Chapter 119 - Oh my aching-

"Okay now make that part a little bigger..."

"Am I done yet? I can feel my head trying to twist itself into a...what were those things at dinner"?

"A pretzel"?

"Yeah, that", I said while manipulating my aura.

For the past five minutes, Voxea instructed me on how to "manipulate the shape of my aura" and it was causing my insides to feel like it was on fire...again. Unlike the first time, where it felt like my whole body was burning, this time it felt more like my head was boiling on the inside and that steam was exiting my mouth, my nose, my ears and eyes. I think Voxea used the term "apertures" to describe these points but I was too busy breaking my head open to remember.

"Seriously though, am I done? This exercise is making my head boil", I complained through gritted teeth.

"Well you are trying to make your aura similar to a third grade maji", Voxea casually commented.

"Wait, what"?

"Aether-locks aren't only class locked, but power locked too. Unless you're a maji of a certain caliber, you'll never be able to open these types of barriers", she explained to me, "now just twist that part there an you'll be done".

"We need to have a discussion about your teaching ideology at some point", I told her as I did as she instructed. The moment I twisted that last bit of my aura, the burning in my head stopped...but my nose started acting funny.

"Huh...why am I smelling flowers?", I asked Voxea with the scent of daisies, lavender and honeysuckle in my nose.

"We have successfully shaped your aura into a druid's configuration. The scent should go away once this is over", Voxea explained casually.

"Cool...so now what"?

Voxea gave me a look that basically told me, "what do you think you do next", to which I couldn't help but reply, "Magic is surprisingly literal".

"We maji are a creatively uncreative bunch. Why reinvent the wheel when you can just enhance it? Now unlock this thing".

Within a breath, I willed my aura towards the aether-lock formation. In the next moment, the lock began to merge with my aura and I could see several runes on the formation beginning to change or disappear.

"Is that a good sign"?

"Indeed. In just a few moments, the lock will be undone and whatever delicious secrets this circle is hiding will be ours for the taking!", Voxea said excitedly.

"Well aren't you just-", but before I could finish sassing Voxea, I was suddenly hit with a tremendous force to my soul and rendered unconscious.

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"Hey".

"Meeehhh".

"Sil-Sil wake up, today's our first day of class".

"Five more-"

"Banda"?

"I'm up, I'm up!", I shouted quickly before shooting up in my bed...wait what?

"Excellent! Now hurry up and get ready, we don't want to be in the back of the line for the test right?", she said before immediately exiting my room...a room I'm pretty sure I was not in last night.

[Voxea what the heck happened last night?!], I asked her while getting changed.

[Owww, too loud. Ears just reformed], she grumbled back at me.

[Reformed? How did you get aethered]?

[Feedback].

[What]?

[The soul sigil inside that circle ended up smacking your soul upside the head as it imprinted itself. Sigil imprinting tends to be rather...intensive, especially on an apprentice. Apparently that temporary wavering of your soul hit me hard enough to force me to reform. On the plus side, I now know how it feels to reform from aether. It tingles, a lot], she explained to me.

[Well that's good to-wait, what do you mean by "imprint"? What's a soul sigil?], I asked as I strapped on a clean pair of boots.

[Soul sigils are advanced aether cultivation tools that help a maji develop their abilities. They come in a variety of affinities and grade, but I have never seen one like this before...].

[Is it dangerous? How do I activate it]?

[I've been poking at it since we've been talking and from what I can tell...no and I'm not sure. I'm not even sure if you can activate it yet, it looks dormant], she said.

[Ok...by the way, how did I end back in my room]?