For the remainder of the night, I spend pacing my room, having a conflicted conversation in my head. Thinking to myself that while I decided I would embrace the Chinese side of myself more, I didn’t exactly think becoming a womanizing “young master” was included in that. On the other side, the Matriarch did say the Path was just a sign of excellence, making it a good Path to merge into others down the line. As I get ready for sleep, I finally chuckle to myself “maybe I will become the Master of Knowledge “. Falling asleep shortly afterwards, knowing the idea was foolish.

The following morning, I decide to test out my other Technique I got in the Path of Knowledge. Opening two books I was trying to read yesterday, as they each contained knowledge that I needed to understand the other, I began to read them both. When nothing immediately happened, I figured this must be an activate Technique, muttering [Split Focus], my vision immediately splits into two. I began reading the books over the next couple hours, an excitement bubbling in the back of my mind as I recalled Lady Zhou telling me that the Techniques I would obtain would speed everything up. Curious about how many books I could read at once, I open a third book and try reading it as well. My vision splits again, but as soon as I do, each section of my vision becomes slightly blurry, almost as if I was trying to normally multitask. Finding a soft limit on the Technique, I try a fourth book, where my vision crashes down on me, returning to normal while a small headache forms. I begin rubbing my temples and pacing around the room to try and clear the pain away. The voice I have come to fear hearing echoes from the shadows, “I see you have discovered what happens when you try push some Techniques beyond what they can currently achieve”.

“Currently?” I ask back, with an inkling of what he is going to reply. “You thought higher ranks just meant more Techniques and maybe more powerful ones as well? No, our Techniques grow as we do, becoming stronger and often evolving” Baohu replies before walking out of a shadow.

“You know, I never asked about all this shadow stuff you can do” I ask finally addressing the elephant in the room.

“Well, I have a relatively unique type of Path, Like Lady Zhou, my Path is Clan Specific. This just means the actual name of the Path has to do with the Zhou clan, as well as many of my Techniques only work for Zhou Clan members, or work against our enemies. Along with that, I have a variation of a spirit beast tamer Path as a base to it” he says, nodding to the side, where his three tailed kitsune is sitting.

I ask, confused for a second, “I thought kitsune had something to do with light, not shadows?”

“You would normally be correct, but most spirit beasts can have rarer elemental variants, like mine, which is a shadow kitsune. But back to my Path, I am a [ Shadow-tailed Guardian of the Zhou], which I got because I also had the Young Master Path when I was younger until a series of Path merges and evolutions led me to my current Path” he finishes up.

“Wait, how did you know I got the Path?” I ask.

“Outside of the fact that the previous Young Master has been exiled? You are being personally looked after by the Matriarch of this Branch, as well as getting tasks by the Main Branch. You already had everything necessary to gain the Path a couple days ago, but because there was already one ‘representing’ the branch, you had to wait until he lost the Path. Which you succeeded in when you basically set him up and challenged his authority” he responds, beginning to walk back to the wall.

“Also, I came to say, work on that Technique more, but take it slower, preferably on stuff you already know, rather than things you are trying to learn for the first time, at higher ranks that Technique can evolve into many different ones. If I remember correctly, there is a scholar that studies bugs in the capital, who has an evolved variant of it called [Dragonfly’s Focus] that allows him to accurately focus on 1,000 different things. When a mass surveillance operation is needed, he is sometimes brought in purely to monitor everything. While most think it is becomes, he liked studying insect swarms, I am pretty sure its because he could never decide which beauty at the capital to stare at when he grew up” Baohu manages to say as he disappears into the bedroom wall’s shadow.

“Damn Bao Bao always being all dark and mysterious, popping out of nowhere and leaving just as quickly” I say, only to feel a smack on the back of my head.

“I heard that” the shadows echo back to me.

I grumble a bit, staring at the walls, deciding he is no longer here. Getting back to my studies, I decide I have gone through all the new material I wanted to for today. I open three of the math scrolls that I determined I already learned in high school and try to see if I can work on improving my [Split Focus]. Lunch time arrives after a couple more hours, with little if any change to the Technique, I decide to take a break and eat. After a meal of steamed buns, I spend the rest of the day working on various combinations of books and scrolls, figuring out whether different subject matter affects the Technique. I eventually notice that if read stuff that is about the same thing, the “panels” of vision almost merge as my focus subconsciously thinks it is the same book. I take this to mean that if I am focusing on two things, they need to be noticeably different, and if it is three things, something different needs to be between two similar things. By the end of the night my experimentation finally works out, allowing me to focus on three things clearly, but still not allowing a fourth. I decide to get to sleep early after the final headache makes it too hard to study, ultimately happy with today’s results and excited for tomorrow.