Master For A Day, A Father For Life [Job / Vardreth]

Job Details:

Thunk.

A wooden staff struck the ground; it was being used by its owner to assist in the hike he was on. The sound of insects and birds flowed throughout the fresh mountain air, accompanied by the ever-present scent of the numerous trees. The owner of the staff was an older man whose eyes glinted with a deep wisdom. His strength did not seem overly great, but the way the man carried himself gave a sense of assurance. "Ah, over there are some Yellow Bloom Lilies! Fetch them for me." Holding the staff and leaning upon it with his right hand, the old man stroked his long white beard with his left.

The young man he spoke to sighed, moving to where the older man pointed. Sure enough there were five of the lilies the man was looking for. The young man's hand reached to the base of the flower,and moved as if to pluck it, but was quickly interrupted by the old man.

"STOP! No, no. You're mishandling the plant! Why do you think I have you carrying those baskets? You need to get everything; some of the soil, and even the roots. Only this will allow the finished product to retain the maximum amount of potency! I, Xiang Li, will stand for nothing other than the best of quality!" The old man, Xiang Li, chastised his young helper before moving over to provide a demonstration. The man whispered a word before a strange seal appeared in the air and his left hand glowed with the power of a magician. The man kneeled upon the ground before his hand dug into the earth.

When he retrieved his hand the plant, alongside a clump of dirt, was retrieved from the earth. A cursory glance would not yield any sight of broken roots. "Really, this may be a bit too difficult for you, so if you cannot provide me with completed products of this quality, well... Heh heh. We'll have to renegotiate how much you gather, kid. Oh, and the spell I used to detect the plant's life force and manipulate it can only be used by magicians, so don't even ask."

The young man furrowed his brows, staring at Xiang Li before an idea began to form within his consciousness. Focusing, the man gathered his strength and an intrinsic change in the young man's bearing appeared. Xiang Li's pupils contracted as he sucked in a breath of cold air. Magoi manipulation! What a fearsome child! The young man's finger gently touched one of the flowers. A flow of magoi traveled down its stem and through the plant's roots, detecting its location. Cupping his other hand, the young man planted it into the ground and began moving it about the dirt.

Though it took him ten times longer to do the task, the young man finally lifted his hand and brought with it one of the Yellow Bloom Lilies. The quality did not lose out to the old man's, though the roots were very disorderly and sticking out of the clump of dirt here and there. The young man may have been able to sense the location of the roots, but he did not have the power to control the roots like the magician did. A smug grin was on the young man's face as he glanced over to Xiang Li.

"Humph. Humph. I'll admit, you've got a little bit of talent. Now hurry and collect the rest of them; I don't want to have to wait all day, Vardreth." Xiang Li still expressed a bit of dissatisfaction on the outside, however he was shocked on the inside. This child... How long did he train to reach his current attainments?

Meanwhile, Vardreth shook his head and sighed before continuing the harvest, thinking back to why he took this job in the first place...

OOC:
WC: 643/500

Vardreth sat in front of the temporary command table that had been set up in his tent. A frown covered his face as he looked at the expenditures of the past month. The report had a number of items on it that Vardreth recalled ordering, but only after seeing it all thrown together in one spot did he realize just how crushing the cost of running a band of mercenaries was.

Logistics was certainly a class he had taken at the Shu-Fang Academy, but reality and theoretic were two different things. Benai stood not too far away, standing indifferently to the side. Being the one who had provided the report, Benai was already fully aware of the costs versus expenditures that the company was experiencing.

Looking up from the paper, Vardreth's gaze lost focus. He tapped his finger on the desk for a few moments before looking back down at the papers. "The cost of medicine is incredible. Things like medicinal salves only have so many uses before needing to be restocked... We need to hire somebody who can refine medicine." In the end, this was the decision he came to. If they could find somebody who could refine the medicine, then they would cut out the production cost of the consumables. There was still the cost of the raw materials and the price to be paid for the alchemist in charge of refining the materials, but they would still be able to cut off a portion from the overall expenditure.

Benai approached Vardreth and placed another paper down upon the table. This one was a request for assistance in gathering raw materials. "An elder of the Order of Alchemist Monks has sent a request out to assist in gathering some raw products. Performing this favor, perhaps you could see if the elder has any suggestions for those looking to temper themselves in the real world?"

Vardreth narrowed his eyes as he read the details, looking back up at Benai with a hint of suspicion. He already had this prepared, as if he knew what I was thinking. The question is... Is this a manipulation from Grandfather? Or is it simply the level of efficiency he runs by? Though Vardreth cast a suspicious gaze upon Benai, the man made no move or reaction to this gaze. With nothing to read from his attitude, Vardreth swept the matter under the carpet. Regardless of whether it was a manipulation, it was true that he could reduce the overall costs of operating his mercenaries by obtaining an alchemist. He knew he would have to pay a decent amount for that individual's payroll, however this could be offset by the argument that their medicinal materials were being provided free of cost, thereby allowing them to practice their craft and advance to stronger tiered pills and medicines.

Shaking his head, Vardreth had made up his mind. With one last glance towards Benai, Vardreth left the tent and looked for Zeriken.

The bright sunlight glistened off of the Shu-Fang River, with the mountain-range's air causing one to be invigorated. Not too far away Vardreth saw Zeriken going through with some of the drills as the mercenary group trained. When the soldiers saw him, they all stopped what they were doing. Sweat glistened from some of their foreheads. One of the lead men of the soldiers shouted. "Young Master Fang! Everyone! Attention! Salute!" The soldiers greeted Vardreth in an orderly fashion before Vardreth called upon Zeriken.

"I will be gone for some time, in search for an alchemist to fill our ranks. For the time being, treat Zeriken as my second in command! He will be in charge of keeping everything together during my absence... Make sure to continue to teach him our tactics, and begin to fortify this location!" Vardreth passed out the orders before whistling, calling out his steed and hopping onto its back. "Those who are not on fortification duty, resume training!" After barking out this order, Vardreth spurred his horse into action by slightly squeezing with his knees. The horse began to take off, running at a quick pace and leaving the mercenary camp behind in a matter of moments.

The camp began bustling in activity.


OOC:

WC: 1346/500

Before much time passed three of the five Yellow Bloom Lilies were gathered by Vardreth. Before he could begin gathering more, he was stopped by Xiang Li and his recollection of the start of his trip a few days ago was interrupted. "Hold on. You must not harvest all of them. When harvesting, always leave behind a few. This is the rule of any true Alchemist. These flowers will germinate and spread their seeds, ensuring that those who come after will still be able to gather them and use them." The old man did not want to see everything plundered in one go, so he advised Vardreth on the policy himself and others in the field held.

The thoughts of the prior days were expelled. Vardreth's movements had become more practiced as he finished harvesting the third plant, however the abrupt end to the gathering caused the young master to re-focus on the tasks at hand.

Xiang Li nodded and continued to lead the way. After traveling for some time through the mountainside forests, Vardreth and the old man came across another set of Yellow Bloom Lilies, this time seven. At the old man's instruction, only four were harvested. Vardreth stretched himself out after finishing up. It was closing in on night time, and it would be best to set up camp earlier rather than later. The old man lead Vardreth towards fresh water, and they set up camp in a clearing approximately a hundred meters away.

Vardreth showed efficiency in his actions, a trained conditioning obtained from his life as a mercenary and his experiences in the military academy. Just as he was about to head to the river and see what kind of fish they could find for dinner the Mercenary leader was interrupted by a deep roar from a feral beast. The old man had a look of terror on his face as both of them glanced in the direction of the roar only to see a large grizzly bear charging through the forest. Vardreth snorted and rolled his eyes as his hand flickered. A steel throwing dagger zipped past, inserting itself into the beast's forehead and dropping it to the ground. "It looks like dinner came to us." With an arrogant smile Vardreth walked forward, approaching the beast. Taking out a number of tools from his bag, Vardreth began cleaning the animal to prepare for a hearty dinner. He knew there was no way they would be able to use all of it, however he wasn't too concerned for that.

Vardreth noted the old man did not eat any of the bear meat, but instead had some bread and the like already prepared. It turned out the old man was a vegetarian. A hint of disdain flashed across Vardreth's thoughts, but it was quickly buried as they set up for sleep.

---

Vardreth awoke to the sound of a series of howls. His eyes shot wide open as he bolted to an upright position, and with a sweeping motion he picked up his blade from beneath his pillow and rose to his feet. Dashing forward, Vardreth arrived in front of Xiang Li's tent, blade drawn. The old man did not seem to be capable of holding his own in actual combat. The howling and growling grew louder, making it quite clear that a pack of wolves were approaching. Frowning, Vardreth took a stance, holding his blade pointed behind him and to the side of the tent so as not to accidentally impale Xiang Li if he rushed out to see what was happening.

Sure enough, Xiang li poked his head out of the tent flaps when only moments later the look of terror took hold once again. Although Vardreth was standing in front of the tent, Xiang Li could see there were around twenty wolves growling and creating a half-encirclement around the two of them.

Vardreth did not budge an inch, sneering at the creatures before him within his heart. These trash beasts think they can enter my camp and attack me... They're lucky I don't care enough to annihilate them, but any who come within range of my attack... Heh heh.

The alpha wolf seemed to have sensed something from Vardreth, pausing slightly before signaling for a small group to test the pair. Five wolves approached, growling with their heads leaning forward in a menacing manner.

As if on cue, the five leaped together, brandishing their claws and teeth.

Vardreth snorted. Magoi instantly channeled through his body and into his sword. Immediately after, the sword began to move through the air.

Xiang Li's eyes contracted; the blade's movement looked slow. In reality, the pressure and danger of the situation caused the old man's senses to stretch to their maximum. He sucked in a breath of cold air as he saw the wolves moving at the same pace. The blade expertly struck the first beast and sliced through the creature's flesh as if it were tofu. Without stopping, the blade continued through the next beast. The first creature had been struck exactly at the neck, slicing it clear off and creating a small fountain of blood as magoi traveled through the wounds and destroyed the organs of the wolf. There was only an inch of blade that was at the opposite end of the sword.

Xiang Li noticed by the time the blade traveled through the second and third beast's necks the inch of blade had barely increased at all. ... Fast! Abnormally fast! It was at this point that Xiang Li knew the young man before him was an expert in martial arts.

The blade returned to a point on the opposite side of Vardreth from where it started, and Vardreth remained in his stance while watching the rest of the wolves. The blood, combined with the ethereal sight of magoi moving through the air, created the illusion of a blood-red Crescent Moon. His gaze locked with the alpha wolf of the pack. The two glared at each other for half a minute before the wolf growled and had some of its pack carry the dead bear away. It had a feeling that Vardreth would not stop its brethren from this.

The instincts of the animals were dead on. Once they left, Xiang Li let out a breath of relief. "Damn." He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  He was happy that Vardreth saved them from a bloody fate, however the reason for these wolves being there in the first place was due to the scent of the dead bear's corpse.

Vardreth cleaned his sword off on the fur of one of the dead wolves before re-sheathing the blade. "Go ahead and head back to sleep. I'll keep guard, so no need to worry about anything disrupting us." As he said this, Vardreth punted the dead bodies of the wolves. The bodies had quite a bit of force behind them, breaking through tree branches and flying into the distance.

Two days passed. During this time, Xiang Li and Vardreth harvested the remaining Yellow Bloom Lilies, Green Flute Reeds and Purple Tinted Tulips that were needed. When the two were heading back, Vardreth floated the question he had since before he took the job. "Old man, I'm looking for somebody who can join my band of mercenaries as an alchemist. Do you know of anyone who may be interested? You can count that as renumeration for my job today."

Vardreth startled Xiang Li from a brooding silence. He furrowed his brow momentarily before a thought occurred to him. "Brat, your talent cannot be considered bad. Take me as your master, and I can teach you how to refine pills... And assist your band of mercenaries, as well." In truth, the old man was looking for somebody to pass his skills down to. A legacy disciple. Vardreth did not have skill in magic as he was not born a Magician, however that was made up for with his talents in using Magoi. There were many disciples who would beg to be taken in by him, however his talents in alchemy had given him very strict expectations.

However, contrary to Xiang Li's expectations, Vardreth did not pounce on this opportunity. A dark shadow crossed Vardreth's visage. "Why would I take you as a master? I do not think you have the capability to consider yourself so. After all, they say 'A Master for a day, a Father for life.' Do you think I could accept you as my Master so easily?"

The two bickered back and forth on their way back to the Monastic Order. By the time they reached the gates, they had come to an agreement. Vardreth would view the old man as his Senior - this was the biggest concession he could give the old man - until Xiang Li was capable of proving his ability. In return, Xiang Li would refine pills and teach Vardreth on medicinal items and the like. With everything being said, at the end of the day Vardreth needed an alchemist, and Xiang Li wanted a disciple.

It was with this that the two set off, heading back to the base of the mountains and to re-unite with the Mercenary Company.


OOC:
1 bear dead, 1 wolf dead.
[Exit]

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