The next morning I wake up forgetting where I am. Jeff is already up at the tables, grabbing a couple things and seemingly tinkering with a machine that looks like a cube. 

I was nice today but tomorrow you better be up earlier. It's already 6 in the morning.

I consider that for a moment but don't make any connection. Earlier than 6 is just crazy.

He gives me a side eye and I see a tentacle blob forming before it dissipates.

Since you seem so calm, how about we start with the first exercise. Get outside and walk forward for 5 minutes till you get to an open field with a couple stone chairs. Sit in one of them and wait for me.

I do as he says and find the chairs. After waiting for 10 seconds in the chair some cuffs come out of the chair arms and tighten down. I then feel a sense of danger before immense pain. It feels like my soul is getting evaporated and split apart. The pain focuses on my entire body and it somehow feels like its making me feel pain in places I don't even have.

It's like part of my body exists outside of my body and it is also getting hurt. I am of course screaming my head off. After a couple of minutes the pain stops spreading farther and it starts to go away. Even then I can still feel the nonexistent parts of me touching the ground and the other chairs. 

I see Jeff jump over, taking only one to get here, before the cuffs unlock themselves.

"What the hell Jeff!" He smirks.

Oh, if only there was a slightly less painful way that I knew of that I could have eased upon you. I would totally have done it that way instead after my favorite part of the day was practically insulted.

Favorite part of the day? You have got to be kidding me. He is just shrugging his shoulders while I just went through torture. He DEFINITELY knows an easier and less painful way. Why did I even have to come out this far? He does answer this last bit.

Oh, I just didn't want to hear you scream. It's such a peaceful morning, I didn't want mine to be ruined.

"And what about MY morning? MINE was just as peaceful until THAT happened" I say, considering trying to punch him in the face. While I wouldn't normally consider this, exceptions can be made.

Well you can feel it now can't you, your aura has become more sensitive now. Try do move it a bit.

My aura only expands a couple feet but I try to move it around, reaching up and outwards. My aura reacts a little, thinning out in areas I am not directing it towards and spreading to others although it seems to want to bounce back to me. When I stop trying to move it, it moves back to its original position around me.

Good, now try to condense it, when you do you can come get dinner. Oh and check out your notifications, you probably missed the skill.

He takes a step and jumps off one foot back to his hut. I check out my system panel to see aura sense and aura manipulation as new skills.

They are levels 18 and 1 respectively, better damn right that first one's 18. I breath in and out a couple times, shaking off my anger. Next I try to move my aura around a bit more. It doesn't get far, only a couple inches in any direction I try to direct it but I keep getting better until I hit level 3. At that point I try to move it all inwards at once.

When I do I feel pressured, my aura quivering as it tries to move inwards against itself but ends up looking like when someone tries to squeeze thick rubbered water balloon. After a few more tries it condenses a little and I get the skill for aura condensing. 

After using it for a bit I understand that it makes the process easier but the water balloon affect still applies. Instead of struggling to pull the entire thing in I instead pull two opposite sides in to try.

This works fairly easily. I keep pulling more and more sides towards me, one by one. It gets progressively harder but not at the level I was struggling at.

I hit level 20 in sense and 10 in the other two when I finally pull everything towards me. When I finally succeed it just turns into a blue sphere. It took all day and I go to see what dinner is about. I release my hours of hard work as it just expands back to where it was. It seems to naturally be closer to me now. An effect of the condensing skill possibly.

Ah, your back. What did it look like?

"What do you mean?" I asked confused as I walk over to Jeff. He is busy working on the cube again but stops when I walk in.

When you condensed your aura, what did it form?

"It just turned colors and stayed a sphere" I said, looking at the cube. It seemed so condensed and flowing that it looked powerful and yet I didn't know what it did.

He looked me in the eye. Imagine what it looked like please

I did and he nods. He walks over to the bookshelf, pointing out some soup on a table. He flips through it for a couple minutes before finding what he was looking for. Seems you have the blue slime as your aura guardian, an interesting creature.

"What's this aura guardian thing and what does having a slime do?" I ask the obvious.

What do you see when looking at me? A teacher right? Well that is my aura guardian, it represents what we embody, not in our skills but in how we act. As for what it does it depends but will likely allow for a high degree of adaptability and growth as the slime represents the most basic form of evolution with limitless possibilities in their later stages.

I slow down to think for a second "So, I am not a baker, I am just adaptable?"

For you it may have to do with your protectiveness. See a slime has a core that they will die if the lose it. If you were to lose your core it may represent your death. Guardians may change or evolve but few differ from what they originally were. Mine was originally a bar fighter but along the way picked up the book and ruler. 

I smile "So you were originally rash and a drunk?" A sudden slap comes out of nowhere and the obvious culprit doesn't even look my way as he slowly eats his soup.

I was quite reckless yes but I was trained in a party to be more reserved. When I met people outside my circle I ended up teaching the younger generation. There was so much talent and respect back in the day that I could only imagine what they could have become after my death.

I noticed the extra little jab, good, I am NOT crazy. 

Just keep training your aura and it will become a strong extension of yourself. Even a living being to talk to as well should it change in such a way. Only your growth determines it. Tomorrow you will train again, good night.