“There! I feel it! It’s the aura of high Stone strength,” Perk said.

“Well, done,” Adion said, nodding approvingly, “It seems like you haven’t slacked off.”

“Of course not, boss,” Perk opened his eyes and responded. He and his younger brother were sitting on the floor facing Adion.

Adion had been training them both every evening for the past two weeks now, and Adion had focused on making them able to just barely tell the strength of his aura in order to hone their aura sense.

“How about me?” Tib asked.

“Let’s give it a try,” Adion said. He hid the part of his aura that revealed his strength and then, ever so slowly, started revealing low Iron strength.

“I feel it,” Tib said, “It’s low Iron strength.”

“Good,” Adion nodded, “Not quite at the level of Perk’s aura sense, but you are younger, after all. And hopefully, you have focused a lot of your attention on mana manipulation.”

“Right,” Tib nodded, looking a little downcast.

“Well, I will leave you to train alone for a while,” Adion said, rising to his feet to head out for some shadow practice.

“Er…boss,” Tib stopped Adion, “Do you know how long it would take me to form my core if I do it all on my own?”

“Well, I managed to do it when I was 12,” Adion said, “But I had trained every day for years by that point. I also got lucky, finding an incredible mana source when forming my core. Even if you get equally lucky, it will still probably take you five years of hard work. A more realistic guess is that it will take you about 15 years before you are ready. But after that, you would be able to advance just like anyone else, slightly faster even.”

“Mm,” Tib nodded, looking at the floor in thought.

Is he planning on doing it on his own, after all? It does seem like something he would choose.

Suddenly, Tib looked at Adion with a determined look. He got up on his feet and bowed, “I would like to swear an Oath of loyalty, boss.”

A pleasant surprise!

“Really, Tib?” Perk asked excitedly.

“Mm,” Tib nodded.

“Me too, boss!” Perk yelled and got up to his feet to bow.

“Well,” Adion said with a smile, “I’m glad. I’ll make sure you don’t regret the decision.”

“This is so exciting,” Perk said, “Will you help Tib now?”

“I guess I can skip my practice just for tonight,” Adion said, “Let’s head out and make the Oath right away.”

“Head out?” Tib asked.

“We have to make the Oath in front of a Moonlight Oak,” Adion said, “An Oath doesn’t really work if we just do it here.”

“Really? How come?” Tib asked.

“I don’t know,” Adion shrugged, “It’s just one of the mysteries of the world waiting for someone to uncover.”

“I want to uncover it, boss,” Perk said.

“Go ahead,” Adion smiled, “I’ll reward you if you bring me an answer.”

Perk got an excited smile on his face and looked at his younger brother triumphantly.

“Hear that, Tib. Boss will reward me,” Perk said.

“Well, Tib will get a treasure valuable enough to buy this entire city tonight. So I don’t think he’ll be too jealous.” Adion said.

Perk and Tib both stared at Adion in shock.

“Are you serious?” Tib asked.

“Of course,” Adion nodded, “I will explain more after the Oath.”

“Then let’s go,” Tib said impatiently.

“Let’s,” Adion nodded and left his room, the two brothers following.

It will be fun having someone else around with Authority. Maybe he’ll even teach me something about it eventually.

Hopefully, Perk won’t be too jealous. He has a water core, so there is not much I can do. He is too weak to pay any attention to an element other than water right now. Maybe I can give him one in the future when Tib has become strong enough to teach him shadow magic.

It took them close to 30 minutes before they were in the Lomerian Garden, looking at the Moonlight Oak. True to its name, the leaves of the oak shimmered strangely in the moonlight. Adion had already come to check it out when Quahim told him about it, but sunlight apparently didn’t have the same effect on its leaves.

“It’s beautiful,” Adion said.

“Mm,” Tib nodded.

“Well,” Adion said, taking out two sheets of paper from his backpack, “Here is the Oath you will need to swear. Read it through first and decide if you are sure you want to agree to everything. There is no going back once you’ve sworn the Oath.”

Adion handed them the papers and conjured a small flame to give some light for the boys to read. He kept some of his attention on his sphere of space mana. It was pushed to the limit. Adion didn’t want anyone stumbling across what they were doing.

“I’m ready, boss,” Perk said once he had read through the text.

“Me too,” Tib said.

“Go ahead,” Adion nodded.

“I swear to remain loyal to Adion Remori, to never betray him, harm him or any of his allies. I swear to never reveal…” The boys read through the text that Adion had gotten from Quahim. It was the standard Oath of loyalty that subordinates of powerful families had to swear. Adion had only tweaked it a little, knowing that more detail would make it less effective. But he wanted to add a few lines emphasizing not revealing any information about him.

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“...on my body and soul, I shall uphold these words for the entirety of my life.” The boys finished the Oath. Adion felt a great relief. He had planned on heading to a Moonlight Oak with his old teammates, but things had never gotten to that. And even if he was glad he didn’t do it, he had to admit that it was a weight off his shoulders.

Perk and Tib will also be the first people to know a bit of my biggest secret: the pills I have in my possession.

“Glad to have you,” Adion said with a grin.

“I feel a little different,” Tib said.

“Mm,” Perk nodded, “I think the Oath did something.”

“Well, don’t break it, and you won’t have to worry about it,” Adion said.

“Of course not, boss!” Perk stressed.

“Relax, I know,” Adion said, “Alright, Tib. Are you ready?”

“Mm,” Tib nodded.

“Take a seat,” Adion said, gesturing for Tib to sit down on the grass.

Tib sat down while Adion took out a Moon Shadow Panther Wisdom Pill from his backpack.

“Even if I told you that you could form a core faster with my help, it will still take time and a lot of hard work. But I will give you something that helps you do magic by the end of the night.” Adion said.

“Magic without a core?” Tib asked.

“Mm,” Adion nodded, “I will give you a power that, besides me, I don’t think anyone on the continent, perhaps the entire world has. I don’t think it has even been heard of since the Age of Wonder.”

“You…have something like that, boss?” Perk looked at Adion with wide eyes.

“And you’re really giving it to me?” Tib asked.

“Well, you’ll be working for me, won’t you? It won’t do if you’re weak,” Adion said.

“Right,” Tib nodded.

“I’ll explain some more after you take it,” Adion handed the pill over to Tib, who grabbed it cautiously.

“Is it dangerous?” Perk asked with worry.

“No,” Adion shook his head, “Go on, swallow it.”

Tib didn’t hesitate and swallowed the pill. Adion thought he could feel the shadows around him stir slightly.

Is this what it looked like when I took my pill? It’s nothing compared to the feeling I felt myself, but it’s still amazing that taking a pill can have any effect at all on the surroundings.

After a minute had passed, Tib opened his eyes and looked around in amazement.

So it only lasts for a minute? I think it felt longer than that. But it was a pretty intense experience, I guess.

“How do you feel?” Adion asked.

“Incredible,” Tib said quietly, “Shadows? I never even knew it was an element…but suddenly, they were all under my control. I felt like I could do anything.”

“That’s the feeling,” Adion nodded, “And perhaps one day you’ll get to experience it again, but for real. However, not all of it is lost. Try to take control of the shadows around you.”

Tib did as Adion had asked and grabbed hold of the nearby shadows.

“Haaah,” Tib sighed, “It’s impossible. The Will of the world fights me.”

“Only try to grab a hold of as much as you can without any resistance,” Adion said.

Tib tried once again, and this time, he didn’t seem exhausted from the effort at all. Adion noticed that an area the size of a head in front of Tib grew much darker.

Seems like it worked.

“It…it’s like that power I just felt, just smaller,” Tib said.

“It’s called Authority,” Adion said.

I wonder if I can grab hold of the shadow he has under his control using my Authority? I’ll try it later.

“All I know about this power is what I have discovered myself, so there is a lot of mystery surrounding it. But you can basically control shadows as long as it doesn’t exceed a certain limit. But within that limit, the Will of the world won’t fight you at all. The possibilities from that are nothing short of remarkable, and I’m sure you’ll discover a lot of uses of shadow with time. But you need to practice your shadow mana manipulation. Right now, this power is useless without shadows, so you need to be able to conjure one from pure mana.

“This should make the process of gaining control over shadow mana a lot faster, however, which is why I think you’ll be able to form a core faster, too.”

“This…thank you, boss,” Tib got up to his feet and bowed deeply, “I won’t disappoint you.”

“Good,” Adion nodded. “Don’t go and try forming a core without consulting me first, though. It will still take years of training, pushing yourself to the limit every single day. Do you think you can handle it?”

“I can,” Tib nodded.

“Amazing, Tib,” Perk said excitedly, “You’ll be able to become a mage! A shadow mage!”

“Mm,” Tib nodded with a gentle smile.

“Is there a way for me to get this Authority?” Perk turned to Adion and asked.

“You have a water core, so I have no way of helping you,” Adion said, “But it is definitely possible. This power exists outside of pills, so you just have to grow strong enough to grab it for yourself.”

“I will,” Perk nodded.

“Is there a way for me to increase my Authority?” Tib asked.

“There is,” Adion nodded, “It works for me with…another element,”

Adion hesitated to reveal too much about himself. Even though the brothers had just sworn an Oath, Adion felt uneasy about revealing too much at once.

It will take some time to get used to the idea that I can safely tell these guys things without worry.

“Another element?” Tib asked.

“I’ll explain more another time,” Adion said, “It’s possible, even as you are now. But I don’t know how you can do it. So you’ll have to figure it out yourself.”

“Okay,” Tib nodded.

“Well, no point in staying here,” Adion said, “Let’s go back.”

“What should I focus on with my training from now on, boss?” Tib asked as they started making their way back.

“You should focus on shadow mana manipulation. But don’t let your aura practice fall too far behind. Once you are able to control your own aura, it will be a great way to temper your Will. But yeah, when I’m not there during the day, shadow mana manipulation is the priority. When your Will gets too tired, play around with shadows and get familiar with the element. It is an element that requires you to comprehend a lot of concepts, so you should think about it as often as you can. We’ll talk about it more tomorrow.”

“Mm,” Tib nodded.

“What about me, boss?” Perk asked.

“Same as before,” Adion said, “Meditate until your Will is too tired for it to have much use, and then focus on aura. There are a lot of more things you can do, like ponder about your water element and experiment with your Gift, but for now, aura and meditation are the most important.”

“Alright, boss,” Perk nodded.

When they returned to the inn, Adion took a seat on his bed after leaving the brothers in their room. Since he didn’t go out on his nightly excursion, he had more Will than usual to tire out before bed. Adion decided to conjure some space to increase his Authority.

It’s small. Very, very small. But it does feel good to have some sort of improvement.

After almost an hour of tiring his Will, Adion pushed his Will to the limit, trying to hide his aura, something he ended practically every night with in order to improve his aura control and temper his Will.

After only a few minutes, Adion collapsed on his bed, completely exhausted.

I’m glad everything went well. It will take a while before Perk and Tib become strong enough to become useful. But by the time I graduate from the Academy, I’m sure they’ll be more than ready to get to work.

It didn’t take long before Adion fell asleep, a pleased smile on his face.