The sun's light shone through the window blinds in Luis's room as he woke up. Luis's room was on the second floor as were all the other rooms in the house. There were four rooms on the second floor: one for his parents, one for his two siblings shared, and one room in the corner of the floor that Luis had.
The room was one hundred thirty square feet, with one bed along the wall opposite the window. There was a desk under the window for natural light. The closet was built into the wall beside Luis's bed on the window side. Next to the window, there was a small vault where Luis kept his training gear and the daggers he was given by Aunt Sera for training. Luis had the smallest room on the floor, but it was cozy for him, so he didn't mind. There also was an attic that had stairs going to it from the second floor.
There was a toilet and bathroom on each floor as well. After Luis washed and brushed his teeth he went to the first floor. Where he saw his dad eating an apple. After seeing Luis, Noah tossed him an apple which he caught.
"Morning, Luis. Here, eat this while we head to the training place out in the forest today."
"Morning, Papa. I need some water first,"
Luis said while rubbing his eyes.
The clearing was quiet today as Luis sat cross-legged on a mat. Kael and Lira only trained once every other day, which made the sound of their usual chatter absent today.
Luis started by focusing on his aura. He didn't need to concentrate when looking at it because when you make new cores and stabilize them, they stay like that. He channeled the aura from his cores, his brows raising in frustration.
"I'm stuck,"
Luis admitted, breaking the silence.
"I can't split my cores into halves and form two new cores. Every time I try, they just break apart and form back into two cores. I can't keep them stable. I remember splitting my core into another one before, but I can't quite remember how much it increased by."
Noah stepped closer, intently watching Luis as he channeled his aura.
"It's normal to struggle. When cores split into two new cores, the sizes of the new cores are 1.5x bigger, which is what makes it even harder to stabilize them."
Luis looked up, surprised.
"1.5x? I thought it was less. No wonder it feels harder to control and stabilize the new cores."
Noah nodded thoughtfully.
"The current issue is just related to control. Right now, you can channel aura into two of your limbs while moving fluidly. If you can increase that number to three or four, you'll be able to improve the control of your aura when trying to split your cores. For now, try to always imbue your aura into one of your arms throughout the entire day and increase the count as you go on."
Luis exhaled and nodded.
"I'll try my best."
After the training session, Luis joined his mother and younger siblings for breakfast. They still looked sleepy but also excited.
"What's got you excited?"
Luis asked as he gazed at them.
"We're learning about how blessings are inherited today,"
Kael responded in an excited tone.
"Oh, I remember that. It's a lot of information, but it's still pretty fascinating."
Lira tilted her head.
"Is it complicated?"
Luis chuckled.
"No, it's not complicated. It's just a lot of information you have to remember. I can tell you guys the basics right now because it's better than instantly learning everything. Well, if you want."
"Tell us!" Kael said in an excited voice.
Lira nodded. "I want to know too!"
"Well, you know usually everyone is born with one blessing, but there are very small, rare cases like Lira. That's because whenever a person gets a new core from their lineage, a blessing takes root in it. A person has one month to decide if they want to keep it. Sadly, it isn't that simple. In the one-month time, the only way to not keep the blessing is to receive a blessing from a creature. This gets complicated when you get multiple cores at once when reaching a new aura tier because you'll need to get multiple creature blessings in a month and have to make sure they actually give you the blessing for the month. If they decide to take it away before it's been a month since your new core formed, that core will take a blessing from your lineage. The complicated part is that the blessing is completely random. There's more, but that's the basic stuff you'll need to know to better understand today's class."
Kael's eyes widened.
"So blessings are just randomly chosen from our lineage? What if we don't like them? What if they're not good?"
Luis nodded.
"Yeah, that's why it's important to decide what you're gonna do and why you should rely more on your aura control than just blessings. It's just a risk you have to live with. Well, there are some ways to get rid of elemental blessings. The explanation's too long, so you can just learn in class today."
Lira asked in a curious tone,
"I got my blessings from the deity, but why did we risk Kael getting a random blessing?"
Kael responded in shock.
"That's true! Why didn't I get a different blessing in case it was bad?!"
Instead of Luis responding, Elena answered while wiping her face with a cloth.
"Kael, your blessings were going to be fine. We are from the clan, as we've told you. Our blessings are mostly made to support each other, and you know when we said you are a proxy, that means you have a higher chance of getting a better blessing because of our clan deity."
Kael sighed in relief.
"Oh, I don't have to worry that much about bad blessings."
Noah responded in a strict tone.
"For now, you don't. But don't forget, both of you, you're not allowed to talk about being in the clan. Well, the Xolit Clan seal won't let you, but still, don't even think about telling other people."
Kael responded in a casual tone,
"I can't even talk about that, the thing doesn't let me."
"That's good," Elena responded.
As breakfast finished, Luis grabbed his bag and got ready to head off to class. He was excited because he would learn about different aura breathing techniques.
The school was located in the middle of the village. It was the only school in the region that taught children from all five villages. The school was a modest two-story building. It had eight classrooms, each teaching students from three age groups. Each class had only one teacher who taught everything.
Luis's classroom was on the second floor, where older students in their teens studied. Luis sat in the middle of the classroom between two of his friends while the teacher, Eldrin, started the class.
"Good morning, everyone. For today's class, we are going to learn more about aura control and development,"
Eldrin said as he started taking out circular objects from a box and handing them out.
"As you already know, there are two main methods of increasing aura: physical and breathing—or as some say, meditating. Today, we will learn about some more techniques for each method."
Luis sat between two classmates, Taran, a boy from a neighboring village with black hair and fair skin, and Aelina, who was taller than both Luis and Taran. Aelina's blonde hair seemed to catch the sunlight coming from the window. Her hair had been red when she was born, but a Xoliti Clan blessing temporarily changed it so she wouldn't be seen as someone from the Phoenix Clan.
Taran leaned over, whispering,
"Feels like this is gonna be boring again."
Luis smirked and fiddled with the circular device placed on his desk.
"Maybe, but this looks interesting."
The teacher stopped at the front of the class after giving out the circular objects.
"Before we start, let me remind you why we focus so much on aura and aura control in classes. Back when humans were slaves to strong beasts, we focused on it to grow free from them. However, now it is to grow stronger than other humans. Unlike most other kingdoms and empires, our kingdom, Altheris, focuses more on aura and aura control than education. Why do you think that is?"
A student in the front row raised his hand and answered,
"Isn't it because our kingdom is weaker compared to our neighbors?"
Eldrin nodded.
"Yes. To be more precise, it is because we don't have any strong clans. We have a bunch of weak clans and one strong high-tier creature clan. To combat our neighbors, who have multiple strong clans, we focus on aura. Aura can equalize our power and give us a chance at survival."
A few seconds after the class fell silent under the weight of his words, Eldrin softened his tone and changed topics, picking up the item on his desk. It was a flat circular object with branching lines etched on its surface, resembling a spiderweb but more intricate.
"This,"
he explained while lifting it up,
"is called an Aura Conduit Disk. It's a tool used to improve aura control. When imbued with aura, it lights up because it is made out of a tree that reacts to aura. The goal is to only light up specific parts of the branches and not light up other parts. If your control is better, you can light up multiple different parts that don't touch each other. Beyond that, you can start moving the aura through it. You can imbue small dots of aura and move them across the branches separately without touching each other. Add more dots, and the stronger your control is."
"This not only improves your aura control but also enhances your ability to sense aura from your surroundings. This is an item most aura users have."
He set the disk back down on the desk and continued,
"You can practice with it at home. For now, we're going to learn about another method to train aura—training in aura-rich environments. These places allow you to absorb aura faster, which is useful when advancing to a higher tier. When you split your cores to reach a new tier, you typically lose thirty five percent of your aura reserves even though your aura capacity increases."
After pausing, he added,
"Luis, you reached the Adept tier recently, right? How much aura reserves did you lose when splitting your core?"
Luis straightened in his seat.
"I lost about thirty percent."
Teacher Eldrin nodded approvingly.
"That is better than average. Minimal aura loss is also a sign of a skilled aura user. Staying in aura-rich environments, meditating, visualization, and elemental exposure are all ways to replenish aura faster. We'll learn more about the latter in future classes."
Then the rest of the class focused on learning how to imbue aura into the disk. After the class ended and everyone was packing up their things, Luis, Taran, and Aelina were conversing.
"So the training with your dad helped you reach the Adept tier. What blessing did you get, Luis? Is it anything cool? Your first one is already cool—you can move aura through your body faster—but what about your second one?"
Luis hesitated for half a second.
"I got a baby rock golem blessing. It's like leather armor, but slightly weaker."
"Oh, that's lucky. I wish my second one was cool like a defensive one. My first blessing just lets me make the air as strong as a hand fan only. It's the weakest elemental blessing I've ever seen anyone have. I wish I got something cool like yours."
Aelina joined in.
"Yeah, Luis. Both your blessings are pretty cool."
Luis smiled.
"Yours are also pretty cool, Taran. Whenever it's really hot, I wish I had your blessing. Or your elemental resistance one, Aelina. Not feeling the heat or cold on really hot or cold days sounds nice."
Taran stretched after putting on his bag.
"I can't believe how much your dad has taught you. Everyone says he was a soldier from another kingdom. Your dad married your mom and moved here so they could teach their kids more about aura. No wonder you're ahead of everyone else."
Luis shrugged as they started to walk out of the class, with Taran a few steps ahead. "Yeah, I guess."
Aelina leaned closer, whispering to Luis, "Surprised you didn't stutter while lying. I didn't think you'd get better at it."
Luis replied with a faint smile.
"So are you. I don't even know what your actual second blessing is."
"Well, I can't just say it in public places," Aelina whispered.
As Aelina and Luis lingered back while talking, Taran shouted,
"What are you guys talking about? Hurry up!"
Luis responded,
"You're walking too fast. Slow down for us!"