VRMMO: World's First Glyphborne

Chapter 328: Thinking with Portals

Elise might not have seemed like the go-to person to close inter-dimensional portals, and she definitely felt that way herself, but really she was the ideal candidate considering the way these reality tears worked.

Elise studied under the teachings of Sylvi who, amongst being the Goddess of Trickery and having many other names and feats, was responsible for separating the worlds through her Divine Mist. At least that was what it was in Dawd’s Lore, which at this point could simply be considered real life history which was definitely not disturbing to think about.

Somehow, the Trickery Goddess had separated realities, such as the realms of the living and those of the dead, through veils of mist. The mist constructed illusions so perfect and believable, that it tricked reality itself into thinking that they were actually separate and thus the realms did not interact or perceive each other.

This ’portal’ was nothing more than a tear in that illusion, in the mist itself, which was breaking apart the trick and allowing reality to realise that the two realms were much closer than it previously realised. Which in turn caused the realms to spill over, and any wayward creature that might wander into the illusions gap to traverse the worlds.

Therefore, according to what Elise could understand of how it worked, to close the portal she would have to repair the illusion to the same quality of that as the Goddess’ own handiwork. A level that Elise was nowhere even close to touching the shadow of, nevermind being able to consistently create such works of art.

She was still in the introductory stages of illusion crafting, which revolved around creating illusions that were convincingly solid and could create the feeling of damage, although could not actually do damage. At least not yet. That was a step that was further down the line.

However, whilst she could not repair the damage that had been done, that did not mean they were simply planning on leaving it wide open for all to see. Elise had a solution already in mind.

"A Perception Field." She said with a bright smile

"Perception Field... Huh, I never thought of that. Is that something you can do?" Valerie asked, as she stabbed her cane down. She had removed the sword blade from its sheath, and had just skewered that sword blade through the head of a curious stonemuncher that poked through the portal.

Its appearance reminded Valerie of the ’elite enemy’ she had forgotten to kill in the tutorial area of Dawd. She had meant to go back and kill it before she left, but she got distracted with other things. Still, that little asshole deserved a slaughter even now. She hadn’t forgotten what he had done, even if it did momentarily slip her mind.

"So..." Trivian muttered, as he passed by in his grass glittering rounds, "Am I the only one who doesn’t know what a perception field is?"

"A Perception Field, my dear and oh so simple friend," Elise smirked at him, giving him a pat on the shoulder as if she was consoling him for being so simple minded,

"Is a sub-category of illusion magic. Illusions by design are made to be looked at and trick your mind based on what you see. They succeed and fail based on the small details, even those beyond sight such as smell or sound.

A Perception Field does the opposite. Instead of aiming to deceive the senses, it cloaks the area in a field of magic that is intended to turn the senses away from it. It is not meant to be noticed, and if done properly you will not notice that you are being turned away from it. Think of it like a magical slight of hand.

I pull your attention over here, while the real interest is over here." She explained, waving her hands in Trivian’s face like she was performing parlour magic tricks.

Trivian frowned deeply, thinking it over as he looked between her waving hands before tilting his head in confusion.

"So it’s like invisibility? That sounds amazing, why don’t you use it more often?"

"Well that’s simple. Because it’s difficult as hell to create. You need to know what you are cloaking and what senses you are supposed to be tricking, and even then if their senses are trained enough they will bypass the perception field.

It can also be broken by attention being intentionally brought to the thing in question. I could cast it on myself to seem invisible. But if I were to stab you in the back, you would definitely notice that.

The main benefit here, is that I don’t know what is on the other side of this portal, and I don’t want to step through to find out. Without knowing the area, I can’t craft an illusion. Besides that, illusions require more mana and are harder to maintain long term.

For instance if it’s in the middle of a field, I could recreate the field, but what if something changes behind the portal or something just walks past it? You would definitely notice that. Plus something might just accidentally wander into it anyways.

If I perception field it, then they will be subtly turned away from the portal and hopefully won’t notice any weirdness. That just leaves us with one issue..." She explained, finishing with a heavy sigh.

Valerie patted her friend on the shoulder, feeling the weight of this act resting upon them, as she turned to Trivian who was still looking a little confused.

She couldn’t help but smile and laugh softly before feeding him the answer,

"We can try to stop things coming through, but the portal will still be open regardless. So..."

"Something can still come through, if it’s strong enough." Trivian finished, finally understanding the main issue.

"So how are we supposed to monitor the portal to see if something does find its way through? Are we supposed to do patrols? Please don’t tell me that one of us has to wait here..." He groaned, already imagining that he would be the one who would be volunteered for that role should it come to pass.

However before he could be volunteered for such a role against his will, a soft and gentle voice spoke up for him.

"If you require a guardian, I can be of service."

Trivian let out a relieved sigh at the offer of the voice behind him. Then, after a few seconds longer than it really should have taken him, he frowned deeply. His eyes trailed upwards, towards the faces of the women in front of him.

Their expressions were frozen with disbelief and shock, as they stared over his shoulder at the owner of that gentle voice.

Trivian peered over his shoulder cautiously, before his tightened and anxious expression softened and his eyes widened.

"Oh." Slipped from his lips without him even realising it. A single word that held both his surprise, and his strange excitement for what he saw.