"The first thing you will learn is aura breathing. Simply put, it's the art of gathering atmospheric energy. First, sit cross-legged."
Sitting still was Julian's specialty and forte.
As Julian sat in a somewhat awkward cross-legged position, Kaelen extended his hands behind his back.
"From now on, I will infuse my own aura into your body. Close your eyes and feel the energy."
"Yes."
"From now on, do not answer at all and concentrate. If you don't, your mana circuits might overload, and you could suffer aura recoil and become a cripple."
At Kaelen's terrifying warning, Julian clamped his lips shut.
After a little while, Julian felt a tickling sensation from his back.
Soon, he could feel the energy flowing from Kaelen's palms, traveling through his mana circuits and spreading to every corner of his body.
"Remember the direction the aura flows. From now on, you must practice your aura breathing every day and make the energy you accumulate in your core flow steadily as I have taught you."
Unable to answer, Julian focused on committing Kaelen's teachings to memory.
'As expected, with no impurities, the flow of aura is free and unobstructed.'
Kaelen felt a strange excitement.
Julian's body was like a clean, white parchment.
Just as a picture is drawn as the quill moves, Kaelen's aura could flow freely in Julian's massive mana circuits.
If the circuits of a boy with ordinary martial talent were a small stream, Julian's were the ocean.
No matter how much aura he poured in, it never overflowed or got blocked.
'Rather...!'
As if it actively desired the energy, Julian's body began to suck in Kaelen's aura.
Startled by this, the old swordmaster quickly gathered his energy and removed his hands from Julian.
"Hoo!"
Hot breath burst from his nostrils, having almost lost about twenty percent of his total aura reserves.
'An Astral Vessel is indeed different!'
Admiring Julian's innate talent, Kaelen stood up and returned to the front of his apprentice, who still had his eyes closed.
"How was it? Did you memorize the path?"
"..."
Julian was silent.
"My apprentice."
"..."
Seeing him still silent, Kaelen, uncharacteristically, became greatly flustered.
'Did something go wrong in the process of transferring the aura? No, that can't be!?'
There was no problem with sending the energy.
There was no feeling of repulsion, nor did his mana circuits overload.
Nevertheless, Julian remained silent with his eyes closed as if he were dead.
The flustered Kaelen shook Julian's shoulder.
"Julian! Julian!"
"Ugh... mmm... yes... yes?"
Opening his eyes blearily, Julian rubbed one eye with his hand.
And he did so while letting out a massive yawn.
"Is it over?"
"W-Were you sleeping?"
"I have a hobby of falling asleep whenever I close my eyes... haha... but I remember the teachings."
Kaelen was dumbfounded.
'What kind of hobby is that in this world!?'
It was only natural to be tense when an outsider's aura was rummaging through one's internal pathways.
Especially when learning aura breathing for the first time, one should not lose focus, but this laziest person in the Empire had fallen asleep less than two hours after starting his lesson.
Kaelen felt a wave of dizziness and had to calm his mind and body.
'Patience, patience. An apprentice I worked so hard to get... I must be patient.'
Suppressing his anger, Kaelen continued his teaching.
"The first step begins with feeling the atmospheric mana."
"Yes."
Once again getting to display his specialty, Julian sat cross-legged and concentrated.
Breathing as Kaelen had taught him, Julian felt a tickling sensation during his inhales and exhales.
'Ah, is this what aura feels like?'
Julian slowly gathered the energy contained in his breath into his heart center, where a knight's core resided.
He recalled Kaelen's teaching that if he repeated this process, a mana core for storing aura would be formed, and as the energy grew, the capacity of the core would also increase.
'This is better than I thought.'
Julian quite liked the aura breathing training, where he just had to sit still and breathe.
Doing nothing.
This was his main specialty, which he had trained for the past eleven years.
'But... I'm... getting... sleepy...'
Of course, the perseverance and patience of the laziest person in the Empire, Julian, were not enough to withstand the approaching demon of sleep.
'Kooo... kooooo...'
****
A week had already passed since he started his aura breathing training.
Kaelen was proud of Julian for following along better than expected, so he tried not to get too close to him so that he could concentrate on his meditation.
However, at dawn on the seventh day of training, Kaelen saw it.
"That damn brat!?"
The sight of Julian dozing off with his head bowed forward.
"You brat! I told you to do your aura breathing, and you're sleeping!?"
At Kaelen's roar that struck his eardrums, Julian snapped his eyes open.
"Sleeping...! This apprentice is being falsely accused!"
"Then what were you doing!? Huh? Explain it with your own mouth!"
"I was doing my aura breathing! The Aetheric Breathing Technique that you taught me, Master!"
"Hmph! If what you say is true...!"
Kaelen stomped over and suddenly pressed his hand against Julian's chest, right over his heart center.
"Ugh!"
The one who was surprised was not just Julian, who had his core unexpectedly examined.
Kaelen blinked in surprise at the clear, potent aura he felt against his palm.
'In just one week, a mana core was formed, and aura has accumulated!?'
An ordinary squire would have to practice breathing for at least a few months with a technique that matched their body to form a core, and only then could they begin to accumulate aura.
But Julian had created a handful of pure aura in just one week.
'Is this what an Astral Vessel is capable of?'
He had only heard of the Astral Vessel in ancient imperial texts, but this was the first time Kaelen had actually seen someone born with such genius talent.
He was so amazed by Julian's incredible aptitude that he couldn't say anything and just blinked.
"Is something wrong?"
As Julian, who didn't recognize his own monstrous talent, looked up with an innocent face, Kaelen raised his voice.
"Wrong...! You are...!"
No, wait a minute!
Cedric's warning flashed through Kaelen's mind.
—Master Vaelor, even if you think Julian has talent, you must never praise him! He'll think he's already mastered it and become lazy right away.
As Cedric had warned, Julian's nature was that of the laziest person under the heavens.
If he praised him even a little here, he would surely become insufferably lazy in an instant.
"I-It's... a-a-a mess! I've never seen someone as untalented as you! By now, you should have accumulated much more aura than this! Ugh! Tsk tsk!"
Turning away after speaking, Kaelen had to squeeze his eyes shut.
'I never knew it would be so difficult to call a genius a dunce.'
As Kaelen turned his back and his shoulders shook, Julian scratched his chin.
'I guess I really don't have any talent for the sword. Well, I'll probably learn it roughly in five years anyway, right?'
Julian had no intention of becoming a great knight.
'But at this rate, he might tell me to swing a sword for ten years instead. I should breathe more diligently from now on.'
Was it because he had been breathing lazily out of annoyance?
Fearing that he might end up leaving the mountain later than planned, Julian resolved to breathe properly starting today.