Fighting Club (3)

"Unbelievable… The fight ended quickly! After a mere twenty-four seconds, three blows, the winner is Sir Sigmore!!" Clifford announced.

"Unbelievable my ass," Dimon grumbled. "We all knew it would end like this."

The agent clicked his tongue in anger.

Theo remained perplexed, fundamentally trying to understand what had happened in the confrontation. Being far away, he couldn't easily see all the actions.

Having recently awakened his essence, Theo managed to see a divergent behavior in Sigmore's aura. In fact, what surprised him most was seeing that Sigmore had an aura at all.

Looking at his own hand, Theo could see a thin layer of red energy highlighting his chakra veins: his essence, the first and weakest form of an aura. However, looking at Sigmore, Theo could notice not just any aura, but something that deviated from the standard.

Normally, the standard aura clings to the chakra veins, exuding through the skin and highlighting all the cores of a deviant. However, in Sigmore, just like in Luanne, the essence escapes beyond the physical domain.

As for the color of Sigmore's aura, it's one of the three intermediate stages: yellow, the aura of the mind and intuition.

"It's beautiful…" he thought, referring to Sigmore's aura.

"The sub-lieutenant is exaggerating, isn't he?" Heimdr commented sarcastically, referring to the general commotion.

Sigmore was already beside them; Theo hadn't noticed because he was trying to understand what had really happened.

"Very," Sigmore retorted.

The two agents exchanged a high-five.

"His presence has increased…" Ivan felt intimidated. "Why is Theo so agitated? Can he see something I'm not seeing?"

"What did you do…" Theo began. "What technique is that?"

Dimon, Sigmore, and Heimdr looked at Theo, frowning and perplexed. Sigmore knew that, even though Theo was new, he had already started the essence process, since they had met just yesterday. However, what impressed Sigmore was the fact that Theo could already perceive his aura.

"For a moment, I had forgotten that you recently awakened your essence…" Sigmore commented. "Well, anyway, this is a grade five technique."

Releasing his aura throughout his body, Sigmore exuded an enormous amount of ki, the energy that creates our souls, and of course, auras as well.

"Dimon, give me a light punch," Sigmore ordered.

Standing in front of Sigmore, Dimon threw a punch without force or speed at his squad leader's chest. With his left hand, Sigmore repeated his subordinate's movement.

"Got it?"

Theo's eyes widened as he processed what had happened.

"Do it again, I have doubts," Theo asked.

Repeating the same movement, Theo analyzed every detail and understood how it worked.

"We've been informed that Sub-lieutenant Cassidy will be fine. Therefore, the third round of the day will begin!" Clifford announced.

"I get it!" Theo exclaimed. "The instant that guy's energy came into contact with your aura, it reacted to the attack. Am I right?"

"You got the basic principle right," Sigmore said. "It's an action-reaction effect, but there's also attraction and repulsion. In fact, there are hundreds, but these are the main techniques. The moment an energy different from yours comes into contact with your aura, it will react to the action on its own, without any effort from you. The only problem with the technique I use is that I can only counter-attack blows that are within my strength. That is, if someone is stronger than me, the counter-attack won't work."

"It works like a reflector…" Theo thought.

"If you didn't understand, study the law of the three energy charges, and you'll understand how it works."

"Theo, try not to strain yourself," Heimdr said, putting a bandage on Theo's burn. "I need you to keep this bandage on for the next two days. It won't be possible to heal the scar, but it will prevent blisters and further damage. As for you, Ivan, you just need to apply this gel to the impact area, and you'll be fine. I'll write down the name of where you can buy it."

"Thank you," Ivan said gratefully.

"Theo, I have a tip," Sigmore said, calling Theo over.

They both walked outside the fighting club, onto the sidewalk in front of Fulmenbour's commercial area. Touching Theo's uninjured shoulder, Sigmore commented:

"My tip is: train your essence to the maximum. If you train it correctly, you'll be able to heal yourself and nullify pain more easily."

"The essence has that capability?" Theo inquired.

"Yes. You just need to focus on the goal, and everything is possible. I would even recommend that you fight more times today, but with that burn…"

"I'll come back when I'm well, and I'll fight you."

"Are you sure?"

Nodding yes, Theo added, "I want to understand that aura technique. I need to understand how it works to defeat someone."

"Got it, got it. So, I have something to ask of you…" Seeing Ivan and Heimdr leave the club, Sigmore dismissed what he was going to say. "Focus on the scar, just like I said."

"Right…" Theo replied, suspicious.

In the distance, Heimdr pointed to a pharmacy and gave Ivan some information. The boy nodded, agreeing with the healer's words and thanking him with a slight bow.

"Theo, shall we go?" Ivan exclaimed, followed by a question.

"See you later, Lumen," Sigmore said goodbye.

"Later, grade five agent! Where are we going now?" he exclaimed to Sigmore, then whispered to Ivan.

"To buy what Sir Heimdr told me to. After that, where will you go?"

"To rest, again. Sir Sigmore's recommendation."

Ivan shook his head before turning towards the commercial street.

⚔

Vulcanus Workshop, Aiden's Forge

Antony stared at himself in a mirror, covered in a leather apron. With a mask in his hands, he sighed deeply.

"Alright, Tony. This is where you wanted to come, so this is where you'll be. Just breathe and work…" he thought.

Turning around, Antony faced a wooden door and looked nervous before opening it.

"Come on, princess." Aiden's hoarse voice called from outside.

Antony opened the door and left the small room he was in. Upon opening the door, he was faced with a huge factory, with conveyor belts carrying pieces of metal everywhere.

"Follow me. We have swords to make."

Following the dwarf king, Antony bumped into other blacksmiths along the way. Each one performing their functions in their respective places, working in immense harmony. However, their gazes seemed to prick Antony's ego.

"For whom, exactly? Can I have access to that information?" he stammered.

"For the students. Your brothers ordered weapons for House Windsor, however, William also came with a letter from the four great orders. The general directors ordered weapons of the same level for the competitions that will take place in five months."

"So… weak weapons?"

"Not exactly. They ordered strong weapons, but blunted, so they don't kill each other in the fights. They asked for at least three hundred blades."

"Three hundred?!" It sounded cold.

"Don't worry. According to what you've shown, you'll be able to help me with this easily. You said you can deliver pure metal to the forge, right?"

"Yes, sir!"

Aiden stopped in front of a tempering furnace, already lit and with all the necessary tools on a table.

"I'll start by teaching you how to forge a weapon manually. Even though you can create perfect weapons, there's still a flaw. Can you tell me what it is?"

"It's an enchantment. And it's impossible to put one enchantment over another. That is, it's not possible to create a mythical sword using my already prepared weapons."

"Exactly. However, your generation of ore is not an enchantment. Therefore, we will create weapons with the ore you can provide, after that, we will go to a sorcerer to enchant the weapons with a spell that doesn't inflict damage. Understood? Now, let's get to work."

"Spontaneous creation," Antony conjured, extending both open hands towards the forge table.

A huge piece of steel, without a specific shape, took form from the mana that escaped Antony's hands.

"Isn't that an enchantment?" Aiden inquired.

"No. It was just a spell to release the element in my core. Enchantments give a property to… Wait, the two seem to be the same thing…"

"We better get our hands dirty. I'm not going to pretend to be interested in how deviants use energy."

Aiden took the piece of iron to the tempering furnace and after a while took it out, placing it on an anvil.

"Hit it with the hammer," the dwarf king ordered.

Manually, Antony picked up a forging hammer and began to hammer the heated iron. Hammering until the steel cooled, Antony returned the ore to the furnace and repeated the same process several and countless times.

After a few hours in the same process, Antony was exhausted, not from fatigue, after all, this was just an exercise for his body. However, repeating the same thing for hours became tedious for the boy.

Giving himself a moment to breathe, Antony sat down on a rectangular stone. Placing the hammer under a table and throwing a cloth over his shoulders. Seeking saliva to quench his thirst, he stared at the dwarves' machines.

It looked like a true industrial revolution. Manual labor was being replaced by machines, intriguing Antony.

"Did I give orders to rest?" Aiden inquired, wiping sweat from his face.

"Sorry. But… Why do only the dwarves have these machines? Wouldn't a fully motorized world be more useful?"

Aiden sighed, wiping his face. The patriarch went over to Antony, envisioning the same vision as the Windsor heir.

"You humans had that chance. Ten years ago, you tried a technological evolution, but it ended in the catastrophe it became. I don't blame you, after all, it was a terrorist attack disguised as a failure. Little by little, you are returning to your technological era."

He tried to stretch, cracking his spine, shoulders, and neck.

"But you will return to being what you should be. The most evolved race, the most powerful… That's why you are so feared."

"Humans? Why? If there are so many superior races…" Antony retorted, but was cut off by his mentor.

"Humans are not chosen. Contrary to what you believe, you don't have a savior because you are chosen, but rather because you need that protection. You are a young race, but the only truly mortal one. And because you are mortal, you possess the gift of evolution. The power to reach podiums that no elf or fairy would ever reach… That's why the gods look at you so much."

"So… we can evolve infinitely? Is that what you're claiming?"

"You learn quickly. I wanted you to learn that time passes, and swords don't forge themselves." Aiden pulled the cloth on Antony's shoulder and flicked it against his apprentice. "Come on! Get your royal behind off there! Work, boy!"

"I finished one…"

"One is not three hundred. Act!"

Yawning and stretching his back, Antony stared at the hammer one last time before returning to forging. He stayed in this work for the next few months.