Chapter 13

Sweat dripped from Taylor's scrunched up forehead despite the heat of the summer has gone away since the first rain a week earlier. She wished that she could just pull her hand up and wipe the irritating droplet away and be done with it. But her wish was denied by the simple fact that moving her hand right now will ruin the delicate work she was trying to do and waste dozens of minutes of effort she put into it.

Sure, she has telekinesis magic, but she wasn't confident in using it simultaneously with a stressful work like this yet.

She gulped as her eyes roamed over the middle-aged man lying down on the floor next to her; her hand slightly trembles as she was reminded herself of the lesson with Yang.

'It's the spot described in the book, Yang even demonstrated to her how to do it once, this should be fine and nothing bad is going to happen. Come on, Taylor, just plunge it in gently...'

Ignoring the pitter-patter sound of rain impacting the roof above, Taylor steeled herself and carefully applying pressure to an acupuncture needle between her fingers until it pierced a man's skin near his ankle. The man didn't seem to notice judging by his eyes that still shut as if he was sleeping. But Taylor's pessimism believed that it was because he was scared that she will screw up and put his life in jeopardy at any moment. And the worst part was that she couldn't blame him for thinking such due to her being a newbie, not the professional he was expecting when he asked for Yang to came over.

Perhaps her looking at him with eyes softly glowing as the sign of Mage Sight also played a part.

Not even Yang's explanation that Taylor was under his tutelage could take away that anxiety.

After a careful inspection that the needle the size of her index finger won't fall off from the man, she let the needle go before turning to the old man sitting cross-legged next to her as if asking for his opinions, or rather, his approval of her work.

Yang chuckled at the sight before he calmly replied "Excellent work, Taylor." And then he turned to address the patient who let out a sigh of relief at Yang's comment "Please make yourself comfortable and rest, George. I'll remove the needle when it's done."

The patient named George mumbled a thank you while his eyes still closed and visibly relaxed, while Taylor closed off her magical sight, wiped the sweat off her forehead before sitting patiently by his side with Yang as they silently observed the patient who suffered from muscle pain due to overworking in the field for weeks, or so they were told. But since the symptom matched the cause and there was no other complication that Yang could see, there was no reason to ask further.

It was fifteen minutes before Yang ordered Taylor to pull the needle out gently. After that, he handed the man a pot of medicine with an instruction paper attached to it while also verbally instructed him. The man asked Yang about the payment, but the old man waved it off by stating that he can pay after the treatment is done.

"We'll have to come back here to check on you the next week after all."

With that, they collected their belongings and left the premise for Yang's home with no incident...

"Stressful isn't it?"

Then a question came out of nowhere, causing Taylor to look at the old man walking beside her under the aegis of an umbrella she was holding on their way home. After a moment of listening to the rain impacting stone tiles and roofs around them, she turned her eyes away to watch the road ahead and replied; "It is something else when you're the one doing it instead of just watching… I… don't know how to describe it…"

"Fear…" Yang cut her reply short causing her to turned back and saw the old man who sports a knowing look on his face "…fear that you're holding an innocent's life and future in your hands where a single mistake means suffering or worse while knowing in your heart that it is your responsibility that cannot be shifted to other, right?"

"When you put it like that… yeah… I'm glad that it's over without any incidents..." Taylor replied with a degree of anxiety as her mind wondered how Yang would think of her fear and hesitation.

"I'd be more worried should you not feel any of those when treating people by yourself for the first few times."

Of course, she couldn't hide a thing from the old man anyway. But that statement perplexed her.

"Why so? Shouldn't be confident in what you're doing a desirable quality?"

The old man regarded her query with a nod as he started walking once more, forcing her to follow lest he gets wet on the way home "There's confidence in one's skills and there's overconfident. The former is for those who already experienced and know what they're doing. The latter, however, are greenhorns who haven't graduated or someone with little experiences of the world but acted as if they are the best, and it's worrying because it'll get people in danger, not just themselves."

Taylor couldn't refute the implication that she was a greenhorn, even her most mutinous thought paused in its track when seeing Yang's half-squint eyes staring at her without blinking, reminding her of the conversation they had yesterday when he asked her to come here with him.

'There's no shame in admitting one's incapability, those who in over their head not only put themselves in danger but others as well.'

The discontent must be showing on her face as Yang tried to cheer her up in the next sentence "Don't make that gloomy face, I've told you that you've done an excellent job back there, remember?"

Taylor's face turned a slight shade of pink instantly as she felt her achievement was undeserving, and her response was predictable; "Actually it was because of yours and Mao's teaching, I cannot take all the credits for that."

Yang chuckled "It's not wrong to feel pride in what you achieved. It's the nature of people. Me. You. Everyone else. The only problem is letting your achievement get into your head and become complacent or arrogant know-it-all jerks."

It was the first time Yang used a strong language in her presence, which surprised Taylor a little. But then he reverted to the good-hearted old man in the next sentence.

"Still, if you insisted on passing credits to us, why not Lady Shinki too? Don't you think I can't see you abuse her teaching during the earlier treatment."

Taylor chuckled nervously at the light jab. Her mood lightened as they quickened their paces back to Yang's home. It wouldn't do to stay under the rain for long after all.

This routine continued for the entire month, where Yang will take Taylor out to cure patients in the town, let her diagnose, and apply her acupuncture knowledge under Yang's supervision. Taylor's confidence in her skills slowly improved with every successive case, especially when she could cure the patients on her own without Yang calling out on her wrong diagnosis or acupuncture method.

Everything seems fine, but Taylor couldn't help but feel that the old man Yang has been looking at her with unreadable expression whenever she applied her magical prowess on the treatment process, specifically Mage Sight and telekinesis to helps steady the needles. But he didn't comment on her works except preventing her from making a mistake. And stopped her from trying to simultaneously puncture multiple spots, citing that acupuncture has to be done in sequence as the treatment was initially designed by and for a normal human, who obviously can apply one needle at a time.

Taylor obeyed his instructions without complaints as even her most rebellious thought wouldn't dare gamble with the life of people, especially after she saw Yang fixed a son of a traveling merchant who has the bad luck of receiving treatment from a random acupuncturist from the other city. Let just say that the boy's developing obesity slowly over the trip to Pandemonium was the least the merchant had to worry about, had he showed up at the clinic a day later, his lineage would be forever lost.

On the last day of the month, they returned from the patient's house as usual. Once they were protected from rain in the warm living room of their abode, Taylor immediately made her way to the kitchen to prepare tea for the old man, while leaving the wet umbrella at the front of his clinic to keep his daughter who was working there a company, or so the daughter said as a greeting when they arrived.

Neither Taylor nor Mao takes it seriously, it was just that the girl was bored looking after the clinic with nothing exciting happen which Taylor heard too many times to count by now.

After the tea was served, Taylor about to join with Mao at the front of the clinic when Yang suddenly asked her with a thoughtful look on his face "Haven't you thought that it's strange that skills and arts for helping people can be equally lethal if uses in the wrong ways?"

Taylor's stopped in her steps and turned back, looking at Yang with confused expression momentarily before her mind caught up and nodded quietly.

Yang for his part didn't seem to mind her reaction, he turned back to the tea on the table, crossed his arm and muttered while staring at the steaming liquid in his cup "The reverse also true as well."

The remorse in his tone wasn't lost on Taylor, and while part of her wanted to clamp down her curiosity and excuse herself from the premise as this seems personal to the old man for a reason she couldn't fathom, but another part of her was curious of what this topic would lead to if they continue the conversation.

As her mind was warring, it was Yang who put a stop to her thought with a sigh, as if he just made a hard choice of something "I think you should sit first if you still want to hear the tales from this old man. And bring yourselves a cup of tea too should you still wish to listen to this old man's rambling."

Taylor looked between Yang and the door leading to the clinic front, and then she shook her head "I… I'll go and help Mao…"

"I insist." Yang shot her down quickly and explains "I initially do not want to disclose this to you, but after what I saw you did today, I think it'd be better to tell you now rather than later."

From the tone he used, Taylor's instinct told her that whatever it is he wanted to discuss, it was serious in his perspective, and as she was living with his family at this point, it'd be rude to ignore him, or so she rationalized it. Thus, she did as he asked, poured herself a cup of tea and seated on the opposite end of the table.

Yang didn't waste time and begins as soon as she hit the seat "Do you know that the acupuncture arts I learned and passing down to you and Mao are originally the art of murder?"

Taylor understood the implication almost instantly, but she was already suspected that Yang might have a shady past for a while so it wasn't that much of a surprise.

If it was the previous 'her', Taylor would've been disillusioned at such confession, heedless of the fact that it probably happened so long ago before she was even born, and the prejudices would sever her relationship with Yang and his daughter forever just like those Winslow's staffs as she perceived it as a betrayal of her trust.

Thankfully, months of living with supportive adults and friends of her age like Mao did wonder to her psyche; while she was still apprehensive toward strangers coming to receive a cure in this clinic or when going out to see patients, it was not an outright distrustful anymore, mostly.

After hesitating a bit, she answered to the waiting old man "Is it something in your younger days?"

In her previous life, Taylor wasn't close to her grandparents, a side effect of whatever fraud her parents had with them that led to their distance. That means they never see each other face to face as far as Taylor could remember and hence lacking experience in dealing with old people. Thus, she wasn't sure if she'd upset Yang or not.

The waiting wasn't long before Yang replied "Yes. It was when I'm an idealistic young man dreaming of being the hero who saves his nation from the tyrant."

"The Qing Dynasty?"

Taylor was sure that has her birth mother was still alive she'd be ecstatic to meet Yang or anyone who once lived during such historical events recounting it.

Yang didn't know what Taylor was thinking and continued his tales "My family was an inheritor of an assassination technique, passed down through generations in the faraway town of no notoriety. We saw the humiliations suffered at the hands of Westerners. We were angry and frustrated at the unequal treaty. Carving up our beloved land piece by piece and exploits its people, its resources, as they did to other continents. But even that couldn't compare to hatred of our rulers whose incompetency led to this predicament…"

"…" Taylor listened with rapt attention, seemingly absorbed into the tales despite this was but a prelude to what was to come. She didn't know much about the fall of the Qing Dynasty. Education in her homeland on Earth Bet seemingly ignores the old history entirely. Or maybe it was because she got a bad history teacher, or the curriculum would rather focus on the recent celebrities that were Parahumans instead of the boring bygone era that offer nothing useful, hell if she knows.

"Instead of learning a lesson, they cracked down hard on those who spoke out against them. They are but a parasite to their loyal citizens instead of protector and leader of the people." Yang recounted his experiences with no small amount of distaste in his voice.

Taylor wondered briefly if he was exaggerating, but she couldn't comment upon. While she couldn't imagine the hardship of the time when the modern luxuries she enjoyed in her previous life did not exist she could relate somewhat about incompetent and corrupted authority thanks to her first-hand experience.

"So, you joined the revolution army?" Taylor asked despite all but knowing the answer from what Yang told her up to now.

"More like a local resistance cell." Yang clarified "The Qing Dynasty controlled a large swath of land during its days. As large as the United States if not more."

"I see…"

"Since the government saw us all as dissents that must be eliminated, we retaliated. And when the leader wanted some local official dead, they asked me to do it." Yang continued to recount his youth's adventures "…it's not just governors, the corrupted and prejudiced police, anyone affiliated or supporting the government also a target."

Taylor still wasn't sure how this's going to be relevant, but when Yang continued his tales, it became apparent; "At first, it's limited to those proven guilty of the crimes. But as time goes and the civil war began, it gradually shifted to everyone remotely connected to the Dynasty."

Yang stared at Taylor in the eyes as he spoke in a tired voice "And when the central government could no longer control the country, the local resistance I was part of turned into a reign of warlord carving pieces of land for themselves, under the guise of the revolutionary army."

He sighed "I carried on serving the leader of my community for a while, perhaps it's because I wanted to believe that I'm still contributing to the betterment of my countrymen, or perhaps I afraid that all the murders will be in vain had I not keep going."

Taylor gave the old man a questioning look, her experience with him didn't paint him as the ruthless killer he was saying him to be at all, and that made her wonder what made him realized his wrongdoing and turned his art of murder into the art of saving lives today.

Yang seems to read her mind with his decades of experiences, as his tales answered her unasked question "It came to a head when one day when the order I carry out resulted in a conflagration that reduced another so-called 'enemy of the people' base to ash." He let out a snort of disdain at this point, to which it directed to was Taylor's guess "…guess what I found in there?"

His remorseful voice and the narrative were enough for Taylor to realize what awaits there before he said it a moment later "Children corpses. All burned. None survive."

Silence fell upon them as Taylor didn't know how to respond, while Yang kept looking down on the table, not focusing on anything and seemingly lost in thought. It would be many minutes before he finally collected himself enough to resume talking;

"It was for the good of the people, they said. But that word awoke me to the reality, that the heroes of the people that my leader once was, is no more."

Yang looked at Taylor again, and the girl uncomfortably asked after warily looked at the door to the front of the clinic as if to check if Mao was eavesdropping "Why are you telling me this?"

"…"

The old man contemplating his response for a moment, before finally settled with a question "Taylor, tell me, what is the purpose of education?"

"To… to give us the knowledge required for the job we will do once we graduated?"

Faced with the sudden question, she said the first thing that came to mind out before she could have thought it over.

However, Yang didn't reprimand her for the answer, instead, he nodded and said "A textbook answer for a modern society. It's not wrong." he quickly noted when he saw Taylor's expression "But education's true purpose is to relay the experiences from the old generation to the new, their knowledge, and most importantly, their mistakes. So that the younger generation does not waste their limited lifespan repeating the same thing as the older one. Especially things they will regret."

Taylor couldn't say she disagrees with this. And although she could guess now what Yang was aiming for and she sympathized with his reason, she couldn't see what triggered him to give her this talk just now despite content to let her learned his arts without much objection for so long.

Again, she didn't have to wait long as Yang asked; "You're probably wondering why am I bringing this up, correct?"

"Y… yea… kind of…"

Yang took Taylor's stutter as a 'yes' and continued "I saw what you did in the week, and I'm impressed with your ingenuity, and worried, Taylor, that you'll discover this darker side of the art I taught you and goes out to do something reckless."

Now it was Taylor's turn to realized something "You're speaking about my old dream to go out and fight crimes and injustice." as Yang nodded in response, Taylor asked further "I mean, sure I still desire it somewhat, but I don't think it's needed right now. I mean…" she paused and searched for words "…it's peaceful, everyone wants peace after all."

It was a season since this topic was brought up, and in that time the peaceful environment of this town has done wonder to curbed her inner childhood fantasy. And even if it didn't, she wouldn't wish for the villains to show up and begin terrorizing people so she could play Hero.

She's not that craving, after all.

Yang nodded "I don't doubt you on that, Taylor." but then he said "…I'm sorry to have you listen to this old man, but I cannot help but feel that the look in your eyes is like me when I was young, and so feel that I should warn you."

Taylor couldn't fault him; even she could see the value of not repeating the mistakes of the old generations, especially when Yang pointed it out earlier.

Seeing no response from Taylor, Yang continued "And future is uncertain. Maybe we live the rest of our lives without violence, maybe there's a violent conflict between nations which Lady Shinki had no choice but to send her handmaiden to handle them before it gets out of hand. Maybe there's a monster rampage. Regardless, I wouldn't discount the possibility of you having to use the art I taught for the violent purpose out of hand if only to protect yourself and others."

It was prudent of him, Taylor thought, but it also piqued her interest in the so-called monsters that roam this world too despite never think about it before.

Noticing Yang's expectant look, Taylor responded neutrally "Thank you for the warning."

The old man chuckled, the tense atmosphere evaporated practically instantly as he returned to the joyous mood as if the conversation earlier didn't happen "Well, I think you're free for today. Think of it as an apology for forcing you to sit down and hear this old man's tales for this long." then his eyebrow wiggled a little "Though if you want to help Mao outside, then I won't mind either."

A small smile graced Taylor's lips as she stood up and did just as Yang suggested, there wasn't anything on her agenda for the day after all.

"Ma'am, can I ask you something?"

Once it was night time, Taylor was back to the Pandemonium castle to study magic under the goddess of Makai as usual. After a season passed, she feels that her magical progress wasn't as quick as she would like, but she endured nonetheless knowing that she was late to the study compared to others in this world whose lessons begin as soon as they reached nine years old.

Shinki turned away from watching the swirling red, green, and blue flame which Taylor conjured and looked at her raven-haired maid curiously. After all, she has told her that she does not need permission to ask anything. "Sure, I told you many times before, hadn't I? Go ahead."

Taylor took a breath, careful not to let the barrier spell slip and dunked herself with the rainfall that continued from the daytime into the night, and collected herself before asking "Why did you create monsters to inhabited Makai? Aren't they causing death and misery to people here contradicting what you wished to achieve?"

Instead of frowning or averting eye contact as one might expect from a guilty party, Shinki adopted a thoughtful expression and silent for at least a minute before answering "Where does life come from, Taylor? I mean the first living being in any universe."

Without waiting for Taylor's reply, the white-haired goddess continued "You wouldn't find that answer from me, for I do not have one either. And the same could be said about monsters populating the wilderness of Makai, for I do not create them."

Despite Shinki once told her that she wasn't omnipotent despite having the power to create life, the answer still came as a surprise to Taylor, that the dancing magical ball of lights fizzled and disintegrated due to her concentration slipped. Thankfully the barrier still on preventing her from soaking wet with the rain.

While Shinki was aware of Taylor's mistake in practicing her magic, she let it slide for now "You're surprised that I should've known about it." It wasn't a question as she didn't wait for a response before carrying on with the explanation; "The interesting thing is that I initially populated the Makai with plants, wildlife, and initial sapient to start a civilization with. As time passed, however, monsters began to emerge from the wilderness attacking everything that's not of their species. This's a recurring theme in other newly formed worlds in other universes as well."

"But Earth Bet never have something like that."

Taylor argued, which Shinki nodded in agreement. But before she continued the discussion, Shinki walked up to and sat on the parapet at the edge of the tower they were on after she dried the surface of rain. Then she motioned Taylor to sit down next to her.

Only when they were properly seated that Shinki finally replies "What I'm going to say is just a theory, but I believe that the presence of magic in a certain concentration may have a hand in such phenomena."

It took Taylor a moment before she pieced the knowledge she learned together, a realization dawned on her face as she asked for confirmation "Is it related to the 'energy react to desire and imagination of sentient species'?"

"Remember that it's just the most likely hypothesis, not a proven fact." Shinki reminded her "After all, beasts and creatures of all kind still appear and evolve even on your Earth Bet since the beginning of time had it not? Although these sentient non-sapient creatures lacked the fantastical features you'd find in a mana-rich environment, there's no guarantee that they will not evolve to such capabilities in the millennia to comes."

"You speak as if you've witnessed one yourself." Taylor remarked while she started conjuring her magic to start practicing again while still holding a conversation with her mistress "That means you're millions of years old?"

Shinki only smiled mysteriously at the remark, neither confirm nor deny it. And that was enough cue for Taylor to dropped the subject by getting back on track with a cough "So, to recap; the hypothesis is that magic acted as a catalyst of evolution since they kind of respond to the desire of sentient beings, they kind of turned non-sapient, who only has instincts and basic desires like getting bigger or meaner, into fantastical monsters?"

"Magic is also natural energy in every universe out there, my child." Shinki corrected her with a smile, "Just that they're not as abundant in some universes, and for some reason, creatures in some universes also cannot interact with it in any meaningful way. Just look at the meat you regularly bought from Orthog for my castle, Taylor. The meat he sells came from livestock originally brought here by the immigrants from land bereft of magic, and this livestock stayed the same even after many generations with no sign of fantastical evolution at all."

'The ability to perceive and process magic by the livings is also a factor.' was what she was saying, Taylor thought and agreed silently.

But then she thought of another argument, from one of the lessons in magic she learned from her "But certainly there's a way to seal magic, isn't it? Like the punishment enact on the criminal magic users across this world and beyond?"

At that question, Shinki's smile turned sad as she sighed, which Taylor took it as a sign of something she didn't want to talk about and hence quickly apologized. But Shinki waved it off. "Your question has merits, Taylor, I can hardly get angry at you for asking that."

"What happened?"

The question came out in a whisper, while she got permission to ask, she was still nervous.

"Let just say that, no matter how you mess with it, nature will always find the way and leave it at that." Shinki replied ominously "The result wasn't pretty. After like the hundred times the civilization ruined by my meddling on this subject, I finally realized that even gods like me have limits."

Taylor's eyebrows shot up slightly at the admission; this wasn't the first time she heard Shinki admitted her incapability of something, so it wasn't that much of a surprise.

The drizzle was the only noise between them for a while before Taylor suddenly had a thought and spoke her mind before she could stop herself; "Then what's a god then if they're incapable?"

Shinki tilted her head slightly, before asking back "There're many definitions of god, Taylor; From primordial gods, born when the universes still young, embodied the primordial aspects of the universe they born in, to gods born out of faith and beliefs of the sapient species and embodiment the definition of 'god' that the believers perceived."

"Wait, wait, wait…" Taylor interrupted "You're saying that 'gods' can be born from the belief of people? Is that mean 'gods' in various religions are real because people believed them to be real?"

"Only if they believed hard enough that their collective unconscious interacted with magic and give birth to one." was Shinki's reply.

Taylor looked skeptical "Is it that easy to give birth to a god?"

Shinki nodded "It's not as hard as you thought, but conversely, this type of gods is also the most vulnerable, for their source of power and their existence comes from their followers. Should the faith and belief in them waned, so too their power. And if those faiths were to change, for lack of a better word, to the point their origins could no longer relate to the current belief, then they would no longer receive any faith and soon will "die" so to speak."

"I… see…" Taylor was surprised by how easy it was to kill a god, and for Shinki to admits it out loud despite being one. "But are you not the type of god that rely on faith? Is it wise to speak about it?"

"You wanted an answer, and I'm in the position to give one, and so I did." Shinki replied casually, before adding; "But this's where you're wrong. While the faith of the people does empower me, I do not rely on one to sustain myself."

A realization hit Taylor at the explanation "You're a primordial god?"

The goddess smiled, shook her head, and answered "I'm no primordial god, Taylor. But I'm a close second. If you know what I mean."

There was a sad vibe in her voice that urged Taylor to be more considerate "Do you miss them? Your peer?"

Any sorrowful look ever been on Shinki's face faded slightly at the question, and her answer lacks the warmth it usually has, but neither it was cold nor uncaring "I wouldn't miss them… It's an unpleasant story… me and those who came before…" she paused for a moment "But I couldn't help but keep wondering from time to time what if things were different back then…"

The last part was drowned out by the drizzle as Shinki lowered her voice down to whisper that Taylor couldn't hear properly. But it was clear enough that there must be some sort of dispute between her and her 'parents' so to speak.

'The more I hear about her past, the more I hear about the similarity between us.'

If it was her boasting, Taylor would've doubted the story she put forth. But the tone she used made it clear that there was nothing boastful about it.

Although she wished to delve into the story of the world's creation from god's perspective, she also instinctively realized that it was probably a bad idea to push further. "I'm sorry."

"Again, with that sorry." Shinki shook her head while letting out a soft chuckle "I've chosen to tell you this, not you forcing me to tell you. You have done nothing wrong."

Shinki paused again while looking upon the cloudy sky above, and then she spoke quietly "Oh, dear, time sure flies isn't it? Why not you stay here for tonight? It was already late as it is. Yumeko wouldn't mind, your bunk in her room is still open."

At the mention of it, Taylor begins to notice the tiredness creeping up on her mind, but she pushed it aside and replied "I appreciate your offer, but I don't want to impose. Ma'am."

Taylor knows that Yumeko would be okay with her staying the night, and Haku, her nemesis, didn't do anything to her at all since the arrangement, she still not want to test it.

Shinki nodded, seemingly resigned "I see, Good night then Taylor."

Taylor canceled her spell and walked toward the center of the tower. Magical circle lit up with power once more, ready to send her back to Yang's house. She turned to face her second mother and mentor before saying good night to the creator and ruler of Makai.

A flash of magical light later, and Taylor found herself staggered to her bed in Yang's house. Once her head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep and let that day's discussion to rest for the time being.

Author's Note: I'm wondering if readers found this story too slow and lack of conflict for their taste? Frankly speaking, unless time skip at least four decades, I cannot imagine doing such scenario without feeling the entire thing was forced for the sake of it.