Chapter 161: Perceptive Vectors (Patreon)

"What would it cost for you to teach us [Manipulate Mana]?" Orlan asks.

My first instinct is to say that it's not for sale; I don't want to empower a political rival, after all. However, it's not too farfetched for someone in Vocana to already have it or previously had it. They have a long history and lots of people; eventually, someone will learn it, they may even have records of the skill buried in some library. Teaching them the skill and the obvious breakthroughs like casting, enchanting, mana weaving, and basic manipulation won't hurt too much.

"I'll think about it," I say, to the slightly surprised look of Vulpun and Orlan. "Here is The information on [Sense Mana] that you bought last time," I say, handing them a copy of a chapter.

I'm still working on revisions to the knowledge book about my skills which I decided to include [Manipulate Mana] as well as my sensing skills. I am about eighty percent done with it... well, less than that now, with my new breakthroughs. I still have tons to learn about super-solid mana too, and I still need to figure out how to use proxies with my clones which should be my priority now.

"If that's all, then I'll be going; I have a lot to do," We say our farewells, and I get more materials to work with and fly my clone back home.

I set my clone to autopilot, very thankful for its base A.I. and get to theory crafting on potential breakthroughs.

How can I use proxies remotely or through a clone? I ponder.

Unlike spells, I can't send my perceptive field through clones; it originates from me. But why not? I can move my perceptive fields; why can't I take a shortcut? As long as it does go beyond my range, why does it matter?

I spend the next half hour trying, but I am unable to even get close to squeezing my perception through my clone's link no matter what I do.

Maybe I am going about this all wrong. I first need to find out how proxies work. I take the treant eye from my desk drawer and hold it in my lap. Somehow, this will lead trackers and spells to it rather than me. How? Also, how do people and spells trace my perception back to me? I 'feel' for the mana, but that explains the 'why' not the 'how'.

There are several theories; one is a magical type of protection, but I don't think that's worth experimenting with since I have no way of proving it right now. Plus, it's a hand-wavy explanation. How does it work? Magic! That tells me nothing. The others are about the workings of perceptive fields themselves.

This leads me to another question, how did that Rachnoid trap my perception? Again, the 'it's magic' theory is there but doesn't it seem like a reverse proxy? What if they are based on the same mechanism?

The final conundrum is: how does information get to me? The information has to somehow travel the distance, no matter what information can't get from point A to point B without either teleporting through magic or traveling the distance, and this is what may explain why the skill has an operating range.

So my theory is perceptive vectors. I emit perceptive vectors that travel away from me and locate mana, traveling to the max distance before returning to me; this would explain how one can track perceptive skills. Passive perception can get around this because it doesn't emit anything, and trying to track something in the hopes it randomly leads you to a passive scryer is a fool's endeavor.

Proxies might work by first attracting nearby vectors to it, which leads trackers and spells to it. If perceptive vectors or something with the same effect does exist, then I should be able to control it like how I can control the size and shape of my perceptive field.

I focus on my perceptive 'touch' forcing it to gather at a point away from me. Suddenly my vision goes blank as if I turned off my Skill; I don't panic, half expecting this to happen. This leads to another problem; I still need to send the information to me to see I reroute the gathered information to me, so it gathers at one location before I receive it.

Ting! Sense Magic has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling past level 880!

44th breakthrough: You have manipulated your perceptive vectors; this will help you defend yourself against tracking and retaliations.

That was surprisingly easy, but it's hard to notice whether it's an expert or intermediate level breakthrough with the skill being enhanced. Now I just need to play with it and figure out how to best use it.

Over the next week, I continue studying and experimenting with my new breakthrough against the retaliatory items I made. Eventually, I got a good 'feel' for how my perceptive vectors work, and in turn, I managed to feel out how the treant proxy works. It essentially relays information between me and it; anyone who tracks or sends spells through the perceptive vectors will end up at the first relay, the proxy.

However, the biggest issue is that it needs to eventually send the information to me, which means that a good enough tracker can figure out how to bypass a proxy which means that even with one of the best protections, I am never completely safe.

However, with that realization, I began to try and form a 'poxy' with my perceptive vectors, no item needed. Even a good tracker who can track through proxies might only suspect one proxy, so setting up several only adds more defense for me.

Still, that may not be enough, it will only slow down a tracker, and I may not be in a position to simply stop scrying, so after a few days, I start trying ways to make my proxy designation more advanced by making the proxy split the information in a dozen ways and loop back onto itself several times and before leading to more proxies of different yet equal complexity.

Studying perceptive vectors has also helped me understand perceptive pressure and sensing others' perceptive fields too. This doesn't mean I can track any scryer, just the ones using [Sense Mana], and even then, I can only track them as far as my perceptive range.

Ting! Sense Magic has obtained levels 797-816!

My studies weren't the only things I did during the week. I also worked on my armor and weapon commissions from Vocana, tutored Lotis and Kyhana, and worked on the book revisions.

The book itself is much like its predecessor prototype. On the front cover is three inscriptions – split so it can't activate – [Sense Mana], [Sense Magic], and [Sense Soul]; on the back is the inscription for [Manipulate Mana] and [Manipulate Magic]. In the spine of the book is liquid mana stored safely by the super-solid mana, as well as a near mana vacuum in a separate container.

It is majorly made of beauty mana with space essence lettering, except the lettering and cover is made of super-solid mana of varying stages with solid vitality trims; lastly, crystalized vitality, spells, and Bond skills decorate the edge of the cover. The pages are made of normal solid mana and goes through the varying stages of that the further out from the spin it gets. In addition, the edges of the pages are lined with the ritual mana I collected – which is now stored as a block of super-solid mana. For the final touch, I weave a beauty silk bookmark embroidered with vitality silk.

I now have all the information related to those skills that I currently know with a few blank pages that I can write more in when I learn more. So far, I have nothing more to add to the book, but it feels like I should add more to it. I can always make specialized books for individual things, but I should include everything I know in this book, from inscriptions to Bonds and even what I learned from rituals and trials.

Since I gained an effective proxy by manipulating perceptive vectors, I don't need the treant eye anymore, so I attach it to the front cover in between the two halves of the [Sense Magic] inscription and enchant the book to reinforce the proxy ability. It takes a few days to add everything, but when the past word is formed, mana starts to flow into the book and my eyewraps. Soon all the mana in the vicinity is gobbled up, and it shows no sign of slowing down. Minutes go by, then half an hour, and still they are eating mana.

I watch as the magic framework for the book is built, starting from the core and slowly building outward. The sheer amount of magic making up the book is staggering! But, when comparing it to my Kyhosa, it seems to be almost the same; the only difference is that my Kyhosa was improved magically in several steps while this one seems to be all at once. As for my eyewraps the magic framework is changing, becoming eerily similar to the book's yet slightly different.

When the magical process finally completes an hour later, a wave of dizziness hits me, and a sharp cold pain assaults my very essence like a large piece of me was just cut away! I fall to the ground breathing heavily; this is clearly not normal!

I examine the magic item, looking for anything that can explain what just happened.

Alysara's Library:
(Exalted) (Relic) (Set)
This Relic documents all that Alysara has discovered; it grows with her discoveries and automatically writes the knowledge of mana, magic, and souls should she learn anything. This Relic's writing is encrypted and only reveals the truth to Alysara's Eye. Furthermore, this Relic will divert all lesser retaliation away from its holder and absorb any damage Alysara's Eye takes and safely discharges it.
Encryption, Hidden from Sight, Retaliatory Discharge, Linked, Mind Link

Alysara's Eye:
(Heroic) (Relic) (Set)
To see the truth, you must be blind to the lies. This Relic has seen what Alysara has seen, it knows what Alysara knows, and it can grant its wearer a fraction of Alysara's sight. This Relic will act as the source of any sensing skills, preventing all forms of retaliation from reaching its wearer. Only by wearing this Relic can the wearer see the truth of Alysara's Library
When worn grants Sense Magic: 765/800, and Sense Soul: 110/110, Truth of the Library, Sensing Proxy, Linked

Mind Link? Is that what happened?

I am too shaken up to celebrate or even feel excited at the improvements of my eyewraps; whatever happened, it certainly did not feel right. I am fairly certain that whatever had happened is related to this book and whatever Mind Link did; maybe I should ask Kayafe?

I don't know who else to consult about this, so I fly over to Kayafe and tell her about what happened.

"Aly, this is really worrying," Kayafe says. "I have never heard of magic items like your staff, Dryad's Grace specifically how it makes a seed and now the mind link ability of your book, specifically how it automatically writes more knowledge if you learn more about its subjects. I don't know if it's normal or if inscriptions had anything to do with it."

Now that Kayafe mentions it, this stuff hadn't started happening until I started using inscriptions; perhaps I should stop until I know more about them.