NOVEL NEXT Chapter 93: Scapegoats
Clairvoyance retaliation, how does it work exactly? I muse.
Let's start with how sensing skills work. Sensing actively feels out for whatever you are trying to sense. For mana, I ‘feel’ the mana around me; it's like a metaphysical touch, for [Mana Manipulation] this ‘touch’ become a real force for which it manipulates mana. So, in order to sense something, one must act upon it. This action can be traced and/or pushed back against as part of a retaliation. Alternatively, if one were to trick or camouflage from the sensing skill, one can hide from it.
Now that I have my thoughts in order, let's test this theory. An enchantment to ’push back’ on sensing. A simple enchantment to cast a breeze spell, completely harmless.
I make a bowtie and cast the enchantment upon it. I put the bowtie on Yafe, who is helping me conduct these tests, and watch as a breeze manifests around me. It seems to work well enough.
So the question now is, how do I shift the spell onto a scapegoat? I remember how we deflected some of the Matriarch Chyaotmo's attacks by using water crystals. If I do something similar, I might be able to make a scapegoat by enchanting a mana crystal to attract attacks. How far away from me does it have to be? That's what I am going to find out.
I make a wind crystal and enchant it to attract wind and wind-based essence spells. I make Yafel another bowtie, but this one retaliates with a soft sound. I did not notice any retaliation, so step one is a success, and repeating the test with the crystal on the ground in front of me reveals that I must be wearing the scapegoat to be protected by it.
Let's see if I can't make something better. I have [Sense Magic] now, I should be able to figure out something and make it with [Mana Manipulation]. I don't just want something that will redirect attacks; I need something to protect me from them as well. Just like the breeze demonstrated, attacks that include "everything in the target's location" will also hurt me since I have to wear the scapegoat. So how do I deal with that? The answer is simple, and I've made something similar before: an item that will store the mana. It can be overwhelmed, but it should protect me from low-level retaliation, maybe even mid-level spells.
I pat the twins and thank them, to which they both respond with beaming smiles and hugs.
"I don't want to see you hurt" "Be careful!" They say.
I make several scapegoats to attach to the armor belt I made, one for each element. These scapegoats will absorb the mana and discharge the mana slowly and safely over ten minutes. It won't save me if I try to see a large population center all at once, in which case it will be overwhelmed immediately, but it will save me from one or two retaliations.
With my safety now covered, I can finally explore the newfound functions of [Sense Magic]. I don't need to fear a retaliation skill that a monster might have. First, exactly how far can I remotely view?
Just as I send my perception on its mission, I remember the first trouble I had with scouting monsters: mind control. I have retaliation protection, but now I need mind control protection. Before my perception gets too far, I retrieve my mind essence resistance cloak, that I made while in the dungeon, from my room. With my safety now secure, I continue my tests.
My perception moves much faster now; before it was as fast as I could run, now it's like a plane. I quickly see the mountains that encircle the Nexus. Beyond that, and about a hundred meters below, lies the ocean; it seems the Nexus sea is elevated above the standard sea level. Waterfalls cascade down the mountains and into the ocean below, a white mist hiding the rocky beach of the mountains.
Going beyond, I see nothing but an endless ocean. I don't let that deter me and press on. Waves, waves, and yet more waves, no land in sight for hundreds, thousands of kilometers. We really are in the middle of the ocean, or perhaps I just went the wrong way. I see whales, massive beings that I first mistake as islands. I see huge kilometer-long sea serpents with massive fins on their tail to propel themselves forward. I see schools of fish the size of boats, not the ones the Runalymo have, but the large shipping boats from my previous life. Everything in this ocean is way oversized. After a few hours, I finally reach my distance limit, over two thousand kilometers away.
My fears of retaliatory skills seem to be unfounded as none of my scapegoats absorb any attacks, but I don't take any further risks. I am tempted to see what lays at the bottom of the ocean, but if Earth was any example, I don't want to know. Instead, I move my perception around in a circle, seeing if there's any land at the maximum range I can scout. After making a full circle, which takes the better part of a day, I conclude that we are truly in the middle of nowhere with nothing but salty water around. Perhaps there may be a few islands around, but no continent.
I can do a more extensive search later but for now I'll scan every inch of the Nexus for space essence gems and Domrs, and, while I am at it, I might as well make a map of the Nexus and see where the most powerful Domrs are at. I know there is one the size of a large house out there somewhere.
I begin by looking near the edge of the Nexus, looking partially into the seafloor for any buried gems. I mark anything interesting down onto the map until I find the first ruin. I do not write down the location of it as the Guardian has taken steps to make sure they stay hidden, but in my curiosity, I look into it. It is a large city that once housed tens of thousands. With the passage of time, thousands of items, probably tens of thousands, have become (Archaic) magic items. Resisting the effects of weathering and time, perfectly preserved in the lost ruins.
It is a treasure trove of magic items, lost arts, knowledge, and wealth... all for the price of unleashing a cursed being upon the world. There is something off about the ruins, though, like a faint black mist, wisps flowing from house to collapsed house, moving through the eroded streets. If I hadn't talked with the Guardian about cursed beings, I wouldn't know what it is: Miasma.
Ting! Sense Magic has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling past level 660!
32nd Breakthrough: You have sensed Miasma; this will help you discover more about it.
Ting! Sense Magic has obtained levels 560-561!
Only two levels, I guess there is a lot about Miasma I don't know... well, I only know that it forms cursed beings, and that it must have something to do with magic, but anything else? Nope, got nothing.
I wonder what else I can sense with [Sense Magic]. For one, I can try observing how magic items work now, it is a magical process, so I should eventually see something. Maybe I can finally see Class levels? Perhaps get more information on skills, Bonds, and Race? Will those be new breakthroughs, though? I kind of already have them; it should just be more levels for them.
What new breakthroughs can I get? What about magic is new to [Sense Magic]? What about sensing magic sources? The effects of magic? Perhaps seeing how magic changes Classes and Races can be one.
I honestly don't know where to start; It's just like having a new skill all over again. For now, I'll try not to awaken any cursed beings with my observations until I know it's safe.
I continue searching for the materials I want and mapping the Nexus. I find more ruins buried beneath the seafloor, dozens of them, over a hundred if you include small towns and villages. I locate many useful and interesting materials on my search, from a boulder-sized nexus gem to veins of death essence saturated ore and even a buried crystalline tree in the middle of what looks like a Stonehenge. It doesn't have any Miasma, so that should be safe to dig up.
It isn't until I see a ruin near both my village and Temple Island that I pause. The Miasma is much more condensed and still gathering at a point of churned-up earth... as if the ruins had been excavated and reburied before.
A dark swirling mass like the blackest void draws in nearby Miasma; like a greedy maw, it devours the Miasma and even nearby mana, mana that is being burned out of existence. Something has to be done and fast. If mana is being burned, then it is fueling a magical process!
Ting! Sense Magic has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling past level 680!
33rd Breakthrough: You've detected a source of magic; this will help you find and study more sources of magic.
Ting! Sense Magic has obtained levels 562-564!
All of a sudden, the magical source becomes clear to me, like a fog has dispersed from it. It shines in my vision like a burning star growing brighter and brighter as it consumes mana, a tremendous amount of mana must have been consumed already if it’s been going at this pace for long.
There is something I can do. I can try to keep mana away from that place with [Mana Manipulation]. It's close enough that I can reach it with my manipulation and try to create a large area of mana vacuum; however, the Guardian must be warned first.
I continue looking, to see if other ruins have been disturbed by my quest to locate useful materials, as I run to the pier and get on a boat to deliver my warning. I row to Temple island and just about jump off the boat in my hurry to deliver my warning. I run along the stone path as fast as my legs can carry me, muttering some complaints that I didn't put more points in my physical stats. Compared to the scale of my perception, it feels like I run painfully slowly. The Guardian is leisurely napping, basking in the warm sun, but notices my hurried approach and raises her head, tilting it quizzically.
When I finally reach the dragon, I fall to my knees, panting. The Guardian doesn't speak for a moment but frowns, trying to figure out what has me worried.
"The ruins!" I gasp, fighting for the air I need to speak. "Miasma is gathering, and mana is fueling magic!"
"So it was too late after all," the Guardian mutters, then asks in a commanding tone, "How much Miasma is there? How much mana is being used?"
I shake my head. "I don't know; I have no points of reference to know how much is a lot or not for Miasma. As for mana, it is a lot, and the magical source is like a burning sun to me."
"You can see the magic at work now? I'll have to ask you about that later, for now, every village within fifty kilometers of the ruins must be evacuated."
"That's all of the central and inner Islands.” I mutter, then suggest the idea I had before. "I can try to keep the mana away, to prevent it from being consumed."
"You are not strong enough, little one. If it were Kayafe, she could do it, but that doesn't mean I don't have means of delaying the creation of the cursed being; let me handle this, do what you can to ensure the safety of your people." Safyr stands up and stretches out her wings to their full length, looming over me, and with a flap of her majestic wings, she takes flight, flying toward the ruins.
I walk back to the docks, watching Safyr dive into the waters, commanding them to swirl and remove earth to get her closer to the source of the magic, following the location that mana is disappearing into. She sends out a pulse of mana, which does something I can’t even vaguely understand before all of the mana in a sphere around her turns into water mana and winks out of existence, creating a perfect mana vacuum and preventing the magic from consuming more mana. I understand now what the pulse is for, magic. Much like how a link needs to first build a scaffold of mana this seems to use the mana which sets the distance for a mana exclusion zone.
What the Guardian did seems to be centered on her, as her movements also move the mana exclusion zone. Any mana that does try to enter it is converted to water and simply removed from existence.
This will buy us time, hopefully enough to get to safety.