Chapter 32. Aura Unlocking Method
Aura is originally a privilege of knights that naturally opens when the body or skills reach a certain level. However, Lesta opened his aura in an unusual way—with the help of a magician… or so I saw in a character event.
I’m going to learn that unlocking method and use it to unlock Reina’s aura.
If I do that, the chance of Reina dying suddenly will be almost zero.
“By the way, you said you’d teach me, but where did you hear about such a thing? Are you some kind of dragon or something?”
The “dragon” he meant wasn’t a beast-type magic monster but a servant of the Holy Dragon, the origin of the Azerum Empire.
After the Holy Dragon died, his will continued through these dragons who blend into the world’s cracks, sensing and blocking threats. Because of this legend, within the empire, calling someone “like a dragon” meant “someone who knows a lot of secrets.”
“If that were true, I would’ve used divine power, not magic. I just picked it up randomly while living like a wild guy.”
“Well, it’s complicated, but it’s something you can learn if you want.”
Then Lesta muttered with a serious expression,
“Maybe I should’ve lived as a wild guy instead of being lazy…”
Can you really choose between being lazy and being wild…? Some people were forced to be wild guys—guess that’s more comfortable.
“Anyway, hurry up and teach me.”
“I’ll teach you, no need to rush.”
Lesta rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a long nail and a potion.
“Drink this first. If you don’t, you’ll die.”
[Item]
Name: Top-Grade Continuous Recovery Potion
Grade: Heroic
Type: Recovery Potion
Description: A potion refined from the finest herbs and mana extracted from magic beasts. It restores the drinker’s body over time.
Duration: 10 minutes
“What the hell are you planning to do that might kill someone?! And what’s with that nail?!”
“Well…”
Lesta paused to gather his thoughts, then gave a shocking answer.
“I’m going to drive the nail into your body after you drink the potion to use ‘Aura Break.’ After that, I’ll take care of the healing… I’m too lazy to explain the process, can’t you just figure it out yourself?”
“Can I?! And what did you say you’re going to use?”
“Aura Break.”
You lunatic, I’m not asking because I didn’t hear you!
Aura Break is a technique that sends aura flowing inside the body to destroy the opponent from within. If done wrong, it can kill.
“And you’re talking so easily after nearly dying from Aura Break yourself!”
“Oh, you know that too? Yeah, but after getting hit a few times, it’s doable.”
For a moment, I wanted to go back and punch past me who thought of learning aura unlocking from this weirdo.
Thinking I could have a normal interaction with this abnormal person was way too naive.
As I hesitated, Lesta smiled and asked,
“If you don’t trust me or don’t want to, you don’t have to do it. You’re just the one who’ll regret it.”
Annoyingly, he wasn’t wrong.
“Can you at least promise to keep me intact?”
“Well, if I don’t fall asleep and you don’t pass out, there won’t be a problem.”
Saying he might fall asleep in a life-or-death situation—well, that’s Lesta for you…
I have to take Aura Break, a pain so severe that even the strong assassin screamed after one hit.
But if my pain makes Reina stronger, I’ll endure it.
I’ve pushed my body hard enough before.
Plus, if I learn how to heal Aura Break, I can let Ridipin shoot arrows more freely and comfortably.
Also, if I die, Lesta loses the one person who can reveal the truth behind the incident, so he’ll probably do his best to save me.
Taking a deep breath, I gulped down the potion Lesta handed me.
“Alright, let’s do this!”
“You’re trembling like crazy but your voice is loud.”
But I’m scared!
Lesta smirked and sent aura flowing into the nail.
The aura enveloping the nail slowly concentrated on the pointed tip.
He replicated Ridipin’s specialty: long-distance Aura Break.
“I can’t pour as much as I took, but this should be enough to unlock your aura.”
Then he threw the nail into the palm of my right hand.
“Ugh!”
The condensed aura immediately began spreading through my body.
Like a kid running wild at the playground, the aura rampaged freely inside me, and the agonizing pain blurred my consciousness.
Then Lesta kicked my abdomen to wake me up.
“Snap out of it. The aura is spreading and opening a path inside your body. Bear it for a while.”
Bear this for a while? I can’t even stand a moment!
The excruciating pain mercilessly hit my mind.
Pain seeped into every joint, and even a slight move felt like the aura would burst through my skin, but the top-grade potion’s effect blocked the aura somewhat.
After the unbearable pain surged, Lesta placed his hand on my body.
“Move your mana. The aura isn’t just rampaging—it’s clashing with your mana.”
Easier said than done!
I wanted to grab Lesta by the collar and slam him to the ground, but since he was trying to help, the aura’s resistance lessened a little.
I focused on my mana.
Tracing the mana channels slowly, I felt the aura tangled and fighting inside.
As he said, the mana and aura were colliding.
I carefully grabbed the mana and pulled it with both hands. The aura followed, and the pain in my arms worsened so much I couldn’t think of a magic circle.
So I gave up on magic and focused on circulating mana. The aura circulated with it, and the whole body ached intensely.
I felt like I might faint again…
When I tried to gather mana to cast magic, Lesta stopped me.
“No, what you’re doing is right.”
Circulating mana is the way?!
Noticing my doubt, he explained:
“The aura invading your body is trying to circulate and take over your body like mine did. Your mana is fighting back to keep its place. So balance them out.”
I see.
Even in pain, I understood the principle behind aura and mana actions. Now I had a clue what to do.
Don’t resist. The more they fight, the more my body suffers.
So circulate mana to neutralize the aura.
The pain was terrible at first, but as I kept circulating mana, its flow sped up, and the chasing aura started getting pushed back.
Outside, Lesta held the aura, increasing the speed difference.
The longer the circulation went on, the weaker the aura’s influence became, and slowly the balance between aura and mana was achieved.
As the pain gradually eased, I understood Lesta’s aura unlocking method.
The normal way to unlock aura is when the body or skills reach a certain level, opening the aura paths, or energy channels. Like how magicians use mana channels to cast spells, knights use aura paths to use techniques.
But Lesta forced open the path using the trick called Aura Break.
Is there anything more brute force than this?
While controlling mana and aura, I realized something.
Aura and mana—these two energies are different but work the same way.
Aura using the same paths as mana proved it.
Until now, I thought only special types like magic swordsmen who handle both could combine the two, but maybe mana could be used like aura.
That means aura could be made like mana, too.
Based on that hypothesis, I collided mana against aura and shattered it finely. Circulating the broken pieces made the slight remaining pain vanish completely.
I never thought this would really work…
Half surprised, half joyful, I was stunned when Lesta gathered the aura inside me like iron filings to the nail in his hand and pulled it out with the nail.
“Hah… ha…”
I collapsed from the overwhelming exhaustion, and Lesta examined the aura clump he pulled out.
“You were trembling pretending to be bad at it, but you’ve actually done this a few times, huh?”
“No way… If I could, I wouldn’t have asked you for help.”
“Ha ha. Fair enough. But seeing this neutralized aura, it’s clear you’ve done it more than once.”
He absorbed the aura clump in his hand and said,
“I thought you’d definitely pass out once.”
“You said passing out means death, so you thought I’d die?”
“The death thing was a lie. I can operate aura even in corpses. Whether you pass out or your body rips apart, I can handle it. The riskiest thing was me dozing off.”
That guy…!
Still, at least I was relieved he didn’t want to kill me.
“But after only one try, you wouldn’t have gotten the feel of it. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I got the gist. No need to keep going.”
“Not just whining because it hurts?”
“If you don’t believe me, try it again.”
“Then…!”
Lesta focused aura on the nail again and threw it into my right hand.
“Agh! You hit the same place!”
“If you don’t concentrate, you might die, you know?”
“Yeah, sure.”
I waited again for the aura to swirl through my body, then circulated mana to neutralize it.
But this time it didn’t go as smoothly. The aura chased mana at an abnormal speed and the pain worsened.
What’s going on? Was my theory wrong?
Then Lesta grinned at me.
“How’s that? Earlier I helped, so it was possible. Without me, it doesn’t work well, right?”
There’s a saying you can’t spit on a smiling face? Right now, I wanted to spit a bucket of saliva on his.
Without someone outside holding the aura like Lesta did earlier, it seems neutralizing it alone is impossible.
“This time, don’t focus on mana, focus on aura.”
“What about mana?”
“Mana circulates naturally without your help. This time, I’ll teach you how to dismantle Aura Break on your own, though it’ll take some time.”
I was still dissatisfied but it seemed like he’d teach properly, so I followed his instructions.
Normally, you can’t manipulate someone else’s aura, but since it’s inside my body, I could interfere with Lesta’s aura.
Using mana, I grabbed the aura, and another mana circulated to slowly break it down.
Once the aura weakened enough, the pain disappeared.
Then I gathered the aura with mana and used [Fire].
The mana and aura were drawn out and scattered.
Lesta clapped in appreciation.
“Oh, you’re good on your own now. But why are you learning aura unlocking? It’s meaningless since magicians can never use aura.”
“Why tell me that now?!”
If I wasn’t learning for Reina, it meant all this hardship was pointless!
“I thought if you asked me to teach, you’d have figured that out. I assumed you wanted to use it on someone else.”
“Glad to hear there was no ill will…!”
“So, who do you plan to use it on?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Oh? This aura unlocking method requires someone who can use long-distance Aura Break.”
“That’s okay. I’m close with the guy who used long-distance Aura Break on you.”
Suddenly, Lesta’s expression froze.
“Where did you hear that?”
“I told you, we’re close. I heard it from him. He can use a bow now.”
“He can use a bow…?”
Lesta doubted but seemed to believe me and was flustered.
“Don’t lie. That guy…”
“If it’s about trauma, he’s half over it. Compared to you stuck in the past and cutting off your own feet, he’s billions of times better.”
“…”
Lesta’s face became complicated.
What’s he thinking now?
Is he searching for flaws despite sensing my words are true? Or feeling less guilty?
“If you don’t believe me, come to Trihikan tonight. We’re training there.”
Whether Lesta denies or accepts Ridipin, she wanted to get closer to him again.
Since I plan to use him here and there, I want to help her as much as I can.
“I’m off first. Lunch break isn’t long.”
Lesta watched Ban’s retreating back for a while.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt Ban was like a dragon.
Seeing through everything and trying to save someone from the abyss.
“No, a fisherman throwing bait to catch is more fitting.”
Ban tried hard not to reveal his intentions, but Lesta realized as soon as Ban accepted the offer that he was called to be used.
But the fish couldn’t refuse the bait.
“He’s arrogant, but… I guess he has no choice.”
As Lesta turned to leave, a question popped into his mind.
“That guy can’t use the exit. How does he plan to get back without me?”
