Instead of controlling his entire surroundings, she was telling him to change the surrounding condition to produce the effects he wanted. Kind of like having a fan to create airflow. Eldrian didn't need to make the wind if he could make a fan.
Now, depending on the type of magic Eldrian wanted, this could be simple or highly complicated. And there was a little problem:
It was challenging to know when mana was being converted to what he wanted or when it was only supporting the reactions he aimed for.
Because of mana's ability to change form and become anything, it was pretty easy for it to take the form Eldrian was envisioning.
This was not a problem that normal mages fell into. They relied on spell modules to guide them. But, since Eldrian often forced the issue, mana filled the gaps in his knowledge.
This meant more mana needed to be expended for the same spell. Which honestly wasn't much of a problem for Eldrian.
Sure, he could agree that it wasn't optimal. But being less efficient and stronger seemed better than the alternative. Efficiency wouldn't change much if he wasn't strong enough to face his enemies.
Now, Eldrian wasn't a stranger to this method. He often relied on it when casting Aeraki.
This was why he could use it so easily on Earth. He wasn't having mana produce the wind itself, but rather he used mana to create a low and high-pressured area. Letting the air flow naturally from there.
This method had a downside, though. It took more time to get going. But if he could set the stage, it would indeed be quite powerful.
Now, lightning was not the only thing they talked about. Most of their time was spent getting Eldrian up to date on chemistry. It was one of the fields most often involved in spellcasting.
Naturally, Eldrian also had to study biology and physics. And when Ziraili couldn't meet, he would ask his friends to help him study.
Therdul was the go-to for biology, plant biology, and Erik for human anatomy. For physics, his friends couldn't help too much, but Nikki was quite knowledgeable in chemistry. Well, she was a chemist, so that was to be expected.
And then, once a week, Eldrian had his lesson in The Core.
There were multiple reasons for it being limited to once a week. Eldrian needed rest between being pushed to his limits. And Ziraili couldn't spend all her time on him. She still had the entire system to run and manage.
While she was great at multitasking, when she manifested herself in The Core, it made things difficult for her.
On any typical day, her situation is akin to a hive mind. She would have millions of separate selves observe the players, dungeons, market, and so forth—all that information flowing into her mind actively.
When she was in The Core, that active flow was disrupted. She wasn't completely cut off from her separate selves, but she needed to activate the connection to know what they were seeing, doing, and experiencing. And she couldn't do this with all of them.
Naturally, there were dangers to this disconnection. It made the likelihood of these selves becoming separate greater. And while that was usually fine, the purpose of most of Ziraili's split minds was to ensure the system's smooth workings.
They did not need to have separate thoughts from the original.
"You've recently succeeded in Channeling your auras," Ziraili said. This was the other notification Eldrian had received when he killed the Terror. However, the notification hadn't clarified, and until now, Ziraili hadn't brought it up.
"Yes, what does it mean?" Eldrian asked.
"Simply put, you can think of your auras like medicine. In the right dosage, it is beneficial, take too much, and it can become poison." She said. "Until now, you've been drawing them randomly. And the more intense the situation, the more you took."
"This is where the corruption comes from. When you draw too much of the aura into yourself, it becomes a poison your soul cannot handle."
"Channeling is when you draw just the right amount. It allows you to boost your abilities without becoming poisoned in the process. However, the amount you can channel is limited."
She also noted that this differed from when he fell into a berserk state, thanks to Wrath. In that situation, he grew even stronger than when channeling, but Wrath would feast upon his body and soul during the entire duration. And should he fail to regain his composure, she would burn out.
The next few hours were spent with Eldrian training to master Channeling. Like the last time, Ziraili summoned various enemies for him to combat. With magic sealed, Eldrian was forced to fight by relying on his auras. With the added condition to not use his auras for offense.
This last condition made the battles near impossible to win. They often pushed Eldrian to the edge, where he then overdrew on his aura.
Now, the corruption wasn't instant. It was just like all the other times Eldrian relied on his auras. But since Ziraili stopped offensive usage from manifesting, the fights continued for long enough for the damage to take effect fully.
While the process was dreadful, Eldrian had to admit it was working. He could fight for hours while Channeling on his third official Core visit. He was finally starting to feel the flow of lifeforce within his auras.
On his fourth visit, Eldrian was allowed to use offensive incantations. The matches ended quickly as a result. With his enhanced control and a better understanding of the pros and cons of his auras, Eldrian worked with a plan.
He would close the distance, slow the enemy with Tranquility, and then annihilate them with a concentrated attack from Wrath.
As a result, Ziraili summoned more powerful opponents. These new enemies were more resilient to Wrath than any foe Eldrian had faced before.
Naturally so. The foes Eldrian was facing now had auras of their own.
"A basilisk?" Eldrian murmured in disbelief. Honestly, he wasn't sure whether that was what it was. But he couldn't think of any other snake-like creature that Ziraili would summon for him to fight.
"Indeed. It is a corrupted offspring of the dragons. Surrounded in an aura of death, it is quite dangerous." Zirali did not explain more. However, Eldrian was stuck on the notion that it had an aura of death.
'What does that mean? Is it a manner of speaking or an actual aura?' Eldrian had asked but received no answer. So now, he was milling the question in his mind while looking at the massive snake.
It was as thick as he was tall and probably easily 30 meters or so long. It was currently curled up in the middle of the room, so Eldrian wasn't too sure about its length. What he was sure of was that a smoke-like haze surrounded its body.
It wasn't undead, but it seemed to exclude the same feeling that a horde of them would. Eldrian was inclined to believe it was not a figure of speech when Ziraili said the aura of death surrounded it.
'What is its aura capable of, then?'
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