Well, as one would expect I had no problems with the lessons despite missing two weeks of the terms, which translated to 2 to 4 lessons depending on the subject. I either already knew that stuff, or I simply had I listen to the teacher while reading the topic in our book.
Still, I decided to use the time before my next mission to go through all the academy books for this year so that I did not have to worry about missing anything important.
I would then simply have to note down the points that I did not fully understand, since memorization was not the same as comprehension, and then ask either my teachers or my parents to explain them to me.
That way I would be done with this year's curriculum during my first term and could focus on the more important stuff for the rest of the academic year. Enhanced mental abilities, Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!
Anyway, just as he had promised Mr. Burns began to show me how to apply external aura manipulation to handle energy attacks/moves. Like with everything he began going over the theory first.
It was not enough to simply coat my weapon or a body part in aura to handle energy moves. Doing that would only result in higher durability or defense, and while that would no doubt help withstand an energy attack, it would not help with fending it off.
No, to block an energy move, one would have to use the external aura manipulation to keep the aurora one was using in motion since that would allow the aura to push/move against the incoming energy instead of just standing in its way.
I obviously used my super library to look up more on that topic as well as any other topics associated with that, and I found a lot of interesting exercises and techniques that were based on that basic principle that was not taught at the academy as far as I knew.
Still, it made sense that it was not being taught, since the earliest most people made use of any of those things was Tier 3. Besides I was unsure if the Academy and the Aura Guardians even had access to some of the techniques I found inside my super library.
I mean some methods allowed one to "mimic" aura conversion, which was to change aura into fire aura, ice aura, and so on. Aura conversion was only possible after Tier 5, so being able to "mimic" it was a major advantage.
By moving the aura in certain patterns at certain speeds in certain intervals one could achieve certain effects. Sounds pretty broad and vague. Well, that was because it was.
Still, doing it allowed one to give one's aura the ability to paralyze the target, which was mimicking the ability of electricity, or rather of electric aura.
Nonetheless, the methods had their limit, which was determined by the extent of one's aura manipulation, which was linked to one's Tier. However, even this limited effect was enough to increase one's combat prowess significantly.
At the moment, I could only do the minimum with the methods, but that would change once I reached Tier 3, and until then practicing those techniques would only help me since they would still train the technique Mr. Burns was trying to teach me.
I might consider giving some of the less precious methods to the Aura Guardians in the future if I find out that they do not have something comparable available for their members. It would boost the Order as a whole and any boost in the abilities of the Aura Guardian Order was good for humanity as well as the Pokemon.
Anyway, the first lesson ended up being nearly completely theoretical. Mr. Burns made sure to go over everything, and only towards the end of our lesson did he demonstrate the method before having me try it.
He gave me a few tips and told me to practice them until our next session. I had to add that we were currently working on applying the method to my fists. Mr. Burns said that doing so on weapons was harder and that we would work on that after I could use the method well enough on my body.
The first half of our second session was spent with Mr. Burns checking my progress and giving out corrections as well as tips before he had me repeat the method until he felt satisfied.
Once he felt that it was enough, he called out a Ponyta before he ordered said Pokemon to shoot Ember at me while telling me to block the move using the technique he taught me. I had to admit that it was awesome to destroy the Embers using my fists, but I was starting to feel the heat after destroying the first few fire orbs.
Mr. Burns said that was due to my insufficient mastery of the technique. Still, he told Ponyta to stop after another two volleys before he called out a Poliwag and told it to use Water Gun on me.
I could hardly punch a Water Gun since it was more of a continuous attack than a momentary one like Ember. I could only think of two ways to handle the move at that moment.
Number one was to use my palm like a knife to split the water stream into two halves in hopes that the two resulting streams would flow by my body, and number two was to somehow try to deflect or rather redirect the Water Gun instead.
Now, it should be obvious that the most effective thing would have been to actually dodge the move instead of trying to block or deflect it, but that was not the aim of the exercise so I had to face the Water Gun head-on.
I have to admit that I had a much easier time with splitting the Water Gun than I had with deflecting it. While the first one cost me more aura than I would have liked, I was sure the cost would reduce once I got better at it. The second one on the other hand was not going as smoothly.
I was unsatisfied with all ways I had come up with so to deflect the Water Gun. The best method so far was to coat my whole arm in my aura and use the aura motion method to block the Water Gun with my palm before redirecting the water along my arm so that it bypassed my body.
However, the method was an aura sink and felt too roundabout, so I was still trying to come up with something better. While Mr. Burns only gave me some tips, wanting me to come up with a correct solution on my own, I did not search for one in my super library for the same reason. If I looked up everything I would be unable to grow on my own.
During Kyoday that week, just a day before the start of the 21st month, Manami's potential finally reached light purple. It took my Lapras more than 2 years and a lot of my self-made supplements to finish this step, which began after her breakthrough to the silver stage, but she had done it, and now she belonged to the limited minority of Pokemon with 6-star potential, that all my Pokemon ended up in.
It was a welcome surprise and we obviously celebrated the occasion with a party. It definitely made sure that I walked into the new month with a pep in my step, and my motivation was overflowing.
So much so, that by the time our third session arrived, I had come up with a solution that, to be honest, I probably should have come up with way earlier than this. I seemed to have ignored that my external aura manipulation was capable of more than just coating the surface of my body in aura.
While external aura manipulation did not allow me to create an Aura Sphere or those long staffs made of aura shown in canon, it still allowed me to create small aura constructs as long as they stayed in contact with me.
That meant that I could totally create a mini-shield to deflect the Water Gun. The form of the shield was left totally to my imagination, so as long as I gained the necessary control to mold my aura, I could modify the shield however I wanted so that it would turn into the best shield to deflect a Water Gun.
The same was true for any other energy attack/move. I could design some shield models to handle certain moves, and then once I had them down, I could just materialize the one I needed depending on the situation.
Mr. Burns approved of my idea and we spent the third session working on the shields, or rather I was working on them and Mr. Burns was standing on the side giving tips and helping me test them.
Halfway through the month, during our fourth lesson, he used Ponyta, Poliwag, Pikachu, and Oddish to test my shield. He deemed my work adequate at the end of the session, which amounted to me being able to fully form the shield in less than 4 seconds.
He said we would be moving on to applying the method to weapons and armaments, such as shields and gauntlets. On Mewday, the week after our fourth session, a day before the fifth one, Horus/Xatu's Agility reached SSS, which was his second one.
I was extremely happy with that, and even the fact that I did not manage to get an evaluation of adequate from Mr. Burns during our session the next day did not ruin my good mood.
That Stan's Energy Density reached SS as well on Dialday was the cherry on top and erased any unhappiness I might have felt due to the "failure". It was the second parameter to reach SS of my Gyarados as well, just like with his senior Horus.
My great mood accompanied me through the week and our sixth session as well. Thankfully, I managed to block all attacks using my weapons and armaments, so Mr. Burns deemed my performance in this aspect adequate as well.
Coating a weapon or armament was a bit different from creating a mini shield. The process was slightly different and the area that needed to be coated was bigger. Still, Mr. Burns's standard time for this was less than three seconds because he said that coating something should be faster than creating something.
He seemed to prefer to ignore the difference in size, but in the end, I still succeeded to meet his demand. According to Mr. Burns, now that I could somewhat block and deflect energy moves, I was finally ready to face wild Pokemon in all-out combat, which meant that they would be free to use all their moves.
Coincidentally, it also happens to be the end of the forced break period Mr. Cameron had given me, so I could apply for another mission if I wanted to, since the 22nd month was starting on Mewday the next week.
Now, I had to consider whether I wanted to apply for a mission as soon as possible so that I could visit the Riolu/Lucario habitat or if I wanted to test myself in all-out live combat under Mr. Burns's supervision first.
I ultimately decided that I wanted a Riolu more than I wanted to see if I could face a Pokemon in an all-out battle while blocking moves instead of just dodging them, which I was definitely capable of thanks to my short-range teleportation, reflexes, and speed.
When I told Mr. Burns that I was planning to take another mission on Arcday he requested that I promise him that I would not try to do the test without him, and I agreed since I saw no harm in waiting.
I gave my parents a heads up as well so that they knew that I was probably going to be gone for a week or two, and once Arcday came around, I went straight to Mr. Cameron's office to apply for a mission.
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