“Hey, William!” William heard someone calling for him, so he turned to look. He saw Lorelei waving to him. She grinned when he turned toward her, and William noticed the subtle signs of the illusion shifting, now that he was aware. She walked up to him. “So, you respond to William?”

“Of course. It’s basically how my name is pronounced, because I was named after a William. The same one who previously owned this staff, in fact.” William smiled, a genuine smile because even though he was always on guard against the demoness, he also liked talking to her.

She chewed on her thumb in frustration. “How do you always manage to sound like you’re tell the truth and yet feel like you’re lying at the same time?”

“I’m not going to dignify that with a response. So why did you call me William anyway?”

“Because I was trying to make you slip up and admit that you were William Stevenson reincarnated.” She paused to think for a few moments, and William started sweating on the inside, though he raised his eyebrow on the outside. She was only a tiny bit away from figuring it out, but he knew she wasn’t sure yet or she would have outright accused him. “How did you get named after William Stevenson all the way over in Liaoyang?”

“My mother was the descendant of Zhan Shengrui and the trading clan he started. It was known that he had contact with the Archmage. She named me, but I don’t know why she chose that name.” At this, Lorelei’s face frowned. That made William feel good. “Why did you so directly answer my other question? I feel like if I was reincarnated that would just put me on guard.”

“Hmmm…” she audibly thought for a few moments. “I guess it’s because I was subconsciously treating you as the real William Stevenson, and thus following our question and answer tradition.” William realized he had been doing that too, and tried to not make his grimace show. “So, how much do you remember?”

“About what?”

“Your previous life. I am formally declaring my belief that you are the reincarnation of the Archmage William Stevenson. Anyway, you definitely remember something about me and some about Chris. So how much?”

William sighed. This result had been pretty much inevitable. He just hadn’t thought it would happen so quickly. Avoiding Lorelei or deflecting her questions would have been at least as suspicious, and he couldn’t directly lie, both because he didn’t want to and because she would immediately notice. “All of the important things.” Also, all of the unimportant things, as far as William knew. “What gave it away?”

“Chris. And also another thing I can’t talk about because of a promise. Mostly Chris though. He’s never taken to anybody else ever. So,” her eyes lit up and she leaned closer to him, “has your reincarnation changed your ability to do magic?” William shook his head. “Tch. I didn’t think it would.”

William then remembered something more important than interesting discussion. “I don’t suppose you can make another copy of that ki technique scroll? It would be quite useful.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t make that, I got it from someone else.”

William shrugged. “Well, I was hoping to have one. Regardless, I suppose I can still try to teach Master Dong Xin the basics from memory.”

“You know it? How? Do your memories from your former life help?”

William shook his head. “Not really. The knights had it, and they let me see it again. That jogged the former memories in my head, along with the fact that I now actually cultivate ki instead of just… messing around with it.”

“The knights let you see it? While you were imprisoned?” William nodded his head. “You are one lucky fellow.”

“You knew they had it?”

“Well, I’d heard something about that, yeah. After it was out of my hands, though, I could only hope it would end up with someone who could use it. At least if you can teach Dong Xin there will be two people who can use it.”

“Actually, it should be four. Knight Commander Tyler Dragonfoe also is learning the technique. That’s four with her, you, me, and Master Dong Xin.”

“Tyler Dragonfoe knows how to use ki?”

William nodded. “I taught her. She’s obviously not that proficient yet.”

“That’s three then.”

“Four, if I can teach Master Dong Xin without the scroll.”

Lorelei shook her head. “Are you kidding? You think I can do it? Though the level of my training might… or might not… be above where you currently are, there’s no way I can do it.” She pointed at herself. “How old would you say I am? I don’t mean how old I look, I mean actually do some calculation and try to figure it out.”

“Umm…” William thought about it for a bit. A gross was a dozen dozen years. “I’d say 5-6 gross?” William knew she was around when Chris was made, and he’d been around for quite some time. That should put her somewhere in the 700-900 year range, he thought.

She shrugged. “Close enough to get the idea. Think about this, I’m still at a lower level of training than your master and he’s what… merely a gross of years old?” She furrowed her brow. “Or less? I’m not gonna lie, I’m not that familiar with how aging works.”

“He should be… 4-6 dozen years? I don’t know exactly, but he might not show that much age.”

“Oh… I forgot how short your lives were.” She paused for a moment. “Hopefully you can teach him, and properly use it yourself. It won’t do us any good if nobody can use it. I hope somebody can learn it properly, or things might turn out very bad for me… and all of the humans.” She grinned. “Maybe you can also teach it in Liaoyang, if you trust anybody there. I certainly didn’t when I got it.”

William nodded. “Well, I know I can use it, at least. I blew up a bee. I’m not sure if I’m strong enough to use it on anything bigger… or survive it.”

“Hmm… bees are pretty easy to blow up. Are you sure you actually destroyed its soul and didn’t just explode it?”

William nodded again. “Absolutely. There was a crater this big in the flagstone. It also knocked me into a wall.”

She looked over William. “When was this?”

“Umm… a couple weeks ago. Before my ‘escape’, and the journey here.”

“You did that after only a few weeks of training? No, but there’s also the factor of your previous life to take into account…” Lorelei started muttering to herself. It seemed to be the end of the conversation.

-----

As he stayed at the Cyril manor, William practiced ki cultivation and especially Shattering the Soul. Of course, he still couldn’t use it on anything without terrible consequences, but he felt that he was improving his technique. He also began to teach Master Dong Xin, though it wasn’t easy to explain in words. The knowledge infused into the technique scroll itself was a much better way to start to learn, but he wasn’t able to just bring it with him.