After the impressive reaction to the evidence of my improved skills, the meeting returns to relatively normal conversation topics and eventually – predictably – gets to Skill trades.

"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, after some consideration, it's not too far-fetched for someone in Vocana to already have it, or previously have had it. They have a long history and lots of people; if I stumbled onto it so easily, it’s inevitable that others will have. They may even have records of the skill buried in some library, forgotten… or perhaps discarded because they could only get it as a cursed Skill. With all that in mind, 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 answer eventually, to slightly surprised looks from 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 Skills knowledge book, in 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 really be my priority now.

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

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

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

Unlike spells, I can't just send my perceptive field through clone links; it originates from me. But why not? I can move my perceptive fields; why can't I alter the route? As long as it doesn’t 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 links, no matter what I do.

Maybe I am going about this all wrong… the brute force approach is very rarely the solution to my problems, so 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 to begin with? I know that I 'feel' for the mana, but that explains the 'why' not the 'how'.

I have several theories, the first of which 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 all about the workings of perceptive fields themselves, which seems like a much more scientific approach.

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 from my perceptive field? 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 the use of 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 maximum distance before returning to me… but that maximum distance must be a total maximum that all my vectors combined may cover simultaneously, otherwise my ability to extend the reach of my perception at the cost of coverage angle wouldn’t work. This would explain how one can track perceptive skills, by following the vectors back… and passive perception can get around this because it doesn't emit anything, it only reads incoming disturbances, and trying to track something in the hopes it randomly leads you to a passive scryer is a fool's endeavor.

A proxy might work by first attracting nearby vectors to it, which leads trackers and spells to it, before relaying that information to the controller. If perceptive vectors, or something with the same effect, do exist, then I should be able to control them, 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, and suddenly my vision goes blank, as if I turned off my Skill. I don't panic, half-expecting this to happen, but it does highlight another problem; I still need to send the information back to me. So, with another effort of will, pull a single channel from the new gathering point towards me, so it now gathers all 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 retaliation.

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 can make. Eventually, I get a good 'feel' for how my perceptive vectors work, and, in turn, I manage 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 I channel through the eye will end up at the first relay, the proxy, rather than me.

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

With that realization, I begin to try and form a proper 'proxy' with just 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 always be in a position to simply stop scrying, so, after a few more days, I start trying ways to make my proxy designation more advanced, making the proxy split the information in a dozen ways and loop back onto itself several times before leading to more proxies of different yet equal complexity.

I’m not paranoid, really… now that I’ve got two world announcements it’s reasonable to assume someone out there may be looking for me, for good or for ill. I haven't seen mastery world announcements so they must be rare and for someone to get two within a few years will bring attention and opportunists to me.

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

Ting! Sense Magic has obtained levels 797-816!

My studies aren't the only things I do during the week: I also work on my armor and weapon commissions from Vocana, tutor Lotis and Kyhana, and work on the book revisions.

The book itself is much like its predecessor. On the front cover are three inscriptions – split so they can't activate – for [Sense Mana], [Sense Magic], and [Sense Soul] and on the back are the split inscriptions 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.

The outside is mostly made of beauty mana with space essence lettering, all in various states: cover and its lettering is made of super-solid mana of varying stages, with solid vitality trims, and decorated around the edges with crystalized vitality, spells, and Bond Skills. The pages are made of normal solid mana, and shift through the varying stages of that state the further out from the spine it is. 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. Right now, I have nothing more to add to the book, but it feels like I should add more to it later. I can always make specialized books for individual things, or for others to see, but I feel that I should include everything I know in this book, from inscriptions to Bonds and even what I learned or will learn 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 last word is formed, mana starts to flow into the book… and my eyewraps, which is unexpected. 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 quantity; the only difference is that my Kyhosa was improved magically in several steps while this one seems to be doing it all at once. As for my eyewraps, the magic framework is changing greatly, 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 items, both new and altered, 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 records her ever-growing knowledge of mana, magic, and souls. This Relic's writing is encrypted, and only reveals the truth before Alysara's Eye. Furthermore, this Relic will divert all lesser retaliation away from its holder, absorb any damage Alysara's Eye takes, and safely discharge 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 with this Relic can anyone but Alysara herself 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 creating yet another Relic set, or even feel excited at the improvements of my eyewraps; whatever happened felt wrong on an instinctual level. I am fairly certain that it 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 after a minute of thought. "I have never heard of magic items like your staff, Dryad's Grace – specifically how it makes a seed – and now this ’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… you’ve moved far beyond things I’m qualified to offer advice in."

Now that Kayafe mentions it, this stuff didn’t start happening until I started using inscriptions… perhaps I should stop making items of great personal and cultural and scientific significance until I know more about them.