"A week has passed and my child hasn't awoken." Calistown was pacing back and forth Master Jiang's back porch.
Wu Hai could hear his mother's voice through the darkness.
There was a strange aroma in the air like incense was burning and the room was somewhat dark. There was a wet cloth on his head pulling the sweat from his body.
"Whatever happened to him must have been profound enough to cause problems with his brain." Master Jiang spoke. "We must keep watch over him, here. Take this water and give it to him hourly. Its been created with magic and the water can aide in healing but it has its limits. There is little else I can do given his condition, we cannot stop his progress without harming his future."
"Then we can only wait?" Calistown replied with a question as she listened. She was looking down on Zao Wu Hai from above his bed. It was impulsive but she reached out to scratch the top of his head to show some affection, a spark pulled Zao Wu Hai from his slumbering and painful looking epiphanies.
"Are you alright?" Old Man Jiang was alarmed, he wasn't sure the reason that Wu Hai had come out of his mental state. If it was cut short there would be long term ramifications.
It had been a while since Wu Hai had spoken, his throat was out of sorts and only a dry heaving sound could be heard at first. He grabbed the cup of water on the bedside and swallowed all of it.
As the water flowed down his throat he could feel a strange energy working on his insides, the energy moved quickly and he was able to breathe easier.
"What is an experience point?" These were the first words Zao Wu Hai muttered when he woke. "I had an intense dream, it felt so real. Master, What is an Experience point? Where can we find them?"
Mulling it over in his mind, he couldn't think of an answer and told him the truth. "I have never heard of such an item. Many Items are so mysterious they are only seen once, sometimes people call these items Unique. Like the Razor Spine of Croy. After the Great Giant Croy died, his spine was removed with the help of many Elders from the now destroyed Xuan Empire. Its said that the Razor Spine of Croy could cleave a mountaintop from its base but these are legends. Unique Items could be anything and all of them are intrinsically mysterious." Master Jiang threw his hands up in bewilderment.
"I once saw one, it was a Blue Card no bigger than my hand. It had a very neat picture on the front and a design on the back. The greatest of our Painters could hardly match its exquisiteness. It had the name of the card on the top along with several symbols no one could make out. Its golden luster made it shimmer with every flash of light. It was called Infinite Spectral Dragon King Egg and it sold at the auction for more Platinum and Treasure than I've ever seen. Alas, It wasn't me that took it home, it wasn't even the buyer who left with the Card. He was robbed shortly afterward." Master Jiang tried to emphasis that there were risks to having knowledge, just like an Item. He looked over at Wu Hai, still confused.
"Does this mean the bodies and items you would find on the corpses of powerful beasts are worth lots to others? Had I known this, I might have saved my family some trouble and just been a hunter. My brother and I were always good at hunting..." Wu Hai started to trail off but caught himself and continued "Eh, Forget it. We would have died if chance wasn't on my side. My brother also had the potential to be wrapped up in the affairs of outsiders. I'm sorry that I put you all through so much trouble, thank you for watching over me." Wu Hai sat up and looked at his parents.
"Enough self-blame, you did great and things like this come without warning." Explaining some of it as best he could, Old Man Jiang fished around his mind for answers that he might have. A few terms did get his attention thought. "Unique Item, Level Up, Experience Point." He muttered to himself while he tried to track down the words in his mind. 'Humph,' with a snort he was under the impression the words were of significance.. Old Man Jiang went into his study and grabbed a few books.
"Tell me more, try to elaborate while I browse, come in , come in." Old Man Jiang didn't stand on ceremony, if his disciple was able to sit up, he was likely able to stand and walk. Gesturing to his disciple to enter the room, Zao Wu Hai sat down in front of him and tried to explain about the Karmic Credit but when the words were about to leave his mouth he somehow knew it was not allowed and refrained. Instead, he talked about the word 'Gaming' and some things called a 'Mana Pool,' and 'Health Bar.'
"Mana Pool is such a strange term, what other than energy fits this description? I suppose it might be easier for some to call it that, I'll write that down and confer with colleagues. However, Health Bar? That is a very peculiar, is it something you eat? like a bread?" Old Man Jiang wanted to try eating one if they existed. Longevity extending medicines were extremely valuable and widely sought after.
Wu Hai shook his head and replied, "No, its what amounts to your life. If you were uninjured and in perfect health you would have referred to your status as a 'full health bar.' When you get injured it gets smaller until eventually it is empty. When your health bar is empty, you're already dead." Wu Hai explained as best he could, although for some reason he felt it wasn't entirely wrong. The flashes in his memory started to turn distant while he rummaged through his remembrances.
Blinking, Old Man Jiang could only say, "This is a radical concept but it has a lot of merit. What an unforgiving notion, that being said, dying from a bar getting shorter sounds like the strands of fate coming to an end. Perhaps it works as such, I'll also note this too but I think its a little off. Perhaps the health bar is something you can cast. Otherwise, how would you know?" Having heard quite a lot of interesting things thus far, Old Man Jiang wasn't sure he could accept any or all of it but to dismiss it would be a fools choice. Information and lost knowledge were some of the most valuable things in the world.
He had witnessed some strange things while caring for the boy. It would not be out of the ordinary for the extraordinary to occur. "Just thinking of the concepts that went into the weapon makes my mind spin out of control, its impossible to mix these minerals like this." Old Man Jiang somewhat hesitated to pick it up, after the red cube sent Zao Wu Hai into a trance for a solid week. He pointed instead of touching, he had been unsure as to whether or not to even touch any of the collected treasures Wu Hai had laying around. However, after a few more minutes of thinking about it, he chose to pick up the weapon.
It took a staggering amount of effort just to pry the handle up from the bed, unable to lift it much at all, he chose to drag the bedsheets around it and laid it on the table for inspection. Unfurling the sheet across the table, he looked over the weapon.
From the bottom it was wrapped in a Green handle that was made from what looked like Ancient Chameleon. "What's this?" Studying it further, he kept noticing components of the weapon. It kept him breathless, 'from tip to grip, this weapon is a colorful one and yet oddly clear in places. The swirling rings almost looked like fire licking the crystal like portions.' Old Man Jiang ran his finger across the many different colors in the weapon to feel their consistencies.
"Anadamonium, an purple ore pulled from a fallen meteor..." 'This boys past lives must be flooded with kind acts.' Among the other things, he noticed red platinum streaks and black gold. 'These were Flame Platinum Ore and Black Gold was used in the fine details. This thing must also be a spacial item, the amount of space inside a weapon of this size would be enormous.' Although he couldn't lift the Weapon, he wanted to see if he could see into its spacial pocket. Trying with all his might, he couldn't notice any access with his probing, only sense immense pressure being exhibited, pushed back toward him.
The weapon did not feel alive but it did pulse when he was holding its handle to warn him that it was not for his hands. If he probed further, a backlash would strike at either him or his disciple.
Facing facts, Master Jiang withdrew his senses and picked up the Wooden Cube. It didn't seem very odd or strange, the Wooden Cube's light went out, along with the water symbol. There was also a flicker of the light from the Mind face on the Metal Cube. 'Could it be that these cubes sense the available Mana In the air?' He then noticed one of the cube sides glitter as he picked up it up.
'Bring a man water and watch him drink.' Old Man Jiang placed the metal cube into one of the weapon's sockets to see its reaction. He was unable to press it into the place or even get it to activate, Master Jiang flipping it around to all six sides but was still unable to push it into any of the holes and there was no chance at socketing it.
Even though the Cubes were smaller than the holes they still wouldn't fit and would only slip through the holes. Confused, he tossed them both down with a tumble.
Something strange happened.
The lights changed on the surface of the Cubes. Suddenly the light went out on the metal cube and was replaced with the Soul Symbol. The wooden Cube shifted from the 'Water' symbol to the 'Earth' symbol.
Unable to understand what had just happened, Old Man Jiang walked out of the room and felt something amiss. As he circulated his energy within his body, everything was unfamiliar. His senses were telling him that he had been altered. He had tried to make fresh water to drink but only got dust accumulating on his fingertips. Then, he tried summoning his root magic, a magic he had developed passionately for most of his life, he couldn't. It frustrated him and he started to go over what he could have been the cause.
Thinking as he paced, Master Jiang tried to see what other affect he was suffering. His body was not sore, he felt fine but he didn't seem like he was able to perform the simplest of spells. He could however sense nearly every cell in his body, the table and the floor.
Old Man Jiang shook his head, it was difficult to wrap his mind around, things were coming into his thoughts, images, information and details. Everything he came into contact with, he could sense with extreme degrees of difference.
He could see the table was made from 830 year old Jinjou Tree. He could see that it produced more than a hundred thousand seeds in its lifetime and that after being cut down by a man named 'Vic,' it was left to rot until Zao Wu Hai's Father had turned it to a table 12 years ago on Wu Hai's 1st birthday. There was even a broom that matched the aura of the same tree standing in the corner of Wu Hai's room.
Pulling himself from the table he tried not to touch anything else. It was just too strange to have so much information, about such a mundane object.
Having blown his mind completely, Old Man Jiang was just glad that Wu Hai had woken up. It had taken a week for him to recover after he returned to Portano but now they had another set of complications, the Cubes.