Jinx, you owe me a soda

'Aura.'

'If mana veins are the Central Nervous System (CNS), then aura would be the bones of the body.

The skeletal structure that grows within you and, you'd will it to manifest a representation of yourself outside of your body.'

'It's no wonder mages wouldn't make the effort to obtain their own aura. They would first require a physical body that's been trained to a certain extent and, to fully manifest aura, your head must be void of any thoughts.'

'The ability to not think, but only to react.'

'As mages are innately curious and tend to overanalyse the situations they are dealt with, it's one of the main reasons why they are unable to manifest aura.

'I felt it.'

'I had 7% of mana capacity left, but my time dilation spell requires my fullest attention and focus, just to move my body the way I'd willed it to, in the perceived time.'

'Which is why I was fully exhausted the moment I had deactivated the spell. Yet, when I saw the dark needles headed towards Lily, I couldn't think, I could merely react in the moment.'

'Not only does aura drain your mental strength, it overworks your entire body, as if you've been steamrolled over a bulldozer a dozen times.'

'However, it only overclocks your body when the current status of your body matches being physically tired. Otherwise, you'd be able to manage being mentally drained, just fine.'

'As talented as I was with mana, I was unable to manifest my aura as easily as I wanted to.'

'There had to be some sort of strong emotion that'd cause my aura to manifest.'

Months passed since the attack had occured. It was finally the day that Avel would 'awaken' as a mage. Tess was still missing and, Jenny had taken over her role as the village's healer. Though she was young, she was quite adept in the profession and the villagers were already aware of her capabilities.

'I was hoping to be able to control my aura before the day I'd 'awaken' as a mage but, I can't even grasp a glimpse of its strength.'

"Well, sweetie. If you are able to chant this incantation, then you wouldn't have to go through a revamping procedure to your mana circuits.

Are you ready?"

"Yep. Light of the sun that which burns bright,

Cleanse.", Avel read off a piece of paper that contains the first spell which had introduced him into the world of magic.

A warm light covered Liz's body as any speck of dust which happened to be upon it, would be cleansed off.

"You did it, lil' brudda!!"

"That's my champ!"

"That's amazing sweetie.", Liz then proceeded to explain to Avel how mana circuits would commonly be practiced and the perils of magic itself.

Though it could be of use for convenience and necessity's sake, it can also be used as a weapon. Liz then taught Avel that the best sort of offence is the greatest defence.

'I agree.'

She then showed him the use of Mana Skin, a layer of mana which envelopes the skin, protecting the user from damage equivalent to the amount of mana placed. This was also used by the final raider which Avel had failed to behead in his first attempt.

Pleres also showed a stronger version of mana skin, as the glow was solidified matching the colour of her current mana purity, green.

Not wanting to attract anymore attention, Avel 'attempted' his best rendition of Mana Skin, showing his 'poor' mana control and that he was incapable of reproducing the Mana Skin that was demonstrated by both his mother and sister.

"It's okay, sweetie. You'll get the hang of it."

"That's right, lil' brudda. You can ask for my help anytime!"

"The rock got just the thing to cheer you up!"

Being cherished by his family was something he couldn't get used to. Yet, he didn't deny that he liked the feeling of warmth and love that his family and showed towards him.

-

Not long after, Avel was seen, along with Lilium and Vamyr. Lilium was practicing a water spell that she had just learnt after 'awakening' while, Vamyr was practicing on the sword.

Meanwhile, Avel was laying under the shade of a tree nearby as he read a book, not too far from the two.

After an hour or two, Vamyr approached Avel.

"Hey, how come you aren't practicing as you much as you used to, these days?"

"Hm? That's because I'm still recovering."

'Well, that's a lie. I've recovered in a few days after gaining consciousness. Furthermore, I've been training my body to its' peak every morning, now that it's day, I spend my time researching on magic.'

"You're injured?"

"Yeah. It happened during the attack. Don't worry, I'll recover in no time."

Although Lily was listening, she couldn't help but frown when she heard that. She kept her distance from Avel ever since the incident and hadn't talked to him.

This was noticed by Vamyr.

"Is there something going on between you two?"

"Nah. Why, is something wrong?"

"Well.. you know I like Lily, right?", he whispered in a way that Lilium couldn't hear.

"Uh-huh."

"It's just.. I can't help but feel like there's something going on between you two..."

'Ah. Well, that kinda makes sense.'

"My friend. I can assure you that there's nothing going on between me and Lily. She's just afraid of me since she saw what happened to me during the attack."

"She saw wha- Why were you two together during the attack?"

"We weren't. I was accompanying Tess at the Yrenoir's residence and got caught up with the bandits. It just so happens that Lily was close by when it happened."

"I see. Is that why you got injured?"

"Nah. A flying debris hit me pretty hard in the head."

"Ah, I heard from your family that that happened. Something about you being hit in the head, and Lily finding you next to two raiders."

"Yep. Got lucky, I guess."

'Well, to sum it all up. Lily kept the fact that she saw me killing the last bandit as a secret. When my family found me, the holes made from the dark needles were closed. Somehow, my body had used the remaining 7% of my mana closing off all of my wounds.'

'Even though I had told my family that I had accompanied Tess to the Yrenoir's residence, they still didn't know that I was the one who had murdered all the raiders.'

'My training sword.. was clean. It had no scent or trace of blood on it.'

'I thought it was weird at first but maybe there's something going on behind the scenes. Either that, or my family's guards had already seen the incident and covered it up in the end.'

'Not only that, after the incident. The Yrenoir family had left the village, deciding to live somewhere closer to the centre of the kingdom, as they fear another attack would be their last.'

'I also hope that that would be the last time I'd ever come across an attack in this village.'