The sun shines early in the morning. Dor'al walks up to Kassius and Kaizen, lying on the ground.
Dor'al: "Up you two. Time to wake up."
Kaizen: "Mhhh..."
Kaizen wakes up. Kassius slowly opens his eyes.
Kassius (in head): "The sunlight man... wha-"
In a quick jolt, he widens his eyes and sits up, looking at the grass.
Dor'al: "Everything alright?"
Kassius: "Yeah... it's fine..."
Kassius looks to the side and sees Arnold and Bonnie eating food.
Dor'al: "They woke up earlier. Come. We will eat and resume from yesterday."
Kassius and Kaizen joins the others and eat their food. After cleaning up, the group starts walking along the cliff area.
Dor'al: "OK, so what have I told you?"
Kassius: "Presence is our existence."
Dor'al: "Good. What else?"
Bonnie: "The sensory technique thing."
Dor'al: "Yes. Now, moreso of what I'm getting at is, what did I tell you about living things vs non-living things?"
Arnold: "Living things have fluctuating Presence and non-living things do not."
Dor'al: "Almost. The Presence of non-living things can fluctuate. It's that living things have natural fluctuations. That is key for the next step."
Kaizen: "What do you mean?"
Dor'al: "Well, when you interact with non-living things, you cause temporary fluctuations. These are caused by what you can think of as remnants of our Presence. For example, a body smell that lingers on a shirt. The thing is, for the second major application, you need to be able to actively fluctuate an inanimate object's Presence."
Bonnie: "By second application, you mean the Unique techniques, right?"
Dor'al: "Yes. Those are a bit more complex than the sensory ones. Once you get a hang of Presence Scoping which is what I have you doing now, you'll understand the feel of Presence and you can learn how to fluctuate it at specific points in the body."
The group stops by a boulder.
Dor'al: "I want to test something. All of you place a palm on the rock."
The group put their hands on the boulder. Dor'al puts his hand on too.
Dor'al: "Now currently, the rock is slightly fluctuating. But it's very small, almost unnoticeable. I will be honest, even I cannot notice it. However, Remus does say it is the case. Now, I'll fluctuate my Presence around my palm. Do you guys feel a difference?"
The group looks at him and they shake their heads.
Dor'al: "Hmm, OK. Forgive me, I guess it isn't so easy to force to feeling onto others."
Kaizen: "Look at that."
Kaizen points to the boulder, seeing a bunch of ants scattering away from their hands.
Bonnie: "The ants?"
Kaizen: "Did your Presence scare them?"
Dor'al: "Well... in a sense, it did. My own fluctuations caused fluctuations in the area of the boulder I was touching, which rippled out. The ants probably noticed these ripples and panicked."
Arnold: "Ants can use Presence?"
Dor'al: "Animals in general are actually more in tune with the sensing of Presence than us. It's instinctual to them. In the book, he calls animals geniuses."
The group walk back to their camp area. The rest of the day passes, as they continue looking at the stick and grass. For some time, they stare at the sticks. Other times they spend talking. The day passes by and evening arrives. Dor'al sits the group down.
Dor'al: "OK, I believe you have the foundational knowledge. I can now explain the Unique technique. So, what he defines it as in the book, is the ability to manifest your true desire."
Kassius: "True desire?"
Dor'al: "Indeed. It could be an ambition you have, a lifelong want. But it must be truly what you want, and you must be aware of it. He says those who do not know their desires, do not know themselves. As the name would suggest, the technique should be special to you. But why do you think this is?"
The group sits in silence, not knowing how to respond.
Dor'al: "Because desires can be shared, but not what that desire means to the person... or at least, that is the idea he pushes."
Arnold: "Does the meaning really matter?"
Dor'al: "What do you mean?"
Arnold: "I mean that even if two people have different meanings to their desire, what difference does it make? If the desire is the same, shouldn't the technique also be?"
Dor'al: "Well, that would be true, but this lead into his main point and what Unique Techniques are all about. It is the action by which you want to achieve this desire that differentiates Presence users. Let me use myself as an example. My technique allows me to use doors to go from one location to another. Perhaps someone else has a similar desire to me. Their technique does not have to use a door. Nor does it have to be similar to transporting from one place to another. The choice of action to reach a desire is your own."
Kaizen: "But what if they, you know, coincidentally stumble onto the same action?"
Dor'al: "Then the differentiator would be in the conditions."
Kaizen: "Conditions?"
Dor'al: "This is the main thing that allows Unique Techniques to work. And it is also why I mentioned the temporary fluctuations earlier. Unique Techniques come in two forms, your Base Technique, and your Irregular Technique. For now, I'll just explain the Base. The Base Technique is the standard ability you get by manifesting your desire into an action. You define the action, and place conditions upon yourself."
Kassius: "Why do we need to put conditions?"
Dor'al: "One must earn their desire, and cannot attain it unless they believe they deserve to. Therefore, the simpler the action, the less rules you need to impose on yourself. But, the harder you make achieving said action, the more effective it becomes."
Kassius "Kind of like a balancing game then."
Dor'al: "A good way to look at it, yes. Simply, the harder it is for yourself, the more beneficial the reward."
Bonnie: "Could you give another example? I'm a bit lost."
Dor'al: "Hmm... Ok. Let's say I have a desire, for example, to touch the clouds. There are many possible actions to manifest this desire. You could want to fly or to jump high. Now, you cannot naturally do these things, and you may believe that it is unearned. So to balance, you impose a rule to using this action. You can make many rules, or a single rule. Regardless, the point is the difficulty of fulfilling it."
Bonnie: "Ahh, OK I see."
Kaizen: "You say the harder it is, the more we can use it. So what if it is too easy?"
Dor'al: "Then your Presence may fluctuate dangerously, possibly harming you."
The group goes quiet, as the sun starts to set.
Dor'al: "The good thing is that it is about the intent. If you believe the conditions are reasonable, then you have nothing to worry about. Now a question I got asked once is what the minimum condition for safety is. This was a big topic a while ago as people were initially afraid to use Presence. But from discussion, most people came to an agreed solution. And that is, a fundamental condition is required."
Kassius: "A fundamental condition?"
Dor'al: "At least one condition that establishes the context of use. That way, it can only be used in certain moments. Other conditions follow after. These additional ones act more to make achieving the action harder. It is important to remember, using a Technique causes a fluctuation in the brain that shuts off focus on Presence. This usually occurs for a while. But these conditions allow for this disruption to be minimized, so repetitive use of the technique gets easier. I think it's kind of obvious but Presence usage is very much linked to your energy. So you cannot just use it whenever you feel like it."
Kassius: "So conditions are also a way to save energy then?"
Dor'al: "Precisely."
Arnold: "Why do we need the temporary fluctuations then?"
Dor'al: "Great question. You need it to create the Conditional Manifesto. Basically, everything I've explained, you need to write it down. It is like making a contract, but with yourself. In the beginning, I mentioned intention, correct? This especially applies to making the Manifesto. You cannot just write the Unique Technique down. You have to actively fluctuate the thing you write it on. Also, quick advice. Always remember where you write your Manifesto."
Kassius: "Why?"
Dor'al: "If what holds your Manifesto gets destroyed, so does your Manifesto and you'll have to recreate it before using the technique again."
Bonnie: "Wait, doesn't this mean we can just write the Manifesto anywhere?"
Dor'al: "You can but it's a bit more complex than that. I'd just advise you to write it in one place you can access easily."
Kassius: "So Hassan's technique works the same way?"
Dor'al: "It should. The Base Technique always follows these rules. This applies to him, me and any other Presence Users."
Dor'al stands up.
Dor'al: "I'll go get some food. In the meantime, continue until you get something."
Dor'al walks away back towards the village. The group go back to looking at their sticks.
Kaizen: "This is some pretty interesting stuff."
Bonnie: "I wonder what my true desire is."
Kassius: "Maybe it's to constantly eat."
Bonnie: "Mmm, that's not too bad, you know."
Time passes by as Dor'al brings food back and they eat. As the night goes on, Dor'al falls asleep, as the others continue focusing on their sticks.
Kassius: "You know, I think this is probably what he used."
Arnold: "Hmm?"
Kassius: "Sado Talman. When I fought him. That appearing behind me thing."
Kassius looks back at his stick.
Kassius: "He didn't use it that much, so I'm guessing his conditions were not hard to meet... hey, what about the others? Did they have strange abilities too?"
Arnold: "The ones I encountered didn't."
Kaizen: "Neither did I."
Bonnie: "Well, the one I faced seemed to be a step ahead of me. Maybe his Unique Technique was to read minds."
Kassius: "I guess using Presence isn't always an advantage."
Kaizen: "I'm going to bed. My eyes are hurting."
Bonnie: "Same here. Wake me up if you figure something out, will you?"
Kaizen and Bonnie lie down and go to sleep. Kassius and Arnold continue looking at the sticks.
Kassius: "You noticing anything yet?"
Arnold: "No. I think I'll go rest as well."
Kassius: "Alright, goodnight."
Arnold lies down and goes to sleep. Kassius continues looking, but stares beyond into the distance.
Kassius (in head): "...I hope they're all OK."
He slowly falls asleep.
"Who are you?"
Kassius: "Mhh..."
Kassius slowly opens his eyes but stops midway.
Kassius (in head): "Hmm? What's... this feeling... and that shape..."
Kassius slowly continues to open his eyes.
Kassius (in head): "Is that..."
Kassius' eyes open fully as he stares at his stick.
Kassius: "I... see it... I- Yo! Wake up! I can-"
Kassius looks at the stick in confusion.
Bonnie: "Wha?... What happened?"
Kassius: "I... I think I saw it."
Arnold: "What did you do?"
Kassius: "I just woke up and I could see it. I was, like, slowly opening my eyes and bam! There it is."
Kaizen: "Are you sure?"
Kassius: "I think so. I am awake, right? Not a dream?"
Dor'al: "What did it look like?"
Kassius looks to the side, seeing Dor'al look at him.
Kassius: "Like... like a bubble, all around the stick. Kind of like smoke, even."
Dor'al smiles and nods his head.
Dor'al: "Congratulations. You've seen its Presence."