The Retired Hero is an Extra

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Surprisingly, Aileen's presence at the moment was quite heavy and Jash was confused further.

'Is it due to the lack of many others sharing the burden or is she doing this purposefully?' Jash considered the only two options and leaned towards the latter.

He had never heard of anything related to his former guess, but he didn't disregard any possibilities, having a desire for that kind of overbearing presence.

"I am Aileen Frostvale, and I am your teacher for Aura Creation," Aileen introduced herself briefly before her eyes through the class.
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"I don't usually teach this subject but due to some reasons, I was requested for it as your batch is a little special," she added, her eyes darting to the figure of Jash, Amael and Helios.

Although she wanted to take Jash under her wing, she didn't disregard others' efforts or talents.

At the moment, Aileen looked a bit intimidating, but Jash knew there was no reason for her to be like this, she was trying to achieve something, but he didn't know what.

In fact, he guessed right, she was trying to play the good cop and bad cop, both by herself.

She would be cold in classes but teach gently and kindly, making him gradually trust her so that he became her apprentice.

But that was all, she had no other motive than nurturing a genius, as if she was a farmer looking at her farm animals.

"I dislike wasting time, and your Duel Class will start soon, so let's begin," Aileen announced as she raised her finger, and an ethereal blue light started covering her finger.

"Aura is the external manifestation of your mana. Try to draw out your mana to the tip of your fingers," Aileen instructed.

Everyone, including Jash, followed the instructions, but their result was different as only a blob of mana formed on the tip of their fingers.

It was pitiful to even compare it to Aileen's Aura, which covered her whole finger.

"What you all are doing is manifesting mana... it's not Aura," Aileen explained but didn't go further into the details.

"Some of you can already strengthen your body by coating it with mana," Aileen mentioned matter-of-factly as if she could see through it.

But she didn't give any names nor any clues to who it was, but speculation ran wild and the first suspect was Jash, who was considering her words.

'I sure can use mana to strengthen myself, but coat it outside my body? I can't do that,' Jash commented inwardly after the piercing glares shot his way.

At that exact moment as if Aileen had predicted it, a couple of staff members came into the classroom, drawing attention.

After all, no one had heard of classes ever being interrupted and then, the staff members seemed to be placing some huge containers in the empty area in the front.

Then, they opened it all of a sudden, revealing a crystal blue liquid, which seemed to sparkle and was so fragrant that a few students even drooled at its scent.

"Don't even think of tasting it, unless you wish to die," Aileen's words blocked any and all thoughts of tasting the lucrative liquid.

"In front of you is highly diluted liquid mana, and Solarnelle Academy is the only Academy or place in the world where it can be found."

Aileen's words echoed in everyone's head as they realized that Solarnelle Academy indeed offered unique advantages, being the top Academy.

Seeing the curious onlookers, Aileen still explained, "The method to create this liquid mana was discovered and put into place by one by one of the previous Principals."

Of course, many had threatened the person before they eventually gave in, but restricted its knowledge to only the Principal of the Solarnelle Academy.

Even if the Principal died out of the blue, there were arrangements to pass the method of its creation to the next Principal.

'Yeah, right, talking as if it was all for righteousness or whatnot, they were just scared what would happen if others discovered it and they lost their importance.'

Jash rolled his eyes while thinking so, easily guessing it and it wasn't like only he could speculate, everyone was free to do so.

It was just that everyone was interested in the liquid mana itself and waiting for further instructions.

Thankfully, Aileen didn't disappoint, mindful of the time.

"You all," she addressed the students, "Dip your palm and use your mana circulation technique to absorb the mana, but don't do it hurriedly."

Aileen's tone was filled with such seriousness that everyone sobered up, realizing the seriousness of the situation.

"Cling to the feeling of mana sticking to your palm, that's the only tip I can give you," she advised kindly, different from her cold exterior, but no one noticed it, even she herself didn't.

Then, she sternly added, "You have one hour before you will run out of your liquid mana."

"Remember to be careful as this is your only chance before the Assessment Test to form your Aura," Aileen emphasized her point.

Seeing the students begin to follow her instructions, Aileen gently advised,"Try to focus mana in the middle of your palm before spreading it gradually till your fingertips."

Nodding to herself, she continued instructing, "Focus on that sensation of your mana interacting with the liquid mana,"

"Then, slowly use the mana to create a thin coating from your whole palm extending it over your entire arm before running out of the liquid mana," Aileen finished sternly.

She knew it was better for the students to try it as manifesting Aura wasn't all that easy and really required a lot of focus, concentration and of course, talent.

In essence, coating one's weapon and whole body with aura and enforcing oneself with mana before beginning to spread aura outside one's body was the first step for beginners.

However, forming Aura was particularly challenging for E-Rank students, as it was a different skill altogether.

One could even say that Aura was the first step every E-Rank Hunter would learn and improve gradually as they ranked up.

However, there was someone who didn't think so and went to take the Elemental Theory class, wanting to explore their elements and giving it a higher priority.

And that someone also dipped his hand into the liquid mana before feeling a chill travel throughout his body.

'So cold,' Jash pressed his lips together, biting back a reflexive protest against the cold sensation of mana on his hand.

'Yuck,' Jash wanted to curse at the icky feeling of liquid mana around his palm and the back of his hand.

Unlike others who hid their disgust due to the privilege of being able to form Aura at such a young age, Jash didn't hide it at all.

His face twisted with disgust as he really wanted to pull his hand out, but his rationality held on.

Not like he really needed the liquid mana to form Aura, he could do it after reaching Late D-Rank, about to break into C-Rank.

Same was the case for Amael and Helios. Though they weren't completely sure about it like Jash.

Aside from our dear three anomalies, everyone else would need to at least reach C-Rank before even thinking of forming their Aura.

Gu

'He's a hero, surely he won't be unscrupulous, right?' Jash tried to think like that but found it difficult to continue the thought.

He didn't know if he was thinking like that to fool himself or if he really believed those thoughts.

He quickly assessed his surroundings, calculating his next moves as another two came to attack him in the meanwhile.

But before he could counter-attack, he saw Grunghin, who had closed the distance between them, ready to attack him as he countered the other two.

It was really a good move if not for being against Jash who couldn't help but deem it pathetic.

'At least they know the word teamwork,' Jash thought in an attempt to lighten his previous doubts, but it did nothing to dampen the bad feeling.

Unnecessarily growing wary was also a disadvantage and Jash understood it well enough.

His movements were slightly sluggish as compared to before but it was not very conspicuous with how tired and haphazard placed in the middle of the group.

Instead his composure stood out amongst them as he decisively countered the two with the flat of his blade and used the force to offset Grunghin.

Due to his miscalculation, he missed hitting Grunghin, being a beat slower, and couldn't help but pull back his sword.

In return, the two who were blocked and trying to pressure Jash to the ground were inexplicably happy before being hit with reality.

Ahem, it was Grunghin's blunt hammer.

The one on the farther side was barely fine but the one who took the full brunt of it fainted with internal injuries.

However, it could've been worse had Grunghin not tried to stop his momentum at the last second.

Jash didn't even care though. He insisted on taking out the stunned Grunghin as well but his sword met resistance in the face of a staff.

Surprised for a second, Jash regained his calm and remembered he was the one talking with the lightning martial artist.

'I don't know what they talked about, but this guy seems... tacky?' Jash didn't know what else to call his flamboyant style of waving the staff.

Still, Jash chose to be careful and scanned the remaining group to keep their positions in his mind