Chapter 2: Birth of the Eye
He was surrounded by darkness. Looking all around, he found nothing and no one. He was alone.
It felt like ages before dense clusters of white orbs morphed together at his position. With a resounding whoosh and a burning white light, he could finally see again.
His strange positioning caused him to face downwards toward what looked like a mountain. The only thing noteworthy among the mountain's plain features was a small body of water at the top. Trees littered here and there, while vegetation completely avoided a few flat spots.
Despite his vision's spectacular clarity, he didn't have any other sense. He couldn't hear, touch, or smell. He couldn't even move from his position. So, he simply looked around. Before long, he noticed something off about the puddle below. In its reflection, he could see a large phantom of an eye.
He saw vibrant swirls of red flying around in elliptical patterns, but as he looked closer, he realized the swirls contained in their entirety a hundred red wisps. These wisps were each around the size of a human eye, and they floated around the center pupil. The undulations that dilated out from its edges made the black pupil resemble an abyss.
He strained harder, doubtful of his newfound appearance, but words quickly appeared in his mind as though they were in front of his vision:
[Being]: Annum Spirit Eye
[Description]:
A Spirit Eye has no physical form, but it can see and be seen by others. It has the innate talent to peer into worldly secrets. The Eye forms from a cluster of mana and a lost soul that have fused, and it can mature through age or through the absorption of mana.
[Age]: 1 year
[Abilities]:
1. Aura of the Eye: An aura that reaches out in all directions of the surrounding terrain and can be felt by living creatures. It requires 10 mana to activate.
[Skills]:
1. Mana Capture: Can turn nearby ambient mana into a wisp of the Eye. In the current environment, a wisp will be replenished every 24 hours.
———
"I am an Eye? An Annum Spirit Eye? Is it my purpose to see?"
The Eye glanced through his description, but it didn't reveal too much. What he was looking through now must have been a so-called 'worldly secret.'
When he reached the word "lost," he felt a peculiar resonation in his mind, but he didn't know what it meant. Reading literally, it meant that he had originated from a soul that was lost, but he decided that such an explanation was too simple.
Although it appeared like a natural phenomenon, the Eye wondered if there was more to his birth. He felt that it was only natural that he came into existence. But then, why would "lost" invoke such a feeling from him?
The Eye felt it was quite quizzical, but he knew that he was not currently able to solve such a mystery. He considered it to be much more pragmatic for him to understand his present situation before his past.
So, the Eye began to examine his ability further. The activation condition required 10 mana. Mildly curious, he wondered if mana was related to his wisps. Reaching deep inside his being, he willed the ability to activate and waited for something amusing to happen.
In a slow diffusion, a small amazement played out. Ten wisps broke away from their set movements, spinning out of the crowded spirals of red. It was a queer dance of mourning and cheerfulness as they drew near to the black chasm in erratic ways. In a final triumphant act, they jumped into the abyss of a pupil. There were no ripples.
The Eye felt something unlocking inside of him, so with a hint of eagerness, he expectantly looked around to see what change could have developed. He waited. It took him a few moments to acknowledge that nothing would be happening in his vision. With slight annoyance, he looked back to his ability only to find that the cost was removed:
1. Aura of the Eye: An aura that reaches out in all directions of the surrounding terrain and can be felt by living creatures.
The Eye was rather disappointed, and he strained harder at the words presented as if that would do something. His faint vexation bubbled up, reaching a point where he may actually become frustrated, but before he could start thinking of woes, a secret slithered into his mind.
[Passive abilities derived from racial growth are rare, even for an Eye.]
The Eye perked up a little bit. This tidbit of enlightenment shed important light on what an ability was.
Thinking about it, he didn't actually expect something would happen.
In a slightly encouraged mood, the Eye pressed on to see if this would work on the mystery of his description.
When the moon had descended to the embrace of the horizon, the Eye gave up.
Instead, he chose to see if he could get more information from his skill. It could be easy prey.
To his vague delight, more words snaked in front of his vision.
[The Spirit Eye is one of the few unique existences that can develop a skill right after birth. As it leaves its cradle of mana, it takes with it a skill derived from the mana.]
After reading through, the words blurred away to reveal new meaning.
[Mana Capture is a skill that is essential to the Eye's well-being, and it is often the only skill an Eye can learn in its lifetime. As a skill, it does not have a set upgrade path. The versatility of skills makes their potential outstanding, but only the weakest of beings can wantonly use the power of learning to transform knowledge into a myriad of skills.]
Reading the information present in his mind, the Eye determined that he was very fortunate to have a skill. Considering how the presented words hadn't elaborated on the skill's function, he figured that it must be rather straightforward and easy to use.
In contrast, the Eye didn't see how his ability and skill were conducive to his sight. If his purpose was to simply watch below, then wouldn't they explicitly be able to help his vision? In fact, he wasn't sure why he needed an aura, but the information suggested that it was inherently present in all Spirit Eyes that reached their first year since birth.
Seemingly unbothered by the recently gained knowledge, the Spirit Eye went back to intensively exploring the surroundings under him.
His sprinkle of excitement quickly died out. Nothing below him stood out. His initial exploration had already toured all there was to see.
Nonetheless, he discovered that no large creatures lived under him on the mountain. He also noticed that at the edge of his gaze, there was a grey haze, as if he hadn't unlocked the ability to look farther away.
He wanted to move to get a glimpse of what was in the distance, but he could not.
An Annum Spirit Eye was truly limited in what it could see.
So, he decided to do what he could: stare at his appearance in the puddle more.
As the days passed, the Spirit Eye looked on.
In the first ten days, he regained a red wisp upon the crack of dawn. They would simply morph out of the air, coming into visible existence.
Afterward, he found that he could no longer gain wisps, enabling him to determine that he could only possess 100 red wisps at a time. It became apparent to him now that he would have to use his wisps in order to replenish them, but he couldn't figure out how he was supposed to use the wisps again.
He tried reaching into his mind like he did when he had first activated his 'Aura of the Eye' skill, but now he was no longer able to affect it. He willed himself to deactivate it, but nothing visibly occurred like when he had first activated it.
When he tried to consume more wisps to reactivate it, the unsightly stillness of his surroundings and the uninterrupted revolvement of his wisps told him it was still active–that he had never turned it off.
Occasionally, wild boars would interrupt his thoughts. They would charge through from the outside of the mountain, but before he could examine them, they would depart.
In a bit of a lull, the Spirit Eye feebly mused that he was around the size of one of those boars. The only difference was that they were down there, while he was up in the sky. Their situations were fundamentally different.
The Eye focused on the boundaries of his vision. He wondered if there was a forest just past his sight where the boars lived. There must be more creatures living there.
As the days flowed on, the Eye saw more creatures enter his range of sight. Their appearances greatly differed, showing off fur, scales, skin, or feathers. Each of their colorful displays caught the Eye's interest. More than that, the Eye focused on the one thing that all of the creatures had in common: They could move.
This fact glaringly stood out when the creatures that came into his sight would jump, fly, crawl, run, or rush right back out.
The Eye grew disheartened after each disappearance into the mist. He still could not see a single inch past that grey wall.
He mused what it would be like to have those creatures' legs and wings. Though, the thought didn't linger. The Eye knew that he shared one thing with them: Sight.
When he tried to see if he could compare his being to their eyes, he became somewhat disappointed.
Without fail, they would always leave before he could closely examine their eyes. Why would they not make eye contact with him? Of course, his position in the sky posed a problem in that he was not at their eye level.
The present situation caused the Eye a trace of discomfort. He was unable to interact with any of the creatures. He could only watch from above.
Though the life of a Spirit Eye was especially dull, the Eye was able to squeeze out subtle merriments from his daily observations.
With the creatures' short stays, he was unable to survey how they would interact with other kinds. Only those that looked similar mingled. One such group caught the Eye's gaze with its close-knit members. The group appeared to depend on each other for survival and protection.
The slender creatures' erect postures and agile frames stood tall. Their fur boasted a tapestry of earthy tones, blending sandy hues with streaks of russet and hints of grey.
Their small eyes–and they were off before the Eye could garner more details about their eyes. The small mob's nimble paws navigated the terrain as they scurried past the curtain of grey.
That was the last group of creatures that the Eye saw. In the following days, fewer individual creatures trickled into his vision, causing the sights to turn somewhat monotonous.
With increasing idle time to think, the Eye spent his uneventful days pondering about himself and the creatures outside his gaze.
When creatures completely stopped entering his territory, the days blended together. The endless mirage of days and nights made dull the colors of the mountain scenery.
The Eye only had his mind to keep him company. His thoughts and vision would drift and roam until the end of one day. A day when a familiar sensation overcame him.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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