It turned out I only spent an hour of real time inside my Qi space, so I spent another night and the morning making pills. Afterwards, I went to the cafeteria for lunch. Noisy chatter filled the cafeteria, and the fighting had calmed down as Er Yi said it would. Some fights still broke out, but it wasn’t the craziness of the first day.

Er Yi sat next to me. “Is there any reason your hair is like that?” I asked him.

“You mean why it’s white? I was made this way. I could dye it, but I don’t want to,” he said. I nodded to show I understood.

“You see that? Nobody’s fighting anymore. Even the triangle class,” he said. “I’m such a great peacemaker. Bet everybody’s scared of me after that fight I had yesterday.”

He was starting to sound arrogant, but I didn’t let my disapproval show on my face. “Do you think I’m scared of you?”

“Nah, you’re… special,” he said.

Weird response.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Hui Ming step out of a restaurant. Her square badge hung from her neck.

I pretended I didn’t see her, but it didn’t help. Er Yi saw her anyway. He jumped and landed in front of her. The cafeteria turned to watch.

“Hey,” Er Yi put up his fists. “I challenge you to a match.”

Hui Ming shrugged, “Accepted.”

“I am fighting for my amazing master, who will remain unnamed. Who are you fighting for?”

She thought for a second before lifting her hand. A blanket of crimson flames spread into the air. “My amazing master, who shall also remain unnamed.” I couldn’t stop the fight without revealing my identity.

I stood and Hui Ming saw me. She realized she didn’t know what I wanted her to do. Biting her lip, she lost her confident posture. Er Yi saw this and chuckled. Without warning, he covered himself in lightning and punched at her face.

Hui Ming grabbed his fist with a viper-like reaction, ignoring the following electric shock. She pivoted, grabbed his collar, and tossed him at a window. Er Yi stopped himself before he flew out the window, landing on the ground. He was outclassed, and he knew it.

He grit his teeth and charged at her again. More and more lightning built up around him as he ran. In response, a flame erupted around Hui Ming. The metal floor beneath her melted, becoming a glowing orange pool. It rippled as she stepped forward.

A different person walked out of the shop Hui Ming had come from. A square pendant also hung from his neck. He moved in front of Er Yi’s path. Er Yi stopped and looked up at him, “Wh-”

He slapped Er Yi in the face-with his foot. Er Yi was sent flying across the room again. This time, he didn’t try to get up. He got crushed when it was one against one. There was no way he could win against two.

Hui Ming left with the other square class student. It was the same square class student Hui Ming said she’d keep an eye on.

I went over to Er Yi and helped him up. “You can’t win them all. That was my mistress, by the way.”

Er Yi put his hand on my back and pulled me aside after lunch. He led me into an empty classroom. Like all the other classrooms in this tower, it was about as big as a gymnasium. The afternoon sun lit the room and the cold walls cooled it. Scorch marks and dents from the last class marked the walls.

He left me by the door and he went to pace around the rest of the classroom. “You and your mistress are hiding something.”

I thought I had hid rather well. “What makes you think that?”

“You’re both trying to hide your power. You weren’t using your full power when you stopped that guy from the Blue Fire Sect.”

Was I that obvious? “Why do you think so?”

“You didn’t use Qi when you caught his fist. You’d be far more powerful if you used Qi.”

I pursed my lips. I hadn’t considered that. “Do you think anybody else noticed?”

“No. They wouldn’t pay that much attention. I’m more perceptive than people give me credit for.”

“I believe you. Then why do you think my mistress is hiding her power?”

“Hui Ming is your mistress, right? She can hide the amount of Qi she uses, but not the power of her body. She didn’t even twitch when I ran all that lightning through her. She has to be at the fifth stage or above,” he said.

“Well, you’re right.” I put my palm on the wall behind me and squeezed. The metal wall might as well have been made from cotton. I tore off a piece and tossed it at Er Yi. He caught it and ran his fingers along the edges of the warped metal.

“I understand,” he said. “I’m the same.” He stuck out his arm and made a fist. Arcs of lightning appeared across his arm as if it were a tesla coil. The arcs were about as big as before.

Then the arcs doubled in thickness, blasting my eyes with white light. The lightning converged on his palm, shaping into the form of a dragon. He was to showing me his raw Qi and Dao. I graded him at the fourth stage of Dao Formation. “But why are you here? You’re not really here to serve that lady, are you?”

He had discovered too much, too fast. I wasn’t going to tell him more. “No, I’m here to help my mistress achieve her goals.”

“Would you be willing to tell me what those are?” he asked.

“There’s no reason I wouldn’t tell you. She’s just here to loaf around. She says she wants to experience being a student again. But how about you?”

“I’ll tell you the truth. My job is pretty boring. I’m supposed to keep an eye on the people in this tower and watch for anomalies.”

“Am I an anomaly?” I asked.

He lowered his arms and the light vanished. “Yes, but not in a bad way! I knew you weren’t up to anything bad, but I brought you here to double check.”

“Just wondering, but why are you telling me? Isn’t this supposed to be secret?” I asked.

“I’m not sure I have a reason other than honesty,” he said. “You’ve told me your secret, so I’m telling you mine. I guess it builds trust?”

“I see,” I felt a pang of guilt for lying to him. He reminded me of Brain. Brian was also like this sometimes, too honest for his own good. I decided to put him on the list of students I’d help.