Jingyi Bo had a dream that she was a fish swimming in the ocean, except she was too big and couldn’t fit in the sea. All the little fish in the sea yelled at her to get out of the way, but when she tried to find a comfortable spot, she just splashed water all over the land and washed away some cities. Apologising profusely, she was put on a barbecue and cooked for dinner. At some point she realised she was dreaming, possibly when Elder Qin and Elder Yahui were skipping happily through a field, hand in hand. She had to admit, the two made a cute couple, in a weird-old-man kind of way.

Awaking to a feeling of aching bones and soaked robes, Bo realised she was still in her bathtub. The wet floor around it indicated she had tossed and turned in her sleep, and the fact that she remembered her dream so vividly was a sign that her body was still unhappy about the previous day’s training. And I have to do that again? Perhaps Yamato people are just more hardy than Qin people …

Pulling the little plug at the bottom of the bathtub that drained it all away, Bo pried herself out of the tub with some extreme effort. The double-whammy of Elder Ienaga’s training and her unfortunate sleeping position were playing havoc on her weary muscles. However, by the time she got herself upright and gave a few stretches, Bo realised that her robes had dried. She knew they were enchanted, but this was pretty extraordinary stuff! The chunks she had transmuted off however were still missing - it wasn’t capable of regenerating, after all. Jingyi Bo didn’t particularly want to have to buy a new set of robes, so she promised herself she’d not turn any more of the hem into mud.

Looking outside as she prepared some rice and tea, Bo guessed it was around sunrise. Her schedule had her attending a class taught by a Goryeon mage, and she would be lying if she said she wasn’t interested. Maybe I’ll learn to throw fire, or spit lightning, or turn my foes into mud! Okay, I can kind of already do the last thing, if they sit really still for a few hours while I do it.

As per usual, Bo arrived early to class, glad at last to have a lesson inside an actual building. However, every time she showed up this early, she almost felt like saying, I’m not here because I’m trying to show off! I just wake up very early! Not that there was really anyone here to listen. Before taking a seat, she had a look around to see who was her already. A cute half-spirit boy, all prepared to take notes. The muscle-bound pillow-placer, sitting up the front as though to ruin the day of whoever had to sit behind him. A group of three Qin students … oh no.

“Junior!” Chao Da was reclining in his chair, his feet up on the chair in front of him, and some strange, tinted spectacles over his eyes. As if they had planned it in advance, there was an empty seat between him and Wang Wei. Behind said empty seat was Youni De, inexplicably greasier than ever. Chao waved at Bo, and kept waving until she finally decided to come sit with them. Sitting on the empty chair on the opposite side of Chao from the intended seat, Youni snickered and Wang nodded before the two of them simply relocated. Bo could feel the life being drained from her soul.

“Hey, Chao, when we first met, you said you knew everyone.” Bo didn’t even know where she was going with this.

“Hey, Junior. I did say that. Whatever happened to ‘Senior Chao’, though?”

“Yes. Senior Chao.” Wang had pulled out a sheaf of paper and a small brush, as though he planned to take notes.

“Chao, who’s that guy? I keep seeing him around.” Bo pointed down to the Yamato boy. Chao leaned forward in his chair, squinted at the guy, nodded and returned to his position.

“That’s Tatsumaki Ryu. Yamato body cultivator. Was the pride of his home town’s martial artists. He won a big tournament, but made a few enemies in doing so - now no one wants to be his friend. Ever since, he’s sworn to work his hardest to crush the competition wherever he goes.”

Bo was genuinely impressed. She didn’t think he had that kind of intel on hand.

“How’d you know all that?”

“Made it up.”

I take it back! “What do you mean you made it up?!”

“Okay, I knew his name. And, he’s probably a martial artist. Also, I’ve never seen anyone go near him, or talk to him. Just made some guesses.”

With a deep sigh, Bo turned Chao’s attention to the half-spirit, who seemed to be taking notes despite the fact that the lesson hadn’t begun yet. The lanky teen turned in his seat to look.

“What’s his name?”

“Caught your eye, huh? He’s kinda cute.”

“Chao?! I just asked his name!”

“He is very cute.”

“Wang, you too?!”

De snickered. Bo refused to comment.

“Do you know him or not?”

“Oh yeah. I know that guy. For sure.”

Chao nodded knowingly and turned to face the front of the lecture hall. An awkward silence fell over the group.

“What’s his name, Chao? Tell me his name.”

A quiet snore escaped from the teen. There was no way he had fallen asleep that fast - Jingyi Bo politely refrained from strangling him to death then and there, and only because the lecture hall was starting to fill.

---

The lesson started rather without fanfare, a fascinating spectacle given the first lessons of Elder Qin and Elder Ienaga. Elder Hwang reminded Bo of an owl, a comparison she had been unable to shake since first laying eyes on him. She guessed he was a half-spirit, but his spirit half wasn’t so clearly defined. Still, his hair looked like feathers, and his voice made Bo think of soft owlish hooting.

Still, the lesson started off in a way that sounded far more immediately interesting than the others - Elder Hwang seemed interested in how the three disciplines worked together, rather than simply saying his was the best. Perhaps there was some way to enhance the Endless Steps with a mage’s repertoire? At least, Bo was interested for about a half minute, before the man started to ramble. Was it always going to be like this? Jingyi Bo couldn’t help herself. She raised her hand.

The entire lecture hall turned to look at her as she did so. What was I thinking? All I had to do was lay low, never make a noise and pretend I didn’t exist, then no one would bother me! What do I care about how useful the Endless Steps end up? But here I am, with my hand in the air, and the Elder gesturing for me to speak … I better do that quickly.

“Pardon my rudeness, Elder,” Jingyi Bo gulped down her anxiety, “but are we going to be learning magic techniques at any point in this lecture?”

“Hoho, have patience. I do apologize for my blathering, but I promise you that this information will be valuable to you. You may even learn a thing or two about your own discipline! In fact, why don’t I speak about it now, hmm?”

Sitting down with an insincere smile, Bo realised she had just set him off on another tangent. Still, all of this was useful information. All the elders at the Everchanging Way sect had ever told her was useless fluff. ‘Feel the flow of the elements, listen to their desires.’ ‘Don’t force the cup to be a cup, allow it to be a bowl.’ ‘Go and make me a pot of tea, disciple, and make it snappy!’ Bo quietly wondered how Elder Yahui ever managed to reach his vaunted heights.

Still, as much as she tried to pay attention, Elder Hwang tended to speak at length, and her seat-neighbours were quite distracting. Chao Da appeared to be sleeping, his feet still on the chair in front of him despite someone occupying it. Wang Wei was writing notes like a man possessed, but his handwriting was functionally illegible when Bo peeked. Youni De … kept snickering. What was so funny?

Despite the distractions, Bo was starting to get the gist. Qi and Ki and Mana are all kind of the same thing in different places, there are six elements (Bo got to smugly grin having known that already, even if her own idea of the model was slightly different), mages could change the elemental attunement of their aura … wait, what? That sounded extremely useful! Almost all the other information seemed to pale into comparison to hearing that. It was all useful, interesting information that could inform her cultivation, of course, but Bo had to figure out how to awaken whatever this ‘mana sense’ was! If it could let her manipulate elements better, it would drastically improve her technique.

When Elder Hwang reached the point explaining some new set of meditation and breathing exercises, Jingyi Bo dove right in without a second thought. Except maybe why she hadn’t heard of mana sense sooner - so possibly, without a third thought.

Meditating in this different way was weirdly frustrating, in a way that reminded Bo of awakening her qi. It closed off the body, making it feel distant. According to the instructions of the elder, she was meant to focus on some intangibly tangible something. At least it had been better than … Wait, I’m always complaining about the old sect. I’ve got to move on, drop those worldly concerns …

---

An unknown amount of time passed in meditation. Jingyi Bo was always just on the verge of catching up with that troublesome little spirit that was floating nearby, like trying to catch a flea with a pair of chopsticks. She tried chasing it down with all her focus, trying to tire it out, even trying to be patient enough for it to come close and get caught, but no matter how hard she focused, she just couldn’t get it!

With a groan, Bo opened her eyes. Once again, the lecture hall was nearly empty - a handful of other students were meditating still, though none she knew. The Chao gang had left her behind, presumably because it was late in the evening. However, there was a note left for her. Written in the sort of calligraphy a child would have been embarrassed with, it was an invitation for Bo to visit Chao Da’s home. Either that, or it was an abstract art piece. With nothing better to do, Jingyi Bo left the lecture hall and headed over there.

By the time Bo made it halfway there, she realised what she was doing. Since when has making friends ever gone well for you? Everyone you hang around ends up suffering your curse of bad luck. Besides, this Chao guy keeps calling you ‘junior’, and tried to mug you! Okay, it wasn’t really a mugging, and he seems to mean well …

Bo shook her head and slapped herself on the cheeks. Thinking like this wasn’t helpful! She was just spending time with Chao’s gang to get them on her side as allies, not because she wanted to have friends. Besides, how was she going to survive here if everyone was her enemy? With her mind made up, Bo continued walking and, before long, found the house. She had been here once before, but had fled at high speed. To eat jade, of course.

This time, the Chao gang was sitting in their front garden. They seemed to be playing some kind of game with sticks, taking turns piling them up. Before Bo was even twenty paces from the front gate, Youni spotted her and alerted the rest of the group. All three of them stood up, knocking their stick-tower everywhere.

“Juniooor! Come on in!” Chao had this weirdly infectious beaming smile on his face. It reminded Bo of an old friend - who had met an unfortunate fate. Would this lanky, awkward teen meet the same fate? Once again, Bo had to push those thoughts out of her head. What could happen, meeting with some folks here in the middle of this Academy? If anyone could resist bad luck, it was fellow cultivators. Bo put a hand on the gate and entered.

As she walked through the threshold, Bo was faintly aware of a kind of buzzing noise in the back of her mind. She always seemed to hear it around the dormitory area, just barely on the edge of sensation. It couldn’t be heard from her little shed, but here in Chao’s front garden, it was extra loud. It felt kind of like she was doing something wrong, like she had been doing something wrong the whole time but now was in more trouble than before. Bo had half a mind to step right back out the gate when Chao grabbed her, pulling her over to the table.

It was as though this hand-on-hand grabbing action had fulfilled some final, terrible condition. A looming sense of dread filled the air, followed by an equally looming figure. Standing immediately behind Jingyi Bo, his hand on her shoulder, was Elder Qin Zhao.

“What do you think you are doing?” His voice was this horrifying mixture of perfectly calm and subtly annoyed. Bo would have confessed to literally any crime if pressed. Instead, she just made a squeaking, choking noise.

“E-Elder Qin!” Chao’s gang made a deep bow all as one. Bo would have followed suit, but the old man had a grip on her shoulder. “Have we done something wrong? Junior Jingyi is just visiting.”

“Just visiting,” Elder Qin repeated the words with some skepticism. “You invite a woman into your house, hand-in-hand, to play with … sticks.” His eye turned fractionally towards the scattered pile on the table. All of Chao’s gang looked deeply confused, then made faces of revelation. Bo couldn’t see Qin’s face personally, but she heard the most minute of sighs.

“I see. Know that I won’t tolerate untoward behaviour, disciple.” That comment had been directed at Bo herself - no sooner was the final syllable uttered had Qin vanished again, back to whatever infinitely more important work he had to do. That just left the Chao gang staring at their new friend with mouths comically agape.

“You’re a …”

“He’s a …”

“Hehe.”

Bo hung her head. She hadn’t really lied to them - just let them believe what they wanted to believe - but it still felt like she had been dishonest. She decided to come clean.

“Yeah, I’m a woman. I’m a bit older than you all seem to think, too. I’m guessing you’re all, what, fifteen, sixteen? I’m nineteen.”

Chao seemed to process something with great effort, before triumphantly nodding.

“So that’s why you never wanted to come over here!” Bo didn’t want to tell him he was wrong, so she let him have his moment. “Wow, to think you were older than us this whole time … Junior-- no, Senior Jingyi! Please, we would be honoured if you would stay our friend!”

All three of them bowed, almost as deeply as they had to Elder Qin. Bo was stunned - she had expected a Qin cultivator to treat her differently because she was a woman. Instead, the gang only seemed to have more respect for her! Blushing a bit at the attention, she laughed nervously.

“You guys … you can just call me Bo, okay?”