It was early afternoon by the time Mrs Wu managed to come by. After feeding Lia some of my Blood, infused with a bit of Astral Power, I started her on some simple martial arts exercises. She needed to have a balanced stance and learn how to throw a punch, how to kick without overbalancing and so on. Her incredible physical attributes required some adjustment of those techniques, but ultimately, her body was human enough for them to work. Once that was done, I demonstrated a simple routine that let the different movements flow smoothly from one into another, and set her to work.

“Good to see you again, Samantha,” Mrs Wu greeted me and for a moment, I considered asking her to call me Jade. But the moment passed and I decided against it, simply because I wanted to keep some tether to my past, even as I embraced my future.

“You completed my quest, and I want to thank you for it. Cheng Hu and the others told me about the troubles they ran into, and how you helped them out. We’ve been talking to Mark and Jessica and are considering our options in regard to future living space,” she explained and for a moment, silence reigned between us.

“Huh, interesting,” she cocked her head, clearly studying a blue box before her, “Here, this is for you,” she added, before handing me two ten-dollar bills. For a moment, I just stared at her, before a blue box of my own told me I had completed the quest she had given me and received some EXP and an increase in my reputation with the survivors here.

“What was that about?” I asked, feeling that there was more to her actions.

“I was curious what would happen if I gave you a quest but decided against giving you the rewards we had agreed on. Say, what would happen if I had changed the two bills I just gave you into a single twenty?” she explained, and I found myself getting interested. It sounded like something worth investigating and apparently, she agreed.

“At first, nothing happened, even as I stated you had completed the quest. Only when I mentally focused on the idea that you should receive your reward and that I would leave after did I get a message warning me that attempting to renege on quest-rewards would have ‘dire consequences’, ranging from loss of quest-giving privileges to the eradication of all the survivors at the gym. With such a warning, I obviously wasn’t willing to experiment any further, I hope you understand,” she explained and I could only nod.

“Though, the warning is interesting. Makes me wonder, who would be the executioner of such a warning? Is it simply compiled from the effects such actions had in the past? As in, has a past quest-taker who wasn’t given their promised reward simply taken the quest-giver’s life, thus making them lose their quest-giving privileges, or maybe killed the entire village the quest-giver was part of? Or would it be some sort of system effect that makes everyone just drop dead? Or something subtler, like increasing the EXP an attacker would get if they kill one of the people here? Such a boon would, eventually, become a death sentence for everyone affected,” I mused, as always curious about the intricacies of the system's operation.

“Any of those is possible. It would be best if it was the first because I could debate with the quest-taker if necessary, but if it is an automatic effect? That would be more troublesome, a lot more,” she sighed and I could feel the worry emanating from her.

“Though, I wonder, what would happen if the quest-taker just happen to suffer from an accident on their way back? Would somebody be able to inherit the quest or would the quest-giver just be off scot-free, possibly getting away with murder?” I mused, wondering just how intuitive and intelligent the system actually was.

It was easier when the system was, in my mind, only part of a video game, with the rules that applied there. If you completed a quest, you could turn it in without fear, unless there was a chain quest that activated on the attempt. But here, in reality, the person who gave the quest might decide that it was cheaper to issue a second quest and have somebody assassinate the quest-taker on their way back. Or even have the guards, in the case of a noble, bar the quest-taker from their estate, thus making it impossible for them to turn in the quest,” there were so many things I didn’t know, partially because I never had focused on quests while playing Road to Purgatory, leaving me at a loss. Shaking my head, I decided that I would have to consider system quests as a bonus in the future, not something I could ever rely on. In other words, I couldn’t trust a system quest any more than a random request asked by anyone, not unless I understood all the mechanisms in play.

“Well, be that as it may, I have a request of my own,” I told her, curious if that was enough to trigger a quest, but knowing that I wasn’t powerful enough to actually qualify as a quest-giver. And that my request was a little too simple to turn into a quest.

“As you likely know, I brought somebody with me,” I told her, before calling out to Lia, “What you maybe don’t know is, that Lia here was, at least in her current form, born yesterday morning. Who she used to be before, was Shattered during the change,” I explained to Mrs Wu, causing her eyes to go wide. I had previously debated with myself whether I should tell my teacher about Lia and her previous state and decided to do so. Mrs Wu was, in many ways, my guarantor amongst her group, so having her in the know should assuage any future troubles. And chances were, if the people from the gym had enough contact with those at the farm, the truth would come out eventually.

“And you healed her?” Mrs Wu asked, her eyes wide in shock, “Is that something you can repeat?!” she pressed, her normally inscrutable facade completely shattered for once.

“In the strictest sense, yes, I healed her. For a given value of healed, at least. And no, it’s not something I can repeat, it was, in many ways, a combination of circumstances and incredible luck. And it was not without a price, either,” I added, making her nod in understanding, before she forced her eyes closed and simply sat there, breathing in a highly controlled, almost meditative fashion.

It took her a few minutes to open her eyes, minutes Lia and I gave her. She had been forced to kill her husband, after he became Shattered, so a certain sensitivity in regard to that topic was to be expected.

“Where are you going with this?” she asked, studying Lia who stood at my shoulder.

“She’s no longer who she used to be. It’s more that the person she now is and the person she once was share a body and some memories as if they had read the same book. She’s my responsibility, as much as if I had given birth to her, maybe even more so,” I explained, trying to express the separation in words.

“You trust her, mistress?” Lia asked as I was struggling, to which I simply nodded.

“Madame, you have the Observe ability, do you now?” Lia asked Mrs Wu, getting a from and a nod in return, only to continue, “Use it on me, I believe it will answer some of your questions. Not all of them, but at least some…”

A few moments passed and I noticed a tremor shake Lia’s body and Mrs Wu’s pupils go wide, just as Lia continued to speak, “... And bring up a whole lot more,” she finished, an impish grin on her face.

“That’s not what I expected,” Mrs Wu admitted and I noticed her focus snap over to me.

“No, I’m not a vampire,” I assured her, grinning a little, “Not yet, not ever. But I view it as my responsibility to teach her, to make sure that she’s going to be a person, not some sort of monster,” my words managed to bring a frown to Mrs Wu’s face, making me wonder what the people I had escorted said about me.

“I want you to help me train her, at least for now. We’ll be sticking around the area, though I cannot say how long. In turn, I’ll keep training those living here in magic. I’m pretty sure it’s a good deal for you,” I offered and now, she let out a resigned sigh.

“You have a deal,” she promised, “Why do I have a feeling I just made a deal with the devil?” she quietly asked, only that both Lia and I had good enough ears to hear her.

“Not the devil, no” I assured her, though my assurance was far from comforting to her, that much I could see. “But let us be honest, would you truly mind in these times?”