"Idiots. This is what happens when you give me no information."
Renzako stepped forward with steady, balanced steps carrying an overwhelming pressure behind them, as if nothing had happened at all. Sota covered his own mouth to stop his breathing from making a sound, hiding behind his small cart.
Sota shut his eyes as sweat overflowed from his forehead, dripping down his face while he begged inside:
'I hope he doesn't notice me! He killed five members of the King's Skull gang so easily! This man is dangerous.'
The King's Skull gang was known not only in the city but throughout the southern region for their white uniforms. Yet without a single scratch or drop of sweat, Renzako—surrounded by a heavy pressure and a dark aura—finished five of them using only his sword.
Renzako stopped beside Sota's cart, his eyes focused straight ahead. Sota wasn't the only one hiding after witnessing what happened; every merchant who had stayed late to pack their goods was hiding as well. But Renzako stopping right next to his cart made Sota feel even more cursed.
Renzako said nothing and continued walking into the darkness of the city.
"This aura… it feels so familiar…"
***
At the hospital, specifically outside near a small residential wing where some patients and workers slept, the stars were scattered beautifully across the sky, though the bright lamp posts made them hard to see.
Takeshi told Loren what had happened to him and the reason for coming to the city, though he didn't mention every detail, like the death of the child or his encounter with Orfin.
"This is what happened, and that's why I came back to this cursed city!"
Years ago, before his period of isolation, Takeshi had visited Galleon City when he was just a young boy. But the visit didn't go well, and he returned home quickly back then.
As soon as he finished talking, he stood up and said:
"I guess I'll leave now—"
His miserable stomach growled loudly, and the little money he had wouldn't be enough to fill him.
"I'll try talking to the manager to book you a room for tonight."
Takeshi held his stomach and said:
"No, no need. I'll find a place to sleep. The sky is clear today anyway… I just need something to eat!"
Lorenh bought him some food, and Takeshi went alone to the rooftop of the hospital that night, staring at the stars far from the city's blinding lights.
'Orfin… I can't fully understand you, but this strange aura around me has been trembling ever since I met you. I won't let those two harsh weeks go to waste.'
Takeshi sat in a meditative position, brought his hands together, closed his eyes, and sank into a pitch-black void. A place with no light and no darkness, no living or dead… just him alone with himself.
Inside that void, a few memories of Orfin's previous words surfaced.
"You've trained enough in releasing your aura outside your body. This process is part of the Application category, called Projection. And I didn't lie when I said it prepares your body for aura usage—but more importantly, it prepares you to master Detection, since it deals with sensing the outside of the body."
A dim yellow dot appeared in the void, followed by many more emerging from nothing, filling it with faint light.
"Since we don't have time, I'll tell you a simple training method for when you reach the city. It will help you master the other sections. In the past, you released your aura randomly until your energy collapsed. That can be dangerous, especially since using aura or abilities is forbidden in public places."
Those yellow dots passed through Takeshi's body, slowly sinking into him and forming a clear, transparent aura that emitted a soft breeze.
"Go to an empty place. Sit, relax, clear your mind completely, and ignore all lights and sounds around you. Enter your imaginary world. Imagine your aura not leaving your body anymore, but instead sinking deeper inside it. This process is another Application section called Suppression. It deals with the inside of your body, opposite to Projection which works outside."
Suddenly, the aura vanished. The soft breeze returned to its source, and faint light pulsed from Takeshi's body.
"By doing this, you're changing your aura mode. Aura has three modes:
- Normal mode: your natural aura, detectable through Detection, and doesn't consume energy.
- Exposed mode: like when you use Projection. It can be sensed without Detection.
Deep mode: hard to detect even with Detection.
- Both Exposed and Deep consume energy because they rely on Projection and Suppression. But Projection drains a massive amount of energy, unlike Suppression which consumes very little."
Takeshi opened his eyes, his muscles relaxed, feeling a sense of relief. On his first attempt, he managed to suppress his aura for a few seconds, remembering Orfin's final words.
"Once you master Suppression, I'll teach you the final Application section. One more thing: each Application section and aura mode has its own level of intensity, which determines its quality and density."
Takeshi had reached a medium level in Projection for his naturally light aura. As for Detection, he had only mastered the low level—he couldn't sense intensity or feelings from auras yet, only seeing similar tiny dots. Suppression he had just tried for the first time, so he was still at the low level.
He leaned back and stared at the stars as exhaustion washed over him. The fatigue from suppressing his aura wasn't as terrible as his first Projection attempt, but he preferred saving his energy for tomorrow.