"Are you alright?" A girl sitting next to Auric asked, looking at the injuries on his body.
Fortunately, he was wearing long sleeves, so only the two scratches on his cheeks were visible.
"I'm fine. Thanks for asking." Auric smiled. He had practiced really hard yesterday. In fact, his body was quite sore due to the intensity of the training.
The girl and probably a few more people were thinking the same thing. This was their chance. They could buy Auric some ointments and give them to him.
Auric, on the other hand, had something else in mind. He had been in a daze several times since he woke up.
"Are you really all right? You are usually focused. Do you have something on your mind?" Lindwurm asked. This was the first time he had seen Auric so distracted.
'Can't you read my mind?'
"No. I can hear your words if you wish to communicate with me. I won't get anything from you if you don't, such as thinking about women and stuff like that."
'I don't really think about that, but…' Auric thought for a moment. He didn't know what to say about Lindwurm. Still, Lindwurm had been a great help the whole time. So, he ignored the first part and explained, 'I'm just wondering how I should approach the problem.'
"What problem?" Lindwurm asked. "Your breathing technique is quite good. You've been able to maintain it for some time. Your posture has been stabilized due to the footwork, but more training is necessary. I will personally oversee your training, so you don't have to worry about your progress."
'The way to combine the two elements. My teacher is thinking about placing one element on top of the other, right?'
"Oh!" Lindwurm chuckled. He didn't expect Auric to worry about that. "That is actually not a problem. There are actually three ways to approach this problem. The first is what you're thinking right now. Stacking them together."
'Three ways?' Auric didn't expect there to be so many ways.
"Yep. The second way is similar to how people wield their weapons. You will first manifest one power and coat it like a layer of skin. You understand the difference from the first method, right?"
'In the first one, stacking elements will depend on their compatibility. You can't just stack water with fire, because it will either evaporate the water or extinguish the fire.'
"Correct. On the other hand, the second one will coat the power. Still, there will be some losses due to this method. For example, coating fire with water will either make the fire lose its heat or cause the water to heat up, right?"
Auric agreed. Even though his teacher told him about the steel plant, the plant element would break down the earth element.
Hence, it would end up causing some problems, such as weakening the original toughness of the steel.
'Judging by your character, this third method fixes that flaw?'
"Yes. However, this method is extremely difficult because it requires a great deal of control. At least, you are not capable of achieving it yet. I'm talking about Fusion."
'Fusion…' Auric narrowed his eyes. 'Creating a new element or something?'
"Of course not. There are many steps required to achieve this feat. You need to gather the same amount of power and have good enough control. Most of the time, those who can achieve this are identical twins, husbands and wives, and comrades who have fought together for so long that they know each other's habits."
'I think I get the idea. You need to match everything, correct?'
"Yes. That's why trust is also necessary. However, you are doing it by yourself, so you probably can achieve it faster than anyone else. The only problem is to split your focus into two. If you want to try it, you can start training to be ambidextrous."
'That's going to be hard. It definitely requires a lot of practice. I guess the three ways are divided by the desired effect as well as the difficulty.'
"Indeed. Right now, you can easily do the first one. It's something everyone can do. If you want to do the second one, you can check with the people from the other department or learn another basic technique. I think they're going to teach you about it pretty soon."
'Really?' Auric wondered what he was talking about until the teacher entered.
Professor Eren moved to the center while raising two fingers. "All right. Welcome again, everyone. I believe some of you have checked the library. I hope the books you've chosen are useful to you.
"Now, I'm going to tell you about the two things that you will learn from me for the rest of this week. The first one will be regarding the basic trinity that you need if you ever want to become stronger.
"The second thing is the next step after manifesting your element. That is… body armor."
Professor Eren released his energy. At first, it was unrestrained, blazing like a flame.
However, the blazing energy soon calmed down and covered his body like a layer of skin.
"!!!" Auric widened his eyes in surprise. He finally understood what Lindwurm was talking about.
What Professor Eren showed was how to envelop something with one's energy. It didn't necessarily need the body as the target. It could be anything, including weapons. That was why Lindwurm suggested going to the other department.
Lindwurm probably didn't expect they would teach him something like this so suddenly.
'So, that's how it is… Covering my manifestation with another layer of energy.'
"Well…" Lindwurm thought they would teach him about it on the third or fourth day, since the basic trinity was more important. It looked like he was wrong. "…yeah. You manifest it in two steps, which creates two layers of energy, like water and oil."
Auric understood everything. It was something basic, but this was indeed important.
"As you may already know, if you release your energy normally, you will feel like there is another layer of armor protecting you. It will lessen the damage done to your body.
"However, this is very inefficient during battle because there will be energy loss. If you can contain and maintain it like a layer of skin on your body, you can get the effect while minimizing the loss.
"In fact, if your control is good enough, you might have no loss at all.
"I don't have any doubt that some of you have actually trained the basic trinity before even coming here, so I will only explain it briefly for the students who have yet to practice, before moving on to body armor."
Since this was an introductory course, Eren had to be fair to everyone, including those who had yet to even prepare themselves to fight.
Once he was done, he would continue with the body armor.
The principle itself was easy.
By following the instructions, Auric succeeded on his first attempt. However, just like in his other training, he maintained it for a short time before it dispersed due to a lack of control.
The same thing happened to Eric and Simon. They were able to maintain it for six and ten seconds, respectively.
Still, because Auric had practiced his control more than anyone else as an evolution master, he was able to maintain it for thirty seconds.
"It looks like some of you have succeeded. As you may have found out, it's easy to form the body armor, but it's hard to maintain it, especially in a high-pressure situation such as a battle.
"Hence, this will be your task for this week. You are going to train your breathing technique, observation technique, and footwork. In addition, you are to maintain the body armor for as long as possible. If you want it to be effective in combat, I expect you to maintain it for at least twenty minutes."
Twenty minutes was quite short. Still, for those who didn't have much energy, twenty minutes would feel like forever. And when they were fighting, they had to release a portion of their energy for defense and offense, so the duration would be shortened further.
Eric glanced to the side. Just like before, Auric took notes about everything. Whenever the class started, Auric would pay attention no matter how boring the class was.
That was why he had always challenged him. He wasn't someone who would slip up easily.
Once the professor stopped talking, Lindwurm asked, "So, what are you going to do now? I assume you want to practice this body armor, then continue to the next step, right?"
'Yes. Should I call this Element Coating? Since it's just covering your element with another. Or does it have an official name?'
"The official name is Element Blanket. It is a technique that overlaps one type of energy over another."
'All right.' Auric paused for a moment. 'Can I do something like this? Practice this so-called body armor while also practicing my footwork and breathing technique?'
"Yes. In fact, you have to do it with the breathing technique at the very least. The breathing technique allows you to maintain a certain rhythm in your body, and it's best if you are able to match that rhythm with your element."
'Fair point. How about the footwork? What's the reason?'
"There are three reasons. First, the body armor will prevent injuries. Second, your current energy is close to 100%, except for the fact that it is divided into several elements. If you use that reserve, you can do it all day long without any problems. This is your biggest advantage over the others."
When he said it that way, Auric agreed that his existence was too much of a cheat.
'What about the third reason?'
"The third reason is to get accustomed to coating your body. Do you remember the time you turned your hand into steel?"
'What about it?'
"At that time, you were releasing your power recklessly. Even though you were able to do something similar to the body armor, the power was leaking away."
'I do remember that.'
"By mastering this technique, you will be able to manifest other techniques more masterfully, especially the ones related to evolution."
'Ah?!' Auric had forgotten to link this to the technique he learned as an evolution master.
"For Extreme Bridge Management and Dual Fusion Method, you can create two containment vessels that are more durable and stable."
'I have to agree. It looks like we are going to have a long session of training today. Or maybe I should go back home today.' His home wasn't that far, but it would still take thirty minutes for a round trip.
During those thirty minutes, he could practice even more.
"You should go back. Your mother might worry about you. Besides, your father is gone right now, so your mother is alone. She must be lonely. Also, your mother is so beautiful that shouldn't you worry that some married men are seducing her?"
Auric's eyebrows twitched. 'Mom is fierce, so I don't have to worry about the latter. But I guess I should go back to show I'm fine. I will probably write down anything I need on the way.'
"You are a workaholic." Lindwurm sighed.
'Isn't it fine? If I have to say it, grind hard at first and enjoy the benefits later.'
Lindwurm just rolled his eyes.
Meanwhile, Auric's attention was drawn by someone. For some reason, his vision was blocked by a person.
When he raised his head, he realized it was Simon. Simon was glaring daggers at him.
"Do you need something?" Auric asked as if he had no grudge with him.
Simon pointed at him while saying, "You and I—we will have a duel at the end of this session."
Since each session lasted five days, it would be Friday after classes. It looked like Simon planned to regain his dignity as the top student.
Auric didn't really care about his position, but this was where his motto applied. Since Simon wanted to reclaim his reputation and glory as the top student, he would do the same to him.
Simon must have practiced the basic trinity, which meant he could focus his remaining time on the body armor and his battle techniques. That was why he had enough confidence that he would win.
But Auric didn't plan to back down now that the trouble had come his way.
"Fine, I guess." Auric casually accepted it while adding inwardly, 'Change of plan, Lindwurm. I will go back today and tell her that I'm going to stay on campus for the next few days.'