“... simply put, Xuanli circles and arrays are like your mythical magic circles and arrays - they are all symmetrical or mostly symmetrical drawings or circles or other regular shapes with symbols inside and lines connecting the symbols.” in the training space behind the back of the inn, Jianmen had a big piece of paper with a drawing of a magic circle looking figure on it in his left hand, while pointing at it with the bamboo stick in his still right hand, still in bandages, “You can think of it like this, the symbols are your electrical appliances, and the lines are wires. The wires are media of power, in our case it is Xuanli, and when the symbols are properly infused, they will function as they are supposed to. When all the symbols in a circle or array are functioning correctly, the circle or array will start to take effect. Whether it’s summoning fire, lightning, opening a portal to another dimension, or creating illusions.”

 

“But where does the power come from? You’ll need a power source right? An electrical socket?” Jason asked.

 

“Those will be slots for power sources. Like this and this here.” Jianmen pointed at two empty circles with no symbols in them on the, “These are the places where you place the power sources. For example, certain containers infused with Xuanli, or some rare crystals that already have Xuanli inside or power that can be converted into Xuanli. ” Jianmen explained: “Those are not the things you need to worry about now. All you need to do now is take mental notes of the general and basic ideas I’m about to tell you, and make sure you can remember as much as possible, because there will be homework.”

 

“Oh, homework, like the assignment you gave us after the spell sessions?” Caroline asked while chuckling.

 

“That one was easy, because you are both smart and gifted students.” Jianmen said: “But this one is trickier. By no means I am hoping that you fail… but you might fail.”

 

“So glad I dropped out from engineering school.” Jason sighed.

 

“Relax, this is cooler than you think.” Jianmen smiled and gently poked at the slots of power sources on the Xuanli array he was holding, which caused the array to light up in light blue. Then he threw the piece of paper on the ground, the next second white and blue light shined from the array and a hologram of a sword appeared above that piece of paper with the array on it.

 

“Okay… that IS pretty cool.” Jason was quite impressed with what he saw, he then tried to touch the sword but his hand went straight through like it would a normal hologram: “So this is a hologram array?”

 

“Think bigger. It’s an illusion array, a simpler model. When fully drawn it can change the trail of lights, the tone and volume of sounds, the smell in the air and even the sense of time and space. Draw one big enough and find some strong enough power sources, and you create a field of illusion that can trap an entire army. If you add a few more symbols in there you can even kill them without a trace.”

 

“Thanks Boss, for the wonderful introduction to magic arrays.” Caroline smiled with squinted eyes.

 

“You’re welcome! But don’t think about learning it right away. The purpose of your first lesson is for you to learn how to draw the most basic form of Demon Suppression Sigil.”

 

“Um. Question, why would we need that when we have Xuanli to fight with?”

 

“Xuanli is like your arms and legs, and combat sigils like Demon Suppression Sigil are a kind of weapon. You’ve heard of the phrase ‘No matter how good you are at Kung Fu, you still can’t fight a meat cleaver?’ ”

 

--------------------------------------------

 

“Mr. Jason Lin and Miss Caroline Baker?” when Jason and Caroline went back into the lounge, two men in black suits and sunglasses came into the inn.

 

“Yes, can we help you?” Caroline went behind the reception’s desk and asked.

 

“We are agents of the FBI.” the taller and bulkier man said while showing his ID: “I’m Agent Lance, this is my partner Agent Baskin, we have some questions for you regarding Emilia Corin.”

 

“… oh.” Caroline was not sure how to respond, she had not heard of the name in a while.

 

“What do you come here and ask us for?” Jason shrugged: “You could go ask SJPD, Aimee and Thomas are working on her case right? They must know way more than we do.”

 

“Unfortunately the detectives are not available at the moment.” Agent Baskin said: “They were injured in action and are still in the hospital. Detective Aimee Chaver was in critical condition last time we heard.”

 

“Oh my god! What happened?” Caroline and Jason said loudly at the same time.

 

“They were investigating a lead to the Corin family case, jointly investigated by the FBI and multiple local police stations.” Agent Lance explained: “From what we heard, they were on route to assist some police officers who reported sightings of some dangerous Corin family members and were also under attack. Apparently those animals blew up a police car with some kind of projectile explosive, killing the first two officers on scene. And the detectives were injured from the attack.”

 

“That is horrible, where are they staying?” Caroline asked.

 

“That’s enough questions for us.” Agent Baskin stopped Caroline from asking further: “Are either of you been in contact with Emilia Corin? Have you seen her?”

 

“No… not since what happened at the hospital. We have not heard from her or anyone from her family.” Jason answered: “Why would you think she would be in contact with us?”

 

“It’s from Detective Aimee Chaver’s notes.” Agent Baskin’s facial expression was serious and slightly accusatory, “She noted that you have been very capable in aiding them in their effort of finding Emilia and protecting her from the corrupt cop. Which in turn helped save a police officer’s life. And her notes even said that you happened to have faced off against a ‘gifted’ assailant. I don’t know the details of those, but sounded like you left quite an impression on her.

 

“And according to our records. Detective Thomas Chaver filed an application to the SJPD to recruit you as civilian consultants of martial arts training, and apparently he got you two your positions of temporary paranormal consultants in the SFPD. So it is safe and fair to say, that Detective Chavers are very fond of you.” 

 

“Well, we are flattered, but what does that have to do with us? Or with Emilia Corin?” Jason scratched his head.

 

“They came to ask you to contact them if Emilia ever reaches out to you, didn’t they?” Agent Lance asked.

 

“Yeah. But we never contacted them about her because she never got in touch with us.” Jason shrugged and said: “And like we told you, our latest contact with Emilia Corin was at the hospital.”

 

“Okay… then I guess no further questions.” Agent Baskin seemed a little embarrassed: “Just that, since the Detectives are currently off the case, we’re gonna ask you to call us if she ever contacted you, alright?”

 

“Okay, can you tell me where they are staying now?” Caroline asked.

 

“St. Anna Hospital.”