Echo Sight, Lin thought to himself, and the element activated just as everyone else’s did. His vision shifted, revealing faint auras around everyone’s bodies.
So this is Soulex…
“I wonder what the colors mean,” someone muttered, voicing what they were all thinking. Lin looked down and noticed his own aura was pure white, similar to the one they’d seen from the goddess. On the other side of the crowd, Ren, the self-proclaimed gamer, emitted a similar shade. Although each person’s aura had slight color variations, the quantity of Soulex leaving their bodies didn’t seem to differ.
Echo, Lin thought, switching from Echo Sight and glancing at his screen. A few people noticed his action and did the same. On his screen, a flat ‘map’ of his surroundings appeared, with small white dots representing each person present. He then looked around, noting the numbers floating above everyone’s heads:
[Target 1][1]
[Target 2][1]
Danger level 1? Lin thought, observing how most of their danger levels appeared as ‘1’, which, according to the explanations, indicated a low Soulex energy emission. However, as he continued scanning the group, he noticed something unusual:
[Target 13][?]
[Target 14][?]
“Is everyone else seeing a cap on the normal Echo?” Nolan’s voice suddenly cut in. A few nodded, while others—still focused on Echo Sight—quickly switched to their screens. Seeing this, Nolan added,
“Mine’s stuck at ten. Is it the same for everyone?” he asked curiously. Several people exchanged looks, their expressions mixed as they responded.
“Six here,” one person said, and a few others sighed in relief, clearly reassured that they weren’t the only ones experiencing a much lower cap.
Just like that, they began calling out their Echo limits aloud, with most reporting numbers between five and eight, making Nolan’s ten an outlier at the time. Lin glanced back at the numbers floating above everyone’s heads, confirming his own limit. From Target thirteen onward, the danger levels were unreadable, indicating that his own Echo limit capped at twelve.
“Mine’s at eleven,” Isadore muttered, drawing a few envious looks from the crowd as he took the lead. The caps on each of their Echo seemed confusing since, purely based on their Soulex, there didn’t seem to be anyone with an especially large aura around them.
As Lin listened to their numbers, he tried to recall the colors of their auras, searching for a connection between those and the Echo limits.
“Thirteen,” the blonde girl raised a hand, surprising everyone—including Lin, who hadn’t expected anyone to exceed his own number. Everyone then turned to him, expecting perhaps an even higher answer, but he simply shrugged.
“Twelve,” he replied simply. Though still higher than most, his answer seemed to leave them a bit underwhelmed. As they moved past Lin, they turned to Ren, whose limit Lin was especially curious about. To everyone’s surprise, Ren exceeded all their expectations.
“Sixteen,” Ren muttered, his expression calm though he betrayed a hint of satisfaction at the astonished looks around him.
While the group continued with the next person, Lin decided to run a quick experiment. He re-scanned the people in the room, mentally selecting those he specifically wanted to target with Echo.
[Target 1][?]
[Target 2][1]
...
[Target 13][1]
[Target 14][?]
So it’s adjustable, he concluded, realizing that by removing focus from Target 1, he could add Target 13 in its place. This confirmed that, while his Echo limit was capped at 12 people, he could choose which 12 to actively monitor.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“I’m also at ten,” the blue-haired man muttered, shifting his gaze to the bald man, who added,
“Eleven,” he said, bringing their Echo limit discussion to a close as everyone refocused on their screens, exploring the other options of Echo. Based on what everyone shared—assuming no one was lying—Lin couldn’t discern any clear pattern contributing to their varied limits. Gender, physique, age, Soulex energy, or even their Hero Selection 1000 scores—none seemed to correlate directly with the Echo limit.
It might simply be innate talent, Lin thought, considering the possibility that the limit reflected individual aptitude in that particular element. As the goddess had explained, their initial scores didn’t directly represent how they would perform in the future, suggesting that a person’s inherent abilities might not perfectly align with the potential the system sees in them.
However, Lin didn’t dwell on it, shifting his attention to Echo’s final feature.
Potential is just that—potential, nothing more.
With this in mind, he focused on one of the individuals in the room, specifically Ren, casting Echo Target on him. Immediately, the area map disappeared, replaced by a screen showing more detailed notifications.
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Echo [Target 1]
— [Target 1] is using Echo Target on [Target 2]
— [Target 1] is using Echo Target on [Target 3]
— [Target 1] is using Echo Target on you.
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So you can layer it? Lin observed as Ren seemed to target multiple individuals simultaneously with Echo Target. As if aligning with what Lin saw on his screen, only Ren’s selected targets—[Target 2] and [Target 3]—displayed descriptions above their heads, while the rest remained unmarked.
I see, Lin thought, recalling Echo Target’s description. Anything Ren’s Soulex directly touched or influenced became part of his Echo description. This meant that, outside of Ren’s direct targets and any actions involving his Soulex energy, no additional details would reach him.
I assume it would work similarly for detecting the use of other elements...
Before he could test the feature on multiple targets, however, an interesting question popped into his mind. Abandoning the experiment, he cast a different variation.
Echo Sight.
His vision immediately changed, showing the Soulex energy around everyone’s bodies. But this time, something was different.
As he looked at Ren’s Soulex—or rather, everyone’s Soulex—he noticed multiple strings directly attached to each of them. Ren’s Soulex, in particular, had four strings connected to four people. Lin glanced down at his own body and saw nearly nine other strings, one of which came from Ren, tethered to his own Soulex. Even though the others’ Soulexes were different colors, the strings themselves took on Lin’s color—white—as if pulling his Soulex toward them.
I see.
So the Soulex actually extends and attaches to others when you use Echo Target.
Still curious, he cast a normal Echo without turning off Echo Sight. As if confirming his thoughts, his Soulex instantly spiked in all directions, casting multiple strings that attached to everyone around him, drawn like a magnet.
No. It might actually be targeting everything around that has Soulex.
Lin pondered this as he recalled more details from the description. This meant his Soulex would react to anything nearby, which led him to another thought.
These status windows are meant to try and interpret this for us.
He reminded himself not to fully trust the screen. Outside of the bluish displays in front of them, the concept of Soulex was natural and dynamic, a flexible part of the environment rather than a purely artificial system.
Still using Echo Sight, he switched off the normal Echo and activated Echo Target instead, focusing on two individuals. As expected, his Soulex immediately spiked and connected to the two individuals, linking their Soulexes to his. After a few moments, information began appearing on his screen.
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Echo [Target 1]
— [Target 1] is using Echo Target on [Target 3]
Echo [Target 2]
— [Target 2] is using Echo Target on [Target 4]
— [Target 2] is using Echo Target on [Target 5]
— [Target 2] is using Echo Sight
----------------------------------------
Lin noted the information on the screen before shifting his focus to the actual changes visible through his eyes. He glanced curiously toward Ren, who was also staring in his direction. The first thing he noticed was that the string of aura connecting him to Ren was much thicker than the one he had attached to Sera—the blonde-haired girl.
Is it because Ren is using more Soulex energy?
It was the most logical conclusion. The thicker string might indicate higher Soulex usage or activity. This could mean that the more changes Echo observed in an individual, the thicker the string of aura connecting to them. Or maybe...
Lin suddenly walked toward Ren, unnoticed by the others. Although the group had initially agreed to work together, everyone was now so engrossed in their own experiments that only a few were actively interacting.
As curious as people were, they seemed to take immense joy in learning and discovering things independently, no longer burdened by dread.