Molting the Mortal Coil

In the decades since he’d arrived at the Holy Flame Sect he’d been adamant about living in the same home. His three friends, Yuan Hu, Geng He, and Qui Hou, had long since been separated. Five years after he arrived at the Sect Yuan Hu stood out and got promoted to an Inner Court Disciple. In the following years Geng He, and Qui Hou joined him. The four still met to drink and reminisce, but they were on different trajectories. Sage was worried for their safety everytime they left on a training mission, but thankfully this was still the Holy Flame Sect and Professions were the priority, not combat. The Sect’s members needed to be strong to keep themselves safe, but it wasn’t their overriding goal.

The Holy Flame Sect provided valuable services to the other Sects and kept their prices very competitive. There were many things that no other Sect had the manpower or expertise to create. If they charged too much it would draw the ire of those who needed their services and resented them for price gouging. If they lowered their prices too far they would undercut the market and other Professionals would gang up on them to break their monopoly. The Sect was constantly in a very delicate economic balancing act, which was at times just as tense as the all-out war that other Sects and Nations would face.

Sage’s concerns would prove to be unnecessary as his three friends only ever suffered minor injuries. In fact, over the last five years all three of his friends had actually risen to the 5th rank. While Sage was barely reaching the third and forming his Qi Sea, Yuan Hu, Geng He, and Qui Hou actually formed their Cores and become Sect Elders. Among the Sect, Elder Hu was known as the ‘Tiger General’. Even as a Sect of Professionals, they still needed warriors and Elder Yuan Hu used the skills of a Minstrel to influence large battlefields. His thunderous roars would strike fear into his enemies and inspire courage in his allies. Elder He was called ‘Doctor Crane’, and was both an Alchemist and Physician. Most Doctors would diagnose issues and then prescribe remedies. Doctor Crane on the other hand would create his own pills, salves and ointments using his Alchemical skills. In this way he could specifically tailor the treatment to his patient which created a gentler experience as well as allowing him to use more mild pills and solutions for problems. Elder Hou had the least illustrious reputation among the three, and was known as ‘Monkey Hunter’ to his friends and ‘That Damned Monkey’ to his foes. He was a skilled Talisman Master and Hunter, hiding Talisman traps and attacks in the most annoying and unexpected locations. It made him a highly effective hunter of beasts and a headache among his enemies.

With such a famous trio of friends, Sage’s previous distinction as the Disciples with ten professions was just barely enough of a reputation to not be embarrassed to be seen with his three former roommates. Yuan Hu, Geng He, and Qui Hou had no qualms about meeting with Sage in their private time, it was actually Sage who was embarrassed. To him it felt like a high-school reunion. His friends had become successful and influential members of society while he’d essentially just picked up a bunch of useless degrees yet never found a job. His three friends always thought the whole thing was quite funny, since they considered him a friend regardless of his talent, or lack thereof.

The Welcoming Party was completely cancelled and the crowd in the Central Plaza had rapidly dispersed. Most of it at least. Unfortunately, there was a couple dozen that were swarming closer. Sage found, to his displeasure, the remaining people were there for him. Questions started to bombard him, asking about how he felt, how he got that way, what were his plans now, where could he be reached for more questions… it was just like the pushy journalists from back on Earth. Newsletters, local publications, and traveling bards weren’t an uncommon thing in this world and it seemed they were eager to get the ‘scoop’. Or, at least that’s what Sage was thinking. At least they don’t have big cameras, microphones in my face, and flashes blinding me.

He tried to politely answer the first few questions, but after a few minutes the questions were coming so rapid fire he could barely say a single word before the next would be interviewer was demanding other information. The crowd had him surrounded all sides and continued to press closer. He started to feel the pressure weighing down on him, his breathing growing labored. There was way too many people and far too much attention, he didn’t know how to handle it. Neither of his lives had prepared him for such attention. He’d only ever spoken in front of a small group before, speech classes in high school were only around thirty people. The pressure of nearly a hundred demanding so much from him sent him into a fluster.

Sage felt his vision growing blurry and his hearing getting fuzzy like he was about to have a panic attack. Suddenly, everything changed. The drone of voices become a gentle buzzing and all he could hear was the excited heartbeats of those around him. His vision seemed to shift, each of the people around him suddenly seeming to emit a hazy aura of colors. Most of them a vibrant red which his eyes seemed to pass over, his gaze immediately picking out the few emitting a cool green haze. At the same time his hearing seemed to filter their pulses out of the crowd, the rapid beating of excitement was not present. Three of them pushed through the crown and Sage’s instincts kicked in. Among a huge crowd of excited people, the few that were calm were the standouts. His tail coiled up beneath him as if for a strike and he started to bring his hands up for defense when he finally realized who the three that had broke through the crowd were. They pushed back all the eager ‘journalists’, fighting to be heard over the commotion before a deafening roar echoed out over them all. The sound sending a chill up the spine and frightening everyone into quiet stillness. They all felt like a Tiger was staring them down, daring them to move even the smallest muscle.

The momentary stillness gave the three time to form ranks around Sage and lead him quickly out of the crowd. They were of course his three former dorm mates, a trio of Elders that had stepped up to clear out the cause of the commotion and rescue their friend at the same time.