Days had passed since that day.
Vladislav and Athelstan continued with their training.
Jian stood in front of them with his calm expression as always.
"Now that you have awakened your affinities, we can start working on how to form your aura."
"What is sword aura, uncle?" Vladislav asked
"Good question."
"Sword Aura is a critical and advanced manifestation of a martial Awakener's power. It is the visible, tangible expression of their mana channeled through and projected from their weapon, typically a sword. It is the defining feature that separates a novice from a true master."
"It strengthens and makes your weapon durable against attack. Your aura is based on your affinities; it takes shape after them. The user's Affinity dictates the properties of their sword aura."
"For example, someone who has the water element will form a sword aura of dark blue colour, or someone with the fire element will form a red aura, and so on."
Jian stopped and let the information sink in their brains.
Athelstan raised a hand.
"Yes, At?"
"Can we also use aura around ourselves—I mean, wrapping our body with aura?"
"Yes, good question. We can indeed use aura on our bodies to enhance our strength or protect ourselves from attacks."
"Let me demonstrate."
The air shifted, and a green aura appeared and wrapped around Jian's body.
"Now, try attacking me, I won't defend or attack back."
Vladislav held his sword and attacked Jian with a slash.
But before the attack could land on him, the green aura blocked the attack and repelled it, sending his arm back.
"Damn, that's cool," Athelstan said
"So, it works like a reflexive defense," Vladislav said as he held his chin with one hand.
"Exactly. You saw how my aura repelled your attack without an effort."
"Wait, so that's how you have been able to fight against us with a wooden sword, you were using aura!" Vladislav said
"No wonder the wooden sword was not breaking. I was thinking it was some kind of special sword." Athelstan finished
"Haha, no, I've been using aura all the time."
Jian held his wooden sword. A green aura wrapped the blade of the sword.
"Aura can be shaped as well. At higher ranks, you can shape it at will, but it requires deep understanding and control."
The aura around Jian's blade increased a couple of meters.
"With my aura increased in size, I'm able to strike my enemies from a higher distance, keeping me safe, which gives me an advantage."
"Be aware, though, it is not a passive state, but it is an active, continuous channeling of mana that requires constant focus and energy expenditure," he warned.
"Sword aura consumes mana; at lower ranks consumes a lot of mana, at the adept rank, you are not going to be using it a lot anyway."
"Because if you abuse it, it will consume all your mana in one go and leave you at the mercy of your opponent. However, I can use it whenever I want." He smiled
"At higher ranks, the user's mana pool is so vast and their control so efficient that this 'idle' cost becomes negligible. They can maintain a basic aura almost indefinitely."
"Isn't your uncle great?"
"Yes, uncle, you're very great. " Vladislav said,
"hehe" Jian laughed at the praise
"When can we truly use our aura?" Athelstan asked
"You must be first at Peak Adept Rank (Rank 3)"
"Huh? Then it's a piece of cake," Athelstan.
"You're mistaken, you'll take years to reach peak adept. You were only able to move faster from dormant to peak channeller because those were easy ranks. From adept and above, it is hard, even if you are talented."
"But who knows, maybe you will prove me wrong," He smiled at them
"Alright, challenge accepted," Vladislav said
"Good, I like the spirit."
"I can see and feel that your cores are already full of mana and at the wall to break through the adept rank. "
"The clue I'll give you in order to break through is to familiarize yourself with your affinities, especially the esoteric ones, since they are very mysterious and only a few are awakened, so there isn't much about them.
"When you do that, we can then work on your mastery over mana channeling, mana sensitivity, and weapon bond."
"Don't forget to not slack off on your katana training, Vlad; you have been postponing for a while now. You should ask Grandma to teach you."
"I understand, Uncle," He replied
I have indeed been postponing it for a long time now. I was too focused on the sword. I need to keep both of my weapons balanced; they can't be far behind one another. Vladislav thought.
After sparring for a couple of Hours, Vladislav walked with Athelstan through the cobblestone pathway while talking about their affinities and how they plan to work hard to move to the next ranks.
As they walked further, they suddenly stopped by someone—Asa.
Shit, I completely forgot about her. Vladislav thought
"Oy, it has been a while, and I'm still kicking," she said.
"Hi, big sis, how are you doing?" Athelstan spoke to her as he smiled at her
"Y-yeah, how are you doing, Asa?" Vladislav stuttered
"I'm fine for you, Athelstan, but not for Vladislav. I have some business with him," she smiled, but her eyes were not smiling.
And that expression sent shivers down Vladislav's spine
She's going to burn me alive, and I need to escape somehow.
"Oh, I see, he is all yours, big sis," Athelstan said as he smiled with no intention of helping me.
You bastard! At least help your brother out!
She started walking towards them, and Vladislav started slowly stepping back.
"Hey Asa, can we just solve this with a pinky promise or something? You don't need to harm your little brother," Vladislav said as he tried to smile.
"And it is not good for siblings to fight, you know, and you are stronger than me."
"The prank was not even that bad, Asa."
"Bad? It was horrible, do you know I had to throw away those clothes because of the smell and stain? They were my favorite!"
"Huh? Didn't you say they were new? How are they your favo—
"Shut up At or I'll burn you too," She cut him off
"Yes, ma'am," Athelstan replied obediently.
She kept walking. "Ah, don't worry about it, Vlad. I'll just burn your entire body and leave your pretty face untouched."
Her hands lit up with fire.
'She is completely nuts!'
Then—
His head snapped up, and then his face turned into a shocked expression.
"This presence...Is that grandpa up there?!" He pointed at the sky
"W-what?? No way!"
Both Asa and Athelstan looked up where Vladislav had pointed, but there was not one up there.
She turned her face and looked where Vladislav was supposed to be standing.
He was gone.
"No way I fell for that, you baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaastard!!! Asa screamed in rage.
As he was running for his life, Vladislav heard her scream, making him run even faster towards the mansion.
––
He reached the mansion.
He went inside his room.
"Phew, she had me running for my life," he sighed.
'It is about time I checked my elemental elements and my esoteric affinities'
He sat down with his legs crossed on the floor and closed his eyes.
Vladislav took a deep breath and concentrated.
'Let's start with lightning first'
He tried to remember that electrifying feeling he felt earlier back at the hall that ran through his whole body.
'Come on, think of the mana as lightning and let it manifest'
He started circulating his mana and then—
A sparkle.
'There we go'
The sparkle grew and turned into a current of electricity inside his body.
Blue lightning started crackling on his body.
He then opened his eyes.
He looked at his body crackling with lightning.
"Very cool," He was impressed at what he saw
Though he was not impressed by the state of his room.
His lightning burned the carpet that was on the floor where he sat, and his blankets on the bed were slowly catching fire.
"Shit!" he deactivated his lightning affinity and ran to the bathroom.
He got a bucket and put water in it.
Came out and threw the bucket of water on his bed and carpet, extinguishing the little fire before it got bigger.
Smoke filled his room but slowly disappeared since the windows were wide open and the smoke was not that much.
"Next time I decide to use my affinity in my room, I should do it when I have more control over it."
That was indeed the reason why he burned his bed; he had just awakened his affinities and element before, so he had little control over it.
'Imagine if I used fire instead of lightning, the fire would have spread faster,' He shook his head inwardly.
"I really need to get a personal training space so I can train whenever I'm not training with Uncle Jian instead of just always going all the way to the training grounds." He said as he nodded
Then a thought came back to his mind.
The voice that spoke when he awakened his lightning element and the two men fighting in the vision.
No matter how much he thought about it, answers never came.
'Well, I will just ask mom or dad'
"Now let's go look for Grandma" to see if she can teach me the way of the katana."
He grabbed his training katana and sheathed it in its sheath on his waist, then left his room.
He asked the maids to change his blankets and carpet.
He then proceeded to go look for Mary.
He looked for her throughout the mansion and didn't find her. He asked the maids, too, and they said they didn't see her.
'There is only one place she could be....she is at that place where I found her last time'
He hurried his steps and walked through the garden, and then started walking up the red hill.
And then he saw her as expected under the tree.
He proceeded to walk up to her.