Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!
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"Didn't you just leave?" Markus asked Shuri, half-smiling-half-serious. She hoped to avoid meeting the boy, but coincidentally, their paths crossed as she entered the library.
Shuri swallowed her embarrassment and said, "It's my time of the month."
Markus coughed loudly, his face turning a luminescent shade of red, "Oh! Well... Umm... Carry on... I mean-"
Revealing a sly smirk, she pushed past Markus and entered the library. But just as she made it through the entryway, the door behind her burst open and Markus rushed in.
"You don't bleed after entering the Foundation Establishment realm!" He declared with utter certainty. "Jean and Marie said so!"
"Umm..." Shuri murmured while nudging her head sideways and around causing Markus to shift his eyes around and bathe in the pointed gazes of all his peers.
"Umm..." Markus shifted uncomfortably, his peachy face turning red all over again. "I- Uh... I have something to do. Carry on!"
And with that, the boy disappeared so quickly that he left an after-image of his form.
"You heard your Senior Brother," Shuri said with a clap. "Carry on!."
Once everyone returned to their studies, Shuri beelined towards Yohn, who hadn't moved from his spot and was still in the middle of his book.
"Yohn," Shuri greeted.
The boy turned his head in her general direction and revealed a warm smile, "Senior Sister Shuri."
"Technically, I joined after you. So I should be calling YOU Senior Brother," Shuri hastily corrected.
"We both know that isn't how things work around here," Yohn responded with a knowing chuckle. This then transitioned into an awkward silence as Shuri struggled to figure out how to encroach on the topic of the interview.
"How are things going with you?" Shuri finally spoke up after struggling for a good two minutes.
"You don't have to wade through small talk if you don't want to," Yohn responded straightforwardly. "I can feel the discomfort in your voice. You came looking for me with a purpose, is it not?"
Shuri pulled her lips into a pout and said, "You make me sound like an opportunist."
"Well, although the Sect is small, cliques are forming here - groups that tend to hang out together more often than others," Yohn expounded. "And, the cliques that form tend to have overlapping members. For instance, I hang out a lot with Kevan and a few others from the camp. Kevan likes to hang out with Revian, Casey and Lacey in the Hover-Sack Players' group. So, I am separated from Casey, Lacey and Revian by a single degree of separation. In fact, I am separated by one degree from just about everyone, except for you. And funnily enough, you are separated by two or more with every other member in the Sect except for Marie, Jean, Markus and the little twins."
Yohn tilted his head and added, "What does that tell me? The fact that you've approached me implies that you need something from me."
"Actually, I need you to help me... help you," Shuri said with a confused expression. "Let me explain-"
Shuri cleared her throat and restarted, "When you were recruited, the Sect Leader promised you that he would find a way for you to cultivate and advance in the path of magic."
"He did," Yohn affirmed, his tone rising suspiciously near the end.
"As of now, he hasn't succeeded. You've seen your peers moving ahead all around you, yet you remain where you are. How does that make you feel?" Shuri probed further.
"W-Why are you asking me this?" Yohn stuttered with his brows furrowed.
"I wish to understand your emotional state right now," Shuri continued.
"Then why phrase the question in such a way? It sounds like you're trying to instigate something," Yohn accused. "The Sect Leader has been upfront and honest about everything with me. I can see his sincerity and efforts. Unless he gives up, I will keep my hopes up. Besides, even if nothing comes out of it. I have received more than I could ever ask for from this life. On a side note, how does knowing my emotional state help you... help me?"
"I'll be straight with you," Shuri responded. "As far as it is known in the world of magic, there are no instances of a mortal, born blind or blinded early in their life, finding success in the path of magic. Sect Leader Larks may not have admitted it yet, but he's encroaching upon a dead end."
Shuri waited for the boy to raise a counterpoint, but he remained silent, and in thought. "Recently, this task fell upon me - to find a way for you to follow your peers. I don't have a solution, but I have an idea."
That claim caused the boy's ears to perk up in interest. "BUT, it is not a certainty and I too could find myself blocked into a dead-end. What then?"
"What do you mean, 'what then'?" Yohn parroted.
"What will you do if there is no way?" Shuri clarified.
"Like I said-" Yohn started, but his voice teetered off.
"It's normal to feel distraught. But then that feeling grows the more the distance between you and your friends grows. You were talking about the sociodynamic observations you made earlier - what will you do if Kevan becomes a Core Formation realm mage while you still remain a mortal?" Shuri proposed.
"What will you do as you grow older, but Kevan maintains his youthful form?" She stabbed deeper. She noticed the boy's expression droop significantly with her every word.
"Life isn't fair," Shuri stated. "But getting hung up on this unfairness will earn you nothing. It will only eat you up from inside and drive you mad."
Flashes of Shuri's mother's final state bubbled up from Shuri's memories. "Sometimes, you just have to make the best of the hand that is dealt."
As she said this, Yohn released a light chuckle.
"What is it?" Shuri asked.
"Sect Leader Larks said something like this sometime back," Yohn answered. "At that point, I sort of realised that he was getting nowhere and was trying to ease the pain I would feel when he finally opened up about it. I can see that you are doing the same. Don't worry, I won't hold it against you or the Sect Leader. I appreciate all the effort and thought you will put in for my sake."
Shuri expressed her gratitude with a light bow and said, "Although I don't care what people think of me, I'd rather not leave a knot of resentment when I can help it. I hope you understand that I am not trying to discourage you in any way. I just want you to keep a realistic mindset. We are walking uncharted territories that may or may not lead to a specific destination."
"I'm all for the journey," Yohn added cheerfully.
"On that note," Shuri retrieved a small book from her jacket and placed it on the table in front. "As part of the journey, I will need to ask you a few questions. I hope you can answer them truthfully and with as much detail as possible."
Yohn tilted his head and asked, "Are you taking notes?"
"I am... Is there a problem?"
Shaking his head, he clarified, "No problem at all. It's just... do you even need to? Don't you just- I don't know- remember everything?"
Shuri laughed in response before saying, "These notes aren't for me. They are for those that will come after. Hopefully, I won't be the last person to attempt a cultivation solution for the visually impaired. And when the next person tries to attempt this problem, they can pick up from where I left off. It may offer them guidance, or tell them what they need to avoid doing."
"That's an optimistic approach," Yohn said appreciatively.
"Yeah," Shuri retorted with a beaming smile. "I'm trying it out for size."
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Yohn's interview with Shuri proved to be a relatively straightforward and insightful process. Shuri's inquiries were predominantly focused on understanding how Yohn accomplished specific tasks, delving into the inner workings of his mind and the strategies he employed to compensate for his blindness. She probed into his unique perspective, seeking to comprehend how he navigated the world and interacted with it.
Transitioning to a more personalized line of questioning, Shuri delved into user-specific aspects. She probed Yohn's preferences regarding different forms of guidance and assistance, such as whether he favoured haptic feedback or audio cues, and if so, what kind of haptic feedback he found most preferable, whether continuous or incidental. Shuri tried to keep her interview as unbiased as possible, avoiding any directed questions that may take her down a predefined path instead of allowing her to explore all of her options.
During their conversation, a remarkable revelation emerged. Shuri, with her extraordinary mana sense, decided to conduct a rudimentary brain scan to investigate the neural processes involved when Yohn read Braille. She compared this to the brain's response when he merely explored objects with his fingers to identify their textures and characteristics. Astonishingly, the findings were nothing short of captivating. Shuri discovered that the same region of Yohn's brain activated when he read Braille as when she read ordinary printed text. Remarkably, Yohn was able to read without utilizing his eyes, relying solely on the tactile sensations of Braille.
"It is absolutely fascinating," Shuri exclaimed, her curiosity piqued as she neatly packed away her stuff.
"What is?" Yohn asked, equally curious to hear her perspective.
"Well, it's interesting to see how the human mind adapts to changes in the self and the environment," Shuri explained. "You'd think that losing a sense would just put a portion of the brain out of commission, but it looks like instead, it just rewires itself and builds new connections."
Yohn simply hummed in affirmation. He couldn't appreciate the beauty of the discovery with equal vim and vigour as Shuri. She, for one, actually knew the beauty of such adaptive connectivity as she compared it with logic circuitry.
'Maybe someday, I can build something like that with mana cores...'
The thought stuck in her mind for a few minutes, before dispersing amidst the myriad of ideas about the next step of the design process: "Ideation and Concept Development."
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