“I have some reports I need to read through,” The Headmaster said as he and Adion arrived in his office. “Clear your mind or something in the meantime. I’m sure it’s just some trivial matters. I’ll be done soon.”
“Alright,” Adion nodded.
The Headmaster took a seat at his desk and began reading some papers while Adion wandered around the office, looking at the pieces of art.
I have only painted once since I got to the Academy. I’ve just been so busy with everything else. But it’s really peaceful and enjoyable. I should try to find some time to put aside for it at least once every week.
I promised Quahim that I would return with a masterpiece that was a lot better than ‘A mother’s smile.’ It would be incredibly embarrassing if I showed no improvement when I go visit. Especially after he gave me those precious materials to paint with.
Adion continued wandering around and stopped at the Headmaster’s bookshelf. Even if Adion appreciated the art in the office, his eyes often made their way to the books instead. It was just such a precious resource.
What’s this?
Adion stopped as his eyes landed on a book with the title ‘Ancient Shiora - Through ruins, remains, and records, Shiora’s place in the world during the Age of Wonder.’
This seems interesting.
Adion turned to look back at the Headmaster; his eyes were still on the papers in front of him.
Is there a chance to borrow this?
Adion had asked to borrow a few books before, but the Headmaster usually told him that it was useless to the current him, and that he should focus on more important matters.
It wasn’t Adion’s style to not ask, though.
“Can I borrow this?” Adion asked, pointing to the book.
The Headmaster looked up and moved his eyes to the book, after thinking for a few seconds he nodded and said, “When you can compare to Sota’s ability in telling fake lies, I’ll let you read it as a reward.”
“Fair enough,” Adion said, accepting the challenge. “But how did she do it? As far as I know, you can’t make your aura show anything false?”
“You can’t,” The Headmaster said, “But there are a lot of little tricks you can do to make it appear that way.”
The Headmaster gathered the papers on his desk and carried them outside his office to hand over to a guard there.
As he got back inside, he continued, “I noticed you tried to replicate her strategy. Tell me your thought process.”
“Well, I thought that I could achieve a similar result by making my aura change in some other ways, so I tried thinking about something that made me angry. But I realized that anyone who was decently apt at sensing aura wouldn’t be fooled by that at all. What Sota did was completely different. I just can’t figure out how she did it,” Adion responded.
“Not a bad effort,” The Headmaster nodded, “Aura is incredibly complex, and if you only follow other’s direction, you won’t be able to go very far with it. You should keep experimenting with your aura. It will take more than a lifetime to completely familiarize yourself with it. Even I am far from perceiving my own aura perfectly. But if you just continue using your aura to hide your strength and element, you won’t ever discover what else you can do.
“But you are still young, and you have plenty of time. Everyone needs a foundation, and yours is more profound than most. So I will tell you how to accomplish what Sota did.”
The Headmaster took a seat on the carpet and invited Adion to sit down in front of him. Adion sat down and gave the Headmaster his full attention.
“You can’t show anything false in your aura,” The Headmaster began, “But what is false, and what is truth? It is more relative than you might think. How did Sota fake that she was lying, you ask? She didn’t fake anything. She was actually lying.”
“What?” Adion asked, confused. “But she was telling the truth. You said so yourself.”
“From my perspective, she was,” The Headmaster nodded, “She was instructed to tell the truth, and when the coin revealed heads, she said as much. But somehow, she was still lying. How?”
Adion paused and thought about it. “Did she believe that she was lying?”
“There you go,” The Headmaster said with a light smile, “She convinced herself that the coin revealed tails, so her saying it was heads would be a lie. It sounds simple enough, but it’s actually incredibly difficult to accomplish. Most of your classmates might think that 500 credits were an exaggerated amount to give to Sota for her accomplishment, but it really doesn’t do her skill justice. Even I was surprised.”
“Is it very uncommon?” Adion asked.
“I wouldn’t call it an uncommon ability in my circles, but for a 17-year-old? Yes. I have never seen anything like it.” The Headmaster responded.
Never seen anything like it? It’s actually that amazing?
“Never?” Adion asked, just to make sure.
“Never,” The Headmaster nodded with an amused smile, “But I haven’t been teaching aura to first-years for very long. If someone gives it a lot of focus, I can see how it is possible. But that doesn’t take away from how impressive it is. Sota has just started going to the Academy, after all. I’m sure a lot of your classmates will eventually master it. If they give it a lot of their time, it might even happen in a year or two. But it’s a world of a difference to be able to do it at the start of the Academy and a few years in. Your Silver strength is just like this, it shocked the whole city, but give it a year or two, and many of your classmates will also become Silver mages.”
“That makes sense,” Adion nodded, “If she can do this much already, she will probably continue to grow, just like my strength will grow.”
“I would think so,” The Headmaster nodded, “The Sorria family is very apt in training aura sense and aura control. I would imagine that Sota will choose to continue honing this skill of hers.”
“How annoying,” Adion muttered, “I guess I can’t relax at all if I don’t want people snooping around my aura for secrets.”
“Hehe,” The Headmaster chuckled, “I wouldn’t worry about that threat coming from any of your classmates, not even Sota. Your ability to hide your strength and element is a lot more shocking than what she can do.”
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“I guess that’s a little comforting,” Adion said with an awkward smile.
“That Sellitha isn’t too bad either,” The Headmaster commented, “Did you share some Merillian Soul Peahces with her?”
“Of course,” Adion nodded with a grin.
“Of course,” The Headmaster repeated with a shake of his head. “Anyway, if you want to be able to fake a lie, it will take a lot of effort. I hope you won’t let your other studies lag behind because of this.”
“I’ll make sure of it,” Adion nodded, “But how exactly do you train something like that?”
“The same way you train in anything,” The Headmaster said with a straight face, “You try. You fail. You try again. Eventually, you will succeed. How long it takes depends on your ability.”
“That’s not very helpful,” Adion muttered.
“This isn’t something I can hold your hand through,” The Headmaster said, “Aura is complex, and works differently for everyone. And as for fooling yourself into believing a lie when the truth is staring you in the face just to fool other’s aura sense, I can’t possibly explain something like that in words. If I could, I would be the greatest Sage of all time, and people could just read my work to grasp concept and aura to reach levels untold.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Adion nodded. He didn’t think he would be able to explain something as elusive as a concept or aura either. He doubted anyone could.
“Why don’t you give it a try,” The Headmaster encouraged and gave Adion a gold coin.
“Alright,” Adion nodded. He flipped the coin and hid it from the Headmaster.
Heads. I have to somehow convince myself that it’s tails and lie about it.
Adion closed his eyes and pictured that the coin revealed tails in front of him.
Tails. Tails. Tails.
“Heads,” Adion said.
“Hoo,” The Headmaster sounded surprised, “Did you notice it? You actually revealed a lie in your aura for a fraction of a second.”
“Really?” Adion asked.
“Indeed,” The Headmaster nodded, “You seem to have been able to convince yourself slightly, but as soon as you started saying it out loud, your aura revealed that it was the truth.”
“Let’s try again,” Adion said.
“Hehe, alright,” The Headmaster chuckled, “We might as well make this the focus of today’s lesson.”
So a few hours passed, with Adion trying to convince himself that he was seeing something other than reality and lying about it.
At the end of it, the Headmaster looked at Adion with an impressed smile and said, “That should do it for today. You are starting to slip. But I’m surprised. I didn’t think you would be able to grasp it so fast. You actually managed to come quite far. I’m sure you would have been able to fool several of your classmates if you had done this during class.”
Adion smiled slightly in response. It actually hadn’t been that hard once he got used to it. And Adion had a trick. Right after looking at the coin, he would make Atao appear in his head, clearing all impressions from his mind. As a result, he was able to make himself believe the lie a lot better. At his best, his aura had revealed his lie to about a tenth of what Sota could accomplish.
Quite a fruitful day.
“Well, good job,” The Headmaster said, rising to his feet. “It’s a useful ability, so keep at it. I’m sure you can make a fun game out of it with your classmates. I’ll see you again at our next lesson.”
“Thank you for today, Headmaster,” Adion said as he got up to his feet and bowed.
“Yeah, yeah, off you go,” The Headmaster said, waving Adion off.
Adion turned to leave, but paused as he got to the door as he thought of a question.
“Headmaster, can you feel in someone’s aura if they are Gifted?” Adion asked.
“That should definitely be possible,” The Headmaster said as he turned back to look at Adion. “But I don’t have that ability. I could see Elder Kilth being able to do it, though. But considering he didn’t see through you when you two talked, I doubt he is very good at it, even if he can.”
“Is there any other way to see if someone is Gifted?” Adion asked.
“Their Gift is usually a dead giveaway,” The Headmaster said with a small smile. “But if you’re thinking that someone will discover your secret, I wouldn’t worry about it. Not even I suspected anything until I scrutinized your aura and noticed your lack of a fire core. Why are you asking about this now?”
“I just thought I should be prepared for the unexpected,” Adion said, “I have a class with Professor Haul, and he often comments on my Gift. If he starts asking questions, he might figure something out. And there could be many more like him eventually.”
“I don’t think anyone would dare to be too curious considering you’re my disciple,” The Headmaster said, “If you find yourself in a difficult situation, you can use my name to get out of answering.”
“Thank you,” Adion said with a nod. “Also…About Dean Lukas, I’m supposed to help him with the experiment on sparkless children. I’m feeling a little bad that he’s spending time on something that is based on a lie. But it’s not like I can reveal that I actually didn’t form a fire core. There is also a risk he discovers something with enough time.”
“Right,” The Headmaster nodded slowly, “There was that matter. I’ll give it some thought and let you know.”
“Okay,” Adion said. He turned to leave again, but the Headmaster’s voice stopped him.
“I just remembered,” The Headmaster said, flipping through some pieces of paper on his desk. “Are you interested in going to the Appos Auction House?”
Hm?
“I’m very interested,” Adion nodded, “My grandpa has managed to get a booth for the family.”
“Oh, I see,” The Headmaster nodded, “If that’s the case, you should go with your family.”
“Is the Headmaster going?” Adion asked curiously.
“I believe I am,” The Headmaster nodded with a slight smile, “It’s been a while since I went to one of these. And from what I’m sure you’ve heard, it won’t be an ordinary auction.”
Does he know what will be sold? Surely even the Headmaster would be interested in an Elixir of Life.
But I shouldn’t bring it up. He can see through me too easily if I’m careless with my words.
Or does it make it seem suspicious if I don’t ask him about it? I would definitely ask if I didn’t know. And I am curious about other things that might be auctioned. I won’t have to fake that.
“Does the Headmaster know what will be auctioned?” Adion asked.
“I have an idea,” The Headmaster said slowly, “But I won’t say anything more about it. Since you’re going there, you will naturally find out.”
“Alright,” Adion nodded with a sigh. Even if he was glad to get out of the conversation, he was still a little curious.
Adion finally said a final goodbye to the Headmaster and headed home to his dorms.
Even the Headmaster will be at the auction. From his reaction…did he really know about the Elixir of Life? Somehow, I don’t think so.
Either way, I just need to stay out of it and enjoy the spectacle. It’s bound to get lively.