14 - Information

The stubborn lady stalker had reminded him of one crucial truth. This fact, more often than not, flew completely over most people’s heads.

In reality, no amount of money or the very best equipment could guarantee one’s survival or success. It didn’t matter at all if he had all the talent of all the elements. His life would still be a huge risk without it.

Ake was reminded of this crucial fact while shopping for necessities, and there was only one thing that was more reliable than both combined.

‘Information is King,’ he mused.

This fact was the reason why one of the most popular game mechanics ever invented was the over-the-screen map, real-time enemy detection, and various similar abilities. Every single game, spared a few, had their own version of the capability and it all came from the same logical conclusion.

Keeping the ‘player’ informed would in turn keep them alive.

Ake was the player in this life and he had to figure something out. Some would say it was just a game and not real life, but it was still designed by adult humans. It was an effective tool inspired by mature adult minds.

One could look at any military campaign and realize whoever detected the enemy first would most likely win the battle. Modern war was grounded on information and knowing the enemy's movements was more crucial than anything else.

There was a reason why ambushes were often more deadly than other tactics. A detection ability was paramount in a predominantly hostile world. Anyone could imagine what would happen if there wasn't a way to know what lurked just around the corner, or worse, in the pitch-black dungeon.

He would need some resemblance of the capability if he wanted to have the best chance to stay alive. Unlike the games, his life could be over in a single mistake.

It would be his metaphorical end if he couldn’t figure out how many, or who was spying on him, or what was waiting in the dark to backstab his poor sorry ass. It was already hard enough to avoid what he already knew was coming for him.

The key was again his evolved [Thread].

The first hint was when he was watching the tailor apprentices closing their eyes as they used the [Strand] innate ability to extract the cotton. Such a scene told him whatever they could feel through the [Strand] was more reliable than their own eyes. Thankfully, Liara had later confirmed this fact without him asking.

The second hint was the System’s display itself when he had first reconfigured the [Strand] into the [Thread]. He was literally told that there was more to the [Strand] than just a utility to make delicate clothes that could magically shrink or enlarge to fit the wearer.

Ake closed his eyes and extended a few [Threads] around him. He didn’t feel any difference at first until he recalled that he needed some sort of reconfiguration to realize the construct.

A clear-pictured intent worked better than anything else. The [Ethereal Arms] were recently reconstructed with the steel cable cross-cut in mind and the result was more than he had expected it to be. The ghostly Arms had enabled him to walk confidently in the midst of adventurers who could have easily flicked him to death.

In order to make this work, he would need to have a clear set of instructions for the [Thread] on how to sense the surroundings. Based on his previous experience, it was pretty much like scripting without the tiered and simple binary conditions and choices.

Echolocation came to mind but he quickly dismissed it when he remembered its glaringly obvious weakness. This world was plagued with monsters and it would be natural to assume that most monsters naturally were very loud. Anyone with more than two brain cells connected would have figured an overly loud sound would render the ability useless. It was simply impractical to have such ability but perhaps the core concept was still usable.

His mind went back to the first time he could sense the [Ether] in the air. Ake still didn’t know how he did it, but if he was to use the echolocation core concept, then it should work even if the medium of detection was changed.

Ether-location? Well, that would be a great idea if it worked.

But like the bat, he knew he had to sacrifice something to enhance the [Thread] sensing capability. Luckily, it was kind of obvious. He would never want his radar to physically interact with anything, so turning off this capability should do it.

While thinking about how exactly he was going to achieve that, Ake mindlessly spun the extended [Thread] around him like a radar. The [Thread] naturally curved a little as it spun but that should be natural and not detrimental. He didn’t know how much time he had spent searching for an answer until it suddenly became clear.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

The key was within [Extract]. He could use its innate capability to detect [Ether] as the base to sense [Ether] through the [Thread]. It must be it.

Ake held [Extract] active as he spun the [Thread].

All of a sudden, something emerged in the dark world of his closed eyes, well, other than the thin clouds of [Ether] in the air. Every time the [Thread] swung past something, a rough image of it appeared inside his head for a moment.

It was like rough-shaped white noises in the pitch-black world. Shockwaves of [Ether] spread around the object, painting the shape inside his head.

He knew now that he was on the right track.

‘I just have to figure out how to completely turn off the physical interaction capability,’ Ake mused.

Out of ideas, Ake searched in the dark of his mindscape to try to turn off that portion of its potential, the same way he had repeatedly activated the shard. He grasped in the metaphorical shard and repeatedly poked at what he could until the [Thread] no longer interacted with anything physically.

Little that he knew, that was all it took to turn the white noises into the grey world of [Ether] wherever the spinning [Thread] could reach. He let [Extract] go and grabbed the [Ether] shard active and before long it summoned the System notification.

[New Thread configuration detected]

[Reconfiguring…]

[.]

[.]

[New Thread configuration completed]

[Warning, all physical manipulation potential disabled]

[Further configuration refinement advised]

[.]

[.]

[Shard combination [Ether] [Thread] activation detected]

[Attempting to Crystallise combination]

[.]

[.]

[A rare ability crystalized]

[Ethereal Sense recorded to Soul Ledger]

Activating his [Ethereal Sense] while his eyes still closed gave him a real-time of grey see-through world wherever the [Thread] could reach. It felt like an all-encompassing, flimsy blanket of [Ether] draped over everything around him. He could sense even the individual rocks buried deep underground.

Opening his eyes would replace the grey objects with which he could see, but at the back of his head, this grey world persisted. Not only that, but a little bit of twist enabled him to see through walls, and of course, around corners.

Extending the single sweeping [Thread] in a certain direction increased the sight towards that direction while decreasing the opposite direction. Weakness should be easily solved by having two [Threads] acting as sweepers for the [Ethereal Sense]. It cost him more mana but an option nonetheless.

Extending the second [Thread] for some reason created a constant grey world that expanded around him in a sphere regardless of where the sweepers were. Was it resonance of some sort? He could only guess with the lack of information about anything magic.

After a few more tests, he found out that he didn’t need to keep it spinning around him as a simple wave would still work just fine. What had created the grey world was the intermittent touches created by the spinning or the waving. He also didn’t need as many [Strand] in each [Thread] as the minimum of three was the minimum before the ability degraded.

And when he checked, the pair of sensing [Thread] would only cost him only [5] mana to maintain. The range was pretty pathetic but he got more than enough mana capacity for an extension whenever he needed it, thanks to the curse.

Of course, it was pretty cool to be able to create something this useful from an existence that everyone considered useless. He would have leaped in joy if there was no one watching.

As he had expected, the [Ethereal Sense] feeler was able to see the edgy-cloaked girl crouching just outside the place. She had a device in her right hand which she looked through as if it allowed her to see through the walls.

“How long is he going to sit in meditation? The whole night? It is already past midnight.”

Ake heard her frustrated mumbling through the [Ethereal Sense].

No, perhaps ‘heard’ was the wrong word to use in this context as the information was delivered straight into his head. It felt like he heard someone else narrating those words she said inside his head using her voice, well, if that made any sense.

Ake opened his eyes and the cloak girl immediately tensed. It was clear that she could see him through the walls with the magical glass. He swept all around for more stalkers but he was able to breathe in relief when he found no one.

The pair of females next door was going on like rabbits but that was something irrelevant. It was nothing new for the modern soul, but the extra suspiciously meaty appendage used between them was definitely new.

More importantly, he got to end the little drama going on around the two lovers.

Maybe the only way out of this was to dangle a piece of very tasty meat in front of the stalker’s eyes. There was a tiny chance that the ability turned out to be not that great but he could still use the jealous girl’s opinion to confirm the fact. He would prefer another way than this rather risky method, but he couldn't think of any for the love of God. He was just not that smart.

Either way, it should make her realize that he was not actively trying to steal Liara away from her. He would respect his Senpai's decision if it was really unavoidable.

But at least, this should stop her from following him around everywhere.