Chapter 696: Not a Vampire, But a Madman?

"DUANG!"

The oak wand flew up, smacking onto the forehead of the young boy with a dull thud. Geoffrey clutched his head, screaming out:

"Teacher!"

Originally, he was the proud disciple of Elder Knox. At three, he could barely toddle after his parents, tending to flowers and plants. By five, he was already drawing diagrams of insects and flora, earning the title of "naturalist" from the elder and others within the congregation.

At fourteen, he formally began his training and advanced to a first-level priest that very year. At that time, his oak wand had not yet been planted, and Elder Knox had to personally intervene to hasten its growth using divine magic...

However, it wasn’t long before Geoffrey, the epitome of "someone else’s child," encountered someone even more exemplary.

"Look at Priest Nordmark... At such a young age, even in a small place like Hartland City, he discovered bacteria!"

"Look at Priest Nordmark! Just a first-level, and he has already revealed the principles of epidemics!"

"Look at Priest Nordmark..."

Geoffrey really wanted to argue that Nordmark was not only a priest but also a magician. Yet, the first time he talked back, he encountered his teacher’s head-knocking method:

"You dare talk back! He advances in both professions, one level each year, neither priest nor mage falling behind! What about you? Focusing on one path, and you’re not even close to his speed!"

Geoffrey was genuinely a bit resentful. Of course, he respected him—after all, the achievements were clearly there—but that didn’t stop him from seizing the opportunity to sneak a peek at what kind of person Garrett was.

The result of this investigation was that within the first minute of meeting, he was slapped with a face mask, gloves, and face shield...

And then hit by his teacher.

After the beating, the teacher turned to Priest Nordmark with a smile, beckoning:

"Little Garrett, don’t mind that little guy. Come, take a look, what disease is this?"

Geoffrey: T_T

Teacher, you don’t love me anymore!

You’ve got someone else’s child, and you don’t love me anymore!

Garrett also shrank his neck. A first-level young priest, unable to feel the cold aura of vampires, would be beaten by the teacher;

A sixth-level middle priest, still unable to detect the presence of vampires, could only cheat with Cirella’s help, no telling what kind of beating that would entail?

Thankfully, someone took the brunt...

He quickly smiled at the young boy and continued his consultation. Meanwhile, his mind was racing, working hard to recall:

Honestly, he hadn’t invested much in dermatology. The distance between emergency surgery and dermatology was probably the farthest in the hospital—

There’s a joke in the hospital that the hierarchy among departments is based on how often they are called for consultations by the emergency department.

The more they are called, the higher their status. Thus, cardiology, neurology, and oncology hold the highest esteem, implying, "See, can’t do without us, right? Someone might die, right?"

Departments like respiratory, hepatobiliary are next in line, followed by gastroenterology and urology. As for dermatology? Please, why would the emergency department call for a dermatologist?

Scabies, big diseases are treated, and minor ones can be slowly treated in outpatient care!

Emergency internal medicine might still need to know a bit, but emergency surgery needs to know only how to quickly identify contagious diseases like syphilis during emergency operations, to better protect themselves...

Garrett dug through his scarce memories of dermatology, and the symptoms of other diseases that might appear on the skin. Honestly, the first thing he thought of when he saw this patient was a vampire—

Then, his thoughts quickly shifted to porphyria.

Porphyria, also known as blood purple disease, is a group of porphyrin metabolic disorders caused by a lack of a certain enzyme or reduced enzyme activity in the heme synthesis pathway.

Clinically manifested as non-inflammatory blisters and bullae on exposed areas, with erosions, crusts, and ulcers. The recurrent eruptions make the patient’s face appear weather-beaten, with pigmentation changes...

"You, take off your pants, let me have a look." He cast a spell—allowing him to speak Carolingian, to communicate with the patient.

The refugee hesitated, then stood up, turning his back to him, bending over to unbuckle his belt. Garrett quickly corrected his order:

"Just the outer pants! You don’t need to take off the underwear!"

Too late. The refugee’s fear of spellcasters clearly outweighed his embarrassment about exposing his body. Besides, there were only men in the shack

, nothing to be embarrassed about.

Garrett hadn’t finished speaking when the man had already stripped down clean. Dirty clothes hit the floor, and Garrett immediately noticed symmetrical erythematous plaques on his sacral area, behind the knees, and the ankles—

The boundaries were clear, the surface covered with dark brown dry crusts, some of which had fallen off. Obviously, they had healed and then flared up again.

If it were the areas behind the knees and ankles, they might often be exposed to sunlight. But the sacral area, the connection between the buttocks and the back of the thighs, wouldn’t be sunbathed all day without reason!

And the weather was still very cold, Garrett saw clearly as these refugees arrived, each one wrapped as tightly as possible in ragged clothing. To say these erythematous patches were caused by sun exposure, Garrett was the first to disbelieve.

This symptom did not match porphyria; it must be another disease. Garrett breathed a sigh of relief when he made this judgment:

Thank God, he didn’t have to test the patient’s urine for increased uroporphyrin, nor did he need to find ways to differentiate between erythropoietic protoporphyria and cutaneous tarda...

"Is this disease contagious?"

The baroness asked from outside the shack. Garrett was still deep in thought and did not respond. Elder Knox pondered for a moment:

"Not sure. Let me try treating it..."

He raised his oak wand, murmuring a spell. The vines forming the shack swayed silently, the surrounding wild grass rustling. It seemed as if all of nature was softly singing along, responding to the elder’s call to the forces of nature.

Garrett held his breath watching. Momentarily, a green light shot into the patient’s body, healing the skin lesions, smoothing over wounds. The rough, swollen, blotchy marks on the patient’s face and body were erased by an invisible hand, leaving no trace.

"Strange." The elder murmured lowly. He turned his head to Garrett:

"The root of the disease is still not removed. I have a feeling, to completely cure him, we need something else..."

So, which diseases need to be differentiated from porphyria? Or, which diseases might present similar symptoms to vampires?

Garrett pondered hard. Meanwhile, outside, a cry of alarm sounded:

"Not good, Vali has gone mad again!"

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