For the next hour, Akira tried to give tips and guide Lukas through his meditation. There was some progress, but it was slow. It took quite a few attempts before the mana he was attempting to channel did anything other than immediately disperse, but he did manage it. The mana still slipped out of his control extremely quickly, but he could at least feel its movements as it flowed through his channels, allowing him to map those strange ephemeral channels out. He wasn't sure whether this had any practical use, but the exercise made him feel he'd be able to control the mana better as long as he knew where it was trying to go.

As Lukas practiced and made very marginal progress, his mana dropped as it dispersed with each attempt. Eventually, it got to the point where he was beginning to get a low‑mana headache. He considered taking a mana potion but remembered what Akira said about recovering his resources naturally, so he asked Akira what he should do.

"We'll stop for now. You're making slow progress, but it's still progress, which means you understand the process. We'll move on to aura control now, before you get too low on mana and a headache makes it hard for you to focus properly. Practice in your own time, and I'll check your progress when we train in the morning."

"That's fine. Now what are we going to do for aura control?"

"First, you need to understand the three main ways to use your aura—"

"Projecting the aura, restraining it, and using it to suppress others, right?"

Akira blinked in surprise. "Uhm, yeah. How'd you know?"

"My benefactor told me."

"So she told you that, but barely taught you how to do one of those things?"

"Pretty much."

Shaking her head, Akira said, "At this point, I'd barely call someone like that a benefactor. It's a good thing you came to us; otherwise you'd be seriously hurting your foundations if you kept going as you were. Are you planning on going back to that benefactor at any point?"

Had Lukas not known full well just how terrible all his techniques and practices were, he would've found Akira's statement extremely suspicious—like having some scammer call you pretending to be the IRS. But he did know how awful he was, because Sera told him multiple times, and he knew he needed to improve. What he didn't know was that such things would impact his foundations; he just assumed he'd figure things out eventually and be good from there, but from the sound of it, that wasn't the case.

"Not anytime soon—probably not until I'm close to iron rank. What would've been the effects on my foundations?"

"It would've been like building a house or tower on loose rubble. It doesn't seem so bad when you're still so close to the ground and still going up, but the more weight and pressure you add on will only cause problems. After a certain point you're not really able to go any further without it all coming down, and you can't undo the damage you've done because it's already ingrained in you. But that only happens once you've ranked up."

"So I've got time to fix the things I've already done?"

"Already done? You haven't really done anything. You've been copper rank for what, a couple of days? All you've really done is practice bad technique, which can be fixed. The problems would have arrived when you were late and peak copper."

Lukas let out a relieved breath. "Thank God; I would've been furious if a certain someone had doomed me because she wouldn't teach me anything useful."

"Hey!" Sera protested. "I had my reasons, and I knew letting you learn on your own wouldn't have led you down a life of mundanity. You were bound to get mixed up with one powerful person or group, and they would've taught you."

"Well," Akira said, "if I were you, I'd stay away from that benefactor, even if they taught you alchemy and gave you the ability to channel mana. Let's just move on to aura stuff. We'll start with projection. What did your benefactor tell you?"

"Nothing besides that it was something I was doing naturally at the time."

"Everyone projects their aura naturally until they learn to control it," Akira confirmed, "This is mostly people who don't know how to control their auras or can't because they aren't magic users. Projection is pretty straightforward and is exactly what it sounds like—you push your aura out to affect those around you. That's something you'll want to do in combat with that aura ability of yours."

"How does a person not being a magic user preclude them from learning to use their aura?"

"You came into this world without any magic at all, right?"

"That's right," he nodded.

"Did you feel any connection to your soul, or any kind of spirituality, back home?"

Lukas thought about it for a moment before shaking his head, "No."

"When someone is able to wield magic, the bond between their body and soul is strengthened. This allows them to use mana and gives them the ability to use their aura."

"Okay, so how do I project my aura—more so than I do naturally?"

"I'll tell you, but you have to promise to go slow and be extremely careful."

Lukas frowned. "How come?"

"Because of your soul—or rather, because of its absurd strength. There's a good chance you could hurt someone with a soul that strong. It's a miracle your crude technique is enough to prevent it."

"Really?" Lukas asked, taken aback. "I didn't know that was a thing."

"Why didn't you tell me this?" he asked Sera. "I could've hurt someone!"

"Do you really think I'd let you just waltz into civilization as a threat to others? Of course not. I knew it was a possibility, but I would've warned you before you did any damage."

Lukas threw an unhappy side‑glance at the goddess, and Akira explained, "Normally it's the quality of the soul that does the damage—meaning someone with a higher rank—because as you go up in rank, so does soul strength. You have the soul strength of a peak silver ranker, which makes you dangerous—not to higher‑ranked people, but to those at your level and below, maybe even some weaker bronze rankers. If you really let loose, you could probably give someone an aneurysm or worse."

"Okay," Lukas scowled. "So I need to rein it in and be careful. I guess it's a good thing there's no one else around."

Akira rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'll be the only one to get fried, but I'd rather not. If you feel like something is slipping from your control, clamp down on your aura."

"Got it. Now how do we start?"

"Well, you know how to retract your aura a bit, right? Focus on the feeling when you let go—your aura will naturally project. Try to get a better understanding of that feeling and help it along in order to push your aura out even further, but remember to be careful."

With a nod, Lukas' grip on his aura slackened, and he felt it flow out of him like a breeze. Meanwhile, Akira was truly seeing Lukas' aura for the first time. It was stifling, like standing in the middle of a humid swamp on the hottest day of the year. It was very obviously a copper‑ranked aura, but it was bloody and brutal in a way she hadn't seen at their rank, holding a will to survive at all cost. It was almost as if the aura was a declaration of what its owner had been through to get where he was today.

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Most important was the fact that Lukas' aura ability wasn't affecting Akira. She knew it was there, waiting to be unleashed, but she didn't feel any of it. She guessed this was because Lukas viewed her as less of a threat and enemy. It was a good sign for things going forward, even if he were still understandably standoffish. Akira didn't mind, though; had his aura been let loose while she was affected, she wouldn't be having a good time.

Very gradually, Lukas pushed out his aura. It was like watching a caterpillar work its way across a leaf—so slow, but Lukas didn't want to go at it too hard and hurt Akira. He felt he could, too. Now that he was intentionally projecting, he could feel the power behind his aura, and if he wanted to, he could blast it out, even if it would be crude. His control was inexpert—more like a toddler riding a bike for the first time, except this toddler was riding a Harley.

His aura spread out in a sloppy and uneven manner, but he was managing, which was the goal for the moment. Precise control and technique could come after he learned to use his aura without making someone bleed out of their eyes.

"You're picking this up surprisingly fast," Akira mentioned with some interest.

"My benefactor said the same thing," Lukas said slowly, trying to focus on spreading his aura while talking. "She said that for someone who has never felt an aura or experienced anyone using theirs, I learned to feel and manipulate mine quickly. We speculated that it was due to my soul strength."

Akira nodded. "That sounds right. From what I've heard, people who use things like the Stone of Rebirth have a harder time learning to use their aura than people who were born able to manipulate mana. They just haven't grown up with that connection to their soul, so it takes them time to get acclimated—like learning to use a new limb or muscle. With your stupidly strong soul, I imagine it was hard not to notice that something was there."

"It didn't take long for me to notice my aura," Lukas confirmed. "My benefactor would suppress my aura, then stop suddenly and let it project out naturally to help me notice it."

Akira raised a brow. "That's not usually how it's done, but if it worked for you, I guess that's fine."

"How do you normally teach someone to feel their own aura?"

"Usually with a form of guided meditation that helps a person explore the new link between their soul and body."

"Do you think something like that would be beneficial for me?"

"Hard to say, but you seem to have a fairly good grasp of your own aura, so I'd say probably not. If anything, it'd take up even more of your time on top of all the other stuff you have to do."

"You're right. There's already so much I need to get my head around; adding one more thing is the last thing I need."

"You don't want to overdo it," Akira nodded. "For now, let's just focus on aura control. Try to push your aura out as far as you can."

"Okay, but what determines my range?"

"Soul strength. I want to see how far you can go with a soul that strong."

They sat in silence for a while as Lukas continued to push out his aura. It wasn't a hard task, but it was tedious—like watching a trickle of water slowly spread across a tabletop. Eventually, he covered most of the training field, and Akira had him stop there because he was reaching the edge of her perceptual range.

"Do you have a feel for how much farther you could go?" she asked.

Lukas shook his head. "No, but I get the sense that I could keep going for a while. Should I?"

"No. I don't want you to blast your aura out too far and have someone notice it. You can spread it far enough for a battle, and that's all that matters for the moment."

"Alright then. What now? Should I just hold it where it is?"

"Is it strenuous?"

"Not really, but it takes a bit of concentration."

"That's normal at first. Over time you'll develop a spiritual muscle memory, you could say. Projecting your aura will be as easy as breathing. Now we're going to focus on retracting your aura—something you have some experience with."

Lukas let out an awkward cough. "Yeah. It's going to be something I focus on; I don't want to hurt someone because of my soul strength."

"You need to focus on it all. Good aura control is one of the things that differentiates the good adventurers from the mediocre."

"How so?"

"Aura control is one of the first things someone will notice upon seeing you, along with the way you dress and the way you hold yourself. It gives a person a good first impression if you can control your aura with precision. Auras are also important in politics and can often act as a handshake of sorts."

"Well, that's nice and all, but I want nothing to do with any of that. Besides, I could be the most inept person in existence, and no one would care so long as I can pass down my racial abilities."

"Unfortunately, true," Akira sighed. "But being competent and well‑trained will mean people approach you in a more straightforward manner instead of trying to trick you into doing what they want. Your wariness and paranoia help since you'll be on the lookout for any tricks."

"That's unless someone uses those against me and is a lot more clever about manipulating me than I can foresee."

"You could be right, but what does it matter? You know what you want and what you don't. It's not like someone trying to honey‑trap you will go unnoticed. Any woman placed by your side will most likely be there to seduce or coerce you. As for the more complicated politics, just stick with my family and we'll deal with most of it."

Lukas let out a tired sigh and deflated. "Yeah."

"Problem?" Akira asked with a raised brow.

Lukas ran a hand over his masked face. "When I found out I was in a new magical world, I was so excited to explore it. I couldn't wait to go and see everything I could, but when I learned about the whole outworlder thing, I felt like my hopes were dashed. There's so much garbage that I have to deal with, and I feel more like a hot commodity than a person."

Akira looked at Lukas with a frown. "Well, there's not much you can do other than suck it up and get stronger, but you're not alone in the forest anymore, so if you want to talk, then we'll talk. I'm sure even my mother would want to hear you vent—if only to know who's approaching you for political leverage."

"I guess you're right," Lukas said solemnly, sitting back up.

"Of course I'm right. Now let's get back to it; I have other things I want to do today. Focus on pulling your aura back in."

With a nod, Lukas refocused on his aura. He'd already stopped its advancement and was ready to retract it, so he did just that. Just like when he was spreading his aura out, he got the impression he could retract it quickly, but he held off, knowing there would be little point in doing so. Instead, he retracted his aura slowly, taking note of how it felt and how smooth his actions were. Suffice to say, it was rough, but he did it.

A few minutes later, Lukas' aura was almost back to its natural projection size, and Akira spoke. "It's obvious how you learned to retract your aura."

"Oh?"

"It's like you're trying to suppress your own aura. You clearly learned by having your aura suppressed over and over until you were familiar with the feeling and replicated it on yourself."

"That's not far off," Lukas admitted.

"Doing it that way is counter‑productive, and most wouldn't even be able to do such a thing due to their low soul strength. The way you retract your aura works against it when you're supposed to be working with it."

Lukas furrowed his brow. "Well, if a person's aura wants to naturally spread out, wouldn't any form of aura retraction be working against the aura?"

"Not at all," Akira said. "The aura is an expression of the soul and will follow your will; you just have to understand how to properly manipulate it. The way you've been doing things is like trying to get an animal to work for you by beating it over the head with a shovel. Retracting your aura should be like breathing—inhale to retract and exhale to project."

"What would suppression be?"

"It's just a metaphor; you don't work against your body to breathe—you just do it. The point is that you need to work with your aura to retract it."

"How exactly do I do that?"

"Imagine taking a deep breath in, but with each breath you pull in your aura—not just a lungful of air. Retracting your aura should be smooth and easy. I don't expect it to be perfect right away, since you're just learning, but anything is better than your current system. Even when you projected your aura, it was sloppy and uneven—like a child taking its first steps—but it was a massive improvement compared to your retraction."

Doing as instructed, Lukas closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, beckoning his aura to follow. Instead of pushing his aura down, like trying to cram it into a box, he slowly pulled on it. As he did, he felt his aura begin to fall into him; it was the same as when he'd stopped projecting and let it return to its natural state, only this time it shrank past its natural state easily and without force. It wasn't pretty, but compared to what he'd been doing, it was night and day.

Across from him, Akira nodded enthusiastically. "There you go! That's much better. Go ahead and retract your aura as much as possible; with this method you should be able to go further than with the other 'technique' you were using."

Without responding, Lukas complied, pulling in his aura as much as he possibly could. The farther he went, the slower and harder the process became, as it took more and more effort to retract. Eventually, he couldn't pull it in any further—at least not without applying pressure he didn't want to use. That pressure would only result in him hammering his own aura down, which was more or less how he'd been doing things before, and attempting such a thing would only be counter‑productive. Instead, Lukas explored this limit, assuming that as his technique improved, so would his ability to retract.

Opening his eyes, Lukas found Akira watching him, observing with her aura senses. "Your aura is much harder to read than it was before. The only reason I'm even able to see anything is that I've been aura training for years—and that's barely enough. Keep working at it, and I have no doubt that people higher‑ranked than you will have some difficulty seeing through you."

Lukas grinned beneath his mask. "That sounds nice. Hopefully, one day I can turn my aura into a black hole—an abyss where nothing comes out."

Akira raised a questioning brow. "What's a black hole?"

"I'll tell you later. So, we've just got aura suppression left, right? How do I do that?"

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