Edward spent the day sensing his aura, familiarising himself with it so that it became as natural as possible. He also entered and exit the state when he was able to sense his aura, he wanted to be sure not to forget the feeling, to consolidate his achievements. For now, he was able to stay in that state for a few hours if he was meditating, however, it was hard for him to stay focused on his aura if his eyes were open or if he was moving at the same time. He was happy with his progress but it wasn’t to the point where it could be useful in a fight, not yet at least. Being able to sense his aura alleviated the feeling of loneliness that he was starting to feel.

He had already spent whole days alone in the past, but in this world it was different, there were no distractions. It was completely different to be alone with things to distract yourself, like access to a computer or a good book, and to be alone with nothing to do. If Edward was stuck here with no objectives or aims, he would only dwell on what happened in the ruins and would feel depressed. Having to train his aura senses, help him to divert his attention, to comfort himself, and to appreciate the progress he was making, adding to his confidence.

After one day, Edward decided to read further in the book, to see the next exercises. He hadn’t fully mastered the step of being able to sense his aura, he wasn’t able to sense it while doing something else. But he thought that was enough to see what waited for him next, the mastery of his aura would come slowly step by step, and with lots of practice. It was useless to force the issue and to focus on that only. The meditative step he was now able to enter made him learn the value of patience, with effort, everything would come in due time.

Edward opened the book. ‘Now, that you are able to sense your aura, the next step is to manipulate it. Visualize your aura around yourself and try to make it bigger, increase your output, you should be able to sense it growing bigger. It doesn’t mean that your aura is becoming stronger, each aura has an inherent strength in it, independently from its output. Increasing your aura output can help you to pressurize an enemy, or event to make him flee if you are strong enough. This will enable you to avoid a fight that could have been tedious and time-costing. Please be aware, that increasing your output will tax your body. The longer you stay in that state, the more tired you will get, just as if you were physically active. Just like any exercise the more often you do it, the longer you will be able to stay in that state, and the lesser you will be tired.’

Okay, time to try. With my meager level, I don’t think increasing my aura will make any beast afraid, but I’m sure it will be useful to me once I grow in level. It should be useful against sentient beings too, it is basically just a show of strength. Showing you are stronger than your opponent to avoid having to fight. I guess that is what Marc did when the guard was questioning him at the village entry back then.

Edward closed his eyes and focused, soon sensing his aura around him as an immaterial flame undulating slightly. He tried to make it bigger in his mind, visualizing it as an inferno instead of a simple flame. However, nothing happened, the flame didn’t change in size. Edward didn’t discourage himself and tried several visualization techniques to increase the size of the flame. After several hours without getting results, he decided to take a break.

Nothing I do seems to work. Am I taking the wrong angle or am I bad at it? I will go to the river, refresh myself, and eat my mushrooms lunch. After that, I will try other exercises, maybe it will help me to understand how to manipulate my aura.

Once he was back at the base Edward continue to read the next exercises in the book. ‘The second basic aura manipulation is to decrease your aura. This exercise is not more difficult than the previous one, the difficulty varies according to the people, some find increasing their aura easier, and for others, it is the reverse. Just like for the increased aura output, decreasing your aura output is not making your aura inherently weaker. It is just hiding it from others. Decreasing your aura is a must if you want to sneak by some enemies or beasts, it is strongly advised that you master this exercise. Decreasing your aura should in theory makes you slightly more endurant, however, the change is not visible in practice as it is quite tedious to maintain the focus to hide it. Visualize your aura, and hide it in yourself, the whole aura should be included in the shape of your body. If any part of it leaves your body, it means it is visible to others.’

They say this exercise isn’t necessarily more difficult than the other. Let’s try it.

Edward closed his eyes and focus on his aura, quickly sensing it, in and around his body. Exactly like the previous training he visualized the flame around it and try to make it smaller, to internalize it in himself. Just like before, there wasn’t much result.

This is not working, I should try something else. Think, what would I do if I wanted to hide?

Edward tried to hold his breath and stay perfectly immobile, to make himself smaller and harder to notice. The flame he distinguished around him reduced a little before fluctuating wildly as Edward was getting out of breath.

It worked! I didn’t imagine it. My aura decreased for an instant before I had to recover my breath. Let’s try it again.

Edward happily held his breath to decrease his aura again. This time nothing happened and Edward had to let go, feeling a tad ashamed.

Okay, that’s not it. Actually, it would have been weird if all you had to do was hold your breath to decrease your aura. But it worked last time, what did I do differently? Let’s think about it, what did I do apart from holding my breath? I stayed immobile and tried not to get noticed. I doubt being immobile is the trick to this technique, otherwise, it would be pretty much useless. So, it should be trying not to get noticed. Let’s try it again.

He closed his eyes again, this time trying to make himself as unnoticeable as possible, to blend into the surroundings. In his mind's eye, he saw the flame surrounding him, get smaller and smaller, getting internalized in his body bit by bit. However, even if most of it had disappeared inside him, it was still fluctuating and some parts of it were still situated outside his body. Edward tried to put all of it inside him, but it wasn’t that easy, each of his emotions was making the flame fluctuate. Some drops of perspiration started to appear on his forehead due to his intense concentration.

He gave up a few minutes later, letting a long breath out. “Seems it is not that easy. I will need more practice.” He said out loud. Still, I’m happy that I am able to change my aura like that. I got the gist of it, now I just need more practice. I should try the increasing aura training now, to see if it works with the same method.

Edward allowed himself some rest to recuperate to an adequate state before attempting to increase his aura. He shut his eyes, this time, instead of visualizing the flame as getting bigger, he tried to increase his presence. He felt his aura growing at the same time as he was getting more aware of the room he was in. It was as if he was bigger than his own body, as if the place where his aura was, was also part of him. He could sense the small particles of dust flowing slowly in the air, the energy coursing the green lines in the wall, and the content of his closed backpack that was placed further away. All this sensory output destabilized him and he lost focus, his aura getting back to normal.

Wow, that was something. It almost feels like being omnipotent, I was aware of everything going around me. Although this could be troublesome in a fight, how are you supposed to keep your focus with so many things to pay attention to? Let’s try it again.

Edward focused back to feel his aura, for this attempt he tried to increase his aura bit by bit instead of all at once. He wanted to slowly get used to the increased information input, to be able to last longer with a bigger aura. It was tricky, Edward wasn’t able to properly control his aura, its size was not evolving continuously, but rather by spasms.

After some time, he decided that was enough training for now, he was starting to get a headache, and it was already the evening. He stood up, but immediately stumbled, feeling a wave of weakness. He had to sit back down for a few minutes before feeling good enough to stand up.

That’s bad, I didn’t even realize I was this exhausted after all that aura training. They did say that it was more taxing on one’s body, but they could have detailed that it would be this bad, and creeping on you without your notice. I wonder, can you die from overtaxing your aura? I should be more careful while training from now on.

For the rest of the week, or what he thought was the week, as he didn’t have any calendar, Edward continued to train in aura control. He was now familiar with his aura and could sense it even with his eyes open. However, he still wasn’t able to sense it while doing something else, fighting while sensing his aura or other auras was a distant dream. Sensing his aura was the easiest part, controlling it was more difficult. He was able to increase his aura or decrease it, but it wasn’t smooth. In practice, it meant that both his increased and decreased aura were useless for now.

It would be hard to frighten somebody with your aura if it wasn’t stable and was showing sloppy control. In the same manner, his decreased aura couldn’t be used in a safe way to hide from something, he could decrease his aura but it wasn’t always completely hidden and it was also fluctuating. Big aura fluctuations could be spotted easier than a small stable aura. Edward needed more practice but he was starting to get enough. Having to train alone every day wasn’t exactly exciting. He wanted to go explore the surroundings more.

If I go to the forest, I should be able to sense its aura and the ones of the living entities residing in it. This could be a good change, until now I have always trained to sense my own aura, but I never sense the aura of another living being. The only time it happened, was when I entered the Vipin forest with the expedition, and that wasn’t with my own effort. One would have to be blind to miss that massive aura, it was more a warning of the forest itself than me consciously sensing its aura. It would be good too if I could manage to find other sources of food. I’m getting sick of those mushrooms.