Risen World

Chapter 201: The most Carefree Teacher Ever

Joshua found himself sitting in a chair across from Garlin who was stretched out on his couch with a lazy grin on her face after she took a swig from her jug. The horns on her head kept her wild long hair from covering her eyes as she stretched a bit and turned to look back at Joshua. He was still a bit tired from practicing with his aura from earlier, but at this point he was more than recovered enough to use it again if he wanted to. He was still a bit confused at the fact that Garlin seemed to know what he had been practicing as if she had done it herself before even though she wasn't an aura user. So He finally decided to break the silence and figure out what she knew, at least for the most part.

"What brings you here all of a sudden?" Joshua asked with a raised eyebrow at the woman's antics. She was currently stretched out as if she had finally gotten to relax after days of work or something. Thoren did say that Garlin was the most likely person to come visit next and it seemed he was right when it came to that. Joshua could only assume that Lazy people could understand each other well enough.

"Meh, just taking a break. I've got something interesting to handle coming up and I just thought some 'r and r' would be amazing. Besides this place is peaceful and I don't have to worry about anyone coming here to get on my nerves." Garlin responded before taking another sip of her drink.

"You say that like you've been doing this for a while." Joshua asked a bit surprised at her attitude.

"Oh this is the third time I've come to this place since the first time we met." Garlin said shocking Joshua a bit by the look he had on his face. She grinned at that showing off her sharper teeth, the look gave a devilish feel to the older woman.

"Wait third time?"

"Yeah, what you think other people aren't doing things while you're off exploring your planet?" She asked sarcastically. "You spend most of your time exploring so during my last two visits you weren't here at all. That just meant that it was quieter and I had time to myself."

"I guess that's fine." Joshua said with a sigh before focusing back on a topic he wanted to ask her about since the moment she had commented on his aura. "So about my aura, what made you think I'd figured out something interesting?"

Garlin seemed to pause in her drinking for a moment as she thought over his question. It was weird seeing such a slouch looking thoughtful, in all honesty Joshua was expecting her to either deflect from the question or give a basic explanation. He was surprised that she was taking the question so seriously. "I'm surprised Thoren didn't explain it to you, but I guess it makes sense. He would want you to figure it out on your own with your unique situation, but I guess since you've figured so much out on your own I can explain a few things for you."

"Wait so Thoren already knew about this?" Joshua said in disbelief. He was starting to wonder if the old man was just lazy or was truly expecting Joshua to figure it all out on his own. Either way it was annoying to find out the old man could have helped him realize this sooner, especially when he had just visited not so long ago after all.

"Of course he knows about different ways of using aura, but I'm betting he didn't expect you to be so far along so soon. The type of stuff you were just experimenting with isn't the type of stuff most people can do until they've reached their third tier job. So we were all expecting you to not be able to do it until you reached a second tier job even if it is involved with aura more than other ones." Garlin explained.

"Third tier job?"

"Well the one you have right now is a first tier job of aura user even if it is a unique one. You'll get your second tier job once you reach level hundred and your third tier job won't happen until you reach level one thousand. So you can imagine why we're all shocked that you're able to do such things already." Garlin explained getting a nod of understanding in return from Joshua. "Anyways now that you've already reached this point I'm sure he won't mind if I explain things a little better for you, but don't expect to be able to do much more with your aura at this point. Your still low leveled and don't have a lot of it to work with. What gave you the idea anyways?"

"Well the last boss we faced in a dungeon was able to use aura in the way I was trying to while practicing. It made it so that any attack against it would be spread out around its entire body thus dampening the force of the blow in the end. Only wide area attacks or over powering ones would end up doing any real damage to it until its aura was broken through." Joshua explained getting a knowing nod from Garlin.

"That is one of the basic ways to use aura. I'm guessing it was doing it unconsciously as well?" Garlin asked getting a quick nod in return. "Well it is rare for that to happen, but beast are usually more in tuned with their aura and sometimes mana than people. It's why mages have to use spells to cast magic unlike beast that just kind of do it on their own. You'll probably see other beast able to do similar things in the future, but it won't be anything you can't handle."

"So what exactly did you mean by saying that most people can't use aura in this way until they reach their third tier job? If that's the case then does that mean other people outside of aura users, elementalist and martial artist can use their aura effectively at some point?" Joshua said with a confused expression. If that was the case he was wondering what would be the big difference between his own abilities and other people's abilities in the future.

"Well of course they can." Garlin said with a smirk before pressure started to pour off of her and Joshua could see aura condense around her and cover her entire body. It was far more powerful than his own, but that was to be expected by somebody that was at such a high level the only thing the system showed him was a skull instead of a level. Joshua guessed that was the way the system told him and anybody else that the person they were observing was way out of their league. "As long as you trained enough with aura you can do something like this. It makes me powerful and can be used as a defensive measure to an extent while fighting, but that's all."

"That's all?"

"Yep, that's one of the big differences between my Aura and yours. Anyone that reaches tier three and is used to using some form of aura while fighting will be able to do this but nobody can manipulate aura like you do or your predecessor. I'm not sure what that will mean for you in the future, since I never actually got to meet the person that they seem to be comparing you too. So I can't tell you much, but the fact that you can already do this even though you're still in the tier one stage of the job is amazing in itself."

"I might be able to use it, but only for an incredibly short amount of time. It tires me out rather quickly." Joshua said with a small frown which got a chuckle out of his guest.

"Of course you can't use it for long. You just started trying to do it now. When I first created such an aura field around me I could only last a couple of minutes, now it's pretty much ingrained in my fighting at all times. Your body will adjust the more you use it and get accustomed to the strain. I imagine it won't even be so hard considering your talent for it and all." Garlin said before taking another sip of her drink. In all honesty she acted like a younger version of Thoren half the time, but that didn't seem to override her tomboyish personality.

"Then what does the aura actually do for you when you use it. Does it nullify attacks in the same way as mine or give you percentage stats boost and stuff." Joshua asked trying to figure out as many similarities as he possibly could between the aura he had now and the one created by a third tier job holder.

"Hell no, the aura for us is just like armor to an extent that gives us a little boost in strength and damage output. It is helpful, but not anywhere near the level of yours. That's something I'm fairly envious of but it takes extenuating circumstances to gain the job you hold and even more so when it comes to its future upgrades." Garlin replied. Joshua filed that away into the back of his mind as he thought over the differences between their auras.

It seemed as if their aura was just like an added cushion that could be used as a decent defense and power boost, but on a rather small scale. In comparison to Joshua's aura which could greatly increase his power, go into a different state to sky rocket his vitality, regenerate his injuries at unheard of rates and probably several other things that he hadn't figured out yet, so the difference was glaring. "Then what do you actually use that aura for."

"Hmm, although it's not much it does make a difference in a fight. It protects us against the pressure given off by our enemies to some extent since it is greatly influenced by our will along with our aura and the boost it does give us is rather helpful. Just don't expect it to be as awe inspiring as your making out the Scorpion Prince's aura to be. It is powerful, but if you hit it with something strong enough it will be broken through if not completely useless. Just like you said area of effect skills are useful against it since it does a lot of its protection by spreading the force of the attack around the entire body which is useless against an attack that hits everything." Garlin explained as she let her aura settle and fade away. "Well I think that's enough explanation on the topic it's about time I head back kid."

"I'm surprised you plan on leaving so soon. Thoren pretty much spent half the day here last time he came by." Joshua said as he stood up at the same time as Garlin.

"Well I may shirk of my duties from time to time, but even I know I'm needed to help out with stuff most of the time. I'll just keep the job for a while longer until Marlow is ready to take the spot and I can move on to relaxing my days away." She said with a smirk before Joshua followed her out the door. She looked like she was about to open a portal to leave, but Joshua decided to interrupt her for something.

"Could you wait a minute?" Joshua asked getting a questioning look from the horned woman. "I was hoping you could help me test out the strength of my aura before you left." By the time Joshua finished saying the words he was already regretting it a bit as a large fanged grin spread across her face. She seemed excited now at his suggestion.

"Oh really now, then let's get to it. It'll be interesting to test it after all." Garlin said as she walked over to the clearing waiving for Joshua to follow her. When they stopped she stood in front of him making sure he was faced away from the house they had come from. "Alright take up a defensive position while using your aura to the fullest."

Joshua did as she asked and took his scale blade out of his inventory while concentrating to create the same dense aura as he did before. He took up a defensive position while turning towards her. "You're not going to use a weapon right? Based off of what I saw you do last time I don't think my aura would matter against something like that."

"Oh don't you worry about that, I'm not trying to kill you after all." She said with a smirk before she walked right in front of Joshua as she gave off a massive amount of pressure that caused Joshua to gulp a bit. She wasn't even flaring her aura, yet Joshua could feel the threat of death approaching him. She extended her hand towards his scale blade balled it up into a fist causing Joshua to be a bit confused, but he didn't move an inch. Then suddenly she flicked a finger that smashed into the scale blade and the force of the blow almost instantly destroyed his aura on impact. He was sent crashing through trees in the distance and only came to a stop after breaking through half the forest. His aura shroud was still in effect which lessened the damage he had taken, but the aura that he tried to project for defense was destroyed instantly.

All Joshua could hear in the distance was some chuckling before he passed out.