Duke and Bran stood opposite to each other, performing a set of complicated breathing exercises whilst in horse stance position.
"Bran, how're you holding up?" Duke asked as he watched over Bran's Aura Training.
*Huf Huf* "It's alright milord... I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it!" Bran answered back as dribbles of sweat continuously fell from the two.
It wasn't only Bran and Duke who were training that morning.
Thanks to the extremely efficient marching system designed by Galleo, that was used before by Duke to ambush the Bandits led by Waxer surprising them in their own territory, the movement speed of Duke's army was 1.5x faster than other armies, and also twice as well-rested too, giving the Soldiers ample time to stop there march for 5 hours a day...
During these five hours, Duke and the Knights trained the soldier using real armor and weapons as they carefully sparred with real steel and practiced battle formations with heavy weapons and armor on...
The training was quite effective as most soldiers quickly got the hang of it and are now able to perform more even more complex battle formations.
And of course, the Knights also didn't forger their Aura Training.
After obtaining the Revised Pendragon Aura Manual from Duke as rewards for their show unwavering loyalty for all the years they stood by Maine despite its fall, the old Knights were once more given the opportunity to rise again and become The Pendragon Dragoons they once were.
Seventy-five old Knights (Some returning from retirement after hearing of Duke's sudden improvement) were also performing Aura Training along with Bran and Duke in the center.
Violent and fiery-red Aura emitting black streaks of smoke, a characteristic that distinguished Pendragon Aura from other Auras, came out of their old but surprisingly well-toned and firm muscles as most of the Old Knights who were already at the bottle-neck of Aura Regeneration finally broke through to the level of Aura Strengthening. And the fiery-red Aura became even more intense.
But surprisingly, the most intense of the bunch was not Byran or the two Knights Bardis and Dan, but instead, it was Duke's Aura that suddenly burst out after he finished the first breathing techniques...
Although Duke's Aura was still at Aura Regeneration, in comparison to the old Knights Aura Strengthening, Duke's Aura was stronger since he was using the revised copy of the Pendragon Manual... He tweaked to suit his *special* physique. Of course, only Duke who had a special body could perform it right now...
And although Byran and Galleo warned Duke of how dangerous the tweaks he made were, for Duke, the tweaked version of the Manual truly did suit him best.
Duke once thought to himself:
[Hmmm... The Aura training method I learned from that blonde pretty boy sure was strong, but it's mostly suited to make a person fast... And I don't really focus on being fast... I'm too fat for that! Our Pendragon Aura Training on the other hand suits my style best... Strong and steady is the best for me! Hehehe...]
But as he practiced the Pendragon Aura Manual, his previous aura training Which he learned from Celine, Varhys' sister) that gave Duke Aura that was golden in color suddenly reacted violently to Duke practicing the Pendragon style Aura as if preventing him from practicing the two together.
It was like the old Golden Aura Duke had trained previously was suddenly fighting off the invasion of the newly formed Fiery-Red Pendragon Aura.
But just as Duke thought he made a fatal mistake and was about to burst into a million chunks of flesh, an unexpected miracle happened.
The two Auras, the swift yet elegant Golden Aura balanced out the powerful yet turbulent Fiery-Red Aura.
As if both were the opposite sides of a coin, yin, and yang, the two Auras complimented each other, building on the other's strength, and empowering Duke even further.
Then Duke suddenly remembered his family history, and how the Alastors (Imperial Family) and Pendragons were once part of the same family!
Of course, that was before Vasuvius Alastor, the first Emperor, He the Central Crown, made his second son Penric Alastor a Duke in his own right and gave him Aragon (Ancient name of the Southern Region). Thus forming the Pendragon Household.
Duke had heard of many historians, including one of his past teachers in the Academy who was trying to embarrass him at the time, call Penric Alastor, the First Pendragon, The Second Crown, a fool for taking the bad half of the Imperial Family's Aura Training Manual, leaving the useful half for his first brother, The First Crown, the juicy bits of the manual.
"Did I just combine the two?! I mean that pretty boy I met that night WAS in living in the Imperial Palace! Maybe he's one of the Princes or something like that?! Wait?! Then why did he teach me the Imperial Aura Manual?! Is he an idiot?!! Wait... now that I think back he was looking down on me... maybe he thought I wouldn't even remember what he just taught!"
Duke was ecstatic! Immediately realizing that he might've just reconnected the two Auras back to their original state!
[Wait a minute... wasn't Vasuvius the first Alastor? If I remember correctly, he took on half his wife's name... Then from which Noble line did the original Manual come from?! Such a strong Manual that allowed the creation of two Auras in one body, obviously wouldn't be something so simple!] Duke happily imagined to himself, temporarily forgetting to breathe properly and greatly disrupting the chaotic flow as the Aura Duke was controlling went out of control...
[Eh?!...] Duke suddenly felt sharp pains all over his body...
Luckily Byran was there and he reminded Duke, shouting: "Meditate Duke! Meditate! Reign in that raging Aura inside you!"
Hearing Byran's advice, Duke managed to calm the raging storm within him.
As Duke opened his eyes, the whole world seemed to welcome him with great awe, as if the rocks, grass, and trees instinctively knew:
Emperor Gaiseric's Draconic Arts have been revived...