The Aura Ascendant: A Knight's Unbroken Path

Hayden was shocked as soon as he realized that he was noticed by the two Old Magicians.

He immediately hid his presence and returned to his room. Thankfully, the Magicians didn't seem to care about him as they probably realized that he was a student of the Academy.

Nonetheless, Hayden was now filled with a smile. He just obtained a huge amount of data about Aura Knights and Magicians!

There was no way he wouldn't be excited about this.

His Ocularis Lens had recorded everything, and though it may have taken some time to analyze it, it was more than enough for him.

After all, magicians were incredibly rare in this part of the kingdom. There wasn't anything here that could really interest them due to the lack of magical artifacts, alchemy ingredients, and other magical stuff in the area.

However, because of Sorcerer Eve's appearance, Hayden obtained so much data from them…

'Thankfully, they didn't sell me out even after all of that.' Hayden smiled at this thought. Since the two were being threatened with their life, Hayden would be able to understand if they decided to just give his name to Eve.

But the fact that they didn't budge and were even ready to die to protect him, he couldn't help but feel truly thankful.

Whatever Mensa or Sabin would request in exchange for the Aura Crystal seemed something he couldn't reject at this rate.

"I'll do my best, Headmaster…" Hayden muttered as he returned to his room.

However, with all the events that had happened, Hayden couldn't fall asleep.

Instead, he decided to just practice his Aura Control to ensure that he could hide its true level without any issues.

Just like that, Hayden did not sleep…

However, as he continued to practice, his Aura control became more stable than before.

'This is better…' Hayden thought.

'This is what I'll show them. Just enough to prove I'm an Aura Initiate, but not enough to reveal my true strength.'

***

A couple of days after that incident, Hayden didn't see the two retired Aura Knights at all.

It seemed that they suffered heavy injuries in the battle against the Magician.

However, he could tell that they were still alive, so he wasn't too worried about their condition. Because of that, no one had noticed about his Aura, not even Lady Seraphine who was supposed to be a Knight Candidate.

Perhaps because they had the same level of Aura, she was also unable to sense it.

In any case, the result of the examination had already been announced and he had certainly passed and became an official Apprentice.

He just needed to acquire the token that will be provided in the administration office later after his class today.

Well, his class today was only Horseback Riding. It was an essential technique that they had to learn in order to become a capable Knight. As a matter of fact, according to the lessons he had, it was also possible to have a magical beast as a mount but the academy didn't have the money to purchase them. Their tuition was simply not enough to cover that…

In any case, no one was disappointed at this since they knew that they had to start somewhere.

Soon, a group of students gathered in the riding arena…

Hayden stood among them and closely observed the surroundings.

"This place is big…" He muttered.

This was his first time participating in the class because he wasn't listed in this class at first due to some issues with his age and height. Because of that, he missed a few classes before the Headmaster was able to do something about it.

Anyway, there were actually two assistant teachers and one Professor in this class and they had also not noticed that he had awakened his Aura.

"So that's Professor Cedric." Hayden muttered as he looked at the tall, broad-shouldered man who stepped into the center of the arena.

"Listen up!" The man shouted.

"Today, we'll be working on basic riding techniques. You'll each be assigned a horse, and your goal is to establish control and build a connection with your mount. Remember, a good rider doesn't force the horse—they guide it."

The students nodded, some looking excited while the others were visibly nervous.

On the other hand, Hayden remained calm, his Ocularis Lens had already started analyzing the horses in the stable, noting their temperaments and behaviors.

Even in his past life, he never had an experience with horseback riding as that was already something obsolete… Thankfully, his Lens had enough information about this matter so the couple of classes that he missed should not be a huge deal.

"Alright… Let's start with Erico…"

Professor Cedric began assigning horses to the students, pairing each rider with a mount that matched their skill level, or at the very least, that was what he said.

"Erico, you'll take Snowflake. Sarah, Thunderhoof is yours…"

This continued for a while before Hayden heard this name.

"Hayden…" Cedric paused as a smirk played on his lips. "You'll take Stormbreaker."

As soon as he said this, a murmur of surprise occurred from the group of students.

Of course, Hayden didn't miss their whispers... His Aura had already improved his senses and even if he could not hear them, he could read their lips thanks to his Ocularis Lens.

"Stormbreaker? Isn't that the wild one?" one student whispered.

"Yeah, he's thrown off every rider who's tried to tame him," another added.

Just from these two statements, he already knew what was going on.

Hayden couldn't help but raise an eyebrow but said nothing.

He could sense the subtle challenge in Cedri's tone.

It seemed that he disliked the fact that a younger and smaller student was able to attend his class!

'Alright... If that's how you want to do it...'