292 Chapter 238: An Elementalist's Perspective on Will

From what Joshua knew about elves he was a bit surprised that the matriarch had decided to pay him a visit so soon. He could understand why Garlin and Thoren would show up from time to time since they liked to get away from their roles as head of their people, but the elf didn't seem to be similar in that regard. Plus elves tended to see time differently since they had always been a long lived race. They often saw a year to them in a similar way as humans viewed a week. They just lived for so much longer that they had a different perspective. So Joshua wasn't expecting to see the long lived elf visiting him any time soon.

"Ysildea it's good to see you, but I'm surprised you paid me a visit so soon." Joshua said with a smile as he walked over to meet the woman. She smiled at his simple greeting before responding.

"Well this time around I remembered to set up an alarm system to remind myself to come visit you. Last time I had an apprentice that wasn't an elf I forgot about our different views on time and well…she thought I had forgotten about her training after I didn't visit for a couple of years." Ysildea said with a small chuckle. "I didn't want things turning out the same way this time around. So I made a schedule. It's something my grandson taught me how to do since he spends a lot of time around other races when it comes to his job."

Joshua awkwardly smiled at the idea of Ysildea only visiting a new apprentice once in two years, but thinking back on his idea from earlier he realized that probably only seemed like a couple of weeks in the elf's eyes. Although other races lived for a far longer time now that they had been rejuvenated by the system it would take several generations for the shift in life span to have an effect on their perception of time. "Well I'm glad you remembered to pay me a visit then." Joshua said with an awkward smile. "I'm glad you showed up while I was around."

"Don't be too harsh on her. She did help me out when it came to learning more about my aura the last time she came around." Joshua said trying to help out Garlin a bit. "Besides she doesn't stay to long whenever she comes by."

"Well I guess that's better than nothing. At least she actually does something besides act all high and mighty whenever she drops by." Ysildea said with a sigh. Whenever Thoren was somehow related to the subject she always had to make a jab at the poor guy. "Anyways it's good to see your coming along a lot faster than we expected."

"What do you mean?" Joshua asked a bit puzzled.

"The nature around here speaks to me. Since you train here so often I can tell that the aura you generate is nurturing the area quite a bit. By that alone I know that you have made some major strides when it comes to your aura." She said with a small smile as she started walking towards the forest that Joshua had come from. He followed along to see what she was up to. "Judging by the feeling I'm getting from the forest it seems like you've made yet another breakthrough recently."

Joshua was a bit stunned at the fact that Ysildea could tell something so recent just by listening to the forest. It was frightening to think of somethings that elementalist could figure out with such an ability. "During my last expedition I came across a boss that forced me past my limit. During the fight I willed my aura to respond to what I wanted which surprised me at the time, but it was incredibly draining on my reserves and I nearly passed out from the back lash after the fight ended."

"With your current level I assume whatever boss you faced that could force you to do such a thing must have been at least level eighty. Don't push yourself to hard. I know that you have to be willing to take risk to grow stronger, but I don't want my apprentice to end up having a short life because he became too reckless. You've got lots of time to grow strong and catch up to other races so there is no need to rush things." She responded with a stern look and a gentle show of aura. Joshua simply nodded knowing not to push too far with his own limits. "Good well there is a lot that you still probably don't know about aura, and I'm guessing that brash full didn't tell you all that much about aura besides the fact that it can empower you?"

"Not really. I figured that out with Garlin, but apparently Thoren wants me to figure out as much as possible on my own before he tells me more. Apparently there haven't been many others with the same circumstances as my own so he believes it would be best for me to figure somethings out alone." Joshua responded thinking back on the conversation he had with the old dwarf.

"He is right in that regard. There is only one other that I know of that had similar circumstances to your own and neither of us know exactly what he went through to gain his strength. The only reason I am able to teach you anything at all is because of the fact that both of our jobs revolve around manipulating aura in some way." Ysildea said with a serious tone before she started giving off her gentle presence once more. All of the trees seemed to brighten with her mood which was an odd sight to see. "From what you have described to me it seems that you have taken the next step when it comes to controlling your aura, but I doubt you will be able to do much more until you reach the next level of your job. What you can do now is already pushing the boundaries of a first tier job after all. I'm willing to bet you can't hold that state for more than a few minutes when it should become second nature to you in the future."

Joshua nodded his head before responding. "It puts a major strain on my body that it can't withstand for more than a few minutes when I go all out. Even then it has a rather major back lash if I do it for too long."

"That's because using your will to manipulate your aura is something that won't become second nature to you until you reach the second tier level of your job. An aura user just doesn't have enough aura or aura control to realistically use such abilities for very long. It is also the reason your will stat is the most important stat as an aura user. It is the same case when it comes to elementalist. Having high will is beneficial to us." Ysildea explained.

"How exactly does will affect my aura? Does it just depend on what I'm trying to will my aura to do or is it something more complex?"

Ysildea seemed to think for a moment as she looked towards the waterfall that they were approaching. She then motioned for Joshua to look towards the river as she waved her hand. "Will is the most important ability of us aura based job holders for two main reasons. The first is obvious and goes along with the stat itself. Having high will allows us not only to overcome greater odds, but it also allows us to avoid being effected by the auras of other creatures. Considering the fact that just about all beast have a powerful aura and job holders such as us have a high sensitivity to such auras it is imperative that we have the will to resist such things."

Joshua agreed that it was easy for him to feel the aura and killing intent of his opponents. Having such high will allowed him to shrug off their suppression even when he was several levels lower than them. His will stat was just large enough to match up to creatures of a tier above his or even more so when it wasn't the case of boss level opponents.

"The second and more important use for will is to control and strengthen our aura. Aura responds to will in a similar way as mana responds to wisdom and intelligence when it comes to magic use. The more will that we have the more control we have over our aura and the more powerful it can be." Ysildea said with a small smile as the nearby tree started to extend its branches towards her as she waved her hand in its direction. "In my case the higher my will the more control I have over the nature around me. It's strengthens my link between myself and nature in many ways both simple and complex. Though I'm guessing from my little explanation you might have some ideas on how it works when it comes to you."

"It seems as if my will allows me to strengthen the aura that I produce from my body to high levels. It also allows me to decide the best way to have that aura benefit me while using it. If I need to increase my perception then it helps with that, if I need to improve my defense it does that as well. It follows what I will it to do, but it drains on my reserves greatly in comparison to just letting the aura flow naturally." Joshua explained with a bit more understanding now that he had a better perspective of how things worked.

"That'll be the case for a while until you reach your second tier job. At that point willing it to do what you want will be just as natural as letting it flow on its own. It's just a matter of your aura reserves and the amount of will you have at the moment." She said while directing the tree branch to go back to its normal position. "Even someone with as much aura and power as Garlin can't control aura in the same way that you can so cheer up and keep striving forward. You've got plenty of time."

After that little conversation the two of them broke off in to talks about how things had been going during Joshua's explorations of late. It was a much more peaceful and easy going conversation than what Joshua was used to having with Thoren or Garlin. Being around Ysildea just put him in that type of mood and it was more than enough to calm him down when it came to his thoughts about the upcoming expedition. He still had a while before the meeting with the others so he planned on exploring this new insight into aura and will beforehand. It might be just what he needs for the upcoming battle against the haze monster that he was certain would be waiting for them on the inside of the large town.