Chapter 36
It was already evening when Mark, Sam and Melissa arrived in Ventura. Sam said that he would drive home and return the car tomorrow to the rental company. Mark agreed and then said that they would meet again for the project report in a couple of days. Mark also said to Melissa to talk to Sam regarding the project and check if she could assist with anything and if Sam said that she would have a suitable part, Mark would also pay her from the funds the online client gave.
When he entered his apartment, he received a call from one of his co-workers from the store. Her name was Ethel and she had been of the longest staying employee together with him and John the manager. Ethel talked about John and asked if he could provide any sort of funds for assistance and that even a couple of dollars would help a lot.
Mark asked Ethel what happened and she said that John’s daughter was diagnosed with leukemia and since John and his family were poor, they would need all the assistance that he could get. Ethel then asked Mark if could also help with setting up something over the internet to ask people for help. Mark replied that he would be happy to and asked what hospital John’s daughter were staying. Ethel said that they were in Ventura County Medical Center. After a few more minutes of conversation the call ended.
Mark thought of what he could do to help John. It would be easy honestly. Just one cast of Dryad’s Circle and everything would be okay. He knew he would do it, he just needed to plan carefully so he would not be found out. He wished he had a more subtle healing spell. He actually thought about the showiness of his spells earlier and now this issue arrived. He kept thinking about the issue with John’s daughter until he fell asleep.
The next day, Mark did his usual routine, workout, eat breakfast and shower. He weighed himself and he was now one hundred and seventy pounds. He was not surprised anymore since his weight lost was so fast ever since it started happening. He can actually see some muscles on his arms already and soon he would have defined abs.
His plans were to continue with his Dungeon Diving since not only he would need the strength once transmigration arrived, he would also need it in this world if he continued using his powers. It was really inevitable. He had the power and if his friends needed help, and there were very few of them, and his new powers could assist, of course he would use it. Again the Safe Section on his Dungeon gave him the confidence of possibly avoiding any future problem that could arise if he really needed to hide.
Mark knew without a doubt when the moment he heard that John had a problem, he would assist him. John was one of the very few who helped him. He was mighty glad that John was his manager back then and not some rude, cruel or even an indifferent person. John was very warm and never judged him for the way he looked. Although he was warm and equally kind to everybody, it did not changed the fact that he was kind to him.
Mark called an Uber service to the hospital and thought that he should purchase a car since he did have a drivers license. He had a car before, but he sold it since he thought that he did not need it anyway since the convenient store where he worked was very near and the other establishment that he frequented to were all walking distance from where he lived.
When Mark arrived at the hospital, it was not yet noon. He asked the nurse at the reception where John’s daughter’s room were and he was given the location. When he arrived there, he saw John outside the room staring at nothing.
“Hi John, how are you?”
“Oh high Mark, I’m okay. I’m fine.” John said mechanically as if it was something that automatically uttered by his mouth if asked.
“Thanks for coming. How are you? You look fit.” He slowly sat on the chair just outside the room.
“how’s Juliet?” Mark sat beside John.
“She’s not fine Mark. The doctor said that she had a few months to live. We thought it was just pneumonia.” Tears came out from John’s eyes.
“She’s just four years old.”
Mark did not know what to say. He hugged John and John actually cried. He saw Mary, John’s wife inside the room with Juliet through the window door. After a while, he gave an envelope to John.
“What’s this?”
“It’s money. I know it doesn’t really help you right now but you’ll need it.”
John pushed the envelope back to him. “I know your situation Mark, you don’t have the money.”
“I do have it. I said I got a high paying job online. It’s just money. Please for Juliet sake, take it. “
John took the envelope and put it inside his pocket. “Thanks Mark.”
John kept staring at the wall. Mark casted the Dryad’s Circle spell through the door window and illusionary trees grew up from the ground. John woke up from his stupor when he heard Mary’s shout. When he saw the trees growing inside the room, he ran inside to check if anything happened to Juliet and Mary. While this was happening, Mark walked and casted Dryad’s Circle to three other rooms so the commotion could grow larger. He then immediately went back to John.
“What happened John?”
“I don’t know. Trees suddenly grew but they weren’t real! There was also a lady in the trees who was laughing but they were actually looked like one of those holograms. Is this some sort of a joke?”
Mark gasped very loudly for acting purposes. “I know about this. Something like this happened in Community Memorial Hospital. According to the news, people got cured of their disease when it happened.”
John trembled when he heard this and immediately pushed the button that calls the nurse.
“Somebody! Please help!” John shouted outside.
A team of doctors came and said to him that they knew about the situation and were planning to conduct tests to all patients where the rooms were affected by the phenomenon. Juliet was wheeled out of the room and John and Mary anxiously waited. Mark sat beside them and waited as well.