Chapter 2981 Random Steps (Part 1)
"This spell wouldn't even work if I couldn't feel on my own the exact point where the original Steps had been opened. Get in." Xenagrosh said.
Once on the other side, both her nose and the Eyes lost track of their mark. Five months had passed and without the energy-preserving arrays, the energy signature had completely faded over time.
"Shit!" Rhuta studied their surroundings, discovering they were in the middle of nowhere. "Another dead end."
"No, not at all." Zoreth took a map out of her pocket dimension and found their new position in the Wegan Region by using the visible landmarks and her knowledge of the Kingdom. "The hunt has just begun and we are getting closer."
"What do you mean?" Solus set the Eyes to full-range scan, seeking only their mark's energy signature yet it found nothing. "The guy was panicking but he still had the common sense to Warp in a random direction. He could be anywhere by now."
"Wrong. Just by calculating the distance between the entry and exit points, we can estimate how strong he is and the distance we can expect him to cover on average with a single Steps." The Shadow Dragon explained.
"Also, everyone uses the term 'random direction' because it has a nice ring and makes them feel safe, but there is no such thing as a random place. You can't Warp to an unknown house just by pointing your finger.
"You must remember their dimensional coordinates by heart and no one bothers remembering the place they sneezed, unless they did it in the King's face. When people Warps in a 'random direction' it's actually just the wrong direction but still in the ballpark of their real destination.
"You can't go in the opposite direction or you'd just waste time and mana by moving back and forth in a straight line. If we could retrace all of his 'random Steps' we could narrow the area of search."
Everyone took notes while Lith also discovered that her reasoning applied to him as well and changed his Warping routine accordingly.
"Even if you are right, how are we supposed to find him?" He asked.
"That's why you are still green as a manhunter, little brother." Zoreth tutted, booping Lith's nose with her finger. "You have yet to learn how to think like a predator. What do we know about him?"
Lith narrowed his eyes in confusion but answered the question.
'Zoreth, are you sure you want to give your spells and techniques out like this?' He asked. 'The members of the Hand of Fate are not our allies and Strider hates our guts. He could use everything you are teaching us against you.'
'Let him try.' She telepathically chuckled. 'This is nothing groundbreaking. Just things you learn with age and experience. These runts have no idea how our respective tracking abilities work so as long as we play it close to the vest they won't be able to jam our senses even if they try.
'On top of that, how can you ask a big sister to pass up the opportunity to look cool in front of her little brother?'
Those words made Lith feel weird inside. Zoreth treated him like Rena would, if only she had something to teach him. Zoreth looked out for Lith like family whereas he was on the lookout for her like a liability.
He believed her affection was sincere but he couldn't shake off the suspicions that her involvement in Vastor's plans entailed. He would have loved to trust her, but the consequences of underestimating the Organization's resources were still hanging at her neck.
***
Village of Haroq, Vomar barony.
A few hours and several Warps later Lith could put into practice Zoreth's teachings. There was no need to enter a village or ask questions. They would get close enough to a settlement to scan it without entering its borders.
The Eyes' range extended way farther than what a medium or large village covered. As soon as the reading came back negative, he informed the Shadow Dragon who would confirm his findings or ask for a small tour of the village.
Lith wondered if her accuracy was greater than the Eyes' or if she was just doing it to hide the limits of their abilities but he said nothing and followed her lead.
'She seems to pick up traces as well as us.' Solus said. 'That and Dragon Eyes truly make up for her limits. Too bad that there's no such thing as the Nose of Menadion.'
'And what should it do, exactly?' Lith scoffed. 'All the tools we've found so far were related to Forgemastery. You don't sniff metals or mana crystals so there's no point in having a Nose of Menadion.'
'Then what are the Ears supposed to do, smartass? We don't listen to metals or mana crystals either.' She retorted.
