Grandpa sat up in a squat. Then, he leaned forward onto the tips of his toes and sprung up to stand.

Shay did approximately the same thing but her knees made ugly popping noises. Why did her knees do that and not Grandpa’s? That didn’t seem fair.

“Let’s take a break,” Grandpa said with a reassuring smile. “You can decide whether or not to continue with pill forging after you’ve had some more time to think.”

“A break? But... we just had lunch?”

Grandpa furrowed his bushy brows. “I... wasn’t going to suggest food. But, if you’d like, I can call the chef and--”

“Oh. No-- no, it’s okay, Grandpa.” Shay waved hurriedly.

She’d gotten so comfortable that she forgot she wasn’t hanging out with Tyvan. Grandpa Wei had bigger muscles than a silverback gorilla but still ate only a little more than a regular person. Tyvan, on the other hand, was not a regular person.

“Let’s head to the martial hall,” Grandpa suggested. “Shall we practice sword forms today? I told your junior sisters about the skill you displayed against the Bounded Arrow sect’s disciple.”

“That-- that was just me being lucky, Grandpa.”

Shay was proud to be the deciding factor in the sect tournament, but it ultimately wasn’t worth much. Her opponent at that time was the newest member of the Zhang family’s sect-- so it was just by chance that he was worse than she was.

“Luck is also a skill,” Grandpa said, completely serious.

“Huh? Luck is the opposite of being a skill!”

Grandpa started chuckling to himself. “Err... maybe that’s not the best English word for it.”

The sword...

The Chinese jian, more specifically.

She remembered wielding it during the tournament. She still had it, somewhere-- probably in the storeroom at the back of the martial hall.

But she didn’t remember... asking for it? It just... appeared in her hand while she was fighting.

It probably had something to do with Tyvan. Maybe he used some kind of sword-teleporting spell?

--wait, did he...

Did Tyvan use magic to help her cheat in the match where, if she lost, her sect would have suffered an extreme financial setback that would’ve ruined everything Grandpa had worked for, throughout his entire life?

Mm.

If he did, she could never tell anyone the truth.

Shay didn’t remember the second half of her match-- not really. She got beat up a bit. But... then she did some sword-stuff and ended up winning?

Sometimes, something similar happened when she took school exams. She’d go into class low on sleep but pumped on adrenaline, anxiety, and chunks of hastily memorized factoids. She wouldn’t remember much of the test-taking process, but as long as she studied the right material, the results always came back great.

That’s why studying just short of going crazy was so important to her. She needed to be able to ace tests practically in her sleep.

“Ah, Xiaoxue,” Grandpa said. “You work with that Jiang boy, don’t you? How’s he doing?”

Shay blinked. Why... was her grandpa asking about... that person?

“You’d know more than me,” she pouted. “You were the one that gave him permission to use the training ground.”

“It was a favor for your boyfriend,” Grandpa said. “I... hope I can assume your relationship with Valorum is going well.”

Shay gulped. “So you were asking about Mister Jiang?”

“Ah-- right. I was,” Grandpa nodded. “Jiang! One-in-a-million talent, that one.”

Shay took a deep breath and sighed.

Talent. Again.

That was the one thing she was missing that’d solve all her problems in a heartbeat.

----------------------------------------

Shay didn’t think much of what Grandpa Wei said after she left the Song Estate. Or maybe... she actively tried to forget about it.

She had other things to worry about.

And those worrisome things had fangs. And they preyed on human beings!

And... those fanged things also had a right to live, too-- which made everything a lot more complicated.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

But it would REALLY be for the best if they stopped literally killing people. The excessive murdering was a huge, non-negligible problem.

...It would have been so much easier if she had talent.

Shay’s hope of becoming a Pill Master would never be realized because no matter how much hard work she put in, there was a minimum amount of talent required to succeed.

hoWEVER~

Talent aside, she had resources!

Amongst her resources, she had Nuri!

And Nuri knew The Marquess!

According to Alexei, the Marquess was directly involved with-- or maybe even personally responsible for the latest wave of blood-sucking violence.

Also, if Nuri was a vampire, she'd also be motivated to vie for peace.

Was she a vampire? There was a chance she wasn't. There were a lot of checkboxes that applied to Alexei but not to her. And, since that guy could walk outdoors while the sun was out, Shay didn’t have a lot of faith in her book-knowledge of vampire weaknesses.

(Was it possible for Nuri to be a vampire by association? That was the easiest way to look at it.)

.........Nevertheless... Nuri was involved, somehow.

Nuri was a reasonable, rational adult-- and was really cool and easygoing, overall. Shay was sure she’d be able to talk to her and maybe figure out a solution that could make everyone happy.

So with that pretty much set in stone, the only problem that remained was... that Nuri didn’t answer her FREAKING PHONE CALLS!!

She didn’t pick up late on Sunday. Not on Monday. She didn’t call back or respond to her voice mails, either!

It was absolutely nerve-wracking knowing that, for every day that passed-- for every day that the problem wasn’t getting solved, there were more and more vampire murders taking place in the dark, seedy, vampire-infested corners of the city.

OKAY! Different plan, then!!

After school on Tuesday, Shay went looking for Tyvan. Maybe he’d be able to help her brainstorm about the situation. And... they’d maybe (probably) go out to get something delicious to eat. Whatever the case, hanging out with him would make her feel so much better! It’d heal her spirits, recharge her energy, and--

Raia answered the door of his apartment.

Shay took a step back, double-checking where she was.

Definitely in front of Tyvan’s apartment. Not Raia’s.

Shay pointed her arm to the side. “But you live over there.”

Raia crossed her arms. “Uh huh?”

“W...why?”

Shay had gone straight to Tyvan’s instead of going to the front office, specifically to avoid getting teased.

Raia started snickering to herself. “Oh, the look on your face. Come on in. Boss has the cleanest apartment, as you probably already know? So this is just where we had to go.”

Shay followed her in, even more confused by that explanation.

Tyvan was missing. At that point, it wasn't surprising, but it was still incredibly disappointing.

And... Monty was there, too. He was shirtless and lying in a weird chair that wasn’t naturally part of Tyvan’s apartment. It looked like... a dentist’s chair.

Oh. And there was also another person-- a guy. He was sitting in a chair next to Monty, leaning over him with an oversized pen-thing in his hand.

“This is Gabe,” Raia said. “He’s the guy that did most of my ink. He’s a fantastic artist but he’s incredible at inking premades.”

Gabe the Fantastic was a surprisingly normal-looking person. White? --or maybe Mexican. Dark hair, mustache, and goatee. A black t-shirt with a band on it she’d never heard of and work pants. And despite Raia saying he was a tattoo artist, he only had one visible tattoo on his right arm-- and it was half-hidden by his shirt sleeve.

He gave Shay a nod of his head and a friendly “Hey.” But then he looked back to Raia. “It’s not only that. I’m a math nerd and the design you gave me-- the shapes, the lines, the... the layers. It flows. It makes... sense, somehow. It’s really freakin’ cool.”

“See?” Raia smiled. “He’s perfect for the job.”

So Monty was getting a tattoo.

That... was really cool. And he was getting it done by the same guy that did Raia’s tattoos-- who was, if Shay was being honest, the reason she thought tattoos were cool in the first place.

It had been awhile since she’d last seen Monty-- or really, since she actually looked at him. When they first met, he was a chubby, delinquent boy who was the butt of everyone’s jokes. But since then he learned how to fight and became one of Tyvan’s favorite people.

He was lying still on the tattoo-ing chair with his eyes closed. His bare upper body wasn’t quite magazine-ideal, but it was a realistic snapshot of ‘lost a lot of weight’ that she didn’t want to say or think mean things about because that would be rude.

But still... why were the three of them in Tyvan’s apartment?

Err-- it was actually not too surprising that Monty and Raia were around, but... Gabe the Fantastic looked like an ordinary human! (--like she was!)

“Raia, but this guy--”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” Raia waved. “He’s signed the NDA. He’s a contractor-- like Merlin.”

Oh.

That... made enough sense that Shay stopped caring. Seeing Monty getting nice things hurt her feelings a lot more than she’d realized.

“I heard there were two Merlins,” she said. “What’s with that, anyway?”

“That’s kinda true,” Raia said. “but not really? One Merlin is actually just the National Weather Service? I... don’t think Boss actually knows he’s listening to a prerecorded message every time he calls. He’s super polite when he talks to it.”

Shay looked down and smiled. That was sweet. “But Raia... shouldn’t we... tell him?”

“Ahh...” Raia bared her teeth. “I would... but they send us t-shirts and swag, almost every month? And from the way they write their ‘thank you’ cards, I think Boss’ donations might be the only thing keeping them afloat.”

So... Tyvan was unwittingly funding a whole national service? Hm. That was neat.

“Where is he, anyway?” Shay sighed. “I really need to talk to him.”