Zoe and Eliza spent several months going back and forth on how her new skill worked. They wandered through the streets with Eliza staring at everybody — most of which looking back with a feeling of unease at her unwavering intensity.

  In the end, there were only a few things they could be truly confident in. The first was that whatever Eliza was seeing, was definitely related to the system in some way. Whether by chance or by design, the intensity of mana Eliza could see directly correlated to how much the system had touched somebody. A child was barely even visible to Eliza's eyes, while most adventurers looked more or less the same, with old wizened folks like Zoe deep wells of power.

  The second thing they could be confident in — or at least that Eliza could be confident in, was that it was impossible with just the one skill alone to see what somebody was capable of. Eliza could see the scope of power a person wielded, but the difference between a Frost skill and a Carpentry skill was negligible, if even present at all to Eliza's eyes. An old smith barely capable of raising a weapon against burglars almost identical to an old worn dungeon delver teaching at a school.

  Eliza was able to notice when the system did something — when Zoe got a new skill, her soul expanded. Or aura, or whatever the thing was. That was the last thing they were sure of. Was that they had very little idea of what it actually was that Eliza was able to see.

  It made sense that it would be the system's collection of skills that somebody had, but it had no correlation to how that same person actually interacted with those same skills. No direct connection that Eliza could see to how Zoe would disable her skills, how she would set up her enchanted mirrors.

  All Eliza could see was the effect Zoe's decisions had. Like the system reacting, and changing her presence in the world. But she couldn't see the actual decisions Zoe was making. She couldn't see when Zoe was looking through her soul, trying to find a specific skill.

  "So," Eliza said, laying down on a thin rug she'd summoned from one of her storage items and placed on the sandy desert they'd been wandering through. "I don't think that's your soul."

  "I really wish you could get this so I could see it better," Zoe pouted. It seemed incredible, at least how Eliza described it. Yet even after months, Zoe still had never been able to see it herself. If she could, her powerful omniscience might even help parse the information better. Eliza knew that. Eliza had mentioned that. Many times.

  It wasn't helpful to complain about it, Zoe knew. But she did anyway. It almost felt like Zoe got a new class but all it ended up being was a new toy for Eliza to play with.

  "I know, I know." Eliza yawned, stretching out as she basked in the warm summer sun blazing down on the barren desert. "I'll get it. As soon as I can."

  Zoe nodded.

  "What about your other skill? The, uhh. Behold?" Eliza dug the back of her head into the sand as she looked up at Zoe sitting down on a floating wooden chair.

  "Beheld? It's interesting. I think it's good, but I don't get it." Zoe said, then grinned. "Actually, yeah lets talk about this one. Maybe it'll be motivate you to work on one of these beholder classes sooner."

  Eliza sighed. "I won't get to use this one, will I?"

  "Nope." Zoe laughed. "Just for me. I can kinda use an enchantment with it, but it's not quite the same thing."

  "So it shows you the origin of something, you said?" Eliza asked.

  "I think so," Zoe nodded. "That's my current theory, anyway. But it doesn't seem to show me the true origin. It shows me some remnants of it? Some memories, twisted and jumbled together."

  Eliza summoned a thin metal ring and handed it to Zoe. "Use it on this."

  "What is it?" Zoe asked.

  Eliza shook her head. "Just try it, I'm curious about something."

  Clang after clang rang out as Zoe's consciousness barely stirred awake. Heat and sharp ringing metal the only things she could feel. Her vision was taken by a blinding light as a vibrant red flame licked at the corners of her periphery. A person stood in front of her. A beast? Zoe wasn't sure.

  They were hairy, furry almost. Covered head to mid torso that Zoe could see in a thick brown hair, large black eyes just poking through the dense covering and staring at her with a boiling passion. A hammer lifted over the beast's shoulders and swung down, rattling Zoe's consciousness.

  Zoe shook herself back to consciousness, coming to terms with her normal existence. The yellow sands that surrounded her. The cold wooden seat beneath her, the hot sun burning into her skin. She'd only used the skill a few times but it was hard to get used to. For a moment, she almost felt like she was a part of that memory. That she was truly there, and then the moment passed and she was back home. In her own body, with her own limbs and her own eyes. Her own experiences.

  "I saw a beast. I think in a workshop. A forge maybe? They were really, really hairy. Thick brown fur, with big black eyes. I think I might have been inside the furnace? I'm not sure." Zoe said.

  Eliza nodded. "Interesting. Do it again, and tell me what you see."

  Clang after clang rang out as Zoe's consciousness barely stirred awake. Heat and sharp ringing metal a now familiar sensation. Her vision was taken by a blinding light as a vibrant red flame licked at the corners of her periphery.

  In front of her was a young woman, maybe in her early twenties if even that. Short blonde hair framed her burnt and scarred face perfectly, with beads of sweat dripping down her brow and soaking into her shirt. She lifted a hammer, and swung it down at Zoe, rattling her consciousness.

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  "I saw a woman this time," Zoe blinked a few times, acclimating herself to her surroundings again. "Young. Short blonde hair, burnt skin. Soaked in sweat. I was still inside the furnace, I think. The forge was the same, rattling metal, heavy clangs."

  "Again," Eliza said.

  Clang after clang rang out as Zoe's consciousness barely stirred awake. Heat and sharp ringing metal now a very familiar sensation. Her vision was taken by a blinding light as a vibrant red flame licked at the corners of her periphery.

  Standing over her was an older burly man, with a long twisting gray beard and bald head that was missing eyes. He licked his lips as he lifted a hammer and swung it down at Zoe, rattling her consciousness.

  "An older man this time. Gray beard, bald head. He licked his lips. He didn't have eyes. Still in the furnace, and the forge was the same." Zoe squinted, trying to pull herself back into reality. Trying to ground herself from the experience.

  "Fascinating." Eliza said. "So the ring doesn't care about who made it? Or the system doesn't find it important. But the environment mattered. The environment shaped it? Does the environment have that much of an impact on the things we create? Have you noticed things behaving differently if you make them in different areas? I've never thought about it, personally."

  Zoe shrugged. "Never crossed my mind before. If I enchant something, I expect it to do the same thing regardless of where I enchanted it at. I've never noticed something performing worse just because I did it in a worse place."

  "I don't think there's anything to it, but it's worth keeping in mind. Maybe I'll try experimenting with that at some point." Eliza summoned two pieces of fabric that had been poorly sewn together and handed it to Zoe. "Here, try this now."

  Zoe sighed, and pushed her mana through her skill as she grabbed the fabric.

  Silence greeted Zoe. No voices, no ringing metal, no scraping fabric. Just a serene silence. In front of Zoe was an older woman. Long black hair that stretched out of Zoe's line of sight, with a mischievous grin on her wrinkled face.

  "Hello Blanch," The woman said. "I thought it would be enjoyable to spend some time together. We don't get to do that too often, and I thought it might be fun to get together at times. Letters are never enough, you know?"

  The woman lifted a needle, plain white thread trailing behind through the eye and pierced it through Zoe with a few quick strokes.

  "It was quiet. Very quiet. An old woman, wrinkled skin and black hair. She was talking to somebody named Blanch about spending more time together?" Zoe continued, sharing the rest of the woman's speech.

  Eliza smiled. "Again."

  Silence greeted Zoe once more, with a different older woman sitting in front of Zoe this time. Thin gray hair covered her head, with just the same mischievous grin cresting her face.

  "Hello Leo," the woman said. "I thought it would be nice to get to know each other. We never find the time anymore, and I thought this could be a nice break for us."

  The woman reached forward with a needle, and with a few swift motions Zoe was ripped back to reality.

  Zoe shook her head, blinking in the blinding sun. "The woman was even older this time. Thin gray hair," Zoe felt a twinge of annoyance billow up within Eliza before it was quickly pushed away. "She was talking to Leo about how it would be nice to get to know each other."

  "I made that." Eliza said. "A few weeks back."

  "Oh!" Zoe said. "When you had to go back to Foizo?"

  Eliza nodded. "Yup. I took a moment to make something and see if I could leave a message in it. Try it again, now that you know I made it."

  Zoe nodded, and pushed mana into her skill again. The scene repeated, much the same. A new older woman grinned at her, and spoke of meeting an old friend again before a few swift motions brought her back to reality.

  "Did you see me that time?" Eliza asked, sitting up on her rug now.

  Zoe shook her head. "No it was still just some random old woman. So old." Zoe emphasized. "One of the oldest women I've ever seen, really. Ancient, honestly. I'm not even sure how she—"

  "Okay!" Eliza interrupted. "We've already established you're not seeing me, anyway. Doesn't matter that the woman's old. And I don't look that old, do I?"

  She didn't, really. The woman's skin was near flawless — as most immortals skin tended to be. Her hair was healthy and vibrant, dyed a deep black at the moment. Her yellow eyes glowed with a youthful radiance, and she moved with the confidence and vigour of somebody at least a millennium younger than her.

  "Yup." Zoe said. "Now that I think about it, actually it was just you sitting there. Wrinkles and all."

  Eliza rolled her eyes, and summoned two sheets of fabric. A quick motion pulled some white thread through the needle, and the needle itself through the two pieces of fabric joining them together. She handed the shoddy work to Zoe and raised her eyebrows.

  Zoe pushed mana through her skill, and it almost felt like time rewound as she found herself watching Eliza summon the needle, thread it and stuff it through the fabric. Were it not for her perspective shifting to hanging from Eliza's hands, Zoe might have even thought she'd just rewound time.

  Every little detail was immaculate. The grains of sand in the desert. Eliza's eyes still just coming back to rest on the fabric as she pulled the needle through. Each strand of hair that clung to the side of her face, fallen away from the mass of it down her shoulders.

  Zoe's perspective shifted back to her chair like nothing had even happened.

  "Wow," Zoe said. "That one was perfect. I saw everything, exactly right."

  Eliza nodded. "So is that because you saw me make it, or because it was recently made?"

  Zoe shrugged.

  "Go away," Eliza shooed Zoe away with her hand. "Somewhere over there. Come back in a few seconds."

  Zoe teleported a few dozen kilometers away and waited a few seconds, before she teleported back. When she did, Eliza handed her another shoddy piece of fabric and Zoe pushed her mana through her skill again.

  An almost identical scene played out with one significant difference. Before Eliza dragged the needle through the fabric, she stared at it and spoke.

  "You said bibbledebom?" Zoe tilted her head. "Is that right?"

  "It is!" Eliza laughed. "So it's not about whether you saw it, but how recent it was made. Incredible. So memories are lost with time, in these objects? How much is lost, with how much time? Are certain things protected over others?"

  Eliza grinned, her eyes beaming with excitement. "I need this class, Zoe."

  Zoe laughed. "I thought it would give you some motivation."

  Eliza clapped her hands. "Okay, your other skills are... interesting but not this interesting. You can do that yourself, just send me a message if you find anything very interesting. Also, I'm going to need you to use your skill on that one again every day, and record what you see." She pointed to the second piece of fabric, when she spoke some gibberish as she made it.

  "You're gonna go eavesdrop?" Zoe asked.

  "Damn straight!" Eliza shouted. "How long do you think it'd take to listen to ten thousand private conversations? If I wanted it in a year, it would be... three hundred conversations every day? That's only ten conversations an hour. I can do that. I can do more than that. Maybe I go sit in a school for a bit and help stop some bullying. Or maybe I help out at one of Joe's inns. Which one's the most popular?" Eliza continued rambling on for a while, thinking of every situation she could put herself in to eavesdrop on other people's private conversations.

  The requirement was passive, for Zoe. She'd never gone out of her way to hear private conversations, but as a silent protector of Foizo she'd watched some adventurers out in the wilderness or delving into dungeons. It was her responsibility, people expected it of her. But seeing somebody try to get the class intentionally put into context just how creepy the classes were.

  "Wait," Eliza stopped her rambling and looked at Zoe, eyes wide and jittering with excitement. "What if you use it on a reward from a dungeon?"

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