“There are magic items you can use to suppress your aura. People in that situation are required to use them.”

“Do you get a lot of people who get to gold without any aura control?”

“No,” Farrah said. “Usually your chances of getting to gold start with a good foundation, which means aura powers and aura training. It does happen, though. I once saw the aftermath of a gold ranker who forgot to put on an aura suppressor before going to a market. People were passed out, bleeding out their ears.”

“That’s not good.”

“No, it isn’t,” Farrah said. “Which is why the training is important. There are other reasons, too. Anyone with a perception power will eventually be able to see auras clearly, so if yours isn’t under control, they’ll read you like you’re holding up signs. Not just your location, either. If you can’t restrain your aura, they’ll read your emotions, know when you lie.”

“Can you see my emotions right now?” Jason asked.

“No,” Farrah said, “but my perception power doesn’t improve my aura sense until silver rank. Neither does yours, by the way. I looked it up.”

“So, what does your perception power do?”

“It looks good,” Farrah said as her eyes turned into glowing embers. “It also lets me see through smoke and mist.”

“Nice,” Jason said. “Wait, what about my clothes-changing ability. That hides me in smoke. Can you see through that?”

“That’s an interesting question,” Farrah said. “You know, if I ever get to diamond rank, I can shoot fire out of my eyes.”

“That doesn’t answer my… wait, you’re going to get eyebeams? That’s awesome.”

“I know, right?” Farrah said. “There aren’t a lot of abilities where we know what happens at diamond rank. Rufus thinks that if I actually get there it will be overshadowed by what my other abilities can do.”

“Then Rufus sucks,” Jason said. “He thinks eyebeams won’t be useful? The intimidation factor alone would be amazing. Who’s going to meet your eyes when you can shoot heat-beams out of them?”

“That’s what I said,” Farrah agreed. “More or less. I didn’t say heat-beams.”

“Eyebeams are sweet.”

“I think we may be getting off-topic.”

“Alright,” Jason said. “So, what do I do?”

“Broadly speaking, you can control your aura in three ways, and I’ll teach you them in order.”

“Sounds good,” Jason said.”

“The first two uses are the easiest,” Farrah said. “They are, broadly speaking, projecting your aura and restraining it. Which is exactly what it sounds like. Projecting is pushing your aura out to affect people, and restraining it is used drawing it in, whether to hide it, or just not be rude.”

“Or make people’s ears bleed,” Jason said.

“Exactly,” Farrah said.

“What about the third one?”