"Raf!" Clay cried.

"Hi, Granny Clay. I can't talk long."

"I'm trying to track you, Raf, but I don't know the signs of Neuronet activity." Even as she said this she was frantically setting up a routine to capture as much of the network data around her and the scholar as she could.

Raf's scholar only shrugged. Clay said, "I'll start an entirely new, distinct account in addition to mine. I'll hire a Flunky so I can monitor the game's behavior in their presence. Once I can track you, hopefully I can provide some coding routines that'll take some of the burden off you."

"Okay, Granny Clay. I just wish I knew how to help."

"It'll just take a bit of time. I'm going as fast as I can. I've constructed this character in the PERSEUS engine and brought him into Jade Kingdom, piggybacking on my actual account character. I'm starting from scratch, though. I have no info on available skills and abilities, though I know there are player-made databases out there--"

"They use something called a KDI interface protocol," Raf said. "I've heard players talking to each other about it. They use sources like the Skilledex and Monsterstats."

Clay nodded. "Good. I want access to more areas of the game, so that'll mean killing monsters and finishing quests. More data should help with that."

"That's a good idea. But if you get too strong, you'll come to the attention of the great dragon Nophonex."

"'Nophonex?' Isn't that an Everhome fantasy character?

"Yes, but he can travel anywhere in the multiverse." The Raf-possessed scholar shrugged. "His realm, his rules."

Understanding dawned on Clay. "The uber-character. 'Nophonex'--Xenophon, being clever."

"Just be careful, Granny Clay," Raf said. "He's been experimenting with some extreme sense feedback. Right now it's just for those of us who fail to 'be magnificent for the customer' by not being an obedient Flunky or by mentally checking out during processing times."

"It's possible for you to do that?" Clay asked.

"Yeah, but--shit, I gotta go." The scholar put his head down.

"Raf?"

The scholar looked up. "Bing-su, actually. But those who believe in tradition and formality call me Scholar Zhu."

Clay paused for a moment, digesting what Raf had said. She took some notes, then Khorun bowed. "I am Khorun. The petulant temple master told me to come here."

"I see. And did you follow the stream up here?"

"Yes, I--"

"Left or right?"

"Sorry?" Khorun asked.

"When you came here, did you walk to the left of the stream, or to the right?"

"I walked on the right."

"Why?"

"Why?" Khorun asked. "Well, I, uh, sensed a line running under the earth and followed it. I was curious."

"Excellent!" Scholar Zhu said, drawing his hands out of his sleeves and clapping like a child anticipating receiving a treat. "Someone who can apprehend the dragon lines under the earth is worth teaching the basics of the sacred script to."

"Ah," Khorun said. "What if someone walks on the left?"

"Then I teach them only how to form a few characters or to write their name, nothing more."

Struck by a thought, Khorun squinted one eye as he asked, "What if they walk through the middle of the stream?"

"Then I assume they're an idiot without sense enough to keep their feet on dry ground. I give them a sweet bun and send them on their way."

Scholar Zhu wasted no more time before teaching Khorun the basics of grinding an inkstick on an inkstone, mixing it with water with the brush, and making the correct strokes on the paper. "The ink, the paper, even the brush," the scholar said, "can be made of various materials. Some have inherent mystical properties. The rarer the material, the more powerful the effect." He supervised Khorun's tracing of a symbol on a piece of paper. "Good. The sacred script has power enough when written down, but even more powerful effects can be achieved by 'charging' the script with your qi."

Khorun said, "I didn't know that was possible. I only generated qi and stored it."

"There are different places we collect qi. The temple master likely only told you about the storage of energy in the cinnabar route. Qi stored here is for the grosser physical applications. It is like the temple master himself: very coarse." He grinned, then went over to a wooden dummy like the one in the temple, pointing to different parts of it. "The cinnabar route runs through the arms, the legs, the chest and the back. The majority of your combat use of qi flows through and is stored there.

"The 'jade bowl' is where qi collects for refinement and cultivation." Scholar Zhu rubbed a spot just under the dummy's waist. "It is where the 'purest' qi work is done, and one's ability here can improve the use of qi on the cinnabar route.

"The final gathering point for qi is the 'golden treasure box.' This is where qi can be refined for uses of mental acuity, particularly scholarship," he said, running a hand from the dummy's neck around its head. "Qi is such an intuitive, non-thinking process, it is a paradox to use it to enrich the thinking mind. But such a paradox is the essence of the golden box!" Scholar Zhu grinned.

The scholar demonstrated qi-charged script as he explained it. He inscribed and focused on a strip of paper that he said could be applied like a poultice. Then, after some hesitation, he took up a new piece of stiff paper and used his brush in sharp, strong strokes to create a more angular set of interlinked characters.

"I do not encourage its use in any but the most dire circumstances, but the sacred script can be used to harm as well as to heal."

He held up the card between two fingers, then flicked it toward the dummy. It curled a little in its flight, etching a partial spiral, before striking the dummy in the face. The calligraphed piece of paper burst into flames, scorching the dummy's face.

Clay's eyebrows raised in surprise. "That's an awful lot of power to put into the hands of writers," she said mildly.

Khorun thanked Scholar Zhu profusely, taking the poultice-script as a gift. He left and headed east, where there was a forest in the distance.

Approaching the edge of a stand of trees, Khorun saw a sign. "WARNING: This is a lawless area. Bandits have been about. Be on your guard."

Khorun hesitated, then looked into the thin forest. He prepared by generating and storing some qi, then strode in.

The trees' canopy never blotted out the sun; leaf-dappled light fell on the broad path Khorun followed. There were bits of birdsong in the distance, and Clay could even hear Khorun's footsteps. Must get more high-quality earbuds, she thought, to better appreciate this.

A little ripple of sound showed on the screen behind Khorun. Clay pulled out her view to see it was a humanoid. Another character emerged from cover in front of Khorun. He was a shorter but very broad human, likely one of the steppes-folk. The one behind, Clay saw, had stopped a few paces back, probably believing themselves unnoticed.

"Say, old man," the one in front of him said. His hand was on the handle of a heavy, curved sword. "Nice out here, isn't it? My cave needs some luxuries, though. Know what I think? I think you should help me out by giving me all your gold."