Veil pebble.
Lin thought, finally moving on to the final available feature of [Form].
Since the other features were still locked, Lin could only use [Form] in conjunction with [Echo] and [Veil]. After their previous experiments, he could somewhat imagine how [Echo] might interact with [Form], or rather, with objects created by [Form], leaving [Veil] as the last element to fully test.
The moment he cast it, something unexpected happened. Although he still felt the pebble in his hand, it was now completely invisible, as if nothing were there.
“That’s a bit creepy,” Ren muttered, staring at Lin’s palm with similar amazement. At the same time, they both activated Echo Sight, and for a moment, confusion flashed across their faces.
“Right... it detects Soulex,” Ren muttered, as if reminding himself, and Lin nodded silently. Instead of seeing the pebble in its physical form, they observed a pebble-shaped Soulex floating in Lin’s hand, as though he were directing his Soulex into it.
If not for the fact that the Soulex in question was red, they might not have noticed it at all.
Maybe the colors are just for visual differentiation of Soulex, Lin considered, wondering if the colors had no deeper meaning beyond helping distinguish each person’s Soulex. Conducting their Echo experiments would have been far more challenging if everyone’s aura appeared in the same color, making it difficult to differentiate between personal Soulex strings and those created by others.
“Can I try something?” Ren asked.
Without much thought, Lin extended his palm forward. Delicately, Ren attempted to pick up the pebble, and surprisingly, he was able to grasp it. Though invisible, it was ultimately still there. To anyone not using Echo Sight, it looked as though he was holding air. He turned, picked a direction with fewer people around, and suddenly threw it as hard as he could.
The pebble flew across the endless white space and landed somewhere in the distance. As it landed, the two began to follow the thin red string connecting Lin to the pebble.
“This is a troublesome ability,” Lin finally remarked, and Ren nodded in agreement. Without Echo Sight, the pebble was entirely untraceable. This introduced a surprisingly high number of tactical possibilities. Lin glanced back at his status window before casting another element.
Echo pebble.
A small map popped up on the blue screen, showing the pebble at a distance, with metrics indicating how far away it was—82 meters. On the right side of the screen, a second status window appeared, displaying more information.
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Height above sea level: ??
Radius Scan: [1 meter] <
* No Soulex detected <
* State: 100%
* [Veil] is active.
…
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Could be useful, Lin thought to himself, closing the two screens and opening a new one that displayed information about the third element they had to deal with. Because of how complicated the system was, he still felt the need to thoroughly review [Veil], despite the hints they had already received from the other elements. He opted to study all the information displayed.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
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[Veil]
— Allows the user to completely hide the presence of their Soulex.
— Useful against abilities that might track you through your Soulex, such as Echo or Bind, which rely on detecting or receiving feedback from a person’s Soulex to function.
Restrictions while using Veil:
* Every extension of your Soulex energy, including objects created from it, will also be forced into a state of hidden presence.
* You cannot use any of the elements of the god system while [Veil] is active. Additionally, all existing effects from Soulex will disappear, including any enhancements made through [Pulse].
* You cannot induce [Veil] onto any Soulex other than your own. (The sole exception is through Slave [Bind], which uses the target’s Soulex rather than your own.)
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More or less what I imagined, Lin thought, closing the status screen and activating [Veil]. However, as a consequence, Echo Sight was automatically switched off, and the Soulex around everyone completely disappeared. Ren, who was still using Echo Sight, seemed surprised and muttered,
“The aura is gone, but…” He squinted further, prompting Lin to look at him with a confused expression. Before Lin could speak, Ren continued,
“There’s still a small stream leaking out. It’s not completely gone,” he finally said. The two stared at each other in silence, racking their brains, until Ren spoke again.
“It might be how ‘normal’ people without Soulex currently look,” he said, and Lin could only shrug.
Since Lin couldn’t see what Ren was talking about, he wasn’t ready to jump to that conclusion. As if realizing this, Ren added,
“Let’s switch then,” he said, turning off Echo Sight.
All the other screens that had been floating around him suddenly disappeared. It was only then that Lin realized that, despite using [Veil], he could still see the blue screens floating in front of everyone.
So anyone can see them? he wondered, realizing how problematic that could be. After considering it briefly, he pushed the thought to the back of his mind, activated Echo Sight again, and glanced at Ren in front of him.
The large, white Soulex that had surrounded him was completely gone, replaced by a very faint energy leaving his body, as if steam were rising from him just after taking a hot shower. But this steam appeared even less faint than that.
“I see,” Lin said, turning away from Ren and glancing at a few individuals around the room who were also experimenting with [Veil]. The same sight reached him. This time, however, the faint steam rising from those using [Veil] was the same color—white.
What’s the significance of color? he couldn’t help but ask himself again, wondering if there was something more to it.
It doesn’t matter for now, he finally concluded, sighing to himself as he wrapped up his round of experiments. As if sensing this, Ren spoke up again.
“I actually have a few more experiments I wanted to try with the others. Do you mind helping out?” he asked.
Lin paused, glancing at him for a few seconds as his thoughts raced. Although there were still a few more experiments he wanted to try, he wasn’t too keen on performing them here, in front of everyone else, which would reveal how much he knew.
However, the person standing next to him was likely already thinking along the same lines, meaning everyone would likely still receive this information if he disagreed and pushed him away.
“Sure,” Lin finally muttered, and Ren seemed happy as he nodded. He glanced toward Nolan in the short distance, who seemed to be with a slightly larger group, then looked back at Lin. Despite suggesting it, Ren seemed to want Lin to take the lead and mediate between everyone.
Lin didn’t mind, though, simply shrugging and walking forward. At the moment, there wasn’t anyone he considered an enemy, so leaking all the information they had gathered wasn’t a huge blow to him.
The more they know, the more useful they’ll be.
Multiple experiments took place after that, with everyone participating and bouncing ideas off each other. Before anyone knew it, five hours had passed very quickly, and the goddess suddenly made an appearance.
Having regained their focus, they had taken the opportunity to make a mental list of questions to ask the goddess—questions they primarily couldn’t bring up because of the overload of information she had suddenly thrown at them. At the top of this list was something they all agreed they should’ve asked the moment they met the goddess.
Who would be their enemy?
Fortunately for them, the first trial would give them a glimpse of the incoming disasters that would soon befall humanity.
Trial One: The Art of Tracking.