Chapter 8

Let's go back in time for a bit.

After Rudy told his son to leave, the atmosphere in the room turned sombre.

"Is it them?" Barlog asked solemnly. "Yeah." Anna held Rudy hand tightly, "We're sorry if we haven't got in touch. Not all of them are dead yet." Anna said with intense hatred in her eyes. "That's right, we wouldn't forget. What they did to her is unforgivable." Deadly Aura comes out from Rudy, swirling and twirling in the air. "Those cultist needs to die."

"Calm down, my love." Anna soothes her husband. "How about you, Barlog? How are you doing today? If you came with our son, you work at the Adventurers Guild now? Didn't you say you wanted to open a bar?" Anna tried to change the subject.

Barlog began to cry "Big Sister", he cried, trying to cling to Anna, but Rudy stopped him. "You haven't changed at all. How about a training session with me after all this time?"

Barlog pouted, "Why? You vile of a man, monopolising big sister Anna all this time. I'm her cousin; I get to hug my cousin." The fearsome-looking man was nowhere to be found; a spoiled child seemed to take his place. Anna's mother and Barlog's mother were siblings, so Barlog has been raised together with Anna since Barlog's father died early in his life.

Rudy tried to hit Barlog in the head, but Barlog dodges. A comical scene where a man chasing another man happens while Anna just laugh. 'Just like the old times' tears drop from Anna's eyes while she smiles in happiness. 'If only you were alive, Jana.'

===

Adventurers Guild, Borea City Branch.

Yuya pinched his head, sighing, "That Barlog. Always doing as he pleases." Irritated, he stomps the ground repeatedly. He found a note behind the bar saying, 'I'm gone for a while. There's one examinee who's the son of an old acquaintance. Let him pass.' Reading the note makes Yuya more irritated. A terrifying Aura encloses the building before a yell of frustrations can be heard inside. "BARLOG"

===

Few months ago,

Zephyros Royal Academy

Being a renowned academy throughout the continent, Zephyros Royal Academy only accepts the best of the best. Even if a Prince or a Princess wants to enrol, they need to pass the strict requirements. The entrance test was difficult enough, but the graduation test even more so.

Right now, the bunch of geniuses enrolling in the academy are buzzing with excitement. The Archmage sole disciple was registering on their academy. Archmage Alicia was a prominent figure at the Demon Invasion War a hundred years ago. Many sought to become her disciple, but even to the most talented and decorated of them all, she rejected them.

When the academy dean heard that the Archmage wanted to enrol her disciple into the academy, he immediately accepted. Of course, the Archmage disciples need to take the test, but she passed it easily.

Today is the day where the Archmage disciple come to the academy. The students in class A were in an uproar. When she comes in, all the eyes in the classroom were focused on her.

"Enough staring." The professor with unkempt hair barked. "Please introduce yourself." The professor doesn't seem to care about the Archmage disciple in front of him.

"Hello. My name is Gabriella; nice to meet you." Gabriella bowed. The cute red-haired girl has now evolved into a woman with charming features.

The male's eyes turned into hearts while the female's eyes glitter with admiration.

"I'm 15 years old this year. Please take care of me." She smiled brightly at her classmate. Some of the guys passed out, seeing Gabriella smile.

"That's enough introduction." The professor points to an empty seat beside the window. "You sat there."

Gabriella sat following the professor arrangement. "Oh yeah, before I forgot." The professor scratched his head in annoyance, "She's a 5th Circle Mage."

The classroom that's about to quiet down was plunged into an uproar once more. "A 15 years old 5th Circle Mage." Said one of the classmates to his friends. "Even to geniuses like us, it's unbelievable. The best of us, Karius, is only a 3rd Circle Mage, and he's older than her. Amazing."

"As expected from someone chosen by the Archmage herself."

"QUIET", the professor uses his magic to amplify his voice. He waited until the classes quiet down. He coughs before opening his large book. "Now, where do I left you last time…."

Gabriella looks at the sky, wondering. 'I'm waiting, Big Brother Eru.'

===

Meanwhile,

Present-day.

Bora Village, Eru's home

I woke up feeling sluggish. Sitting up, I look outside, 'The moon is pretty tonight. Wait, the moon?' realising the mistake I almost made, I quickly open the window, letting the moonlight through into my room. I sat cross-legged below the moonlight then promptly get into a meditative state.

I still haven't given up on sensing mana. But when I can't even sense a tiny bit of Mana, I found that my Aura received great benefits from meditating. I ask my dad about this once. He pretty much confirms it. Aura training stems from Mages meditation.

Long ago, there wasn't any Aura practitioner, and Mages run rampant. The few mages back then were a tyrant who uses ordinary people as experiment subjects on their Magic Tower. The first Aura practitioner actually comes from the Mages unethical experiments. He revolt after he discovers his powers. He then gathers like-minded people and awakens them to the new power he has. Back then, the method of awakening one's Aura was more brutal than it is now. And people back then train their Aura using techniques derived from Mages meditation.

Now, however, Aura practitioner found a faster method to get stronger. They circulate their Aura inside the Aura Pool and distribute it equally throughout one's whole body, strengthening the vessel/body, increasing the amount of Aura that one's body regenerates, thereby increasing the Aura quantity. In simpler terms, with the modern method, a stronger body = wider Aura Pool.

What I've been doing these past years, when I painstakingly meditate trying to sense Mana, I unknowingly used the old Aura training methods. My dad once taught me the new Aura methods, but my body experienced excruciating pain after I tried it. My dad theorised that I'm too young and my body's not developed enough to use the new training method.

Confused about how this happens, I research it on my own and found that basically, one does not start Aura training once they were 20 years old, when the body finished developing and where their body was specially moulded beforehand. I got mad at my dad, and that's when I decided to become an Adventurer.

Anyway, every time I meditate, I purify and refined my own Aura, increasing its quality. Having a smaller Aura Pool leads me to use my Aura efficiently. Maybe once I'm older, I'll use the old method together with my new one.

Like always, I couldn't sense Mana, but I felt my Aura becoming purer.

Dawn breaks; as I tried getting up, suddenly I felt my ears ringing. *Do you accept?*

What?

*Do you accept?*

I ignore the voice, but it wouldn't relent.

*Do you accept?*

'Accept what?' I thought as the pain that assaults me gets worse and worse.

*Do you accept?*

'Fine, I accept, just stopped the pain.'

*Very well, I entrust it to you, the next successors of the Fate Master* the voice disappeared, but the pain doesn't. It got so bad that I passed out from the pain. As my consciousness fades, I thought. 'I seemed to be passing out a lot these days,' before completely blacking out.