“I have no idea what you just put in my mouth,” Jason said, “but you need to tell me what it was. I want to try baking it in a pie.”
Some perception exercises trained practical observation and memory skills. One of the most common was watching people go past Jory’s clinic, with Jason memorising everything he could as fast as he could. He would then close his eyes as Farrah tested him. Other times she would have him read from the Magic Society’s monster records, collected on a magical tablet. She gave him only a short time to read, testing his comprehension afterwards.
The second aspect of Farrah’s training was meditation. Jason and his siblings had been spoon-fed meditation techniques by their mother, and while Jason had long-ago rejected them, it at least gave him a grounding to work with. Those techniques were quite different to what Farrah taught him, but there was enough commonality to pick things up quickly. She soon stopped guiding him, leaving him to take it up in his own time.
The final part of Farrah’s training was aura manipulation. He had gotten lucky, the stone Farrah gifted him awakening an aura ability.
Ability: [Hegemony] (Sin)
Aura (holy, unholy).
Cost: None.
Cooldown: None.
Current rank: Iron 0 (00%).
Effect (iron): Allies within the aura have increased resistance to afflictions, while enemies within the aura have their resistance to afflictions reduced. Enemy resistances are further reduced for each instance of [Sin] they are suffering from.
Jason was happy with the aura effect, which would make his abilities more reliable while protecting his allies from someone like him. He was also fascinated by it being both a holy and unholy ability at the same time. Sadly, he couldn’t think of a good way to passive-aggressively let Anisa hear about it. He knew she was in the city somewhere, but it was probably for the best they hadn’t run into each other.
As Farrah instructed Jason on the basics of aura use, he discovered that for training purposes, the specifics of his aura didn’t matter. The fundamental aspects of auras were all the same, which she introduced him to in the clinic yard as they sat on woven mats.
“By getting your hands on an aura power,” Farrah told him, “you've gained the capacity to manipulate your aura. Like any other skill, it takes practice to do it right. Controlling your aura is important for many reasons, starting with the fact that as you get stronger, your aura will become increasingly energetic. Eventually, it will be enough to be dangerous to the people around you. If you reach gold rank and can't control your aura properly, you can hurt normal people just by going near them.”
“So, if you hit gold rank and can’t control your aura,” Jason asked, “do you have to hide so you don’t hurt people just by walking down the street?”
“There are magic items you can use to suppress your aura. People in that situation are required to use them.”
“Do you get a lot of people who get to gold without any aura control?”
“No,” Farrah said. “Usually your chances of getting to gold start with a good foundation, which means aura powers and aura training. It does happen, though. I once saw the aftermath of a gold ranker who forgot to put on an aura suppressor before going to a market. People were passed out, bleeding out their ears.”
“That’s not good.”
“No, it isn’t,” Farrah said. “Which is why the training is important. There are other reasons, too. Anyone with a perception power will eventually be able to see auras clearly, so if yours isn’t under control, they’ll read you like you’re holding up signs. Not just your location, either. If you can’t restrain your aura, they’ll read your emotions, know when you lie.”
“Can you see my emotions right now?” Jason asked.
“No,” Farrah said, “but my perception power doesn’t improve my aura sense until silver rank. Neither does yours, by the way. I looked it up.”
“So, what does your perception power do?”
“It looks good,” Farrah said as her eyes turned into glowing embers. “It also lets me see through smoke and mist.”
“Nice,” Jason said. “Wait, what about my clothes-changing ability. That hides me in smoke. Can you see through that?”
“That’s an interesting question,” Farrah said. “You know, if I ever get to diamond rank, I can shoot fire out of my eyes.”
“That doesn’t answer my… wait, you’re going to get eyebeams? That’s awesome.”
“I know, right?” Farrah said. “There aren’t a lot of abilities where we know what happens at diamond rank. Rufus thinks that if I actually get there it will be overshadowed by what my other abilities can do.”
“Then Rufus sucks,” Jason said. “He thinks eyebeams won’t be useful? The intimidation factor alone would be amazing. Who’s going to meet your eyes when you can shoot heat-beams out of them?”
“That’s what I said,” Farrah agreed. “More or less. I didn’t say heat-beams.”
“Eyebeams are sweet.”
“I think we may be getting off-topic.”
“Alright,” Jason said. “So, what do I do?”
“Broadly speaking, you can control your aura in three ways, and I’ll teach you them in order.”
“Sounds good,” Jason said.”
“The first two uses are the easiest,” Farrah said. “They are, broadly speaking, projecting your aura and restraining it. Which is exactly what it sounds like. Projecting is pushing your aura out to affect people, and restraining it is used drawing it in, whether to hide it, or just not be rude.”
“Or make people’s ears bleed,” Jason said.
“Exactly,” Farrah said.
“What about the third one?”
“That’s using your aura to suppress the auras of other people. It’s harder than the others, and you should leave it alone until you reach a certain level of proficiency with aura manipulation.”
“Fair enough.”
“We start with projecting, because you’re doing it already.”
“I am?”
“You are. Everyone is, until they learn not to. It's what makes people with no aura control easy to read. I'll also be teaching you how to hide your emotions even as you're projecting your aura to affect people.”
“Can monsters manipulate their aura?”
“Higher-rank monsters can,” Farrah said. “At your level, even mine, really, the most you’ll find is a few stealthy monsters that restrain their auras to hide better.”
“I think stealth is going to be my thing, too,” Jason said. “I’d best learn to restrain my aura properly.”
“You’re meant to be learning everything properly,” she said. “I'll teach you all the fundamentals. Expanding your aura, narrowing it down onto some people and not others. Once I've taught you, though, it's your responsibility to keep practising. Diligence makes the difference between crudely tossing around your aura and deft manipulation.”
“Then I won’t make my neighbours bleed out their eyeballs?”
“You’re a long way from needing to worry about that,” Farrah said. “A long way. But eventually, yes. More immediately, the skill with which we control our auras is how adventurers make their first impressions on one another. If you can’t do it properly, people won’t take you seriously. Excellent aura manipulation marks you as an adventurer of training and distinction.”
“So, you’re saying if I don’t control my aura properly, I won’t get invited to the nice parties,” Jason said.
“Something like that,” Farrah said. “When the rich and powerful bring contracts to the Adventure Society, they add bonus rewards to entice the best adventurers. At your rank, these contracts are usually first-come, first-serve. Once you go higher, clients start requesting specific adventurers. That's when your reputation matters, and if your aura control is sloppy, you won't get a second glance.”
“Good to know.”
“You’re not expected to have the skills at iron rank, of course,” Farrah said. “That’s the time you’re meant to be mastering the basics, after all. But if you don’t have a handle on it by the time you reach bronze, you’ll find a lot of doors closing in your face.”