"One of the most important things that decide the outcome of a battle is how efficiently you can use your Aura." Keith looked at the girls and seriously said. "Everyone has limited Aura and Mana Reserves, and your body can not go on forever either. Therefore, you must learn how to utilise it in the best way and avoid any wastage. Watch..." He said as he pointed to the three cubes of steel alloys he had prepared as well as two ice crystals that he had created.
Keith first coated his palm in his Aura, and then smashed it on the first cube, shattering it into metal dust.
He did the same with the second cube, but the girls could see that the Aura he had covered his palm in was not as dense as before. The result was different too, and when they looked at the two piles of metal dust, they observed that one was finer than the other.
For the last cube, Keith did not smash it with his palm, but instead, created a blade of Aura around his forefinger, and then cleanly cut it into eight pieces within a blink of an eye.
"That's clean!" Kiara giggled as she saw that the cube had been dissected into eight perfect little cubes.
"So, can you tell me where I used the most Aura?"
"On the first cube." Nana immediately replied. "Then on the second, and you used the least amount of Aura on the last cube."
"Yes." He smiled at her. "And all three of them got the job done. If you can kill an enemy by slicing the head or by piercing right through their heart, you don't need to waste more of your Aura to do some flashy move and turn him into dust."
"But that would not be fun." Rebecca pouted.
"But it would be smart." And Qingyue quipped, making the blonde pout some more.
The girls smiled at their interaction and then turned their attention back to Keith, who was now holding the two Ice Crystals in his hands.
"Today, you will be learning to control your Aura better. What you have to do is pour your Aura into the crystal in one go, and the result I want to see is this..." They all watched how the Ice Crystal in his right hand briefly flashed in light before innumerable cracks appeared on it, but the crystal remained intact until Keith lightly threw it up in the air and it finally broke down into pieces.
He then proceeded to do the same with the crystal in his other hand, and the girls narrowed their eyes as they realised that it was not an easy task.
"It must not shatter in your hand. And when you throw it up in the air, it must break." He told them. "You may begin."
Once he gave them the go, the girls, who were sitting cross-legged in the Training Chamber, picked up the Ice Crystals that were placed in front of them in two baskets and started on the exercise.
What surprised them all was how hard it was to break the Ice Crystal. It could not be done by just pouring a small amount of Aura as most of them had tried the first time, failing to make even a single crack appear on the crystal.
A few seconds later, an explosion sounded out as the Crystal in Ayesha's hand burst after she poured too much Aura into it.
It startled Nana and Gina, and their Crystals ended up exploding as well.
The three of them picked up new Crystals from the baskets, and Nana's Crystal ended up exploding again, which confused her.
"They are not the same," Rebecca spoke as soon as she discovered that the Crystals in the basket were not of a single type. "There are six different types of Crystals in the baskets." She informed the girls, who nodded their heads and focused some more on the exercise by picking up several Crystals and trying to sense the differences since they all looked the same.
Keith did not have to wait long to see their frustrated faces, and even his ever-so-composed Amelia was struggling in this exercise.
Qingyue even crushed a few Crystals in her hand out of frustration, and his laughter did not make her feel any better.
Keith let the girls be after a while and then walked over to a corner before taking out the book on Alchemy which he had been reading for the last few months. He was almost done now, and his Alchemy Skill had already reached the intermediate level. However, Keith did not plan on using the skill Upgrade Card just yet.
He did not like leaving something unfinished, and he wanted to finish this book first.
A while later, someone called out to him, and he was not surprised to see who had approached him with six Crystals levitating in the air around her.
"Master." Minami smiled at him.
"Got it?"
"Yes." She happily nodded to him and then grabbed one of the Crystals from the air before pouring her blue Aura into it.
The crystal briefly flashed in blue light before numerous cracks appeared on it, and then she lightly threw it up in the air, which resulted in it falling apart.
She proceeded to do the same with the other five Crystals and then expectantly looked at him.
"I am proud of you. Well done!" He said and planted a kiss on her forehead, which made her bloom into a bright smile.
"Thank you." She bowed to him and then looked at him again, waiting for his instructions.
"That's it for today." He told her and patted her head. "Why don't you go and prepare me some snacks?"
"Okay." She nodded her head and bowed to him again before leaving the Training Chamber, not paying any attention to the girls who were looking at her.
They had all witnessed how she had managed to finish the exercise and demonstrated it to Keith, and needless to say, some of them were not feeling comfortable with it.
"Focus on the exercise. Those who fail to finish it or don't make any substantial progress before dinner will have to exercise the Two-Fold Heart Pulse before they can sleep." He said, and as he expected, most of their faces turned pale in fear.
Two-Fold Heart Pulse was the second level of the One-Fold Heart Pulse healing and recovery art, and they had all witnessed the painful cries of Ryou this morning.
It was clear that it hurt him a lot when Keith broke down his body, and Ryou had been exercising the One-Fold Heart Pulse for four years now. His pain tolerance was way higher than any normal Auror, and if it hurt him this much, it meant that Keith had done a lot more damage to his body that required the Two-Fold Heart Pulse to heal it and alleviate the pain faster.
None of them wanted to go through it, and they obediently focused on the exercise, brushing away all their distracting thoughts and dissatisfaction.
Keith observed their progress for a few minutes before returning to the corner and picking up the book again.
"Done." He heard someone call out to him a while later, and it turned out to be Qingyue.
Keith glanced at the rest of the girls, and he found Amelia in a corner, meditating. She had finished the exercise too.
"Show me." He said as he conjured up an Ice Crystal in his hand and handed it to her.
Qingyue nodded her head after she sensed that it was different from the ones she had been practising with, but did not complain and showed him her progress.
The crystal briefly flashed in a green light before several cracks appeared on it, and she then lightly threw it up in the air.
Keith smiled when the Crystal broke into a few pieces. It was not perfect, but she had indeed understood how to use her Aura to gauge the strength of the crystal and then use just the right amount to get the job done.
"Good job!" He congratulated her, and she smiled in satisfaction.
"Thanks!" She said before she sat next to him. "What are you reading?"
"It's a book on Alchemy." He told her and then smiled before turning to the last page, which described in detail how to create a perfect Bone Strengthening Potion.
After finishing reading the book, he glanced at his grey-eyed wife, who seemed very fascinated by what she read on the page.
"Here." He closed the book and offered it to her. "You can keep it."
"Thanks!" She happily planted a kiss on his cheek before grabbing the book and starting it from the beginning.
Keith did not bother her and walked over to check everyone's progress.
He created some more Crystals and filled up the baskets. They were nearly running out of them, and only Ingrid and Rebecca seemed close to finishing the exercise.
The rest very struggling too much, and the only one who was still staying calm about it was Kiara.
"Done!" Rebecca brightly smiled after she successfully performed the exercise on all six types of Crystals.
"Good." He patted her head and then sat next to Ingrid as she performed the exercise on the last crystal. " Good job!"
"Thank you, Master." Ingrid seemed happy to receive the praise and blushed slightly. But instead of getting up and doing something else, she kept sitting with Kiara and waited for her to finish the exercise.
Though she wanted to help her dear friend, she understood that Kiara needed to do it on her own, so, she just stayed quiet and observed her progress.
"Where are you going?" Keith turned to look at his blonde wife who was walking out of the Chamber.
"It's my wedding tomorrow!" She turned and pulled her tongue at him. "I want to go visit my parents."
Keith nodded to her and then stopped Marianne, who was about to get up to leave with her Master.
"Stay. I will go with her." He told her and then nodded to Ingrid, leaving her in charge of observing everyone's progress.
After Rebecca took a Shower, the two of them ate the snacks Minami had prepared for him, and then they left for the Grayson Manor.
Tomorrow was a big day for their families, so it was only right that they visit Grayson Manor.
Her mother was already displeased with her decision to not return home a week before the wedding day. She was supposed to not meet Keith for at least seven days before their wedding, but Rebecca was not the one to stick to these traditions.
She wanted to stay with him, so she refused to go. And no one could make her do anything if she did not want to do it.
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