Locus quickly turned around. Genken stood right behind him.
"Looks like you didn't think of my ability."
As always, Genken was right. Locus had only thought of how Genken might use it to hide. The thought of using it to find someone never crossed Locus' mind.
"That's cheating! How am I supposed to hide when you can just teleport to me?"
"I never said that teleporting was against the rules."
"But that's not fair. I want a rematch without you using your ability."
Genken had a mischievous smile on his face.
"Alright, I won't teleport."
Genken turned around.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty."
Locus had run about fifty meters into the forest while trying to not make any noise.
He was wondering if Genken would hear him moving, but Locus didn't dare to try him.
Instead, Locus decided that he wanted to know where Genken was searching. But peaking around the tree could be risky.
Locus slowly drew his katana while trying to not make any kind of noise. He turned it so that he could barely see Genken in its reflection.
The ladder looked like he was just strolling, or rather sleepwalking through the forest, but Locus quickly noticed something. Even though it seemed like Genken was more stumbling than walking, he was heading straight towards Locus.
He held his breath and made sure that Genken couldn't see the katana, but the effort was in vain.
About 30 seconds later, Genken arrived at Locus' tree.
"I know you're behind this tree."
Locus showed himself.
"How in the world did you do this? Did you peek? Or is there something I don't know about your ability?"
"Do you know why we're playing hide and seek?"
"No, I had no time to ask."
"Do you remember what I'll be teaching you today?"
"Do you mean this 'Aura' thing?"
"Exactly."
"So will you finally tell me what that is?"
"For now, you can imagine it as a force field that surrounds your body."
Locus raised his eyebrows.
"And you have such a force field surrounding you?"
"Everyone and everything does. That's because of its origin."
Genken sat down on a stump of a tree that seemed to have been cut down.
"The force field and its strength are determined by the entity's power. Factors like strength, speed, stamina, and sorts come to mind."
Locus' eyebrows were still raised.
"Mhm, sure. And how did you find me?"
"Depending on your mastery of Aura, you can feel the Aura of others. It's like a sixth sense."
"I see, so you felt my Aura and knew where I was."
"Precisely."
Locus didn't believe anything of what Genken had just said. Still, he did easily find Locus just now.
"And I'm supposed to learn that?"
Genken nodded.
"And what would I do with that?"
"There are lots of things you can use a force field and the ability to sense others' for. But for now, I think it's enough to say that every strong person in this world is able to use Aura. Without it, there's no way you can bring down the Mastermind Guild."
"And I'm supposed to believe that?"
"Well, you better start believing it quickly. I don't want to spend this much time on your first step of training."
"Then why is it that I've never heard of this before?"
Genken made a face that indicated the answer was obvious.
"Looks like you never hung out with the strong guys."
"And you're one of them? I thought you weren't a good fighter?"
"Aura doesn't necessarily make you a good fighter. Also, I never said that I was weaker than an amateur. I've compared myself to the stronger individuals who are able to use Aura."
"If it doesn't make you stronger, then how am I supposed to get stronger with it?"
Genken shook his head.
"Looks like this is the wrong approach."
He stood up and walked up to Locus. Then Genken punched the tree behind Locus.
Locus raised his eyebrows even higher than before, however that had been possible.
Genken walked back to his stump.
"What was that just now?"
Genken sat down.
"It was a way that I believe to be more effective in terms of making you understand the importance of Aura."
He pointed at the tree behind Locus, who turned around and then froze.
The tree behind him had a hole right next to Locus' head.