I think it's half past three in the afternoon. The wind is getting chilly since we are entering the autumn, and the warm milk looks even more tempting now. Hm . . . Frank doesn't seem to be a suspicious guy to me. I think it's safe to take up his offer, right? I mean, that milk looks so damn good . . .! But what if . . . Ugh. I'm being indecisive.

"You can drink it if you want. Don't worry about me spiking your milk."

Oh, no. Was it all written on my face again? I'm being so rude to him right now.

"N-No, I wouldn't dare! I was just waiting for it to cool down a bit, so it wouldn't burn my tongue!"

Ah. I ended up drinking all the milk in one go, how inelegant. Well, at least my concentration isn't going to get distracted anymore now.

"How is one supposed to know what stages is the other person in? Is there any means of . . . you know, something like verification?"

"Excellent question," Frank nodded repeatedly, looking content.

He takes out from his bag another piece of paper and lays it down on the birch table between us. After that, Frank went all silent with her palms pressing into each other, concentrating. Then, he puts his right index finger and slides it down from the top of the paper down to the bottom without touching the paper itself. With that stroke, he splits the paper in half although with a craggy cut. 

"What do you think?"

It's perplexing. I've never seen anything like this before. I don't sense any Meta or Anima. How did he do it? Magic trick? That is unlikely. He rolled his sleeves before performing, so there shouldn't be any trick up his sleeves - quite literally.

"I don't know how you do it."

"I was told that you saw the three colours of energy during your meditation."

Three colours? Oh, he means the red, blue, and yellow light I saw. However, what does it have to do with energy? I guess I'll just nod for now.

"Those three colours represent the type and flow of energies. Red is Anima, or people may also refer to them as Mana. They are an energy source generated by your body, more specifically the heart. Genetics play a great role in determining your Anima capacity. This is what people commonly use when exerting their magic.

"The blue one is Meta, the energy of the universe, also known as Natura. The breath of the cosmos is the most primordial energy as well as the most abundant. Like with air, this whole world is filled with Meta. Sometimes they are volatile and violent to tame. Thus, people have to convert Meta to Anima to exert its power."

"Meanwhile the yellow one is the thing that I've just shown you, is the third energy. Prana, or Qi - as the Easterners called it - is the energy of life that comes from the harmony between your mind and body. It unlocks the true potential of a person and is complementary to Anima. A good control of Qi allows a more effective and efficient conversion of Meta to Anima. Hence almost every remarkable mage always has a great deal of focus and mental fortitude, as well as good health."

Everything but Prana or Qi is taught in the academy. Still, it surprises me how full of secrets the world is. Who would ever guess the colours were meant to be that way? However, this is not some pseudo-shit since what Frank has shown me couldn't get any more real than that. This is so interesting.

"And regarding your question - people in the higher spiritual stages that properly trained their senses, can sense your Qi. It's very much the same as those court mages who can estimate your Anima by just a careful look at you. So, naturally, you can't lie about your stages - though I won't deny that there will always be exceptions to this logic in certain cases."

"So, you mean you can see mine?"

"Nah, of course not! You think too highly of me!"

Wow, he is so honest about it.

"To ascend to higher stages, there are various techniques that one needs to practice. They are basically called cultivations. But since I'm not really into that, I can't say much about that matter. I mean, I'm a researcher first before anything else!"

I guess this cultivation thing takes a considerable amount of time for a Prominence Scholar to give up on it. I can't imagine how hard it is to manage your time to be a researcher, let alone do cultivation on the side. Yeah, that's impossible.

"Okay, I understand the bigger picture now. Thanks for taking your time to explain all of this to me, but I still don't know why Master Hou Chen has taken an interest in me."

"Ah! Finally, we can get to the business!"

Frank put his hands up and stretched them as much as he could, loosening his muscles. I can hear the sounds of his popping joints as well as rattling bones. I bet he didn't have much time to do physical exercise.

"You see, it's very rare for someone to see what you saw on their first-ever meditation, and it picks Master's interest."

". . . Can you elaborate more?"

Frank pointed at the picture of The Order of Onus, specifically on the picture which I presumed was a depiction of a black sky.

"The things that you see belong to this stage. We call it The Beyond, a place where the sun and stars reside."

The Beyond . . . Does that mean I'm already almost at the summit of the order? But that doesn't make sense! I'm completely ignorant about all of this until now. There's no way that's what happened.

"I know what you are thinking of. But I have to tell you, that is not the case. The only acceptable interpretation is that you have the potential to reach that height. However, the fact that you couldn't even endure being in that state means that there's a lot to be done. There are steps that you have to go through to reach that potential."

Master Hou Chen senses something within me and he singled me out of the rest. What does this even mean? I hate this feeling. This disgusting treacherous feeling as if I was promised something special that was just meant for me, only to be brought down from the height of my own expectations in the end.

"Oh! And not to inflate your head, it's not that special, to be honest. I too, have a similar experience. But here I am, staying on the hill," Frank giggled and tapped his fingers on the drawing of a hill.

Right. Of course.

"It's like an investment gamble that Master wanted to put his resources into. After all, he himself is in a quite delicate situation, if I may say."

It has been quite a complex ride, but I think this is the final straw. Motive is one of the most important aspects of a conversation, and it will be revealed to me soon at last.

"Master Hou Chen came from a prominent family of cultivators. Unfortunately, Master is not too blessed on the subject, and The Hou family -except for her mother- ended up treating him quite harshly I must say. Through certain disputes and plots, he was cast away to a foreign land after being considered defective. He is only allowed to return when he is able to uh . . . find a substitute for his lack of talent."

Oh, so Master Hou Chen intends to make me a peace offering with his family. That's kind of messed up.

"So, what is his offer?"

Frank smiled and regained his posture. He straightens up his back and rests his hands on his lap.

"I'm glad you are quick with it . . . So, as you may have known, Master Hou Chen, aside from being a lecturer at the academy, was also a great merchant. The amount of wealth he had amassed is not to be taken lightly of. So yeah, it's basically gold and guidance."

"I want to hear numbers."

"Literally a ship of gold worth of stipends during your training, and a small estate in Northern Yundan, fully furnished and attended by bilingual servants that you will own when you pass the Hou's Life Pond Trial . . . I'd say this is an offer that only a fool would decline."

Fuck. Did I just hear it wrong? That level of wealth is on par with a big-shot margrave! Master Hou Chen was that rich?! Oh no, is this the turn of life that I had been waiting for?!

.

.

.

"What an amusing topic to have in this exquisite afternoon, gentlemen."

Suddenly a woman's voice interrupted us.