After a week, Dong Xin and Yu Jian still hadn’t been able to sense mana, but perhaps it would just take them more time, William wasn’t betting on it, however. Still, Dong Xin pointed out that he wasn’t likely to have a huge jump in power anytime soon anyway, so he could “waste” some time on this. William did have to admit it would be immensely beneficial if they could incorporate magic into their techniques. Then he ran into the awkward phase where he had to explain to them why he couldn’t use magic. Fortunately, it didn’t make them disbelieve his identity entirely. There had been some information about him passed down through the generations, including some about his earlier life. After so long, the stories were still well preserved, but they may have not been as clearly written as they could have been. Thus, most assumed that either he had low magical abilities (supplemented by the staff) or had intentionally hidden his power most of the time, and not that he had none without Chris. However, it also wasn’t entirely outside of what they knew about him. At the very minimum, they could confirm that William knew how to teach magic, since he had successfully taught Big Sister Li.

As for the secret society that Dong Xin and Yu Jian belonged to, he was somewhat disappointed but not surprised to learn that it was small. He had not been formally introduced to them yet, since his age would be somewhat troublesome, and possibly even his appearance. Not everyone would believe he was reincarnated. However, William didn’t care if they believed in who he was now or wanted to listen to his orders, as long as they heeded his warnings from his first life about the Demon King, and were ready to fight against him. Their name, at least, gave him hope they understood his desires: The Order of the Watchful Sentry. There were apparently a few dozen members throughout Liaoyang. While this was not many, some were reasonably influential, and had been preparing people, directly or indirectly, for the eventual return of the Demon King. Now, they had a more specific timeframe thanks to William. Though, perhaps it was his fault that the specifics hadn’t gone out more clearly in his previous life. The Demon King could return any time, or perhaps had already been born, and at the very latest would appear within eighty-five years. However, it was more likely that he would appear sooner, though William didn’t have his data on him to back him up. All of that had been at the wizard’s guild, and he couldn’t remember all of the exact dates.

Although such times were still far off, William started making plans for the future, when he would leave Liaoyang. At the very least, he had to check in on Ostana to see how things were going, especially since that was where Chris was. William didn’t expect the situation to be good, however, since the Lockridge family had grown in power after, and because of, his death. While it was possible that their descendants had turned into decent people, William had his doubts. William also needed to visit Eclea, to the east of Ostana, and see if they were making any preparations against the Demon King, since he had some contacts there who had been informed, but perhaps it wouldn’t have lasted. The same was true of the southern country of Ustil. However, William might need to regain some amount of political power to have any effect on the preparations against the Demon King, and thus the future of the human race, at least as he saw it. William didn’t enjoy politics, but he wasn’t just going to sit by and let nothing be done. If only it were so easy to make happen, but the easiest method of bashing people on the head sadly rarely was effective in making them stop being stupid and selfish, and actually think about the future.

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William didn’t spend all of his time training or worrying about the future, though those consumed a large portion of his time. Sometimes, he did things for fun. Though he wasn’t the type that enjoyed shopping in general, he found himself heading to the market with a smile on his face. Big Sister Li was with him. Now that they had some status, they also had some money available to them, and Big Sister really needed a better staff. All she had was a plain oak one, used for melee combat. It only had slight effects on the amplification of magic. William didn’t expect there to be any staves good for magic, but he knew there would be various woods available to choose from, usually used in furniture. They could have the staff specially made. As for an amplification crystal… quartz would probably be best, since it would be the largest crystal they could find easily. Any rubies or diamonds anywhere near the proper size would be prohibitively expensive, though perhaps there would be some other things that could be used as substitutes.

As for robes… while they could pick from various styles, they were unlikely to be able to find any enchanted robes, which made them purely aesthetic. William began to realize how relatively plentiful such things had been in Ostana. Although they had still been quite expensive, they were at least available for purchase, though mostly by nobility. Here, he imagined that a few must be around, but he didn’t have the foggiest idea where to purchase them even if he had the money.

William was enjoying himself browsing through the various kinds of woods. He found an interesting one that was a nice reddish brown, but had many small holes running through the grain. This made it less practical as a weapon since it was structurally weaker, but it looked nice. More importantly, it was actually useful for air magic amplification, though it still was moderately good with other elements. Having not been an expert on woods in his previous life, William couldn’t think of what it could compare to from Earth, but if he had been, he would have recognized it as very similar to african padauk. He glanced over at Big Sister, planning to recommend the wood, but upon doing so his mood was instantly ruined. Behind her, William saw some members of the Song family, and it was obvious they had already seen him as well.