Emrys remained seated for a little while longer, letting the migraine fade away completely, before an idea slipped into his mind, one that was as obvious as it was tempting.
I've spent the whole morning dissecting rocks. I think it's time to move on to the next level.
He turned his head toward the familiar sound of the hammer.
Dubs, right there. Alive, undeniably more complex than simple ore. And above all, one of the only creatures in this world that Emrys knew well enough not to feel guilty about testing his ability on him.
He didn't move from where he was, simply letting his Haki spread in the giant's direction, just as he had done earlier with the nearest rocks.
"Trace On."
The flow came, clean this time, almost as clear as it had been with the ore a few hours earlier. Dubs' exact height, his muscle mass, his calluses, his injuries, and much more—Emrys was able to perceive them without much difficulty.
But something was missing.
He waited, just as he had done with the stone, for the rest of the information that the Structural Analysis was supposed to send him, but he found himself simply waiting.
Normally, with rocks, by now he would already know their characteristics and their history.
With Dubs, none of that came.
He pressed further, channeling more energy, actively searching for that door which should have opened onto the giant's past.
The flow of information resumed, showing Emrys certain recent moments from Dubs' life, nothing dating back to before they had met. But there was still nothing concerning his magical power. They were mostly moments related to the forge, and just like before, the flow of information stopped progressing.
That's strange. It's as if something is blocking my way.
He slowly released the flow, his brows furrowed, his head unconsciously turned directly toward Dubs, as though facing the giant might somehow help him force his way through.
The hammer stopped.
"Kid. Why have you been staring at me for the last five minutes?" Dubs asked, a hint of suspicion in his voice.
Emrys flinched slightly, only then realizing the position he had unconsciously taken.
"Sorry. I was trying something," he admitted. "I tried to analyze you. With my ability, I mean. The same way I do with rocks."
A silence followed, longer than usual, but without any real anger in it—only curiosity.
"And what did you get?"
"I've got your structure itself. Muscles, bones, your racial traits... I can see all of that about as well as I can with a rock," Emrys replied. "But your history is a whole different matter. I can access a little of it, but even for the little I managed to see, I had to use far more magical energy than usual."
Dubs remained silent for a moment before letting out a grunt that almost sounded like amusement.
"That's because I'm conscious, kid."
"Yeah, I figured that had something to do with it," Emrys replied, "but I don't see why it would block that part specifically, and not the rest."
"It's actually simple. The magical energy of a conscious being naturally resists outside intrusions more than that of an inanimate object," Dubs explained, setting his hammer down against the anvil. "A rock has nothing to defend. Its magical energy is just there, lying dormant. It doesn't move, it doesn't react, it lets you search as deeply into its past as you want. Living beings, and especially conscious ones, on the other hand, have magical energy that is constantly flowing. That activity, combined with instinct, creates resistance against any outside intrusion. It's not intentional, alright? I'm not doing anything special to stop you. Simply being alive is enough to push back against part of what you're trying to make enter. Its current structure is on the surface, so that still gets through. But I'd imagine going back into its past requires much more magical energy on your part. You didn't want to force it because you wanted to avoid ending up like yesterday, and that's when the resistance finally stopped you."
Emrys remained silent for a few seconds, digesting the explanation.
"That's going to complicate things," Emrys said, rubbing his temples. "Is that resistance fixed?"
"No. The stronger the creature in front of you is, the more its magical energy tends to resist, generally speaking, including that part," Dubs added, picking his hammer back up. "It's a bit like physical toughness. The stronger someone is, the better they can take a hit without flinching. Well, magical energy works the same way. The more powerful someone's magical energy is, the harder it becomes to pierce their past from the outside. The two usually go hand in hand. Against an average human, you might be able to dig a little deeper than you can with me. But even I haven't done much to develop my magic. If you run into real fighters, it'll probably be even more difficult."
That last remark left Emrys deep in thought for a long moment.
"So in combat, the only things I'll be able to analyze about my opponent will depend on the gap in strength between the two of us," Emrys summarized.
"Exactly. And honestly, kid, that's already quite something. I don't really know the overall difference in strength between us, but from what I've learned while taking care of you... Even though your amount of magical energy is abnormally large for someone your age, both in terms of magical energy and physical strength, I'm still stronger than you. The fact that you can still dissect me so easily is undoubtedly an advantage," Dubs replied, picking his hammer back up. "Just don't make the mistake of thinking you'll ever be able to analyze a living being as easily as if it were a rock."
Emrys slowly nodded, storing that information somewhere in the back of his mind, alongside everything else he had learned that day.
Good to know. The depth is harder to know than the surface. That limits what I'll be able to get from an analysis, but it's still more than enough for most situations.
For a brief moment, he thought back to the five mages who had nearly killed him in that meadow. Every one of them had seemed overwhelmingly powerful compared to him, yet together they had been enough to drive him into despair several times.
I'm already having this much trouble with Dubs, who isn't even a fighter. At my current level, I'm not even sure I'd be able to pull off a surface-level analysis. In moments like that, I'll only be able to rely on my instincts and on whatever experience I'll have accumulated to understand my opponents.
There was also Reinforcement, and its subcategory, Alteration, which could work to his advantage.
But one thing at a time.
He turned back toward the pile of stones, feeling around for the ones he had already analyzed closely, before suddenly freezing as a thought crashed into all the others.
I've already confirmed that I can use Haki to analyze things from a distance. I'm pretty sure it works on everything within my field. So the real question is: how far does that field extend?
Because of his blindness, Emrys had spent most of his recovery using Haki. In doing so, his mental energy had increased tremendously, and his Haki itself had evolved significantly.
It's honestly crazy that I still haven't tried to find out my maximum detection range.
"Dubs," he called out, "I need a favor."
"Again?" the giant grumbled, without stopping his hammering.
"I want to test the range of my detection abilities. The real limit—the one I can maintain for a long time, not just a burst that lasts a few seconds."
He closed his eyes, if that gesture still had any real purpose for him, and let his Haki spread as far and as powerfully as he believed he could maintain without exhausting himself after only a few minutes. The familiar sensation of the colored particles filled his mind, the room, the anvil, the pile of ore, then the walls of the workshop themselves... and beyond.
"Alright. Here's what I need you to do. Walk straight ahead in any direction and keep moving away from me. I'll tell you when you've reached the limit of what I can still sense."
An irritated silence answered him.
"So you want me to stop working just to go for a walk outside."
"More or less, yeah."
Dubs let out a sigh that sounded like a low rumble, set his hammer down with a heavy thud, and started walking.
"This is going to cost you. I was making a new cooking pot."
"You spend your days making kitchen utensils. You've already got plenty of unused pots. One more or one less won't make any difference."
Emrys followed the giant's progress effortlessly. Dubs' presence remained perfectly clear within his field of perception as he crossed the workshop, pushed open the large door, and stepped outside.
The signal didn't weaken in the slightest. It remained just as clear, just as precise, as though distance simply didn't matter as long as it stayed within the limits of his range.
Dubs kept walking, his heavy footsteps echoing more and more faintly as he moved farther away, until Emrys could no longer rely on them at all and had to depend solely on his Haki to follow him.
At last, his perception began to fade.
Slowly at first.
Then much more noticeably.
"Keep going a little farther," Emrys called out, his voice barely carrying over such a distance, unsure whether Dubs could still hear him.
The giant kept walking nonetheless, perhaps simply out of logic, perhaps because he guessed what Emrys was waiting for.
The signal was reduced to a single thread, thin, almost erased.
"Stop! That's good, stop there!"
Dubs' presence froze, right at the edge of what Emrys could still perceive.
"Alright, now stay there and shout the distance between us if you can estimate it."
A long silence followed, punctuated by what sounded like an exasperated grunt carried by the wind.
"Hold on, kid. Let me count my steps from the beginning," Dubs finally replied, his voice weakened by the distance but still audible. "I wasn't planning on going on an expedition today."
Emrys waited, motionless, keeping his Haki stretched to its limit so he wouldn't lose contact with that barely perceptible presence.
After a while, Dubs' voice came back, a little closer this time, carried by the wind.
"About two hundred meters. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less. I don't have anything with me to be more precise."
Emrys let out a breath he hadn't even realized he had been holding.
Two hundred meters.
"You can come back," he called out, a smile slowly spreading across his face. "Thanks, Dubs!"
A distant grunt answered him, followed by the heavy, steady sound of the giant's footsteps as he started making his way back.
Two hundred meters. That means I can analyze absolutely anything within a two-hundred-meter radius around me. Although it depends on whatever happens to be around me, an area scan should generally be manageable within a radius of four or five meters. If I really push myself without worrying about the headaches caused by the flood of information, I can know exactly what's happening around me within a distance of two hundred meters. In other words, taking inspiration from a certain Congolese mercenary from a martial arts anime, within two hundred meters, I can see better than the average person.
It was a much greater scale than he had imagined until now, having limited himself to testing his ability on a few rocks within arm's reach, never once thinking about measuring the true extent of what he already possessed.
The sound of Dubs' hammer continued to echo through the workshop, steady and almost soothing through its repetition, once the giant had finally returned to his post.
Emrys let himself be carried by that familiar rhythm, gradually feeling a routine settle in—a routine he never would have imagined possible just a few months earlier, lying in the darkness of that same meadow where everything had begun.
I'm making progress, and even faster than I expected. I was prepared for some serious grinding, but I've really been given some incredibly useful advantages.
Emrys thought once more of the lake that sometimes appeared in his dreams and of the woman who never left its shores. He clenched his fists.
Don't worry, Mom. I'll find you.
---
Meanwhile, somewhere within a space engulfed in complete darkness, with a gigantic lake at its center, covered by a thick layer of mist...
A silhouette appeared in the middle of the lake, its form distorted by the fog. Even so, a gentle smile could still be seen upon her lips.
Then a voice just as gentle echoed throughout the entire space.
"Don't worry, my little sweetheart. Mommy is ready to wait for you for as long as it takes. Just make sure you stay safe."
The moment those words were spoken, the silhouette disappeared, dissolving into the mist.
Don't you think some parts sound a bit like AI? I feel like some parts sound like AI. Have AIs polluted my mind so much that I'm starting to write like them?
I think we should start a petition for the introduction of a no-Ai tag (and a no-System tag, by the way).