CHAPTER 45: MANA SENSE (2)

"The next step, after establishing a connection with natural mana, is learning to control it," Angelica continued explaining, her voice calm but firm.

"When you are connected to the natural mana, you are merely observing. You are feeling the mana as it flows through the world, its natural alignment. But when you begin to influence it shift it, bend it, mask yourself within it, you step into true mastery."

"Right now, I am still here," she said, "and anyone can sense me because I am disturbing this natural alignment. I am the ripple in the static pond."

"But," she said. "With my ability to control and influence the natural mana, I remove this disturbance. I control this disturbed mana to remain in their natural state. I do not let my presence or my mana to affect the natural alignment."

"You would feel as if there are no ripples, no disturbances. So, in your perception, I would become nothing. Just a seamless part of the environment."

Athar’s brows furrowed in concentration as he tried to understand and grasp each and every word that his master has been saying.

"This is the essence of concealment through mana sense," Angelica continued. "You do not disappear. You simply stop causing any disturbance in the flow. And because mana is everywhere, the absence of disturbance creates the illusion of absence itself."

"But if you could do the same," she added. "Can you stop me from feeling your presence? Why is said that stronger the person, less likely is their presence to be picked up. While a weaker person with all his attempts cannot hide his presence."

"Why such a thing happens?" She questioned and Athar perked up.

"Now, as I explained that for my concealment, I minimised the disturbance, the ripple in the natural mana. I controlled and modified their alignment to their natural state."

"But is it perfect?" She asked and continued. "No."

"No matter how hard I try," she said. "I cannot modify the alignment exactly to their natural state. No matter how small but their will be ripples and disturbances."

"And a stronger person which inherently means, a person with better and powerful mana sense will be able to pick up that small ripple, that small disturbance in the alignment of the natural mana."

"While the weaker person who does have a weak mana sense will not be able to pick up the ripples caused by the stronger person."

"Do you understand, Athar?" She questioned.

Athar nodded. "Yes, Master."

He had grasped the basic and understood the concepts.

"Developing control takes time and intense focus. But once you master it, you will be able to extend your awareness far beyond your physical senses and remain completely undetected in the process," she added.

"Although there are people who have a natural talent regarding this thing," she added.

"What others thing can we do?" She questioned.

"We can gauze the rank of others. I can very easily gauze your rank because of the disturbance your mana is causing in the natural mana."

"And like previous time, a weak person would not be able gauze the strength of a weaker person unless and until the stronger person is inherently showcasing his strength."

"Yesterday," she continued. "No beast encountered us in the forest because I was projecting voluntarily projecting my strength. They were deterred by my sheer presence. And while you might not have been able to sense beasts have a natural ability to sense them."

Athar nodded in understanding. At that time, he had wondered why no beast had approached them even when they had walked deep inside the forest.

"Now this brings us to why you cannot access a storage ring," Angelica said, shifting the topic with a slight tilt of her head.

Athar eyes fell on the storage ring lying on the floor in front of him.

"It is simple—because you need mana sense to use one," she added.

Nothing new. This was what she had told in the very beginning.

"Not just the ability to connect, but also to control," she continued the detail.

"To access the space within a storage ring, you must manipulate the natural mana surrounding it. You need to establish a fine tuned link, and then control that link to place items inside or summon them out. Our mana, from our mindscape, for few unknown reasons does not have the ability to access the storage in storage ring."

Athar nodded, though a hint of disappointment crossed his face. Now that he finally had a storage ring, it seemed he would have to wait before he could make use of it.

Angelica, sensing his mood, continued, smoothly transitioning to the next point. "Now, let us move to the third thing I mentioned earlier—the difference between the two parchments."

"The techniques you receive at the academy are simply handwritten. Anyone can copy them, reproduce them endlessly. That is why they are considered worthless."

Athar felt a jolt of surprise. Worthless? These were the techniques he had studied so carefully, the ones he was told were valuable, so valuable, in fact, that he was limited to just two and had to pay extra for more.

"But the technique I gave you," she continued, "and every other technique of Earth grade or higher—it is not written by hand."

"Those are carved using mana sense," she said, letting the weight of the statement settle.

"The natural mana is shaped and etched with extreme precision, guided by a cultivator’s control over mana sense. It is a technique encoded into the very environment, not something ink on paper can replicate."

Athar’s eyes widened in shock.

"That is why Earth grade techniques and above are so highly valued," Angelica said. "There is simply no comparison between a common, profound grade technique and a true Earth grade one. Ink and hand cannot contain etch the higher grade techniques on parchments or any other thing."

She looked at him with seriousness in her eyes. "Only very powerful cultivators those who stand at the pinnacle, and those with exceptional control and mastery over mana sense can carve such techniques. And even they must be extremely precise. A single error in control, even a flicker, and the entire technique becomes flawed... useless."

Athar nodded as he understood the true value of an earth grade technique. No wonder, the academy did not have a single one.

"And finally, the last thing," said Angelica. "About how to proceed to your training of your mana sense and why I consider it a very important aspect of your growth."

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