P.OV Aadi
Being shaken awake leaves him feeling groggy and upset, the winged man appears to have decided we need to go somewhere as he has picked him and his plant up and got in a small carriage. He had yet to tell me where we are headed but I don't really care as long as I can keep away from to many strangers.
Finally the winged man starts talking, "We're going to an old acquaintance and he will be giving you a medical exam so we can know what we need to do to get you back up to standard, he also may be employed to act as a tutor for you if need be."
Surprised at his words I understand he saying this so I will remain calm during the check over, humming in agreement I peer out the window as the white streets and small shops shift into more residential buildings and homes. Stopping in front of a white one floor home with peach trees all around he covers me and my plant with his jacket before heading out to the door and hitting it with his foot. Cursing came from in the house as a man with a gentle soft face and a thin build opens the door.
" I have said before I---, Lucien why are you here?" Winged man who is apparently named Lucien looks down at me and back up before asking, "mind letting me in?"
The man appears to finally realize Lucien has a child in his arms and immediately opens the door to let him in before quickly shutting it behind him. "Take the kid to the examination room I'll be right behind you." This clearly is not the first time Lucien has done this.
"Nilan this case is different than usual, you need to do a complete physical and in depth energy scan." The man Nilan freezes, looks at me and then says, " I'll get dressed and head to my lab, wait until I'm heading out and follow." Leaving the house we return to the carriage and wait, 5 minutes later Nilan comes out and gets on a carriage of his own.
Leaving the housing area we come to the center of the city and there are many large stores, luxury hotels, and beautiful art designs lining the street.
We come up on a large white building with trees and greenery every were, It is undeniably beautiful pulling up we go down a side path before stopping at what is clearly a back door. This is not just a normal check up for this world but something else, feeling nervous now that I know this is not just a regular thing I grip Lucien's shirt and look up at him in question.
"Don't worry it's just we don't want to many people asking questions neither you or I want to answer." Lucien comforts me.
"This one appears even more attached than normal." Nilan comments.
"His case is as far from a normal one you can get." Lucien replies.
Entering the place I can't help but wonder why Lucien views my case as so different from others he has brought in before. The only drastic difference is me being from another world but Lucien should have no way of knowing that, right?
Being put down on white hospital bed I watch as Lucien does the weird thing again that causes me from being able to hear them despite being close by, seeing Nilan turn and look at me with an astonished look before turning back to Lucien and saying something. Once they stop talking Lucien comes up to me and kneels down placing both his hands on either side of me.
"You need to stay calm okay, we are going to do some scans on your body and your going to be placed in a very big machine in order to do so. Don't freak out or you may end up hurting yourself or causing yourself to have to redo it so to get a proper imaging." Lucien tells me.
Nodding my consent I get up as Lucien indicates and follow behind, coming to a room with a cylindrical tube like device in the middle I figure that is probably the machine he was talking about.
Lucien removes the jacket from me and reaches out for my plant, hesitant at first I slowly sit the plant in his hands looking at him and saying, "Protect." Seeing him nod I let him remove the overlarge shirt and stand inside the device, the doors shut behind me and a small wave of mental energy permeates through the device.
After about 15 minutes the door opens up and Lucien helps me put back on the shirt and jacket while handing me my plant.
Returning to the first room with the hospital bed, Lucien picks me up and sits me down on the bed once more before sitting in the wooden chair next to the bed. When Nilan walks in with a contrite face Lucien tenses and looks at me, Nilan appears to hesitate before speaking.
"I did a test of your current body and you are surprisingly healthy despite how you look, actually I would say you are above average health for someone your age. Your muscles are well developed and although slightly shorter than normal you do not have any nutrient problems or any signs of permanent damage beside the small scars on your skin, actually your organs are extremely healthy and your nervous system is working extremely smoothly."
Lucien appears to relax at this statement but also appears to be waiting for a shoe to drop, and drop it does as with the next statement the doctor says, "I just have a little worry with your cultivation as I can't seem to figure out exactly what is happening with that." Lucien tenses again and appears ready to get up. Nilan stops him with a raise hand as he continues to look at me.
"I need you to write down the steps of your cultivation so as to keep track of progress and make sure there won't be underlying problems or potential complications in the future." Nilan continues handing him a pen and clipboard..
Shrugging, I write down how I cultivate. "You start by blocking the absorption points to prevent any outside energy from entering then expunge all energy out of your body, you repeat the expungement step until you sense the mental sphere in your head." He can see a look of horror covering Lucien's face and Nilan's face is kept surprisingly blank as they read what I write over my shoulder.
Continuing where he left off, "then you wait for the energy in your body to refill before spreading the energy evenly in your veins and use your mental energy to condense the energy into a liquid state, you fill the veins with liquid energy which causes a lot of headaches before you use the pressure of the liquid vein energy to condense your mental energy." He can see Nilan's hands shake and Lucien crack the chair from his grip.
"You repeat the condensation step so as to solidify the energy in your vein and mental energy, you then use the energy to push out and expand the veins and mental sphere by filling in any cracks and injuries that occur with energy." Lucien ended getting up and leaving the room for a second while Nilan takes the pen and clipboard out of my hands his own hands shaking severely.
Nilan then says, "lets wait till Lucien returns before continuing, yes?"
Nodding my head we sit there for a good 30 minutes before Lucien returns his face returned to a blank expression.
"Shall we continue?" Nilan asks.
"There isn't much else to it except do that again and again until body is clean of corruption." I write.
"What is corruption?" asks the doctor.
"The nasty thing in dungeon that blocks up energy veins" I respond.
"It is called impurities and it is a easy to treat problem can you tell me why you have to clear it out that way?" Nilan asks. I'm surprised as corrupt- I mean impurities is a big problem that is impossible to treat where I'm from. But it doesn't appear to be a big problem here.
I remain still as there is no way to answer that without outing myself as originating from a very much not of this world place.
Appearing to realize I do not intend to inform him of the rest he turns to Lucien and says, "I believe it best we talk for a second outside so as to see what you should do with the boy in the future."
Lucien turns and says, "Stay here we'll be back after a little." Nodding so he knows I heard he than heads out of the room with Nilan.
Returning back he picks me up and returns to the carriage, "It's been a hard day for you probably so lets head home for now." Lucien says while rubbing my head, it was nice and made me feel safe.
It had been a very big change from how I had been living the past year and 5 months and the jarring change made his stress return once more, safe and on the way home sleep claims me.
P.O.V Lucien
Slowly shaking the boy awake I pick the boy and his plant up and head to the carriage he had prepared after finishing training. Getting in he activates the self drive function and let it head to the typed destination.
Waiting for the grogginess to leave the boy I then explain to him where were headed, "We're going to an old acquaintance and he will be giving you a medical exam so we can know what we need to do to get you back up to standard, he also may be employed to act as a tutor for you if need be."
The boy hums in agreement and starts looking out the one-sided glass window.
Pulling up to the doctors place in order to wake him up and get him headed to the hospital I pick the boy and his pot up before going up to the door and kicking it, Nilan is cursing up a storm. You would think a man who works with kids would watch his words better, Nilan opens the door and says, " I have said before I---, Lucien why are you here?"
Looking at the kid in my arms and back up I know he will get my message, "mind letting me in?" I say.
Nilan opens the door quickly and I step in, hearing Nilan close the door and go, "Take the kid to the examination room I'll be right behind you." Stopping him before he gets ahead I respond "Nilan this case is different than usual, you need to do a complete physical and in depth energy scan."
Nilan freezes and looks at the boy, I know he has to be thinking of last time we had one bad enough to go to the hospital. That child ended dying a quick death at my hands rather than the slow and excruciating one that would have originally awaited him, he even smiled and thanked him for doing it. Neither the first or the last one he would end up having to do that for.
Nilan says, " I'll get dressed and head to my lab, wait until I'm heading out and follow."
Heading back to the carriage we wait five minutes for Nilan to finish, setting the carriage to follow they head to the center of the city were luxury items and places lined the streets, the aspect the hospital was here showed exactly who it had been built for.
Overly opulent and filled with greenery that was trimmed every day using sky high costing gardeners, the hospital was as horrible as ever.
Going to the back door I feel the boy tense and grab my shirt I soothe him by telling him, "Don't worry it's just we don't want to many people asking questions neither you or I want to answer."
Behind him Nilan comments, "This one appears even more attached than normal." although the boy wouldn't catch the underlying question, I do. 'can you kill him if you are already so attached?'
Taking a deep breath I respond, "His case is as far from a normal one you can get." Translating to, 'His situation is to unique to kill him off,'
He can feel the curiosity roll of the boy, putting him down on the hospital bed I set up a silencing ward.
"The boy comes from another world and came by accidently getting trapped in a dungeon, we need to know how different his world cultivation is and what difference he has to others." I say and watch astonishment fill Nilan's face as he turns and looks at the boy before turning back.
"Is this why you can't do what may be needed?" Nilan asks.
"We need to know as much about his world as possible, if he can get here than potentially so can they and we need to be prepared for that." I respond, it may be war if they can tack and find the boy now that he is no longer in a dungeon. There are some spells like that and we need to be careful if that proves true for him.
Dropping the ward I head over to the boy and kneel down, putting both hands on each of his sides and tell him, "You need to stay calm okay, we are going to do some scans on your body and your going to be placed in a very big machine in order to do so. Don't freak out or you may end up hurting yourself or causing yourself to have to redo it so to get a proper imaging."
Seeing the boy nod I get up and indicate for him to follow me, taking off the jacket I reach for the plant, seeing the boy hesitate he waited and finally the boy put the plant in his hands while looking at him and saying, "Protect." I nod and then sit it aside to take off the overlarge shirt. Watching the boy enter the machine and the door close I pick up the plant and head to the observation room, ten minutes later the scan is finishing up when Nilan turns to me.
"Have you had the boy receive purification since leaving the dungeon?" He asks.
"No you know with some cultivation styles it is counter productive or harmful at certain steps, without certainty I'm unwilling to let him do it." I respond.
"He is completely clear of any impurity and his body is so healthy it is incredible, he has the physical strength of a fifteen year old and the mental strength of a twenty year old." Nilan reports.
"Although we won't know until the test is completed if their is any hidden injuries, I highly doubt it looking at his current physical and mental strength, usually cultivation styles like that cause weakening to one or the other but that is not the case with him." Nilan says, I can't deny a certain relief at that fact.
Another five minutes and the test finish, I head down and help the boy put back on the shirt and jacket then hand him his plant. Returning to the room I pick the boy up and put him on the hospital bed then sitting in the chair beside the bed. When Nilan enters with a contrite face I tense, bad news.
Looking at the boy I wait for Nilan to speak or ask me to step out of the room to do so in private, when Nilan starts speaking it is surprisingly good news.
"I did a test of your current body and you are surprisingly healthy despite how you look, actually I would say you are above average health for someone your age. Your muscles are well developed and although slightly shorter than normal you do not have any nutrient problems or any signs of permanent damage beside the small scars on your skin, actually your organs are extremely healthy and your nervous system is working extremely smoothly."
I wait for the other shoe to drop, and drop it did "I just have a little worry with your cultivation as I can't seem to figure out exactly what is happening with that." I tense at that statement, the machine is highly advance and should be able to discern every little part of his energy yet couldn't identify what his cultivation was doing.
Readying to stand so as to talk in private Nilan raises his hand and I stop, Nilan looks at the boy and says, "I need you to write down the steps of your cultivation so as to keep track of progress and make sure there won't be underlying problems or potential complications in the future."
Nilan hands the boy a clipboard, in shaky but legible letters he writes the beginning steps, and already with the first step I can tell how horrible it is.
"You start by blocking the absorption points to prevent any outside energy from entering then expunge all energy out of your body, you repeat the expungement step until you sense the mental sphere in your head." Gripping the chair to calm down I keep reading.
However the next step is even worse.
"then you wait for the energy in your body to refill before spreading the energy evenly in your veins and use your mental energy to condense the energy into a liquid state, you fill the veins with liquid energy which causes a lot of headaches before you use the pressure of the liquid vein energy to condense your mental energy." The chair breaks in my grip and my teeth are gritted in anger.
However what follows nearly has him sick.
"You repeat the condensation step so as to solidify the energy in your vein and mental energy, you then use the energy to push out and expand the veins and mental sphere by filling in any cracks and injuries that occur with energy." He leaves the room and promptly gets sick in the bush, the horrific pain such cultivation style would cause is simply horrific.
Calming down I head in, seeing me seated again Nilan hands the board and pen that he had taken at some point while I was out back. Keeping my expression as blank as possible, I hear Nilan ask, "Shall we continue?"
The boy then writes, "There is much else to it except do that again and again until body is clean of corruption."
Nilan asks the question for both of us, "What is corruption?"
The boy writes, "The nasty thing in dungeon that blocks up energy veins"
The doctor and I are both surprised, impurities aren't hard to handle any old priest could do it hell just being out of a dungeon long enough will let you get rid of it but he makes it sound much worse.
Nilan once more asks the question for both of us, "It is called impurities and it is a easy to treat problem can you tell me why you have to clear it out that way?" I see surprise flicker on his face , clearly he's realized there was a huge discrepancy from his world to ours in this aspect as he doesn't respond to the question.
Nilan turns to me and says, "I believe it best we talk for a second outside so as to see what you should do with the boy in the future."
Turning to the boy I say, "Stay here we'll be back after a little." The boy nods his head in acceptance and I head out with Nilan.
Inside the testing room I activate the wards and promptly punch a wall, then turn and ask Nilan, "can he change his cultivation?" All I needed was to see the look he gave me to know the answer.
"His body is mid process of purifying itself, interfering could cripple him or even kill him not only that but you would have to do a complete purification of his body and his energy will fight it viewing it as a foreign negative energy like impurities. Meaning changing his cultivation now would mean certain death for the boy." Closing my eyes I ask, "once his body is completely purified can he return to a normal cultivation." The silence was deafening. No he can't, for the same reason others couldn't purify him, his body would view any energy but his own as an invasion and would fight it.
Calming myself I return back to the room and pick the boy up taking him to the carriage, the boy advanced recently and must be low on energy and had been in extreme pain. Feeling bad for taking the boy out when he must be extremely uncomfortable I decide to cancel the plans to buy clothes and take him to the barber.
"It's been a hard day for you probably so lets head home for now." I say, rubbing his head the boy slowly leans against me and once more sleep claims the boy.
I had to really go back for this one, and make sure everything lined up, plus I really like Luciens character and hope to keep developing him as well as I have. This is probably the last majority sad chapter for a while, as we will get a nice bit of slice of life coming up.
Creation is hard, cheer me up!