Chapter 62 - You Should Always Trust Officially Assigned Doctors... (Patreon)

Post-coitus, we've got some more character exploration, a bit of mad science, and some plot crawling in! Enjoy!

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After a very messy changing of the sheets and a lot of water after the fact, it’s the best sleep Raika has had in a long, long time. No nightmares. No torments. No visions, or waking up in panic, or dreading awakening.

She wakes up, and there is warmth on her, and it does not feel alien or wrong or like some bullshit religious experience wrapped in magic and terror.

Maen lies on her, glomped on like a heat seeking amoeba, and snoring softly, a little bit of drool pooling on the pillow under their heads. She can’t help but give a very quiet, subvocal little purr at the sight, the new instinct somehow conveying amusement and contentment without needing input from her. It takes her the better part of twenty minutes to build up the will to get out of bed, and another twenty to extricate from the felinid cultivator, but eventually she makes it free. She turns, catching sight of a chair that had not been there the previous night and looking over its contents. Carefully folded on top of is a set of clothes, hopefully in her size, which she picks up and shakes out. The cut of the robes are open and breezy, accentuating a lack of contact with the skin where it can, and a vivid shade of red, orange and sun-yellow.

She tries on the underclothes that come with them, and can’t help but wonder where her benefactor got a bra sized for a busty amazon, and decides that maybe it’s best not to wonder. It does go a long way to indicate that the clothes haven’t come from Taurus’ closet, though, which is simultaneously a relief and brings up a lot of questions.

Beneath the robes, on the chair, is a note. The scent on it makes it as Kaena’s handwriting, sure enough.

The boss and Yun Ka humbly request your presence at your earliest convenience, it reads. Make sure to make them wait a while, but be nice to Yun Ka. She’s been almost as desperate to get her hands on you as Maen, if only for the pursuit of proper scientific analysis.

Raika snorts at that, and tucks the piece of paper the note is written on on the bed next to Maen.

She knows the procedure for this. Either leave the room after the deed is done and before one’s partner awakes, or give a proper send-off before you go. Common decency for the latter, and a sign of how little it meant in the case of the former.

She reaches a hand out. Her left, she notices. She reaches out to touch Maen’s hair, wake her, to run a hand down tan flesh and see her shiver before she goes. Maybe give a kiss, if she can work up the nerve.

She can’t. Or doesn’t, at least. One night, she’d promised. One night, and then she could go back to hurting. But the promise comes up against a wall when it comes to hurting Maen alongside it. She’s not promised herself pain to atone for failing to protect one person she cared about just to hurt another. She… compromises. A bit. She can hurt, should hurt, can use the hurt, but no reason to make Maen suffer the same.

She places a hand on her shoulder and shakes her very lightly, sitting on the edge of the bed (which creaks dangerously when she does, seeing as she’s sitting on one of the places where her grip broke the wood last night). It takes a few shakes (Maen is a much heavier sleeper than she expected), but eventually she stirs, adorable little snores going quiet as she gives a long, catlike yawn and stretch, making… really appealing shapes in the process. Raika… eventually looks away. Respectfully. Kinda.

“Raika?” Maen mumbles, rubbing an eye and turning to look at her. “You’re already up? It’s early, isn’t it?”

Raika checks the minimal sunlight coming from outside the window, noting how it still has some of the orange and reds of early dawn, before its fires grow to their peak. “It is,” she agrees, keeping her voice relaxed into its more natural state of melodious notes and strange vibrations. “Couldn’t stay asleep. Don’t know if I need as much, anymore. Something else to figure out.”

Maen nods sagely. “Ah yes, yet another thing to research,” she mumbles sleepily. “I’ll add it to the list of projects.”

Raine huffs. “Like last night’s?” she asks.

“...if you like,” Maen says, giving her space with that slight pause at the front.

Raika… sighs. “I… yeah. Maybe. It’s not- I mean you’re-”

“It’s fine,” Maen says, patting her hand. She looks a bit disappointed, but not surprised. “I know it’s messy, here. For you way more than me, nevermind all the extra horrors you’re putting yourself through. I have no desire to see you making poor promises if you don’t have to. It just… it would be nice, right?”

Raika nods at that. “It- yeah. It would. Part of the… difficulty of it, sort of. I’ll figure it out.”

Maen shrugs a bit. “You’ve figured out crazier things so far. But… well, I like you, and I’d like to do it again sometime. Make of that what you will.”

And with that said, Maen rolls out of bed, picks up her shift from where they dropped it last night, and gives Raika a peck on the cheek. “See you in a bit,” she says. “There’s been a lot of stuff happening lately. I’ll walk you through some of it later, give you the tour. Least I can do, still.”

Raika nods, and says nothing, and lets her head out, tiptoeing back to her quarters and leaving her alone.

She lets out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, and just lets herself feel like an idiot for a while.

Then, she picks up Dink from their front-row seat over on the nightstand. “Hope we didn’t bother you too much, ya perv,” she whispers to it.

Dink, it says as she hits it to her forehead, telling her in no uncertain terms that it has absolutely no idea what she’s talking about and is just happy to be here.

She laughs a bit, and then gets up. The next thirty minutes are dedicated entirely to stretching, taking each muscle group and running it through its paces. The night before hadn’t been world-altering or magically given her control of her new systems, but it was enough to get her a bit more comfortable with the idea of overstimulation and has given her some insight into what to do when she feels overwhelmed. The exercises Kaena had helped with genuinely helped ground her in her body, helped the new sensations start to feel like part of her rather than chaotic noise. It’s not perfect, and it’ll take time for her to get used to how her body moves now before she can puppeteer or move around in it as efficiently as she could before, but already she can feel the enhanced strength, the speed of reflexes, the strange reactivity of that second layer of armor-scales beneath her skin, the strange churning and shifting of her internals. Lots to puzzle out, but one thing that remains crystal clear is just how potent her new flesh is, how enhanced it leaves her senses and structure.

Fuck, if she could still cultivate normally, she’d be set for life. A body-foundation this good in the hands of someone who could advance and conquer realms of spirit and Qi? Whoof.

It doesn’t take her too long to find Yun Ka, but she does follow Kaena’s advice of giving it a bit of time. Even with how ungodly early in the morning it is, she still perks up visibly at the sight of Raika walking in to the chamber where she woke up from her cocoon.

A cocoon which, she notices, is still here.

“Honored Raika!” Yun Ka says brightly. “Good morning to you! I must admit, you seem much recovered from your tribulation. It’s exceptional to see you so well!”

She huffs, shifting vocal cords to bury her natural voice beneath her former tones. “Yes,” she replies, “Honored cultivator Maen and honored cultivator Kaena both assisted significantly.”

Yun Ka smiles, bright and toothy and genuinely joyful. “I heard!” she says. “It’s rare for Kaena to like someone that much so quickly. I’m glad you didn’t do anything foolish. As long as it takes to earn their trust, it takes way longer to earn it back.”

Raika tilts her head at that. “How can you tell?” she asks.

Yun Ka waves a hand at Raika’s robes as she busies her other hand and a few clacking implements to adjusting something or other on the strange podium in front of her. “The robes, of course,” she says with a nod like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “While they have refused to share insight into their capabilities on this matter with me, they have a remarkable ability to find, locate, or already have stored clothing well-suited to those they approve of. Took over a year for me to get my first outfit piece,” she admits, raising her right wrist to showcase a simple bead bracelet. “I haven’t taken it off since. Perfect for fiddling with when I’m getting distracted.”

“Hmm,” Raika says, with a nod. “Well, I’m… glad that I did well.” She puts the mask back on piecemeal, realizing a little late that she’s been acting relatively candid, even with the rather innocuous subject matter. She creates an easy smile, smoothes her features, relaxes her posture a bit further. “But I heard that some changes had occurred. Anything I should know about?”

Yun Ka nods. “Oh, yeah. Taurus is out dealing with them right now. Your tribulation kicked up quite a fuss. Spirit beasts went wild for a few days, but they calmed down when I set up a Rosencurt Redirection formation around the room. I’m still not sure what exactly, but clearly they sense something crucial about your energy for them, because it’s not true bestial, mental or demonic energy of the kinds that would theoretically drive them to frenzy. Then, once they were gone, some of the villagers started disappearing, so we had to go deal with that, then Taurus and Taran took down a significantly altered variant of the undead artifact constructs that attacked Paleblossom city, which we’re still looking into and is showing concerning signs of exponential growth, and now there’s an Honored Researcher here-” (and here she pauses, looking around almost comically as if looking for eavesdroppers)- “who’s being just a real troublemaker, honestly. I mean, he interfered with my data collection! For no reason!”

“Truly an insult to his very title,” Raika nods sagely, like she has any idea what she’s talking about.

“Exactly!” Yun Ka says, eyes wide. “Researcher Taurus is doing his job as leader properly, though. He’ll sort it, and if not, then we’ll deal with it.” Then, she blinks, as if she switched tracks to a new train of thought hard enough to startle herself. “Speaking of which, here I am performing my function as an apprentice poorly as well! Are you ready for your examination?”

Raika tilts her head. “I apologize, honored apprentice Yun Ka, but I haven’t been informed of this examination. What might it entail? I’m happy to assist with whatever you need!”

Yun Ka brightens again. For all her inability to read many cues, she is clearly interested enough in the people she’s speaking to and her passions that it… surprisingly makes her rather easy to talk to, if you’re already heading in her direction. “Yes!” she says, smiling again and sending her implements of brass and copper mechanisms whirling, altering a dozen points and bits of sand and already extending out almost her full body length to start altering and redrawing new sigils to one of the preset formations in the room, off to the side of the section isolated for the cocoon.

“Well, there’s tons about your Qi that’s still a mystery, and that doesn’t even detail your physical changes. I heard you worked for a time at a medical pavilion; how much do you know about the healing arts and the art of biology?”

Raika tilts her head. “I know some small notes, herbs one might use, basic information about Qi absorption and some formations I might be able to recall. Other than that, only basic information about the organs, veins, muscle groups. I can’t say I’ve heard of the art of biology, though.”

Yun Ka nods. “That is common. Most sects tend to use older works with ancestral knowledge, and tend to hold back on embracing new ideas. The study of the art of biology is the study of the intricacies not just of the human body, but of all bodies, and how they relate to each other. It began as research into those with beast-blood, but it grew quickly from there and as of last century, is one of the three central focuses of the Division of Enlightened Thought. Medical and healing arts relate to simple, surface level items usually, such as cuts and blood flow, and let their greater techniques apply only to Qi and the human form; the art of biology has no such limitations.”

“As fascinating as that cocoon is, the fact that you generated it, survived it, and emerged from it transformed are far more fascinating, and we need to properly catalog and try to understand your changes!”

Raika blinks. That… makes a lot of sense. And what’s more, it leads to a perfect in-road with Yun Ka, someone she’s avoided speaking to for some time. The sight of the color of her eyes doesn’t cause much more than a shiver now, and while it might have taken longer had Raika needed to build up the guts to ask directly about her changes and tried to coach it subtly… it’s open and on offer. Any information learned here benefits her more than hiding it would, changing the dynamic from earlier.

And Kaena asked her to be nice to Yun Ka. If Kaena trusts her, then… it could all be just more extended manipulation, but instincts say otherwise for now, and considering the advantages, it seems worth the risk.

“It sounds like a fascinating experiment,” Raika says, keeping the mask firm. “I would be more than happy to assist.”

“Perfect!” Yun Ka says, signaling to Raika to step over into the formation as many of the implements finally retract.

She does so, and immediately the smell hits her as it activates, boosting the scent of alchemical dust and electricity in the room to new heights compared to what the cocoon has around it. She can’t help but give a shudder at the brief overstimulation, shaking her head, sneezing and shivering all at once.

“Ah, I apologize,” Yun Ka says. “It’s hard to calibrate for your senses without a lot more data, I’m afraid. Is it acceptable for now?”

The mask slips as she keeps twitching slightly, the sense of Qi washing over her in weird and unique waves, but she nods briefly, keeping her eyes screwed shut at the discomfort. “It’s fine,” she murmurs, embarrassed at how easily her control slips and her normal voice begins to peek out. “Just… quickly.”

Yun Ka nods. “We’ll just do a quick preliminary set then recalibrate, ok?”

Without really waiting for confirmation, she feels the Qi and strange feeling of the formation increase momentarily, wandering over her with searching, crackling arcs that leave her borderline murderously holding herself back.

And then it’s over. Five seconds, tops.

Yun Ka perks up, her voice breaking through the lingering discomfort.

“Wow…” she mumbles, eyes wide as she stares at her podium and the diagrams Raika can see forming over her shoulder. “This is…”

“Really frustrating,” she finishes.

“What do you mean?” Raika asks, evening out her breathing and making sure the mask comes back.

“You make absolutely no sense!!” Yun Ka says excitedly. “Come and see!”

Raika comes over to pretty much tower over the contraption-ridden arcanist, looking down at… what vaguely looks like herself, except covered in strange shifting sands and static, black and white on the podium in front of them.

“Is it… supposed to look like that?” she asks.

“Not at all!” Yun Ka replies, more upbeat than she’s ever heard her, which is saying something. “I should be getting a comprehensive breakdown of your internals, but even at the range we normally use it at, much higher than the norm, your skin is still really difficult for the scan to get through! And what I’m seeing under it makes no sense!”

She zooms in on a portion of the medical diagram, near where Raika’s liver… was. As it is, the diagram is blank there, showing occasional bits of muscle amidst the static but little else.

“There’s supposed to be visible organs here, but what little’s getting through has a bunch of them in all sorts of locations. You’ve definitely got a much shorter digestive tract than you used to, which could mean about a hundred different things, and you’ve clearly still got a heart, but it’s shaped all wrong, and I can’t get a good look at it. Without placement and higher resolution I can’t even tell what some of these are, and your skin (and maybe muscle? Note it down-) are making it very difficult to see anything at all. We’ll have to do a few more scans at least, get an overlay or a deep tissue sample maybe…”

Ok. At this point, Raika is… a bit less comfortable with the potential advantages.

And then it all stops being quite so important as the doors on the far side of the room are thrown open violently, letting in a rush of warm air and a scent that makes her have to fight not to retch.

Blood.

Fresh. Vibrant. Alive and trapped, alive and stagnant, alive and cut apart. The scent of glass and sharpened edges as perfect as the cold sun, the scent of something alive made to stay that way, beneath layer after layer of steel and clear glass walls.

He smells cold.

“Ah!” Says a bright, boisterous man, a vibrant but well-trimmed beard covering the lower half of his face and bright spectacles keeping her from seeing his eyes. He smiles wide, arms outstretched from casting open the door, robes sedate and simple and mostly white and red, a healer’s colors, with only hints of the gold and black of the Altered Cultivation Division. “This must be the ever-so-lovely Yun Ka, and, by height and rumor alone, you must be the famous Raika. An honor to meet such worthy cultivators and prized parts of our division! I’m Zhoulong. Researcher Zhoulong. I’m sure we’re all going to get along famously!”