Five months had passed since the day Ren awakened his Vital Aura.
The ruins where he once stumbled were now his home — stone, wind, and silence his only companions. His body had changed. Every strike carried purpose. Every movement flowed like water.
Yet Kael reminded him daily,
> "Strength of the body is worthless without strength of perception."
Ren didn't understand at first. He could crush boulders with his bare hands now — why wasn't that enough?
But when Kael blindfolded him and told him to fight, he learned the answer.
He lost.
Every. Single. Time.
---
The Lesson of Stillness
On the dawn of the fifth month, Kael handed Ren a strip of black cloth.
"Today," he said, "you'll learn to see without sight."
Ren frowned. "You mean with my Aura?"
Kael nodded. "Perceptive Aura — the Mind's Eye. It doesn't rely on your eyes, but your awareness. Every heartbeat, every breath, every intention around you… you must feel it."
Ren tied the cloth around his eyes.
Darkness swallowed the world.
"Now stand still," Kael said. "Do not move until you can feel me."
Hours passed. The wind shifted. Birds cried in the distance. The ruins groaned with age.
Ren's thoughts screamed in the silence.
> What does he mean? Feel him? He's not even making a sound!
But Kael was there. Watching. Waiting.
The first day, Ren failed.
The second, he tripped over his own feet.
The third, Kael hit him across the shoulder with a wooden staff before he even sensed movement.
"Your mind is too loud," Kael said coldly. "Perception begins when thought ends."
---
Breaking the Mind
By the end of the third month of training, Ren was at his limit.
He hadn't spoken much. He barely ate. Every day was the same endless stillness — until he could no longer tell if hours or days passed.
Then, on one night heavy with rain, Kael's voice came through the downpour.
"You're trying too hard. You're listening for me. Don't listen for sound. Listen for intent."
Ren's fists clenched.
"Intent?"
"The world breathes," Kael said softly. "When a beast hunts, the air changes. When a man lies, the heart trembles. When I move to strike you—"
Ren felt it — a pulse. A flicker in the rain.
He ducked instinctively—
CRACK!
Kael's staff hit the ground where his head had been.
Ren's breath caught. His heart raced. "I… I felt that!"
Kael grinned faintly. "Good. Now again."
And again they trained — days, nights, storms.
Ren learned to sense movement before it happened.
He learned to feel lies in voices.
He learned to fight in darkness, guided only by the rhythm of life around him.
---
The Trial of Illusions
Five months after he began, Kael led him deep into the Veiled Valley — a canyon filled with echoing whispers.
"This place," Kael said, "is rich in lost Aura. It confuses the senses. Here, you will either master Perceptive Aura… or lose your mind."
Ren took a deep breath. "I'm ready."
Kael's tone turned cold. "Then survive."
He vanished.
The valley came alive — shadows shifting, whispers crawling inside Ren's skull.
He heard Kael's voice from every direction, taunting him, breaking his focus.
> "Can you feel me, Ren?"
"Or do you still rely on your eyes?"
"You'll die blind and lost."
Ren spun, sweat dripping down his face. He couldn't tell what was real anymore.
The whispers were endless, tearing at his mind.
> No... focus.
Feel... don't think.
He slowed his breathing. Closed his eyes.
Listened.
The air trembled — faintly, but real.
Not sound. Not movement. Intent.
Something behind him — sharp, cold, certain.
He moved before thinking.
CLANG!
His wooden staff met Kael's blade.
Kael's smile widened. "Finally."
Ren opened his eyes. The illusions melted away, leaving only silence and moonlight.
---
The Whisper of Truth
Kael lowered his sword. "You've done it. You can now perceive beyond what the eyes see."
Ren dropped to his knees, exhausted but smiling. "It feels… strange. Like the world's alive."
"It always was," Kael said. "You were simply deaf to it before."
Ren looked up. "So this is Perceptive Aura?"
Kael nodded. "The second stage. You can now sense the truth of things — the presence of life, deceit, danger. But remember…"
He paused, meeting Ren's gaze.
"Perception without discipline becomes madness. You must choose what to see — and what to ignore."
Ren nodded slowly. "Understood."
Kael turned away, watching the rising sun. "Then prepare yourself. The next step will decide whether you remain a student… or become a threat to gods themselves."
Ren frowned. "You mean—"
Kael looked back, eyes sharp as steel.
"Dominion Aura. The power to command the world with will alone."
The wind howled through the valley, carrying Kael's final words like a prophecy:
> "Only those who conquer their fear of weakness can make others bow to it."