Luxuria smiled and threw the token over to Ira who failed to catch it as it bounced off the layer of Aura on her hand and onto the bed.

“Hah. The look on your face was priceless. Congratulations, you are now a mage, facing the problems that all initiate mages without prior experience in Aura manipulation encounter. You are stuck in a permanent state of Theca, which would be a good thing if not for your miniscule reserves of Aura. How are you feeling now?”

“I’m feeling tired and slightly dizzy. Wait! Did you say I’m a mage now?! But… but isn’t this aura that I’m seeing? Then what’s the difference? What’s this Aura coming from this medallion and what is this Theca you mentioned?”

“Take it slow, child. I know of your impatience to grasp your powers but if you do not rein in your Theca, the shroud of Aura covering you, you will pass out from exhaustion. Then all you will grasp is your pillow. So, sit now and meditate. Treat your Aura like you would your rage and depress it within yourself. It should be simple for you with your willpower.”

Ira felt the toll that having Theca active took on her mental and physical reserves. She nearly fell asleep instead of entering the meditation condition. Struggling against the exhaustion, she entered into a state of awareness of self and connected with her Aura. It was like suddenly developing a new sense organ. More accurately, it felt like she had rediscovered a sense she always had but never used. Her Aura had been like a white flame and now the external Aura tinted it, breaking it up into flames of all colours of the spectrum that recombined to give back white. The eternal cycle of meetings and partings gave her Aura an ethereal quality.

Ira followed Luxuria’s advice and tapped into the rage that always simmered beneath her surface and her Aura burnt. A wave of exhaustion hit her as the Aura started to leak away from the now boiling surface of her Theca. She clenched her teeth and clamped down on her errant emotions, hard. She drew in the anger deep within her and bottled it up.

She felt Her Aura retreating and when it entered back into her body, she felt the drain on her dissipate. As the Aura was restrained deeper and deeper within her till it was concentrated within her core which coincided with her heart, a weak feeling washed over the tissues devoid of Aura. The thin stream of Aura from the medallion poured into her core mixing with her own in a swirl of light and colours.

Luxuria watched with amazement as Ira mastered the basics of Reserva within minutes of her awakening. She watched with soft eyes as Ira recovered and picked up the medallion, inspecting the intricate inscriptions on it.

“How are you feeling, child?”

“After I took back the Aura, I feel quite weak, as if the strength has been screened out from my muscles. Also, this medallion feels like a part of my body and the Aura coming from it is mixing with mine. What is it and why did I suddenly feel a connection with the Yohei when all of this started? In fact, I still do.”

“That’s because you took my suggestions too literally and bottled up all your Aura into your core. Aura is actually a complex mix of your life force, personality, will, physical strength and emotions. You can think of it as a nexus for all the energies of your body.

"What you are doing is a technique called Reserva. You are restraining your Aura and thereby erasing your presence. It is very helpful for stealth and most Aural beasts are very proficient in this technique to avoid their predators. Since Aura has a part of your physical strength, you are left quite defenceless and weak while using this technique.

"An average person has no awareness or control over his Aura and as such some of it is continuously leaking out. This gives him a ‘presence’. So, even if you haven’t heard someone coming up behind you, you can sometimes feel that he is there. Or you can feel strong emotions like hostility as they leak out with his Aura.

"Theca on the other hand involves externalization of Aura and locking it into a nimbus around you. What did you feel when you spied on the Keep Guardians practising on the grounds?”

Ira blushed as she replied, “Well, their presence screamed of strength. They are very hard to ignore and overshadow everyone else nearby.”

“Well, those were the rookies training to keep their Theca permanently active. Have you ever heard bards using terms like ‘lead corona’ or ‘protagonist’s halo’? They are talking about Theca.

"Theca is the reason that Aura users age slower as it locks in their Aura, preventing leakage of life force. It is like swimming, once you learn it, it becomes a subconscious action and will remain active even during your sleep. It provides a strong safeguard against emotional manipulation and hypnosis using Aura like what I did to you when we started. It can also block basic physical attacks and when it is active you can use much more of your strength without fear of injuring yourself.

"You generally use around 20% of your muscular strength as anything beyond that will snap your bones or tear your muscles from the recoil. But after awakening, you can use Aura to counter the recoil. So basically, Aura lets you perform closer to the limits of your body and that makes you seem stronger.”

Ira pondered over what she was being told and asked, “Isn’t there any middle ground between Theca and Reserva? What about what you are doing now?”

“Good question. You just keep the Aura from extending out of your body, stopping it just below your skin. Try it.”

Ira concentrated on her Aura again and loosened her hold on her emotions, letting a little of the excitement she had been suppressing leak out. Her Aura expanded until it reached her skin and stopped there, flowing randomly throughout her body as she clamped down on her emotions.

Luxuria nodded her head in appreciation. “You are talented in this field but are you sure you want to link your Aura so closely to your emotions? Having your emotions in flux during battle can be very distracting. Wait! Actually, that can be a very good Limitation... well, let's leave that for later.

“Now, about the difference between mages and Aura users. Mages are Aura users who have accumulated enough Fame or Destiny to activate their Aura. Remember how I told you about those who haven’t awakened leaking their Aura into the air. Well, they don’t leak just Aura, they leak their thoughts and emotions mixed with it.

"When someone becomes famous for whatever reason, many people think about them and thus, these bits of Aura accumulate and merge with their own Aura and beyond a critical point, the normally stable personal Aura becomes prone to variation and can be used for exotic applications like generating fireballs or conjuring objects.

"These bits of Aura are collectively called Fame. Fame is a very fickle thing and people forget their heroes quite fast. Cases of Mages dropping from their boundary into Martial Warriors after as little as a week out of the public eye can be found everywhere. Thus, everyone prefers Destiny to Fame.

"You can think of Destiny as Fame for an organization. It's much more stable and the distribution depends on the company policy. For example, the Yohei only distribute Destiny to mercenaries above A rank. As a S ranker myself I have three A rank quotas I can distribute.

"I granted one to Gloria two years ago and I gave one to you today. That medallion I bound to you is the initiation token for A rank mercenaries. Any questions so far?”

Ira toyed with the token in her hand as she rapidly categorized all the information and came up with questions she wanted answered. Then she shook her head, she had already asked the most relevant ones.

Luxuria stretched leisurely, her clothes straining to keep her decent. Her eyes took on a predatory cast as she crawled on all fours across the bed, stopping in front of Ira to lift up her chin with a finger. “Don’t you think I deserve a reward for being such a great teacher, child?” Ira was sucked in by the sheer passion in that gaze and could only nod mutely.

Luxuria slid her finger down Ira’s throat and with a flick of Aura untied the buttons of her dress and with a smooth motion divested her of it. She motioned with her eyes towards Ira’s undergarments while leaning back to take off her own clothing. Clutching a handful of the now naked girl’s short hair, she pulled her head down to her nether regions. “Girl, show me how your skills in bed have improved with Aura.”

Ira went to work devotedly, moistening the older woman's slit with long licks from bottom to top, pausing at the zenith to flick the sensitive nub of flesh with the tip of her tongue. The heightened senses from her Aura let her judge reactions much better and soon, Luxuria was moistening herself. The slightly sour scent filled her lungs and the taste of the Matron's passion ignited hers. Reaching down with her hand moistened with Luxuria's fluids, she pleasured herself as she continued to work on the Matron. Their body temperatures elevated till with a muffled scream of release, Luxuria climaxed.

Luxuria’s skin was flushed as she came down from her high. She pulled up Ira into her lap, setting Ira's mouth to her breasts while using her fingers, moistened from her crotch, on Ira’s genitals.

Ira's body which had started to cool at the lack of stimulation, heated right back up at the Matron's touch. In the beginning, she tried her best to keep pleasuring the older woman's breasts despite the onslaught of pleasure, but soon, Luxuria's skilled digits made her lose her composure and devolve into a moaning, writhing mess. After a toe-curling orgasm, she was still.

Luxuria paused to tend to Ira who had just succumbed to her ministrations. She placed the girl beside her where she lay panting with an arm covering her eyes. After catching her breath, Ira removed her arm and used her enhanced vision to look through the glare of the balls of light dotting the ceiling.

The globes, known as ‘Immortal Lights’ were actually transparent hives filled with aural beasts that looked like fireflies. They absorbed light in the day and released it in the night. Every five years a hive would give birth to a second Queen and it would go out to create a hive of their own. An ancestor of the Pavone clan had salvaged a few hives from a vestige and a few generations of care had resulted in the current population. It was a specialty product that was used to win favour within the kingdom and exorbitant amounts of gold without.

Luxuria followed her line of sight and said, “Actually the Immortal Lights have another function related to Aura. We’ll be using them when I train you along with your master after his awakening. You know enough to consolidate your Aura and that’s all that is required before your lessons formally start.

Run along now, I need my beauty sleep and you need to prepare for your conversation with Young master Cyn tomorrow.”

As Ira wore her clothes, Luxuria conjured a piece of parchment and composed a confidentiality contract on it with her Aura. “Here, input your Aura into this. It prevents you from disclosing anything about the path to magic. After all, Fame is limited and nobody wants more competition. You can only pass on this knowledge if you have a contract made by a certified notary officer of the kingdom like me. Any mage without this restriction in their Aura signature is liable to be imprisoned or fined.”

Ira read over the contract and poured her Aura into it. The parchment dissolved into motes of light and merged with her Aura and she felt a vague limitation being imposed upon her soul. Whenever she tried to think of violating the contract, the impulsion would be eliminated even before it could truly form.

Ira deeply bowed and said, “Thank you for today. I will not disappoint your painstaking care.”

After she had left, Artemis walked out of a shadow. She offered some clothes to the Matron as she asked, “Was it necessary?”

Disregarding the offer, Luxuria walked up to the wine cabinet and poured out two glasses of wine. She handed one over to Artemis and settled down with the other on a chair by the dressing table, putting one leg over another.

Taking a sip, she replied, “It was. An unbound A rank token can cause a great unrest in the entire kingdom and I just gave it to her. Even Gloria had to work hard for hers. I am just protecting my investment.”

Artemis smiled bitterly and said, “Pledge of Lust, your unique ability. Whenever you or your partner climaxes during coitus, both of your loyalties to the Pavone clan will be increased. I’ve seen countless enemies turn into allies as they prostrated themselves beneath your skirt. It is a truly terrifying ability seeing that the Baron didn’t even protest your sleeping around.”

“Pssh. What is a little personal sacrifice in the face of benefits for the clan. Actually, now that you mention it, Hubby doesn’t play with me as often. What have I done? I’ve turned my Hubby into a workaholic with my own two hands. Shock! Console me my dearest Artemis.”

Luxuria’s half-lidded eyes glinted as she drained her glass and set out towards the other occupant of the room.

It was a restless night.