Hardcore: Qi Worlds Chapter 48: Dawnharbour 1

   Benzhi looked around after stepping through the portal, someone immediately bumped into him from behind.

 "Move, geez, ya friggin noob," a young man, well younger than Benzhi, said. Benzhi was what now twenty-eight or was he? He was probably still twenty-six, this time distortion stuff was mind-bending.

 Benzhi moved out of the way, turning to survey his surroundings.

 The young man wore fine robes made of silk, they were white in colour, he was a man, oriental in appearance with short cropped black hair. The young man also moved clear of the portal, glancing at Benzhi and said, "oh my god you are a freak." Before he ran west up a wide pathway.

 Benzhi saw a large fountain in the middle of the park he was standing in and made his way over. Looking at himself now, he was very slightly tanned, no longer the albino he once was, he still had a few vines attached to his body and a green tinge around his eyes, ears, under his arms, etc. It was similar to Ailen, except whitewashed, as the Seer, Huineng had said, he was like a half elf, half man. Benzhi was surprised, he did not know when or why, but his hair had changed from dark to pure white, it was getting longer as well. It was now shoulder length. It was time for a trim at least.

 Benzhi was wearing the leathers given to him by the Gaels and had a pack which he had been carrying for quite some time. The shield was on his arm and his sword sheathed on his back. He still went barefoot, not wanting to interfere with his qi manipulation by wearing shoes of any description, it had got to the point where he didn't need shoes, even if he hurt himself it was no trouble to qi heal, in fact, it was good practice.

   Scanning the immediate surrounds, he was standing in what was a large park with wide paved sandstone pathways and swathes of green grass, with trees interspersed and the odd statue or stone bench seat. People continued to stream out of the portal in regular intervals, it was certainly active, there must be thousands of VIPs and their guests, Benzhi thought. 

  "Your hair is white," Huineng startled Benzhi.

  Benzhi turned, "Hmm, I do not know why, but apparently I am a bleached blond now." Huineng looked as he had after Benzhi had healed him, as the Seer. He was still old and frail but now he was mobile and his face, although not perfect, was almost normal compared to before the healing, where it was severely deformed. 

  "Well, I don't know about you, but I need new clothes, these are hardly fitting," Huineng stated, "let's make our way to the temple, hopefully, Huan can outfit me with some robes."

 "Your English is much better here," Benzhi said as they started walking north. There were no signs around the fountain by once they hit a crossroad it showed many directional signs on the large post. Temple, Elven District,  Old Town, Trade District, Academy, Port, Tower and Ruins. 

 "As is your Chinese," Huineng laughed in response, "did it not seem strange to you that you spoke the same language as wood elves from another plane?"

 Benzhi rubbed his head, "would I be an idiot if I said no?"

 Huineng laughed, "no, you are just accepting of what is presented to you. You need to learn to look deeper my padawan."

 "That's not funny, you are no Jedi master and I am not your apprentice," Benzhi answered.

 Huineng laughed but after a few moments got serious, "you are going to need me though. Keep me close as long as you can. Already I can see many differences and some disturbing things about this place. Let alone the people who reside within it."

  The pair passed through the trade district and arrived at the temple. The city was quite large, as Shiyan Shi had said, it dwarfed Vaugend, from the little they had seen it was at least ten times the size of Vaugend, maybe more.

 The temple was not one building, it was a series of buildings split into three main sections by staircases east, west and south. The largest section spanned the entire north side of the central square, this section was not split by a staircase to the north and was generally in a double-u shape. The section was made up of at least nine interconnected buildings, from what Benzhi could see, and was most likely the headquarters for the monastic order. 

  The temple was primarily made out of stone with some wood, clay tile and brick interspersed throughout. The pair entered through the main doors into what was a massive hall, the hall itself was fairly bland except for the dais at the front which had one black, and a few white, gold and silver ornate chairs. The black chair looked to be shiny even though it was pitch black, similarly, the white ones were as well. Given their position, it occurred to Benzhi the black and white chairs were superior to the gold and silver.  

 On the ceiling. of the great assembly hall. were massive carvings of animals, these animals were in a stance or pose. Benzhi recognised the animals coming from the names of the forms Mother showed him, what seemed like a lifetime ago. There was a Tiger, Bear, Deer, Crane, Monkey, Cobra, Bull, Panther, Turtle, Frog and a Praying Mantis.

 Behind the chairs and on other walls were tapestries showing martial battles. Mostly the heroes were using fists surrounded by blue light or lightning. A few had spears or double-bladed spears. The monsters they were combating were different for each tapestry, from a tiger bipedal to demonic lords.

  "Do most of the qi fighters just use fists?" Benzhi asked.

  Huineng nodded, "qi strike is common, qi blade is not."

 "So how do they kill a troll?" Benzhi asked.

 "They don't." Huineng stated matter of factly, "I would just run myself," he added with a laugh.

 "No wonder you stayed in the cave," Benzhi teased, "you could no longer run away."

 "We will see how you fair in a spar with my vigour renewed," Huineng shot back.

 "What Benzhi giveth, Benzhi taketh away," Benzhi laughed at Huineng. Despite fooling him, making him leave Basal, Huineng was growing on Benzhi. It was not lost on him that if Huineng had reported and said nothing Benzhi would still be in Basal, but that was forgiven, almost, Huineng was dying and without Benzhi's aid would have died soon.

 "Who be you, vagrants," a distinguished looking Monk addressed the pair, approaching from the east side of the large assembly hall.

  "Ah, I am Huineng, a master practitioner and senior researcher in the QWP, this here is Benzhi he is also a master practitioner," Huineng stated, "we are to meet with Grandmaster Huan, as soon as possible."

 The distinguished monk nodded, showing no surprise or emotion at the statement, he merely said, "follow."  The monk was wearing light blue robes with a dark blue trim, and similar to most people Benzhi had seen he was wearing slippers which passed for shoes around here.

  The pair followed him through the connected buildings, up spiral staircases, down corridors, Benzhi was thoroughly lost after a few minutes. The finally arrived at a level with what seemed were a few large rooms, the blue-robed monk showed them into an office.

 "These new arrivals asked for you by name Grandmaster, they have existing avatars and did not go through the avatar blessing. It seems no guide was assigned to them," blue robe rattled off. 

 "I can see that Adept, you are excused," Grandmaster Huan extolled.

 "But..," the Adept was about to rattle off some rule.

 "Dismissed," the Grandmaster said with such authority there was no doubt that any further noise or delay would be followed by consequences for the Adept.

 After the Adept had left, the Grandmaster walked behind Benzhi and Huineng, closing and barring the door to his rooms. He ushered them over to some cushions in front of bookshelves, it was probably where he sat for meetings or meditated.

 "I only received instructions on you two late last night and here you are, considering the time dilation that was impressive indeed. It's a pity you are both in such superceded lumps, you will stand out here, especially you old man." The Grandmaster stated.

 "I am born again Huan," Huineng replied with none of the respect that the Adept had shown the Grandmaster.

 "I can see your face is much improved, did they not have enough time to allocate you a new avatar?" Huan asked.

 "I am sure your instructions are to service the VIPs in all haste, plus I would assume those avatars would cost a fortune, and not something necessary for my role here," Huineng said.

 Benzhi sat still and quiet, these two obviously knew each other, even if it was superficial.

 "Your avatar at least has evolved, other than those, what are they?" Huan asked.

 "They are vines, I am a half-elf," Benzhi stated.

 "Oh...," Huan said, "elves here were created for entertainment and slave labour basically. You just put yourself in the lowest caste of society. How unlucky for you. Well, looking at my orders you are to be worked almost as a slave, so it may be fitting." 

 Benzhi was about to rise and give Huan a "Reyas" tap to the face, but Huineng felt his anger and put his hand on his leg before Benzhi even moved. The touch diverted Benzhi and he thought for a moment and then calmed down. Huan and his insults of the Elves would just go down in his little, mental, black book for now.

 "Benzhi is a master of the QWP," Huineng added, "with all the entails. We have been ordered to follow your commands in terms of servicing VIPs, as expected their needs are the highest priority, however after that is completed you have no authority over Benzhi, I do."

 Huan jostled slight at the words. "That may be correct, but a Master in the QWP means little here, nearly everyone is of equal rank or higher, except for the ai lump slaves. You would do well to remember that and until you receive a rank in the temple you are lower than a Novice in the hierarchy of this world."

 "I am sure that Benzhi's well-being will be at the foremost of your plans, as, at the moment, as far as I know, he is the only person to master qi healing...unless your finest adepts are able to fulfil the role," Huineng jibed Huan.

 Huan visibly stiffened as if insulted, "I have no idea how this primitive learned to manipulate qi to such an extent, let alone master qi healing. I tell you now, if it is some sort of duplicity on your behalf Huineng, you both will be free of your bonds in the most expedient manner."

 With that Huan stood, "Let us run a simple test right now, bring up your stats and share them with me oh Benzhi."

 Benzhi looked confused, on purpose, he did have an inkling what Huan was talking about but opted for playing dumb.

 Huan sighed, "unlike the primitive QW5 or 6 or wherever you are from, here on QW9 we have the latest advances. Our world has sophisticated mechanisms like stats, skills and aides for the residents."

 Huan said residents instead of subjects, which was significant how most were either employees or some sort of VIP. Apparently, there were no planar people coming through portals to QW9, hence the need to AI lumps, these people needed their servants, god forbid they would have to complete menial tasks themselves.

  "Primitive, bring up your stats by concentrating. It's not difficult, once you have accomplished that, share it with me," Huan asked.

 "Can you share yours first, so I can get an idea how it is done," Benzhi asked. Huineng guffawed before getting control of himself.

 Huan puffed, "of all the pertinence. There is no way I am lowering myself to your level by showing you my stats, you are but an ant in the scheme of things, you are so low you do not even know how low you are."

 "It sounds like you are afraid," Benzhi antagonised Huan, he did not like being talked to like this it just provoked him to challenge Huan.

 Benzhi pulled up his stats and was quite surprised what he saw. While he chuckled to himself quietly he sent the stats to Huan and Huineng.

 "What?" Huan asked gasping, "why are there question marks and, what the fuck is with your qi manipulation and core there must be some error. You are corrupted Benzhi."

 "I don't think so," Huineng said, "he was not raised on a lower plane such as this, a city designed for the entitled rich."

 "Do not make a mockery of me, I warn you Huineng, you are not immune to my wrath here," Huan retorted angrily. "There is no way this primitive, from the west, has higher manipulation than me, let alone high enough to take the test for Enlightened. And I have never seen a core this high. There must be some error. You see," he pointed into midair, "his skills, class and level are all showing errors."

 "What score is required for Master and Grandmaster?" Huineng asked innocently.

 "Fifty," Huan replied.

 "What both?" Huineng asked.

 "Grandmaster is a leadership title, it has the same requirement as Master," Huan replied, "do not change the subject! I want to send Benzhi for testing, through the Avatar tutorial and class selection."

 "No," Benzhi replied, "I am here to heal VIPs, it was made very clear that this takes precedence over all your ranks, levels and classes. Once I am through the backlog, I am to begin training others in the qi healing. I will not be diverted from my mission."

 Grandmaster was agape at Benzhi, the vehemence with which he stated his goals. "That is commendable," Huan was mollified despite being lectured by someone whom he regarded as almost a slave, "you will start immediately and if you fail to heal Seneschal Cain, well then you will be found out and it will not be my fault. I was merely following directives."

 "Do you think we really care?" Benzhi asked, "we need somewhere to rest and I need access to the Land Core in order to heal someone."

 Grandmaster Huan panicked. "The Land Core? Are you joking? I thought you were qi healing, the Land Core doesn't have that sort of function."

 "Have you read every word of your orders or did you just skim read?" Huineng asked.

 With that Huan went over to his desk and grabbed a bound document. He opened the first page and began to read furiously, flipping through pages until he got to the fourth page. He yelled, "Noo! This cannot be!"

 Huan stormed back over to Benzhi, "I know every setting, every nuance, if you change even one thing I will know," he said angrily, "if you bring down the shield..." he just shivered and said to himself, "do they even know what they are doing?"

 "Get over it," Huineng said mildly amused, "now are we living near here it will be so much more efficient given a hectic schedule. As Benzhi needs access to the Core."

 It was Huan's turn to laugh. "Oh no, you do not understand, I just read it took three days to heal you Huineng with a primitive Core on QW6. So even if I schedule one VIP each earth day, you will still have six days to complete the healing. And they will view one per day as amazingly quick. I wouldn't risk putting them closer. If one were to turn up at the scheduled time and asked to wait there would be hell to pay. There are two words these people will not tolerate, one is no and the other is wait. But you will soon find out." Huan laughed as if in revenge.

 "So you will have plenty of time to travel from the academy to here. As soon as the healing is done for each VIP you can start training the candidates at the Academy. I have already arranged for you two to live there in the teacher's section. The last thing I want is for you to be around here when you are not healing a VIP." Huan shivered as if sullied by their mere presence.

 "I will have one of my adepts show you to the Academy and to the Chancellor. You are to be here tomorrow morning at the break of dawn and await your first client. He will most likely show not long after, as he is not well. Do not be late," Huan warned.

 Benzhi stood and bowed, "it was a pleasure Grandmaster," he said without a hint of mockery.

 Huineng also said farewell, before they followed an Adept in grey robes to the Academy, which was on the west side of the city.

Chapter end