“There’s four basic techniques.” Scar said with authority.

  “Armor coats the surface of something in aura. Yourself or your weapon. It’s defensive shield against anything it can withstand. Not much use against mind or soul abilities, or attacks that ignore the surface to target what’s inside.”

  Misty white transparent aura covered his whole body as well as the axe in his hand. He then just as quickly cancelled the technique and snuck the axe back into his belt, and held out his arm with the sleeve pulled back.

  “Harness strengthens the thing itself. Makes your weapons or bones more durable. Swells the muscles to boost your strength. Focus the mind, enhance the senses, things of that nature. Can’t harness the mind or soul, only physical things.”

  His arm flexed unnaturally large, veins bulging from the strain. Then he dropped his arm and focused as the pair noticed the slight increase in mana around them.

  “Sense projects aura outside the body. Project it around you well enough and you can sense the mana within. Allows you to do things like sense something hiding itself. Or inspect a person for their cultivation.”

  Banda and Eres stared intently upon hearing the last application of the technique. Though he only responded by shuffling his feet in place a little to a relaxed pose.

  “Suppression is the simplest. Withdraw the aura deep within your core to conceal it from detection. Sense doesn’t matter if you use Suppression, but you can’t use aura when you do. Armor’s the most important one. Anyone who tells you different won’t live long. But Sense is the easiest to learn. Start with that.” Scar looked at his unorthodox students who seemed to be waiting for more.

  “More details on how exactly would be nice.” Eres commented.

  “It’s more of a feeling thing than a knowledge thing.” Scar explained. “Grab the aura in you and push it out. Imagine it floating around you like a thin mist. Don’t lose hold of it.”

  Banda eyed the strange human. The man’s actions unnerved him, but he didn’t sense any hostility. That wasn’t not enough to make him lower his guard, but he would at least devote some of his focus to try this technique.

  Banda roused the aura within him, as though he were to meditate with only his own, and pushed it out. It was stubborn at first, like trudging through mud in the rain, but slowly it began to emanate off his body.

  The more aura he emanated, the more it strained his focus. Even at just a mere step away from him, it felt like his own aura was fighting against. Like the world was trying to claim it back.

  Sweat started to run down his face as he pushed the mist further. The struggle to keep hold grew and grew but he endured, fighting against the world. The unstable mass stretched to almost a yard in radius before something snapped. Banda rushed to drag the aura back into himself but it was too late. The world had stolen his aura. Almost a third of his total.

  “That’s why I told you to keep hold.” Scar said, with little tact in his tone. “Good lesson to learn before you use it around an enemy.”

  Banda spared no effort to hide his sharp annoyance. He was not fond of defeat, nor of annoying humans. He glanced over at Eres who was locked in her own battle.

  She too showed the strain of the technique’s difficult on her face, but for her efforts, she emanated a sphere invisible mist that reached him standing two yards away. One less erratic than his own as far as he could feel.

  Eres only held her Sense for a handful of breaths before she carefully withdrew it all back into her body and opened her eyes.

  “One of you is skilled at least.” Scar may not have said that with much meaning, but that did not stop Eres from shooting Banda a playfully smug glance.

  “You don’t have aura to waste all day. Armor’s next. Do the same as with Sense, but this time keep it coated over your skin. Like armor. Make it as dense and stable as possible.”

  Banda fell into concentration again without delay. His efforts yielded faster results this time, with the experience of using Sense. A warm glow bubbled up from the surface of his skin and rose higher like flooding water.

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  The thought of human armor didn’t resonate with him. Instead, he thought of the hide and scales of beasts. He forced his aura to condense as it flooded. Again and again, he struck it thinner and denser.

  He forced it to flatten until it wouldn’t flatten any further. The density itself was not terrible, in his novice estimation. But the surface of his Armor was plagued with ripples, and the time it had taken was far too unfit for battle.

  “Good enough.” Scar told them both.

  Banda tried to withdraw the aura he had coated his body with, but only received back about half of what he used. It seemed this technique was not as lenient as Sense.

  “Now Harness. Think water, swelling up your muscles like a pouch. Should be easy enough now. Ah, but don’t try too hard at this one. You might tear something.”

  Banda lowered his arms in front of him in a crouching stance ready to lunge. The muscles of his scarred body tightened and then tightened some more. They started to bulge slowly and gradually under his firm control, but he stopped after his instincts warned of the danger of pushing himself further.

  Banda swiped at the air with one arm as he paid close attention. He was stronger, by half as much as double at his guess. But just as with the other techniques, it was too slow. Too wasteful.

  He released his Harness, and found none of the aura he spent returned to him. Not a technique to use carelessly, he noted. At his side, Eres did the same. She didn’t test the effects herself, but Banda got the feeling she wasn’t as capable as him in this one.

  “Suppression’s the opposite.” Scar spoke up. “Suck all the aura within you into your core. Like breathing in deep. And bury it deep down.”

  Banda didn’t care much about this one. The moment he heard it explained, he realized he had been using it since before he could even speak. He doubted anyone in this stone forest could do so better.

  “You can practice that one on your own. Better to get the most out of your shards.” Scar flipped up a broken spear shaft off the paved ground with his foot and burst towards Banda.

  Banda’s body turned feral as he ducked under the slumlord’s aura coated swing. With careless focus, Scar swung back again and at the same time slid his foot in a circle to trip Banda off his feet.

  Banda twisted his body in midair to dodge the stick a second time and mauled at Scar, carving four slashes on his loose tunic as the man stepped back to barely avoid it.

  “Well now, this is just a fight, boy. I thought you paid for training?” Scar spoke in jitters.

  Banda kept his narrow stare on the man for a few moments. That brief exchanged showed Scar to be his equal in strength and speed, at least within the safe limits of Feral Form. And that made him a threat.

  Banda contemplated his next course of action, but settled on pursuing his most important goal. Power. He concentrated as aura started to coat his body. And Scar lunged again.

  He struck his broken staff, and this time Banda held out his arm to block. The staff struck clean, shattering the unstable Armor over Banda, and knocking him to the other side of the empty alley yard.

  Scar gave him a glance, and shot towards Eres. Eres’ eyes widened and then quickly narrowed as she committed to dealing with the powerful swing blurring her way. But Banda caught the staff in his hand before she could summon her shield.

  Scar took measure of him. The speed Banda moved a step greater than before, the source of it his swelled muscles. And Scar took note of the more serious look in Banda’s eye compared to when he had been the target.

  Scar let go of the staff and struck at Banda’s face with his fist. Banda reached to grab with his other hand, and Scar pulled back his back half way.

  A series of feints and misdirection exploded towards Banda, but none could fool his instincts. Banda stepped hard into the blurring volley, and punched.

  Scar pulled his arms in just in time to block Banda’s fist, but the sheer force sent him sliding back on his feet with a thunderous thud. Banda readied himself for more and Scar’s posture relaxed into a casual walk.

  “That’ll do for today.” He said. “Already showed you everything you need. Train on your own if you want to master it. Course, you’re always welcome to give me more shards if you want. And if you run low on them… I might have some work for you.”

  “I thought only fools kept Otto’s thralls around them.” Eres harkened back to what he told them before.

  “I never said we would be friends.” Scar leaned in with his words.

  “...We’ll think about.” Eres gave a dry answer as she turned to leave, with Banda following behind.

  “Cultivation past the first stage takes shards to progress at your full potential.” Scar called out in an unhurried tone. “Mana in the environment isn’t enough. Unless you get lucky and find somewhere that is. I suggest you kill more of Otto’s people. Easier than hunting.”

  The pair gave only a silent glance in return as they walked back down the alley and out of sight.

  “I don’t trust him.” Banda spoke bluntly after they left earshot. Scar was a sly human, the kind whose thoughts he found impossible to read.

  “Neither do I. But we need someone to learn Rank 2 cultivation from, and he’s the least bad option so far. We can’t be too picky in a place like this.” Eres looked at him. “We use everything and anything we can. If it’s dangerous, we just need to overcome it.”

  Banda did not share her tolerance for danger, but the response to it, he agreed on. The strongest beast was whoever survived long enough to become it. And he intended to survive forever.