0002 - Xiao Kang
Xiao Kang - or Su Fu - didn't mind the cramped sleeping space: he wasn't here for comfort, and had to do the best with the time he could use; he had a pretty long list of things to do, and 'sleep' was low on the priority list. First - even if it almost pained him to do so, with so much to juggle - information: the Four Yin sect, Miefeng Mountain, Duan Jie, the porcelain vial and medallion he found on the strange man, the white mushroom and the green-glowing gem: he had collected quite a bit of topics of interest in just a day of work.
The mushroom was easy - and an excellent excuse to strike up a conversation with Ming Huai: he'd try to take a second guess on its nature now that he had access to a library of scrolls and wasn't wounded in a damp cave.
In case of both success and failure he hoped it was an item uncommon enough to at least pick the interest of the elder herbalist - from there he could more or less naturally carry on with a conversation on pill-making to try and impress him: he dared not ask for access to the Sect's famed herb gardens, but perhaps he could get some pointers and recipes - and the use of the pill-making equipment, even supervised.
Ideally, recipes that used the mushroom he already had.
The porcelain vial was similar to the mushroom: he'd try to identify the contents for himself, and if he couldn't (but could at least figure out if it was herbal or medical-related) bring it up during his conversation with Ming Huai.
As for most of the rest (the Four Yin sect, Miefeng Mountain, Duan Jie and the medallion) he'd try to find something in the Hall of Records: he already knew something of Miefeng Mountain but it couldn't hurt to double-check, while the rest was a complete mystery. The gem... unlike the other items, he wasn't entirely comfortable showing it around. If he had non-supervised access to the Hall of Records he could try to seek information on his own, but if he was always accompanied he'd keep his research generic - 'ways for a non-sect-affiliated Cultivator to help boost his training, such as magical gems' was probably a reasonable angle to use to tackle the issue.
One second-to-last item to research: the local Sects - he had a working knowledge of the area, but (as shown by his complete ignorance of the Four Yin sect) most of it was from the days before he started taking his Cultivation seriously and didn't include many important details to his new life. Important Buddhist - or in general Righteous - sects in the area were all potential friends, while even a broad knowledge on the followers of demonic Daos could save his life. Finally, there was always a chance to find mentions of more mercenary sects, willing to share manuals and training in return for fat pouches of Spirit Stones or other services.
...at the moment, other services.
And finally, a personal curiosity: after spending some time with the monks (maybe even a month or two) he tried to figure out the closest to the cultivation level of Ci Zheng, his mentor, to try and ask if they ever heard of him.
Then he needed to cover his cultivation bases: while it probably was not his strong focus he asked Bao Xing if he could enlighten him on the concept of the sound of the golden bell - or point him to someone who could help him understand it. At the same time he seeked - perhaps among the younger monks - a regular sparring partner or two, ideally someone specialized in palm strikes: that was probably something he could try on his own, but having someone to copy would help immensely, and he wasn't against sharing his own finger style in return. Learning via spar would have the side benefit of allowing him to practice his blocks: he couldn't hope to survive many more fights on luck and 'strike harder, faster and more times' alone.
He happily took part of the evening meditation, especially if it happened in the Taoist-built Buddhist temple: he didn't know about Feng Shui, but perhaps asking a few question to understand the troubling and positive points of its architecture (assuming the astrologers didn't go out of their way to simply annoy the Buddhists, but actually tried to build an auspicious temple) would help him to better understand the common and divergent points between Taoist and Buddhist cultivation: something that, he assumed, would greatly help when studying the Jianxuan Yinzhong Jing book.
Once armed with a working understanding of the two topics he was completely ignorant of, he was indeed ready to give it a second, more thorough reading: it was probably too early to try and understand the finer differences between the Golden Bell of Buddhist fame and the Black Silver Bell mentioned in the book, but he was optimist he was finally going to be able to make some progress in understanding.
Once or twice a month he instead spent the afternoons in town: he considered selling the hunting knife, but in the end it was more of an useful tool than a proper weapon, and it could end up useful - even if he wasn't going to fight with it. He did, however, need to buy things: a real acupunture set, at the very least (unless at the temple they could hook him up with one for personal use at a discount). He also kept an eye out for manuals and other things that could be of use to a cultivator, even if the really good things would probably be beyond his means.
Beyond the shopping the real reason for these trips was to not end up completely detached from the outside world: this way he could keep an ear on the news and rumors - even if not exactly a real-time one, and reluctantly put a break on his training if anything important happened. As for HOW to find information - well, this was a town with more brothels than inns, and he was an expert on herbal remedies, relaxing incense and all the right acupressure points to deal with stiff muscles. It wouldn't be a... typically Buddhist... source of knowledge, but his life as a bandit guaranteed him that was a skillset that could get him in the good graces of the ladies with access to more info than anyone else in town.
He did not go out of his way to seek Xun Zhong beyond the first polite greeting: unless his preliminary research marked him as target to ask about Ci Zheng, the Patriarch was simply both too above his station and too busy with meditation to bother him.
As for Liao Yuan he judged attempting to butter him up a waste of time: if Bao Xing was right on his judgment of his teacher - and he had no reason to distrust the older healer on this - simply doing his best during his duties would be the most effective way to begin earning his approval.
In short: early morning (or whenever he could find a partner for it) spar, then his shift of medical practice, food, afternoons split between studying (in the Hall of Records for information, but he'd never refuse the chance to learn something under a skilled teacher - especially if he could get himself some extra pill-making pointers) and practicing the lessons of Jianxuan Yinzhong Jing. Finally the commonal afternoon meditation. Depending on the time this ended, he considered adding one extra round of practice before sleep.
You wrote Jianxuan Yinzhong Jing as [STR 15/10, ABL 17/10, Metal 66/10, Palm 0/10, Voice 0/10]
Since my Str is 10, I assumed a typo and that you actually meant 'Str 10/10', but just now I thought that it could just as well be 'Str 10/15'. Just to know.
Zhiqiao Muyu Fa I doesn't have a Xiuwei. 0/1000?
If it can be practiced during the evening meditation (it is, after all, a technique to strike temple blocks), Xiao Kang definitely does so.
Unless interrupted by critical outside events, he'll follow the schedule until the new Hall is ready, so about six months. He'll also take a break to reconsider his schedule if he manages to level up his Cultivation level before then.
Leaving some rolls here for some of the suggested actions:
01:59, Today: Xiao Kang rolled 29 using 1d100. 61, Herbalism.
The Mystery Mushroom is no longer a mystery!
02:01, Today: Xiao Kang rolled 91 using 1d100. 51, pills.
02:01, Today: Xiao Kang rolled 8 using 1d100. If the reroll from Genius would apply, Pills again.
And he also knows how to cook it. Maybe.
01:59, Today: Xiao Kang rolled 12 using 1d100. 56, Medicine.
The best at massages! Or at doing his job in general, anyway.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:24, Sun 01 Aug 2021.