He ran. He dodged. He concentrated.
His aura surrounded his body, and he tried to maintain it. He is becoming faster and more agile when his body is covered by his aura, but his stamina needs to be trained too.
'Concentrate. Concentrate!'
Gruhhh!!
He dodged the big axe and rolled to the ground. He quickly stood up again to dodge another attack. The ground was left with a huge crack.
He took a deep breath while running. His lungs felt like they were burning when he kept doing it. His body is becoming hot and sweaty.
'Damn it! I can't concentrate at all!'
He can't put his mind into just focusing on his aura flow when he is literally being chased by the giant dryads, which are not one but two!
He just needed to put aside the danger to concentrate, but his nervousness and fear of getting cut in two were enough to make him not think straight and just run.
Maybe he is doing all of this the wrong way. Maybe he should split his mind into two. Like he put his unconscious mind to work to concentrate on the aura while his conscious mind got away from the dangers.
It will be hard, but it was worth a try. He should have thought of a way to do two things at once.
He took a deep breath again. Focusing on his aura a little bit more and shutting his mind completely by putting his mind in a more calm and stable state.
It was hard, but he could manage if he tried many times.
By bringing his conscious into the unconscious.
It might be easier. Visualization and meditation are two of the methods used to trigger our unconscious mind. He needs to open up a way to go into his unconscious by being conscious of it first. It's weirdly impossible to happen, but he can try.
Like a machine that needs to be programmed before doing its work, he needs to program his mind to make his aura meditation work while still having full control of his body.
There's no harm in trying something new.
The giant dryads are fast, so he needs to be faster to make some time for him, even for a second, to put his mind in a calm state.
He dashed forward towards the dryads and slid down between the big dryads' legs. This made the giant dryads a little confused, but they began to turn around.
Michaelis stopped for a moment to take a deep breath. He closed his eyes and turned off his aura. The ground shook even more with the footsteps from the dryads, and he knew they were nearing him.
"What the hell is he doing?"
Tereni watched with furrowed eyebrows.
'Think of it like it was at that time. When under the water without thinking of breathing at all.'
He remembered his experience at sea. It is suffocating at first, but as he nears his deathbed, he is becoming more calm.
'Calm down your mind and heart, Michael. In the end, in your mind, you are not trying to breathe but dying.'
By putting his goal in mind and pushing aside the actual need in the back of his mind.
The goal is dying—running.
The actual need is breathing—aura concentrating.
He opened his eyes and turned around to dodge the incoming axe by jumping high.
His dodging is becoming smoother than before. He could feel the surge of energy coming from inside his body. He used the wind's affinity to make himself run faster.
"How did he do it?"
Tereni watched Michaelis dodge everything. She thought she would need to end the training when the axe was nearing him, but then she saw Michaelis open his eyes and dodge swiftly by jumping.
What she didn't expect was for Michaelis to use the wind's affinity to move faster without using much aura.
She didn't see any aura coming from Michaelis; no, the aura from Michaelis was becoming so thin that it was not easy to detect even for her. But his white aura was becoming wider, like a small stream that turned into a waterfall. The aura flow is smooth and little at first, but it is becoming big and wild. Also, calm at the same time.
"He did it."
This training was never done by anyone before. She never tried this kind of method. Before, she would do her training in pairs or more and not worry about aura concentration at all. She is more into attacking with aura. But Yosen is the one who asked her to focus more on Michaelis' aura flow.
It would not be a surprise if Michaelis failed many times. This crown prince could even disobey her by practising aura concentration every night, but he did not. So he knew Michaelis' aura flow had remained the same until now.
It is even difficult for her to concentrate while running away. But this human kid managed to do it.
"Heh, a prodigy has been born. The little emperor should be proud."
But, why? Why is the surrounding area becoming colder each minute? The air is also becoming weird. The trees are swinging too much, even though the wind is not that strong.
She squinted her eyes to look at Michaelis. He is still dodging. His eyes are very focused. His breathing is normal. But she noticed something in his breathing. There is a little mist coming out of his mouth, just like when you are too cold or too hot.
'I think I know why this place is becoming cold.'
She looked at the giant dryad to find something that strengthened her suspicion.
"Stop! Training is over for today!"
The two giant dryads immediately stopped attacking. Tereni flew towards Michaelis, who was finally breathing like someone who was running.
She looked at him while crossing her arms. Michaelis looked at her back.
"Good job."
She could see the glint of surprise in his eyes before he looked down and said a soft thank you.
She touched his forehead to see that it was dry, unlike the other days when he usually sweated. When her skin touched his skin, she could feel the coldness.
"Do you not feel cold?"
Michaelis tilted his head to the side.
"No?"
Tereni just hummed in understanding before she retrieved her hand.
"Let's go. It is almost dinner."
"Yes."
Tereni will need to tell the other chiefs this night.
×××××
"Ice?"
"Hm hm."
Tereni hummed while nodding.
"Therefore it is not actually water but ice?"
Gurina asked again for confirmation.
"More like he can use both. Water is just like his starting point, but later he will manage to use ice and not water."
"That is a unique development."
"Well, the change in affinity is rare, but it's more like his body was trying to adapt itself to ice affinity by making him more familiar with using water."
Yosen gave his insight. Usually, the mana detector would give a precise affinity the user is compatible with. But, in Michaelis' case, his body can't use ice yet.
"That is also why he has a fire affinity."
People who have an affinity with ice would always have an affinity with fire too, or they would just have an affinity with ice, but that would be a drawback if they used their ice affinity too much. They would freeze. That is also why people who have only ice affinity would die early for overusing their aura in the past. They need fire to balance it, but it is impossible if they are not compatible with fire.
"However, you said the boy did not practice with fire affinity yet?"
Gurina asked again. Tereni rolled down on the bundle of blankets.
"Yeah. He thinks he could distract me from asking more about it; he just wants to avoid talking about it. He seemed to not want to talk about it and gave some excuses."
"Maya told me his reaction was quite strange when she showed him how to make a fire for the first time."
Yosen twirled with his long hair while leaning on the couch.
"That kid looked pale and froze. He didn't even try properly when Maya asked him to try creating fire with his aura. He always said he couldn't."
"Oh boy, does he have any trauma from the fire?"
Gurina frowned. That is the only reasonable answer if she thinks about it.
"That may be it, but it's quite impossible. The crown prince never left near any fire for his safety; that is what the emperor told me. If ever he has any trauma with fire, the emperor should already have told us when we reported about his son's aura compatibility. Moreover, he should be more afraid of water than fire, right?"
"Well, he can't even remember being drowned. So..."
Gurina pursed her lips. Yosen sighed.
"Let's not think further about it; maybe he has his reason, and we must respect his decision, but if you can do something to make him tell you, do it. Just make sure to not burden him, Tereni."
"Yes, yes, I know, grumpy old man."
Yosen squinted his eyes. Tereni is just whistling.
"I heard about your training."
Tereni froze when Yosen mentioned that.
"You used two giant dryads to chase after the crown prince while focusing on his mana concentration, right?"
Gurina chimed in.
"Well, yes. But initially, I want to use five dryads! So, I have lightened his training by reducing it to two!"
Tereni stuttered. Gurina facepalm.
"Five?! Are you crazy?"
Tereni hid behind the blanket when she heard the sudden shout from Yosen. The bickering among the chiefs continues. It looked more like Tereni was being lectured again by Yosen while Gurina watched from the sidelines.
However, there is actually something that Tereni overlooked at that time. The growth of an early attribute, where usually shown when they are sixteen years old and above.