Oxcart town. At thirty thousand inhabitants (and double that number in the immediate vicinity) it counted among the smaller, less important outposts in the Midriver kingdom. Situated on a plain between two rivers, it enjoyed an abundance of arable farmland, some forests, and defensible natural borders. This gave the whole county a more peaceful existence than most of the surrounding lands. This could be seen in the greater average wealth and girth of its citizens as well. With stable exports of food and sizable granaries to weather lean years, the area had been growing steadily for the past two hundred years.

Due to this abundance of wealth, there was a public clinic set up in Oxcart, with an adjacent Sanitary Home where the ill, impoverished and infectious could stay for a while. Aspiring talents and even some full physicians worked here, paid by the town nobility. It was no secret that most of them were here to develop their skills, but their patients were much better cared-for than their counterparts in any of the surrounding countries. A large pharmacy took care of both in-house and outpatient prescriptions, and there was almost always a large stock of medicinal plants being dried in the square outside. The clinic served as a sort of education centre as well, handing out diplomas that certified an admirable level of skill. The certificate came with a small silver identity plate engraved with an oxhead, that was more often than not worn openly and with pride.

"Zheng Jin?" The admissions clerk looked up from the papers at the youth, wondering for a moment if this was some sort of prank. But the paperwork was in order, and the boy did seem cleanly and serious enough.  "Good. This is your identity plate, certifying you as a Talent in the Clinic. Work hard and in a few years you will be elevated to Physician or Pharmacist. For now you can get acquainted with the workings of the clinic, and once you find your interest try to find a mentor there. Do you have any questions?" The small plate was made in disappointing brown clay, and hung off a corded hemp loop that could in turn be tied to a person's belt.

---

I don't suppose anyone is familiar with Daggerfall... :P

You're free to make up a contact or two in the city and get comfy with living arrangements, then we can get down to more business.

'Jin' was almost happy to accept the otherwise sad clay tag. He shook his head no but that was a lie. He had a dozen questions at a minimum. He had hoped diligence would pay off and he would be able to get dual markings on his silver token upon leaving here. He had a quiet burning ambition, "Thank you sir," he said accepting it with both hands carefully and a greater than 90 bow. It would look silly perhaps, childish. That is what they would expect of him. He hoped it would distract from what his previous teacher and few acquaintances here called a 'sinister undertone' that had made them uncomfortable upon first meeting him. His teacher had struck him any time he got to intense as that tended to amplify the aura some considered unsettling.

He would likely celebrate acceptance with his local acquaintances Ba Yan and Li Misano. Misano was a local boy who's father worked at the clinic, he himself had aspirations to become a town guard- not out of a sense of loyalty or desire to protect anyone but out of laziness. It was well established historically that an attack on Oxcart Town tended to go poorly for aggressors. Guards were thicker than most people around here often in more ways than one. Ba Yan was almost a drug addict with how hard she worked before she began studying with Xier. She was a year in the pharmacist training and with little formal practice of internal energy she was still considered as doing well. He circulated energy through them while she read aloud.

He would meet up with them later if he could. He had brought his belongings from the Hise home where he had stayed since helping Misao recover a badly pulled back muscle. His mother had said, "Little Jin is practically a physician already!" and Xier had taken the title with a grain of salt as he knew the woman meant well. Her husband asked what technique he had learned and Xier played it off as the others merely exaggerating the extent of the injury since there was almost no way the father could have known about it while he was at work... Was there? The man seemed to be content, even happy to have him as long as he didn't cause trouble in their house.

Most people seemed to like him, he made a point to be likable. Respectful and kind things that were not generally appreciated so much by the clans over his own.

"Mudgrass!" The butchered clan name of his assumed identity greeted him, as he set his two backpacks down in the apprentice quarters, could only have been said like that from one of three people. The feminine qualities narrowed it by one more, "The Triplets of Torture" they were known. Their mother was disenfranchised from a powerful clan for marriage to a merchant, the man and woman were kind themselves but they had spoiled their triplets. Surnamed Yao Sai, Min, and Bo... the girls had honorary apprenticeships as it was popular here to work in either harvesting, manufacturing, or application of medicine and they would not do to actually labor but needed exposure to skilled men to provide for them later in life in order to win them over.

They were annoying most days and some days flat out hazardous. The latter we're easily identified though if you had seen Sai that day. Xier thought he would be a good guy if his sisters hadn't caused him so much personal suffering he took it out on the world around him. Maybe those demonesses thought it was cute? He hadn't seen Sai. He likely wouldn't see Sai from now on unless the young man needed treatment or was overseeing a shipment of medicine being loaded up. He imagined Sai an entirely changed youth, free from the chains of misery that the others had forged over him.

Xier sighed and turned, "What can this one help you with now?" he had to put on a shocked face as Zheng Jin would be embarrassed or horrified at what he saw when he turned to address the girl or girls (in his head he was already anticipating a moment akin to The Shining) but while he was not expecting what he would see... He had seen... better... worse... More yes, he had seen more... training back home.

He was almost impressed Yao Bo gathered a bucket of blood... Oh there was dirt and grass in it too. He inwardly smiled at her play on Bloodgrass. At home this would have been an almost traditional greeting if they weren't just as likely to maim someone to leave them bleeding out in a patch of grass for the irony.

Being a member of the Blood Tiger demon clan, he crushed his first slaves heart and meridians into a warm soft core when he was eight. The rest of the man crumbled into ash. They all did that when Demon Hand Technique was used. When he was twelve he mastered Devil's Finger technique and at fourteen he had the dream that changed the course of his life.

Back to her though, he knelt to the floor and bowed his head to hide his face. He imagined he would have a hard time keeping it together. For better or worse, she couldn't see his face as he licked his lips, focused and whistled a single unwavering tone.

What are you doing you frea- but she made a startled noise as she fell to the floor, it was an unnerving feeling as he had experienced first hand many times. One second more of the note and he cut it off. He didn't want to effect anyone else, he rolled her in the mess and wiped his face off, mostly before calling out, Help! Someone help she slipped and spilled this bucket! With a thump he knew they would find bruising to show it hit her head and he had struggled to get her to a place where someone else could find them. He made sure to straighten out her energy flow again so she was coming around when someone found him dragging her toward the clinic proper.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:10, Sat 30 Oct 2021.

The clerk blinked in response to the overly formal bow. He couldn't help but quickly stand up and clasp his hands, bowing slightly, an embarrassed smile plastered on his face. Xier certainly left a deep impression here.

Xier wasn't far from realizing that along with his unusually intense personality his acquaintances painted an unenviable picture of him to the average citizen. Sure, now that he started wearing his Talent nameplate he would have an easier time in the city... but still. Staying at a home owned by foreigners was a stain on him in the eyes of regular folk. Even with Oxcarters being broader-minded than was usual in the kingdom, and a considerable number of refugees from the wars in the East having found their home here, everyone expected the newcomers to assimilate and merge with the majority.

The apprentice quarters, now filled with a stink of blood and earth, suddenly bustled with activity as helpers and even a physician ran in in response to the very, very convincing shout. whatever they might have thought of her usual behaviour, she did seem hurt right now, and the blood... yes, there was all too much blood. This startled helper for quite a few seconds before they noticed the bucket.

Bo had a hard time getting back to her senses, and when she did she was positively fuming. Then again, she did seem quite inebriated, even a bit out of it, so no one took her mumblings about "that bastard using heretical techniques" to heart. The attending physician even asked her to calm down and spend the remained of the day in bed... after bathing, of course. No one asked about the blood, and Xier was more or less a bystander in the whole little chaos...

He had the rest of the day free to visit the physician, or the alchemist, or go looking for trouble.

Xier cleaned up slightly and moved to try to find someone who might be a good mentor from the physicians side first. As it was day one he knew he only had one or two precious days to find a mentor that could mean something to training him. He walked reverently through the clinic to study the physician. He would meditate on them and their movements today. Though if nothing stood out he would treat his friends, both of them, to a decent meal at a restaurant in the city, or that was his plan.

There were six physicians on staff and several assistants to each. Physicians worked shifts in pairs while assistants worked in groups of three to six. With a host of other cleaning, logistics and administrative staff that rotated out by ones and twos across the day. People saw him and spoke of Li Huamao taking an apprentice like it was a huge surprise. They spoke of this physician like they killed people, left families crying all the time, and never fixed anyone or anything completely... yet still maintained the job of taking in people who were sometimes already past dead.

Xier frowned and whispered the name, "...Li Huamao... Are you a necromancer or miracle worker?"

Bright pink, long fingered hands clutched the sides of his head, "If you believe the fools around here you should call me simply Master. They are fools though. I take the worst cases we see. It seems as apprentices go you fall into that category. It seems you ran afoul of the Triplets in your past. Probably because you lived in Li Juro's House. What did you do to their son?"

Xier had glimpsed the fingers, he had known right away what made them that way. He imagined the whole person was not bright pink but their hands and feet would be. He imagined his father's hair like Sakura blossom on the wind before a soft cloud. His father's hands, more rough than these and a deeper red. He was a master of transhu. He was a man who had personal delight in burying his hands in an enemy.

These hands that gripped him had energy, if barely restraining, Xier could not be sure. It would not do to lie. With a sigh he resigned himself, "Master Li Huamao, this one saw a person in desperate need and used what little strength it possessed to save a life and make them stronger."

Li Huamao laughed, it was heavy but true. Li Huamao released Xier's face and sighed, "I haven't laughed like that in a long time. I'm even going to not demand you tell me everything right away. But I have a few errands for you before you become my apprentice... Zheng Jin, of the Bloodgrass." The way his new master said it, it was like they knew it was a lie but one he desperately needed.

Xier turned to look at his new master and accept their demands.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:01, Wed 10 Nov 2021.

Li Huamao's smile hid more than the young man in front of him could have guessed at. A flex of those pinkish fingers displayed the blemish less skin stretched taut over delicate knuckles. Those fingers were almost feminine, sculpted, with carefully shaped fingernails. What the youth didn't know is that once one progressed far enough with the demon hand techniques, the appearance of an expert's hands would slowly return to normal, and consummate masters have perfectly healthy skin with no abnormal redness. Li Huamao's skill was slowly reaching the "Return to the origin" stage, but due to the difficulty of acquiring blood from many different people he started working here. And here he also met this young prodigy. One glance was all it took to see through Chou Xier, and only a moment of deliberation to decide what to do. Especially once the youth accused him of necromancy. Laughable, of course - there was no way the youth could have proof. Or was there?

You first task shall be to collect a sample of blood from all the patients staying here. Label each sample clearly by name, and bed number.

This took longer than one would think. Patient rooms were strewn all over the Clinic and the Sanitary Home. As dusk set over the city, the young candidate had a basketful of small jade vials, carefully marked, some still warm. His prospective teacher was waiting for him already in the dimly lit small apothecary. Amidst medicinal smells and confined workspaces, there was a bronze cauldron, emitting a stench of blood, its three legs fashioned into beast appendages, a  hideous face engraved upon its side. Xier knew just enough to identify it as a ceremonial ding with a horrible, endlessly devouring taotie depicted on its side.

Li Huamao's face was calm as he watched the junior pour all those painstakingly gained portions of blood into the bronze cauldron. Curiously, the blood didn't mix but formed marble-like drops with differing shades of red, one for each subject that had its blood drawn. Once this was done, he reached into the cauldron.

"When practicing with this method, you need to feel the uniqueness of each drop, each soul you took the blood from. Come on, let me see how you do."

The necromancer withdrew his hands and used a soft cloth to wipe excess blood form his hands, then looked at the youth expectantly.