One of the greatest benefits I’ve ever gotten from my multiple reincarnations, is the ability to perceive mana in the air, and in objects.
This ability has been given many names in many different worlds, such as the All-seeing Eye, the Paragon’s Sight, or the Devil’s mark. It’s a rare and troublesome ability though, so those worlds normally only know of the sight through vague legends that make it out to be more than it actually is. Yes, the sight allows for you to see mana in all it’s forms, but you have to go through hell to obtain it.
The sight is gained naturally—In the same way that the weak are naturally pulled apart and eaten by the stronger predators can be considered to be natural, as well as brutal.
To gain it, you have to experience an event where you pull too much mana into your body, and nearly explode from the pressure. Then, that mana has to be focused into your eyes, forcing them to evolve. This change also affects you at a spiritual level, not just a physical one.
In other words, no matter what you do, it hurts really, really badly. I just happened to have it happen to me before dying once, and since it changed my spirit, all my physical incarnations were affected from then on.
It was mostly by sheer coincidence that I gained the sight.
Anyway, it does have some drawbacks. It’s not all-powerful, nor is it anywhere near invincible.
In fact, in most of the cases where such an ability would be welcome, it’s completely useless. Like, there’s the fact that it can’t be used to judge a person’s level of power, or any weaknesses they might have, if that person is even a little bit stronger than me.
Nor can I use it to analyze the composition of a spell in order to replicate it on sight. That’s a little too inhuman.
I mean, I can see the underlying structure of said spell, but that almost never does me any good. I have to understand it as well. Just like how a middle-school student will never understand calculus just by looking at an isolated equation, I won’t know how the spell works, because I never studied it’s theory. This is especially true of huge and complex spells, since those involve so many moving parts, in terms of what you are doing with your mana pool’s power.
In fact, it’s much easier to use the sight on inanimate objects which contain mana.
I can access the basic features such an object would have, and how much power that object holds. I use it all the time while smithing, in order to optimize the placement of my mana circuits. In my opinion, the sight is actually most useful in the hands of a craftsman, rather than a warrior.
However, if I use it for too long, I get a bad headache from mental fatigue. Similarly, the headache comes faster if an object holds a lot of power, and it becomes harder to make out it’s composition.
So, where am I going with all this?
To put it simply, as soon as I saw the orb sitting on it’s pedestal, I activated my sight. I was curious as to it’s function, and how much power it would hold, to be deemed the ‘most important invention’ that Joan would show me today.
What I saw, only baffled me more.
Those lines woven into the orb like so many infinitesimally small spider webs, those were all mana circuits, weren’t they? But, I’ve never seen mana circuits so thin, and so densely packed. As soon as I try to get my mana circuits thinner, they break, unable to handle the power of my mana pool squeezing through them. And, if I put them closer together, they tend to interfere with each other.
I gazed upon this seemingly impossible orb, knowing that I was only in disbelief since I didn’t have the knowledge of how it was made.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I call it Iris. We only ever built one, since even the fact that it’s the only of its type in existence is a scary and sobering thought. As for what it does, let me ask you a question.” Said Joan. “In your opinion, what is the most vital thing for a kingdom to have?”
The most vital, huh? I can’t claim to know much about statesmanship, but given my education on Earth, and all that I’ve experienced, I should be able to take a good crack at the question.
“Would it be people? Capable people, able to support the kingdom, and allow it to prosper?”
It was the best answer I could give. Fundamentally, I knew I was right, but I also got the feeling that it wasn’t what Joan was thinking.
“Mhh—It’s not a bad guess. In fact, I think that most of the people in charge here would agree with you. And, good people are certainly needed for a country to exist. However, there is something even more important. Do you remember the people who we had had breakfast with? What most of them did for their career?”
“Ah. Most of them were involved in intelligence, right? They headed the divisions in charge of scouting, spying, or observing.”
“Right. The most powerful tools a country can have, involve information. A folder full of incriminating data will do more harm to an enemy than an army, most times.”
“So, what does Iris have to do with information?”
My curiosity had been well and truly peaked at this point, and I dearly wanted to learn what sort of abilities that orb held.
“It’s simple, really. Iris acts like a status plate, for anyone.”
“Huh?”
Joan smiled, anticipating my confusion.
“Here, let’s do a little demonstration, shall we?”
Joan walked over to the orb, Iris, and placed her hand on it.
Instantly, mana poured from her, into Iris. Then, that mana went…elsewhere? It seemingly disappeared, there one moment, then it collected at the center of the orb, and gave off a quick and intense burst of power. It was gone after that.
I took my eyes off the orb, and looked at Joan, confused. Is it broken or something?
Joan, however, was still watching the orb intently. I was about to ask her what the orb was supposed to do, when I felt her mana reappear inside the orb. The mana flowed through those impossibly thin circuits, and materialized outside of the orb in the form of a glowing blue window full of familiar information.
Advanced Status:Name: Katariah Nadine SilverTitles:
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
True Name: ~Error~Subject had a basic sense of morality, and prefers to do that which would further it’s own goals. Occasionally helps others, based on karmic cycle. Has never had a significant other.
~Error~. Remaining relevant information locked. Seek out Overgod of Knowledge to assess higher information plane.
I glanced over the blue window, and immediately paled.
I turned to the others sharply, and yelled.
“No, don’t look, shut that thing down!”
Joan chuckled.
“It’s just a little demonstration.” She said
The other two people in the room, Anhara and Bea, looked confused.
“What demonstration? I cannot see anything, Madam Overseer.” Said Bea, in a questioning but respectful tone.
“Oh, it’s something that only Kai can see. I wanted to demonstrate the potential Iris has, and I could think of no better way then to show Kai her own status.”
“But…How?” I asked.
And, even with this vague question, Joan understood what I wanted.
“Well, Iris is my greatest achievement. It reaches into the spirit realm, and gains access to the World System that houses all people’s statuses. Then, it displays that status to Iris’s operator, or someone of the operator’s choosing. Since I transferred the status display over to you, nobody else can see it. That way, your true name stays safe, as well as any...sensitive information.”
I sighed a breath of relief.
Now armed with the knowledge that only I could see the floating blue window, I read the whole thing more carefully, and quickly noticed a few things.
Firstly, this wasn’t a simple status plate, but a so-called ‘Advanced Status’. I have no idea what that might entail, besides the fact that there seems to be more information here, then on a normal status plate. For instance, my regular status plate only states that I am a Demon and Elf hybrid, but here, it says that I am a Greater Demon and Royal Elf one. What the difference?
Then, oddly enough, there were a few things missing from this status window, that I can see on my status plate, like my last title, or the value of my luck.
There was one thing which was bugging me, though.
“Uh, Joan?”
“Yes? Is there something that you don’t understand?”
“Yeah. What’s a ‘True Name’?” I asked. “You mentioned it earlier, and it’s on the status—” Sort of. “—so I was wondering what it might be.”
Joan cast an inquisitive gaze upon me.
“How old are you, girl? I thought for sure that you would have heard about true names by now.”
“I’m fourteen now. Totaling all my lives together, I should be around one hundred or so, maybe closer to one hundred and fifty.”
Joan looked at me with astonishment.
“Wow. You’re a hell of a lot younger than I would have thought you to be.” She said.
I shrugged. I didn’t know what to think anymore, when it came to my age. The status floating in front of me has some interesting information pertaining to that. I mean, my spiritual age is 1453 years old? Where does that come from?
“Well, a true name is basically the root of a person. It’s the thing that houses the core of your being, and reflects your heart. If you learn the true name of another person, you would understand their personality on a very deep level, and know how they might act in different situations.”
“So, it’s a big deal?”
“Yes, it is. And, with Iris, I can find out anyone’s true name fairly quickly. This is what has led our nation to prosper so much, since I can intuit the moves and motives of others through their true names.”
Huh. I would have thought that you would be able to take control of someone else through his or her true name. Though, just the fact that you can plan ahead while having a reasonable certainty that everyone would move in the way that you expect is a powerful tool in it’s own right.
Though, I wonder what it means, that my true name doesn’t show up on Iris’s display.
Joan noticed my pondering look, but misinterpreted it.
“There’s no need to worry. I won’t look up your true name, nor will I open you status without explicit permission.” I looked up, while Joan continued.
“Besides, there was that clause in the contract, that I wouldn’t pursue any information about you. I would much rather learn about what sort of person you are, from yourself.”
“Wow. That’s awfully nice of you.”
“It’s no big deal. I just happen to enjoy cute things, and you…Hehe.”
Uh oh. What was that grin, Joan? Don’t tell me…
“Eh-hem. Anyway. Feel free to ask anything. I’m sure you have other questions about Iris, right?”
No—that smile happened, right? Holy gods, she regained her composure fast.
I also caught the barest look of disappointment from her daughter, Anhara. It was directed toward Joan, not me.
What have I gotten myself into now?
Ugh. Never mind. I’ll deal with it when it comes. For now, I’ll take up Joan’s offer as far as questions are concerned.
“How did you make it? Why does it work?”
“Well, that’s a complicated question. To be specific, I didn’t make it. I grew it.”
Apparently, Iris isn’t metal, it’s a crystal that was artificially grown by Joan when she placed her mana into it. She was able to shape it to her specifications, and control the flow of power through it. Unlike me, who has to shape mana circuits into metal, she had been able to make them naturally.
Unfortunately, this sort of work wouldn’t work for a sword, since the crystal wouldn’t be able to hold a good cutting edge, and it would break at the first sign of contact.
I was slightly mollified later, when we left the room with Iris in it, and began looking at the rest of the inventions housed so deep below the earth here.