CHAPTER 60: COMMON FL (2)

"I’m sorry, boss! I didn’t mean to do anything to offend you!"

Seeing the kneeling man in front of him, Ash couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

’Even the one who hadn’t carried my mana had turned out like this... I guess I can say goodbye to normal human interactions...’

"Stand up. I mean it literally. You didn’t come last night because you are sick, right?"

Color returned to the man’s face. Ash could visibly feel the tension leaving his shoulders.

"Y...Yes, Boss! I couldn’t even sit last night, so I couldn’t leave my bed. I’m very sorry for not coming last night..."

Ash patted the man’s shoulder.

"No, you’re fine. Are you still sick, right now?"

"Yes... But I barely feel them now. I can help with the usual work just fine."

Ash’s eyes lit up. His eyebrows couldn’t help but rise to the highest they could.

"That’s perfect!"

Without even waiting for the man’s response, vines grew from Ash’s body and carried the man into the treatment room next door.

"Boss!? What did I do wrong? Please! I’m sorry!"

Knowing his words wouldn’t even be registered in the man’s ears right now, Ash turned to the 4 other members of Grey Leash instead.

"Let’s not keep you guys waiting anymore. You guys should receive your new gifts while I cure him."

With a single swipe of a thorned vine that once again came out of his body, the 4 people began dropping to their backs and knees as they fought the symptoms of the template diseases Ash had prepared for them.

Their grunts and muffled screams filled the area.

With the door to the treatment room left open, the man who was still covered in vines could hear all of them clearly.

Tension returned to his body.

Now, even fear started creeping in. Gripping his heart and sending his mind into fight or flight mode.

’He was talking to them like old friends a few seconds ago, and now he is torturing them!?’

The image of his comrades happily talking with Dust flashed in his mind.

But the image broke apart instantly as their muffled screams and thumping on the floor reverberated in his ears.

He didn’t even try to calm his limbs down now.

Every inch of his body screamed at him to save himself. To get away from this place as soon as possible.

However, he knew that it was pointless for him.

Out of his 4 comrades, two of them had physical enhancement related ability, and even he could hear their voices, holding in too much pain that they couldn’t handle.

He didn’t have a physical enhancement type ability, nor a mind manipulation ability to try and get away.

He was an elemental type awakened.

He needed time to cast his spells. And with the vines still wrapped tightly around his body, he was sure that Dust only needed a thought to move the vines from his limbs to his neck.

Forget about casting a spell to cause a distraction, he would be dead the second Dust felt mana fluctuation in his body.

So the only thing he could do now was,

"PLEASE! I BEG YOU! I’M SORRY! DON’T KILL ME!"

After giving the 2 other diseases to the 4 men, he returned to the room to hear the man begging for his life once more.

"I thought we already got this straight... You’ve done nothing wrong... There’s no reason for me to kill you..."

But his words didn’t reach the man.

The only thing the man knew was that he was still bound by the vines and his comrades were still screaming in pain right outside the room.

"PLEASE! PLEASE! SPARE ME!"

At this point, Ash really couldn’t be bothered with more explanation.

He just walked over to the man and activated the Verdant Seed.

The man would be his first ever patient.

The Verdant Seed gave him the knowledge and ability to cure a sickness, but this would be the first time he ever tried it.

The Verdant Seed that had combined with the Plague God’s power glowed, finally showing the familiar silvery bright green aura into the world once more.

The man who kept on begging each passing second swallowed up his words the moment he saw the aura.

He knew it was mana, something that he felt, saw, and used every day.

However, he felt something different from the mana that came out of Ash’s body.

Instead of just being a power source that he knew of, Ash’s mana felt alive.

The silvery bright green aura emanating from Ash’s body felt different. It was as if it had a desire on its own.

It felt alive.

And whatever desire it had, it felt... Wrong.

The man’s body froze, and his words were stuck in his throat. The more he looked at the sickly green aura, the more his body petrified.

His consciousness only woke up from the stupor when he saw the mana shot towards him.

Carried by strings, root-like wires that grew out of Dust’s fingertips.

They were even thinner than a strand of hair.

If not for it hovering right in front of his eyes, there’s no way he could have seen it so clearly.

When it stopped right in front of his face, his mind finally couldn’t handle it anymore.

His body jerked, his limbs thrashed around. Every single muscle in his body tensed as he tried to get away.

Alas, the vine cage held strong. Not even budging from the man’s all out struggle.

"WAIT! N-"

The man’s effort ceased as the silvery bright green aura finally touched his skin.

The fine roots penetrated deep into his body.

The mana began spreading from head to toe.

He could feel the roots moving beneath his skin. Digging deeper and deeper from his face to his chest, then to his feet.

Every single spot in his body felt touched.

Every muscle, every nerve, every bone. None of them was left unexposed by the roots.

His body felt it.

His mind knew.

There was nothing he could hide anymore.