A day has passed, and currently I am having tea with the old man at a small shop in the city; who I learned was named Jack Liord and a famous person in the city among other things. Nicknamed the ‘flowing shield’ among various other things.
“So the pressure you used was your aura spread throughout your domain?” I asked with my right head while my left sipped the mint tea in my hands.
“Mm.” Jack nodded as he gently placed down his cup, “Domains cannot affect the physical world alone, only mana.”
After our duel yesterday Flysa and I completed registration to the adventurer’s guild and Jack became our mentor, since then I have been bombarding him with questions about domains.
What I understand is this: three things affect the size and strength of a domain; age and the purity of essence respectively (which is called Ki in some cultures) and level that affects both. Your age only has to do with the growth level of your domain, if you are young your domain will not be as big as someone who is thousands of years older. However domain growth normally takes place mostly in the first thirty years of your life, growing much slower after anywhere from 15 to 40 years after your domain is formed; depending on the race.
While domains can be formed later in life, most domains are not mature or fully formed before ten to thirteen years of age, simply because the body hasn’t had enough time to take in the souls essence in its pure form and ‘reflect’ that in its environment. In some cases- if the soul’s ki purity is extremely high- the time to form a domain can be reduced by three to five years, but it is very rare. However you would never find a baby human with a domain simply because there isn’t enough time. Apparently there is some ways of speeding up the bodies intake of essence which can supposedly accelerate it, but it has never been proven.
However that says nothing of ‘awakening’ a domain. Let me put it this way, everyone who has reached 10 - 13 years old will have domain resistance, meaning mana inside their bodies can no longer be drained or altered by the domain of another person. They also will be prime to ‘awaken’ their own domain- though it is extremely difficult and not everyone can do it. 10-13 is merely the earliest estimate a domain can form, but does not guarantee its formation. Infact, according to Jack, most beings don’t even awaken their domain until well over a hundred years old. Elves who are known to do it at the earliest usually only manage at the age of thirty to sixty. Humans would be lucky if they managed to awaken one in their lifetime.
There are certain things that make domains easier to form though- usually being of royal blood or having a noble trait. Races that are related to spirits- kitsunes for example- also have an easier time waking domains (Ghosts are really good at awakening domains. Not to mention they can’t be physically harmed so if you don’t have a domain...).
But none of this affects the strength of domains, only the size and growth. To actually make your domain more influential you would have to either A; have very potent ki, or B; increase your level. However no matter how influential your domain is, it still can’t stop physical attacks like, apparently, an aura can.
Which brings me to the next slew of questions I asked Jack, who merely smiled at my enthusiasm and answered them in turn.
‘Aura’ is excess mana generated by you that hangs around your body and surroundings like a mist. Most people aren’t able to control this aura as it has detached from their cores influence; spheres inside one’s body that allow one to produce mana from essence and control it like a muscle. However it is possible to train yourself to be able to manipulate your aura, and when combined with a domain can create an extremely difficult to pass barrier.
Since aura’s are made of mana produced by your body, they have the same properties; they can be used to produce physical or immaterial phenomena in the form of magic. If you say spread your aura around you and ‘instruct’ it to stop physical attacks, then it will do that. Tell it to stop foreign movement around you, and it will do that.
This is how Jack stopped me and Flysa from moving, since aura’s only resist other aura’s but cannot resist domains; he simply used his domain to disperse our aura’s while applying his own in a pressure field.
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It should be cautioned that the system doesn’t register aura’s or domains, so there is no way to tell the strength of either except your own intuition.
Jack sighed, “Still, I’m surprised you actually managed to push back my domain with a spell, not to mention force me to use mana to defend against it.”
Domains aren’t omnipotent, and neither are aura’s. A domain can only disperse opposing mana as fast as its influence allows, overwhelm that limit with pure quantity or speed and you will still be able to harm your enemy.
Aura’s also have a limit- they disperse relatively quickly and are only replaced as the cores in one’s body generate new mana to replace old mana, exhaust it and there will be nothing protecting your body. Not to mention aura’s require a constant state of awareness, unlike mana that is connected to your core they cannot be used instinctively. Let your guard down and an arrow can swiftly pierce your throat.
Besides that I learned that different people actually have different domain types, though most are generally what is called ‘dense-domain’, which is categorized as a domain that has high influence but is relatively small. Rarer is what is called ‘mist-domain’ which grow larger extremely quickly but do not have much influence. Since domains of this type are much larger they make some long-range magics possible.
There are a few others that are categorized by the way the domain affects mana, such as ‘Thief Domain’ which actually converts opposing mana to the domain owners. Another would be the elemental domains, which convert foreign mana into magic phenomena depending on the type (i.e Frozen domain would convert opposing mana to ice, fire domain would convert to fire, etcetera.).
On another note- indirect magic attacks can go through a domain in some cases. Make a spear out of the earth surrounding you and huck it at someone and their domain won’t stop it, maybe crumble it due to lack of mana holding it together, but won’t stop it. However shoot a blade of wind at someone and as soon as the mana disappears the wind will disperse. This makes my specialization of Kinetic magic practically useless, which grates on my nerves. Unless I use it to launch something like a cannon I won’t be able to affect domains users. If my domain resistance was high enough that what is inside my body won’t be affected then I could use it to accelerate myself, but still won’t be able to use it outside of me.
I sighed and leaned back in my chair, “Really no definite way to speed up the formation is there?” I mumbled.
“You can try meditating, but that has never been proven to actually accelerate it aside from some rumors.” Jack shrugged, “On another note, why don’t we head into a dungeon tomorrow?”
I perked up and grinned at him with both heads, ““Really?””
He chuckled lightly, “Ya ya, I figured you hadn’t been in one before. If we head down to floor thirty of Erocdrah we’ll find A-rank monsters without domains for you to compete with. It will be good for you to fight something on your level for once. After that I plan on teaching you two proper martial arts, any objections?”
Flysa looked at me and I shook my two heads, “none. It will be good to receive official training.”
“Great.” Jack smiled, “Until then why don’t I show you two around the city? You might not need weapons or armor but you are sorely lacking in knowledge.”
We silently left the tea shop and started exploring. The city was split into several quadrants, the east for noble, north and south for craftsmen and the market respectively, and the west was split into two parts for the middle class and closer to the wall was the slums. A river ran through the south-east side of the city, allowing barges to come in and sell or buy wares or allowing nobles to quickly travel to other places.
In the rough center of the city was the adventuring district, and where two of the dungeons were located (Erocdrah and Gninnigeb) while the third (Elbon) was in the noble district.
Gninnigeb was a dungeon with about a hundred floors that hosted monsters from G to A rank, but no monsters with domains. As with all dungeons the monsters grew stronger the farther down you went, so most people stuck to the upper fifty floors that has monsters up to C rank.
Erocdrah was a dungeon that’s lowest level monster was B-rank, and upon reaching floor thirty you started getting A-rank monsters that would be comparable with S-ranks if they had domains. Below floor 35 monsters with domains started appearing. The lowest anyone had gone and lived was floor 57 where a supposed SS rank monster appeared. It’s true depth is unknown, but considering its strength it is estimated to have well over a hundred floors.
Besides the dungeons the city’s other specialty was crafted goods and armors made from varying monster materials, and its army which was known to have exquisite weaponry.
After the day was over me and Flysa headed back to the inn and went to bed, Flysa hugging my body as we slept.