A smile appeared on Neo’s face.
After manifesting the aura, he tried to create water.
Neo failed.
He tried again.
And again.
And again.
The result was the same.
‘I guess I’m still far off from reaching the necessary level.’
Neo smiled bitterly.
He had a lot to learn.
When he was busy practicing, Anna explained.
“Looks like all of you can use your Auras.
“Now, I want you to create an Aura Blade.”
The faces of students hardened.
Aura Blade was the first combat technique of Aura Manifestation branch.
A person needed months of training to manifest an Aura Blade.
“Take your time. It’s a difficult technique, so there is no need to feel pressured to create an Aura Blade in today’s class,” Anna said.
They practiced.
Only Morrigan, Arthur, Lucas, Harrison, and Mars, could create an Aura Blade among the sixty students.
The students felt the gap between geniuses and themselves.
While their eyes wandered around, someone spoke.
“Hey, look at him.”
The student pointed at Neo.
He was enveloped in a pale blue aura.
His aura was weak and it flickered like a candle flame soon to be extinguished.
The level of one’s elemental mastery determined one’s aura strength.
Neo’s control over Water element, even as a Secondary affinity, was far below average.
Harrison laughed.
“Look at our Ruler. The fraud can’t do anything if he isn’t cheating.”
Harrison’s words broke Neo’s focus.
Disturbed, Neo’s aura shattered.
It only made Harrison laugh more.
“I can’t believe someone could lose to a fraud like him.”
Morrigan ignored the jab.
Neo was about to do the same when suddenly Anna opened her mouth.
“Student Harrison, every person has their own speciality and weakness.
“There is no need to put someone down because they cannot measure up to you in your speciality.”
Her words made Harrison crease his brows.
“What? I didn’t say anything wrong. You can ask anyone in this class.
“That weakling became the Ruler because he cheated. That’s his only speciality,
“Oh wait, he has a loud mouth too.”
A few students snickered.
Their mocking gazes were aimed at Neo.
Neo pursed his lips.
He was about to ignore them when his eyes met Anna.
“Both of you come up on the stage,” she said.
“…?”
Neo didn’t understand her intentions, but he followed her words.
He stood next to the podium alongside Harrison.
Anna turned to the class.
“They will now demonstrate the usage of Aura Blade.”
She turned to Harrison.
“You first.”
“Okay.”
Harrison smirked at Neo before he took the stage.
He picked a ruler from the professor’s table and held it like a sword.
A grunt escaped his lips and lightning manifested around his body.
It wasn’t a Spell, just plain lightning elemental manifestation.
Suddenly, the lightning sparks crackled.
They twisted and collapsed into themselves.
The air tingled with an electrifying dizziness and the room was basked into a golden glow,
When the berserk lightning returned to control, the ruler in the Harrison’s hand underwent massive changes.
It was wrapped in small, solid golden lightning.
The lightning moved slowly and in a conspicuous pattern.
Harrison slashed.
A small lightning arc shot out of the ruler and split the professor’s table into two halves.
The attack continued to move forward.
It left a deep burrow in the wall before it disappeared.
The students broke out of the trance when Harrison coughed to grab their attention.
They clapped enthusiastically.
Harrison gave the ruler to Neo and let out a victorious smirk.
“This is what an actual genius can do. It’s not something the likes of you frauds can ever hope to achieve.”
Neo agreed with Harrison. Partially at least.
Aura Blade was a dividing line between talent and mediocrity.
The only way for a talentless person like him to use Aura Blade was to familiarize himself with the element to the point it became a second nature to him.
“Neo, your turn,” Anna said.
He exhaled.
Why was the professor doing this?
There was no way he could use Aura Blade.
The students stared at Neo.
Their gazes revealed their expectations of him.
They were waiting for him to fail.
“You can use it. Your mastery over your element is good enough,” Anna whispered. “Just follow my words.”
Neo knew his limits.
He could not use an Aura Blade.
Maybe she just wanted to make fun of him.
He was wrong to think of her as a diligent teacher.
She might’ve replaced the previous homeroom teacher, but she was just as bad.
“Unleash your Aura,” she said. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
Neo followed her words.
A heavy aura of death descended.
The students stopped smiling.
Their expressions contorted and a few of them frothed from their mouth.
They groaned, unable to handle the pressure.
“That’s wrong. Compress your Divine Energy inside your core to the limit before releasing it,” she advised.
Suddenly, the aura pressing over the room was sucked into Neo’s body.
A thin line of sweat formed on his forehead.
He never tried to limit his Death Aura before and it was hard to control.
Still, Neo was familiar with Death.
He survived in Underworld where ‘Death’ was rampant and he experienced death multiple times.
If mastery over the element was a condition of using Aura Blade….
“What!?” Harrison gasped.
Faint sparks of red lightning flickered around Neo’s palm.
“Red lightning…?”
The students couldn’t believe their eyes.
Not after seeing Neo’s poor mastery over Water element.
They thought his primary element’s aura would be no different.
But.
“A-aura blade?”
The red lightning crackled silently.
It twisted like a snake; vicious, poisonous, and—
—Like Death itself.
The ruler in Neo’s hand crumbled into dust.
Neo was left gasping for breath after the red lightning disappeared.
His hands shivered uncontrollably.
He almost fell from exhaustion.
However, no one laughed at him anymore.
They couldn’t.
“I hope now you know why you shouldn’t make fun of others,” Anna told Harrison before she turned to the class.
“Most of the students can’t use Aura Blade but it isn’t because they have no talent.
“You all lacked the resources and teaching of the God Clans. It’s a given you are lacking in comparison to the ‘geniuses’ of your generation.
“Don’t put yourself down.
“With sufficient time and training at the academy, your results will be able to catch up to your peers quickly.”