“Teach us magic.”

William was stunned by the somewhat odd and seemingly out of the blue request. Not that William thought it was odd to want to learn magic. However, when the request came from a pair of people well versed in the use of ki, it was odd. It was also odd because they were much older than him, at least in body. Though, these two knew something about William’s actual age. William looked over Dong Xin and Yu Jian. One was his master, the other his grandfather. “I can’t.” William paused for a moment to think. “At least, it’s not likely. If you haven’t gone through an awakening already, then it is extremely unlikely you have any magical talent.” William shrugged. “However, I can teach you the meditation method to attempt an awakening. It might work, but it is unlikely either of you will be any good if you have not naturally awakened by your age.”

“How would we know if we are awakened?” Yu Jian asked.

William, having never really experienced it, could only describe as others had described. “At some point, there should have been a feeling of enlightenment or some such, and then you would be able to see mana in the air, which looks something like floating sparkles. However, it is likely you would have to concentrate to see or sense mana, because it takes practice.” William wasn’t entirely sure that Lila had needed to concentrate to see mana. He knew that she didn’t always see mana, but the way she acted, it seemed like she intentionally had to not see mana. Perhaps because it came so naturally to her. Then again, William couldn’t really say how the experiences of others truly worked, so it could just be the way things were described. William sighed, wishing he could have found Lila in this life, where should could help against the Demon King. Perhaps he still could, but William understood that there was little chance of meeting Lila again. Then again, even without her memories, she would almost certainly awaken to magic again, so he might have a chance to find her. Though William wasn’t sure if she would exactly be “Lila” without her memories… she would at least be helpful.

William found that Dong Xin was waving his hand in front of William’s face. When his eyes focused again, Dong Xin grinned. “I should have known better than to bring up magic around you. Well, I’d still like to try. Who knows what could happen.”

So, William taught the two of them the meditation method. It had never worked for him, but it had worked for Big Sister, and presumably some of those who created it in the first place. He didn’t expect much at their age, but it was possible they had just managed to avoid awakening and still had some talent. Perhaps there was something about being near other wizards that allowed awakenings to happen. Perhaps something about ki training made it so that people never awakened. However, it couldn’t completely stop people from awakening, because Big Sister Li had some ki training, even though she couldn’t advance beyond the basics. It was also possible that nobody in Liaoyang recognized what an awakening was, and thus never sought out and attempted to learn magic. The force of tradition was strong enough that people might believe that ki training was the way to true strength. Regardless, there weren’t wizards in Liaoyang, at least not any in the public eye.

-----

William had faithfully meditated to attempt to sense mana for all of his previous life. Even in this life, he had attempted it regularly. However, in the past year, he had not tried it even once. He knew it was pointless… but upon being reminded of it, he decided to try one more time. It always left him disappointed at the utter lack of mana that he sensed, but he otherwise felt very calm and soothed afterwards. William regulated his breathing and calmed his mind, then moved his senses outside of himself. For a brief moment, he sensed something and thought it actually worked. However, he didn’t let himself get too excited. What he sensed wasn’t mana. Instead, it was the ki that people were emitting. William had been practicing his Soul Perception so much that he subconsciously used it when having the thought of sending his senses out from his body. He tried again, this time avoiding using Soul Perception, and was met with the familiar blankness of nothing. No mana. Not that William would let that disappoint him. However, it would certainly be useful to be able to control magic as well as use ki.

-----

William went to the technique library, and was glad that he could openly visit now. This had been true for some time, but the first two years he had needed to hide it. As he moved through the library, he got different reactions from different people. Though his grandfather was domineering, he couldn’t completely change how the family acted without destroying it, which nobody wanted even if he actually could accomplish that. William appreciated the fact that at least some of the looks he got were respectful. Then there were those who were rather neutral about him, which William was perfectly okay with. Then, there were those who still viewed him as an enemy, either because he was a threat to their position with his status as a genius, or because their loyalties, or at least that of their parents, fell into a different faction. There were also a few that sympathized with Yu Mu's faction, but not openly. Any large enough group would have power struggles, but William thought that they could work together better. Perhaps he just felt that it was more petty because the power struggles in the wizard’s guild had less often erupted into violence, but upon consideration they were still similarly stupid.

William browsed the shelves, looking for a suitable technique. Somehow, he still didn’t need a new cultivation technique, as Rotational Soul Pressure was still fulfilling its job. William had still worked on memorizing one or two he thought might build on it well later. As for the basics, William had gone through basically everything on basic control and abilities, and thought he had a pretty good foundation. He’d learned a few offensive techniques, ones that were systemized to be more efficient than just using ki to attack. Today, he thought he might choose something defensive. “Soul Armor” caught his eye. He tried to resist the temptation to pick it up just because of its name. He tried, but failed. Upon browsing through it, he wasn’t sure if it even did anything. It was another technique that talked about the soul, and in this case how to protect it, but William wasn’t sure if that could even be done, or was even necessary. He still took that technique scroll… as well as one that was probably more practical called “Iron Mountain Defense”.