The Good Teacher

Marie's life was fairly monotonous since that day. Every morning, she would venture into her Master's cottage and exert her mana sense to observe the waves of fate around her. She was warned earlier that doing so outside the cottage would result in a fierce backlash, and that she had to practice to control it under a thoroughly controlled environment. The plan was to incrementally loosen the stringency of the isolating ritual lined along the cottage walls to raise Marie's resistance organically.

This exercise lasted for another month, during which time Marie gradually learned more about what the waves of fate represented.

"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction," Krish started. "It does not just apply to the science of physics that you're learning with Teacher Larks, it also applies to life in general. The things that people do influences the world in one way or another. A large action or even a multitude of small actions, when accumulated, can warrant a large reaction from the world. And waves of fate track this interaction."

"I have a question," Marie interjected. "Master has stated before that the events that will transpire in this world are premeditated. Doesn't that mean that our actions and the subsequent reactions are inconsequential since they occur by design and not by choice?"

"Ah," Krish vocalised. "I can see how that might get confusing. When I said that the world is premeditated, it refers only to the way the world affects you."

Marie hummed in confusion, "That doesn't make sense. Aren't they the same as what I asked?"

"Can a man truly be isolated from the world?" Krish threw back.

"Not really. I mean they can try, I guess."

"That's right. No one can separate themselves from the intricate web that binds us together. Even if a man tries to live life inconsequentially, in the grand scheme of things they will play a part, albeit a minor one. In fact, a person can never live an inconsequential life because the world makes it so that their life undergoes trials and tribulations since living itself is a curse."

"That's quite pessimistic," Marie muttered.

"It is the truth! The world seeks to be disordered, yet life is the ordering of matter to create intricate, organic machines. Just this single aberration is enough to disturb the world's grand design. Thus, we as sentient beings must undergo the trials the world throws at us as it attempts to correct itself," Krish orated.

"On that note, divination tells us what the world will do to us as prescribed by our fate. It does not, however, tell us what we will do to face these trials, because that is literally impossible. If I could tell you what you are going to do, you wouldn't do it."

"But it can tell us how our actions will come to affect us?" Marie chimed in.

"Bingo!" Krish congratulated. "Now you've got the hang of it! In fact, this is the second step in learning divination. You must have noticed that every action done or word spoken, even imperceptible ones, elicit a vibration in your surroundings. These vibrations spread out, but a much smaller wave is reflected. The art of divination works to decipher these reflecting waves."

"How do you do that?" Marie inquired with a hopeful expression. "Please don't kick me out like last time."

"HAHAHA! No," Krish assuaged her. "This time we will be working together."

As Marie sighed in relief, Krish reached into his bag and retrieved a set of different divination tools. "The response you receive as waves are complex and are constituent of multiple, varying information. To interpret them, we use these tools as a medium. Basically, you channel the responding wave through the tool of choice and observe how it reacts."

"And then?" Marie urged with interest.

"And then, you cross-reference the behaviour of the tool with historic data to determine the answer," Krish concluded.

"That sounds extremely inaccurate and flimsy in my opinion," Marie retorted.

"That's only if you're starting for the first time with an undocumented tool," Krish reasoned. "For example, if you plan to use cowrie shells like me, then you have access to my almanacks that organise most, if not all, possible spreads you can observe with them. The same applies for divining sticks that my Master used, these dice, and so on."

"So?" Krish asked. "What do you choose? Do you want to use any of these divining methods, or do you intend to create your own? A word of warning, if you're planning to pioneer your own, then you'll probably have to generate a large data set from scratch."

Marie squinted her eye and wore a distressed expression. "Which of the tools here offers the most accurate reading?"

"Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages. I use cowrie shells as I find it easier to interpret geometric spreads. My Master's Master preferred dice because he found it easier to cross-reference numerical values with predictions. Ultimately it depends on what you find most suitable," Krish explained.

"Honestly," Marie spoke with a flat smile. "I'm not feeling any of them, you know?"

"That's okay," Krish shrugged. "We can work to develop your own method."

"Why can't we read from the response waves directly? Adding these tools as middle-men feels quite finicky."

Krish sighed in defeat and conceded a point, "Why don't you try deciphering one of the response waves yourself. You will understand what I mean."

He then proceeded to explain the exact method to do so. "If you observe your mana channels using mana sense when tuned to the waves of fate, you should notice channels originating from your palms navigating through your core and towards your brain. Usually, the response waves are directed through the palm, through the core which attunes it, and then out the other to attune the tools. Instead, channel the waves through your core into your brain."

Marie nodded and got to work. She started by first tuning her mana sense to determine the indicated mana channel. The human hands are one of the most sensitive parts of their bodies because they are packed with a myriad of nerve endings and blood vessels that enable high-precision sensing. Coincidentally, a lot of mana channels in the body also open up near the palms and hands (as well as at the base of the foot). Like her Master had described, she found the ones that moved from palms to the core to the brain. Next, she asked a throwaway question, "Will the sunset in Twilight Village occur earlier today than yesterday?"

As the sentence exited her mouth, a wave with a large magnitude emanated and travelled into the distance. After a short while, the response wave arrived with lower intensity. Marie intercepted the wave through one palm. The moment it contacted the mana channel, a tingling feeling started to course through her along the channel. Marie carefully directed the feeling towards her core where an imperceptible change occurred. After that, she diverted it towards her brain.

When the wave arrived at its destination, a series of grainy and noisy sensations attacked all of her senses. It wasn't painful like her previous attempt to open up her senses to everything. It felt more like she was experiencing many events all at once. After a short minute, which somehow felt much longer, the sensation dissipated.

"Do you understand now?" Krish asked. "The response wave contains all the possible 'reactions' to your action, which was the question. It is impossible, at your level and cultivation realm, to decipher the messages contained within."

"Are you able to decipher them directly?" Marie responded.

"The moment I awakened The Heavenly Eye, I no longer needed to decipher them. The Eye tells me everything that can be divined, and more, directly. Why would I need to bother with the intermediaries as you so rightfully pointed out before?"

"There has to be a way!" Marie declared steadfastly.

"Why are you wasting your time with this?" Krish reasoned. "You should barrel through this stage and quickly awaken The Heavenly Eye, like me."

"But as you've said, The Heavenly Eye is a perilous tool that could hurt the user if used recklessly. However, divination is not dangerous. So, if divination can be made close to as precise as The Heavenly Eye, then I will no longer have to worry about making mistakes with The Heavenly Eye," Marie responded.

"That's a logical conclusion, however, it is impossible to do so," Krish said while shaking his head.

Marie simply clicked her tongue and derided her Master, "This is your problem, you know? You've lived for so long that you assume you've seen everything there is and are quick to deny any possibility of ideas contrary to your beliefs."

Krish was about to respond when Marie simply stood up and prepared to leave, "Forget it! I'll just figure it out by myself... like always."

And with those parting words, Marie rushed out of the cottage without a second thought. Krish exhaled with amusement at this sight. Before storing away the items in front of him, Krish opened his eyes, revealing a golden glow emanating from them. After a short second, his pupils lost their golden lustre, then his eyes widened in surprise. A pregnant pause invaded the already silent room, during which a mellowed and proud smile cracked across his face.

"I guess it IS possible, huh?" Krish extended his mana sense to follow his Disciple excitedly prancing up the steps to the orphanage and smiled bitterly. "I am just a Master in name. I don't think I have the capacity to teach her anything at all."

He hummed to himself and commented offhandedly, "Maybe I should apprentice under Guy and learn how to teach."

He chuckled at that thought, and gradually entered a deep meditative state.