A Cripple!

Everyone stood dumbfounded for a moment. Brant had never before interrupted a test in the middle, especially considering that all signs indicated that Jack would be able to release all twelve seals. Such a child would be reported to the higher ups and the local church would be rewarded for finding him. To stop the test now wasn't only irresponsible, it was almost criminal.

"I said, stop the test." Repeated Brant, staring sternly at one of his aides that had opened his mouth to reply but ultimately did not do so. "There is something I must check. Please, forgive me good mister Ichabod, for my impetuousness, but this is with young Jack's wellbeing as my utmost consideration."

"You know best, good master Brant." Replied Ichabod. He saw no dishonesty or ill intent within the priest's eyes and, given the man's extremely good reputation, opted to trust him.

With a heavy expression, the aides powered down the array and prepared everything for Brant to access the platform. He moved forward and his steps were heavy, as there was clearly a weight on his shoulders. Brant held a suspicion, but he dared not voice it without confirming it first.

The sudden halt of the flow of qi surprised Jack slightly, but it didn't startle him completely. He lifted his eyes up and saw the priest nearing him. Brant smiled affably but his eyes were sad.

Brant reached forward with his two arms and placed one hand on Jack's forehead, the other on his wrist, the universal position of doctors and healers. A warm and gentle stream of qi entered Jack's body from Brant's hands and, for a moment, Jack was worried that the priest would be able to detect the details of his immensely strengthened body.

However, Jack's concerns were for naught as Brant stopped his probing the instant his qi came into contact with Jack's crippled meridians. In fact, the priest grimaced when he saw their state; he had never seen such heavily damaged meridians! Not even in severely injured hunters! It was a miracle that Jack hadn't fallen dead already….

"It is as I feared." Sighed Brant with deep sadness.

"What is it?" Shouted Adras, full of worry. Any semblance of joy had long left her face.

"There is no easy way to say this, so I will just say it." Said Brant as he pulled Jack into his arms and began walking back to Ichabod and his group. "The boy has… crippled meridians." He said heavily.

"What?!"

"That's impossible!"

"But he went up to the tenth seal!"

"Be quiet!" Shouted Ichabod over the voices of Adras, Loren, Lara, and even Jadelere. Now was not the time to panic and act chaotically, now was the time for order and planning. "Good master Brant, please explain what you mean."

"It's like this, good mister Ichabod." Said Brant as he carefully handed over Jack to Ichabod. "The boy has an amazing natural talent. The best I have ever seen. However, the will of the Divines is inscrutable, and the boy has a crippling hidden injury. His meridians are broken beyond repair; which means, that, even though he has an astonishing level of talent, he will never be able to practice martial arts."

To his words, Adras began to weep, Lara started to pray, Loren cursed and punched the wall. Only Ichabod kept a semblance of calmness even though there were waves of turmoil in his heart.

"Is there nothing to be done to remedy this?" Asked Ichabod after a moment of thought, but his hopes weren't too high. Even though his cultivation wasn't very high, not even in the Nascent realm, he was a well-read man and knew what this kind of hidden injuries meant.

"I'm afraid not. The boy's injury is old, very old, at least a few years judging by the state of his meridians and it is beyond repair at this point. I will not ask about the boy's providence, as it is not my place to pry, but my guess is that this injury relates to his birth." Brant's glance was charged with hidden meaning. "All I can do now is offer my prayers."

"Thank you, Brant." Said Ichabod. Then, he turned and left the chamber followed by the rest of his group.

None spoke their goodbyes or bid Brant farewell. The priest didn't expect them to, either. It was a heavy blow to have a cripple for a child and Brant knew that hard days awaited them coming forward. Then, he instructed his aides to clear up the testing chamber and made them swear that they wouldn't reveal the results of Jack's test. However, he knew that the boy's condition wouldn't remain secret for long. Such was the way of Groamburk, and any small city in the world.

--

"We will not let this as it is." Said Ichabod as he paid a street teller for a large bag of sugar-coated fried dough sweets that Jack loved. "We will get a second opinion; and a third, if needs be."

At that particular moment in time, only Jack, Jadelere, and Ichabod remained. Ichabod had ordered the rest of the group to return to the Hare Manor, only Leah stayed behind to guard them from a distance. An unnecessary precaution taken in light of the delicateness of the situation.

Speaking of delicateness, to stop unwanted prying ears from overhearing them, Jadelere and Ichabod were speaking in a foreign language that only them two spoke and understood. Even Jack had no idea what they were talking about.

"We must contemplate the possibility that what the priest said is true." Commented Jadelere in response to Ichabod. "If the boy's condition really cannot be remedied…"

"We contemplate that scenario seriously, Jadelere." Interrupted Ichabod. "But I will not sit back and let a priest say that my son will forever be a cripple."

"It wouldn't be the end of the world, you know. He could still be a scholar, an array master, or whatnot." Reminded Jadelere. "There are a great number of professions available to him and he is a surprisingly bright child."

"You're right, but we will explore that course of action if and when we confirm that there really is nothing to be done."

"Very well, how shall we proceed at this time?"

"I have a few thoughts."

Ichabod held the pouch and brought out one of the sweets, which Jack had first thought remarkably resembled doughnuts, but tasted completely differently. They were simple, wheat-based yeast dough, flavoured with an unknown type of liqueur, that was thinly rolled, cut, or shaped into individual pieces, then fried in deep fat and then finished off with a sweet topping of crystallised sugar. A delicacy of palatable sweetness, Jack loved them from the first moment he tried them.

"Pray tell, what are they?"

"For now, we must try to obtain some resources that may be able to help him cure his ailment." Explained Ichabod. "Also, I seem to recall an old acquaintance of yours well-versed in all medical matters."

"I hope beyond hope that you're not talking about who I think you're talking about." Grumbled Jadelere.

"And I hope beyond hope that you do know exactly who I'm talking about, otherwise I pay you too much to be stupider than I expected you to be."

"Abyss take my anus!" Complained the wary accountant. "Not him!"

"Just send him a letter." Sighed Ichabod, ignoring Jadelere's cursing. "Make sure he can come as soon as possible."

"Knowing him, he won't arrive before two years pass. Last time I heard he was in the other side of the empire, researching something about barnacle cephalopod fornication and its practical applications in surgery." He grumbled. "What that has to do with medicine is beyond me."

"For a pair of mortal enemies, you're very knowledgeable about his whereabouts."

"Of course I am, precisely because we're mortal enemies."

"Fuck it. If it's two years, it's two years. Get in touch with him" Ordered Ichabod.

"Why would he come if I call him?"

"He owes you a favour, as I recall."

"How in the fucking blazes do you know that?" Exclaimed Jadelere in despair. In response, Ichabod turned and gave him a sly half-smile; however, his eyes were still filled with a concealed sadness that didn't escape Jack's observing gaze. "Oh, right, you're bloody Ichabod Hare, the fucker who knows everything."

"Not everything. Just the important bits."

--

After an hour, Ichabod and Jadelere returned to the Hare manor. They were welcomed by a distraught Adras, whose puffy red eyes gave away the fact that she'd been crying. Lara Gaff stood behind her, no doubt having consoled her greatly.

Ichabod promised her that all would be alright and that she had nothing to worry about. He also said that even if they couldn't cure Jack's meridians, that he would still be their son and that nothing could ever possibly change that.

Overall, it was a beautiful speech.

Later, after dinner, Ichabod took Jack towards his office and placed him in the chair in front of his desk; a look of rare seriousness on his face. Then, he went to one of the bookshelves and drew a book halfway, which activated a hidden mechanism that revealed a medium-sized compartment on the wall, inside which were a few gold ingots and vials full of strange liquids.

However, Ichabod didn't bother to go to the compartment and proceeded to insert the book back into its place, wait a few seconds, and then rapidly draw it and reinsert it three times. Suddenly, a much bigger compartment opened up on the floor in front of Ichabod's desk, wherein the number of ingots, vials, and arcane artefacts was much, much, larger.

Jack was stunned. Clearly, Ichabod had built a decoy safe which was the first compartment to be opened. His real treasures could only be found in the second compartment which was completely impossible to open without knowing the right pattern. Very intelligent.

Without saying anything, Ichabod kneeled on the ground and looked through his cache before bringing out a glass container which had inside it a single, reddish, plant which glowed with a strange hue and a few vials of liquids.

Jack's expert eyes immediately recognised it as a blood ginseng at least five hundred years old, a true spirit herb with amazing healing and cultivation properties; furthermore, its container was inscribed with runes of a superb quality and also looked to be very old. Put differently, the blood ginseng acted as a type of furnace that would burn the impurities away from the body of the practitioner who ingested it.

The value of such an herb was at least twice what the entirety of Ichabod's businesses and various properties were worth. How such a plant and container had come to be in his possession was something Jack couldn't even begin to imagine.

"My son." Said Ichabod as he stood to face Jack. "You are my son, no matter what anyone else says about that. And you will always be my son."

"Papa?"

"This is the Hare family treasure, Jack. A very powerful martial artist gifted this to my great grandfather many years ago after he coincidentally saved the warrior's life when he found the warrior grievously injured." Explained Ichabod. "Since then, this herb has remained in my family as a lucky token. No matter how hard things became for us, we always knew we had this herb to turn things around. Now, I use it on you. In doing so, from this moment forth, you are a genuine member of the Hare family that even my ancestors will recognise."

After his short explanation, which Jack knew was brimming with implied meanings, Ichabod mixed the liquids he'd brought out and the blood ginseng. The ginseng melted into the liquids in a manner which preserved its medicinal qualities. Although this method was far from being as good as alchemically turning the ginseng into a pill, it was far superior to simply ingesting the herb.

Then, when the potion had been brewed, Ichabod placed the vial with the entire mixture to Jack and made him drink the liquid. Jack didn't fight Ichabod, and he allowed the liquid to go into his stomach.

It was a fantastic brew. For Jack, in particular, this potion was a godsend because he was currently still in the critical stages of reforging his body in accordance with the stipulations in the Harmony of Everything. In particular, the final stage of reconstructing his meridians was taking him an extremely long time.

On this day, although he had been called a cripple, he had obtained great benefits. Firstly, there was the abundant amount of qi that he had received from the Church of Divines which was still being filtered by the dragon ring. Secondly, the blood ginseng, whose medicinal properties would boost his cultivation speed and effects even further than another year of bitter cultivation. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, he saw, once again, the profound love that Ichabod felt for him as his foster father.