Rita furrowed, observing the fabric of her sleeves shredded into pieces by Alex's attack.
As the aura trail of his attack vanished, she glared at her young lord with an expression that denoted pure amazement.
His attack had been far too weak and shallow to even leave a scratch on her, but…
"You've learned an Aura-based attack?"
Running to Alex, who showed signs of exhaustion, she questioned him while grabbing hold of him before he could collapse.
The blonde eleven-year-old, finding it hard to muster even the strength to speak, just nodded and fell into Rita's arms.
The head maid of House Bladeheart found herself overjoyed at Alex's achievement.
An Aura-based attack was the kind of attack not only enhanced by aura but fueled by it.
Aura, just like mana, could create special phenomena, and Aura-based attacks were the magic equivalent of Aura.
A generic example was the Aura Slash.
It was the most common of Aura-based attacks, and it involved unleashing a sharpened and concentrated cut from a bladed edge. It could be a Sword, a Dagger, a Spear or even a Halberd
It could also be used as a long-range attack.
While the easiest of its category, it still required some form of training with both one's weapon of choice and Aura.
And in the hands of someone who had complete mastery of both, they could unleash an Aura Slash so destructive and precise that even space would be cleaved.
For Alex, while he had been brought up as a warrior, he hadn't unlocked his Aura until he was ten.
He had just turned eleven , but even so, taking into account his efficiency with Aura, learning Aura Slash should have taken him several more months.
Abel and Vanessa had mastered it in their first month after unlocking their Aura, but those two had an abnormal efficiency for Aura—they were genuine monsters when it came to talent.
Alex was a prodigy in his own right, but compared to the standards his siblings and the other Duke heirs raised, he appeared lacking—hence why she found it impressive that he had been able to surpass her expectations.
"Lord Abel will be proud."
Carrying him in her arms, Rita smiled and took him back to his room for recovery.
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Alex's POV
I woke up sore, with my body aching all over.
Aura was an amplifier… a good one at that.
It added to what was already there, hence most warriors built their foundation which is their body to gain a much greater effect. But what happens when the amplifier is overused?
The answer was simple: it would breed an undesirable side effect.
To add more context to what I was saying, there existed a method known as cultivation in this world.
Well, there were two forms of cultivation, to be exact. They still followed the same premise of absorbing energy and meditating with it, but their uses were vastly different.
Those of us from the Western Continent, more precisely of the Sword Empire, harnessed Aura from the surroundings and compressed it within one's core until it reached a breaking point where we reforged it into an even stronger core.
The cultivators of the Eastern Continent, however, did not have any core.
Fundamentally, they still absorbed a unique type of energy dubbed Qi, but it went into something called their soul world.
There, they converted it into something called essence and strengthened their soul with it.
This allowed them to access the third power system of this world called Mysticism.
It was the traditional form of sorcery—or magic, as it was commonly called.
Mysticism was a concept far too abstract for me to understand. Every book I had read couldn't give a defined explanation of why it was different from magic, so I just categorized them the same—except they used different fuels to cast.
It was like the difference between diesel and gasoline.
They both had compatibility issues, but at the end of the day, they both powered vehicles and allowed them to run.
Either way, if I could use an analogy for my situation, it would be like trying to play a new-gen game on outdated hardware.
Unless I upgraded it, the hardware would be stressed, leading to it being faulty.
"It's finally time to rank up."
Forcing myself off the bed, I found my feet now touching the cold floor, straining in pain as if dozens of needles were continuously pricking me non-stop.
"Argh…"
Groaning in pain, I flopped back into the bed.
Even so, my situation wasn't alleviated—the soft mattress of the bed didn't fare much better than the cold, hard floor.
Just lying down made me feel like I was sleeping on a field of gravel, each piece with sharpened edges that pricked deeply against my back, neck, and head.
It was agonizing and extremely painful, but compared to the torture that was the ground, I found this one more bearable.
[Ding–!]
[Martial efficiency: increased from 1.1 to 2.]
[The skill Aura Slash has been engraved into the Talent.]
[Error… detecting incompatibility… error…]
[Adapting to error… codes fixed.]
[Aura consumption decreased for Aura-type attacks.]
[Martial prowess increased by twenty percent.]
The sudden boost sent countless rings into my mind, causing me to close my eyes and move my head around in discomfort.
Once the noise had subsided, I opened my eyes, the sight of my talents interface visible to me.
[Martial Prowess: 0%]
[Martial Efficiency: 2]
Just as the System stated, the percentage at which I could increase my Martial Prowess had been increased by an additional nine, from all the way back to eleven.
The change was extremely drastic for me because it meant a boost in my overall ability.
Also, the reduction of Aura cost for all Aura-based attacks was a huge bonus—as was me finally comprehending Aura Slash.
"The risk and pain are definitely worth the reward."
Laying on the bed in a vegetable-like state, I couldn't help but comment sarcastically, with traces of joy evident on my face.