For the next few days, Will went on with a routine of going out into the city each day and sitting down in a different spot for the whole day seemingly doing nothing. Only he knew what he was doing.
These few days brought significant progress to Will and he figured that the bottleneck that he was facing would completely dissipate in just a couple weeks. However, he did not know that Queen Xenia was quickly coming towards where he was and would be there in a short week.
After that, nothing really happened for the next week. There were a few people that enough courage to try to approach him with bad intents and a friendly face, but every single one was sent away with a cut on their face before they even got close to him, never even knowing how. All they saw was a flutter in his cloak. In the future, this seemingly harmless cut would serve as a burning reminder not to do such a thing again. All they knew was that this person was not to be messed with, young and blind as he may be.
With his improvement in sensitivity to emotions also came the resilience to them. Not only could he sense the emotions further around him, he could also understand them better and feel the ones which everyone didn't show. He could feel the slight bit of greed in even the most polite shop owners, and he could feel the slightest bit of generosity in those who were extremely greedy. As he had already figured out, it was simply impossible for one to not feel a certain emotion at any time, and it was simply impossible for one emotion to be dominant and erase all others.
...
The seven days went by in a flash. In this time, Will had gotten rid of nearly half of his bottleneck and could feel a slight change in his heart. However, this feeling was not very strong and felt as if there was essentially no change at all.
However, on this day, Queen Xenia arrived to the city. When everyone saw her, they quickly spread the news that the queen was back from her journey. What they didn't know was that this journey was all just to hire the assassin to kill Kessia and to hide from the blame by saying that she was nowhere near her when she was killed.
However, the assassination had not gone to plan and Kessia had unexpectedly lived, ruining her plan to kill the king and the opportunity that came with it. But she did not know this and only thought that the king found out by chance and that Kessia was still poisoned. Now, she had come back to kill Kessia and finally get the fruit of her labor.
After all, nothing came without a price.
What she didn't know was that not only did the assassination fail, but Kessia was even saved from the poison and not only did Old Man Dai know, but so did the only person who was even stronger than the her, Will. Whether or not his victory was based on luck last time, he was still stronger than someone who was only at the peak of the spirit realm by a level.
...
About an hour after queen Xenia got back, she had arrived at the castle, where she saw Old Man Dai, standing with Will at his side at the entrance to the castle. Will had obviously come back and come up with a plan with Old Man Dai before she got here.
When queen Xenia saw them, she thought that she had indeed tricked them all and that no one knew of her betrayal. Will could feel that she was happy, but more than that, he felt an overwhelming sense of greed being emitted from her. He could also sense the very faint sadness that she felt for betraying and killing her family. After all, they were still a family before.
Of course, Xenia ignored Will, who was at the side of Old Man Dai, and walked up to them, saying, "I heard that there was an assassination attempt. What happened?" with a concerned face. Of course, she wasn't really worried. She was just playing the part to accomplish her goals without sacrifice.
After explaining that Kessia was attacked and the person who attacked her, Old Man Dai proceeded to lie and say that she was still poisoned and lying in bed, slowly dying.
After hearing what happened and that Kessia was still poisoned, Xenia was inwardly delighted. However, she continued to maintain her somber appearance.
After this, they exchanged a few more words then started to head inside. On the way inside, queen Xenia could not help looking at Will, who was walking beside them despite obviously being blind. When she saw the cloak and the badge of a personal guest of the king on it, she could not help wondering who he was. After all, someone at only the peak of the foundational realm could not possibly raise the king's attention. The fact that he had a guest token showed that he was quite unusual.
However, she quickly put the thought aside as she figured that he could pose no threat to her being so weak and blind. After all, she was an entire realm above him in strength.
What she did not know was that underestimating him would be the worst decision of her life.
As they continued down the hallways towards the room where Kessia was, Xenia had an eerie feeling. There was seemingly no reason behind it, but it grew with every moment. She could not understand why she felt this way, but she knew that something was wrong, or she would never feel this way.
As this eerie feeling increased, so did her restlessness. Will could, of course, sense this. However, he could do nothing at the moment but continue on their way.
Soon, they came up to the door to the room in which Kessia was. At this moment, Xenia's restlessness was at an all time high as Old Man Dai reached for the door handle. She was as on guard as she could be, and was prepared for anything.
Suddenly, Old Man Dai swung the door open, and that's when she saw her. Kessia was sitting on the bed, staring straight into her eyes. "Hello, mother."