Training Begins

Orsted, Sylphiette, Eris, Roxy, Ghislaine, and myself all stood in a desolate valley filled with craters left over from my battle with the Sword God. By this point, the ice had fully melted and the water evaporated, leaving the craters as the only lasting effect on the environment here. Any monsters that may have been roaming the area had long since fled by the time we descended the mountainside.

"This will do nicely", Orsted commented.

"We shouldn't have to worry about accidentally harming anyone while we're out here", I said in agreement. "So... what should I do?"

"To begin, tell me what you know about battle aura."

"A person using battle aura is coating their body in mana in order to strengthen their physical attributes, such as speed and strength."

"While that is true, it is an incomplete description. Simply coating yourself in mana will not produce any meaningful battle aura. It is critical that the mana is densely packed and pressed tight against whatever it is enhancing."

"Oh yeah, that's right. I think Badigadi did mention that you could coat your weapon or clothing in battle aura as well."

"That's correct. One can also coat only a specific part of their body, or greatly increase the aura's density in a particular location. That is the essence of Saint Dragon Battle Aura which allows for overwhelmingly powerful strikes and unparalleled defensive capabilities, all while consuming relatively little mana."

"That sounds incredible."

"It is indeed. Although we should probably forget about it for now and focus on the basics. We've already determined the source of your problem is the unstable mana that you naturally radiate. Why don't you try compressing that mana into as thin a layer as you can manage."

I closed my eyes and focused. I imagined forming a dense layer of mana around my body. Ghislaine had her eyepatch removed and studied me closely to monitor my progress.

"Whoa!", Ghislaine shouted.

"What happened?", I asked while stopping what I was doing.

"Your mana suddenly flared. You already radiate so much more than a normal person naturally, but suddenly it flared out even further."

"That's a natural mistake many beginners make", Orsted commented. "You're pulling out even more mana as you try to coat your body with it. What you need to do is rein in the mana that is the source of your problem."

"Easier said than done", I lamented. "How am I supposed to use that mana when I don't even notice that I'm emitting it?"

It sounds like a similar situation of how you don't taste your own saliva because you've become desensitized to it, or how you might walk into a room with a very strong smell but then become used to the smell after a while.

"Normally, people learn to use battle aura while training their body. There is no specific training regime to learn it. Many swordsmen never even realize they are using battle aura and only do so subconsciously."

"I don't claim to be any famous warrior or professional athlete, but I feel like I've dedicated my fair share of time to training my body."

"I'm sure you have. Like I said before, those with great amounts of mana struggle to learn to use their battle aura. With the incredible well of mana you possess, it's unlikely that any amount of physical training will cause you to start using it naturally. If you are to learn to control your battle aura, it will have to be through a conscious effort."

"How did you learn to use battle aura? You have a large amount of mana yourself, don't you?"

"That is true, however I have many advantages that you do not. My race has always been naturally gifted when it comes to mastering battle aura. Additionally, I've lived a much longer life than you and have thus had much longer to practice it. You do, however, have one advantage that I did not."

"What would that be?"

"You are not alone. You have friends who are eager to help you. You have someone with a Demon Eye of Magic Power to watch your progress and guide you."

"You're right... That is a significant advantage."

"I never claimed that this would be easy. Not even Laplace was able to master his battle aura and you possess an even greater mana than he. The only path to success is hard work. Now try again."

Filled with determination, I tried again. I focused once more on coating my body with mana. I tried my best to imagine my mana swirling around me and condensing it inwards.

"No, Rudeus! You're still just flaring out your mana", Ghislaine commented.

Ugh... this is going to be a slow process, but no matter how long it takes I won't give up.

The six of us spent about six hours in that desolate valley, trying every which way imaginable to help me succeed.

Sylphy and Roxy both tried to learn to control their own battle aura alongside me. Ghislaine watched each of us and consistently pointed out what we were doing wrong. Every now and then Orsted would offer a tidbit of advice or words of encouragement. Eris, who had already learned to use her own battle aura before we began, seemed to make the most progress out of everybody. She soaked in Orsted's advice with a sponge and was constantly gleaming with pride from the compliments Ghislaine kept giving her.

Between Roxy, Sylphiette, and myself, Sylphy was the only one of us who made any progress whatsoever during our training session. She still hasn't been able to condense her aura enough to be practically helpful, but Ghislaine commented that she was starting to compress it, even if only slightly, by the end of the day.

I would have been happy to even reach that point. Even being able to control my aura at all would be a huge step forward.

All of us decided that we needed to take a break. After six hours of training we were all getting pretty hungry. Unfortunately with everything going on, I didn't think to bring lunch with. We all gathered together and Sylphiette activated one of the premade teleportation scrolls that sent us back to my basement.

Seeing as Orsted didn't have any other residence in Sharia, I offered to let him stay the night in our guest room. I'm sure that he has the means to procure his own place to sleep, seeing as how he always travels alone, but he seemed happy at my offer and accepted it.

The members of our little training group were starting to get used to Orsted's intimidating aura. I could tell that they would still tense up a little whenever Orsted addressed them directly, but still, it's been a noticeable improvement.

Lilia, Hope and Laws, and Zenith still walked on eggshells knowing that Orsted was in the house. Paul seemed less afraid of him and more distrusting. I made up my mind that I would offer to include him in tomorrow's training session to hopefully ease the tension. Norn and Aisha have been hiding in their room all day ever since catching a glimpse of Orsted.

By the time we had gotten back home, it was already well past lunchtime, so Lilia decided to prepare us an early dinner. Although I offered, Orsted opted not to eat with all of us, citing that his curse would make things difficult. Instead, I brought his meal up to him so that he could eat in peace.

The rest of us, meanwhile, had an awkward meal in which Zenith inquired about how our training was going while trying to leave Orsted's name out of it for the sake of Norn and Aisha.

Knock Knock

"Someone's at the door. I'll go see who it is." Paul jumped at the opportunity to step away from the awkward conversation and went to go greet our visitors.

"Oh, it's you", Elinalise could be heard saying in an annoyed voice after seeing Paul.

"Is that any way to greet an old friend?", Paul laughed.

"Pssh! I just came by to thank Rudeus", she said as she walked right past Paul into the house.

"It's nice to see you again, Mr. Greyrat", Cliff could be heard saying politely.

"I'm glad to see you well", Zanoba added.

"Come on in", Paul sighed as he followed Elinalise to the dining room.

"Cliff, Zanoba, Elinalise! What brings you here?", Zenith asked as she got up to prepare a plate for each of them.

"Oh, that's quite alright", Elinalise said. "I'm not hungry. Thank you though."

"I'll have to abstain as well", Zanoba agreed. "I promised Ginger that I would take her out to eat at that new Shirone-styled restaurant that opened up in the commercial district. We're meeting Aurora and Therese there later."

"Therese is going too?", I questioned. Not that I minded, but she just seemed like the odd one out in that group.

"Yes, she seems to have become quite close with my sister as of late. They work together in the church, after all."

"That's nice to hear", I answered. "They are both new to the area. I'm glad they're making friends."

"How about you, Cliff?", Zenith asked.

"No thank you. I'm going to be heading out with Elinalise shortly. We just wanted to stop by and thank Rudeus for introducing us, and maybe ask for another favor."

"Oh?", I questioned with a devious smile. "Were you able to help Elinalise with her 'problem' then?"

Cliff was wearing the collar of his school uniform up, which was unusual for him. I have no doubt that he was hiding a hickey or two on his neck.

Cough. "Her arm is not something I can remedy right away, but I can introduce her to some healers in Milishion that should be able to help her. I was hoping that you could use your teleportation circle to send us somewhere near Milishion. You must have one nearby considering how you were able to rescue Luna from those assassins and bring her here."

"That's not a problem. It's true I'm having issues controlling my mana at the moment, but I should still be able to draw up a magic circle for you. Granted you'll have to give me a couple hours."

"I'm sorry to impose", Elinalise said. "You don't have to do it right away. You can work on it whenever its convenient and bring it to us later."

"Nah, it's not a problem. I was getting frustrated with what I was working on anyway and this is a good excuse to take a much needed break from it."

"In that case, maybe we will stay for dinner, if it's not a bother that is."

"Of course not!", Zenith exclaimed. "We've got plenty of food. Please, take a seat! You two are always welcome here."

The friendly visit lightened the mood and seemed to take everyone's mind off the fact that Orsted was right upstairs. We neglected mentioning his visit to them, which could end up being a mistake if they happened to run into each other.

Once we finished eating, Zanoba left to pick up Ginger and take her out to eat. Cliff and Elinalise followed me up to my study to chat while I got to work drawing out the magic circle for them.

"How's your training going? I take it that's what you were getting frustrated with?", Cliff asked. "Anything I can do to help?"

He knew already that I had been training with Sylphiette on school grounds yesterday, so I can assume that's what he was referring to. Nobody had told him that I was now training with Orsted.

"Not so well. I've determined the exact cause of my problem, which is nice, but I'm not making any progress on fixing it."

"Oh? What's the cause?"

"The mana that I naturally emit is interfering with my spellcasting. Turns out I need to master battle aura to fix it, but that's easier said than done."

"You're working to learn battle aura? That's uncommon for a mage. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at this point though, knowing you", Elinalise commented.

"True. It doesn't sound like something I'd be able to help with", Cliff admitted.

"Yeah. Luckily I have Ghislaine here to help me though. She's able to watch my progress with her Magic Power Eye."

"Ghislaine is here?", Elinalise said excitedly. "Why didn't you say so! It's been so long, I need to go say hi!"

"Well, unfortunately you guys just missed her. She left the house about ten minutes before you got here, but she said she'd be back tomorrow morning."

"That is unfortunate", Elinalise lamented. "But at least she's coming back. Cliff darling, why don't we wait until tomorrow to leave for Milishion? I'd like to see Ghislaine before departing."

I couldn't help but smile after hearing Elinalise refer to Cliff as 'darling'. Those two were simply meant for one another.

"That should be fine. You can stay in our second guest room." Luckily we had two guest rooms.

"Do you have somebody else visiting right now?"

"Yes, another friend of mine. He's staying in the guest room adjacent to my study. You guys can take the one next to Lilia's room."

"You want us to share a bed? How delightfully scandalous", Elinalise joked.

"Just make sure not to bother our other guest. Like Elinalise, he suffers from a curse, but unfortunately, his curse is much more debilitating.

"What is his curse? If you don't mind my asking."

"He suffers from a curse which causes everyone in this world to fear or hate him."

"That's terrible!", Elinalise exclaimed. "You weren't kidding, that's far worse than my curse!"

"Perhaps I can help him", Cliff offered. "I've already made up my mind to research into a way to eliminate Elinalise's curse. Perhaps I can use the same method to help your friend."

"I'm sure he would appreciate that", I agreed. "For now though, I think it's best if you don't bother him. His curse really is strong. Even knowing of it beforehand, you both are sure to be terrified if you met him."

"Back to your training", Elinalise said, changing the topic. "If you need help learning battle aura, I might be able to give you a couple pointers. Ghislaine is a true master though. If she's helping you, you'll probably be fine."

"I would appreciate any help I can get. Right now my problem is that I can't sense the mana that is leaking out of me. Since we all emit our own mana signature without thinking about it, I can't feel that I'm doing it."

"Have you tried holding the Hydra's scales?", Cliff suggested. "You told me those scales you brought back absorb mana. Maybe if you kept some scales on your person they would absorb your natural mana."

"That's actually a really good idea! I'll have to try that."

"Just be careful not to cut yourself", Elinalise added. "Those things are really sharp."

The three of us continued chatting until I finished the scroll and handed it off to Cliff.

"Take this one too", I said, handing him a second scroll. "This one will take you back to Sharia when you're ready. To use the scrolls, simply inject some of your mana and you should teleport to a small base I've made on the outskirts of Milishion. I have to warn you though, I hid the teleportation circle in a sealed off underground room. You'll be trapped if you go alone. I'll have to send Sylphy with you so she can open an exit for you."

"Thank you so much!", Cliff said as he accepted the scrolls. "I'll ask Sylphiette to let me know when she can help us."

"I'll give her a return scroll as well so she can get back after she seals the room back off."

"That's a good idea. I don't think the higher ups in the church would appreciate having a teleportation circle made right outside their borders. Those things are taboo after all."

The rest of that afternoon I kept several hydra scales on my person at all times. Cliff was right, I could feel the stones sapping my mana, but after a while I got used to it. I kept them on my person, even sleeping with two of them in my pockets. Hopefully when I remove during training tomorrow, it will help me start to sense my natural mana.