Thomas Imal had inherited his love for medicine from his father at a young age. He always aspired to be a renowned doctor. However, for a long time he wasn't really sure about his path. Since his father managed to gather some fame without ever going to the New World, Thomas didn't understand, why everyone only saw a future there. Until a few years ago he remained indecisive.
A change only occurred, when Kayleen introduced him to Richard Lemmiz. Being able to talk to a veteran doctor, Thomas finally got hooked on the idea of exploring the New World.
Richard never told a lot of people, that he learned a bit of alchemy in the New World. Not that it really mattered, because his alchemy arts simply resembled those of a toddler in comparison to real alchemists. But when he decided to reveal his alchemy to Thomas, it changed the young man's worldview.
From that moment on, Thomas also began to dream. He dreamt of learning alchemy, becoming a scholar, and living in a beautiful pavilion on a mountain with his wife Kayleen. Together they would look down on a line of cultivators begging to be treated by the both of them.
Immensely motivated, Thomas began to work hard. He became an outstanding student, traveled to the New World and began to follow expeditions into secret realms. He couldn't believe his luck when he found an alchemy master's legacy rather fast. Everything perfectly lined up and soon he would even become a scholar. This time he came back in high spirits to guard Kayleen.
The first time he heard the rumor about Kayleen having a lover, he turned livid and asked one of Kayleen's friends for confirmation. But who would give an honest answer, if your crush asked you about another girl? Thomas was disheartened when the rumor seemed to be true. He stayed in his room and even thought about changing schools. Luckily Kayleen came for a visit, and he was brave enough to talk about his feelings for her. Kayleen looked overjoyed and promised him, that the ongoing rumor was bullsh*t. The young girl even proposed a meeting between Thomas and Bai Jingshen, so he could see with his own eyes.
This led to Thomas waiting in front of this stranger's door together with Kayleen and Bennet now.
The first thing those three saw when the door finally opened was a mess of a room. Various weapons lay scattered all over the floor. It even seemed hard to walk here, without hurting oneself. A few robots stood in a corner of the room, littered with obvious scratch marks. Bennett was mostly surprised about this, as being able to damage a robot made for your cultivation realm, required absolute top-class strength. The worst for Kayleen and Thomas however, were the obvious blood and sweat drops everywhere.
Kayleen quickly made a few steps forward, worried if something happened to Bai Jingshen. She took a second, before she could spot him sitting on the couch. Kayleen was shocked, as she looked Bai Jingshen up and down. If the training robots had slight scratch marks, then Bai Jingshen looked as if a demon beast tried to maul him. His hole body was bruised and bloodied, his eye swollen and his leg turned in an unnatural angle. The young woman always had a heart for helping people, so she quickly stepped up to Bai Jingshen followed by Bennet, much to Thomas' displeasure. The instructor looked at Bai Jingshen and suddenly laughed out loud without any concern:
"Haha, looks like you had a great training. I was a bit worried you wouldn't fit in with the other RSS members, but now it seems those kids will have a hard time to keep up with you."
Bai Jingshen let out a strained smile, as his whole body hurt like hell. Over the last week he made immense improvements, but now he had to pay the price. He greeted his visitors in a quiet voice, before telling General Mao to clean up. The AI did as it was told, while doing its best to not inconvenience the people in the room.
When Kayleen arrived in front of Bai Jingshen, she let out a small gasp. She thought about her own training regime and remembered how the worst she had to endure was a dislocated shoulder once. Luckily, she never dreamt about becoming a fighter. She probably didn't have what it takes. Concerned she ordered:
"AI… General Mao… give me some bandages for your master."
AI were programmed to follow their own user's commands as top priority. On the other hand, they had enough freedom to react to other reasonable suggestions as well. In an emergency they were even authorized to act by themselves in order to protect their user. Therefore, Kayleen wasn't surprised when a small cabinet opened next to the locker, containing all sort of basic medicine.
The young woman went over there, took some bandages, which were already soaked n medicinal liquid, and carefully applied them onto Bai Jingshen's heavier wounds. Neither Bai Jingshen nor Kayleen cared about his bare upper body while doing so. While those to simply went through the procedure of a doctor and patient, for Kayleen's new boyfriend this looked totally different.
Bennet quickly picked up on Thomas' face turning increasingly darker and realized what was going on. Therefore, as soon as Kayleen took care of Bai Jingshen's most obvious wounds, the instructor spoke up:
"Alright Kayleen, that's enough for now. Bai Jingshen's biggest problem seems to be a partly broken leg, you won't heal this with bandages."
This was a rather obvious lie to most people in this room, but at least it let Bennet defuse the situation.
"I have a better idea. Let's go to Gentle Water Inn and soak in a hot spring, this will be great for Bai Jingshen after training. My treat."
Without waiting for an answer, Bennet pulled up Bai Jingshen, so he wouldn't have to burden his injured leg to much. Out of the corner of his eye, Bennet could see Thomas and Kayleen suddenly turning bashful. Bai Jingshen saw an amused smile creeping up on Bennet's face and also observed Kayleen's and Thomas' behavior.
Bennet led Bai Jingshen to the locker, before taking out a uniform with Thobar Bionics' logo on it. The company wasn't that strict with their uniforms' type of clothing, as long as the color and logo were correct. After all, a lot of different people had to be able to fight in their uniform. Therefore Bennet gave Bai Jingshen a simple one-piece robe, with only one hole for the head and wide cuts going down the sides for his arms. Bai Jingshen realized he neglected the locker and quickly put his robe inside, before telling General Mao to close it.
After the two men turned around and made their way to the door, they could see that Kayleen and Thomas found their bearings again. Even though Bennet defused the previous situation, Bai Jingshen could still feel hostility from Thomas as they made their way through the door.
"Ahh I'm sorry I forgot. Bai Jingshen, this is my boyfriend, Thomas. Thomas, this is Bai Jingshen. Please get along well, yes?", Kayleen happily introduced those to.
As Bai Jingshen cupped his fists as Thomas he was still confused, why this man seemed so hostile towards him. How could he know about someone spreading weird rumors about a person he had only seen for half a day? Thomas on the other hand was slightly conflicted. His rational mind told him, that everything was fine, but now that he had a girlfriend it was the first time he felt such jealousy.
As the group walked down the hallway, Bai Jingshen suddenly noticed his illusionary core slowly spinning. This was a telltale sign for someone around him experiencing strong emotions, which also had to be connected to him in some way. Bai Jingshen was surprised, but sadly he couldn't use the Visualizing Souls Eye Technique yet.
As one of the important parts of the White Illusion Arts, this Eye Technique allowed its user to visualize emotions felt by everyone around him. When trained to perfection, this Eye Art was even able to peer into souls and read memories. It was definitely one of the techniques Bai Jingshen's enemies would learn to fear the most.
But even without this eye technique, Bai Jingshen quickly come to a conjecture. It wasn't to hard to guess, which of these three people would feel strongly about him. However, he was still annoyed at being a target of Thomas' hostility. Obviously, this inexperienced brat saw more in Kayleen's interaction with Bai Jingshen than actually happened. In order to divert Thomas' thoughts to a healthier direction, Bai Jingshen turned to Bennet and spoke deliberately:
"Instructor, do I need clothes for those hot springs? Should we buy some?"
With this question, Bai Jingshen could see Kayleen's and Thomas' faces turning red, while Bennet quickly answered:
"No, it's alright. They will lend you bathing shorts there. Or else, all those cultivators would have to run into normal shops to buy bathing shorts for the hot springs."
Bai Jingshen nodded his head, as the illusionary core slowly stopped spinning again.