There was a significant difference between mana and aura, even though the two were remarkably similar. On rare occasions, there were even mages like Ulric who relied solely on aura.
Both were innate abilities of the body.
Everything that lived, from the smallest creature to the largest, possessed these two energies: aura as physical energy, and mana as spiritual energy.
What truly set them apart, in the end, was simply how difficult each was to awaken.
Three out of every four people could awaken aura, but only one in a hundred could awaken mana, and even among those, most simply lacked the talent to realize they had awakened at all.
Despite their similarities, the two energies served distinctly different purposes.
Aura users generally channeled it to strengthen, regenerate, and enhance their own bodies, while mana users focused on spells and magic arrays.
Fortunately for his training, Ethan was an aura user, and one who, despite his limited natural talent, had trained extensively under the teachers his father had hired.
"Come on, faster!" Evelyn shouted beside him.
She ran alongside him through the garden at the back of the mansion, her voice sharp and demanding, cutting through the sound of their footfalls against the grass.
With each stride she took, her huge breasts bounced heavily, surging upward in an exaggerated arc before crashing back against her torso with a loud, wet slap.
A bead of sweat traced a slow line down her beautiful face, dropping into the deep valley between her breasts.
Ethan nodded and pressed on, running at full speed, his muscles burning as aura surged through his body in relentless pulses.
They had been running for over an hour. He was already approaching his limit, yet she didn't even seem close to tiring, despite the sweat darkening her clothes and the flush spreading across her cheeks.
[Thanks to your relentless training, your agility has increased by 1 point!]
[Thanks to your relentless training, your vitality has increased by 1 point!]
[You have received +30% XP]
[You have leveled up, 17 → 18. You have received 1 attribute point]
Four system notifications arrived at once, catching Ethan off guard.
So it wasn't only by leveling up that he could grow stronger.
Evelyn herself was visibly surprised when his speed suddenly surged, his body flooding with renewed energy as though a second wind had ignited inside him.
They continued running for hours until, finally, even she began to tire.
"Ah~~ that's enough..." The beauty slowed to a stop, watching as Ethan sat down on the ground, chest heaving, each breath ragged and heavy.
A satisfied smile spread across her lips as she stretched, rolling her shoulders back.
Her body was drenched in sweat, her top clinging to her skin, her breasts threatening to slip free of her cleavage with every deep breath she drew.
Honestly, he had surprised her, and in the best way possible.
Before being summoned there, she had been a noble. If any of her brothers had been in Ethan's place, they would have given up within the first few minutes, even under their father's stern gaze.
But Ethan had managed to run at full speed for over an hour and a half.
That should have been impossible for any human without aura, and incredibly difficult for anyone below the second stage.
"Hmm..." She pressed her fingers lightly against her full, pink lips, thinking for a brief moment, then turned and walked toward him with a slow, deliberate stride.
"Very well. We still have some daylight left. Let's train your strength a little!"
"Shit..." The handsome young man let out a long, defeated sigh against the grass.
He was Evelyn's master. He could order this to stop at any moment, and she would have no choice but to obey. But how could he break through his limits by taking the easy way out?
He hadn't come to this world to be just another ordinary talent.
Gritting his teeth, Ethan pushed himself up and began doing push-ups, forcing his exhausted body further and further past what it wanted to give.
[Thanks to your relentless training, your strength has increased by 1 point!]
He barely had time to feel satisfied before he heard her footsteps approaching, and a moment later her weight came down onto his back.
Her plump, perfectly rounded buttocks settled against him with a firm, warm pressure, the soft flesh spreading slightly as it molded against his back.
Even with aura reinforcing his muscles, doing push-ups with that much weight bearing down on him was hard.
Evelyn simply sat there, rising and falling with each of Ethan's slow, grinding push-ups, her body swaying gently with the effort beneath her.
"Hmm... I know! Hahaha~~" A bright laugh escaped her as an idea struck.
Her hands slid down to the neckline of her small leather top.
She pulled it just enough to reveal the soft curve of an areola, a pink nipple peeking into the warm afternoon air.
She cupped the exposed breast in her palm, her fingers sinking into the yielding flesh, the supple weight of it shifting under her grip.
"One hundred push-ups, one second touching them~~ if you hit a thousand, I'll let you touch them for a whole ten seconds!" She declared it with confidence, though her tone carried the unmistakable edge of a joke.
Given how much Ethan was already struggling, she genuinely doubted he would even make it past fifty.
What she forgot, however, was the kind of power a man could summon when given the right motivation.
That big, round ass pressing against his back and those huge, sweat-glistened tits dangling in front of his face were the most potent motivation Ethan had ever encountered in his life.
[Thanks to your relentless training, your vitality has increased by 1 point!]
One hundred, huh? Let's see how you like that. A wide grin spread across his face as he shifted the newly gained attribute point into vitality.
The effect was immediate. His body flooded with energy. His torn, burning muscles knit themselves back together as the vitality increase took hold, exhaustion peeling away like dead skin.
Evelyn's eyes went wide.
Her spine arched sharply as his pace exploded beneath her, the sudden burst of speed sending a violent jolt through her body.
Her large breasts lurched upward with the motion, swaying and bouncing against each other with a heavy, fleshy collision before rebounding outward.
She grabbed a fistful of Ethan's golden hair to keep her balance, her knuckles white, her breath catching in her throat.
Gods... what kind of monster had she just created?
Her expression shifted, the shock and flicker of genuine apprehension giving way slowly, replaced by a shy, reluctant smile curling at the corner of her lips.
She liked men like that.
Handsome men who pushed their bodies past every limit, who refused to stop even when the reasonable thing was to quit.
Maybe she wouldn't still be a virgin if she had met Ethan sooner.