William was once again brought to a room with just the Knight Commander. “I thought about it. I’ve decided to at least stall proceedings.”

William nodded. “Okay, what do you want from me then? I can’t exactly find the technique here.”

“Can’t you?” She reached behind her, and pulled out a scroll. It was slightly tattered and aged looking, but William thought it was the scroll. His eyes widened in shock. “I have a few good reasons to believe your story isn’t just made up. Read it.”

How did they get that scroll? Well, there was one simple possibility. William had left it in Marius Cyril’s hands… and the Cyril family could certainly have passed it onto the Vaughn, or Dragonfoe, family. It even made more sense for them to have it, since it wasn’t magic. William took the scroll and unrolled it. As his eyes went over it, he felt memories buried unconsciously in the back of his brain stirring. His mind connected some points that it hadn’t before. William knew. He could practice this technique now. However… the text remained flat on the paper.

Tyler Dragonfoe frowned. “The letters did nothing. It doesn’t seem you can use it. I know you weren’t making that part up, either, because I’ve actually seen the phenomenon myself. Yet I also know you can use ki… or your muscles are much stronger than they look.”

“I-I…” William stuttered, unsure what to say. “I have an explanation that might sound unbelievable. Actually, I’ve seen it before. The technique, that is. However, that was before I really knew how to cultivate ki. Now that I’ve seen it again, my memories of it have stirred and I can train it.”

She rolled up the scroll, and looked at WIlliam sternly. “I don’t believe you. Certainly, I have observed that subsequent viewings don’t produce a result, but nothing happening isn’t exactly a point in your favor.” She leaned back slightly. “However, perhaps you will produce some results. Either way, you’re going to teach me how to use ki. Let’s get started.”

William wasn’t sure what to do. “Just like that?”

“Why not? I’ve got time… and I know you aren’t busy with anything else.”

William didn’t say anything for a few moments. He wasn’t really prepared for this. What should he do? Then, a switch flipped. He was a teacher again. “How do you learn best?”

“Huh? By being taught, of course.”

William shook his head. “That’s not helpful. When you learned to use that sword on your waist… did you learn best from watching someone? Being told what to do? Looking at forms in books? Or did you have to swing it yourself?” William couldn’t help but put authority into his voice. That was unfortunate, because of the circumstances.

Tyler frowned. “I did all of those things.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“That doesn’t tell me anything.” William sighed. “Can you meditate?”

“To relax? I just practice my sword moves. It takes my mind off of things.”

William pulled at his hair slightly. “Ugh, why couldn’t you have been a wizard. Maybe I’ll have to teach you something new like staffwork so we can figure this out…”

“I don’t have time to learn staffwork. Just teach me how to use ki.”

William shook his head. “It would be better to spend a day or a week learning… well, how you learn. Otherwise, I can’t tell what it means if you fail to learn what I’m teaching. Maybe I’ll be teaching it the wrong way, or you just don’t have the capacity. I can’t know. If we had a basis to start from, then maybe it would be easier.”

“I might have some free time, but I have a lot of duties to take care of… I’d rather not waste a week on something I’ll never use.” She took a deep breath. “Actually… I have learned a meditation technique.”

Why hadn’t she just said that in the first place? “Alright, describe it to me. We’ll see if we can find a common starting point for understanding.”

“How do you learn best?” William just gave her a look. “Fine, fine.” Then she went on to describe the meditation method she had learn. It was, almost word for word, identical to the method William had learned with the goal of awakening magic.

“Why do you know that? Were you trying to become a wizard?”

“Does it matter?” She raised an eyebrow.

“I… no. Not really. Let’s see here.” William tried to organize his thoughts. “Hmm, there’s a slight problem.”

“What’s that?”

“Well, I don’t think there’s a good way to say this… the only cultivation method that I’ve actually practiced is… well… Basically, I’ll have to describe the text of another one to you.”

“Why can’t I use the other one?” she glared at him.

“It’s… well… not exactly safe. Apparently.”

“Is it powerful?”

William shrugged. “It’s not bad.”

“I’ll learn it.”

“Umm… okay. I’m going to have to give you all the warnings first.” So, William described the various problems, and the fact that if you didn’t stop at the right point it could cause irreparable damage. Though, he hadn’t experienced the feeling himself- he only had the descriptions in the technique manual and Yu Li’s explanations for what it was actually like. Then, he explained how to visualize the spiritual sea, which then lead to the explanation on practicing the Rotational Soul Pressure. “I guess I’ll go back to my cell now.”

“No. You’ll stay.”

“...Why? You’ll have to be basically defenseless. I doubt you trust me enough for that.”

“Trust you? Hmm, no, not really. However, I believe you want to live. Otherwise you wouldn’t bother going through with this. If I die, you’ll die.”

“I could kill you just for revenge… or prevenge or something.”

“There is that chance. However… I can say that I’m certain that I will learn faster with your guidance. Thus, you need to be here to watch me. The benefits outweigh the almost negligible risk. Beside… if I die, your master and sister will have to be brought in as accomplices. Yes, we do know where they are.”

William wasn’t sure about that threat, but he supposed it didn’t matter… since he wasn’t planning to kill her. “Fine, but just… be careful. If you die, way too many people I don’t want to die will, including myself and nothing will be worth it. Are you sure you don’t want to try the other technique? …. Okay fine.” Then, the Knight Commander told those outside the door she was not to be disturbed in any circumstances for at least two hours. William sat down to watch over Tyler Dragonfoe, a woman who looked like Lila… but shared very little else besides a sense of vigor.