He had been watching Master Feng's footwork for three weeks before he asked about it.
It was a Thursday afternoon, after the merchant apprentice class had cleared out and the practice floor was empty except for the two of them and the wooden dummies in their corner.
Feng was running a solo kata in the far end of the room — not for exercise, clearly, because he kept stopping to adjust the same three-step sequence over and over, dissatisfied with something only he could see.
"That's not Mountain Shattering Fist," Jelani said.
Feng stopped. Looked at him. "Observant."
"What is it?"
The old man was quiet for a moment, deciding something. Then he said, "Cloud Chasing Steps. A movement technique. Very old. Not much use for most practitioners, it requires Qi to activate, which means it's useless below Level 5."
He glanced at Jelani with something that might have been pointed. "Most students I've had never reach the level where it becomes relevant."
"Can I see it?"
Feng ran the kata again, all the way through this time, and Jelani watched.
It was beautiful in a practical way. Not showy — nothing about Master Feng was showy — but efficient. The footwork pattern was a three-beat rhythm that, when Qi-activated, essentially removed the telegraph from movement entirely. No windup, no weight shift, no warning. You were standing still, and then you were somewhere else.
{This is relevant to you,} the system said, very quietly.
Very relevant. His current movement was functional but readable. Against the scar-disciple and the others, when that time came, readable movement would cost him.
"Could you teach it to me?" Jelani asked.
Feng looked at him for a long moment. "It took me four years to learn."
"I learn quickly."
"Everybody says that."
"I mean it differently than most people."
Another long silence. The old man had never directly asked Jelani where he came from or how he had actually obtained a technique that, as Feng had once mentioned to himself and apparently not realized Jelani had heard, was not in circulation anywhere in this city. There was a mutual, careful courtesy between them, where neither asked certain questions.
"One hour," Feng said finally. "Show me what you can do with it in one hour, and I'll decide whether it's worth my time to continue."
The Jobs category came online the moment Jelani signaled his intention to learn. Not a download — it wasn't like the Mountain Shattering Fist, which had been a complete technique delivered instantaneously. This was more like having a master instructor's annotated notes overlaid on his perception in real time, pointing out the weight distribution principles and the Qi-flow timing as he worked through the form.
He made five errors in the first ten minutes. Three in the next ten. One in ten after that.
By the forty-fifth minute, he ran the three-beat kata clean.
Feng stopped him.
The old man stared at him with an expression Jelani couldn't fully classify — not quite suspicion, not quite amazement, somewhere between the two and edging toward something like unsettlement.
"You said you learn quickly," Feng said slowly.
"I told you I meant it differently."
Another silence. Then: "Come back tomorrow. We'll do the full form."
Jelani bowed and left before the conversation could take a direction he didn't want. He walked back through the market district with the three-beat rhythm moving through his feet unconsciously.
{Cloud Chasing Steps at current proficiency: 40%,} the system updated. {Estimated time to full mastery at current learning rate: six days.}
Six days.
He smiled.