Forsake your five senses

'How to catch a mouse' by persieve ol' will.

Ace muttered softly, as he stroke the worn down leather that made the book's cover.

The fog of history that accumulated on it, told Ace the time of the book's origins.

"What a strange name… 'persieve ol' will, the people who lived in the time period After Bestowal sure had some strange naming habits."

Ace flipped open the first page, the crisp noise of the paper briskly rubbing against each other echoed through the empty classroom.

A slight frown grazed his face, before he quickly recovered, changing it to one of no expression.

The sound proofing function of his desk turned on as he went back to reading.

After Ace made the realisation that his state of mind was out of sorts he started to notice how much frowned at any little discomfort he had, since his soul injury.

The solution to that; Ace simply tried not to express any emotions. Whether positive or negative, as an outpour of either one of them were equally grave.

Ace's deep dark eyes darted from line to line, page to page as he read aloud in his mind, the contents that were written in the book.

'In the Age–old battle of Mice and Mage, Mages have always been have always been stronger And mice has always been craftier. Their stealthy presence always secured them the first strike in a battle against mages, and their massive numbers to have kept them from being eliminated despite their weaker strength compared to mages. But fear not!

In this book I will tell you a sure fire way to catch a mouse'

Ace chuckled slightly as he read.

'Did Aeques give me a children's book.'

The way the book was written seemed very much like how a children's book would have been written.

'Had Aequs read this before when he was a little kid?'

'Perhaps, this is how the noble families train their children.'

Ace wondered as he flipped the pages towards the end of the book where the glossary was located.

'There!'

Mice: A slur for warriors, that was popular during the time period After Bestowal when the three great guilds, Magi, Vita and Alma still existed.

Warriors from vita were called mice 'cause like mice they were tenacious and hard to get rid of.

Ace remarked when he finished reading.

'Just as expected mice is a pseudonym for warriors.'

After getting the information he needed from the glossary he continued reading the book.

The path of spirit for Alma

The path of vitality for vita

And The path of mana for Magi.

'Those are the three paths of Bestowal!' that's what the ignorant will say, but don't worry I've got you covered.

I know another path of bestowal apart from the one above, not only will this enable you to catch a mice, it is also an affinity independent path; meaning you don't need to have an affinity to any of the main paths —Though having one will certainly help.

This path is called…

Ace flipped the page over, eager to get past the cliff hanger.

The path of perception.

The path of perception, is one of the sub paths and is used to, as the name says 'perceive'.

The path of perception comprises of the sharpening and honing to the sixth sense, the same sense used to perceive mana in all it's heavenly glory.

The path of perception makes you able to see, feel, touch taste and sniff the invisible.

But despite how great the path of perception is it's not one of the three paths of Bestowal for a reason; It's too weak!

Too weak! On it's own, but with another path used in conjunction with it, its strengths will become prominent.

The next few pages then went on to describe the intricacies of the path of perception.

Ace took a break from reading the book, silently digesting the information he just read.

Around him was perfect silence, the chatter of the students around seemed to be but a dream, a figment, of his imagination.

Ace slowly closed his eyes.

'The first step of perception; forsake your five senses.'

Ace's world became undone, his perception of reality became re–written. In this world devoid of taste, touch, smell, sight, and sound, the only thing tangibly existed was his sixth sense.

'Hmm ~ this reminds me of the void, though it falls short by a lot, This place feels loud compared to it'

Second stage of perception; use your sixth sense to touch the world, instead of your five senses.

'Wha—what is this."

Ace's perception stretched across the entire class. He could vaguely see, feel, touch everything his perception encompassed.

'This is such a strange feeling, I can somehow see with no eyes, smell with no nose, taste with no tongue, I can even feel what has no touch. remarkable! Simply remarkable! The trade off was totally worth it!' Ace thought excitedly.

His emotions bubbling forth like real water in the vision of his sixth sense.

"I can even see emotions, wait can I—no way." Ace had attempted something to see something he had been thinking about for a while. To read minds.

And he succeeded somewhat. He first tried to read his own thoughts and just as he expected, everything was laid bare before his sixth sense.

But when he attempted to read someone else's mind. that's were he encountered problems his perception just bounced off their cores.

'Instresting ~ does the core act like a protective barrier for the soul' Ace muttered in fascination before snapping out of it and realising the implications of what he just found out.

"If the core acts as a shield for the soul, then that means nobody will be able to read my mind since I have a core."