The second full exchange came ninety seconds into the stalemate.
Neither of them took the lead. Instead, they focused on creating the right conditions, William gathering information about the new tell, while Renner attempted to understand what William had observed and what he had not.
Renner initiated.
The timing disruption was his usual pattern, introduce interference first, then perform the technique.
However, this time, the disruption's nature changed.
He slightly altered the frequency, shifting the interference from timing sense to essence flow, resulting in a more subtle disturbance that caused a different issue.
William sensed a change, not in the timing as before, but in the overall precision of his essence control.
It was more diffuse, indicating a reduction in his ability to finely manipulate the wind turbulence counter, although his techniques remained accessible.
