Chronos started talking about his own power first. "I am at the second rank of aura known as the soldier rank, but I am very close to the knight rank. The skills I have trained to a high level are shatter, aura edge, aura enhancement, impact, and roar.
I know other aura techniques as well but those five are my best."
Sariah looked over quizzically "What do those techniques do?"
"Does she not know anything about aura Gregory? These are basic techniques."
"Nope, she grew up in the church orphanage and was mostly isolated by the other kids. She spent most of her life studying magic and knows absolutely nothing about aura or how it's used."
Chronos gave a deep sigh as he prepared for a long explanation. "Alright Sariah I will explain what aura is and how it is used. Are you ready for a crash course in aura?"
"Yes." Sariah responded after taking out a notebook and quill.
"Good, now then aura is what we call the power that is generated when we absorb the world's spirit and fuse it with our life energy. This is almost always done through physical training using an aura method; if the training isn't done right then it results in a sub-par aura, which can be easily defeated.
Aura techniques are created by manipulating aura into specific forms within the body. The more complex the form, the more powerful the technique. It is similar to magic in this way. However, there are some powerful techniques that can be used with a simple form, but such techniques are very rare.
Another thing that affects the power of the technique is the quality of your aura. The only safe way to increase quality is through training with an aura method. There are some risky ways to increase quality, but they all have drawbacks or a price to pay for that power. Devil aura users usually come about from these risky methods.
Finally there are techniques, these are the most important points for aura users as they determine what you can do and your future path with aura. Techniques can roughly be separated into 4 fields of expertise. These are enhancement, weapon, defense, and control. Each field can be specialized in, but most people take the general path and train in all four to some extent.
Do you understand everything I have said so far?"
Sariah knitted her eyebrows as she gave a nod and repeated her version of what Chronos had said. "Aura is increased through physical training unlike magic which is world energy that has been refined by a mages soul. Aura is given forms that are similar to magic sigils, within the body. There are four fields of practice in aura. What fields do the two of you use?"
"I use enhancement and weapons the most. As for Gregory, he uses control and enhancement."
"How does he use control as a thief?" She asked with a confused look on her face.
"Aura can be used to blend into one's surroundings. He also can use the implanting art to plant an aura technique into a weapon or object and throw it to draw an enemies' attention."
"You said that some techniques could be performed in a single move, is that similar to a power word?"
"I don't know. I can only use basic aura techniques right now. My favorite being roar, it draws enemy attention to me giving others a chance to attack."
Gregory looked at him with an exasperated expression and said, "It would draw attention if you hadn't altered it to be an attack."
"Yeah, I didn't like the first version very much. My roar is an energy attack that slams into everything in front of me on top of drawing the attention of everything else." Chronos said while proudly chuckling to himself.
Thinking about all of this, Sariah came to the conclusion that Chronos was a muscle head that just liked to fight. He had no defensive methods in his specialties. He would definitely need barriers to keep him alive.
"What about your favorite technique, Gregory?"
"I am most skilled with the implanting art; it helps even in negotiations. Other than aura I am skilled with throwing daggers and have reached the advanced realm with short swords."
"Not going to tell us your rank? Are you embarrassed that you're slower than me?" As Chronos said this he had a shit eating grin on his face.
Gregory's mood instantly soured. He kept teasing him until Gregory snapped. "Don't be so proud! You only reached the soldier peak rank! I am only half a rank behind you."
"Does the rank make such a large difference?"
Pausing his teasing Chronos turned back to her. "Yes, at the soldier rank we can only emit aura to our body or weapons. Unless we learned the implanting art it cannot be used outside of that range.
The knight rank is a major watershed because it allows us to emit our aura in a greater range. A regular knight can reach five meters with their sword aura but can only maintain it for a few moments. At the fourth rank of lord, it is much easier to maintain aura. My father said "aura goes through a qualitative change at this rank."
"Me and Chronos will reach that rank sooner or later. Once we do, we should go back and kick the old man's butt."
"Agreed! Also, I am at the intermediate rank with most weapons, but I have reached the advanced rank with the sword and spear. Oh, right if you don't know about aura you probably don't know how important the advanced rank is. Put simply the higher your weapon rank is the easier it is to pass aura through a weapon and the more aura you can use with your weapon."
Sariah had a sudden look of understanding as almost all the pieces came together. "I see, weapon mastery acts like a good staff. the better the staff the easier it is to use magic." Sighing she continued "It takes a lot of work no matter what your profession. Earlier you said that techniques were more important but what value do the methods carry? Outside of the obvious."
Gregory chimed in at this question. "I think I am more suitable for talking about this subject. Aura methods increase the quality of one's aura, but they also serve a second purpose. They can refine your aura to acquire a trait or element. Most people can vastly increase their power once they accomplish this.
The elements are fairly straight forward: fire enhances attack, water enhances flexibility, wind enhances agility, earth enhances defense. There are more elements, but these are the main ones. The traits are more complex and difficult to explain."
After taking a moment to arrange his thoughts Gregory continued his explanation.
"Traits can be almost anything from simple concepts like cut or heavy to more complex things such as army enhancement or control of the environment. Because of how complex traits can be there is no way to rank or evaluate them."
At this Sariah looked confused and asked "Isn't it easy to rank traits? Controlling the weather is obviously more powerful."
"You're wrong." Chronos spoke up "While cut or heavy might seem simple if a person practices it is possible to cut through the sky or mountains. On the other hand, heavy could allow you to strike with the weight of a meteor shattering anything in your way. Traits can't be ranked because these cases have happened in the past put simply a trait is anything you can imagine and train to acquire."
Shocked, she snapped "Seriously! That is absurd. Wait, that sounds similar to intents. Are they the same?"
"No, intent is different but that is a power too far from us right now." Gregory replied.
"Why is Gregory more suitable to explain this? I heard the Bekleadning clan are all aura users so wouldn't it be better for Chronos to explain this?"
As she asked this, she got the distinct feeling that she might have messed up. Chronos's face had gone from smiling to looking annoyed.
"I am going to check the surrounding's." Hopping out of the carriage Chronos headed into the woods, moving carefully through the bushes.
Gregory turned to face Sariah saying. "His family isn't able to use any element and forming a trait is incredibly difficult for them, other beast clans discriminate against his clan because of this. It's become a sore point for the whole clan. However, the clan does possess great strength, one member of the clan can equal two members of any other clan."
"Even though they are so strong the clans still discriminate against them!?"
"It doesn't matter to the beastmen. Something about gaining an element is special to the beast tribes. A tribe that cannot do so is not appreciated by the other tribes. That's why they serve the kingdom now. Chronos doesn't care too much, but other clan members might get angry and challenge you if you point it out. In the future be careful when discussing this."
"Ok, should I apologize to him once he is back?"
"Nah, he'll be over it by then."
An hour later Chronos came back and reported with worry. "No sign of anything nearby."
Sariah, looking a little sheepish, spoke. "Oh, that's good."
But Chronos looked concerned "No, it's not. This is far enough from the territory that we should be seeing wolves, boars, or other beasts. To find nothing at all is not a good sign. It means something else ate them or scared them off...or it might be nothing, and I was just unlucky."
Pondering on this Gregory came to a decision. "Chronos take over driving the carriage. I'm going to report this to Brynn."
After switching places, he ran towards the front of the caravan.
Once he was gone Chronos spoke to Sariah. "I have told you what I can do so it's your turn. What can you do Sariah?"
"I am a magic user at the second rank known as an adept. The magics I can use are support and curse type magic, I can't use offensive magic. My main support magics are grace, bull's charge and basic barrier, as for curses I know far more of those. My goal is to fuse curses and support magic together."
"Is that why you only learned three support spells?"
"I only mastered three. That doesn't mean I can only use three. I just need a little longer to cast them." She replied with embarrassment.
"Can you maintain a spell over a long period of time?"
"Not yet, at most I can only maintain my longest spell for 2 hours. That's why I want to fuse a curse and a support spell. If I can fuse them then the spell will be maintained for as long as the curse was in effect and curses can last forever."
At this Chronos' face scrunched up as he wondered if she was a genius or if she seriously thought 2 hours was a short time.
"Those are two opposing traits, right? I wish you luck with that."
She sighed deeply, "Thanks, I will need the luck."