With that shift and genuine acceptance of the situation, the pain of the strikes lessened. My focus increased; my attention was redirected to the aura within. As for the brand, its help remained passive. I'd need guidance from Verdenia or another powerful elf in the future. Then let’s pay attention to what I do know, the basics of being an auramancer.

A strike would hit, but the blow felt more like a tickle in this heightened state. A new awareness began to form. It wasn't just feeling the aura within my body but the general energy surrounding me. I could sense the energy surge in Vivian's arms, hinting at the direction of her next swing or thrust. The two perceptions of touch and sound melded together, and this new one overlaid them, amplifying their information in my mind.

For the first time, I was able to dodge an attack entirely. Vivian's technique had slackened, providing an opening. Unfortunately, my lack of physical ability meant it had already passed by the time I saw the opportunity to strike back.

We continued our spar into the afternoon. Gradually, I gained more insight and managed to dodge one out of every ten strikes consistently. It wasn't much, but it was progress. The sound of something being dropped beside me pulled me out of focus. Judging by the vibrations, it seemed to be food. Vivian's onslaught ceased, and the tension of combat left me. My body sat down.

The high pressure and constant adjustment of aura must’ve gotten to me because I had a headache like no other. My right hand was covering my right eye, which felt worse. I found myself slightly rocking back and forth, anything to ease the intensity of pain; my jaw was tensing often.

"You'll need to get used to that," Vivian's voice drifted towards me. "Aura perception is always hard on new folds."

Vivian tossed a small box towards me as she spoke, which I presumed held my lunch. The sense of taste was by far my worst sense now, being the one I didn’t have much practice on. Enhancing it wouldn’t be useless; the others seemed way more urgent. Judging by mouthfeel and taste, the food was some sort of rice with vegetables, possibly some egg. No meat, though; my hunger didn't allow room for being fussy.

Doing what I’ve done a lot lately, my head turned to Vivian, at least where the soundscape told me she was. I nodded at her in appreciation. She had mentioned something I hadn’t heard before: aura perception. That must be the new perception around me I could practically see at this point. The feeling was odd, being able to see something without really having working eyes for vision.

Before, only aura and a general path of power were sensible to me. I could perceive their internal energy even when those around me concealed their natural radiation. But now, I noticed a greater level of detail. I was able to see the path flow and what part of the body was being sent more aura, giving me critical feedback to anticipate moves.

By observing the unique ways people channeled their aura, I could glean insights about their intentions. Just as noticing a muscle twitch can signal an upcoming movement, tracking shifts in aura served as an even earlier indicator of my opponent's next move. Another benefit was the broader mental picture of the battle this sense started to sketch in my mind’s eye. With the added input of sound, it all became detailed and more straightforward to process quickly. If we added touch and smell, things would become almost child’s play. Vivian’s aura was leaking certain emotions, mostly irritation and fear. While what she feared was a mystery to me, the irritation was definitely because of me.

This realization stirred a sense of anticipation as I finished my meal. Add that mysterious sixth sense, reaction speed, intuition, and a path to dealing with monsters like Hadrian one day; it wouldn’t be completely hopeless, even without vision.

Of course, knowing this and doing it were two different things. The spar between Vivian and I continued into the night. While I managed to occasionally parry an attack without relying purely on luck, my dodge rate remained at one in ten. At least it was better than when I started. Hadrian arrived; upon seeing the bruises stacked on top of bruises, he just laughed to his heart’s content.

"Excellent work, Vivian. He might stop being an embarrassment sooner than we thought. You're dismissed for today."

"Yes, Master Hadrian," Vivian acknowledged before departing.

The soundscape revealed Hadrian had turned back to me, “I didn’t expect you to see the beginning of aura perception on your first real training day. There might be hope for you just yet. Don’t get complacent, my idiot apprentice.”

We began a slow walk to the dorm. I was confident I could find my way, but a few more guided walks there wouldn’t hurt.

“You’ll likely be stuck doing this for several months. It will be painful, and you’ll want to quit often. Don’t. Knowing you, you don’t care about the expectations we put on you. So instead, know if you want control over yourself one day, quitting now will never give that to you.”

For once, Hadrian's tone was more of a mentor than a rude old man. When he talked to me about aura perception, his voice even showed a hint of pride. Even if I didn’t want to admit it, this also gave me some satisfaction. The old bastard was growing on me.

"Tomorrow, I'll fetch you at the crack of dawn. Here, I'll introduce you to some crucial spots that will aid your future success. Then, we'll return to your beat- ... training at the beginner's field."

He almost said 'beatings,' didn't he? I know what I heard.

In typical Hadrian fashion, he vanished in a flash. His movement was so swift that I barely heard it; his rustling clothes gave his speed away. Through aura perception, I saw his reddish-white aura one moment, and then it was gone. It was rare to find an auramancer with a purely white aura—usually, it had a tint of another color. My aura, for instance, was primarily silvery white, but around the brand, it adopted a greenish hue.

Left at the entrance of the red-robed dorms, I attempted to navigate toward the bath section by memory. The dorm chief had casually mentioned its location after handing me the keys to my room. After realizing I was heading the wrong way, I relied on my soundscape to retrace my steps back to the staircase leading up to my floor. Even though I didn't sprint up the stairs, I walked quickly.

One of the advantages of overdeveloping your senses is that even when lost in thought and not concentrating, you can effortlessly avoid colliding with people; sidestepping everyone in the hallway becomes second nature. The soundscape was now seamlessly planting images in my mind without much effort. So far, the only limit I had encountered was this process's speed and reaction time.

Standing in front of my dorm room, I quickly got the keys into place. Opening the door, I heard a flash of movement. My aura perception showed a vivid red entity darting towards me. Dodging to the side on pure instinct only lessened the impact.

"Falond, I can only tolerate so much of your scent. Your blood has such a unique aroma," the voice snapped at me.

So, it seemed my blood-crazed roommate was particularly fond of my blood aroma. What a disaster to have such a person as a roommate. What was I supposed to do? Given the merciless training sessions with Vivian and Hadrian and that my eyes are still bleeding occasionally. This didn’t go away until you regained your eyes. While no one had told me directly, picking up rumors from the soundscape gave me this knowledge. What a problem.

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And so, here I was, pinned against the hallway, my scent seemingly intoxicating to a vampire. My life just had all sorts of twists, didn’t it?

Feeling the awkwardness of our encounter in the hallway, Layla swiftly hauled me into the room. Vance was also there, his silent, odd stare apparent to me. What? I was the one tackled in the hallway, not her. People sometimes. My body turned towards him, and I shrugged nonchalantly.

His sigh was audible, followed by him addressing Layla. "Layla, you can't scare our new roommate like that. This is why we can't have nice things. Your antics made the last guy leave without so much as a word."

"And what's a vampire supposed to do? I held back yesterday, but his blood... It's different, richer than before. And not just that, it's uniquely fragrant. No one else has blood like that. As for the last dolt, I didn't like him. Good riddance!" Layla defended herself. It seemed she had been lying when she said my blood was stale. Oddly enough, this made me feel somewhat proud.

"Yesterday, you claimed you didn't like Falond much. And- "

They were getting into an argument that didn’t mean anything again. My filter turned on and tuned them out. Hadrian had kept his promise, with five new sets of clothes neatly folded on my bed and a pair of pleated boots. I washed my face at the sink and took a wet towel to pat the rest of my body down. I didn’t want some other blood-crazed person to attack me in the baths.

Finding some paper, I wrote, “Going to the baths, Vance, want to come?” on it. And I shoved it in Vance's face. He was still immersed in his argument with Layla, now on an entirely different topic.

"To the baths? Sure, I'll grab a set of clothes and come with you. Layla, stay here," Vance agreed. Layla began to mumble and pout, but I tuned her out. Then, based on the sound of her hair rustling, I could tell she'd shaken her head in defiance.

"No! I'll be coming too. The baths are separated by gender, so what's the issue?" Layla retorted. I could hear Vance's muscles tightening, gearing up for another argument. To prevent this, I hastily scribbled, "No arguing; let's just go already."

Vance glanced at the note and nodded. "Well, if you insist. To the baths!" He seemed oddly excited, his friendly demeanor slightly overplayed. Something felt off, but I was too grimy and exhausted to care.

We moved as a group down the stairs and into the main hall. The baths were to the left of the main entrance. All the while, I could feel Layla's gaze boring into my back like she was trying to set me aflame with her eyes. I couldn't quite understand her issue. So what if my blood was "fragrant"? She'd been fine yesterday. What was different about today?

Arriving at the entrance of the baths, an awkward silence enveloped our group. Vance and Layla seemed to want to say something, but neither wanted to voice their thoughts in front of the other. Or maybe in my presence. Feeling the moisture in the air, Layla went one way while Vance and I went the other.

The soundscape indicated the presence of other people around us. Vance and I went to a corner and put our clothes in an assigned box for our dorm number. Next to it, judging by the feedback of sound, was a can of sorts for the dirty clothes. Both of us took our clothes and threw them into the can.

"Those bins have pressurized systems," Vance explained. "They don't exactly clean the clothes but forcibly remove the dirt and grime you accumulate during the day."

Nodding to acknowledge what he said, we started towards the baths. I kept my blindfold on but was otherwise stark naked. A brief feeling of vulnerability washed over me until the soundscape and aura perception reminded me that I could still 'see' in my own way. Misjudging the water's depth, I plunged in all at once while Vance took his time.

The water was steaming hot and comforting, not stagnant, but flowing, likely filtered through some drainage system. At the top, from the sound of it, was a waterfall; I couldn’t be sure where it all came from. The wall dividing the two bathing areas was thick, muffling the sounds from the other side to vague echoes and occasional laughter. Our side was noticeably quieter.

Whispers echoed around the bath, some other men referring to me as a "new fold" or, more dismissively, the weirdo who sat in the hallway for hours yesterday. I couldn't argue with that. Now fully immersed, Vance focused on cleaning himself and started talking to me.

"Falond," he began, "I understand you're not much of a talker, but let's have a chat, shall we?" He didn't wait for a response before proceeding. "Which will mostly consist of me asking a few questions about you and sharing information about Layla and myself. You don't have to answer right away; perhaps you could write down some responses when we get back?"

I tilted my head pensively, signaling that I'd consider it.

“First, a warning. Layla only acts like that when someone has a scarce blood type or if their blood has undergone some unique change. I seriously doubt you’re the first type. And the things that do the second are incredibly rare and usually just as powerful. Be careful, not of her, but of anyone who follows the path of blood. They will be drawn to you."

“Second, Layla’s a vampire, a full-blooded one of that. You probably already figured it out yourself, even without the use of your eyes. She hails from one of the more prominent clans. While their clans don’t have considerable sway here, try not to get on her bad side.”

He paused briefly, probably to give me time to process his words. None of it was shocking to me. The fact that anyone in the path of blood would be interested in me put me on guard, but as for Layla’s information, even as a blind man, I could tell.

"Third, about me... well, you'll discover that soon enough."

His tone changed to a more upbeat one. “Let’s move on to the more important questions! So, you into any girls yet?”

So, he wanted one of those conversations. An image of an ethereal elven Saintess flashed through my mind, but I shook my head at him slowly. I could practically hear his shoulders sag at that. Did it have to bother him so much?

Unfazed by my silence, Vance continued with the conversation. "How did you manage to survive out there? By now, you must be aware that all aura users are hunted down by the mages in Caline, especially those fanatics from the Church of the Portal. While there are plenty of auramancers here, it’s centuries of accumulation of whatever person they can find. Many weren’t even auramancers when they came here, just someone who wasn’t corrupted by mana and had a talent for aura in the first place. Even those types are becoming rare. Someone like you, who's almost a ready-made apprentice... Seeing you here is quite a surprise, especially since 'that man' came to power."

That man? Did some positions of the upper echelon of Reverent or Caline change? How could one person have that much influence on an entire path to power’s survival? For the first time, my curiosity almost made me break my vow of silence. Almost.

I made a writing gesture in the air, indicating my intent. “Ah, so you'll write about it later? That works for me.”

He then moved on to his next point, his tone suggesting he was delving into a topic of much interest. "You're an unusual aura user, Falond. Most of us in red robes are already gifted in general; both of our initiators for red are strict in who they choose. There’s a reason why red robes are the rarest color robes in this citadel. However, your speed of learning and adapting is exceptional, even by our standards. Your adjustment to being a fold so quickly makes it undeniable. So, my question is, are you from a line of aura masters? Or, perhaps, you're a blessed?"

A blessed? That’s something I’d heard of before. A marked, a blessed, they had meanings, ones people avoided telling me. Then again, I barely asked. Verdenia had once mentioned something about a world's blessing on me. While the first question was a definite no, the second I was unsure. So, I shook my head and then shrugged. Portal master Edith had mentioned my family had a great auramancer once, but being so long ago, my family was now full of mages.

"No lineage of aura masters, and possibly blessed? Interesting," Vance mused. He then shifted gears to offer a stern warning, "Being blessed makes you even more of a target for the mages. If you ever receive a black mark shaped like a rhombus with an arcane eye, immediately notify one of the elders here. It doesn’t matter which faction they belong to."

"Alright, enough of the heavy stuff! Falond, want to sneak a peek at the ladies' side with me? This camp is home to some real stunners, you know. Especially Ionia and some others I'll introduce you to over time. You don't need to thank me; this is between brothers!”

I did my best to give him an 'Are you serious?' look. Even if his offer tempted part of me - after all, what man doesn't appreciate a beautiful woman? - There was a glaring problem with his proposal... I WAS BLIND. What good would sneaking a peek do for a man who couldn't see?

Vance seemed to stare back at me for a moment before realization dawned on him.

"Oh, right... Even though you Folds have a different way of seeing... let's pretend I didn't say anything. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

Not long after, high-pitched screams echoed through the bathhouse. It seemed like someone had been caught in the act.