"That's it for now," Celine said as she stopped moving the feather in her hand.
William was not in the right state of mind because his thoughts were currently scattered. Celine's plan was simple. She would imitate the flow of Aura on a person's body by using a feather, so that William could feel its circulation.
However, since the boy's sensitivity was multiplied by a hundredfold, he wasn't able to stop himself from laughing out loud as the ticklish sensation overwhelmed his senses.
When William finally regained his bearings, he wiped his face clean from filth. He was feeling embarrassed of making a fool of himself in front of his beautiful Master. When all traces of his embarrassment were removed, he then faced his Master to complain.
"Master, this is a very dangerous thing to do," William said with a very serious expression. "The sensitivity is too much. I can still feel the lingering traces of the feather on my skin and it makes my heart tremble."
"Very well, I will use this as a means in the future to interrogate you. It seems very effective," Celine said in a teasing tone. "But joke aside, why don't you use that lingering feeling to feel the flow of aura?"
William paused before saying "Exceed Break" in order to feel his body. Like he said earlier, the traces of Celine's feather experiment were still gnawing on his skin. It made the boy realize that by using those lingering feelings, he was able to finally feel the elusive sensation that he had been grasping for a week.
The boy didn't waste anymore time and focused his concentration to feel the flow of energy passing through every part of his body. A few minutes later, William had entered a trance-like state.
Celine had a smile on her face because she could tell that William had finally grasped the flow of Aura in his body.
-----
A year passed and the sound of weapons clashing echoed within William's Sea of Consciousness.
After the Half-Elf had learned to channel the aura in his body to his weapon, Celine decided to go to the next phase of their training. Although William could empower his weapon with his aura, it was only at a very basic level.
What Celine was currently trying to teach him was the way to manipulate the aura into a form that would suit his battle style.
Celine teleported in front of William and thrust her spear forward. The boy bent his neck to the side to allow the spear to pass by. He thought that it was enough to neutralize her attack, but the beautiful elf only smiled at him.
"Little Will, you're still too green," Celine teased as she pulled her weapon back.
The two parted a few meters away from each other as William looked at his Master with a serious expression. He felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger to it. Suddenly, his vision tilted to the side as his head slid off his neck.
A few minutes later, William stared at his Master in disbelief. The spear in Celine's hand had turned into a deathscythe, and was the main culprit why his head was cut off earlier.
"You can also use your Aura to change the form of your weapon at will," Celine explained. "What you saw was only a simple application of Aura Intent. As long as you master Aura and Aura Intent, you will be able to fight even when you find yourself without any weapons."
Celine tucked the hair blocking her face behind the back of her ear as she continued her explanation, "It's a shame that Dwayne wasn't able to show you how he manipulates his aura. That bald monk has one of the scariest Martial Intents that I have seen in the Southern Continent."
"Third Master?" William frowned. "What kind of Martial Intent does the Third Master have?"
Celine raised an eyebrow. "Well, I guess I can allow you to call him 'Third Master' since he taught you quite well in the year that the two of you were together. As for what kind of Martial Intent he has, you should ask him this question yourself."
"How about you, Master?" William inquired. "What kind of Martial Intent do you have?"
"Do you want to see it?" Celine grinned. "I can show it to you, but it will be a very, very, veeeeeeeeery painful experience. Are you sure you still want to see it?"
"Forget that I asked, Master."
"Good choice."
After that short intermission, both of them clashed once more.
William was trying to find a way to use his Aura so that he could at least not be at a disadvantage. Celine was also kind enough to teach him how to form a defensive barrier using his aura against magical attacks.
However, William's aura could only withstand First Circle Magic attacks. If someone were to use a fireball against him, his Aura Shield would immediately be destroyed and the Half-Elf would be burned to a crisp.
------
Two years after William and Celine entered the Divine Artifact Eternity…
Stormcaller flew in the air and engaged Celine in close combat. As Celine was trying to fend off the lightning imbued spear, several whistling sounds reached her ear.
The beautiful elf kicked Stormcaller aside and twirled her spear behind her in order to deflect the arrows that William had shot at her from her rear.
A mischievous smile appeared on Celine's face as she took a step forward towards the Half-Elf who was about to shoot another arrow in her direction.
William's perception had warned him about Celine's arrival, so he immediately released the arrow before jumping backwards.
Celine reappeared just in time to bend her head to the side to allow the arrow to pass harmlessly at the side of her neck. The next second she was already behind William, and delivered a powerful kick on the boy's back without any shred of mercy.
Sounds of bones breaking were heard as Celine broke the boy's spine in half. The Half-Elf's body skidded across the ground for a few meters before coming to a complete halt.
A few minutes later, William stood up from the ground with a pained expression. He had suffered countless times over the past two years, but there was not a single instance where he had managed to land even a scratch on his Master's body.
Even so, he was quite happy with his improvement. The Aura Intent that he had developed was to coat his weapon with his aura and turn it to a living weapon that could autonomously attack his enemies.
William had the option to control this weapon with his will, or let it attack automatically. This gave the boy an increase in his offensive power by using his bow to fire long-range attacks, while his enemy was trying to deal with his spear weapon.
Due to his aura being at the initial stage, William was only able to control one weapon at a time. He could also only control this weapon up to 300-meter radius away from him.
"Shall we take a break, or do you want to continue?" Celine asked.
"Let's take a short break, Master," William pleaded while trying to straighten his aching back. Although they were fighting using their souls, they could still feel pain. The ironic part was that since it was a soul battle, the pain was multiplied by two.
Due to the constant beatings he received, William's spiritual resistance had also increased dramatically. This was another hidden trump card that his Master had prepared for him in case that he ever found himself fighting against a Spirit Master.
"Master, right now, am I able to fight against those Elven Prodigies you were talking about?" William asked.
"With your current abilities, you can perhaps last ten minutes," Celine answered without batting an eye. "Consider it an achievement if you can last for more than twelve minutes against an Elven Prodigy."
William scratched his head in disappointment as he sat opposite of his Master. Deep down, he was really itching to fight against one of these so-called Elven prodigies and see if his Master was only making fun of him or not.
Still, he was happy that he was able to train using a divine artifact. If he were to train in the outside world for two years, he would be left in the dust by those who had been trained with vast resources at an early age.
Of course, if he hadn't lost his powers, and his Ring of Conquest was still working like it used to, William knew that there was no genius that he couldn't beat.
In the games that he had played, William usually beat every boss because of the massive level difference. Even if the boss was resistant to fire, he would still be able to kill it with fire attacks due to being over leveled.
It was a strategy that some gamers used in order to beat down an opponent that was stronger than them.
Unfortunately for William, his magic power and dungeon was out of commission. Even so, for the red-headed boy, it was a blessing in disguise. If he hadn't lost his magic power and his ability to gain massive experience in the dungeon, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to train his martial skills.
If William were given a chance to return to the past, he would have done the same thing all over again. For he knew that at the end of the day, without a good foundation, he was just like a tall building that was built using cheap materials.
A building that could collapse anytime without any warnings whatsoever.