Chương 16: Mana Sense

Scarlet had first begun to understand mana through the bond. That esoteric connection to Maus had been what had allowed her to get the Meditation skill. She knew Maus felt the bond too. He'd initiated communication or communicated back to her on multiple occasions. Her gaze shifted to her tiny buddy. His Blink skill used mana, she was sure. She received a bit of feedback from him when he used the skill, and with her increased ability to recall details, it was obvious.

His ability to activate the skill meant he was actively aware of mana, and how it felt, even if he didn't have a name for it. So, both of them had at least a peripheral awareness of mana. The true challenge would be making it an active awareness. Something she could share in real time instead of having to 'translate' it for him. If she could somehow manage that, they might be able to coordinate well enough that they could corner the dangerous, stealthy bat.

Her gaze drifted inward, toward that faint, elusive current of something more that she had only briefly begun to grasp. Presumably, her sense of perception was high enough that getting a sense for the mystical energy wouldn't be too difficult, considering she at least knew what she was looking for. She closed her eyes, drawing in slow, steady breaths as she settled into the familiar rhythm of meditation. The deeper she settled, the more she allowed her awareness to stretch.

She wasn't just focusing inward on the flow within her body, but she was also feeling for the faint presence of mana in the air. Trying to recognize it as something tangible rather than abstract. Where her earlier attempts had been an unguided exploration, this time she was very intentional. It was easiest to begin in her body. Tracing the pathways she'd discovered before, she followed a mote as it moved. Felt the way it shifted and flowed, and the way it connected to the energy around her.

She traced the mote backwards to where it entered her body. Looked for the highest concentration withing herself, outside of what she was calling her mana core. She shouldn't have been surprised it was in her lungs. With every breath she took in, mana was dragged along with all the other elements present in the air. It felt a little absurd to her that she could actually feel the elements and energy she gathered in her lungs diffusing into her bloodstream and mana channels as she breathed.

She let her attention remain in her lungs for a moment, just marveling at the incredible machine that was the human body. Outside of the nigh constant existential dread that came along with the System, she couldn't deny that being able to perceive things in the way she could now was something she was grateful for beyond measure. It felt like she'd been living her life covered by a thin veil that dulled not just her sight, but all her senses. None more so than her innate connection to the energies around her.

A trait the system had called 'psionic'. What was mana if not just another form of energy. Hadn't Scarlet been reading energies her whole life? Passively subjected to the subtle fluctuations, constantly? Why not mana? When she focused, she could feel it, she could follow it, why not just sense- [Skill Available: Mana Sense – Tier 1] [Yes | No] She didn't bother stopping the smile as it tugged up the corners of her lips.

[Yes] The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The moment she accepted it, the world came to life. The veil fully lifted, and the vague sensations and brief flashes of more concentrated energy were now as clear to her as if she'd felt them all her life. She turned to Maus, satisfaction already shared through the bond when- Thump– Once again, the bat slammed against the bunker door. Only this time she felt something.

It wasn't in the impact itself, but in what she could now sense about it. The bat was using mana, and not in the passive, sustained way she and Maus used the bond. When the creature had struck the door Scarlet sensed a concentrated flare of mana that spiked at the exact moment of impact, then vanished just as quickly. Scarlet's eyes opened wide as pieces she didn't even know she'd been holding onto fell into place.

"Shadow bat's a glass cannon," she told her mousy companion. Said companion just blinked at her, happy she was happy, and ready for whatever she had planned. That was perfect for Scarlet because she did have a plan. She lifted Maus from his pillow and he happily tucked himself into her shirt, his small head peeking above her collar. She picked up her cane and moved towards the bunker door, sharing the sensation of the mana spike with Maus as she went.

When she reached the landing that extended to the bunker door, she sat. All her attention focused on familiarizing Maus with what she'd felt through the bond, and searching for that same flicker she had felt before as she worked on refining Mana Sense. There was nuance to every sense. It's why musicians trained their ear and chefs trained their palate. It's why jobs like wine sommelier and perfumers existed, and why pilots had to pass a colourblindness test before they could be licensed.

It's why as a child, when she'd realized that other people didn't feel the world the same way she did, it had then taken her years to make meaning from the noise of all that energy around her. So, she would treat this new sense, Mana Sense, like any other skill. As something to be trained, refined, and perfected. No reason she couldn't do that and plot the downfall of the murder-bat that had tried to take her out.

Her mind flicked back through every annoying interaction she'd had with the bat - both direct and indirect. She began to mentally map the intervals between impacts. The first impact had caught her off guard, with it trying to kill her and all. The second had followed after, and surprised her once more, only this time with its persistence. That on top of the initial alarm she'd felt. Then there was the third, and as she flipped through her memory she realized… There was a pattern.

It wasn't precise, but it was definitely there. Every ten or so minutes came another strike.

"Why does it wait?" She asked Maus. The question mostly rhetorical as she shared her insights through the bond. Only to her surprise and delight, Maus sent back an answer. A picture of the door, then the flare of mana, then the wait. Then himself blinking a few times in succession, then a wait. It was clear now he wasn't actually sending her a response to the question, just an association he'd made about the remarkably similar sensations.

The mana fluctuations used by Blink were not as pronounced as whatever the bat was doing, but they felt similar enough to Maus that he'd thought to compare them. Intentionally or not, her wonderful little Maus had just given her the answer. The bat only had so much mana. Every break was it recovering. That meant it was using an active skill of some kind when it hit the door. But why, when it wasn't strong enough to break the door.

She reached outward again and realized that she could feel the difference in mana density between the open air, and the creature. The thing was a floodlight next to a desk lamp. She kept her attention on it and felt the way the mana shifted, the way it coated the bat's body as the creature flew back a few meters and then. Impact. She looked at Maus, one corner of her lips tilted up ever so slightly. A glass cannon indeed.

Not only that, but once it expended its mana on the strike, for just a second afterwards, it was stunned. Immobile and weak, or exhausted, from whatever the skill cost it. One whole second before it physically recovered. One whole second where it was completely vulnerable. One whole second that Scarlet and Maus could absolutely take advantage of. For the next ten minutes Scarlet nailed down the plan with Maus. Showing him the triggers, acting out the sequence of events.

Making sure their communication through the bond was seamless and that they were both reacting instantaneously. With a minute to go, Scarlet felt the mana start to coalesce again. Looking at Maus, who was happily finishing off a piece of popcorn she'd given him as a reward, she didn't even need to ask if he was ready. She could feel it. For the first time that day, Scarlet wasn't the unwitting prey, caught off guard, and forced to defend herself.

She preferred to avoid conflict where possible, and where not possible, to win potential fights before they started. She wasn't someone who liked violence. However, she'd learned long ago that not liking something had no bearing on being good at it. If this new world order meant being good at fighting, Scarlet would become an absolute nightmare.