New World, New Life: I Became A Bigshot In The Ancient World
Chapter 144: AURA (1)

Chapter 144: AURA (1)

Catherine was seated in the study waiting. With the three of them arriving, the family was complete.

Aristia and Alaric sat down together on one couch. Wilson then sat beside Catherine opposite them.

"Tia," Wilson began, his voice calm yet tinged with concern. "What happened this morning was your first natural appearance of aura. It means your innate ability is starting to show itself."

He didn’t know why she had the ’innate ability’ that only males usually had.

Nevertheless, he continued, turning to Alaric. "That your sister has aura is something private. No one outside this room must know." His gaze flitted between Aristia and Alaric.

Aristia nodded again, understanding the gravity of the situation. "I won’t tell anyone, Papa."

"Why?" Alaric asked innocently, tilting his head and blinking. Aristia couldn’t tell whether he really didn’t know or he just wanted to hear the answer.

Wilson answered seriously, "Because bad people could try to take Tia away from us if anyone finds out."

He said ’try to’ because he didn’t think anyone could successfully harm his daughter— not when he was still alive.

But thinking of some people having the audacity to try made him very angry.

Alaric’s expression changed to a frown, "Try to take Tia away?" He shook his head. He didn’t want that to happen.

Wilson nodded in satisfaction. He was telling them this for Aristia’s safety. It was unheard of for females to have aura.

Having aura meant that there was a possibility of having a daemon even though most people did not get daemons upon manifesting aura. It was even more unlikely for a female to do so. But even so, bad people could try to harm her because of jealousy and disapproval.

He didn’t know if Aristia would manifest a daemon. They could only wait and watch what happens, even though he doubted it.

Aristia and Alaric nodded in understanding.

[Of course I won’t tell, not only because I am aware of the consequences but also because I won’t go around telling people that I have aura.]

"The captain will help you to understand how to manifest your aura." Wilson said, leaning back on the chair with an arm on the chair behind his wife.

Catherine immediately leaned back into his touch. Her gaze on her daughter was younger with worry, but also both thoughtful and accepting.

Aristia looked puzzled at Wilson’s words. "But I thought I already manifested aura."

Wilson nodded. "You did. What Captain Hugh saw was the initial emergence of your aura. But to harness its full potential, to use it consciously, that requires guidance and practice. Now, we need to help you learn to manifest it intentionally and control it."

"Why do I need to learn this?" Aristia asked, her curiosity piqued. The truth was, she actually didn’t know much about aura. It wasn’t something that helped the original Aristia in the book ’The Heroine’s Success’ achieve success.

"Because," Wilson explained gently, "aura is a powerful gift. Learning to control it is very important. It’s rare for a girl to possess aura, and it’s something special we must handle with care."

Aristia nodded slowly, absorbing his words. "So, Captain Hugh will help me understand how to do this?" She remembered Hugo Lancelot helping Ivan.

"Yes," Wilson nodded with a reassuring smile. "You need to learn to control your aura so that others don’t find out that you have aura."

"Okay..." Aristia nodded in understanding.

[It’s just like how Ivan was being taught to control his aura— to manifest it of his own will.]

She left the study with Alaric. Owen was waiting for her outside the door to the study with the butler and followed her when she and Alaric came out.

"Can we play now, Tia?" Alaric asked.

Aristia turned to look at him and nodded. "Sure, what do you want to play, Al?"

"Hide and Seek!" Alaric chirped, then he stared at her. "But it’s only you and me." His eyes moved behind her and then back to look at her, silently pleading with her.

Staring at his excited face, Aristia couldn’t bear to disagree with this younger brother of hers. She nodded, "I’ll call Owen. He’ll join us."

Owen, "..."

That was how Owen was dragged to play hide and seek.

***

Time seemed to pass by quickly and in no time, three months had passed. Aristia’s sixth birthday had come and gone. Her birthday was celebrated in a simple manner at her request with her family, cousins and friends, in the royal palace.

Dung.

Dung.

Dung.

Thump!

"Hmph!"

Captain Lancelot put down the wooden sword. "You have gotten very good at this, princess. Soon you will start to wield a real sword."

Aristia panted and wiped the sweat off her forehead. Captain Hugh was her sparring partner today. Most times, it was usually Owen who sparred with her, but Captain Hugh decided to do so himself today.

"Now, we will move on to aura manifestation." He said, watching her and waiting for her to react happily.

"Finally!" Aristia huffed. Since the first day she manifested aura, she hadn’t been taught to control it. It was still the regular training with the captain.

But she had been taught occasionally to try to manifest it. However, all her efforts proved unsuccessful.

"You haven’t manifested aura since the day you did so for the first time." Captain Hugh said.

Aristia had grown an inch taller during the last three months, and she had also lost some baby fat. Just a bit.

[I didn’t know it was actually not easy to manifest aura out of my own will.] She had tried multiple times by herself but to no avail.

The captain was right. Her aura had not appeared again after the first time. She should have known that it wasn’t easy. After all, even Ivan had still been learning and struggling to control his aura even with the presence of his daemon.

"You need to train your physical body in order to manifest aura, which is why we’ve only been training during our classes." Captain Hugh explained. "But now, I will teach you to manifest and control your aura."

"I understand," Aristia nodded.

"To manifest your aura, you need to concentrate, Princess. Feel the aura inside you. What do you feel?" The captain asked.

Aristia closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. She took a deep breath and focused inward."I can do this," she whispered to herself, trying to recall the feeling she had earlier. She didn’t feel anything.

She turned to the Captain with one eye open, "Is this working? I think it’s broken."

"..."

Captain Hugh was speechless. Was what broken? This princess... He sighed and instructed with a firm voice, "Focus, Princess Aristia,"

[Okay...]

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and focused inward."I can do this," she whispered to herself, trying to recall the feeling she had earlier.

A few minutes later and..

"I still don’t feel anything."

"It’s not necessary to force it, princess. We can keep trying until you get it right. There’s no rush. Let’s continue with the usual training."

"No." Aristia shook her head. "I want to do this. It’s already taken three months." She said.

She was at a loss. How long would it take before she manifested aura willingly? She had been practicing for months!

Captain Hugh stared at her, but noticing the unrelenting frown on her face, he sighed helplessly.

"Alright, let’s try something." Captain Hugh rubbed his chin with a contemplative look. "Think of a moment when you felt completely at peace."

"..."

Aristia raised her eyebrows with a look that said ’seriously?’, but then she sighed. It may have been a bit cliche, but she wanted to bet on Hugh’s word.

She took a moment to recall a peaceful afternoon spent playing with her family in earth. Times when they weren’t all busy.

She closed her eyes tightly, imagining the warmth of the sun on her face and the laughter echoing in the house.

It was like she could almost see the triplets running around the garden, Elliot hot on their trail after they committed a mischievous act, with Susan smiling at their antics, and her parents being romantic when they thought no one was looking.

The calm expression on her face twitched into a smile. Scratch that. Her parents were always romantic, whether someone was watching or not.

And Elliot would chase the triplets but stumble, almost falling. Eventually, he would catch one of the triplets, but the other two would gang up on him, attacking him until he let go of the one he had caught.

Susan would roll her eyes at their antics and complain about the ruckus they were causing, but she’d have a fond smile on her face. Aristia was the same too.

She took a deep breath, letting the memory fill her senses. A warm filling spread in her chest.

"Now, picture that feeling spreading through your body," Captain Hugh continued, not knowing what she was thinking about to have such a nostalgic expression on her face. "Feel it moving from your heart outward."