One by one, the classmates went up to introduce themselves. Only the first person brought some novelty to the group; after that, almost everyone started following the same pattern he had set. The only differences were that some tried to show off their sense of humor, while others pretended to be deep and serious... When David Thompson and Eric Brooks went up, they acted as cool as possible. Even though there weren’t any girls in the class they particularly fancied, it was still better than nothing. Brian Young took the stage with a straight face, eyes fixed ahead, even more serious than all the others who tried to act deep. Of course, Ethan Bennett knew he was just forced into it.

When it was Ethan Bennett’s turn, he started with his signature line: “My name is Ethan Bennett, ‘Ye’ as in leaf, ‘Fan’ as in ordinary.” The crowd burst into laughter—most people had heard this famous line from Gu Long, and those who hadn’t were just confused about why everyone suddenly got so excited. But that was the only high point for Ethan Bennett; after that, everything was pretty uneventful.

When it was the girls’ turn to introduce themselves, the atmosphere became much livelier—after all, the boys were more enthusiastic and outgoing. When Grace Bennett took the stage and said, “My name is Grace Bennett, ‘Ye’ as in leaf, ‘Ping’ as in apple,” the whole place reached a fever pitch. Grace Bennett was already strikingly attractive, and since she’d had a little episode with Ethan Bennett earlier, this line immediately set everyone’s imagination running wild.

Half the eyes in the room were now on Ethan Bennett, making him feel very uncomfortable. He even wanted to go up and “star-kill” Grace Bennett.

And so, the freshman meet-and-greet ended in a lively fashion. Afterwards, under the guidance of the counselor, they went to tour the campus. Unnoticed, Grace Bennett sidled up next to Ethan Bennett, and the other three—Brian Young and the rest—immediately took the hint and walked away, their smiles looking downright lecherous.

Ethan Bennett had no idea what she wanted, and looked at her curiously. Grace Bennett said softly, “How many did you sense?”

Ethan Bennett didn’t get it at first. “What?”

Grace Bennett said, “Don’t play dumb! Don’t you know what kind of person you are?”

Ethan Bennett suddenly understood. “You figured it out!”

Grace Bennett replied disdainfully, “Otherwise, would I have asked you to carry my suitcase?”

Ethan Bennett still couldn’t figure out what carrying a suitcase had to do with any of this, so he just stood there, speechless.

Grace Bennett repeated her earlier question: “How many did you sense? In our department.”

Ethan Bennett answered honestly, “Counting you and me, three.”

Grace Bennett smiled and said, “And the other one is that Brian Young next to you, right?”

Ethan Bennett nodded. Grace Bennett continued, “Didn’t expect you to be so bad at this.”

Ethan Bennett was dumbfounded. “What?”

Grace Bennett said, “You only sensed three, and you still think you’re not bad?”

Ethan Bennett broke out in a cold sweat. Actually, if Grace Bennett hadn’t given herself away earlier, he could only have sensed two people—including himself. He immediately swallowed his pride and asked, “So how many are there?”

Grace Bennett replied calmly, “There are five in total. Our class has three, and Class One and Class Two each have one.”

Ethan Bennett was even more surprised. He hadn’t expected such a big gap—he’d sensed only half as many as she had. Those two he couldn’t sense must be even more skilled than he was! For a moment, Ethan Bennett truly felt his own insignificance. It seemed there were far more practitioners in the world than he’d imagined, and most of them were probably beyond his detection!

Grace Bennett thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, “How do you do internal sensing?”

Ethan Bennett didn’t react at all. “What are you talking about?”

Grace Bennett repeated, “How do you do internal sensing?”

Ethan Bennett still didn’t get it, and Grace Bennett patiently repeated the question a fourth time, until Ethan Bennett finally lost it: “What are you talking about? I don’t understand.”

Grace Bennett stared at him in surprise. “You don’t know what internal sensing is?”

Ethan Bennett nodded. “I don’t.”

Grace Bennett asked, “Who taught you your techniques?”

Ethan Bennett hesitated and said nothing, but Grace Bennett didn’t press further. She explained, “Using your breath to sense the presence of others—that’s called internal sensing.”

Ethan Bennett suddenly understood. “So that’s internal sensing!”

Grace Bennett was puzzled. “You don’t even know what internal sensing is? No one ever taught you?”

Ethan Bennett shook his head while making a mental note of it. His father had never taught him these technical terms. Grace Bennett then asked, “If you don’t even know about internal sensing, how do you sense others?”

Ethan Bennett said, “I don’t know. I can just sense some people.”

Grace Bennett asked, “Then how did you sense me?”

Volume One, Chapter Ten: Instruction (Part 2)

Ethan Bennett recounted what had happened that day, and Grace Bennett nodded and said, “So that’s how it is. You don’t know anything about internal sensing. You only subconsciously react when someone’s breath leaks out. In that case, I can tell you: everyone you’ve ever been able to sense has never been a true expert.”

Ethan Bennett was stunned and asked Grace Bennett, “So what should I do?”

Grace Bennett said, “There are two methods: one is to contract, the other is to release.”

Ethan Bennett quickly said, “Wait, wait, wait.” As he spoke, he hurriedly pulled a small notebook and pen from his pocket, scribbled a few notes, and then looked at Grace Bennett with reverent attention. “Okay, go ahead.”

Grace Bennett couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s not that complicated. You’ll understand as soon as I explain it. No need to take notes.”

Ethan Bennett blushed and quickly put the notebook away.