"Sorry for not warning you about the side effects, but I just thought that a tough guy like you with a clear goal in mind would accept some dizziness in return for strength."
In the blink of an eye, Locus suddenly sat up and looked around.
He had been lying in a big, brown bed in a small room with Genken sitting on a chair right by Locus' side. A chair, that was missing from the table on the other end of the room.
Locus recognized his surroundings. This was his hotel room. As always, Genken knew what was on Locus' mind.
"I found the key on you and recognized the place. It was just a matter of teleporting us and dragging you through the door into your bed and changing you."
It was then that Locus noticed that he was wearing his pajamas.
"By the way, while you were unconscious, I rented the room next door. It seemed pretty convenient to me."
"For how long was I unconscious?"
"About three hours. How do you feel?"
"Still dizzy."
Genken smiled.
"That's good."
Locus didn't have the strength to raise his eyebrows.
"How is that good?"
"The dizziness you're feeling is Aura. Feeling Aura for the first time can be literally overwhelming, as you probably already noticed by now. You'll probably get used to it pretty quickly."
Genken pointed out of the window.
"It's currently afternoon. You should rest for the rest of the day and adjust to feeling Aura. I'll come by tomorrow morning."
Genken stood up and went to the door. Before leaving, he turned around.
"Oh, and just to make sure you know: Don't do anything else that could cause the feeling of dizziness.
It makes it harder for your body to get accustomed to the feeling of Aura if you throw in some other similar feelings."
Genken turned back to the door.
"So you're saying that I can't train for the rest of the day?"
Genken sighted.
"Feeling dizzy is the training. The first thing we'll work on is basic mastery of Aura, with the most basic thing being perception of it."
"But can't I do any other training for the day?"
"Well, you could, but Aura is way more important than anything you could train. But if you think that you can handle it, you can try to find out what the other people here are doing, just by following their Aura."
"And how am I supposed to do that?"
"The dizziness you're feeling is the movement of other Auras. Your body just can't do anything with the information it receives right now. Oh, before I forget, close your eyes."
Locus did as Genken said.
"This makes it easier to feel Aura, since your other five senses aren't distracting you that much. Or, in this case, your eyesight.
The more senses you block, the easier it gets to feel Aura. The goal is to make your other senses basically useless."
This sounded a little bit weird to Locus, but he just accepted it.
"The challenge is to distinguish the different Auras from each other."
"That's all I have to do? Sit around and focus?"
Locus sounded disappointed.
"You also learn things like patience by doing that. But if you think it's boring, there's another thing you could try."
"Yes?"
"When I come in your room tomorrow morning, try not to faint. It's easier if you can brace yourself, but you'd need to feel and distinguish my Aura to do that. Let's see if you can manage that by tomorrow.
Rest well."
Genken left the room.
Whenever Genken moved, Locus felt more dizzy. It was probably because of the change in Aura.
After sitting alone for a few seconds, Locus chuckled. In just a few days, he had come so far and would come even further.
When he mastered Aura, he would go and launch an attack on the Mastermind Guild.