The Retired Hero is an Extra

Jash started to absorb the mana from the liquid mana, the temperature of the blood in his right hand slightly rose.

He willed the mana around his fingertips, connecting the flow inside each finger to the thin coating on his hand.

The mana extracted from the liquid mana and the mana inside Jash's body reacted before they connected to each other.

It was similar to how Mages connect to the atmospheric mana to cast spells, but entirely different in some sense.

Yet Jash just felt the electrocuting jolt of the mana connecting and disconnecting, forming clusters and bubbles of the two different types of mana.

Slowly, more and more mana was extracted from the liquid mana, while his mana core churned out his mana in response.

The clusters and the thin layers started to multiply, gradually becoming bigger, but they were still too small to be seen with the naked eye.

At that moment, the mana inside his body had projected outside, coating his hand completely but that was entirely different from before.

'External Mana Manifestation, huh?' Jash mused, knowing what stage of Aura manifestation he was at.

His focus sharpened and narrowed in on the process with even more concentration to the point he felt nothing around him.

Just the mana inside his body reacting with the liquid mana and the atmospheric mana.

In essence, the mana that was coated outside the body would react with elements present in the surroundings to form a shell.

While mana inside the mana core was the purest form of mana, making it impossible to directly interact with the natural mana.

Natural mana consisted of all the elements, which was why it took time to increase one's rank naturally, as one had to filter and refine the mana.

In Jash's case, he was interacting with three different types of mana at the same time, trying to bend them to his will and form Aura.

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Only, he didn't know exactly what he was doing, as his Aura would form regardless of his current efforts; he was just a step away from it.

And as if to prove it, a soft, ethereal crystalline-blue film of mana started to form around his palm.

'So this is Aura?'

The sharp sensation of Aura was intrinsically different from the cold and peaceful sensation of mana yet it seemed to be docile at the same time.

After two more minutes, he was sure that he couldn't achieve anything more than that, so the thought of leaving came.

But leaving behind the liquid mana that was clearly

his

didn't feel right and he also did need to absorb mana.

So, he thought, 'Why not?'

With that one thought, he planned to use the remaining liquid mana to absorb it and strengthen himself as well.

Well, it was more to fill the gap of mana that arose due to the

nodes

he made, so he decided to nourish them.

Slowly but surely pure mana was extracted from the liquid mana before entering his body and his mana core before going through the mana circulation pathway.

Everyone around him was busy trying to form their aura, be it Amael, Helios, Ava, Ziva, Avon, Grunghin, Sylvie or anyone else.

Only Aileen squinted her eyes at the scene as the liquid mana had suddenly begun depleting quite quickly.

Normally, nobody would be able to absorb liquid mana this quickly, so Aileen was surprised, but not for long.

She understood that his body might have a high affinity for mana and his mana veins were wider.

However, Amael, the one somewhat blessed with mana, also didn't disappoint; he, too, could achieve this feat but focused on refining his Aura to be the best.

Comparing Jash with Amael and Helios, Aileen felt a little disappointed in her heart, lamenting Jash's lack of knowledge on using his talents.

"He should have created his Aura instead of absorbing mana," Aileen sighed but didn't interfere.

"I'll help him later," she muttered under breath and just then she saw that Jash's liquid mana was almost depleted.

At that moment Jash opened his eyes contentedly. 'It's good that I stopped,' he nodded to himself, feeling the overwhelming mana.

He needed an outlet to settle it, so he turned to face Aileen, nodding at her before walking to the door to exit.

"Where are you going, Jash Ramille?" Aileen asked with a commanding tone, disappointment flashing in her eyes.

Thankfully, the two were away from the other students, not disturbing them but the staff members wore stiff expressions.

Although they weren't afraid of Aileen, her commanding tone was a bit too overwhelming for them, given her dislike for interruptions.

"To practice my Aura," Jash replied in a taciturn manner, pursing his lips in the face of her commanding presence, intriguing her.

"Aura?" Aileen reiterated, feeling that she heard wrong as she frowned.

"Mhm." Jash raised his palm and enveloped his fingers in a very thin bluish film, which was his Aura.

Seeing which, Aileen's eyes widened, unable to believe it for a second. "How?" she ended up blurting out, but got no response.

10 minutes.

That was the time Jash took to form his aura while others were struggling to even hold the mana in the center of their palm, let alone forming an Aura.

Aileen was dumbfounded at this time as it made no sense to her.

After all, even geniuses took nearly 30 minutes to form their Aura, and even then, their Aura would be unstable in its initial stage.

In one sense, Aura was similar to Mana Manipulation, that is, it gets better the more control one has over it.

This was why Jash had focused on controlling his limited mana pool instead of bursting through the ranks with a shaky foundation.

"Can I?" Jash asked succinctly after studying Aileen's expression, which appeared calm at the moment.

"Yes, you may go to the Duel class," Aileen nodded, agreeing, as Jash had already formed his Aura, completing the class's first goal.

"Spare a moment, though," Aileen said, not requesting not ordering, but somewhat in the middle.

Jash just nodded and followed her out of the class, thinking, 'It must be about the Sword Art Class...'

"You have not chosen Sword Art as a subject, right?" Aileen went straight to the point the moment they appeared in the empty corridor.

Seeing Jash nod, Aileen inquired further, "Any chance you will change your mind?"

"No," Jash replied resolutely and Aileen just nodded, but Jash swore he saw her lips curl upwards.

'Does she want me to choose it or not?' Jash was growing impatient inwardly despite the two walking towards the Duel Class.

"But you are not a Mage," Aileen said, prompting him to give some reason.

"I know, I am a swordsman. You don't have to worry about me stopping on the path of swordsmanship," Jash replied with a calm look.

Aileen nodded at those words. "Alright, that's all for now," she said before returning to the class.

There were still nearly 50 minutes remaining from the one hour time limit she gave them to form their Aura.

"It's good," Aileen murmured to herself while walking back, recalling how smug and proud Ronan looked at that time and how he was on the verge of bursting now.

A low chuckle escaped her lips as she said, "I wonder what more delights I will get to witness..."