Aethernea : Soulbound [Book 1]

Episode 6 Part 1 - Deal with the devil

In the previous episode

To gain Kiel's trust Elaru signs an Oath of Truth - a contract spell that prevents her from lying. Kiel questions Elaru and finds out that her real name is truly "Elaru Wayvin" and she is not affiliated with a noble mage family. Elaru explains that her Aethernea of Sight shows her a three-dimensional model of the area around her which allows her to locate objects and creatures in her vicinity.

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"How long is your range of vision?" In other words - how far away did he need to be to escape her sight?

"It depends on my state of mind and point of focus. Usually, when I am not paying extra attention or am sleeping, it narrows down to about half a mile radius."

If Kiel had been drinking something, he would have spat it out at this point.

"You can see mana in your sleep?! With your eyes closed?!"

"I don't see mana with my eyes; I see it with my Mind. In its essence, it is an enhanced mana sense. Just like you don't stop sensing mana when you are asleep neither do I. If there were a sudden burst of mana near you, you'd wake up. You don't stop hearing things while you are asleep either. If there were a sudden loud noise, you'd wake up. Same thing with my Aethernea. If there are significant changes around me, it will wake me up as well. And since it is a sense, I can't shut it off. Whether my eyes are open or closed makes no difference. Whether I like it or not, I can always see everything around me."

Kiel stared at her emotionlessly. Suddenly Aethernea of Sight didn't look as tempting as before. It was constantly feeding her with information that she didn't want most of the time. It was probably similar to standing in the middle of a noisy crowd of people all the time. She could "sense" so many things, and she had no way to shut it off. Every power comes with a price.

"If your power does not originate from your eyes why do they look..." He motioned to her eyes, trying to find an appropriate word to describe them.

"So magical? I might not see magic with my eyes, but it doesn't mean that my eyes aren't magical." She winked. "Being able to see mana isn't the only reason why my Aethernea is called Aethernea of Sight."

Kiel raised an eyebrow. Being able to see magic wasn't the only benefit of having Aethernea of Sight? Could there be even more benefits?

"Can you identify things based on their unique mana footprint?"

"I can see the color of someone's mana so I can recognize them based on that. However, my eyes don't have enough precision to distinguish between people whose mana is near the same shade of color. The real power of my eyes is not in being able to see raw mana, but in being able to see spells. It is much easier to identify a spell pattern than a color."

Omnidirectional vision? Being able to identify spells based on their pattern? Of course! How had he not seen it before? It was in front of him the whole time! Elaru Wayvin was a Tracker!

Trackers were mages specialized in finding things. Be it other people, magical creatures, artifacts or even rare plants. It was an attractive job that was very well paid; which would explain why Elaru had the funds for purchasing an Oath of Truth. No wonder she had excellent observation and deduction skills, they were developed by years of tracking!

"You are a Tracker!" Kiel exclaimed his revelation out loud with satisfied glee.

Elaru raised her eyebrows. "I suppose. I do spend a lot of time tracking down artifacts."

Now it all made sense. With her skill, she could find artifacts no one was able to find before her, such as the Soul Crystal! And because of it, if anyone could find something which could help his condition, it would be her!