A way to get Stronger

There are two main factors that influenced one's ability to refine the energy of the universe into Aura and Mana.

The first was the circulation method that one was using.

Theoretically speaking, even the simplest of circulation methods was enough for one to reach the 9th class.

However, better circulation methods enable you to become stronger at a pace which was incomparable to common circulation methods.

The second important factor when one tried to refine Aura and Mana was natural talent.

Every being in the universe, besides a few exceptions, was capable of refining Aura and Mana.

But naturally, some were better then others.

One's comprehension ability, the ability to feel the energy around you, and the limit of your growth, all of those were decided by your talent.

Of course, not everything was set in stone.

Throughout the long history of the universe, there have been numerous examples of people breaking the shackles known as talent, and achieving greater heights.

However, despite the vastness of the universe, the amount of people who can achieve such miracles are few and far between.

This is the reason Geniuses are valued so much.

A genius was capable of achieving twice as much as somebody without talent, and there was no need to gamble on some miracle that may never come.

This was the fundamental reason why The Council of the Coalition spent so much effort to establish 'Hope Academy.'

This Academy represented the feeling of hope that all the members of the Council had.

They hoped that, one day, they could nurture a genius who can fight on equal grounds with Lucifer and Drako.

Then, what about Lucas?

He possessed the Flinth family's [Dark Star Aura Art], a circulation method that didn't loose out in any way compared to the other races.

As a descendant of the Flinth family, he was naturally gifted in Sword Arts.

His comprehension ability was extraordinary due to his Innate Skill [Memory Film]

For eighteen years, despite possessing everything he needed, he was incapable of practicing Aura due to the Hourglass that Lucifer had put in him when he was a baby.

He had suffered ridicule from his pears, he had watched the disappointed expressions of the people close to him, and now, he had to suffer from assassination attempts due to his inability to participate in the Thousand Races Battleground.

But now, everything has changed.

As Lucas sat in front of the Hourglass, he circulated the energy of the universe inside his body, or rather, soul, according to the method passed down by his family.

Before, when he circulated his aura method, he wouldn't feel anything at all, as if he was completely incapable of refining Aura.

But now, it was different.

Lucas clearly felt the energy of the universe being refined into Aura inside his body, or rather, Soul.

However, just as he was close to finishing the refinement, the Hourglass in front of him started to shake, and with it, almost all the energy of the universe that he had refined was sucked out of his body and into the Hourglass.

The key words here are 'Almost all the energy.'

Lucas almost jumped with joy when he felt the small strand of energy located inside his soul.

He had successful refined Aura for the first time!

It was a ridiculously small strand of Aura, something that even the most untalented person would be capable of creating in less then a minute.

It was less then One Percent of what the [Dark Star Aura Art] should be capable of creating in one breath.

But it was enough.

As long as he was capable of refining Aura, he could slowly figure out a way to get stronger, and then, with his newfound strength, he could finally graduate from Hope Academy and go back home.

Barely suppressing his excitement, Lucas continued to circulate the [Dark Star Aura Art] his family left behind, and slowly started accumulating Aura inside his body.

...

How many hours had he passed sitting in front of the Hourglass and circulating his Aura?

He wasn't sure.

It was very difficult to judge time inside a place where everything was still, except for a broken Hourglass.

But eventually, he was forced to come to a stop.

The reason for this was...fatigue.

The more time one spent refining Aura, the more tired they would feel.

Normal people can only train for one or two hours a day before getting tired.

As for geniuses, most were capable of training for five hours straight, some even longer than that.

Lucas looked at the Hourglass, and, upon seeing that there was still quite a bit of time left until all the sand reaches the bottom, he decided to practice one of the movement techniques that the Academy provided to cadets.

Now that he was finally capable of using Aura, however miniscule the amount, Lucas really wanted to try out the sword art that his family was famous for.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a sword with him, making it impossible for Lucas to practice sword arts at the moment.

And so, because of that, he had to settle for a movement technique.

The movement technique in question is called [Flash Steps].

Officially classified as a 1st class movement technique by the Council, [Flash Steps] allows the user to experience an extreme burst of speed for a short amount of time, letting them appear in a place different from where they originally were, akin to a short distance teleport.

The pros and cons of this ability were extremely obvious.

With it, you can easily surprise your opponent with a sneak attack, or use it as an escape tool in order to run away from your opponent.

The downside is even simpler, the energy consumption is simply too great.

This resulted in the ability having amazing effects, but being too costly for use, hence, it was classified as a 1st class movement technique by the council.

It wasn't difficult for Lucas to perform the [Flash Steps] now that he could use Aura.

All one had to do was circulate their Aura in a specific way for [Flash Steps] to activate.

To begin with, his talent and comprehension were extremely good, therefore, it only took him a few tries to execute it correctly.

As Lucas finished getting familiar with the movement technique, he noticed that the last bit of sand inside the Hourglass was about to fall.

Letting curiosity get the better of him, Lucas took the Hourglass into his hands and watched as the last grain of sand fell to the bottom.

Just like last time, as if time was reversing, all the sand at the bottom started floating upwards, and once all the sand got transferred to the top, the sand started falling down again, signaling the start of another loop.

Except...Lucas wasn't kicked outside the Thought Space this time around.

This wasn't all.

Lucas now felt a clear connection between his physical body and his Soul, as if they were connected.

Now, as long as he wished for it, with just a single thought, he could travel back to his physical body which was grounded in reality, and into his Thought Space, which was located inside his Soul.

Lucas looked at the Hourglass in his hands, the more he found out about this Hourglass, the more questions he had about its origin.

Still, no matter how much he mulled over the wonders of the Hourglass, it wouldn't let him come up with answers, and so, he decided to put his attention on more pressing matters.

The most important decision he had to make right now was whether he should return to his physical body or stay in his Thought Space.

Even if he wanted to try out Sword Arts, even if he wanted to revenge against Alfred and Aubrey, he was simply too weak to do so right now.

Even if he included his newly obtained Aura, his [Time Stop] ability, and formations which he had no materials for, he would still be incapable of killing Alfred, who had the protection of Aubrey.

He didn't even know how powerful Aubrey was, however, as someone who holds the position of 'Head of Security' at hope academy, he has a very high chance of being a 6th Class Aura user.

Lucas's reasoning for this was very simple.

The head of a department was only below the Headmaster of the Academy when it comes to authority.

'Agnes Cortese' ,the Headmaster of Hope Academy, as well as a member of the Council, was a well known 7th class Mage hailing from the Vampire Race.

In a scenario where the strongest person in the Academy was a 7th class Mage, the chances of Aubrey, who held a lower position than the headmaster, being anything higher then a 6th class Aura user was incredibly low.

However, this meant absolutely nothing to the current Lucas, as he wasn't capable of contending against the strength of those monsters.

This meant that, if he wished to at the very least escape from Alfred and Aubrey, he would need sufficient strength in order to do that.

And, the Thought Space provided him with the perfect environment for growth, as long as he was willing to stay inside to practice.

Coming to this conclusion, Lucas decided on his next course of action.

He would first stay inside the Thought Space, refining his Aura with the [Dark Star Aura Art] and Practicing his [Flash Steps] in his spare time.

His goal was to reach absolute perfection in his [Flash Steps] and becoming a 2nd Class Aura user.

Executing a technique was a completely different matter to mastering it, if Lucas could master [Flash Steps] he would acquire a powerful weapon that could be used even in higher class fights.

As for becoming a 2nd Class Aura user, Lucas wasn't very confident in achieving this feat in a short amount of time.

In order to become a 1st Class Aura user, one needed to successfully refine their Aura/Mana.

As for achieving 2nd Class, the requirements for Aura and Mana start differing here.

For Aura Users, you need to be capable of doing two things.

First, you need to be capable of coating your entire body with the Aura you refined using your Circulation Technique.

This wasn't particularly difficult, at least for others.

For Lucas, the act of coating his entire body with Aura was pretty difficult, as he can only refine a small amount of Aura in a single day, thus it would take him a long time to gather enough of it to coat his entire body.

On the brighter side, once his body was permanently coated in his Aura, not only would his physical abilities increase drastically, his defenses would become much stronger in the process.

This was the main reason why Lucas avoided attacking Alfred when time was stopped by the hourglass.

Even if he used his full strength to attack Alfred, he would be incapable of breaking his defenses, despite Alfred not putting any effort what-so-ever in defending himself.

The second task one needed to accomplish was the act of enchanting your aura with an attribute.

The act of enchanting your Aura with an attribute is a very important moment in the life of an Aura user.

An Aura user can only enchant their Aura with one attribute, and once you do it, there is absolutely no way to change it for the rest of your life.

An attribute can take the form of anything, whether its an attribute related to strength, speed, defense, or something else entirely, it doesn't matter, if you can think of it, it had most likely already appeared a couple of times in the long history of the universe.

The most important thing is to choose an attribute that suits you the most.

Once you are capable of coating your body and have decided the attribute your Aura will possess, you will officially be classified as a 2nd Class Aura user by the Council.

As for Mana users, Lucas wasn't entirely sure on what conditions they needed to satisfy in order to advance to the 2nd Class.

There was nothing he could do about it, any information regarding the advancement of Class was strictly guarded by the Council.

Traditionally speaking, if Lucas wanted to get information regarding the 3rd Class, he would first have to become a 2nd Class Aura user, then he would have to complete a mission of a similar class in order to gain approval from the Council.

Only after he did all of this, would Lucas be privy to the information regarding the 3rd Aura Class.

This applied to everyone on Xanus, not just Lucas.

The higher the Class, the stricter the requirements one needed to satisfy in order to get the relevant information.

However, at least for now, Lucas had all the information he needs to get stronger, he would think of a way to obtain information on higher classes later.

Although he didn't realize it, Lucas had subconsciously started thinking that he would be staying inside the Time Loop for a very, very long time period of time.