“You want to what?” when Aimee and Thomas came to Josephine Wong by the reception’s desk with Jason and Caroline and asked if they could go out and help their friend and previous colleagues, Josephine Wong appeared somewhat surprised.
Thomas was in a rush to explain: “We want to go out and help our friend at the SJPD ... ”
“Nonono, Thomas, let me explain the situation first.” Aimee cut Thomas off: “Okay, Ms. Wong, I know - WE know full well how the situation is kinda dangerous out there for us. But Detective Lee and Detective Kuhn are our friends, and they are under orders to investigate the Drainer case.”
“Yeah, they shouldn’t do that.” Josephine Wong narrowed her eyes: “Vampire clans are extremely dangerous, especially now that we have a possible war coming among the high brokers of the Exalted Bondsmen.”
“A war among the high brokers of Exalted Bondsmen? ” Aimee and Thomas exchanged looks both with stern and serious expressions on their faces: “How bad is it? Is the Division gonna do anything about it?”
“It’s not happened yet. And yes, the Division will try to get things under control.” Josephine Wong sighed: “But don’t have any illusions on the capabilities of the Division, it’s semi governmental, but it’s greatly understaffed and we just went through some very big disasters. San Francisco being one, and then there’s this haunted hospital - ”
“Is it gonna affect the civilians? Or is it gonna be confined to your - I mean the magical world?” Aimee asked.
“There’s no clear line between the civilian and magical world, is there?” Josephine Wong sighed and pulled out a drawer. Then she took out two pieces of purple paper flower, and two wooden cards: “Here, if you really intend to go and help your friend, I am in no position to stop you. But take these, the flowers are for you, Aimee and Thomas. Jason, Caroline, the wooden cards are for you.”
“What are these for?” Aimee asked, confused.
“Mortality scapegoats. Consider them one-off shields that would protect you from a killing blow. And added with a small passive teleportation array.” Josephine Wong smiled: “Since you’re still young and relatively less experienced and do not yet possess too immense of powers, I just use some materials lying around and make these for you. When this activates, the teleportation array will activate as well and bring you right back here. But these things could be faulty as well - so don’t be reckless.”
“Thank you, Ms. Wong.” Thomas took the purple paper flowers along with Aimee, the moment their fingers touched these flowers, they felt an instant sense of connection to them.
“Thank you Ms. Wong.” “Thank you.” Caroline and Jason took the two cards with them.
“These are short term time bound mortality scapegoats, they will remain effective for three months since the moment you accept them. And if it expires or gets activated, it will be some time before anyone could make another one for you.” Josephine Wong looked at all four students with a serious face: “So, here’s the thing, if any of you are teleported back due to the activation of your mortality scapegoat, I will forcefully teleport all of you back. Am I clear?”
“Yes - yes.” Thomas and Aimee both acknowledged.
“Now, before you go, you’d better choose your weapons, at least for now.” Josephine Wong stood up, and started leading the four students to the basement: “And other artifacts as well - to keep you safely prepared.”
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“... and that’s how I sent them on their way to San Jose.” sitting beside the bed on which Jianmen was lying, Josephine Wong took a sip of tea and said to Jianmen, whose body had mostly recovered to its previous shape, but still weak overall and could barely walk around with his own limbs.
“For a moment there I thought you were about to say how you met one of my parents.” Jianmen chuckled and brought his cup of tea to his mouth with his trembling right hand. It took about ten seconds before he could take his first sip of the tea: “Ouch, hot hot hot.”
“I was looking for your comment on what you think of my letting them go, and not about the temperature of the water.” Josephine Wong smiled and put a small china jar on the table: “You want some honey with your tea?”
“No, I’m good.” Jianmen put his cup back on the table and took a long breath: “And my only comment is that you did the right thing.”
“You’re not worried about your students?” Josephine Wong asked: “Thomas and Aimee are still new and young, the teleportation array would almost certainly not fail. But it’s another story for Jason and Caroline.”
“They’ve been stuck for a while, haven’t they? The barrier between them and the next tribulations.” Jianmen sighed: “If it was like before with the steady and slow training, they wouldn’t have faced this issue. But since we all need them to be ready sooner, it would be inevitable.”
“So - you are actually counting on them getting into trouble?”
“Just battle - they need actual battle to kick off their final epiphanies and help them push through the last barrier and trigger the tribulation.”
“But this would be the tribulation from the Third Layer to the Fourth, wouldn’t it be quite dangerous? Do you really feel comfortable with the slim but non-negligible chance that they face their tribulations while we are not by their side?”
“They are going to have to face these kinds of things all on their own sooner or later.” Jianmen sighed: “And I would rather they experience it sooner. ”
“My thoughts exactly.” Josephine Wong chuckled: “I mean, the younglings would need to live and lead their own lives. If they can’t even muster up the courage to help a friend in need, they’d better not step into the magical world at all.”
“But you’ll have someone back them up if things go wrong?”
“Garret and a disciple of Nameless will be watching over them.” Josephine Wong poured a bit of honey into her tea: “One eye’s got my team all occupied, but now that we’ve let the word out that the ‘codex’ is already in the hands of the Division, I don’t think the high brokers and other players would send their elites after the students.”