A Lesson in Aura [2]

The lecture continued. Weiss explained why some Auras are colored when I asked him about it.

As Aura is stored in the soul, the color of an individual's soul seeps into and stains Aura. The color of the soul represents a person's personality, history, and experiences. Aura will change color when the Aura user's strength and proficiency reach a certain threshold.

I thought back to Weiss' Aura color. It was a deep shade of blood red. I don't need someone to tell me what that represents. Weiss has killed countless people, I'm sure of it. Just thinking about how he killed the intruders so casually sends chills up my spine.

I wondered what the color of my soul is like. Do my past life experiences influence it? Or is it just my experiences in my current life? In a way, I'm both excited and afraid at the thought of becoming stronger and knowing the color of my soul.

The next thing that Weiss taught me about Aura is stages.

As an Aura user becomes stronger, their Aura goes through a qualitative change.

The first stage is called the "Neophyte" stage. It's the stage where I'm currently at right now. This is the beginning stage of Aura users.

The Aura at this stage is colored white. An Aura user's capabilities in this stage are only body strengthening and weapon imbuing.

Body strengthening is pretty self-explanatory, but I'll explain it anyway in case there are dumb readers. It's the act of channeling the Aura stored in the soul into the various parts of the body to strengthen their capabilities—legs would run faster, fists would hit harder, eyes would see better, etc.

Channeling the energy through proper pathways like blood vessels increasing the efficiency of using Aura. When Aura is channeled efficiently more strength bestowed upon is to the user and less Aura energy is used up. It's quite clear from this that knowledge about the human body is a big advantage.

Weapon imbuing, on the other hand, is making Aura flow into a weapon you are wielding. By doing this, the characteristics of a weapon are enhanced. For example, swords will become sharper than normal. A skilled Aura user could even cut through steel like butter.

I haven't quite gotten the gist of weapon imbuing. I could do it briefly, for about 4 or 5 seconds, even then it's only by chance. Weiss said the trick was to think that the weapon is a part of one's body. I don't really understand what he means by that. Thinking that the weapon is an extension or part of one's body is a concept I encountered in many fictional works back in my previous world... but being able to do that is just impossible for the current me.

Well, Weiss said that learning weapon imbuing isn't really important right now. Learning how to survive is what's important. That was why most of the training with him so far is just teaching me how to dodge.

The second stage of Aura is called the "Chromatic" stage. This is the stage where the soul stains the Aura and gives it color. Aura users at this stage are already considered elite.

Aura users at the chromatic stage are capable of giving shape to their Aura. However, this all depends on an individual's own abilities. Some may be able to form complex shapes and can extend them far away from their body while some only able to form a simple stick and are unable to even extend them.

This ability sort of reminds me of a certain superhero with a glowing green ring, except chromatic stage users can't really make constructs of machines.

Cole, the guy that captured me, had a green Aura. I vividly remember how his Aura extended from his fingers and wrapped me like a mummy, preventing me from moving.

However, don't be fooled by the advantages of this ability. There have been quite a bunch of cases where neophyte stages were able to defeat those of the chromatic stage. At least that's what Weiss told me. He told me that a highly skilled neophyte stage user can defeat a chromatic stage user.

The stage of Aura doesn't determine everything. Everything boils down to skill and experience. Power is nothing if it is wielded by an idiot.

The third stage doesn't have a name because it's more of a sub-stage than a full one. In the 2nd stage, Aura users can control the shape of their Aura, which they can take advantage of to make complex attacks. The third stage is an extension of that ability.

The third stage allows a user to shoot Aura projectiles. It's not a big change compared to other stages, but because it allows a melee fighter—for example, a swordsman—to use ranged attacks gives a huge advantage in battle. That's the very reason why the third stage is even called the "third stage" even when it's a sub-stage.

The fourth stage is called the "Manifestation" stage. In this stage, an Aura user will be able to manifest an item, animal, or entity that represents them. These manifestations go beyond the shape manipulation ability of chromatic stage users.

When a chromatic stage user shapes their Aura into a sword, the Aura merely imitates the shape of a sword, it doesn't carry the fundamentals that make up a sword. While the Aura 'sword' imitates the sharpness of a sword, it doesn't have the weight, balance, and overall feel of a sword. In the end, it is merely an imitation shaped from one's Aura.

However, a manifestation stage user is different.

For example, let's say there's a manifestation stage knight. The knight has an item that represents them instead of an animal, and it would be a sword as this knight has trained with the sword their entire life.

When this knight manifests a sword, their Aura truly becomes a sword. It's not a simple imitation of what chromatic stage users can do.

Now this might be underwhelming for some, but a sword manifested from Aura is far more powerful than a high-quality sword.

It also means that the knight will always have a backup weapon if needed be as long as they have sufficient Aura to manifest a sword.

It is the same thing with manifestation stage users that have animals instead of items. Their Aura transforms into a loyal animal servant that can think and judge for themselves.

Last but not least, the legendary "Supreme" stage. Very few have ever reached this. The number of supreme stage users in the continent could be counted by one hand. Most prominent of them is the Emperor of the Lumen Empire. The name sound familiar, well it should be. The empire is the one that established the lumen currency that's widely being used all throughout the continent.

Not much is known about Supremes. There were only few records of past Supremes using their full power. One supreme was said to have merged with his manifestation animal and became a half-man/half-beast. There's also one that was said to have summoned hundreds upon hundred of various Aura weapons that fell toward their enemies—as if the sky itself was punishing them by raining down weapons.

"That's everything for now about Aura. Any questions?" Weiss said as be put away the chalkboard he previously pulled out from his storage pouch.

I started to think hard about what to ask. In the end, there was only one thing that could satisfy me, and it was...

"What stage are you at?" The desire to know what stage this fearsome old man is made me itch.

However, I only got disappointment after hearing Weiss' answer.

"Guess." Weiss said while smirking.

Why did I even expect a proper answer from him?...

What made me think he was similar to grandpa when I first saw him?! HE'S NOTHING LIKE GRANDPA!!!