“Adjusting the aura naturally flowing through the body as desired and releasing it outside the body are completely different matters.”

Masain began his explanation.

The two were standing facing each other in the middle of the training ground. He held up Seongjin’s outstretched hand with his left hand and placed his right middle and index fingers on the wrist as if taking a pulse.

In that posture, he calmly continued his explanation.

“No matter how small the amount, manifesting external energy means putting that much strong intention into the aura. In other words, the aura emitted externally cannot be soft unless it is extremely refined, and it will necessarily exert a strong destructive and influencing force on the outside.”

“…”

“Especially, flowing external energy into another person’s body is no different from stabbing a sharply honed blade into that body, so to speak.”

The longer his explanation, the greater Seongjin’s uneasiness grew.

Sir Masain. Why are you giving this explanation in a posture that looks like you’re about to flow aura into someone else’s hand at any moment?

“Of course, for someone extremely skilled in aura manipulation, it is not impossible to transmit aura to another person without any harm. Since the intention put into the aura is free, the influence it has is also natural, and if manipulated with extreme delicacy, it can make the other person feel as if it is their own inherent aura.”

According to Sir Masain, his uncle was at such a level.

For his dull nephew who had difficulty grasping aura manipulation, he personally flowed aura from the outside and had him experience the changes one by one.

Of course, the young Masain at that time was completely unaware of how dangerous that process was and was simply delighted to see progress in his training.

“Although reaching my uncle’s level is far off, I am also a high-ranking knight about to face the Decalon Knight. When it comes to the delicacy of aura manipulation, I am one of the top in the Knights. It will be absolutely safe, so Your Highness need not worry too much.”

Wait a minute, but why is your expression so stiff?

Are you nervous, Sir Masain? Huh?

Seongjin asked, sweating coldly.

“So… if there is even a small mistake in that process…?”

“Your body will be torn apart by aura.”

Aaaaahhh! What are you trying to do to me, you bastard!

Fortunately, Seongjin’s hand was not shredded to bloody pieces. As Sir Masain had assured, he was indeed an aura user of quite a high level.

Through the wrist in contact with Masain’s fingers, he felt a tingling sensation of something like fine sand grains flowing through his arm. It was a small amount, but a distinctly foreign energy.

After some time passed, Masain stopped flowing aura and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Judging from his visibly tired face, the mental exertion seemed to have been greater than he thought.

“This is my limit due to my lowly level. How did it feel?”

“It felt like sand flowing in.”

“You felt an energy different from usual?”

Seongjin nodded.

“Why can’t I feel such a distinct energy on my own at all?”

Sir Masain’s face brightened. It was a small achievement finally shown after days of futile efforts.

“Seeing that you even grasped the texture of the aura I manipulated, perhaps Your Highness’s entry into training may not be far off.”

“Does it feel the same when manipulating aura in your own body?”

“The sensation will be a bit different when your own aura flows. More faint and softer… Like the feeling of water flowing, I guess? Some people say it feels tingly like a slight electric shock, depending on the individual.”

“Hmm…”

He began to get a sense of what the feeling of aura, which had seemed like grasping at clouds, was like.

So this is like…

‘It’s similar to absorbing the energy of magic beasts and strengthening the body?’

Using the absorbed power to match the movement of muscles, block external shocks, and infuse it into weapons to make them sharper.

These were things Seongjin used to do as naturally as breathing.

Thinking back carefully, many aspects of the aura manipulation Masain had explained in detail for Stance 1 were similar to how Seongjin had manipulated the energy of magic beasts in his muscles when doing similar movements before.

In contrast to the brightened Masain, Seongjin’s face darkened.

At first, he thought that since aura was a completely new quality of power, its aspects would also be entirely different. So he just assumed he was dull when he felt nothing inside his body.

But come to think of it, Seongjin had been fighting for decades while assimilating foreign energy into his whole body. There was no way he could have failed to notice the movement of a power with such a clear difference.

Seongjin contemplated his body’s condition again, but still, not even a hint of foreign energy could be felt.

This meant one thing.

There was a more fundamental problem with Morres’ inability to use aura.

***

Can a person exist without a single grain of aura in their body?

Anyone who has learned even a little bit of aura training would firmly deny the possibility.

This world was a place where the flow of energy, the foundation of aura, was extremely abundant.

Even ordinary people could faintly feel the flow of energy flowing from the air into the body and out again with just a little effort. Accumulating this energy as aura in the body or manipulating it was a separate matter.

Aura is also naturally generated in small amounts in the human body. Although the amount is small, those who are sensitive can detect the level of aura that is continuously being generated inside the body.

In other words, fundamentally, there can never be a person whose aura concentration is close to zero.

[It could be a misconception, couldn’t it? The moment you felt that power was truly fleeting, you know?]

The Demon King mumbled.

[Aura is definitely a power unfamiliar to me as well. But no matter how much my level has fallen, there’s no way I, the king of magic beasts, can’t distinguish between the energy of magic beasts and aura.]

‘Hmm…’

[Sometimes when I see your personal maid using it, it feels like she’s just wielding a slightly strong life force. You know? The energy of magic beasts and aura are fundamentally different powers.]

Seongjin was walking through the Pearl Palace garden after finishing the morning training in the training ground.

Originally, it was time to take a shower and go into the palace to have lunch, but he didn’t feel like it now. He had hardly exerted himself or sweated much during the morning training, as he spent most of it figuring out the aura training method.

Above all, today was the day for an audience with the holy emperor after a week.

He had pushed away Queen Lizabeth and the maids, who had been making a fuss since morning, under the pretext that he couldn’t miss training with the instructor personally sent by His Majesty.

If he went in now, they would surely make a commotion about getting him dressed up without even having time to eat.

Let’s run away.

With that decision, Seongjin left the Pearl Palace and began walking aimlessly along the long tree-lined path outside the palace.

[So even if you’re used to feeling the energy of magic beasts, it may not help at all in feeling aura.]

‘Why is that? Absorbing energy from the outside and accumulating and manipulating it is the same, isn’t it?’

[Is the foreign energy of creatures from other worlds the same as the inherent energy of living beings originally in this world? I told you, aura is a power close to the source of life force.]

‘Then let me ask you one thing. Does that life force you felt exist in Morres’ body?’

[That’s…]

The Demon King hesitated for a moment.

[It’s extremely… sparse, but couldn’t that be because not much time has passed since he got out of his sickbed?]

‘…I thought so.’

Seongjin’s suspicion gradually turned into conviction.

Perhaps Morres was not dull to aura, but in fact, there might not even be the minimum detectable aura in his body.

He stopped walking and became lost in thought.

‘What should I do now?’

Come to think of it, Seongjin didn’t really need to stake his life on aura. He started exercising for health reasons. It wasn’t like the world was in danger like before.

Moreover, he had become a noble identity as a prince. He could live out his remaining years comfortably without necessarily becoming an aura user, couldn’t he?

But…

For some reason, he really wanted to learn.

It looked interesting.

Once started, he wanted to see it through to the end.

Before he knew it, the flames of being fixated on something that used to appear in Seongjin’s eyes were quietly burning.

He organized his thoughts.

The first thing that came to mind was to find someone well-versed in aura and have them confirm his current condition. Because he needed to know the cause to find a solution.

However, even someone as skilled as Sir Masain had not noticed Morres’ condition, so he needed someone at least stronger than him. Right, someone like Masain’s uncle whom he mentioned.

Someone skilled enough in aura usage to be able to freely flow their own aura into another person’s body and remain unscathed, and someone who could well grasp another person’s body.

But where could he find such a person…?

“Ah…!”

Seongjin blinked his eyes.

There was one.

Someone whose level of aura was extremely high and who seemed likely to answer well if Seongjin asked.

Someone who seemed like he would somehow solve the problem if asked for help.

When he looked up, he saw the familiar imperial avenue at the end of the tree-lined path. If he followed that road straight, he would probably pass through the large imperial palace garden and soon reach the main palace.

Although it was a bit early, he already had an appointment today anyway.

‘…Should I go?’

[Hey, hey… Why are we going in this direction? Hey, where are we going?]

Ignoring the Demon King’s anxious trembling, Seongjin began walking briskly toward the avenue, recalling his memory.

Fortunately, he didn’t get lost or anything. It was just that the distance was quite far compared to what he had expected.

When Morres appeared at the entrance of the main palace in casual attire with only a wooden sword hanging from his waist, the knights of the Imperial Guard on duty were greatly flustered. However, they quickly corrected their expressions and bowed their heads, striking their swords on the ground.

“Greetings to the Third Prince!”

As expected, the knights of the guard were indeed different. Seongjin smiled contentedly and asked one of the knights for guidance.

The Demon King didn’t groan about his soul being crushed to death by the sacred energy like before. He was just completely silent and crouching in fear.

From time to time, high-ranking priests in fancy ceremonial robes and tall hats passed by Seongjin, but they also failed to notice anything and simply stepped aside and showed a simple greeting. Confirming that the barrier the emperor had created was working properly, Seongjin walked inside the main palace without hesitation.

At the end of the second-floor corridor, several administrative officials and priests were hurriedly coming and going with stacks of documents.

‘Is it a busy time?’

The office door was wide open as people were going in and out.

Peeking inside, he saw a few priests quickly organizing the documents piled on the table. Chamberlain Louis and three young administrative clerks were standing in a line on either side of the emperor’s desk.

The emperor was sitting at the desk in a comfortable outfit, busily scribbling something on a document, but soon noticed Seongjin’s gaze and looked up. His face was still cold, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

“Prince Morres!”

At the holy emperor’s gaze, the head chamberlain, who had finally turned to Morres, brightened. In an instant, everyone in the office stopped their work and paid their respects in unison.

“Greetings to the Third Prince!”

Seongjin smiled at them awkwardly.

“Um, I came a bit early, right? Uh… if you’re busy, please continue your work.”

The emperor stared at Seongjin for a moment, then gestured with his left hand without even looking to the side.

“Dorian.”

A frail-looking young man who had been standing closest to the desk holding a stack of documents approached him with a puzzled expression.

The emperor put down his pen, got up from his seat, and tossed a large stamp-like object into his arms.

“This is the imperial seal. Leave the documents set aside on the left for now and stamp the rest.”

“Yes… Pardon?”

“Hand them all over to the executive secretary’s office by midmorning.”

The face of the administrative clerk called Dorian turned pale.

The head chamberlain had already approached the emperor with a white ceremonial robe. As he roughly put the robe sleeves on his arms with his assistance, the emperor asked in a nonchalant tone.

“Lunch?”

“…since I came straight from the training ground, not yet…”

Seongjin, who belatedly realized the question was directed at him, answered, and the emperor turned to Louis and instructed.

“I’ll have it with Morres in the rear garden.”

“Yes, I will prepare as you command. Your Majesty.”

The chamberlain bowed his head politely.

Without even fastening his collar, the emperor strode out to the entrance and gave Seongjin a small glance as he passed by.

“Let’s go.”

Excuse me, Your Majesty? Father?

It’s not my imagination that it sounds like “let’s run away,” right?

Trying hard to ignore the desperate gaze of the young administrative clerk, Seongjin turned his body and followed behind him. They walked along the second-floor corridor at a fast pace.

“Is it alright to leave your work as it is? It seemed like you were quite busy.”

Seongjin asked, but the emperor did not answer immediately. The hem of his white ceremonial robe fluttered behind him as he strode without hesitation, scattering a faint light.

“…Remember this well, my son.”

As he was trying to keep up with the pace, the emperor suddenly spoke when they reached the opposite end of the corridor.

“State affairs are like a huge clockwork mechanism that interlocks without a single misalignment.”

“Clockwork, you say?”

What was this person suddenly talking about?

Seongjin looked up at the back of his head, dumbfounded.

“Yes. What would happen if you carelessly touched a precisely running clock mechanism?”

“Uh… it would break?”

“Exactly.”

Seongjin tilted his head and asked.

“That means…”

“Ruling a country is the same.”

“A country, you say.”

“Yes. You just need to put capable officials in the right places and leave them to run properly.”

“…”

He was saying he would play hooky in a very grandiose way.