Celeste's students quieted down their chatter as she clapped her hands, her signature smirk plastered on her face.

“You know what today is, right, everyone?” she asked.

“Yeah, just get it on already.” Kinsey replied in a groggy tone, waving her hand in a dismissive manner.

Celeste turned to Kinsey with a raised brow, crossing her arms. “Well! Someone's not being very nice!” she said in a sarcastic tone. “You don't even look like you got your eight hours of sleep today, how do you expect anything I say to be absorbed by that sleepy brain of yours?” she continued, her smirk spreading further.

Kinsey shrugged. “I'm here to learn, not to have somebody tell me how to live my life.”

“If you're here to learn, then wake up and act like it!”

Before Kinsey could respond, Celeste gestured for the students to follow her to the exit. “Come along! Our class won't be taking place inside this time. We're heading outside!”

The group followed Celeste as she led them through a wide-open field, far from any spectators. The air was filled with a cool, crisp breeze, and the spectacular waterfalls of the Citadel surrounded them.

Akari and Akumu were staying close together, speaking to each other in a language not known to the rest of the group. The twins were waiting for their own opportunity to showcase their talents as well.

Celeste turned to the students with a smirk on her face, her expression a mixture of smugness and anticipation.

“Okay, girls! We're ready to begin!” Celeste announced. “As promised before, you will all be learning the Advanced Techniques of Void Magic today! A quick note before we begin, the Advanced Techniques are either a combination of or occur as a result of the Basic Techniques! That's good news, right?”

“Hell yeah!” Blair shouted, throwing her fist in the air. “That should shave off some of the workload!”

“Indeed,” Celeste said with a nod. “Now, before we learn the first Advanced Technique, I want you guys to use Increase again for me. Let's see how much better you've gotten since the first time.”

Along with the other students, Alice closed her eyes and radiated her aura. She was able to make it more volatile in moments.

“Nice, nice!” Celeste said. “Now, let's learn an advanced version of that! I know you all are just dying to actually see what your aura looks like. Well, you will be able to after this!” she finished, holding out a hand and enveloping it in her aura. “Can any of you see my aura?” she asked.

Akari and Akumu closed their eyes. Upon opening them, their eyes were imbued with their aura, enabling them to see Celeste's aura. The other students were stumped, replying to Celeste with a shrug.

Celeste gave a sly look at the twins, knowing that they would both be able to see her aura. She turned her attention to the other students and dispelled her aura.

“Worry not, my students! You'll be able to detect my aura with just one simple Technique. What I need you to do now, everyone, is to try and make your aura flow into your eyes. Then, you will be able to see my or anyone else's aura!”

“Okay, I got this!” Rachel said with a grin.

Alice tried her best to focus her aura into her eyes and soon saw a faint glow begin to fill her vision. After several moments, she could see the outline of a sphere surrounding Celeste's hand, forming a thin veil around it.

“Oh… It worked…!" Alice said.

“Holy hell! This is cool!” Rachel added.

"That's great!" Celeste replied, smiling. "Now let's move a bit closer, the aura veil in your eyes should still allow you to see mine, but the closer you get, the more distinct and recognizable it will become.”

Alice moved in closer to Celeste, keeping her eyes focused on Celeste's hand. As she did, the outline became more detailed, changing into a slightly opalescent sphere with multiple layers.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"This is…something." Alice said. "How do you make it so that I can still see your aura?”

"As I said earlier, the Advanced Techniques are all either a combination of or occur as a result of the Basic Techniques." Celeste answered. "The first Advanced Technique you just learned, Alice, is called Pinpoint. What Pinpoint does is allow you to concentrate a large amount of your aura into one specific part of your body, so a specific body part has an aura much stronger than others. This allows you to take the pressure off the other parts that wouldn't be able to handle being flooded with a lot of energy.”

Alice paid close attention, absorbing all of the information before nodding once. “All right. So how can you shape your aura like that? And how come there were layers of aura I couldn't see the first time around?”

“As for the appearance of the aura itself, that is controlled through my own aura control. The more advanced your aura control, the more you are able to use your aura in unique ways. Secondly, that is the secret behind my technique of Conceal; it not only suppresses other user's aura and hides my own, it also allows me to hide things within the aura itself, keeping them hidden from other users that cannot see with their auras as you can."

"This is so complicated!" Blair complained. "You've really been hiding this from us!"

"My dear, I was simply waiting for the right time to teach it to you all. But now that you have seen it in action, you will begin to understand why my Void Magic is considered some of the most powerful."

"Yeah, but it also sounds really difficult to pull off," Rachel replied. "How the hell are we supposed to be able to accomplish all this?"

Celeste smirked. "It is challenging, sure, but I have faith that all of you will become adept at these techniques in no time! Now, let's move on to the next technique."

Celeste pointed to a large tree standing close to them, its leaves glowing with a brilliant and radiant aura.

"This tree is a perfect example of both the Enfold and Fortify techniques," Celeste said. "The tree is not simply being coated with a protective barrier, but its aura is being boosted several times over to create this effect. This enables the tree to not only withstand aura-enhanced physical attacks, but it can also withstand extreme weather conditions.”

Celeste took out a napkin and walked over to a rock sitting on a small table, making the napkin enshrouded in her aura, making it straightened and stiff. “Now, this may have been an ordinary napkin before, but watch what happens when I use Enfold on it…” she said before throwing the napkin at the rock, which cut it in half.

The students watched the rock get split in two, their eyes widening at how a napkin could be used as a deadly weapon when enshrouded with aura. The twins looked at the scene like they saw it a hundred times before.

Celeste grinned at the surprise her students showed. “Now, it's your turn!” She said, handing everyone a napkin. “Try to envelope your aura into your napkin and make it look straight like mine!”

Akari and Akumu achieved immediate success, their napkins straight like a sheet of glass. The rest of the class all tried to wrap their aura around their napkins with slight success. Zalgo watched Celeste and tried to put the aura into the napkin as shown, and the napkin did become a bit stiff. Rachel covered her napkin in a thin layer of aura, but it wasn't like what Celeste showed them. Alice was able to add a small amount of aura to the napkin, making a slight outline of her aura surrounding the napkin but it wasn't the result she was aiming for.

Celeste raised a brow at seeing their efforts, but at the same time had a smug look on her face. She took her own napkin and showed the students how her aura-coated napkin was in a perfect, flat state with no crinkles whatsoever.

“How are you getting them to be so clean and straight like this?” Alice asked.

“As I said earlier…aura control.” Celeste smirked.

Before the students could ask any further questions, Celeste snapped her fingers. All of the students jumped in surprise when they realized her aura completely covered them like a sphere, the napkins in their hands now stiff as a board. She chuckled to herself. “That was my Fortify technique. With this technique, you can enhance your physical durability, as well as your strength. I'm positive that you'll get the hang of Enfold soon! Just keep at it! For now though, you're all dismissed. You can keep the napkins so you can continue practicing on your own time, and I wish you the best of success!” she ended, heading back towards the building.

Zalgo stopped Celeste before she could head in, tapping her on the shoulder.

"Hmm?" Celeste said, turning around and smiling at the student. "Ah, Zalgo. Do you need anything, dear?"

"Yes. I wanted to know... How was my performance?"

Celeste put a hand on Zalgo's shoulder. "You did pretty well. So did Alice. Apart from the twins, you both did better than anyone else in the class. You should feel good about yourself! Keep your head up and you'll get ahold of Enfold in no time!"

Zalgo beamed and nodded. "Thanks, Cel! It really means a lot!"

"Mhm! If you have any questions, you know where I am~"

★

Alice was back in her home, finishing her bowl of blueberry oatmeal before she looked at the napkin she attempted to use Enfold on. She reached for the napkin, but froze when she heard a knock on her door. She got up and saw Zalgo through the blinds, opening the door and putting on a kind smile, which faltered into a sheepish one. “Hey, Zalgo. What brings you here again?”

“I just wanted to talk about our performance in class today.”

“Sure thing,” Alice replied, gesturing to her to come inside.

Zalgo closed the door behind herself and sat down on the couch, with Alice taking a seat next to her.

“So, Alice… I was watching you and noticed that you were struggling this time. Were you just feeling…out of it today?” she asked as she twiddled her fingers.

“No, not really,” Alice replied. “It's just…maybe it's because I'm influencing something else with my aura instead of manipulating the aura within my body. It's new to me.”

Zalgo sighed and leaned back in her seat. “Yeah, aura control can be hard sometimes. You know, the twins were able to do it so quickly because they've practiced their aura control a lot more than you have.”

“You sure know a lot about those twins.” Alice replied.

Zalgo shrugged. “Well…they just fascinate me. Maybe it's because of how different they are from each other despite being identical twins.”

“How different?” Alice asked.

“Well, Akari is the quiet introvert with a cold demeanor, while her sister Akumu is lively and playful. In terms of their aura control, it seems like they're both equally as skilled, despite their vast differences.”

“Right… But you did better with Enfold than anyone else - besides the twins, of course. How did you manage that?”

“I just observed Celeste's napkin and tried to emulate it myself.”

Alice’s eyes widened and she snapped her fingers. “Oh! That's right. I remember that your Aura Type is Emulation. Maybe that played a big part in your performance.”

Zalgo nodded. “Excellent point, Alice. You Aura Type is Possession, isn't it? So that means you'll have an easier time taking control of objects with your aura. That explains how you were doing nearly as well as I was.”

“True. Kinsey struggled the most. With her Aura Type being Extraction, I imagine the nature of that category making it very difficult to infuse your aura into something.”

“Well said. But anyways, I'll keep training to get better at this so we can move on to the other classes. I have faith that we'll be able to master the Technique in no time.”

A soft smile spread across Alice's face as she nodded. “Me too. We're going to impress everyone in the next session.”

Zalgo returned Alice's smile with her own. “Yes, I'm positive we’ll do exactly that.” she replied, getting up and stretching. “Well, I'm off to practice more until I get it right.”

“All right then. See ya and good luck, Zalgo.”

Zalgo's smile brightened. “Same to you, Alice.”