Archmage Holuna Ruluna rereads the notes given to her by Alysara, impressed by the neat had writing and comprehensive language used… well, it’s not handwriting; Alysara formed the letters and page out of mana which is even more impressive.

She has detailed exactly how and why one can [Analyze] with [Sense Mana] from determining Skills, Bond, and overall mana signature. The notes of experimentation her Order has done over the last hundred years aren’t even this comprehensive.

… One can easily learn the Bond level of a person or monster by observing how much waste mana is produced in their mana core. This can easily be learned by cross-referencing hundreds of people until you get an intuitive understanding of one's Bond level…

Strong warriors typically get their Bonds up to the high hundreds before retiring, but it’s never a focus since Bond Classes aren’t normally taken due to their difficulties in getting good evolutions – one often needs to spend more time leveling up their Bond than their Class, so they end up falling behind in class levels.

Only a few people manage to get their Bonds to and above level one thousand, where they reach the second stage of their Bond Aura.

Many in the upper society train their Bond until they get their Bond aura for status among their peers but rarely dedicate their time to it after that; even then, it often takes thirty or forty years to reach that point.

Then there’s Perceptive pressure that Alysara can somehow manipulate. It’s a very powerful Skill or breakthrough; the question is, is it a supportive Class Skill or just a very useful breakthrough? Ruluna has a hunch that it is a breakthrough; how else can she have over forty breakthroughs in a single skill?

Even more, is her seeming ability to manipulate her perception to make it so she can’t track her; Ruluna can’t imagine how that’s not a supporting skill, but given that Alysara has ‘mastered’ the Skill, she wouldn’t be surprised.

The problem is that Ruluna doesn’t even know where to begin to even try getting those breakthroughs, and it’s not like she hasn’t tried. She only has two explanations, and that is those are either supportive Class Skills, not breakthroughs, or she lacks the strength of levels to actually get them.

“Ruluna!”

Ruluna jumps at the sudden mention of her name. She whirls around to see Headmaster Vulpun with an amused grin on his face.

“I’ve been trying to get your attention for a few minutes now; what has got you so enraptured?” He asks.

“I-I’ve been wondering about Alysara’s abilities and seeing how I might get them,” Ruluna answers, her heart beating like a drum in her ears.

“Well, Alysara is, here again, so you can try to get it out of her during your training. However, she has finally decided to call in her favor, we are going to have a trade meeting right now, and since you are already involved in the current affairs, we are letting you in on the meeting.

Ruluna nods and stands up, stretching her body after sitting so long and walks with Headmaster Vulpun to the meeting room.

“It’s nice to see you again,” Ruluna says politely to Alysara.

“It is good to see you too. How is the war going?” Alysara asks.

“We’ve taken Moon Willow Fort and are marching onto Port Luar. We’ve captured several of the enemy leaders and their leviathan weapons and armor. Your power armor has helped us immensely.” Headmaster Vulpun answers. “So, what do you wish for your favor?”

“Materials that produce reserved mana,” Alysara replies, getting into the reason she is having the meeting.

Vulpun sucks in some air. “That’s… going to be difficult; they are already rare, and when they are found, they are usually made into items.”

“That’s fine; as long as they aren’t already magic items, I can repurpose them,” Alysara says, her abnormally long tails swaying gracefully behind her.

“How many do you need? And that are they for?” Vulpun asks.

“A few dozen at least but as many as you can get. They will used to power our vessels,” Alysara replies.

“It’s going to cost us a lot; I’m not sure it’s worth what you paid,” Vulpun says adamantly. Ruluna has been around him long enough to tell when he’s trying to haggle and when he’s serious.

Materials that produce reserved mana are rare, and the good ones are even rarer that only come from powerful monsters. Buying dozens of them would drain the Order’s treasury, and he will need approval from the other members for such a big deal.

Alysara folds her arms in thought, her tails swaying with more vigor, dancing to the tune of her thoughts.

“Very well, I can offer you one of two things. I can offer you items that draw in mana from the surroundings and transform it into reserved mana, as mana as is equal to the output of the items, or I can teach you the [Manipulate Mana] Skill and its basic breakthroughs.

Ruluna’s heart somersaults in surprise; her offer to teach her other mastered skill is a big offer! However, Vulpun doesn’t share Ruluna’s expression.

“If you already have items that produce mana, why do you need our items? As for the Skill offer, you are already too late; we’ve done some digging and found a few old texts on that Skill.”

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That was haggling. Ruluna looked at those texts, but it’s encrypted and hard to crack; plus, by the looks of it, it won’t have Alysara’s detailed and masterful knowledge. Technically they did find the texts, but they can’t use them right now.

Alysara frowns, her tails moving more stiffly, but she answers Vulpuns question. “Drawing in mana from the surrounding is not the same as mana being produced. With my intended use for them, drawing in mana from the air won’t work.”

There is a brief silence as they both calculate their next offer before Vulpun speaks up.

“You clearly know more than what we’ve found in the texts, but it’s true that what you have to offer has lost some value; we’ll get you the items, but for the skill knowledge and twice the mana production in those mana gathering items you have.”

Alysara’s tails pick up speed again but in a more agitated way. Ruluna can’t help but be intrigued at how expressive her tails seem to be, and that’s when she realizes that Vulpun is using them as a tell!

Alysara is really good at controlling her tone, facial expression, and word choice but she hasn’t how her thoughts and emotions influence her tail movements.

“Asking for both my offers is already asking for a lot,” Alysara counters. “Even if you already know a little bit about [Manipulate Mana], I can teach you so much more than what would qualify you for five levels in knowledge in those breakthroughs. I’ll trade you the Skill knowledge and eighty percent of the total mana production.“

It is Vulpuns turn to frown as he pauses to think.

“I believe you do not understand the value of what you ask. It will completely drain our treasury; you are asking for rare and useful materials. I can go no lower than one and seventy worth of mana production.”

Ruluna watches as the two go back and forth in a rare case where both sides seem to have a genuine disagreement on the value of what’s being traded; however, Vulpun has a secret in that the Order does not truly know what’s in the encrypted [Manipulate Mana] texts, so Alysara’s knowledge holds full value. Alysara has not called him out on that little detail, so Ruluna assumes she does not know about the secret.

The debate goes on as they can’t reach a compromise, and that’s when Ruluna calls for a recess; she may not be any good in this situation, but she can at least act like a mediator.

“We need her knowledge,” Ruluna says, trying to convince the headmaster to give in. “Those texts have sat in that library for who knows how long. Do you think nobody noticed it or haven't tried to decode it? We may never decipher them, so let’s make it seem like we are doing Alysara a favor and agree to her terms; we are getting way more than we are giving anyway, so what’s the issue?”

Vulpun sighs and leans back in his chair. “You’re right, Ruluna; it’s just we can’t afford the deal without selling one or two power armors, and we need every one we have for the war.”

“Can’t we take a loan from the governor?” Ruluna asks.

“No” Vulpun shakes his head. “Their money is going towards the war effort. We will have to sell those items Alysara is offering, but I don’t know if they are enough. There’s no point in learning those secrets if we go bankrupt and those secrets are seized. Why do you think those old texts we found were in some dusty old library in the first place and not some Order’s vault? Because whatever organization they came from fell out of power and because they are so well encrypted, they ended up being forgotten.”

“Perhaps trade for something we can sell? Forget the [Manipulate Mana] for now; information on how to make those mana gathering items will be far more valuable,” Ruluna suggests.

But Vulpun shakes his head. “I can tell she won’t even think of handing us that knowledge. She’s so far ahead in her skills that she views some of the breakthroughs as expendable; after all, what’s one or two breakthroughs when you have forty! Plus, there’s more that she’s hiding from us; the true secrets of her skills are so far advanced we can’t even conceive of them. What she is willing to trade is of no consequence to her; she knows we can’t figure it out without her help.”

Vulpun pauses before speaking again

“Alysara has mentioned inscriptions before, something of her own design. I bet that those mana-gathering items are related to that somehow. If you have invented something completely new, you wouldn’t sell that to a stranger.”

Ruluna nods silently, pondering how she can help.

If money is the issue and borrowing money is hard to do…

“Can we not borrow something from Alysara? In wartime, those Lifedrop Necklaces will sell for a lot. We buy a shipment from Alysara on credit with a promise to pay back its value.”

“Vulpun sits up straight, looking serious. That just might do! You’re a genius, Ruluna! It’s right back to the basics, buy from far-off lands and sell back home, except the exotic merchant has come to us!”

With that, Vulpun and Alysara are able to come to an agreement, and Ruluna walks Alysara to the training room where they can practice their skills against each other, where she tries to detect Alysara, and Alysara tries o hide or block her attempts.

Ruluna is getting better at detecting low perceptive pressure and has already max that breakthrough level. Alysara continues to try new methods to block and stall tracking attempts, but most do not work; it’s almost as if Alysara is just trying random things.

“It’s not random,” Alysara says when asked. “It’s selective evolution, generating random differences based on the most successful test of the group.”

How is that not random? You literally admitted to it being random! Ruluna complains mentally.

Ruluna Mentally feels Alysara’s perception trying to work out the block that she uses to protect herself. She’s been slowly working it out for several months now, decoding it a little bit at a time. It’s like an impossible knot, but maybe there’s some trick to it?

Selective evolution… Ruluna muses. What if she tries random paths? If she’s close to figuring it out, then Alysara or anyone else with this strange ability may panic; what’s more, she already knows which paths lead back on itself.

Ruluna smiles to herself and starts randomly jumping to each loop, tracing it back onto itself. Instead of trying to decode it, she’s now trying to figure out the end; that’s all that matters, right? She’ll find it eventually, and with each loop, she rules out, the closer she gets to finding the one that leads back to her.

Ruluna spends half an hour brut forcing the perceptive knot until suddenly it fades into nothing, almost as if Alysara had turned off her perception, but that strange feeling of being watched remains, only this time Ruluna has figured out why she feels it.

Notifications chime in her mind as she gains two Breakthroughs, one for figuring out the Perceptive knots and the other for knowing when she is being watched; odd thing is, the second one isn’t for her [Track Senses], but rather for her [Sense Mana].

Breakthrough: You’ve figured out perceptive knots; this will help you track even the most skilled scryers.

Breakthrough: You've sensed another's perceptive field; this will help you detect when you are being spied upon.