Nick looked at the girls and waited for them to calm down and get serious again, “Now back to the plan. We have around fifteen days, or rather nights, to leave this place, but just to be safe let’s cut it to ten. During this time you will have to stay here and you will have food and water to survive, so don’t worry about that. Even though you might be important aristocrats and royalties, you still have your bodily needs and even though I am present – you will have to use that bucket over there.”

Nick pointed at the bucket near the bath tub while it was time for the girls to turn in to the beet red color.

“Sorry, but there is no way around it. And this is not “Queen Elizabeth’s” cargo hold, you know?” He shrugged while reminding them of the horrible experiences they had a month ago, “Other than that there is another very important thing – do not touch our go near that wall without window. I am sure there is a special rune formation and it has to be a deadly one. I beg you, please never, never, never near that wall or the exit door if you want to survive or want others to not die! I repeat – it’s not a joke!”

He waited until all girls confirmed they understood, nodding like a pecking chickens one after another, and continued to explain. During the day they should simply relax, practice or read, but during the nights he will bring them away one by one and they had to be prepared for the dangerous climb as well as the ‘river ride’ after that.

“There are some circumstances that might prolong the escape, like a night with a bright moon or I can get held up with something and don’t make back before the last shift of the guards. I want all of you to remember that just because you are here and I am still not back, it doesn’t mean we left you behind! Sit patiently and wait until my return – it doesn’t matter how long, understood?” He sternly brought up one of the most important things. It will be hard for the girls to stay in the tower while others will be brought out one by one, and it will be especially difficult for the last one.

He reminded them of few more things like not going near the windows during the daytime and keeping quiet. Then he got out few books from his wristband for them to read if they got bored and few beast cores as well for YunYun to replenish her Qi as soon as possible.

When they were finished, it wasn’t even noon. Nick didn’t bother with them after that, but excused himself and started to practice right in front of their surprised and disappointed eyes.

The girls slowly started to get busy by themselves as well while reading or quietly chatting, except for YunYun, who was carefully watching Nick’s practice of Qi manipulation. He couldn’t do any physical training, or at least he didn’t want to risk making any noise by moving around too much, therefore he decided to spend his time in the area that was of no less importance.

Nick got this inspiration while talking to Nazir and currently he was holding a piece of cloth in his palm while trying to fold it with his Qi. YunYun watched attentively how the gray cloth got covered with a dark blue mist and its corners were slightly moving a bit from time to time. Only after an hour when he got tired and decided to take a break, Nick noticed that the beautiful girl was watching him with shining eyes. He didn’t know what exactly he should say, so just scratched his bold head in embarrassment.

“How do you do it?” YunYun broke the silence.

“What do you mean? I can’t even lift one corner properly, not to speak about folding that piece.” Nick sighed.

“No, I’m talking about the rest of the things. How can you do all of those while still being a Qi practitioner? It doesn’t make any sense! It should not be possible!” The girl almost complained.

“Oh, that. You see, since I learned what Qi is, I have always been practicing it. When I sit, walk or run and even when we talk right now I am still practicing it.” Nick smiled. Talking about this passion of his was always pleasant. And he was never bragging, exactly opposite – like a sponge he tried to absorb any information he could from conversations with the other Qi cultivators, “Lately I got a new inspiration and am trying something new, but it’s not working for now.”

“So you just practice a lot?” YunYun was confused.

“No, I try to practice all the time!” He remembered madam Salma’s words, “I try to practice even if I pick up a spoon as well as when I put it down. It’s really fun, you might like it.”

“Who is Zia?” YunYun suddenly changed the topic and asked in completely serious tone.

“What do you mean? She is their sister.” Nick pointed at both princesses.

“I know that!” YunYun got nervous for some reason, “Is she your wife?”

“Hahaha, no!” Nick found the idea really funny. The girls in the background started to giggle as well. Obviously they were bored enough to overhear their conversation, “We are just childhood friends, she is almost like my younger sister.”

“Oh, it’s great then!” A smile bloomed on YunYun face, but Nick just shook his head in confusion and only murmured something about ‘crazy women’ under his nose.

“If I practice like that as well, where should I start?” YunYun returned to the earlier topic.

“Let me think. How good is your Qi technique? I mean the quality of it, not how good you are with it.” Nick asked.

“Well, it’s probably the best that we have on the continent.” She smiled back. In fact it was not ‘probably’ at all, but she was asking for advice so it was polite to be a bit modest.

“Great, then that part is settled. I would advise you to try and perform it at all times, not only while sitting, but while walking, running and swimming as well. In addition, try to perform it while doing other tasks, like cooking or gardening, oh, sorry, I don’t know your hobbies yet.” Nick felt embarrassed for some reason again.

“What did you start with?” She asked not paying much attention to Nick’s emotions.

“Alchemy!” Nick smiled, “It was probably a bad decision, but the increased difficulty helped me a lot to train concentration as well as the practical Qi application. What do you like to do, or rather what do you train?”

“Uhm, only sword.” The girl softly replied.

She couldn’t think of any other things she did or practiced. The sword practice was her family’s tradition, therefore it was only natural for her to train in it as well, in fact, she did like it a lot.

“Oh, do you carry your sword on your back?”

“Yes! Have you met Qi swords masters from the Eastern continent?” Her eyes lit up.

“Well, a few.” Nick scratched his head remembering Ling and queen Hua, “Your sword was probably taken away when you got captured. Can you describe or may be draw how it looked like?”

YunYun tried to explain, but she wasn’t that good with words. Then she looked around and saw the emperor’s writing desk and immediately got an idea, but as she was about to approach it, Nick shouted,

“Stop! Don’t you remember what I just said about touching stuff? Come back, I’ll give you something to draw with.” He smiled at the end. How could he not understand what the girl was about to do.

The other girls were intrigued by his shout and came over as well and saw how in Nick’s hand appeared pen, ink and paper.

“Just how large is your meteorite ring?” Kate was confused. This guy was able to carry everything with him, but she had seen her father’s ring and it had only storage space of around one cubic meter! Nick ignored her and passed the things to YunYun.

The latter started drawing and Beata curiously asked, “What are you going to do?”

“Train, of course!” The eastern beauty replied.

Nick observed her clumsy drawing with a smile, “What was the size of it?”

YunYun stretched her hands showing the length of the sword she had before.

“So it was around one meter long Katana, correct?” Nick asked.

“Yes, approximately one meter.” She nodded, but then got confused, “What is ‘Katana’?”

Nick realized that he had used the ‘wrong’ terminology again, “Uhm, that is what I call such slightly curved sword with a single-edged blade. I’ll try to get one for you so you can practice again as soon as possible. Just don’t swing it around here, alright?”

“Great! I’ll call it ‘Katana’ then, it’s a good name!” YunYun was all smiles.

“Khem, Nick?” Kate shyly coughed, “I think I want to train as well.”

Her companions looked at her in confusion, but Nick quickly understood. She probably felt the same way Steven did, may be even worse! And as the oldest and the smartest of these girls, she probably clearly understood this trip was far from over.

“Why would you need that?” Beata was confused.

When Kate wanted to reply, Nick did it first, “She wants to be able to help and not remain a useless luggage. Even when we leave the castle, it will take months, may be even a year till we get back home.”

Both Maxwell sisters were shocked once again. After the emperor’s death they felt like they were almost done with this nightmare and only now they realized it was just the beginning. A year! It sounded way too long!

“Then … then we ... also want to train!” Conny stuttered.

“Have the three of you practiced Qi before?” Nick asked.

“Well, all of us had our Qi pathways cleansed long time ago and we were taught the basic Qi technique, but we just didn’t like to practice it.” Conny replied with some shame in her voice and Kate nodded with embarrassed look as well.

“What is there to be ashamed about? You never planned to be fighters, that’s it.” Nick shrugged, “Don’t make a fuss about it. You are not dead yet and can do anything you want, even train. Sit down and let me inspect you!”

The three girls sat down and Nick approached them from back and put his palm on their backs and checked one after another.

“It’s not that bad.” He said after the short examination, “Your pathways are thin and brittle, but don’t worry too much. May be you can’t become the strongest on the continent, but you can achieve a lot if you practice diligently.”

The embarrassed faces of the trio lit up after hearing this.

“Just start from the scratch. Practice your Qi technique all the time, when you walk, sit or talk or do anything else. It will be confusing and difficult in the beginning, but you will get better with time.” Nick explained, “After we get out of here, you will have to carry weapons anyway and then Steven and Clayton could teach you how to use those.”

“You don’t want to teach them?” YunYun was confused. This guy was very open minded up until now, but suddenly he held back.

“You misunderstood.” Nick smiled back, “It’s not that I don’t want to, I simply can’t.”

Then seeing her becoming even more confused he continued his explanation, “Did you see how I attacked the emperor? That was my weapon and the style that I invented myself. I only know this style and have no idea how to even hold a sword properly. Even more, I am continuing to develop my own stile and I doubt it will ever be perfected.”

“Why? There are many excellent and strong techniques in the world. Why would you bother with an unnecessary task?” She was still confused.

“I have a theory. Do you want to hear it?” Nick said with a smile.