Seems Like I'm Talented?
Mike watched, enamored as orange and red flames bloomed from Theresa's hands.
They seemed to almost drip from them like burning water, if that made sense. However, it didn't end there as the flames started to condense and take shape.
In a few short moments, the flames had condensed enough to look almost solid. As for what they turned into? Well, a longbow made of orange flames had appeared in Theresa's hands.
'... Wow.' Mike thought with genuine amazement. The flames gave off an orange glow, and he could feel their heat from where he stood. Moreover, they seemed to illuminate Theresa's figure, making her look like some sort of legendary warrior from stories of old...
"Pay attention." Her words snapped him out of his stupor and he looked at her.
"Don't focus on the bow itself. Focus on the energy flow. You should be able to notice that at least." She spoke, and Mike looked at the bow once more. However, he focused more on it, his heightened perception allowing him to quickly lock on to the energy flowing within the bow, and he was taken aback by how stable it was.
Compared to his aura where the energy raged like steam within a tight pot, the energy here burned with a quiet power. It was there, and it was potent, but it was stable, unlike his own.
However, her energy felt... hot. It was hard to explain. His own felt wild and powerful, while hers felt warm, almost burning. It was undoubtedly still energy, but it felt fundamentally different from his.
"Good. Read how it's flowing, and try to apply a similar motion to yours." She instructed, and Mike obeyed.
He unconsciously released his aura, but he paid no attention to the stat increase as he simply focused on the way the energy moved.
It was wild, untamed, and undoubtedly primal. None of this in a good way. Compared to Theresa, it was simply too wasteful as she said, and raw output didn't mean it was better.
He analyzed it a bit closely. Despite how wild it was, it was still his, meaning he could still control it.
He observed her energy flow for a moment more, then he took control of his and started to move it.
Theresa noticed and nodded.
"Try not to rush. Energy control isn't something someone can grasp within a short period and requires a lot of effort and dedication—" Her words stopped abruptly as she was shocked by what happened next.
Mike's previously wild and untamed aura surged briefly, and then it started to condense rapidly.
The mist-like aura became thicker, but instead of quickly dissipating, it simply condensed even more, and in a few seconds, the mist-like aura started to resemble thick blue smoke.
Mike, who had stopped paying attention to Theresa, frowned.
'Not bad... but I can do better.' He mused as he controlled his energy even more.
Previously, he'd never seen the energy flow of someone using their ability before. Verbal and written instructions were nice, but ultimately, Mike was a visual learner, and as soon as he saw Theresa's demonstration, the pieces he'd been missing suddenly clicked into place.
Slowly, his aura condensed more and more, and this time, he truly felt some significant changes.
If he had to use an analogy, then before, it was like he was using low-quality oil that ran out quickly. Now, though, the 'oil' he was using was far more qualitative, and each 'drop' was significantly more valuable than before.
About 5 minutes later, Mike exhaled, and his aura leveled out.
Now, the smoke-like aura was very close to resembling...
'Liquid... no way. There's no way he can get that far with just one demonstration... right?' Theresa thought with disbelief, but with how Mike was going, he truly seemed...
"Ah, nah, I can't do it." He exhaled and shook his head as he stopped condensing his aura.
"... Huh?" Theresa said, still bewildered.
"Yeah, it's like there's some sort of threshold, I can't just cross it for some reason, even though I got pretty damn close." He sighed. Still, he wasn't dissatisfied, because he now truly understood just how much he'd been screwing himself over with his previous use of his aura when he stared at his stats.
STATS
Strength: 24.2 → 49.6 (+25.4)
Agility: 27.4 → 51.2 (+23.8)
Endurance: 26 → 45.8 (+19.8)
Vitality: 30.6 → 42.4 (+11.8)
Perception: 23.6 → 48.3 (+24.7)
Ferocity: 7% (Stable)
Allocatable Stat Points: 0
'Incredible.' He thought as he felt his body.
Everything just felt... more.
He clenched his fist and felt the immense power within. He felt like he could destroy a building in a single punch.
Not just his strength, but all his physical stats felt buffed to an incredible degree, and his senses felt like someone had attached a specialized device to eat of his five senses. Heck, even his instincts felt more active than normal.
What's more, not only did the energy drain feel a lot less compared to before. He also felt that his body wasn't getting as strained as he thought.
This confused him, as the last time he'd activated his aura at maximum output, he felt himself getting strained rapidly despite his passive skill to help with injuries and exhaustion. But not only did he gain more stats now than before, but he WASN'T using his aura at maximum output.
'System.' Mike immediately called out to the ethereal construct inwardly.
[The drastic surge in parameters is a direct consequence of enhanced aura density and structural cohesion achieved through partial condensation. Previously, your aura output was diffuse and inefficient, requiring greater expenditure for lesser effect, while placing strain on physical channels. Core energy absorption has fortified those channels and refined your aura lattice, allowing more of its power to be translated into direct stat reinforcement without overwhelming your body. Additionally, condensed aura interacts more efficiently with neural and sensory pathways, amplifying perception, reflex, and instinctual responses beyond prior thresholds. Energy consumption is reduced proportionally due to the elimination of leakage and misalignment, meaning current performance exceeds your previous 'maximum output' despite not approaching the true limit.]
Mike didn't understand what half of those words meant, but he got the general gist of it.
Basically, since he'd gotten better control over his aura along with the energy he'd absorbed from the dead cores, his body could handle the spike in stats better than before.
'Something tells me a scientist would bite my head off at such a simplistic summary.' He shrugged and looked up at Theresa, who was staring at him with a complex mix of emotions on her face.
"Thanks for that," Mike said earnestly.
"I didn't know what I was missing, but I guess I just needed to actually see energy control before I managed to grasp it myself." He thought as he dispelled his aura, and was pleasantly surprised at the meager strain on his body.
"... You're seriously not from any family?" She asked skeptically, and Mike raised a brow.
"Why the sudden suspicion?" He shot back, and she glared at him.
"Do you not know what you just did?" Now Mike was confused.
"You demonstrated energy control to me so I could fix my lack of energy control. I did, why are you getting mad???" He asked incredulously.
"You... you seriously don't know what you just did?" Her tone sounded a bit more unsure.
"Could you please elaborate?" Mike sighed, not enjoying the back and forth.
She stared at him for a moment, then she sighed.
"Typically, people with Aura-type abilities take weeks, sometimes even months, transitioning from mist-like condensation to smoke. The mist-like condensation you had indicated that you achieved that level recently, so it should have still taken you a while before you reached smoke. But you achieved what some people needed months to accomplish in a few minutes. Moreover, you nearly achieved Liquid Condesation. It takes YEARS for people.to transition from smoke to that! And again, you almost did it in a FEW MINUTES!" She got increasingly heated as she spoke, and Mike's eyes widened.
"... I did not know that." He said curtly, and Theresa rubbed her brows.
"My ability isn't even an Aura-type, but even I can recognize just how absurd a feat that is. And you expect me to believe that you aren't from any family with talent like that? What the hell?" She huffed.
'I can't tell if she's complimenting me or not.' He scratched his cheek. If he was honest, the severity of what he'd just done was truly lost on him. He guessed it was pretty impressive, but he felt like she was exaggerating. Little did he know that if news of this went out, people would go utterly wild.
Therese seemed to realize that he truly didn't understand just how insane what he did was, so she took a breath.
"You know what? It's fine. Just... if you actuvaye your ability, and someone asks you when you managed to condense it to your current level, say it was a few weeks before you entered the Academy, alright?" She said gravely, and Mike wanted to protest, but his instincts made him aware that she was being genuine.
He hesitated, then he nodded.
"... Alright." Seeing his tentative agreement, she sighed with relief.
"Good." She stood there for a moment, then she asked.
"Say, we still have time. While we're here, why not spar a bit?"