Long Conversation, and Actually Becoming Stronger

Axum was surprised he was able to fall asleep in a sitting position but not as surprised as when he realized that he not only finished the cultivation method but also immediately started to train using it. And it showed, while he was walking back towards the entrance of the forest, he was able to use the Qi in the air much more naturally than before.

But he made the assumption that because magic is similar to Qi and his cultivation method uses some breathing techniques and mental exercises that he had used before, that it only made sense that he was able to get to this point now. The breathing exercise of holding in your breath for 10 seconds and letting it out for 4 seemed to be working equally as well in this world as in the past for helping focus. And using Qi as a sonar type tool to measure its reactions in the environment helped in training on the minutia of waves.

While he was testing his newfound abilities, he as interrupted by a patrolling guard.

"Axum? The general was asking for you." The guard said after stopping Axum.

"Ok, let's go then," Axum replied. He remembered his agreement with Zhao Luo, but yesterday when he walked out of the cave, he didn't see the general, so Axum assumed that he must've been busy and then the whole 'maze' ordeal followed soon after.

...

Zhao Luo was sitting in his desk chair surrounded by scrolls when one of his scouts knocked onto the door. "Come in," Zhao Luo looked up from the manuscript that was laid out and quickly replied to the knocks.

When the scout walked in, he saw Zhao Luo sitting without his armor on but still had the under armor garments, he remarked in his head, 'always ready for battle' because this was quite the common sight around the barracks.

The scout then made a quick salute involving making a fist and holding it to his heart and bowing.

"I have news for the general," the scout noticed the acknowledgment of a head nod that came from Zhao Luo and continued.

"The suspected spy, Axum, ran to the center of the forest, sat still until this morning, then made his way back until finding a patrol. He is now on his way to you sir," the scout quickly surmised the events before becoming silent once again.

Zhao Luo took in this information for a few seconds while looking at the scrolls in front of him, telling him of supplies and military formations.

He thought about why he wanted to speak to Axum in the first place, that unique owl, and why it decided to befriend him.

...

When Axum walked into Zhao Luo's office, the first thing he saw was the room was light up with natural light. Then he saw Wan Shi Tong, hiding in one of the small entranceways that allowed light to pass through.

Zhao Luo followed Axum's eyes and saw the owl and said to Axum, "That owl is the reason that I wanted to speak with you."

"Wan Shi Tong? Has he ever done anything to you? He just sits there and looks cute, while being as fluffy as a pillow," Axum said with offense taken in his eyes, this was one of the few times that he dared act with mocking in front of someone with authority in this world so far.

The reason why was because he knew the type of person Zhao Luo was from Zhao Wen, a happy but down to earth person who loved his family and acted with honor but always spoke with a joke on his tongue and a smile on his face. And Axum knew he would appreciate some banter with someone to lighten up the atmosphere with the fog of war hanging over the heads of the Zhao clan.

Zhao Luo put on a small smile and said, "Wan Shi Tong? Quite the name, it seems you two are growing close together. Should I schedule the wedding? Didn't know you swung that way, Axum," Zhao Luo jested right back at Axum.

"Swung that way? Wedding? What do you mean?" Axum replied, confused.

"That is a Mason Owl, they are called that because of its intelligence when building its nest with incredible complexity, sometimes with many floors and even traps when many owls live in the same nest. They are believed to have similar levels of intelligence as humans, and the black and white pattern is reversed on females, so I assume that if you were cuddling with a guy like you are with that bird, then what other conclusions could I draw?"

Zhao Luo finished with an even brighter smile on his face, he didn't have the opportunity to poke fun at many people commonly because if he were to do it to someone at a lower rank than he could be perceived as bullying a subordinate. And offensive if he were to do it to an elder, so being able to laugh at Axum's expense was a nice break.

Axum stopped rubbing the top of Wan Shi Tong's head and sat for a few moments thinking over what Zhao Luo was implying. Before he responded, trying to divert answering his implied question, "So what is so special about Wan Shi Tong that you wanted to have a meeting with me?" Axum said while moving Wan Shi Tong away from his lap and sitting him next to him before subconsciously resuming rubbing his head while Zhao Luo answered him.

"Mason Owls are a rare species, not only because of their low fertility but because it is believed that eating the bones of the owl when celebrating becoming an engineer/mason is good luck. This bird is the descendant of two other Mason Owl's that were brought here when this forest was originally being constructed. You might be wondering what this has to do with you, that is because Mason Owls are very wary of humans from the constant hunting we have done to them, and adding in their intelligence results in these owls being considered almost rumor because of how much they run from humans. The fact that this Mason Owl not only is showing itself to you but is becoming your friend/pet is unheard of since the founding of the empire when a famous nature Saint founded the botanical gardens in the city. The way that the Master was able to get these Mason Owls here in the first place is because they were brought against their will, the Master bought one male owl named Hooshu. Another in an auction in the city for exorbitant prices and brought them here where they had a single egg twenty years ago. That egg is the owl that appears to be purring under your hand right now? Owls can purr?" After Zhao Luo's long rant, Axum noticed that he noticed the weird incongruity that was occurring in front of him and posed a rhetorical question to himself in slight shock.

(sorry about the length, just felt like writing that, lemme know if I'm going too in-depth)

After that super dose of information, Axum began to understand why Zhao Luo was curious about him.

Anomalies indicate change, and you can make money off of change. A genius can invent many things, and those that change the most make the most amount of money, so people back in the Aternic Empire (Axum's home country) had merchants who used just to roam the streets in their free time to see any peculiarities to make money off of.

As the realization that Zhao Luo could do a lot with this information dawned on Axum's face, Zhao Luo spoke to dispell his fears, "My, you look like you've just seen a spirit. But you needn't worry, my uncle was the Master who built this forest, so I'd probably have to go through him before I make any money off of endangered animals. But he wouldn't care how I learned about how someone was able to make friends with a Mason Owl, he'd probably be ecstatic, so why don't you help my uncle, Axum?"

Axum was happy to hear the first part of Zhao Luo statement but scared to listen to the last part, he knew that there was some truth about Zhao Luo wanting to see the truth about the situation, but he didn't think that he'd strap him down to a chair and torture him till he got the information, the keyword is think.

So Axum gulped down a mouthful of fear and responded honestly, "I didn't do anything, I was sitting down waiting when an owl flew down next to me and started inspecting me. I assume that he was interested in me because I don't have Qi in my body, so the owl must've been curious to see a moving thing without Qi that looked like a human and decided to inspect. The older owls were probably too scared of me because I look like a human, and they have negative experiences with us. But Wan Shi Tong doesn't, he has lived here without fear of us, based on how smart you assume these owls to be he probably only got warnings about us which furthered his curiosity."

Zhao Luo sat for a few moments with a sharp gaze as he looked at Axum before changing it to a more relaxed expression and nodding his head and spoke, "Alright, I'll believe you for now, but you should keep him out of sight, these owls look like Res Owls, but someone with a trained eye could tell the difference, and you probably don't want that. These owls are known to grow strong with wind Qi but are famous for being able to manipulate any type of the four main elements (wind, earth, water, fire), so you could have a fighting companion in a few years if he grows strong."

"Thank you for your advice. General Zhao, is there anything else you need me for?" Axum felt honest gratitude towards Zhao Luo, even though he was a bit pushy, Axum respected the general a lot because of his character and the way he treated Axum. Unlike how the disciples had been treating him as a type of animal in a circus, to be watched and surprised but not spoken to.

"Just one thing, my son Wang, got into a bit of an argument with Wen earlier and I just wanted to let you know that he's a bit of a headstrong boy and that he doesn't often think things through when it comes to relationships and people. So when you hear about it from Wen, don't think too negatively about him. I believe that you two would get together quite well if my son knew more about you." Considering that Zhao Luo hadn't raised any red flags in Axum's mind, he took his words to heart and was wondering just what happened in the meeting that Axum missed.

"I thank you general," Axum bowed then said, "I will be on my way," before leaving the room.

...

Axum stopped by Wen's room to let her know he was back, but she was a bit standoffish, so he decided to go back to cultivating while he had some time left in the day. He was surprised by her reaction because it had been a day since their last interaction, and he thought he didn't do anything wrong, so he assumed that she was still pissed about Wang.

After passing the training dummies, he walked up to the wooden swords and picked one up. This time when he used his Qi to coat the "blade," he was able to make it stiffer and more rigid. He swung it a few times, and hearing it cutting through the air was excited at the noticeable difference from before. Where even a bit too much movement would result in the Qi dissipating, but after a night of meditation and focus, he was able to push the Qi slowly covered wooden sword through wooden armor a bit like metal but not quite at that level.

It was at that moment that he heard the insult, "Hey! Deaf and dumb! Where were you yesterday? I thought you finally left us alone, but now that you're here, we'll have to cover our private parts when we train so that you don't see our 'private gardens'".

When Axum heard the instigation, he was disappointed because when he looked over, it wasn't the popular kid who wanted to subconsciously prove he was socially higher than other people by insulting them, but it was the loner instead.

Axum concluded that the loner wanted to gain some social points by insulting the weird kid in front of his peers. He felt pity because he knew that the kid was just someone who wanted attention and praise so instead of reacting emotionally and instigating a duel to prove dominance like some ape, he just smiled, waved, and said "I hope you have a good day, and good luck with your training," before leaving to find somewhere quiet to meditate.

The loner was confused, but seeing that the strange person he perceived as weak, just smiling and walking away, made him stop any retaliatory comments he had prepared. Because nobody likes it when you're mean to a nice person, and any further comments would just land him in deeper shit with his friends than before. The reason he wanted to mock Axum in the first place was that his parent's argument last night was heard by someone in his clique, and they were poking fun at his unstable household, and he just wanted to divert that negative attention to somewhere else.

...

After spending the rest of the afternoon meditating and then the night and morning catching up on rest, he decided to test some of the old spells that he used when he was a beginning mage.

Axum headed out towards the training field because he didn't care if he was laughed at because he doesn't need peace and quiet to use spells. He was trained to be able to use them without sight, smell, touch, nor hear anything, so it was all just background noise if they decided to joke at him. But meditating required using the senses to focus on the environment to feel the unity between yourself and it, aka, peace and quiet.

This time when he showed up, he wasn't meet with any quips but indifference, except for a smile or two. Axum was glad that they had changed from 'he's different, so we don't like him' to 'I guess he's over there, doesn't affect me' except the few smiles he got from the girls which also made him feel even better.

He walked towards the center of a small square that was set off the side that was used as a wrestling mat and then breathed in slowly and then out slowly.

He raised his right arm close to his side with a lightly held fist and then pushed out while mouthing a wind chant. Axum didn't expect the chant to work because he wasn't using magic but Qi. He did it because it was something familiar that made him feel a sense of warmth from the sensation of progress that he remembers when he was just started magic training.

He chose wind because it was the easiest of the essential elements to use, and was happily rewarded with a large gust of wind being pushed towards the giant flags that held the Zhao crest that surrounded the training field.

The wind push was more of a confirmation of the right steps, he didn't want to test a large spell and just stand there like an idiot with no effect.

The gust did catch a few eyes but not many, not that Axum cared. What he did notice was the trainer staring at Axum in surprise, probably understanding that what I did was different.

He probably wouldn't be able to figure out quickly because what Axum did was fundamentally different than what everyone else is doing.

People in this world do not use the Qi in the environment; they use their inner Qi in coordination with the environment with a taint of their own intent to produce its commonly seen effects. What Axum was doing was solely using the environment's Qi, resulting in no intent and requiring no bodily movements like a punch or kick. Though sometimes using these can help imagine its intended effect, which can result in better use of the Qi, which was why Axum used his arm to push.

'Alright, let's go for some more heavy-duty stuff,' Axum thought with a smirk.

Axum inhaled slowly and deeply before using both his stomach and chest to push out the air in his lungs as quickly as possible, similar to if he got punched in the gut.

But the effects were a lot bigger than before, the gust of wind originated from in front of Axum's head and, like pushing air through a funnel, exponentially accelerated the wind. Resulting in all the flags on one side of the field flagging like crazy before finally settling down once again. While not damaging, it was a tremendous spectacle, something that Axum wanted to be seen that let the clan now he was not worthless while at the same time not revealing any trump cards, just one element and only using wind in gusts.

He would be testing other forms and spells in privacy so he wouldn't worry about being countered, and he saw the old teacher's face light up with some understanding. Axum thought that the teacher probably understood that his display didn't hold intent, and that was enough for him to report it to the higher-ups. Even if he did understand more than Axum didn't think it would impact his plans any significant amounts.

So Axum used a few more spells and forms or wind before being content with showing off and walking away to get some lunch before meditating again with Wan Shi Tong sitting next to his bed.

...

'Interesting...' The instructor commented in his head after seeing Axum's display of Qi control.