Abdin and Juwaira, both of them with their eyes closed and their hands joined, sat crosslegged as they absorbed ki using the coupling technique.

It had been ten days now since they went into seclusion. At the moment, Juwaira had attained step three of the core formation stage - three thousand years plus. As for Abdin, he was already on the threshold of thirteen thousand years of pol.

A few months ago, Juwaira was ahead of him by almost two thousand years. But the tables had turned now, with Abdin taking the lead.

The princess was more skilled at ki absorption than he was, and he wouldn't have beaten her in this if he had depended solely on meditation.

However, he had the castle's secret behind him. A secret that had defied everyone's expectations even in the rich eastern continent.

On the thirteenth day, the two of them came out of seclusion.

As scheduled, today was inspection day. The castle had grown quite a bit and that had called for the urgent inspection. Oftentimes, it was the lack of proper inspection that led to inappropriate actions from subordinates. And Abdin wanted to curb that in the best possible way.

The first place scheduled for inspection was the newly founded school.

As Abdin watched unnoticed from a window, a young man stood before a class giving them lessons.

The class was made up of kids aged five to seven. They were almost fifty in number and were all sitting calmly on wooden chairs facing the teacher.

"What does spiritual ki mean?" asked the teacher.

Many of the pupils raised their hands, and he pointed to one of them.

"Spiritual ki is the substance that allows us to control skills," the boy said.

Unsatisfied with this answer, the teacher pointed to another boy.

"Spiritual ki is the substance that opens up the core of a person and gives them the chance to control skills."

"Spiritual ki is something found in the atmosphere that is absorbed by people to increase their longevity."

"Spiritual ki is cultivation."

"Spiritual ki is nothing but food for cultivators. That's why cultivators don't need food the way normal people do."

The pupils kept giving their answers in turn, but in the end, the teacher shook his head and told them, "None of your answers are correct." He then asked them, "Tell me, what is water?"

The pupils frowned and looked at him, thinking that water is just water with no special definition.

Seeing their reactions, the teacher clarified, "Just as water cannot be defined, so is ki. Water can be seen, but not ki."

Abdin observed this silently before moving on to the next class, acknowledging that every teacher has their unique teaching method.

They covered ten classes that day out of the more than fifty in the school. Their last stop was the headmaster's office, where Tairen greeted them and offered them seats.

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Abdin suddenly asked Tairen, "What does spiritual ki mean?" Both Juwaira and Tairen were confused by the question.

For Juwaira, she was surprised that Abdin would ask Tairen that, even though she knew his reason for doing so. But Tairen was completely taken off guard.

"Spiritual ki?" He echoed.

Abdin nodded. He wanted to know if the headmaster would have a better answer than the students.

Tairen silently rolled this over in his mind for a while before he spoke. "Spiritual ki is a gaseous substance that can be felt and absorbed by cultivators to get more cultivation. This substance is the first thing that every cultivator comes across.

"Absorbing it for the first time opens up the core. And the core, in turn, summons the initial cultivation that would help in the overall expansion of the core.

"Most scholars believe that the size of the initial cultivation determines the size of the core. But Muwadd Sani and his teacher believe that the quality of the initial substance used by someone for opening the core is of utmost importance in determining the core's size. The stronger the substance, the bigger the core.

"This is why I believe that the kids here, having their cores opened in this castle, are going to be privileged to have extremely bigger cores. More than ours. And that's all due to Commander who deserves all our gratitude."

Tairen finished his explanation with a slight bow toward Abdin.

Abdin smiled inwardly. Tairen was not aware of the reason for the question, but he had swiftly taken advantage of it at the end with praise toward him.

"True but, apart from ki, there is also talent and cleverness," Abdin said, turning to point toward the princess. "Juwaira here has an immensely big core that none of your students would probably get. And that also happened without her having the advantage to open her core here. This shows that talent also plays a big role when it comes to cultivation.

"Nevertheless, any student who is lucky to be as talented as the princess would probably have a bigger core than her."

He sighed and continued, "But that is not why I asked you that question. It's actually because I overheard one of your staff saying that ki doesn't have any special definition. I didn't know if you have the same view."

Tairen was quiet at first, then he managed a wan smile. The way he was taken unawares by their visit was the same with the teachers who were busy in the classrooms.

Mistakes were bound to happen, and he must warn them to be always on their guard.

Abdin shifted the topic and asked, "I didn't see any names here. Don't tell me you haven't decided on any for this place yet." The school was a seven-story building with at least twenty rooms on each floor, situated between the second and third parts of the castle.

Tairen chose the place and Abdin approved of it, but it remained unnamed up to now.

Tairen smiled wryly. He believed it was the Commander's responsibility to name the new school. Although seeing students' files with a blank space for the school name bothered him, he hadn't complained about it.

He had tried contacting the Commander about it ten days ago but found him meditating with Juwaira, and was forced to return and wait for when they came out. Who would have guessed the Commander would visit the school as soon as he was out of seclusion?

"Let's call it Babil," said Abdin. "Only young children who are yet to open their core will be admitted here. As for adults who have already done so, especially students from Will of San, I want another school opened for them.

"There are many unoccupied places around the third castle, I want you to choose a place to start another school. It shall be called Garkuwa. Will of San teachers will be the ones to teach at Garkuwa. You are free to employ the Will of San methods of teaching and discipline over there.

"But Babil is mine. I need you to bring the details of every teacher here to me. I am going to fire any unqualified teachers and I shall give you the method of teaching I want here."

There was a syllabus from the eastern continent that Abdin wanted to introduce at Babil. It was from these kids that he wanted to build the foundation of the castle. Their bodies would adapt to any method they were introduced to since they were young. Moreover, they would be the most trusted of his subjects since the castle would be the only home they would know.

Tairen nodded. He understood Abdin's logic even though that would reduce his authority at Babil. But he wouldn't fault him because that was exactly what he would do if he ever found himself in the Commander's shoes. Besides, the name Babil meant 'new beginnings' in Juyad. So it was obvious what the Commander was trying to do.

Abdin didn't want to give them another surprise so he announced the date he would come back for another visit.

Then they walked in the direction of the farms, where Cemu, one of Abdin's most diligent subjects, worked.