All first years were partnered up with a second year, so they can be mentored and given training. Jack’s mentor was a weird guy named Helfig. The guy was very aloof, but when Jack looked into his records, he had almost perfect grades in everything. Jack had the opportunity to meet him once on a weekly basis. Every time Helfig just wanted to relax and read comic books. Jack just couldn’t understand it.

Helfig seemed to be one of those gifted students that could do everything. Jack hated those lucky bastards. One morning while they were meeting, they had chosen to meet at Helfig’s favorite fountain. Jack had to admit, it was a very nice little area. It was open to the sky, but there were walls almost entirely circling that had water running down them. The water would collect into a nice round pool that had incredibly comfortable seating. Jack was bored of reading and wanted to work on his electricity control. Helfig didn’t seem to want to help Jack at all, so he just decided to practice by himself. He stood in the center of the room focusing.

Jack was still working on the basic techniques Fineus had taught him. He had not made much progress and was getting increasingly irate. Enticing the electricity to slowly flow over his body Jack began to feel it slip when he heard Helfig mumble. “You’re doing it all wrong.”

That was all Jack needed. He had been trying and trying. He wanted to get better control of his element so badly but he just couldn’t. Trying for so long had made him very angry, so he snapped at Helfig. “What do you know?!?”

“A lot actually,” he said not looking away from his comic book. “You have electricity. That’s rare and very hard to control. I know. I can also tell you can create a lot of electricity. Way too much for a normal first year. But you are still doing it all wrong. I know electricity is known as the hardest to control. But do you know what the second or third is? I have poison and acid. The two elements that can most easily kill their own user.”

“What the fuck. Why do you have such a toxic combination?”

“I am training to be a specialist. Where I come from there are many toxic animals and plants. Few people have the poison or acid element, and they are extremely useful at saving people’s lives. Some poisons can only be cured by an element user. Anyways you are controlling your element all wrong. You are fighting with it. Stop fighting it. Encourage it. Encourage and entice the electricity. Work with the electricity and it can be your greatest weapon. Instead of trying to control it, give it free rein. Set boundaries and trust that it will stay within those conditions. They put you with me for a reason. They knew I had two elements that were hard to control. Just listen to what I say and give it a try. What do you imagine when you try and control the electricity?”

“Uh, I imagine it stacking like sheets of paper.”

“Ok, that’s not a bad image. Whoever taught you basics knew what they were doing. But they obviously never had a problem controlling their element. When you focus on layering it try and make sure it’s very smooth and take your time. You can’t rush perfection.”

Jack went back to meditating. He closed his eyes and focused on the whirling mass of destruction within his chest. He reached towards it. The power started to fight back as soon as he grabbed hold of it, so he tried to lead the electricity while allowing it to still be erratic. It was weird. The electricity felt like it was wild and free, but it kept following his recommendations. It only seemed to become difficult if he tried to force it. “Wow, this is so much easier,” Jack said. He was able to maintain an aura around himself for an entire second before losing control. And this time, when he lost control, the electricity seemed to almost dissipate entirely, and the rest was quickly absorbed into the ground. “Damnit. I still can’t hold it very long, but that was the best I have ever done. Thanks.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Yeah, whatever.” He still hadn’t looked up from his book.

Jack tried again. He concentrated on the mana. He imagined the electricity, he very carefully imagined smoothing it as he enticed it to coat his body. The electricity slowly emerged around Jack as he continued to work. The electricity was wild, but it seemed to enjoy some control. Jack felt the gaps in his electric aura and slowly focused on those areas. There was an area on his left calf that he was having trouble with. Jack meticulously worked to maintain his aura while he slowly patched closed the large hole. Once he slowly closed the final last piece, he could finally tell that his aura was completely covering his body.

Jack just stood perfectly still as he tried to remember the exact feeling. It was reminiscent of the night he had absorbed the element. It felt like his entire body was full of bees, buzzing around. His body tingled and all his hair was standing up. The pride and fulfillment Jack felt at that moment was incredible. Jack had worked with Fineus for months and hadn’t been able to create an aura at all. The satisfaction filled his chest as he wished Gant was here to see. A big smile filled his face as he slowly opened his eyes and looked down at the electricity flowing around him. He could already feel the incredible strain the aura had on his mana reserves, but Jack had a lot of mana for a first year, so he was able to maintain it for a little while. Jack looked at his hands, the electricity flowed around each finger separately. When Jack brought his fingers close enough the aura from the two fingers would merge. Then if he separated them, the auras would separate again. It was a perfect shell coating his entire body.

The actual benefit or purpose of an electric aura was minimal unfortunately so after a few minutes the excitement quickly wore off as Jack still needed to increase his control so he could do more with his electricity. Then Jack remembered Helfig had two extremely weird elements and the aura for them seemed mundane as well.

“Hey uh, so how do you use your aura to your benefit?” Jack asked. It’s a long shot, but I gotta see if I can get any more gold from him.

“Which one?” Still not looking up.

“Either, I guess,” Jack said hopefully.

“Neither seems like they can be useful auras compared to others, and they are right. But everything has an advantage if used properly. My poison aura allows me to quickly fill the area around me with deadly gas. The acid aura is one of the more abstract styles. When a user of acid creates it through their aura the acid can still harm the user. That is why it is rarely used. However, it can be deadly if used in a pinch. A powerful user with enough control can create just enough acid at the right location as something or someone is hitting them. A strong enough acid can melt through steel in seconds. It’s not enough to stop a bullet, but anything else that hits them won’t get a second chance.

Jack thought about that. “So how do you think I should use my aura?”

“Holy cow, do I have to tell you everything?”

“Uh no, I guess not.”

Jack went back to practicing. Soon after that Helfig left, he must have gotten tired of Jack’s questions. “bah, fuck him. This is great, I have so much more control now!” He said happily as he looked down at his hands. It had been a very long trip to reach this point. He had been trying and practicing for months all in the hope of one day being able to create just a simple aura. Something most users can do in days. The practice had been hard. The training felt impossible. But he did it. Jack, Sable, and Chad celebrated that night.