Jaden looked at the system messages that appeared in front of his eyes.

'What exactly is fighting aura for...Wait, Roland would probably know the answer to this.' thought Jaden as he was enlightened by this fact.

At this moment, Jaden was training under the overbearing pressure of a [Royal] ranked power that Roland released. The aura that he released started from [Bronze] then [Silver] then [Gold], and now [Royal]. Jaden withstood those powers and trained rigorously without using his skills.

One must remember that although Jaden's attributes are indeed monstrous, he was still, after all, only Level 1. In {Destiny Forged}, levels don't just represent higher attributes or higher experience. As the NPCs and Monsters of this world have their own power system, the player's level is their evolution system. As NPCs increase their power rank, their very existence is being upgraded to something better, something more extraordinary, akin to shedding one's mortality and developing oneself to a higher existence. And along with increasing one's ranks, or levels in a player's situation, one's very being is cultivated and develops an innate and fundamental pressure or power over those that are lower ranked or lower leveled.

Thus, it could be said that it's simply a miracle how Jaden can even move, let alone fight and train, under the pressure of a [Royal] ranked power, despite it being an existence leagues above him.

Under this oppressive power, the cells and tissues within Jaden's body were being ripped apart and replaced rapidly and continuously, which in turn improves his physique, attributes, and mentality.

"Hey. Roland," said Jaden with difficulty.

"Hmm?" (Roland)

"Fighting Aura, what is it exactly...?"

Suddenly, a wave of power burst from Roland, sending Jaden dozens of meters away. 'Good thing, I'm in this training grounds, at least I won't die here.' muttered Jaden as he looked at his HP.

Roland's eyes stared at Jaden solemnly. "What Fighting Aura is, it's hard to explain, but you can think of it as an energy, power, or source that's different than Mana. Fighting Aura is something incredibly rare, so rare that none of this continent has it except for two people, and that includes me." As he continued talking with Jaden listening like an obedient child, his expression suddenly changed as he looked at his disciple.

"Wait...you shouldn't know anything about Fighting Aura...that is unless...don't tell me you...?" Before Roland can even finish his question, Jaden nodded his head and answered.

"Yea, I unlocked this thing called Fighting Aura somehow..." said Jaden meekly as he peeked at his master's face, which was continuously changing by the second.

Silence.

Seeing his master suddenly stop, Jaden stopped any movement and stood quietly as he looked at Roland who's contemplating on something.

"Well now, this changes everything..." muttered Roland as he then looked at Jaden with a grin on his face. "Seems like picking you as my disciple was a great choice huh."

Jaden smiled wryly when he heard that, he was about to say something before he was interrupted.

"Well, let's talk about Fighting Aura then," said Roland as a distinctive aura started to exude from his body. "Fighting Aura. You can call it a separate mana, energy, or power, or all of the above even. It's also similar yet different to auras or powers like sword energy, spear energy, fist energy, and so on. One can only attain Fighting Aura through sheer combat, however, if a normal person tried his utmost to realize Fighting Aura, one wouldn't achieve it even if he or she spent their whole life trying. I don't know how you obtained Fighting Aura but that's not what's important right now." Roland said as the distinctive aura from earlier, which now had the color of silver, enlarged until it towered up to the sky and enveloped the surrounding.

"This is Fighting Aura!" he declared with a towering presence.

Jaden gasped in astonishment as Roland's silver-colored Fighting Aura covered him like an impenetrable armor that could withstand even the mightiest of attacks.

Roland continued. "Enhancing one's physique and strength greatly, providing unparalleled aura and presence, boosting and strengthening one's attack and speed, even granting unmatched regeneration. Fighting Aura can do so many miraculous things that even I have not seen the limits of its capabilities." at this moment, Roland's Fighting Aura had already expanded until it covered the whole training ground. Jaden could feel the nigh-omnipotent power coming from his master right now.

"Master, how can I-" before Jaden could finish his sentence, Roland had cut him off and laughed.

"My disciple, you have probably been blessed by the Eternal Gods with the ability to use Fighting Aura. Right now, with my own, I can feel a faint strand of Fighting Aura building up within you. To further enhance it, you must continuously battle opponents, be it humans, monsters, or those of other race, that are stronger than you. You must survive or be victorious again and again to repeatedly develop your Fighting Aura. And the most important of all..." Roland paused for a moment before pointing his finger at Jaden's chest.

"The most important of all is your heart! An indomitable will represents one's Fighting Aura. Remember this, my disciple, the more refined and stronger your heart and will are, the stronger your Fighting Aura will be!" said Roland with passion as he recollected the memories of him traveling the continent and fighting all kinds of powerful warriors and terrifying monsters.

Roland looked up at the sky for a few moments before his gaze landed on Jaden. He then lifted his foot and stomped on the ground as web-like fissures continuously expanded.

-Boom-

Out of nowhere, a majestic presence collapsed upon Jaden, forcing him to kneel on one knee as his whole body trembled. He couldn't even lift his head or move any part of his body as he remained rooted on the spot. Clenching his teeth, Jaden did his utmost to withstand the powerful aura.

"Under this pressure of [Imperial] power mixed with my Fighting Aura, I want you to battle this guy when you've adapted and can move," said Roland as a flash of light appeared from his hand. Suddenly, a heavily armored puppet appeared from who knows where and landed a few feet away from Jaden.

Roland laughed heartily as he saw Jaden's current image. He couldn't even count how many times he's been surprised by this disciple of his today. 'While this kid's potential is indeed the best that I've ever seen and encountered, he still needs to suffer some hardship despite his unparalleled talent and even that faint Fighting Aura that's inside him.'

Roland once again laughed as he thought of this before walking towards the entrance. Before leaving the Basics of Combat training ground, he turned around as a firm wooden sword appeared in his hand. "Oh right, use this when you two start fighting!" he yelled from afar before throwing the sword towards Jaden, landing right in front of him.

Whistling carefreely, he walked out of the training grounds, leaving only Jaden and the armored puppet. At that moment, he probably forgot that Jaden was only Level 1...

----------

The next day.

-Clank!- -Clack!-

Within the grounds of Basics of Combat, a resounding sound of metal being struck hard again and again could be heard. If one looked closer, they would actually see a 3-meter tall giant that was donned in full body armor and an unbelievably handsome young man with jet-black hair and a pair of golden eyes. A normal person would probably be shocked out of his or her senses if he or she saw the current display of the young man with just a wooden sword, fighting an armored giant.

When Jaden first saw the puppet, he figured that with its giant body, it would be strong but its speed would then be its weakness. Therefore, after hours and hours of adapting and training himself under the tormenting pressure of the [Imperial] power, and finally when he was able to move and run around, albeit a bit slow, he immediately attacked the puppet.

'The fact that I can barely run alongside a battle against this puppet while being pressured by the [Imperial] power, I'll probably be able to increase my attributes more...' this was what Jaden thought at that time.

Although he was right about the latter part, he was incredibly wrong thinking that he could take on the battle puppet then.

The moment the puppet sensed Jaden's intent to fight, it at once attacked him. With a speed that was way, way above Jaden's current abilities, the puppet gave him a punch that could not just dent on a tank, but literally rip a hole in it, which sent him flying dozens of meters away.

And from that moment on, Jaden's inhuman training began once more.
----------

"Although I still can't move as fast as before, at least now I can dodge this guy's attacks," muttered Jaden as he tilted his head sideways, dodging an explosive fist that was headed to his face.

Clenching the somehow durable wooden sword in his hand, Jaden bent his legs and lunged forward. He pulled back his arm and gathered momentum before releasing a stab full force towards the puppet's seemingly impenetrable silver armor.

-19!

A two-digit number appeared above the battle puppet, displaying Jaden's apparent low damage towards the puppet. However, he wasn't disheartened at all. After hours and hours of fighting, Jaden's damage has improved from an initial zero to a single digit and then to double digits. He relentlessly attacked despite being oppressed by the [Imperial] power left behind by Roland which surprisingly, still hadn't dissipated after a whole day.

It was as if Jaden had bottomless stamina and endurance as he weaved and danced around the puppet, dodging it's ferocious attacks while releasing storm upon storm of attacks without stopping.

After all the hours of his training which pushed himself to his limits, Jaden didn't even know how much attributes he had gained all this time since they've been fighting for hours continuously.

Thrust!

Suddenly, Jaden felt as if he was walking on air, his surrounding seemed to move slowly as he was able to perceive all the attacks of the puppet by its minute actions. 'What is this feeling...' when he pierced forward with his sword, it was as if he could sense everything, he felt all these energies and elements in the air and the surrounding. He felt the swaying of the grasses and the branches of the trees, he felt the wind hitting his body, he felt the contraction of his muscles, and he felt the power within him flowing throughout his perpetually.

Raising his arm, with the sword in his hand, when he stabbed forward, Jaden suddenly fell in a trance.

Once...twice...thrice...a hundred times...a thousand times...tens of thousands of times...hundreds of thousands of times...a million times...

Hours passed quietly while Jaden, with his eyes closed, kept dodging the powerful fists as he only stabbed the puppet, with his wooden sword, endlessly and repeatedly, like a mindless machine. However, if one looked closer, one would actually see that every hit that Jaden landed upon the puppet were all on the same spot!

It could be said that this was simply impossible unless his level was high enough to actually do so! But he was only at a measly Level 1! The battle puppet was incredibly fast, leagues above Jaden's own speed, yet he was accurately hitting all his stabs with such godly precision!

Suddenly, right after Jaden dodged an attack, right after he pulled his arm to gather momentum, and right after he unleashed a stab with his sword, a magical scene took place.

The sword seemed to accelerate as ripples upon ripples surrounded the sword up to Jaden's arm. An unprecedented stab. A scene of space itself collapsing as it was penetrated appeared in front of the enlightened young man.

Boom!

The stab landed on the battle puppet.

Crack! Crack-Crack!!

Shards and fragments of the silver armor fell down akin to rainwater from the [Gold] ranked battle puppet.

And right after that-

Reflex

Gosh, didn't know that doing tables are such hassles...Also, from now on I'll try to do tables for stats, announcement, attribute gains, etc. Do you guys think I should table the damage dealts as well? And lastly, sorry if the table looks bad, it's my first time making them...:) Also, I've revised and edited Chapter 1 and improved it with some help.

Thank you Shaiyamine for pointing out mistakes here and there!