—The first stage of training!
Mor Adelina said, and light began to stream in the air, forming lines like a scroll that had come to life.
—This is a verbal learning. You must understand the essence of the skill before you can use it. [Aura Separation] is not just a spell, it is a look into the very fabric of your hands. In the first stage, you will learn to feel your energy.
I nodded, my lips pressed into a thin line. I understood that the Queen was emphasizing "understanding" for a reason.
Too many players were accustomed to relying on the system and its prompts, but now I was faced with a deeper knowledge that could not be simply "bought" or "gained."
—The second stage is physical assimilation. You must prove that you can apply power not only with the mind, but also with the body. To do this, you have to go through five fights. Each round, one of my summoned monsters will appear in front of you. They are not ordinary beasts. Each of them represents a specific emotion, and each will try to confuse you.
Fritte frowned and muttered softly:
—Five rounds... so the Queen has decided to test her to the end.
I took a deep breath, feeling my palms become moist. Five battles, and each time I will have to use [Aura Separation].
—Child, take your weapon and place it on the floor, as my students are doing.
I dutifully lowered my weapon to the floor, feeling a slight flutter in my chest. Too many eyes were on me: dozens of tiny fairies hovered in a semicircle, their wings flickering with their breath, and the Queen's gaze, stern and cold as the moonlight itself, burned through me.
—The true [Aura Separation] begins with the simple.
Mor Adelina spoke softly but with authority, her voice like the gentle murmur of a mountain stream, yet with an unyielding strength.
—You must learn to feel the flow of energy not in your weapon, not in your heart, but in your palms. Focus. Imagine the mist flowing out of you.
I stretched my arms out in front of me, taking a deep breath. I closed my eyes, trying to imagine a gray mist swirling between my fingers.
But the more I concentrated, the more I remembered the tension in my body, the stares, and the fear of not being able to do this.
At that moment, Fritte leaned in close to me and whispered:
—Just breathe. Don't try to force it to happen. The aura doesn't obey commands; it can only be called upon.
These words helped. I focused not on the effort, but on the feeling of warmth in my fingertips.
Suddenly, in the dim light of the hall, a slight greenish haze appeared above my hands. The fairies began to whisper, and their rainbow-colored eyes lit up.
—Good, that's the first step. Now, try to hold onto the haze and make it gather instead of dissipating.
The thin haze had not yet completely dissipated over my palms when a familiar game sound echoed through the air. A system notification flashed before my eyes:
[Learning progress: 15%]
The translucent green letters, as if carved from glass, hovered just above my hands, then slowly dissolved.
Something inside me twitched, a mixture of relief and excitement. So I had really taken the first step, and the system had recognized it. At that moment, I felt as if the game itself was watching me, evaluating every gesture and breath I took.
The fairies began to whisper louder, their whispers like the rustling of leaves in the wind. Fritte smiled with the corner of his mouth:
—You see? You were able to, even the Gods themselves acknowledged it.
Mor Adelina raised her hand for silence. Her gaze remained stern, but a shadow of satisfaction crossed the depths of her eyes.
—This is only the beginning. Fifteen percent of the whole journey. The remaining eighty-five percent will require not just imagination, but blood, pain, and battles.
The words were like a splash of cold water on my senses. For a moment, the haze in my hands wavered and almost disappeared. But I gritted my teeth and focused again.
—I will see it through.
The system didn't respond again, but a strange warmth ignited in my chest, like a premonition of what was to come.
Mor Adelina took a smooth step closer to the center of the platform. Her presence seemed to make the air thicker, and the light from the ethereal fire lanterns began to sway, creating mysterious reflections on the walls.
—Remember, at this stage, you must not just imagine an aura, but make it touch the world. Even if it's just for a moment. It may be a tiny spark, a drop in the ocean, but without it, you won't be able to move forward.
She pointed to the daggers lying on the floor at my feet.
—Your weapons must respond. They won't rise with the strength of your hands, but they may tremble with the breath of your spirit. That's why I asked you to gather a hundred souls. Their energy will be the fuel for your first step. The souls of your enemies are the bricks that will build your spiritual body. Without them, you won't even be able to touch the power of the aura.
The fairies around me stopped whispering and froze. Their eyes sparkled with anticipation as they waited for me to try.
I took a deep breath, knelt down, and placed my hands on my knees. I didn't feel anything, but as I looked at the game prompts, I could see invisible but hot sparks dancing on my fingers, somewhere near the system.
Internally, I called out to the power or whispered [ Aura Separation] and something really responded. It was like a voice authentication, let's admit that if your brain is connected to a VR machine, it can send you various images to help you understand the structure of a magical skill.
Like updating a computer, I'm not in a medieval cultivation game, so it's different.
A translucent lime-green haze began to flow from my fingers, at first hesitant and uncertain, like steam above water.
I forced myself to focus and entered my voice authentication, and in an instant, the system appeared before my eyes again:
[Learning progress: 30%]
The letters flashed bright green and went out, leaving a faint ringing sound, as if a bell had rung somewhere in the distance.
The daggers, which had been lying motionless on the floor, gave a slight tremor. So much so that the fairies gasped.
Fritte pressed his fist to his lips, barely restraining his excitement.
—You did it!
But Mor Adelina only narrowed her eyes.
—Don't get carried away, you only moved the weapon by a breath of wind. Battles lie ahead, and only there will you know if you can hold on to what you've started.
The training ground of the Fairy Kingdom was buzzing with tension. Dozens of fairy students of various wing colors stood in a circle. Each of them tried to complete Mor Adelina's task: to make their own aura touch the weapon. But it was a torment for them.
One of them, sweaty and crimson, was trembling so much that even the tips of his wings were shaking.
Another moaned softly and, covering his mouth with his hands, ran out towards the toilet arches. Several of them stood still, their teeth clenched, but their palms remained empty.
For them, as for the creatures created by the system VR game, this task was almost impossible, according to this scenario.
But things were different for me. I closed my eyes again and imagined the energy rising from my body to my palms.
—Aura Separation…
I had to complete the training 100%, so I had to try. My chest felt warm, and my breathing slowed down. Suddenly, a thin, barely noticeable smoke emerged from my hands, a soft, light green hue.
It flowed through the air, twisting like a living thread, and slowly extended towards a pair of daggers lying on the stone floor.
As the smoke touched the handle, the metal trembled slightly, as if it had been struck by an invisible wave.
—This can't be happening...
One of the fairies whispered, staring at her with wide eyes.
—She is not a human… she is a monster!
—What kind of God sent her?
What kind of God, if I tell you that I'm a player, you'll still throw a question mark at me, because you won't understand what I'm saying unless I say "pioneer" or "mercenary."
Their fear quickly turned to admiration. They realized that what they couldn't do, the outsider had accomplished with remarkable ease.
The ethereal doppelganger of the Fairy Queen, towering above them all, merely smiled softly. There was a hint of amusement in her transparent eyes.
—Ha... That's why pioneers are so dangerous. They break the rules without even knowing they exist.
I didn't fully understand what I had done, but I let out a heavy sigh. However, my heart was beating so loudly that it seemed like the entire room could hear it.