“Alright, watch closely. If you understand the properties of slime and use it skillfully, even this is possible.” In front of Nina-san and Serai-san, I press my back against a tree with slime and start ascending without using my hands or feet. “Wow… You’re really good at this.” “Seriously, how do you even do that…?” “The trick is to mold the slime into suction cups. You use the slime’s natural stickiness and the negative pressure from the cupped shape. Maintain that while shifting from your back to your waist… Then, free up your back and create another slime suction cup… Keep repeating that motion, and voilà—you can move along walls without using your limbs. This is the Slug Move.” “Ehh~, but that’s… kinda lame. We’ve already practiced jumping through the trees—why not just stick with that?” But Serai-san didn’t seem to like the look of it, puffing her lips in dissatisfaction. “No good, Serai-san. That alone isn’t enough. Sure, 3D Maneuvering lets you move nimbly in the mountains. But when it comes to delivering powerful attacks, a solid foothold is essential.” “Hmm… You’re right. Even if you swing the same way, hitting from solid ground packs more punch than doing it mid-air.” Mhm, mhm. As expected, Nina-san gets it. Whether it’s a blunt weapon, a sword, or whatever, swinging it mid-air means you can only put upper-body strength into the strike. Without ground beneath you, your lower body can’t brace properly. Sure, in manga, mid-air brawls look flashy and all, but without a solid fulcrum, your force and point of impact get all wobbly—no surprise there. If lower-body support wasn’t necessary, advanced martial arts like “Earth-Shaking Stance” wouldn’t even exist. …… Besides physical training, we also practice meditation to refine our mana and aura. That said, meditating in the mountains… Hmm, feels like I’m on the verge of grasping something. Not sure what, though. “Phew… Aura output is a tricky thing, isn’t it?” ----AAAA---- After meditating on a rock for a while, Nina-san lets out a sigh and mutters that. “Yeah. Mana’s tied to skills as their energy source, so it’s not too hard to get a feel for. But aura doesn’t have any guidance like that.” “Ehh?! Then how come you can handle aura so easily, Egetsu-san?!” Serai-san, who’d been meditating on another rock, chimes in with the same question. “Tough one… Honestly, even I’m not entirely sure. But, y’know how I was holed up alone in dungeons for a while? Back then, I realized that using pure mana to fuel skills was crazy inefficient…” “Ah, was that when you were, like, fallen into darkness?” “Ooh, now that’s something I’m curious about too.” Hmm, I see. Guess it’s time for a lecture during our break. Ahem. “Well, as you both know, after Rui totally rejected me, I took out my anger on dungeon monsters. At first, I just rampaged blindly, but eventually, I got exhausted. Problem was, my rage still hadn’t cooled. So, subconsciously, I started skimping on the mana I used to activate skills.” “So even after going wild, it still wasn’t enough…?” Talking about my own shortcomings is pretty embarrassing, but it’s also how I learned aura. So for their growth, I’ll prioritize their progress over my pride. “Yeah. That’s how much it hurt when Rui rejected me. …Eventually, the explosive, body-burning rage gave way to sheer exhaustion, leaving nothing but this dark, hollow emotion. By then, I wasn’t just lashing out at monsters—I’d become this cold, calculating killing machine.” “I see… So streamlining slaughter led you to aura, huh?” “Well, looking back, yeah.” “So, like, do we have to fall into darkness too?” “Nah, not at all. Hmm… Think of it like this: water is stamina, boiling water is mana. And the perfect simmering heat for soft-boiled eggs? That’s aura. Raw stamina alone can’t launch slime or rock salt, but aura-refined stamina can. Mana can do it too, but the cost is way higher. So, if you can maintain your stamina at that sweet spot before it becomes mana, that’s aura.” The two exchange glances and shrug at my explanation. “We get that part…” “But actually stopping and sustaining it midway is impossible…” “Hmm… Well, another way is—when you stick slime to something, don’t let go of the mana you emitted. Keep sustaining it, like telling the mana, ‘Do this job from here to here.’ …Wait, still unclear? Alright, brute-force it is. Train your mana until your spirit’s dead tired. Eventually, the refined mana will drop to aura levels.” ““Ehhh?!”” C’mon, you can do it! You’re my adorable, talented honor students, after all. Who knows—maybe you’ll even end up with, like, a high monk’s soul or something… Ah, never mind.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com