Nathan woke up and got ready as fast as he possibly could, skipping routines that used to go through regularly to rush downstairs. His aura had been taking care of plaque buildup for awhile and it had been ages since he had truly needed a shower. That didn’t mean he would give up those glorious reprieves. But right now he needed to eat and fight. Hopefully in that order, but who knew anymore? Nathan rushed to get to the training center to maximize his chances today. His mother chided him for his rudeness, but otherwise smiled happily about his eagerness. He arrived at the training center ready to fight as though his life depended on it. He stepped into a tight circle chalked into the floor with Tanya. A silent exchange of bows and combat erupted. Nathan used his aura to block the probing attacks of the tall and powerful fighter, while simultaneously moving it with him to attack. Pure defense was foolish, so Nathan had decided to make change his bubble like shield into a second skin. Nathan smacked a blow into the trainers aura disrupting it and allowing for a swift kick to catch her unguarded side. The pale woman winced and reformed her own aura while delivering a devastating hit to his shin, bypassing his aura through the use of a core technique. It wasn’t perfect though, so Nathan didn’t fall down due to a shattered bone, but it still felt like a sledgehammer hitting the delicate bone. He pushed through the pain and shoved her as hard as he could, aiming to push her out of the ring. She slid to the edge of the circle but didn’t cross the boundary. Nathan used his aura to disorient in as many ways as possible while cautiously moving to end the fight. Tanya had experienced almost every method he had devised to throw his opponents off guard though, and blocked them out while preparing an attack of her own. A single finger hit Nathan on the chest, deceptively soft. He relied on his aura to stay standing as his body ceased supporting itself, not yet ready to admit defeat. It wasn’t long however, before he fell down aura exhausted and body beaten.

“I see you still haven’t figured out how to beat me without use of your body huh. I could stop using that attack if you want. Maybe I should let you win one so you can see how it feels?” She taunted and mocked. If it weren’t for the fact that Nathan knew she was just doing it to rile him up he would’ve been mad. As it stood he was calm, cool, and collected.

He sat up and meditated and recovered. Nathan used strands of aura to funnel even more ather into his body, the pervasive strings of energy gathering up small bits of the energy from the air and pulling it into him. Nathan thought for a moment about what would happen if he directly connected his aura to his soul. His studies on aura would lead him to believe that it would be impossible, due to the necessary integration would be far too complex for a person's aura. But Nathans aura wasn’t just dense, it was intelligent. He rarely had to actively think about using his aura to do most tasks. Deciding there was no harm in giving it a go he gather up some of his aura strands and tried to figure out how to connect to his soul. It was odd trying to figure out how to mesh two of his spiritual organs into a cohesive form, but Nathan was willing to experiment. He was almost fully recovered and ready for his next attempt to beat Tanya when he felt success. A single strand of aura reaching into his soul. After that Nathan didn’t need to try to figure out how to fit other strands in. Nathan watched as aura strands attacked his soul like a predator that had finally located prey. His aura rapidly formed connections and ties with his soul, a strange sight as his normally perfectly clean, spherical soul was covered in tiny hair like strands of aura. It must have taken a bit of time as when he opened his eyes Tanya was staring at him concern in her eyes.

“What exactly did you just do?” She demanded.

“I connected my aura to my soul. I thought it might be beneficial.” Nathan said sheepishly. If he had just screwed up because of a whim he was going to be devastated. But it didn’t feel like he had screwed up. Nathan went to feel his aura, and was stoked to feel the qualitative change that had taken place. His aura felt significantly stronger, but that was almost worthless compared to how complex it was now. The strands had been completely unwoven and re-woven into a completely new pattern. Before it had simply been a mess of strands that Nathan created and meshed in wherever they fit. Now though it looked almost alive, seemingly biological in nature. The many strands of aura had formed into bundles and connections in strange fashion that almost resemble neurons. And it was absolutely pumping ather into him, almost to the point that Nathan was unable to believe was possible. It was almost better than some elixirs he had taken before.

“Do you know what that means Nathan? Do you understand the significance of using something to change the way your soul absorbs ather? You just made a cultivation Art.” She said incredulously.

“Seriously? I mean it’s pretty good for a cultivation Art, my ather accumulation rate is definitely more than ten times higher. I wonder if I can make it faster?” He mused. Then he attempted to put effort in ripping as much ather from the atmosphere as possible. He stopped abruptly, not due to stress on his aura or soul, but because Tanya suddenly looked sick.

“Please don’t ever try to do that again.” She said, a tremble in her voice. “it's clearly very good at absorbing ather if it can literally deplete the air. I'm certain there's some kind of downside though. I’ll call your mother and ask her about it.”

A few hours later and a lot of muttering from his mother, Nathan found himself in the middle of a highly secure research facility being examined by some of the greatest scientists in the nation. The consensus was that he had discovered a tier five cultivation art by accident. Which was ludicrous.

“How sure are you that no one has ever used their aura to cultivate before?”

“Not at all sweets, but im certain that you have done something never done before. Even if you haven’t and someone out there has done it first, they didn’t teach you so you may as well have been the first.”

“Mhm, what about the downsides? I'm sure someone here noticed some sort of flaw.” There were literally dozens of people working there, almost all of them having conducted some test or another on him while mumbling happily about seeing something cool and unexpected.

“You would be correct, if your aura is damaged your cultivation will slow dramatically. Also when it's tired, you won’t be able to cultivate as efficiently. The biggest drawback though would be the fact that your soul is automatically creating aura from etherium now, so you can’t use any core techniques or etherium techniques. Ever.” A nearby scientist contributed.

“But it’s really a tier five? I mean I know that nowhere near the highest tier but thats like Eternal grade right?”

“Your dead right. And if im honest, it's probably only due to the limitations that it got a T five rating instead of a T six or seven.” Said the same scientist. Nathan's mother nodded her agreement.

“It really is exceptional sweetie. And your soul and aura connection will supply us with a ton of material to study. This could have huge effects on the spiritual research field.”His mother said excitedly. After many, many more tests and plentiful praise and celebration Nathan arrived at home feeling odd about his new found power. He almost felt like he was lying about something, even though he hadn’t come to any conclusions himself. Nathan laid down and went to bed early, turmoil fading as peaceful slumber took him.