The day came at last for Daphne to meet the old monster assigned to watch over her cultivation. He was a middle-aged looking man with a clean-shaven face, and certainly did not fit the image of the old monsters of her old realm who liked to sport long, flowing beards. That did not matter to her though. Young men could be old monsters too, for age was just a number.

“This one is honored to meet you, Polihystor Filip,” Daphne said.

“Likewise, Lady Daphne,” Filip said, speaking with the gentle air of a scholar, but the gentlest facades were the most dangerous sort in Daphne’s experience. It would not stop them from killing several people. “Shall we see to the oaths?”

“The sooner the better,” Blaise said from beside her.

Daphne nodded. These people and their obsession with oaths and ceremonies and invoking deities. Would any of those truly bind a cultivator to their word? In the end, the only way of holding someone to their promise was to be strong, so that any betrayal could be met with overwhelming force!

She would have preferred to stay in closed door cultivation instead of attending, but Blaise had somehow known her thoughts and broken into her room, demanding that she attend and preventing her from meditating. So here she was now, standing before the marble edifice of an ancient sect elder.

“Bear witness to my oaths, gods great and small,” Filip began. “I, Polihystor Filip, do swear this of my own free will, in good faith and without deceit before the honorable stoneborn present. I swear this on the likeness of Sybil the Schoolmistress, and on my place in the Middle School. I shall keep the spell secrets that I might learn from Lady Daphne of House Greenglade, and never shall I pass on what I have learned from our time together. By the Great Gods Above and Divine Syngian, may this oath bind me to my dying day, or smite me with lightning if I forswear.”

Daphne frowned. Inviting tribulation lightning hardly seemed like a punishment at all!

“Let it be so,” Blaise said, nudging her in the side with the sharp of his elbow.

“Let it be so,” Daphne grudgingly said.

“It is done,” Filip said. “Now, let’s see to your training shall we? Is there anywhere in particular you prefer to train?”

“My room usually,” Daphne said. “I would not cause the cultivation of my juniors to deviate by placing them in an environment filled with distractions.”

Filip blinked at her, as if taking a moment to parse her words. “Are you not worried about the potential damage your residence might suffer if a spell should misfire?”

“We’re not quite at that level yet according to Daphne,” Blaise grumbled. “She has us doing mental exercises.”

“I see,” Filip said. “An odd approach to spells, but not unheard of. Lead the way then.”

As they walked along the dirt paths of the Middle School, the sounds of steel on steel rang in the air. Students practiced in pairs with blunted steel, though occasionally there were a few outliers. One boy in particular held a thin curved sword in a two-handed grip, staring down at a block of wood too far to physically hit. Layer upon layer of wind qi was shaped into the edge of his blade, before he took a single step forward and released it against the wood.

That it sliced through the wood was expected. That it had left behind a crude wooden figurine was not.

“A wasteful technique,” Daphne said. The boy had expended a significant amount of qi with that one strike.

“It’s not meant for actual combat,” Blaise said, after following her gaze. “That particular technique is an advanced training technique to help hone one’s control over wind.”

“I’m surprised you’re not familiar with it considering who your mother is,” Filip said, raising a brow at her.

“My cousin has only recently taken an interest in martial pursuits,” Blaise said.

“Ah,” Filip said, as if that explained everything. “An understandable change, I suppose, considering recent events.”

They passed by a few more sights—a girl kneeling by some rose bushes, whispering to the wilting flowers as if to coax them back to life. A boy seated next to a fountain had a book in hand, though was more watching than reading it. The air above the book rippled with heated qi, and an illusory battlefield viewed from the sky played out.

When they reached Daphne’s room at last, Tracey was already in a meditative stance like a good disciple. A shame that there were no lotus trees to be had here to complete the picture, but perhaps Daphne could have one commissioned as a painting?

Filip waited for the door to shut behind them before getting to business. “I must confess that I haven’t heard much about this spell of yours beyond requiring the use of some pills?”

“That’s correct,” Daphne said.

Maid brought out the pills, handing that and a glass of water to Blaise and Tracey each. Daphne sealed the pair of them in a dome of silence, surrounded by her wind qi. She could not keep it up long, but the first few minutes of meditation had an outstated effect on the quality of a cultivation session.

“I suppose I don’t have to warn you of the dangers of relying on such substances?” Filip asked. “While I believe it isn’t addictive due to the body’s tolerance, any spell that requires it to be activated would have limited applications. You’ll need much higher doses after only a few days of repeated use, making it impractical.”

Daphne nodded. Though she had never heard it phrased in such terms, the effectiveness of alchemical pills was known to bleed off with daily use. After all, if the qi was not properly integrated into one’s dantian core, ingesting more qi would just be like food at a restaurant scuffle—nothing but spillage. “Not to worry,” Daphne said. “It is a learning aid to help one sense what they need to, but is not needed for use of the technique.”

“This must be some technique if you’re practicing this for the tournament,” Filip said.

“I believe it is foundational,” Daphne said. Could she train Tracey in the taolu of martial arts? Certainly, but it was the work of months and years so that the flowing style of the Elegant Swan Sect became second nature. Teaching them that style would not help them in the tournament.

“An unorthodox view,” Filip said. “So what is it exactly that your spell can do?”

Daphne turned her head, looking into his green, almond-shaped eyes. “It will let you see the flow of magic.”

His brows scrunched together. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Daphne nodded.

“That would have incredible synergy with the signature spell already in your family’s grimoire,” Filip said. “Did you design it with that in mind?”

Daphne shrugged. “I can’t say I did.”

“Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that you’ve tended towards this sort of spell,” Filip said.

It was Daphne’s turn to scrunch her brows together. “What do you mean?”

“When you did not wake last year, there were concerns raised by your family,” Filip said. “Fears which I cannot say are unfounded considering the history of the stoneborn. It was thought that someone had plotted to puppet your body. That was, after all, why we sent you home so quickly.”

“I do not follow,” Daphne said.

“There are few spells which will allow one to steal into your body, and almost all of them would have needed unfettered access to it. By hiding you away deep within your family’s keep, behind walls and wards, it would have been impossible for anyone intending that to succeed without notice,” Filip said.

“You seem sure of that,” Daphne said. Was that not exactly what had happened? Her soul now resided in this body.

“Magic has come a long way since the time of Empress Karah three hundred years ago,” Filip said. “We have means of detecting the residue left behind by such spellcraft.”

“And such tests were conducted on me?” Daphne asked with a smile. It was always amusing to hear how a few hundred years was a long time to these people.

Filip nodded. “So I’ve heard from the archystor. So have you done any testing with this spell of yours?”

“What sort of tests?” Daphne replied as she pondered on his words. Perhaps she had become like those old monsters who could inhabit the bodies of others? Only she could not recall having struggled to take over this body, not even a little.

“Can it see through illusions for example?” Filip asked. “Or detect runes with it?”

“I don’t know,” Daphne said.

“Something to cover the next time we meet then,” Filip said. “It’s important to understand the limits of your spells.”

She nodded absently at his words.