When she had finished asking her question, the door quickly opened again and the maid from the day before rushed in, panting.

"Your highness! You can't be in here by yourself. I could have come over to fetch Mr. Gen."

"Oh, I don't mind helping out, Vivian." Princess Tia said, a playful smile hovering on her lips. "I'd be happy to wake him up every day."

Giggling to herself, she patted her maid on the shoulder and left the carriage, leaving me and the maid behind looking at each other awkwardly. That's not true. I was looking at her awkwardly. The eyes she turned on me were a dangerous mixture of admiration, bashfulness, hunger, and something else that I could not identify.

*cough*

"I should go see the captain." I kept my face as cool and calm as possible, as I walked past Vivian to leave the carriage, though that did not seem to help her calm down one bit.

I need to do something about this face of mine.

The carriage door swung open, revealing a circle of other carriages forming a wall that separated the camp from the jungle that surrounded us. The first thing that caught my eye was the princess, but immediately after, I saw Captain Seben glaring at me from an open dirt area. A squad of soldiers stood at attention behind him and it was obvious from his unhappy stare that they were waiting for me, so I hurried over.

"Nice of you to join us, Mr. Gen. Your rest was good, I trust?" Without waiting for me to answer, he pointed to the end of the line and began barking out orders. "Fall in! Alright, boys, time for your new favorite part of the day! I've noticed that a number of you have been slacking over the last couple of days, so I've decided that we are going to start your training early! I'm going to whip you embarrassing excuses for soldiers into shape before we get to the academy! Now get down and give me fifty!"

Groans rang out from the group, but the whole squad got down in the push-up position and waited for the captain to begin his count. Despite my two hour intense workout, my body had no problem with the push-ups, or the other exercises that followed, reaffirming once again my admiration for the previous owner of this body.

After the whole squad was panting the captain had us run a few laps around the camp. Braving the captain's thunderous look, I somehow ended up at the front of the group, and after ten laps started leaving the other soldiers behind.

Frustrated, the captain called for us to stop and get breakfast, telling us to gather afterward for combat practice. As he walked off, a few of the soldiers gathered around me, wheezing.

"Hello, my name is Marks." One of the younger soldiers held out his hand as he introduced himself. I had seen earlier that the soldiers greeted each other by clasping each other's wrists, so I hesitantly reached my hand out. His face lit up as we clasped wrists and he jerked a thumb at the two other soldiers who had followed him over.

"This is Abe, and the fat one is Dempsy."

"Hey, it's not fat. I'm telling you, it's all muscle." Dempsy was a chubby young man with an easy smile while Abe was tall and taciturn. I had noticed that all three of the young soldiers had stayed near the front of the group during the morning's exercises.

After clasping wrists with Abe and Dempsy, I introduced myself and followed the three of them toward the cooking carriage. A small fire had been started near the cooking carriage and a pot of porridge bubbled happily above it. Following Marks' example, I stood in line and accepted a bowl of porridge, along with a piece of fruit that reminded me of a cross between an apple and a peach, and a thick biscuit.

Squatting down next to Dempsy, I munched away as I listened to the others talk. Much of what they talked about was completely foreign to me, but through careful attention to the context clues, I was able to figure out a few things.

The soldiers in this group were all regular people who had been personally recruited to join Crown Prince Patel's private security detail by Captain Seben. They were all individuals with the potential to become warriors, a term I heard yesterday from the Crown Prince when he described the Silver Tower Academy but had not paid much attention to.

At one point the conversation turned to the captain himself, who was an official Warrior. As the soldiers spoke admiringly of some of the feats they had seen him perform, I began to get the sense that being a Warrior had something to do with that energy that I saw the captain use to heal my body. Before I could get any concrete details I picked up the crunch of the captain's boots heading toward us and elbowed Dempsy who was blabbing on about a time when the captain beat up an entire bar full of people by himself.

I held my finger to my lips and jerked my thumb in the captain's direction, to let him know that Captain Seben was about to arrive and then swallowed the last bit of my biscuit after using it to wipe up the remnants of my porridge. Despite his slightly sloppy look, Dempsy seemed like a sharp one, because he got my meaning immediately, burying his head in his bowl and wolfing down the rest of his food.

"Breakfast time is over, kids!" The captain's shout startled most of the group, even causing one poor young soldier to drop his bowl on the ground, splashing porridge everywhere. "Leave your food where it is and fall in!"

Under the captain's intimidating gaze we all got back in line, leaving a mess of bowls and cups for the cooks to clean up. Leading us back to the practice area, the captain had us pick up practice swords from a pile and form two lines. Worried about how my body was going to react in a fight, I dawdled as I picked my sword, managing to end up at the end of the line.

The first two soldiers stepped out at the captain's command and faced each other. The older of the two soldiers settled into a conservative stance intended to defend while his opponent lifted his sword above his head in a two-handed grip. While I had no idea what the two different stances were called, I was instantly able to understand their intent from the way they positioned themselves.

"Start!"

As soon as the captain gave the word the battle began, but surprisingly, it was the older, more defensive soldier who struck first. Launching himself forward, he charged straight at his opponent, forcing him to step backwards as he pulled his sword down to block a slash. Though his overhead stance was good for generating attack power, one of its disadvantages was that it needed space to be effective, a weakness the other soldier took advantage of.

The steady clash of the wooden swords rang out until the older soldier prevailed, scoring a glancing hit on his opponent's hip with his relentless assault. Grimacing as he clutched his side, the younger soldier limped to the back of the line while the older soldier stood in place, taking deep breaths.

Another soldier from the lines stepped forward to fight the older soldier, who entered his defensive stance again. This time, however, he did not have the energy for offense and focused on defending against his opponent's probing attacks.

"That's why I can't wait to be a Warrior." Marks was standing in front of me, playing with the wooden sword he had chosen. "Once we are Warriors we won't have to worry about getting tired like that."

The morning sun had just risen above the horizon and the tall jungle trees still cast long shadows across the ground. The air carried a slight chill, causing the soldiers who were lined up to as they waited for their turn to spar to fidget slightly. The conversation at breakfast had helped me pick up some details about this world, but it was not enough by a long shot.

"I heard someone say that we'll all get the chance to become a Warrior? It makes me nervous. Have any of you started the training?"

The hardest part about being in a completely new context is not having any of the common knowledge. All of a sudden, a perfectly normal question makes you sound like a complete idiot. Thankfully, I had a full 14 years of experience being shoved into new situations and contexts behind me. Seriously, if I could integrate into a new school every year on earth, I could handle figuring out feudal life.

The trick is to ask questions that tap into common but unspoken anxiety. Pick a feeling that everyone hides inside and give the people around you space to show off their knowledge and expertise. Few people can resist talking about what they know. Sure enough, I felt a hand approaching me and flinched slightly before I was able to stop myself from dodging as Marks patted my shoulder.

I really need to get my body under control.

"You don't need to worry about it, the captain is a really good teacher. I had a lot of trouble with the meditation at first, but he showed me some good tricks for focusing. I've only been doing it for a few months and I already have a rough outline of my soul shape."

Soul shape? Meditating leads to shaping your soul? I better not ask about it in case it is private. I wonder if his experience is common?

"A couple of months? Wow. Is everyone that fast?"

"Eh, most of us are condensing at about the same speed." Marks took a step forward as the older soldier walked to the back of our line. His breathing was deep but measured, a clear indication of his veteran status.

"Hi, I'm Gen, I don't think we've met." Taking the initiative, I greeted the old soldier.

"Jerus."

"Marks was just telling me that you'll all be Warriors soon."

The other trick to getting as many context clues as possible in an unfamiliar situation is to lead the conversation in the direction you want while instigating discussion between two other people who have some idea about what is going. Add a touch of envy and most people will continue at length.

"Hah, I dunno about soon. I still only have a rough outline of my soul shape. Just enough to see the direction it is going. How about you, Jerus? How is your meditation coming?"

"Not bad." The veteran was not the talkative sort.

Hmmm, this might take more work.

"Jarus, have you served the Crown Prince long? I noticed that your combat style is really well polished." We all inched forward again.

"Heh, yeah, I've been around for a bit. Served the Crown Prince's uncle for a long time. He taught me himself."

Ah, finally, a bite.

"It is really impressive. Very flexible but with a strong defense. Must have taken you a long time to master."

Lesson three. Everyone has different things they value. Find out what someone values, and you'll find a way to turn on their verbal faucet.

"Oh, I still haven't mastered it. I'll have to wait until I am a Warrior to master it. It is called the Formless Wave, and all of us who fought with Lord Astor learned it. Nothing too special really."

"Says you." Marks spoke up, jealousy evident in his voice. "Once you condense your soul you'll be able to unleash the full power of the Formless Wave style since using it won't tire you out, which will be a huge advantage. I can't wait to get a Warrior fighting system."

Interesting. So the point of meditation is condensing your soul, and once you do it drastically increases combat ability. I wonder if my body already condensed its soul? This would explain what those assassins were talking about when they mentioned extracting this body's soul. And my ridiculous stamina.

"Haha," Jarus laughed in a self-satisfied voice. "You'll get there. Just be patient."

It was Marks' turn to spar so he did not respond. We watched as he walked out to the open area, facing another young soldier. Neither was particularly skillful, but what they lacked in ability they made up for in fighting spirit. Charging into each other, they both swung their swords wildly, completely failing to connect.

A lucky swing knocked Marks sword from his hand so he charged his opponent, tackling him to the ground. Captain Seben was watching from the side, his face growing darker by the second as he watched the two soldiers rolling around on the ground. From the corner of my eye, I saw him take a step forward, his form blurring as he crossed the twenty feet between him and the wrestling men in a flash.

"Get up!" The captain's voice thundered as he reached down and pulled the two men apart, holding both of them up in the air. Tossing them to the side with a bone-jarring thump, he glared at them and then turned his angry gaze on the rest of us.

"Pathetic! If you don't start fighting for real, you'll have to start sparring against me!" Noticing that I was next in line, his expression hardened. "Actually, I think that is a great idea. From now on you'll be fighting me. Gen, you are next."

Taking a deep breath to push down the nervousness that bloomed in my chest, I stepped out from the line and made my way to stand across from the captain. The closer I came to him, the clearer I could feel his oppressive strength. It seemed to radiate out from him in waves, pushing against me and awakening an instinctive desire to flee in my mind.

Once again, I was saved by my body that did not react to the captain's oppressive aura, further strengthening my belief that whoever occupied my body before I did had reached the Warrior state.

Focus, don't screw this up.

Taking another deep breath, I faced Captain Seben, holding my wooden sword up in front of me in a neutral stance. His aura was so strong that it was a moment before I noticed that he did not have a sword so I started to lower mine but he waved for me to stop.

"Since I am already an Adept, I'll just use my hands. In fact, I'll only use one hand. It'll be counted as your win if you can hit any part of me apart from my left hand. Got it?" Looking around to make sure the soldiers understood, he placed his right hand behind his back and gestured for me to begin.