Chương 70: Chapter 67: Aura Resonance

The returning flight was much tamer compared to the shocking speed at which Mum had driven us on the way here, allowing us to appreciate the full thrill of flying. Despite flying being one of my long-time goals, a part of me couldn't wait for it to finish. The duel had raised too many questions I couldn't wait to ask Father. The way his aura manipulated the elements of nature was unlike anything I had ever encountered or even read about.

Even in stories, such demonstrations were purely associated with the Shapers or Knights of the sacred orders, who had been bestowed sacred relics. Like the golden sword Alexis had borrowed, which could manipulate light and fire elements. However, the blade Father carried, Ouroborus, couldn't be associated with any of the elements he demonstrated—be it water, wind, or earth. If I were to guess, the aspect it pertained to was either darkness or shadow.

Moreover, it wasn't only I who was curious about how such a thing was possible. Although most people had dispersed as we drew closer to our house, the woman who had challenged Father, Primus Pilus Selene, seemed to have no intention of leaving. She was moving with us, engaging in small talk with Mum. She was an old acquaintance of my parents, more so of Mum during her time in the Oracle Academy. When I finally asked Father about the elemental control, even her interest was piqued as she turned towards us.

"It is a kind of aura resonance that you can pick up once you advance in higher classes," Father said.

"For example, the first sword, Whispering Gale, uses the resonance of Wind and Swiftness. Water and Concentration for Tidal Wave, and Heaviness and Earth for Walking Mountain. Of course, there is also Sharpness in all the moves, but that is a given for anything related to a blade."

"Curious," said the militant woman.

"I have experienced Heaviness, Sharpness, and Swiftness often in battle, even learned resonances like Oscillation and Concentration, but never have I even heard of elemental resonances." Father merely shrugged, as if saying it wasn't his problem she hadn't heard of it.

"What is the difference?" I asked promptly.

"Between shaping and these resonances?" Father let Mum answer it.

"Although both methods rely on mastery, shaping is far more versatile..." She paused, facing Father.

"And it wouldn't be wrong to say, it is also more effortless compared to elemental resonance."

"Effectively, my resonance is innately bound with my swordsmanship," Father agreed.

"I mastered them through sword forms. Without them, I won't be able to display any of what you saw." Whereas a Shaper merely needs to throw a bunch of essence threads and conjure any elements of their desire.

"With how prodigious you are with shaping already," Father patted me on the shoulder, "I don't know if there's any advantage in learning elemental resonance."

"There is one," Mum cut in.

"It doesn't burn essence, only depletes your aura. But with the difficulty of commanding nature's forces, most Augmenters, even the fabled Knights, only trained in the non-elemental resonances."

"If one hasn't reached the state of Aura Master," Father commented, "the resonances are of little use."

"Ha! That explains why it wasn't taught at the academy," Magus Selene said.

"What makes you think it wasn't?" Mum smiled at her old friend.

"Well, I'm unsure if it is now, but in our time, there was one Magister who taught this. The problem was that there were rarely any pupils who managed to accomplish it." The woman narrowed her eyes.

"Is it Master Kaius's class?" Mum gave her a nod. Her eyes lit up, but then she shook her head.

"Hah, I can't say I missed out on it, considering all the Fable Class and higher Augmenters I know are incapable of such feats. It must be something tremendously difficult."

"It might be," Father said.

"But I wouldn't be surprised if I see others having mastered it. Reaching Fabled Class adds close to a hundred years to one's lifespan; one would need a good few hobbies to pass the time."

"Maybe," Magus Selene said, "but I've seen too many idle Awakened loafing around in our ranks to have any hopes for them."

"One needed to be made out of very special materials to spend more time with their sword than their spouse," Mum quipped. Father shot her a sullen look.

"Am I wrong?" He could only sigh, knowing there was some truth to it than he liked to admit.

"Can't help it since I'm not as talented as you all." Curious, I asked how long it took him to master the elemental resonances.

"Years," he admitted.

"I have been practising it zealously, honing it for close to twenty-five years since I reached the Prestigious Class, to be able to contend with a Shaper of equal class head-on."

"Twenty-five years?" I repeated, dumbfounded.

"How old are you exactly?" Father blinked. He counted his fingers for a while before answering.

"Well, probably thirty-five or thirty-six." This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I sucked in a deep breath. That number was already higher than the average lifespan of a common man. And yet, Father looked like he had so many years to live. The revelation shouldn't have astounded me, being aware of the higher lifespan of the Fabled Class Awakened, but all my life, I had imagined him to be the same age as he looked.

Agape, I turned towards Mother, as if trying to gauge her age. But she only chuckled and gave me the answer.

"I am even older than your father," Mum said.

"Only a year more and I will reach my forties." I opened my mouth but wasn't sure what to say. Mum looked even younger—at least five years younger than Father. Now I could only imagine in horror how many years it would take me to look like an adult if I kept on advancing fast. The idea of remaining eternally youthful throughout my life was enticing enough, but it would be painful if I had to spend a decade to appear as an adult.

"First time seeing someone have a look of horror at having longevity," said Magus Selene, noting my reaction.

"You've got a strange kid, Ash." Mum glared at her friend, tousling my hair. She knew me too well to not figure out my worry.

"Don't worry, the ageing rarely slows during adolescent years. Unless you reach the Prestigious Class within five years, there'll hardly be any change."

"What if I do reach the Prestigious Class in five years?" I asked, worried.

"Then we'll have another Nero among us," chuckled the Magus, clearly not believing I could manage the feat.

"That kid reached Fabled Class last year and seemed to have grown twice as irritable." Shooting an annoyed glance at her, Mum tried to quell my worry.

"In five years, you'll already be at the peak of your adolescence. Prestigious Class won't affect all that much." Then again, it was difficult to reach the Prestigious Class in five years. While the rate at which I was forming my Aether root was growing, it would still take me a year to reach the Noble Class. Forming fifty-six more Aether roots in four years seemed quite impossible unless I left all my practice for Essence Unification or got my hands on a good relic. I wondered how that Nero fella did it.

According to what I'd heard from Mum, he was a Shaper and advanced to the Prestigious Class before he was eight. I'd be nine in five years. Well, it wasn't as if I was looking for quick advancement, though I couldn't help but wonder if there was any honour in being the youngest to advance to higher classes. After quelling the worry about my age, we returned to the topic of resonances. Father could employ at least six sword forms, but he didn't even have to utilise them all during the duel.

I wondered which resonances those forms covered, and how big the difference was between them and the ones I was familiar with. Unfortunately, I couldn't even begin learning them. It was one thing that I hadn't yet awakened my aura, but even after I did upon reaching Noble Class, it would still be nigh impossible for me. Most Noble Class Awakened could hardly utilise aura, save for the basic intimidation and reinforcement.

"What about the dark robe you summoned?" I asked.

"Is it your Soulward? How does it work, and for how long can you keep it up? And what benefit does it provide?"

"Slow down, little brat," Father laughed.

"And yes, you may call it Soulward, though it's a term mostly related to the knights. They are practically the same thing, but from where I am from, we are used to calling it Soul Shroud and Soul Cloak, depending on their forms. Or Aether Vestige for the Shaper's classes."

"And where are you from, exactly?" the Magus asked, lifting an eyebrow. Father smiled ruefully.

"Someplace you perhaps never even heard about." I knew the name of the place, at least. Ryon —it was essentially in my surname. Unfortunately, even after a deep search on the map, I couldn't find its location among any landmarks. According to Father, Ryon was destroyed by Ashlords and legions of devourers long ago. Now, only dark creatures roam there.

"If you don't want to say, don't say it," huffed the woman, who was likely the same age as my mum, if she were in the same batch as hers during their studies at the Oracle Academy.

"This mysterious act only suits wizened wizards of ill repute." Father shrugged as we finally strolled into our compounds. He explained a little more about his Soul Shroud, which could only be manifested after achieving Fabled Class. For most Awakened, it was more like a physical representation of their gift. Like Father's Soulward was a dark robe that enabled him to negate most essence attacks, whereas Magus Selene's ring of fire was also related to her high fire affinity.

As she took shelter in our study, I couldn't help but sneak a glance at her. I was almost equally curious about the spells she had demonstrated. However, even though the woman seemed to be an old friend of my mum, she didn't seem all that approachable. After reuniting with her friend after so many years, all she did was challenge her friend's husband to a duel—that said a lot about her personality.

"You've got a cute kid, Ashlyn." Surprisingly, her eyes turned a bit tender towards me. While I couldn't question her about her secrets, there was still something I was dying to know.

"Mum, you have a Soulward too?" Considering her gift was called Construct, perhaps it would be something related to it as well. Mum rested on the couch after pouring tea for Father and Magus Selene.

"You want to see?" she smiled, raising her left palm. Golden light flickered around her arm, materialising into a golden band around her wrist. As the glaring light dispersed, it wasn't quite like a band, but a bunch of somewhat familiar rune characters revolving around her wrist. I crept closer to her for a thorough inspection. Even the woman leaned forward with an arch in her brows.

"My Fabled title is Runesmith, and my Soulward—or Aether Vestige, as it was called in old times—can do anything any rune formation can do, but with much more ease." Magus Selene studied the runes with narrowed eyes. She was unlikely to be proficient in any of the runes, so she knew even less than I did. Not that I could manage to make out anything.

"You can use them without creating an octagonal formation?" I asked. Mother nodded and offered a demonstration. With a slight gesture of her index finger, a single rune letter flew out from her Soulward and hurled towards my chest. With my fractal sight, I could kind of detect the rune wasn't as simple as a single character. And when it touched my body, I was proven right. The single character doubled my body weight, causing me to let out a yelp.

What was even more baffling was that, no matter what I tried, I was unable to lift the enchantment off my chest. Essence weaving, or all kinds of shaping, proved to be useless.

"You can only fight a Soulward with a Soulward," said the Magus.

"Umm, not quite," Mum disagreed, pointing at Father, who promptly touched the glowing rune with his palm, his nullifying aura materialising to erode the character.

"Some gifts are essentially too overbearing in nature." Magus Selene sighed. Her defeat at Father's hand was not a fluke. But Mum's Soulward was so much more interesting. Perhaps it didn't have the outrageous firepower of Magus Selene's, or the mage-killing ability of Father's, but if it let her do what any rune formation could do...

"Can you use it to make fabricators?"

"I can," she said, "and with as much ease. The last time I used it was during the making of your bracelet, but I usually don't utilise it in crafting because of the toll it takes on my soul. After all, a Soulward is like an extension of an Awakened's soul."

"Drawing it unregulated may only cause soul fatigue if you're lucky," Father said, sipping his tea.

"And incurable damage at worst."

A/N: The chapters of volume 1 are being revised. There will be a few major changes and many minor changes in the book. The biggest of them is ageing Arilyn, along with the rest of the kids. In the revise, he'll be about the early teenage years. Thank you.