NOVPUBNick practiced his newly created technique for several weeks.
Testing a new ability was necessary since there were often oversights.
Nick worked together with the Technician and used him as his testing subject for his ability.
The Technician didn't have any issues with being a guinea pig since he was also interested in Nick's new ability.
"Actually, the Barriers work very similarly," he said.
"I know," Nick answered. "I took inspiration from that function and built on it."
"Well, I wouldn't really call it 'built on it'. Your method is a bit too intrusive, and a Barrier can do the same thing without needing the other person to agree to something like that," the Technician said.
"You know, it's actually not that easy to relinquish control over my eyes," the Technician said. "I've quite some restraint, and I know you very well. Yet, allowing you to fill my vision with whatever you want me to see still feels dangerous. I don't think your ability is that useful."
Nick's ability worked by warping the light in front of somebody's eyes to create an image. 𝓃𝓸𝓋𝓅𝓾𝒷.𝒸ℴ𝓂
Since he couldn't transmit the location of a Specter within milliseconds via voice, he thought that he would go via sight.
Nick decided to look at how Barriers transmitted images and at his own ability to create illusions.
Sadly, it wasn't that easy.
Just bending the light to create an image wasn't difficult.
The issue was the other person's will, instincts, and mind.
The eyes automatically sensed the Zephyx that manipulated the light and refused to process it.
This was a self-protection mechanism.
The minds of powerful Extractors would just autocorrect the image while feeling a bit of pain in their eyes. The pain was just there as a signal that somebody was trying to mess with them.
Weak Extractors would just see the entire world as blurry since their minds weren't fast enough to correct the image.
Getting past that self-defense mechanism would be akin to creating a true illusion ability, and Nick already had that with the Nightmare.
Showing an illusion to the Champion of Light was impossible since Nick would run out of Zephyx immediately.
Additionally, the Champion wasn't allowed to sense him.
The Barriers didn't intrude on the eyes.
They just displayed images with natural light.
They were basically just painting something on a transparent surface.
Nick thought about the Technician's words.
'He's right,' he thought. 'While I can transmit information like this, I also need to keep in mind how difficult it will be for the other person.'
'If the Champion's mind instinctively dismisses my illusions during a tense moment before the battle, all of this will be for nothing.'
'It must be as easy as possible for him.'
'But I can't use signals like the Barriers. The Envious Researcher might be able to intercept them.'
'That means I can only use my Zephyx.'
"I'll rework it," Nick said after a while.
"Back to the drawing board," the Technician said with a laugh. "You have no idea how often I wasted weeks testing a useless product."
Nick went back to his new office and started to redesign the ability.
However, it was much more difficult now.
Audible signals didn't work since language was a horrible medium for transmitting information.
Barriers could transmit more information in a second than a person could transmit within years of talking.
Visual signals worked, but the eyes were much more protected than the ears.
Touch signals could work, but Nick would need to create an entire system of signals to transmit three-dimensional coordinates, and the Champion also needed to learn that system for it to work. ṝἁ
