Chapter 17 - Learning About Aura And Mana (Part One)

The door opened and Leon was standing behind the door. "Come in", he said and allowed Lucas to enter inside. "What would you like to have?", he asked. Lucas looked around and was amused. "This isn't your room?", he asked in a confused tone.

Leon looked at him and smiled. "Your dad gave me this as a retirement reward", he said cheekily. "Retirement? Master, are you leaving?', he asked, a little heartbroken. Leon nodded his head sideways. "What nonsense is that? I am not leaving this place. It's very comfortable, and I don't want to weather myself in this old age. Look at this frail body", he said.

"Frail body my ass! You just want to laze around", thought Lucas. Ever since he began to train with his master, never once could he best him. Not even with his high intelligence. He smiled at him and began to look around the room.

The room was a bit larger than an average master bedroom. The ceiling was also a little bit high, but not very high to call it a high ceiling. One can jump around and spar in this very room without any hindrance. There was a fireplace, and the walls were creamy yellow. The ceiling was white, and there was a large window overlooking the forests. A single bed was by the window, and the white blinds were fluttering in the wind. A small tea table was in front of the fireplace, and there were two plush chairs opposite each other.

On the other corner of the room, opposite the bed, there was a wooden cupboard. There were teacups and some wine glasses in them. The next cupboard had exquisite wine bottles stored in them, and Lucas looked at them with interest. "Not yet, Lucas. You can't drink yet. Although you have reached the age of drinking some time ago, you have not mastered Aura. And if you get drunk, you can get killed easily", said Leon.

"Yeah, that's true", he thought. "If one had mastered Aura, one can dispel the drowsiness that comes along with drinking alcohol. But without Aura, one will get drunk easily, and if you were someone's target, getting killed becomes easy", he reminded himself. Leon looked at him and smiled. "Here's your tea", he said as he placed a cup on the tea table. He then motioned for Lucas to sit in front of him.

"So, what did you want to talk about?", he asked. Lucas looked around to make sure there was no one listening to them. "Don't worry, I have erected a sound barrier with my Mana. No one will be able to hear what we talk about", he smiled. Lucas nodded his head and began his questions.

"You must know about 'that' thing which is with me, right? According to it, I haven't yet gained complete mastery over anything other than hand-to-hand combat arts. Everything is stuck at a certain number, but I feel that there is no more to learn regarding the subject. So what is wrong, master?", he asked. Leon smiled.

"I think it is time that I teach you about the workings of Aura and Mana. Their principles and properties, and how to reach the highest potential in each of them. I heard that you got a limit breaker potion. Is that correct?', he asked. Lucas nodded his head.

"Don't consume it, not yet. If you consume it now, the most you will get is a 70 point increase. Unless you have mastered Aura to the D Class, don't take it. What's your class now?", he asked. "F Class", Lucas said in a low voice. Leon nodded his head.

"That's understandable. You have just awakened it, and you haven't found a way to even use it properly. To understand this, you must learn the properties of Aura", he said and began his explanation.

"Aura is something which every human being has in their bodies. The Earth that you know now has everyone using either Mana or Aura. But before 'The Incident' that changed the Earth, not many people could use them", he said. Lucas nodded his head. He knew the history of how the Earth changed.

Back in the mid 21st century, the advancements of technology were increasing rapidly. The world as we know was changing every day. That was until an asteroid with weird markings hit the Earth, and the technology that was available at that time couldn't deduce what they were.

There were a total of fifteen asteroids that hit the Earth at that time. The weirdest thing was the asteroids didn't stop after they made a crater. A month after the crash, they began to move into the earth, burrowing deeper. The countries that were hit were Japan, South Korea, Africa, The Middle East, China, United States, Russia, Germany, India, United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, and Greenland.

The asteroids had markings covering them, and they were as large as a city. After the crash, the people who were close to the asteroids began to feel some changes, and those were the magicians that were born due to the changes. The magicians that were present on Earth, before the crash, used this opportunity to further enhance their understanding of magic.

The animals that were living near the asteroids slowly began to evolve, changing them into Monster Beasts. The ratio of development of the beasts was five times faster than humans. The Earth soon was overrun by Monster Beasts and the people who had the power to stop it created a territory in which the humans could live. After a few years, the beasts began to move away from the shelters of the humans and began to create their territories.

The territories that were left behind by the beasts were overtaken by humans, and they settled down. The Kingdoms began to form, and the first settlement that was ever formed was called the Empire in each country. There were a few empires in each country. Country Alexandria, previously known as the United Kingdom, had a total of Seven Empires. The Heart Kingdom was under the order of the Seventh Empire, Dragon Empire.

A month after the asteroids began to burrow deeper, Earth slowly began to see changes in its atmosphere. The Mana levels began to increase, making it suitable for people to become magicians easier. Some people began to wield Aura, but they didn't understand the principles.

A few days later, there was a tremendous earthquake, shaking the Earth as a whole. People became scared and thought that Earth was going to be destroyed. Many people panicked, making the situation worse. The scientists that were watching the asteroids movements were taken aback at what was happening during the earthquake.

The scientists who monitored the movements of the asteroids released a report. It said that there would be fourteen more tremors like that day. The reason was that the asteroids, had begun to merge into the core of the Earth, and the fusing was what made Mana and Aura get denser in the atmosphere.

Many miracles happened. The once damaged Ozone layer slowly began to repair itself. The harmful gases that automobiles released were being cleansed from the air. The herbal plant's properties were more potent. These were a few of the changes that happened.

After all fifteen of the asteroids merged with the core, which took two whole years, people slowly began to get used to the changes. And technology took a new leap into the future. Nobody knew why the asteroids had come to Earth. But all the people believed that without those asteroids, Earth would have gone extinct by the end of the 21st century.

Lucas recalled the history that he was taught. "Now it is the 23rd century. It still amazes me every time that I think about it. Mother Nature repairing herself, it's like Regeneration magic", he thought. Leon watched him as he went back into his thought. He coughed slightly, breaking his thoughts and bringing his concentration back to the main topic at hand.

"As I said, Aura and Mana were used by people even before the changes occurred. They were often to referred to as Wizards, for Mana users, and Cultivators, for Aura users. Wizards were prominent around Former Alexandria, United Kingdom. And the Cultivators were prominent around Former Kun Lun, China", he said.

"The way we use Aura is different from them. They can even use Aura to project attacks, just like Mana. We have not reached that level of mastery as the techniques for that have not been divulged to most people. But if you do meet someone willing to teach you how, don't hesitate to learn", he said. Lucas nodded his head.

"Aura has five stages. Stage One is to make the Aura move through your entire nervous system at once. After you master Stage One, the way your body responds will be quicker, and you can be more efficient in combat. Stage Two will be to inject the Aura into your muscles. The Aura will slowly begin to shape your muscles, and as you have trained them diligently every day, the process is going to be less painful for you", he paused. Lucas took in everything diligently.

"Stage Three will be to reconstruct your bones. Your current bone strength can at most defeat an Intermediate level Beast. If you complete the first two stages, you can go toe-to-toe with an Advanced level Beast without beginning the third stage. This stage will be the longest and painful process. Do only one bone at a time.. Do not attempt to do it all at the same time", he warned sternly.