Wow I Cant Believe That's Not Foreshadowing

After the conversation with Wen and a good lunch, Axum set off for the training yard.

The size of the training field was about a quarter of the size of the whole manor, but it was still vast, around 3,000 square meters (32,000 square ft). Axum was confused at why the scale was so large at first but soon came to realize why.

'There are only about a dozen students training, and that's after the Zhao clan mobilized, there must be hundreds of students during peace-time. And each of these students wouldn't be a soldier but would be an attache or management role because of their position in the clan, so just how many people does the Zhao Clan command? I would have guessed at a few hundred people living in the village that surrounds the manor. Still, thousands of soldiers probably live in the surrounding area under the protection of the Zhao family.'

After finding a wooden training dummy, Axum tried to pierce the wood with the concentrated Qi. But he found that the Qi became bent when he attempted to push the make-shift blade into it.

'The Qi isn't dense or pointed enough to pierce through, so I'll just have to train on concentrating the Qi into a condensed form.'

But it was more difficult than he thought, mainly because it was like trying to shape water with your hands. It would just end up leaking through the holes in your hands.

So using his past worlds' understanding of materials, he instead tried to organize the Qi into a more uniform structure so that instead of the tip bending, it would push against the make-shift inner structure Axum designed.

But this only slightly helped, and Axum didn't get the results that he was looking for, so he decided to focus on cultivating his ability to move and change the Qi so that he gains better control over the energy.

After spending the afternoon focusing on this, he then stopped and started talking with Wen to see if she had any insights.

Her opinion helped a lot more than he thought, with her clan's accumulation of a thousand years of military history they had developed intensive theories into Qi, some of which could be of use to him. She spent the majority of the afternoon teaching him the condensed understanding of Qi that she thought could be useful to him.

With just a few tests, he was able to successfully condense the Qi into a much stabler form than before.

"Thank you Wen, your theory about Qi flowing out of your body is beneficial," Axum spoke his honest opinion on the topic, her ability to intake information and digest it into practical use was impressive to him.

"No, thank you very much for the praise, though I don't think I can accept it. My understanding of Qi comes from my experience from healing injuries because my mom is also a healer, and she taught me from when I was young."

Even though she tried to downplay her ability, it was undeniable that she took the compliment to heart from the look on her face. Which was shining with a bright smile that she tried to hide, unsuccessfully?

Axum and Wen went to the library but spoke along the way. And after speaking with Wen for a few hours, he was starting to develop an understanding of her.

She is intelligent and witty, but she likes to stay silent most of the time, which seems to be shared amongst women from the clan. And she seems to be hungry for attention and praise because any positive comment said about her gets a cute reaction and made him feel warm inside.

Because not only was she endearing, but he could understand why she wanted praise. After his parents found out about his possible future in becoming a powerful mage, they thought that any achievement was too little compared to what he could be and found his studies unsatisfactory, which lead him being withdrawn from society, except for the few friends that made it into his small circle.

His ability in magecraft comes not only from his born talent, but also his drive to seek the approval of his parents.

They both sat and talked for a few more minutes until they got around to the topic of the upcoming conflict with the Bai family. He asked her about the surrounding village size but didn't ask for specific numbers because of how it could be misconstrued as spying.

"Well, there are under a few thousand people living around the manor and a few tens of thousands of soldiers living under the territory of the manor."

"Wait, I thought that the Zhe country was the only country?" Axum asked he couldn't understand why a monolithic country would need its clans to be so fortified, did they not fear a seizure of power?

"Technically, there are a few micro countries in the mountains and a few city-states that act autonomously inside of Zhe." She paused to gather her thoughts before continuing.

"The city-states exist because of masters, grand-masters, and sects. You see, masters and grand-masters can be very strong, and some want a high level of independence, so instead of Zhe fighting every single master and grand-master that wants a small territory of their own to govern, Zhe instead waits until the master dies and then re-incorporates its territory back into the country. This works for everyone because they don't need to govern a small territory which enrich-ens itself."

Axum understood why the Great Clans agreed to this, masters would have treasures and secrets, and they only had to wait a hundred years or so for them to take it, the masters are content, and the country can seize free money.

Zhao Wen continued, "Grand-masters and sects can be quite different though, they usually have more power and can last longer. But they can also be useful to the state, grand-masters are usually the same result as masters but last longer and can have master level descendants, but sects need more careful handling. If the country isn't careful in neutralizing sects' power grabs, it can result in a new power rising. But the clans always act extra early just in case, because the benefits outweigh the potential costs. Because sects can be used for extra-governmental purposes that the government wouldn't want to be caught doing. For example, assassinations or special operations that could result in a backlash against their families."

"So our Clans military power is used in handling these masters, grand-masters, and sects whenever they attack or whenever a master dies or even for basic policing like handling bandits." Zhao Wen finished with some examples of the clan in recent dealings of masters before turning to Axum.

"Does the government not fear the clans seizing control and creating a hegemony?" Axum asked.

"No, for two reasons, the Bai and Zhao family have similar strengths, so if one of the families decided to attack the capital, they would become weak enough that the other could invade after them and seize control for themselves. The other is that the Zhe clan (the four families) specializes in quality over quantity. The Bai and Zhao have a large number of troops while the Zhe spends their resources on a few; high risk-high reward, students that could become masters and grand-masters in the future." Wen explained in depth.

'I guess quality and quantity balance each other out, I would like to meet some masters and grand-masters to see what their abilities and strengths are like. And I would also like to see the oceans and mountains, being in a new world is so exciting and full of possibilities that I want to travel to the world. But right now, I'm too weak and ignorant, I'm like a newborn baby.'

With that thought ending, he looked towards the mountains in the distance with anxiety and excitement.

"What do you want to do, Wen?" Axum asked; he knew little about what she liked and disliked, so he wanted to find out more from this quiet girl.

"I'm a healer, so I'm going to spend a few more years learning under my mother until I can take on customers of my own, then I'll probably get married to someone from the city or the Li family," Wen asked with a particular certainty that confused Axum.

"You seem certain of this, do you want to be a healer, and why do you think that it's going to be someone from those places?" Axum wanted some clarity.

"Well, my mother is a healer, and it's all I've been taught how to do besides chores, so I guess I want to do something I'm good at. And I know that it'll be someone from there because those two places are the only places which have a high enough social standing to request a marriage with me. Isn't that obvious?" Wen replied with a look of confusion.

"Where I'm from no, people with differing status get married all the time. People who like each other just get married unless your family is in a political position. But that's rare; most of the time, people marry the people who they get along with. Besides being a healer, is there anything else you want to do? Go somewhere maybe, or do something you've always wanted to?" Axum decided to change the conversation away from socially sensitive topics because he didn't understand enough of the current society to judge them.

"Yeah, I've always wanted to visit the mountain countries and see what's on the other side of the mountain." Wen's face changed into a melancholic smile as she paused for a moment before asking Axum a question.

"Could we go sit in the garden, I can show you a few things from there?" Wen asked.

'Why the garden? Is she going to show me some herbs?'

"Yeah, sure," Axum replied.

As they got up and started walking, Wen explained why she wanted to move.

"You see, my older brother Tse has always been very kind to me, but he was very sick, growing up. He was always picked on by other students for being skinny, so he taught himself how to fight with his speed rather than power. But my father was disappointed that he wanted to explore rather than learn how to be a general. And my father and brother grew apart until a few years ago my brother left to go there," Wen and Axum made it to the garden, and she pointed at the mountains in the distance.

"My brother was always interested in exploring the unknown, and he wanted to know why no one had ever made it past the mountains before. So he'd rather leave than be looked down upon and criticized," Zhao Wen finished and looked back at Axum.

"So if I could I'd want to see my brother again, even though we haven't heard from him in a few years I'd like to know that he is ok and exploring the world," Zhao Wen finished, and a tear dropped down her cheek.

'Damn, it sounds like Zhao Tse is a good guy, I'd like to meet him. I also want to see this world, so I get why he'd prefer exploring over being mocked.'

"I'm sorry to hear that Wen, I'm sure that you'll get to meet him in the future. If you become a good enough healer than you can request information in exchange for healing someone." Not really sure of what to say, he tried to comfort her because seeing her cry made him feel like something substantial was placed on his chest.