As soon as Aria finishes explaining to Arthur the importance of Lineages and Astral Beasts, he can only think of finding a way to cultivate efficiently and get stronger quickly.
"Do you already have something for me, Mom?" He asks her.
Aria smiles. "Of course, I have prepared many techniques since you were just my baby boy, and now we can finally start."
"What about me?" Eve asks, curious.
"You are still very young, my dear," Aria touches the tip of Eve's nose gently, making the little girl giggle. "But you can play with your brother after you finish your studies today."
"Oh," Eve enjoys any time she can spend with Arthur, so she quickly gets up the stairs and goes to the small library to study.
Aria can see Arthur's eyes shining with the desire to get stronger, and knowing that what most motivates him is taking care of her and their family makes her more proud and happy.
"How is your hand?" She asks about his injured hand, which she used several remedies and powerful magic on to heal quickly.
Arthur stretches his arms and flexes all his fingers, which feels very good. "Amazing, my bones were broken a few minutes ago, but now they are perfect."
"There are no limits to what we can do with Mana, or as possessors of Astral Beasts call it, Astral Energy," Aria explains.
"There are many terms for it, depending on culture and location, such as Mana, Internal Energy, Qi, but all essentially mean the same thing, which is the energy around us that fuels the world,"
"And I will teach you everything I know about it."
Arthur nods with a grateful smile on his face, and Aria also smiles. "Well, we don't have to wait to start, right?"
He nods again, and she stands up before pulling him by the hand. "Let's do it so!"
Aria leads Arthur to the backyard behind the house, where he trained with Draven, but mainly with the magical training dummy that his mother made.
He observes her making various signs with her hands, creating enchantments in the air, and taking various items out of her storage treasures.
Arthur does not recognize any of those items, like pots full of different materials, various types of ointments, flasks with colorful liquids, and other things.
She also prepares a pile of clean towels, robes, and finally makes a tall bed appear, something that resembles a massage bed from Liam's world.
Then she turns to Arthur and, with a snap of fingers makes a clean towel float to his hands. "Take a bath first,"
"Alright," He takes the towel and starts to go back into the house.
"Wait," But Aria makes him stop and points to the shower in the garden. "You will have to take a bath many times while refining your body and expelling impurities during training, so it is faster to do it here."
The backyard is protected by the high walls around the house, so there is no possibility of someone peeking from the street, but Arthur is not very comfortable taking a bath in front of his mother.
Aria can see his hesitation, so she makes more signs with her hands, and some panels appear around the shower to give Arthur privacy.
"Thanks, Mom," He smiles at her and quickly enters the improvised bathroom.
He cannot see through those panels, but they are still very thin, and he is a little uneasy when taking off his clothes, wondering if his mother is peeking.
"You don't need to take a very long bath; just wash your body so we can start," Aria says and makes a soap float over the panels.
"Got it," Arthur takes the soap and finishes taking off his clothes, which he puts over the panels.
From the outside, Aria sees his clothes, and it's impossible not to start imagining his naked body.
She shakes her head forcefully, trying to get rid of such thoughts. "Control yourself, Aria!!!"
Aria never imagined that hearing the shower water fall on her son's body could be such a torturous experience.
But luckily, he finishes the bath quickly and raises a hand above the panels. "Mom, give me a robe, please."
"No, I need to see your body to know where to start your training," She explains and immediately blushes with strange ideas in her mind.
Arthur also blushes behind the panels with similar ideas. "How much do you need to see?" His voice sounds with a mixture of embarrassment and expectation.
"Oh, my~!!" Aria desperately tries not to think wrong things. "You may keep the towel."
Arthur wraps the towel around his waist, but since it's not very long, it only covers his body up to his knees.
He comes out from behind the panels and shakes his head, drying his blonde hair naturally.
The sight of him only in a towel and wet while drops of water run from his hair over his bare chest hits Aria so hard.
"My~ My~~!!" She can't help it; after all, any woman seeing Arthur's devilishly hot body like that couldn't prevent many positive reactions from arising in their bodies.
Arthur is almost sure that he saw his mother's face blush, but Aria quickly recomposes herself and just smiles at him lovingly.
"Here," She points to the massage bed, and he quickly lies on his back on it.
The bed is very comfortable, and its fabric seems like waterproof leather, so there is no problem he is still half wet.
Aria picks up a flask with a transparent and yellowish oil; then she looks at Arthur's naked chest.
"This is to stimulate your Astral Veins..." She starts to explain, but the idea of spreading that oil on her son's chest makes her body heat up quickly.
Arthur is also in a difficult situation; he can't help but imagine Aria's delicate and soft hands all over his body, lovingly spreading that oil...
'What am I thinking?!?!' He also tries to get rid of such thoughts, which is not possible.
But he manages to focus on his will to get stronger, so he closes his eyes and opens his arms. "Alright, I'm ready!"
'But I'm not!!' Aria exclaims mentally.
She also tries to focus on the will to help her son get stronger and quickly thinks of a solution.
"Turn around; I will start by your back!" She asks.
Arthur quickly turns around and since the massage bed has a gap at the end, he can rest his face in it, keeping his body straight in the same position.
No longer seeing the loving expression on her son's handsome face, Aria manages to start calming down.
But the sight of his strong back is still so hot that she needs to concentrate before she starts pouring some of that oil on his skin.
"I'm going to start..." She speaks aloud, a warning more to herself than to him.
"Mm," Arthur just makes a sound of agreement.
Then Aria places her hands on his back, and waves of pleasure electrify both their bodies.
'Damn good!!'
'So good!!'
Aria knows that the longer she takes to do that, the more dangerous it may become, so she doesn't waste time before starting to spread the special oil on Arthur's back.
He feels like receiving a massage from an angel.
'Her hands are so soft... and warm... this is just... perfect!' Arthur really enjoys that.
Aria is in the same situation. 'His muscles are so firm and strong... his skin is so soft and warm... his body so perfect!!'
With such thoughts in mind, Aria can't prevent her feminine instincts from being aroused.
So she tries to focus on other things and starts explaining to Arthur what she's doing.
"This oil relaxes and stimulates your Astral Veins; we all have them, which is where our Astral Energy and other internal energies circulate through our bodies..."
She continues her explanation and talks about how the Astral Veins are important for both Mages and Warriors, but while the first group uses the Astral Energy mainly for magic, the Warriors use them primarily to strengthen their bodies.
One of the first steps to creating a good Foundation, that is, the first three Warrior and Mage's Ranks, is a good body refinement, and it boils down to eliminating impurities from the body, opening the Astral Veins, and making them stronger so that more Astral Energy and energies flow through the body.
As she speaks, Aria spreads the oil all over Arthur's back and legs, but the most important part is his chest and belly.
"You will have to turn around," She asks in a concerned tone.
Arthur turns around and sees his mother gazing at him with those big, bright blue eyes and a discreet, loving smile.
"Now I need to apply the oil on your chest..." She speaks slowly, and her lips seem even softer and juicier.
Arthur can see that his mother is hesitant, which leaves him confused. 'Does she also feel this???'
'It can't be,' He tries to get such a thought out of his head and extends his hand to her. "Do you want me to do this?"
Aria almost hands the oil flask to Arthur due to the sensations she feels while applying it to his skin, but precisely because such feelings are so good that she doesn't want to lose them.
'What a problem!!' She finds herself in a dilemma: enjoying such forbidden feelings or not?
The rational part of her mind tells her that this is wrong, but then she manages to convince herself otherwise.
'I can't neglect my motherly duties even if it makes me feel strange!' She strengthens her determination.
"It's okay, Mommy can do this," she says and smiles lovingly at him. "Just relax and let the energy flow inside you."
Arthur rests his head on the massage bed and closes his eyes. That oil creates an anesthetic sensation in his body, and his mother's touch is so good that he just wants to enjoy it, even if it makes him feel a little guilty.
Aria also feels guilty for enjoying it so much, but she uses all her love and dedication to focus on the task.
She starts by applying the oil on his hot chest, and to prevent dangerous thoughts from arousing in her mind, she continues the explanation about cultivation.
"The first step in almost every cultivation technique is learning to make your internal energies flow through your Astral Veins faster,"
"Start by controlling your breathing..." She speaks while she has both hands on his nipples, and that makes it very difficult for both to control their breathing.
"Oh," She notices it and starts moving her hands down over his chest to his belly. "Breathe deeply and let it go... then relax..."
She applies the oil with a loving touch on his belly, especially over his navel. "All our Astral Veins pass through here, this place is called Astral Convergence,"
"During the Foundation stages, Mages begin by transforming this place into an Astral Pond, then Astral Lake, and so on until creating an Astral Core,"
"Warriors, on the other hand, focus on improving their Astral Veins, starting with making thick and resistant, comparing them to Copper, then Iron, Steel, and so on,"
"And we can learn to use this place as a starting point to force our energies to run through all our Astral Veins, reaching our whole body."
"Hmm," Arthur listens to everything his mother says attentively. "I'll try,"
"No need to rush," Aria speaks gently. "This is not an easy process, so it will take time; just start trying to feel your Astral Veins."
Arthur does as she says and quickly manages to feel his energies running inside his body, through his Astral Veins, naturally.
"I see… I can feel it," He speaks excitedly.
"Really?" Aria is surprised. "That fast?"
"I think so," He comments, unsure if he is doing it right.
"I'll help you," Aria places her open hands on his belly and begins to put pressure on that area, massaging it in opposite directions toward both sides of his waist.
"Let your energies flow..." She comments while continuing to make those movements with her hands.
Arthur actually feels his energies running faster through his Astral Veins, but Aria's touch arouses much more than his Astral Veins only.
"I can feel it... it's rising... this feels so good, Mom..."
"Just let it flow," Aria is so focused on helping Arthur control his internal energies that she doesn't notice that something else is also rising.
Until she sees a large tent appear before her eyes, a tent created by the towel around Arthur's waist, and another things...
"Oh My Goodness~!!" She gets really shocked, not at the tent itself but at its size. "How did it get this big???"