Kevin walked out of the treatment room with hope in his heart and a page clutched in his hand.
May was still seated in the waiting room, eyes closed, Qi moving in odd patterns within her chest. It had to be a cultivation method, but he lacked detailed enough senses to divine its purpose.
“All done?” May snapped her eyes open as he grew close, Qi stilling.
“One more stop,” Kevin responded, shaking his head. “We need to visit an inner sect disciple, Runa Valgarsdóttir. She has the key to what I need.”
May shrugged carelessly, “Never heard of her.” Sighing, she rose from her seat. “But that doesn’t mean much; the sect has a lot of disciples. It has to be today?”
Kevin licked his lips, weighing how to respond. Strictly speaking, it didn’t; if he had to wait a few more days, he’d just lose those days of practice. However, he was already here in the inner sect, so leaving seemed a waste.
Plus, he had a checkup booked with the doctor for next week, which would be pointless if he didn’t get the tattoo done.
“The doctor needs it done by next week,” Kevin said, waving the page of notes as a prop. “So unless you want to be stuck bringing me back another day?”
“Fine, fine,” May sighed again, waving a hand as she flounced out of the waiting room. “What’s her deal? I can’t track the woman down without any clues.”
Kevin hurried to catch up. “It’s formation tattoos. Dr. Vhaughan said that it was an unusual specialization.”
“I’ll say,” May snorted, shaking her head. “A formation on your body? That’s a lot of trust you're putting in the artist. Who knows what tricks they might try to slip in? And that doesn’t even start on the potential risks of trying to integrate something like that into your Meridian network.”
Well, it was a good thing he didn’t have much of a network to worry about then. The risk of some kind of back-door curse or whatever she was suggesting was more of a concern, but he didn’t think Dr. Vaughan would send him to someone with hostile intentions.
Still, he could easily see her point. This wasn’t the kind of operation you’d get done just for a minor advantage. If you weren’t desperate, you’d look for any other options first.
“Still, that’s useful information,” May changed direction, turning toward the middle of the sect. “All the disciples with odd specialties advertise them; it’s the only way they get any customers at all.”
“Is merit transferable, then?” Kevin asked, intrigue overcoming the hint of trepidation about the operation. “If they're advertising, then they have to expect payment.”
May laughed, high and musical. “No, it is not. When they advertise to other disciples, it’s usually cultivation resources their after, or sometimes even money. The only time you get paid in merit is when you're working for the sect.”
It was a good thing the sect was paying for this operation then, the last thing he needed was to get even further into debt.
Their next stop was the assignment building. While the main purpose was for the sect to assign work — at least according to May — there was also a section where disciples could advertise goods and services community board style.
Three walls of the large room were covered in wooden boards, with thousands of little pieces of paper pinned to them. The quantity of information was staggering, yet May seemed to know where she was headed.
After only a few minutes of pursuing a particular section on the right wall, she pointed to a single piece of paper.
Need a hidden advantage? Formation tattoos provide instant effects with few downsides! Come get one today!
Below the short tagline, it listed a random sequence of numbers and letters.
“Got it,” May said, smirking as if pleased with herself. “She’s got a workshop in the formations building. That I could have guessed, but this gives us the specific address to access it.”
Turning on a dime, she strode back toward the door, glancing over her shoulder. “This way, let’s get this over with.”
Once again, Kevin hurried to keep up with the absurd speed of her stride. Still, he couldn’t help but have a last look back at the boards filled with posters.
So many advertisements for services or goods, and this wasn’t even the main job allocation section. Just how busy was the sect?
----------------------------------------
In most instances, Kevin wouldn’t have ever considered a twenty-story building to be small, but this was one of them. Despite its considerable size, the formation’s building was dwarfed by its neighbors, each two or three times its height.
“Are formations an unpopular discipline?” he asked as May led him toward the door.
“Hmm?” May responded, glancing up at the building with a shrug. “Who knows? Inter-departmental politics is well beyond my station. All I know is the departments which are doing well get the newer buildings.”
“Nor do I particularly care,” she finished, ending the conversation by leaning in to mutter at the door. A moment later it opened, revealing a long corridor with doors on either side.
Raising an eyebrow at the sight, Kevin followed her in. Dr. Vaghan had his own little corridor, yet this time it looked like were visiting an entire floor. The corridor even turned at the end instead of terminating.
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Was it to do with prestige? More important people getting their own little slice? Or did this older building work differently? May only shrugged when he asked, seeming to not care in the slightest.
They had to walk past dozens of doors, many without nameplates, before they reached the right one. Near where the corridor turned was a door marked, ‘Valgarsdóttir.’
“Now to see if she’s in,” May said, reaching up to knock on the door. “I’m not waiting around. If she isn’t here, you’ll have to come back another time.”
Crossing his fingers, Kevin shifted his weight as the crack of her vigorous knocking faded. Just as he was beginning to worry, a voice shouted from inside. “Just a minute!”
“Looks like you're in luck, and I’m out of it,” May sighed, leaning against the wall and tapping her foot. “Stuck here while you get a bloody tattoo, there goes my afternoon.”
“Sorry,” Kevin responded, hiding his excitement with a false apology. “I’m sure you can sit in the corner and cultivate on the sects’ dime though.”
May shrugged, looking barely mollified. Perhaps she’d had something planned? Whatever the reason, she was at least willing to stay, and that was what mattered.
It was nearing five minutes when the door finally cracked open, revealing a tall woman with blond hair. She had to be pushing seven feet, yet was so slender she looked more like someone who’d been stretched out than a giant.
The woman was wiping her hands on a cloth as she ducked to stare through the doorway. “What can I do for you?”
“Are you Miss ‘Valgarsdóttir? I’m looking for a tattoo,” Kevin said, holding out the notes he’d been given. “Dr. Vaughan sent me.” He’d place the woman’s advancement at about the same level as Travis', easily within the average he’d seen in the inner sect.
“Yeah, that’s me,” Runa responded, nodding and taking the page. “Vaughan, hey. I was beginning to think that would never pan out. Come in,” she continued, eyes lighting up as she glanced over the notes.
Kevin followed as she stepped back from the door, May a step behind him. Inside, the walls were covered in artwork, each a strange pattern against a white background. A reclined chair sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by cabinets.
Runa herself wore only a singlet and long pants, fresh ink on one of her exposed arms. Nor was it the only tattoo she bore; both arms were covered in dozens of small symbols, none of which were connected to each other.
Kevin took a seat on the reclining chair, leaving him in a backward-leaning position as he waited for her to say something. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted May wandering over to a lounge in the corner, seemingly unconcerned with the conversation.
“Energy gathering formation, huh?” Runa asked after a minute spent looking over the notes. “Not exactly the usual kind of request I get. You’ve already discussed how this will be useful with the doctor?”
“Yeah,” Kevin responded, supporting himself with his elbows so he could nod back at her. “Dr. Vaughan explained it would be useless for most people, but I need the free-floating Qi in my body.”
“Can you do it?” he finished, voice wavering.
“Should be able to?” Runa responded with a shrug. “Energy gathering formations are pretty common, I should have a diagram or two around here somewhere to base it on. Give me, say, an hour to do the design, then another four for the actual work.”
May coughed in the background, glaring over at the two of them but staying silent. No doubt she was less than pleased to hear they’d be sticking around for so long.
“Great,” Kevin grinned, lying back in the chair. He couldn’t wait.
----------------------------------------
“So, how do formations work?” Kevin asked, patience waning after almost an hour with nothing to do.
Just as she had been for the entire time, Runa was hunched over a small desk to the side, scratching away at a piece of paper. Interrupting her might not be the smartest thing to do, but he needed to know how the formation worked before getting it permanently applied.
“They’re boundary modifiers,” Runa responded, looking up with surprising enthusiasm. “Each formation blocks or changes energy as it passes through, creating either a barrier, a filter, or a converter.”
“A series of ‘flags,’ either traditional ones or variations like I use, form the boundary and define what effects will be applied.
Kevin pursed his lips, thinking over what he’d seen so far. “How does that compare to something like a disk, then? I don’t remember it having much to do with boundaries, except to keep the wind off, I guess.”
“Those are mostly arrays,” Runa said, turning back to her design. “Rather than being a boundary, an array is a single diagram that applies an effect to an entire object. I haven’t studied them much; bad things happen when you try to tattoo them onto people.”
“Skin is a natural boundary, so formations work better than trying to treat a person as an object,” Runa finished with a loud snort. “Now, if you’ll let me finish, I’m almost done.”
“Sorry,” Kevin said, sinking back into the chair. It sounded like a lot of the modern Qi-based technology here was built with arrays. Was that why the formations building seemed to be left behind?
Given his agreement with Elder Ming, it could very well end up being one of the unpopular disciplines he might be pushed into. There had been a lot of empty workshops out in that corridor, so he could see them being low on personnel.
Of course, that was assuming there was still enough demand for their work to require more people. He’d have to wait until the class assignment tomorrow to find out.
“And done,” Runa said a few minutes later. Standing, she lifted a scroll by the corners and carefully carried it over. “This should do for a first effort, at least, we can make changes over time if necessary.”
“Eight formation ‘flags’,” she continued, gesturing to swirling patterns on the paper. “One at the base of your neck, two on your shoulders, two in the middle of your back, two on your lower back, and one just above your tailbone.”
While the sections weren’t connected, you could imagine them forming a sideways rectangle with a little triangle on each end.
“An even number of flags, that’s important given how long it will last, each set up to filter earth aspect energy and pass it through your skin,” Runa finished with a proud look on her face. “Just as the doctor ordered.”
“Right,” Kevin responded, stomach churning as he looked over the diagram. Each of the eight ‘flag’ sections was quite large. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but this would be a major undertaking and a significant alteration to his body.
“And you can do all that in four hours?”
“Yep,” Runa grinned, tacking the scroll to one of the cabinets in full view of the table. Rummaging through drawers, she continued, “I might not have done an energy gathering formation before, but I’ve had plenty of general experience.”
“I’m fast too,” she continued, putting her Energy Gathering realm abilities on display as she speedily assembled a set of needles and several pots of ink. “Working on someone else is a lot easier than working on myself as well.”
“Can I see one of your other projects in action?” Kevin asked, licking his lips. Now the time was upon him, some evidence Runa knew what she was talking about would be nice.
In a blur, she was beside the table, an eagre grin on her face. “Sure,” Runa laughed, holding her arms out in front. “Most of my work has been in the opposite direction, aspecting energy as it leaves the body.”
Before his eyes, a sphere of glowing green energy formed over her left palm. “Wood aspected Qi for healing,” she said, a proud glint in her eyes. Her gaze shifted, and a dancing red flame appeared above her right palm, “and fire aspected Qi for combat.”
“Neither is my primary aspect, yet I have access to them,” she finished, smirking down at him.
“You do, indeed,” Kevin laughed, leaning back and relaxing at the impressive display. If she could do that while working on herself with a single hand, then he shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
Worst case, he had the checkup already booked with Dr. Vaughan, so it shouldn’t be much of a risk. “Let’s get started then,” he continued, pulling his shirt off and shifting to lie face down on the chair.
He was no doubt going to be in for an unpleasant four hours, but it would be worth it to progress.