Karl laid on the ground panting as his mind kept revolving around the pain he had felt for the last 3 hours.
"Stand up kid, we are done now." Jay repeated for the third time, which once again warranted a growl from Karl.
Jay sighed as he turned and started walking away towards the gate.
"I will give you a break then. Meet me back here in 1 hour. You do whatever you want, just do not practice aura."
Karl stared at Jay's departing figure, his mind hurling all the curses he knew of.
It only took a few minutes before Karl was deep asleep.
***
"Aaaaaah!"
Karl screamed as he jolted up, waking from his slumber.
Karl looked around to see a green haired man giving him a smirk.
Karl shivered as he felt his body cold and soaked and the reason was very clear to him as the green haired man was the only one in front of him.
A shout which was Karl's war cry rang as he stood up and used both his ether body and aura, focusing them on his knuckles as he threw a straight punch at Jay's groin.
But just before Karl's punch was about to make contact, his whole body lifted off the ground and flew off at high speed and hit the wall behind.
Karl fell to the ground after hitting the wall headfirst, his lips bleeding a bit.
Jay was standing at the same spot, looking at Karl with a sorry expression.
"Oh, my bad."
Karl, feeling the taste of blood for the first time, felt all his anger turn to shock as he looked at Jay astonished by his lack of words.
Jay feeling the intensity of Karl's stare spoke while scratching his head.
"I did control my strength but I think I overestimated you..."
Karl's jaw dropped at Jay's attitude.
'Father who the fuck is he to treat me like this?' Karl questioned Kevin in his mind.
"Now now, stop being a pus- coward and follow me, we need to start with our training." Jay spoke as he turned and started walking away.
'He tried to call me a pussy. didn't he?' Jay wondered as he stood straight and followed behind Jay, wiping the blood from his lips.
Karl followed Jay and found himself going towards duke's manor.
Suddenly Kevin appeared in front of the two from nowhere.
"Need something?" Kevin asked Jay.
"Yeah. What are his elemental affinities?"
Jay's words made Kevin frown and then he spoke, turning his head to the side.
"Not tested."
Karl frowned not understanding what they were talking about and Jay looked at Kevin with his eyebrow raised.
"Don't tell me you guys do not test elemental affinities?" Jay spoke hitting the nail which made Kevin cough in embarrassment.
"Hardly anyone ever becomes a mage, so we never needed to." Kevin spoke, justifying himself.
"So what now?" Jay asked as he facepalmed.
"You start with aura core first, by then I will make the arrangements." Kevin spoke as he turned around and started to walk away but had a hand grab him by the shoulder.
"What?" Kevin asked as he turned around.
"Should I form another aura core? It will be problematic to make the mana ring if I do so." Jay said curiously, tilting his head a bit but a slight smirk tugged at his lips.
Jay's words made both Kevin and Karl looked at him in a daze.
As they understood the meaning of Jay's words both son and father had a shocked expression.
"YOU FORMED A CORE!?"
"I FORMED A CORE!?"
Kevin and Karl both shouted to Jay which made the later break into a crackle.
Jay continued crackling while Kevin quickly touched Karl's left side of the chest which made his eyes widen more.
"Forming a core at the age of 4, your son is a genius senior." Jay spoke proudly after he had finally stopped laughing.
Jay's words made Kevin cough again.
"One, I am 3 years and two, WHEN DID I FORM A CORE!?" Karl shouted, annoyed by the lack of information.
'Did he touch me when I was asleep?' Karl wondered about when he might have formed a core.
Jay's expression broke at Karl's words as he looked at Kevin with a confused expression.
"He... is lying right?" Jay asked, his expression making it clear how unbelievable he thought what he heard was.
Kevin again cleared his throat as he turned back again.
"Wait in the training grounds, I will bring the stones to test his affinities." Kevin spoke as he disappeared from the spot as if running away from the explanation Jay needed.
As of explanation, Karl also was in the need of one.
"WHEN DID I FORM A COREEEEE!?!?!?" Karl shouted at the top of his lungs earning a frown from Jay.
"What the hell do you think we have been doing huh!? Just look around your damn heart and you will know!? How can such a dumb idiot be such a genius!?" Jay shouted as if grumbling.
Karl ignored Jay's last words and quickly felt the aura around his body and could feel huge amount of it around his heart.
"How?" Karl asked in confusion.
"First, are you really three years old?"
Karl just nodded at Jay's question which made Jay hold his head as he started grumbling "Life is unfair, life is unfair" again and again.
'Is it such a big deal? It is just one year difference.' Karl thought after seeing Jay's reaction.
"So how did I form a core?" Karl asked breaking Jay of his stupor.
"That was what the training we did was for. While defending, you learned to precisely control aura around your heart.
During the last part of the training, due to my constant attacks, you controlled all the aura in your body and gathered it around your heart and kept it there until it settled stably.
That is what formation of a core is about." Jay explained without a hint of his initial annoyance.
Karl nodded as he made note of one more thing that was missing in the novel.
"Wait, so if I learn to precisely control aura in all of my body then my whole body can become an aura core?"
Jay laughed at Karl's words.
"They didn't teach you- Oh right, you are only 3 huh... No. One can not put aura in every part of their body.
Other people make their first aura core in the center of their chest as that is the only place people can sense and control ether easiest.
Hearth bloodline births strong aryas because you guys have strong hearts where you create your first aura core, something other aryas like me can just envy."
Karl pondered more at Jay's words before asking.
"So with time, more places where one can form aura core appears?"
"Yes, smart of you to understand that. But they do not just appear, it happens after certain control over that body part."
"Control?" Karl asked the thing that he had wondered by himself before.
"Control is not simply controlling movement of the body part, it means stability and control of aura.
Control is something which can be gained though difficult but stability is something which can not be controlled. We also call that stability, aura sensitivity." Jay explained.
"How does aura sensitivity increase?" Karl asked again.
"No one knows. It is still being researched."
Karl pondered for a minute at everything Jay had spoken and then nodded in satisfaction.
'Now all the pieces are together. That is why forming more aura cores is something people generally do when they have reached the limit of their main aura core rank.'
"Is your curiosity satisfied now?" Jay asked with exasperation to which Karl nodded.
'He acts annoyed even though he explained everything calmly.' Karl thought.
"Lets go and wait for your father to come then." Jay spoke as he started walking back from the way they had come with Karl following behind him.
***
Karl sat on the floor near Jay who was instead standing.
They have been waiting for the last half hour waiting for Kevin to come.
Jay had a tired expression as Karl kept asking him question.
Karl in contrast had a delighted expression as he cleared most of his doubts.
Suddenly they saw Kevin appearing in front of them, followed by what could be called a storm which lasted only for a few seconds.
'Why is sometimes there no effects of him coming and sometimes such effects?' Karl wondered which he understood by Jay's next words.
"Use aura senior!" Jay shouted in annoyance as he shielded Karl from the fierce gust of wind.
Kevin ignored Jay's words as he handed a small pouch to Jay.
"Why did it take so long?" Jay asked.
"Oh, it took time to bring the special stones." Kevin said as Jay extended his hand towards the pouch.
But the next moment, to Kevin' surprise, Jay instead of taking the pouch grabbed his wrist as his eyes lit up.
"Senior, Karl is three year old and is going to form both a core and a ring." Jay spoke slowly and creepily.
Karl also looked at them, curious at the sudden twist.
Kevin stared at Jay for a few seconds before he sighed.
"I will give you the money, so keep your mouth close." Kevin said which made Jay smile as he took the pouch from his hand.
Karl looked at Jay as if he was pathetic due to what transpired.
Jay ignored Karl's gaze as he took out a red, fist sized stone from the pouch and handed it to Karl.
Karl looked at the stone with curiosity but only for a second.
The next second his face scrunched as he felt the heat coming from the stone.
The heat just kept increasing and the next second the whole stone burst into fire making him shriek in pain.
Jay quickly chanted something as a huge ball of water flew at Karl's hands making a sizzling sound.
Karl with tears in his eyes looked at Jay and Kevin in pain.
They both were looking at Karl, too stunned to speak.
Karl kept wailing for a few minutes but Jay and Kevin ignored him and started talking to each other.
After around ten minutes, Jay approached Karl as he took another stone, this time blue colored from the pouch and extended it towards Karl who stepped back with fear.
"Don't worry this can not hurt, it will only help." Jay consoled as he drew his arm closer.
Karl clenched his jaw as he took the stone from his other hand.
This time instead of heat, Karl felt humidity and it soon converted to his hand feeling wet.
The next second, the water converted into a stream of water, converting the sand around his feet into a puddle of mud.
Next Jay took another two stones from the pouch, one transparent and the other brown.
Instead of making Karl hold them, Jay took Karl's hand and touched the stone on them while holding the stones himself.
This time Karl did not feel anything and was confused when the next second the transparent stone burst and the brown stone.... stayed the same other than its color darkening.
Jay took away his hand from Karl's hand and clenched the palm holding the brown stone which made the stone crack into pieces.
Jay swallowed saliva as he looked at Karl as if looking at a ghost and turned towards Kevin who had the same expression as him.
"Jay, you will know what to do." Kevin said as he turned back and slowly started walking away, deep in thought.
Jay closed his eyes as his mind started thinking about how to proceed with the next step.
With both Jay and Kevin deep in their own thoughts, Karl was left alone, his hand stinging and his questions unanswered.