure wasn’t lost, but Ryan had to scramble to get it back, only barely grabbing it before it was too late. Not to mention that he wasn’t on top of the toad anymore, which was even worse.

  The corrupted spirit stared right at him, and a moment later, its tongue darted out at his upper body. The water splashed all around him as the punch-like impact struck his chest. Like glue, the tongue stuck to him and pulled Ryan toward the toad, and he could see himself get closer and closer to the dark abyss that was the toad’s mouth.

  “M-Maximus!” As Ryan yelled this out, the knight jumped out of his domain with the dagger Ripper in his hand, and he immediately cut into the toad’s tongue. Before it was able to close its massive mouth around Ryan’s body, he was able to jump out and climb back onto its back. By now, it seemed as though the mages had realized that something was going on and were trying to see things better, so the rain started fading away. Ryan practically tore the cap off the bottle with his teeth the moment he felt the rain had gone down enough, and then poured the liquid out onto the toad’s back. He could see it being pulled in almost immediately, and was trying to pool as much of it as he could with his arms to keep it on the toad’s back.

  The spirit convulsed in pain as its skin began to crack like clay, as if the cure completely dried out its skin. It convulsed on top of the water and slowly began to sink back into the lake as if it were some kind of swamp rather than the regular water that it was.

  Ryan took heavy breaths, pulling Maximus back into his domain before he sank down into the water. Soon enough, the mages had decided to put a spotlight on the area, as an orb of light appeared in the sky to give them a proper view of the situation. But all they saw was a single young man still left in the water before he quickly dove. He had no time to worry about who could see him.

  He swam down to the toad as it was trying to tear its skin off of its own body. Realizing what was going on, Ryan got to it and helped, pulling away the corrupted skin. Layer by layer, he was removing what was there, and the bits that were pulled off simply crumbled away without another trace.

  At some point, the toad stopped. Its body went limp, as if it was unconscious. Ryan’s mind began to race as the rest of the toad’s body began to fall apart as well.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Goria’s Gratitude

  The toad spirit sank down into the water. Like layers of mud that were stuck to its body, masses of corruption cracked off and dissolved into the water. Ryan had no idea what was going on and what was happening to the spirit, but he hoped that it was really just shedding the corruption. The fact that it had gone limp was absolutely terrifying to see, though. What if the type of corruption that it was infected with couldn’t be cured in the same way once it got a full hold on its victim?

  Maribelle had been freshly infected; it happened literally in front of Ryan’s eyes. But who knew how long this one had held it inside of its body already? It could have fused so deeply into its very being that removing it was like tearing apart a building’s structural supports. Whenever Ryan tightened his hand around the frog’s limbs to stop it from sinking further, its body caved in under his palm, as if it was made of paper. Ryan kept pulling away the spirit’s corrupted flesh, digging for what could be laying underneath. In the end, there was one thing that would be left behind, even if the body was destroyed. And there it was: a small, pale blue, slightly green gemstone. It was the same size as the other spirit cores that he had seen, though this one had a slight growth on one side. It was similar to the seed that had imbedded itself in the space between the domains in Ryan’s mind, but still different enough to not latch on to his skin as he grabbed it.

  With the stone in his hand, Ryan swam back up to the surface. He grabbed the bottle again and removed the cap, dropping the core into the liquid to purge any leftover corruption that seemed to be attacking it. The small growth dislodged and left behind a tiny seed, just as Ryan thought, as the core itself seemed to be healed.

  A moment later, it fell apart into water that flowed out of the bottle. Ryan closed the lid again, watching as the core re-formed itself outside of the bottle. But not just the core; a small figure was built around it. It was a frog, standing on two legs. There was a species of frog people, but this was different. The spirit looked like a simple, small frog that had somehow learned to walk. It wore a suit, the kind that an orchestra’s conductor would wear. The frog stood on the surface of the water and slowly bowed to Ryan. The two locked eyes, and Ryan could feel a spark in the back of his head.

  [Goria, the Great Spirit of Water, thanks you for rescuing her child]

  [She notes the presence of one that has been blessed by her in the past within you. Goria asks you seek out her shrine]

  Ryan looked at the message and smiled, though he didn’t really care much about what it said. Rather, he was just glad that the lake’s spirit was all right. With a laugh, he let the water carry his weight. “What, you’re not even gonna give me a quest for that?” he said, though he of course wasn’t serious.

  Though whether he was serious or not didn’t seem to matter much. Goria heard him and responded immediately.

  [Goria’s Gratitude]

  [The Great Spirit of Water Goria has noticed your dedication to helping those in need, and realized you are already assisting one of her kin. She wishes to reward you, and assist you in your journey. Seek out her shrine, her place of birth]

  [Conditions—Enter Goria’s Shrine]

  [On Success—Goria’s Reward]

  Seeing the message pop up in front of him, Ryan could feel his heart skip a beat. “W-Wait, I wasn’t serious; you don’t need to give me a quest! I’m going to come to you; don’t worry, just—” Ryan said, but before he could finish his sentence, the spirit standing on the water in front of him waved, pulling Ryan out of the water. The jolt surprised Ryan so much that he forgot what he was saying, but he was even more surprised when he found himself standing on top of the water. Though, this time, it was the actual water and not the foam that was on top of it. Feeling the waves moving under his feet despite appearing solid to him was rather jarring. But then, having those waves push him toward the shore like a conveyor belt was even more surprising.

  The frog spirit accompanied Ryan back to the beach. Almost pushing him onto the solid ground, the spirit “said” its goodbyes, bowing to Ryan as its feet sank into the wet sand before quickly disappearing.

  Before he even knew it, Ryan felt his mother pull him into a hug. “Honey, are you okay? Did you get hurt? What happened out there? Did that monster attack you?”

  As Mary looked Ryan up and down, he quickly took her by the shoulder to get her attention. “Mom, it’s okay, I’m fine. That wasn’t a monster. It was—”

  Ryan could feel his uncle’s stare from behind his mother, but he didn’t care anymore. “It was a spirit that was infected with something called corruption. I managed to cure it, so nothing is going to happen anymore.”

  “You cured it? What do you mean? Is that one of your abilities?”

  Ryan slowly shook his head. “Not directly, no. I’ll explain it to you later. Either way, I promise, everything is fine.”

  Mary let out a long, relieved sigh. “Thank the gods … I saw everyone in such a panic after falling into the water … especially when Yanna came and Silvia was unconscious but you were nowhere to be seen, I …” she said, slowly looking over toward Runar, as if she had remembered something. “Right, actually, what did you take from Ryan’s bag earlier?”

  Runar nervously looked at his sister-in-law. “It was the … the cure that Ryan had found before; I just figured he would need it …”

  “And how did you get it to him? You did something there … Do you have some kind of magic tool on you?”

  “I—”

  “Mom, where are Silvia and Yanna?” Ryan said, interrupting the conversation. He wanted his mother to learn all of this, but he didn’t want that to happen right there, right now. Especially because he knew that Runar might not have the best response for her at the moment. Mary turned around and looked at Ryan with her eyebrows raised.

  “Right, they went back up to the car! Silvia is fine, by the way; her sister performed CPR on her. She just needs to rest for now,” Mary explained. “They’ll bring her to the hospital to get her checked on, just in case—”

  “Got it. You guys just pack up as well,” Ryan said, immediately rushing past the others. He pushed the cure into his bag and then picked it up, pushing his sandy feet into his shoes. Ryan ran back toward the parking lot, looking around for the Redhorns’ car. The moment he spotted it, he rushed past the crowd of other people that wanted to leave the beach.

  “Silvia!” Ryan squeezed in front of the car’s trunk, where Silvia was sitting right now, drinking some water with a towel pressed on her face. “Are you okay?”

  The elf looked at Ryan with a hazy expression, slowly shaking her head. Dimos, who was surprised to see Ryan there, soon explained. “Someone kicked her in the face. She’s completely out of it, so we’re bringing her to the hospital. But she’s feeling pretty ill right now.”

  “Yeah, alright … that makes sense.” Ryan let out a long sigh. “You were trying to figure out what was going on with your Insight skill, right?”

  Surprised that he had figured it out, Silvia nodded. He assumed it was something like this. Silvia’s Insight basically transported the emotions and concepts connected to what she was looking at directly into her mind, allowing her to express it in her own unique way. And Ryan had already felt repulsed just touching the spirit’s corrupted body, and seeing it with that skill must have felt like being assaulted by everything that was bad. That wasn’t even accounting for the chaos that was unfolding around her. The panic of the injured and confused people who were suddenly dropped into the water must have just added to the mix.

  “Okay, in that case, just take it easy with that. Or, actually …” Ryan held out his hand, calling Gaia out of her domain. “Focus on her for a second.”

  Being a nature spirit, and especially with Gaia’s generally tranquil nature, maybe using the Insight skill on her could clear Silvia’s mind a bit. Carefully, the elf did as asked, and just a moment later, she seemed to relax.

  “Thanks.” Silvia breathed out slightly. “That actually really, really helped … Do you want me to make you an item to help with your own freakouts using this Insight?”

  Ryan scoffed. “Honestly, maybe. And show me your nose real quick, too.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Dimos interrupted. “Her nose is broken; if she’s feeling better, we really just need to get to the hospital.”

  Turning around toward the minotaur, Ryan smiled lightly. He knew what Dimos meant, but there really was no need for that. After all, the copper wildflowers weren’t the only plants to blossom recently. Just the other day, the Blood Roses had bloomed, and they were able to harvest its qualities as well, turning it into a small salve and a few pills.

  Blood Roses had potent healing qualities and got their name from the fact that they were one of the few healing items that could help replenish a person’s blood if ingested. So, since Silvia needed it right now, Ryan figured he would give her some. They had already harvested some new seeds to replant, and there was still plenty for Ryan to use when he needed it.

  He got out the small ointment jar and the bag with pills. “Take a pill once the bleeding stops or when you start feeling too dizzy,” Ryan said, giving one to Silvia. It was a small, fingernail-sized red orb that felt almost glassy to the touch. Rose had made this one with Runar’s assistance, so these healing items should be pretty potent.

  Then Ryan took some gauze from the open first-aid kit next to Silvia and used it to grab a bit of the salve, carefully dabbing it on Silvia’s nose and all the areas around it that seemed swollen. Silvia’s eyes widened immediately. “The pain is gone already … This stuff is good, huh?”

  Dimos looked at Ryan, confused. “What is that? Some kind of numbing cream?”

  “No, it’s a strong healing salve.”

  “What? Why would you have something like that?” the minotaur asked, concerned, and Ryan glanced up at him. Ryan still wasn’t wearing a shirt, since he had rushed over there before he could put one on, so Dimos should be able to see his body right now. Still, he seemed genuinely concerned, so Ryan figured he might as well answer.

  “If I had to give you a reason … it would be to make sure that kids like Liam can be kids,” he said. Dimos seemed even more confused, but before he could continue to question Ryan, his wife and other daughter returned. It seemed as though they had gone around to ask what was going on. Seeing Ryan, Yanna immediately placed a hand on his back.

  “Are you okay? What happened over there?” she asked, only now seeing that Ryan was applying some kind of salve to her sister’s face. “And what are you doing?”

  “It’s all good; don’t worry,” Ryan replied. “Everything’s taken care of.”

  “Everything is— What are you talking about? What was that bottle you asked me to give your uncle? What the hell is—”

  Done applying the salve, Ryan straightened his back and pulled away from Silvia. “Calm down. As I said, everything is fine. Just take it easy, go home, and rest. And I don’t think Silvia needs to go to the hospital right away, either,” Ryan explained, but Yanna just seemed confused.

  “What do you mean? Her nose is broken, so—” she started, before finally looking over at Silvia. The swelling was going down in front of everyone’s eyes, and Silvia’s nose was even setting itself back into place. The Blood Rose salve was doing its job perfectly, and incredibly fast as well. Seeing how the bleeding had stopped, Silvia placed the pill in her mouth and took a swig of her water, quickly swallowing it. A flash of red flowed past her eyes a moment later as the pill’s magic filled her body. Silvia’s cheeks turned a rosy pink.

  “Whoa, that feels … weird,” she pointed out, and Ryan smiled lightly.

  “Yeah, I guess it would. The pill also has some overall healing properties, by the way, so you should feel healthier in general for a few days,” Ryan explained, leaning in to the elf. “I’ll call you later and tell you what was going on. For now, just go home and rest, okay?” he whispered.

  Silvia slowly nodded. “Alright, let’s do that.”

  By then, Ryan’s mother, his uncle, and Liam had made their way back to the parking lot as well. Seeing Silvia suddenly fine, Mary seemed particularly confused.

  “What? I thought she was—”

  “I’ll explain later,” Ryan said with a smile as he put away the Blood Rose items. “For now, let’s just wait until the parking lot clears out. It seems like a lot of people want to leave right now,” he said, looking over toward the road. It was completely jammed with people trying to leave in a panic. There were sirens of police cars and ambulances approaching as well, clogging things up even more. Now that Silvia was fine, everyone could just take a breather and calm down for a bit.

  “So, what happened? The mages lost control of the magic out there?” Yanna asked. “Did it have something to do with that monster?”

  “Wait, monster? Like those in a dungeon?” Dimos asked, confused. “Why would a monster be here?”

  Ryan cleared that up. “It wasn’t a monster; don’t worry. It was a spirit whose magic went out of control for a bit,” he explained. “But I helped it out. You know, being a summoner and all.”

  “Ah …” the minotaur said, relieved. “But a spirit just went out of control like that? That’s not—”

  “It wasn’t his fault. It’s a complicated situation,” Ryan said, though he obviously couldn’t explain the whole situation, so he was scrambling to come up with something to change the topic. “Oh, right, do any of you guys know where Goria’s shrine is?”

  “Shrine? Does she even have one?” Silvia wondered, surprised. Ryan quickly nodded.

  “I would think so, yeah. I mean, she invited me there, with a quest and all,” he said, and only when he voiced that fact out loud and saw the expressions of the people around him did he realize that maybe this wasn’t the best way to change the topic.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  The Truth

  Finally arriving back home, Ryan walked into his room with an exhausted groan. He put down his things and grabbed a change of clothes. He really had to take a shower. Though there wasn’t any corruption stuck to him, he felt completely dirty nonetheless. As he was about to walk back out of his room, though, he was stopped by his uncle.

  Runar looked around to make sure that Mary wasn’t nearby, then closed the door behind him. “You played it off way too fast earlier. Were you seriously invited to Goria’s shrine?”

  Quietly, Ryan nodded. He didn’t know what he should say to Runar right now. Ryan was still mad at him, but he was probably the only person he could ask about the location of Goria’s shrine. “You know where it is?”

  Runar let out a long sigh. “Yes, it’s nearby. Not in the lake itself but this underground natural water reservoir that’s sort of connected to every major body of water in the country.”

  “Alright. Then let’s go there,” Ryan responded, but Runar simply shook his head.

  “We can’t just ‘go there.’ First of all, it’s a protected area. There are a lot of bureaucratic hurdles that go into even entering the tunnels to the reservoir, not to mention the actual shrine itself,” he explained, though he was clearly thinking about a way to make it work. “Do you know what exactly Goria wants with you?”

  Ryan thought about the quest, and the system window promptly appeared in front of him again. “It just says she wants to reward me and assist me in my journey. Though I’ve got no idea what that’s supposed to mean.”

  “Just for saving a spirit? I guess it’s not impossible, but …” Runar muttered, and Ryan let out a long sigh.