Only the entity targeted by the Hidden Eye could see it. But as Inala had faced it a few times already, he could feel its presence. But that was it.
It was why he stitched Tangible Piezo Slips onto the Biome Bombs before summoning the Influenced Region of Hidden. It was to experiment upon the extent of rules it followed to use cause and effect to erase an existence.
'As I thought, it works.' Inala smiled in thought as the information popped up in his mind space, 'Since Zinger Shrieks are purely sounds and not an ability, it doesn't get erased with the entity.'
Like if Inala were to get erased by the Hidden Eye, his body would vanish. However, the air in his lungs won't vanish. He wasn't sure of this info, but the arrival of the Zinger Shriek confirmed his hypothesis.
'But why exactly doesn't it get erased too?' Inala frowned. When the two Biome Bombs entered a state of flight, the Hidden Eye appeared to erase them. it erased them one after another. However, it intended to erase them both.
Hence, when it appeared, it had revealed itself to both the Biome Bombs. The one that got erased first wasn't able to resist. After all, in its perspective, its time was halted, following which it was erased.
Right before it attained flight, it had generated a Zinger Shriek from one corner of the Biome Bomb's interior. At the speed of sound, the Zinger Shriek required a bit over a second to traverse the length of 360 metres within the Biome Bomb.
The shriek was only partway in its journey when the Biome Bomb got erased. But as it hadn't been erased, it continued to travel and eventually reached him. The air within the first Biome Bomb was sucked in from outside. Hence, the shriek reached Inala after the Biome Bomb was erased.
However, the air in the second Biome Bomb was condensed through Prana, which meant that the shriek travelling through the air too was erased. Before it got erased though, the Biome Bomb unleashed a Zinger Shriek that informed Inala of what it witnessedthat of the first Biome Bomb getting erased by the Hidden Eye.
Inala compiled all the information he got and formulated another plan, 'Maybe it's because both were in line of sight of each other. So, it could see and target the other Biome Bomb.'
Up next, Inala created two Biome Bombs, placing them at a distance of thirty kilometres from each other. He stood atop one and stared in the direction of the other, 'Thanks to the waves, there's no line of sight towards the other.'
It was already hard to make out each other due to the curvature of the planet. The waves made it easier for Inala to hide them in such a short distance. Once he got to safety, he made the two Biome Bombsthat were floating on the waterassume flight once again.
They had barely flown for a few centimetres when the Hidden Eye appeared. It stared at the Biome Bomb and erased it. A second later, it erased the other Biome Bomb.
Inala waited in patience until the Zinger Shriek from the other Biome Bomb travelled across the distance and reached him, taking a bit less than two minutes to do so.
Both the Biome Bombs had been constantly unleashing a Zinger Shriek from the instant they assumed flight. So, the longer the duration their Zinger Shriek persisted, the longer it meant they lived while assuming flight.
Factoring in the speed of sound, Inala calculated, 'The second Biome Bomb was erased only a second after the first.'
Immediately after that, Inala planted twelve Biome Bombs in a circle, similar to the position of the hours in a clock. Each Biome Bomb was placed thirty kilometres from their adjacent Biome Bombs. Inala stood at the centre of the circle and unleashed a Zinger Shriek radially.
This way, the sound wave would reach all the Biome Bombs at the same time, prompting them to assume flight in unison. The moment they started, the Influenced Region of Hidden Eye appeared once again, beginning to erase the Biome Bombs one after another.
Once it had erased all twelve, it vanished. Inala waited a couple of minutes until the Zinger Shrieks from the Biome Bombs reached him, causing a smile on his face, 'It seems that the Hidden Eye can only erase one target per second. It has been erasing the Biome Bombs once every second.'
The Hidden Eye was an Influenced Region. Therefore, Inala was aware that it wasn't sentient. The Hidden Eye was similar to the Comb in that it operated on a set of rules to achieve a selective task. Therefore, irrespective of how many times he summons it, the Hidden Eye would never target him, since from its perspective, he wasn't the cause of flight.
That was why he dared to experiment like this, since it didn't matter how many of his Biome Bombs it erased. Thanks to the endless supply of Prana from the Biome Lattice, Inala could create Biome Bombs without worries.
"Onto the next experiment." Since he timed its erasing power, he intended to figure out its movement capabilities next.
Inala created a metre-wide Biome Bomb and placed it before him. He layered a four-metre-wide Biome Bomb over it and repeated the process with concentric Biome Bombs. He filled them with various substances too. One was a vacuum, one was filled with air, one had water, one had earth, etc.
Upon adding thirty layers of Biome Bombs, Inala touched the external most Biome Bomb and activated Perfect Biome Domination. Gradually, he gained control over all the Biome Bombs, dominating all the space they enveloped.
Once that was done, the innermost Biome Bomb assumed flight, 'Can the Hidden Eye appear in a place where there is no space to accommodate it?'
Unfortunately, it appeared outside the concentric Biome Bombs. A second later, it vanished. "Haah!"
Inala felt a sharp mental exhaustion settle in him, noticing a thin, pinhole-sized line extending from the outside to the innermost Biome Bomb. This created a line of sight that allowed the Hidden Eye to stare at the innermost Biome Bomb and erase it.
'So, when there is no line of sight and it's being blocked, it erases other targets to create a line of sight. However, this erasure is only intended to create the line of sight, nothing else.' He thought and observed the needle hole that had formed through all the Biome Bombs.
Such a small hole was inconsequential, for both living and non-
living beings. Living beings could recover from it through Prana easily. So, the act of creating a line of sight didn't harm non-
flight targets.
Inala removed all the Biome Bombs except for the innermost and outermost ones. He then made the innermost Biome Bomb assume flight, watching the Hidden Eye appear next to it.
'It spawns there similar to the Iron Empyrean Tentacle.' Inala thought upon seeing the outermost Biome Bomb remain unharmed. Since there was enough space within it, the Hidden Eye appeared there immediately.
And once its purpose had been achieved, it vanished.
He then repeated the experiment with the two Biome Bombs situated thirty kilometres apart and made them assume flight. But immediately after that, they stopped flight.
"Haha! It doesn't track the culprits!" Inala laughed upon seeing one of the Biome Bombs fall on the ocean, having not been erased. It had stopped flight while the other Biome Bomb was being erased.
And after erasing its first target, it didn't detect anyone else in flight. All it did was stare at the second Biome Bomb in silence for a second before vanishing.
Inala repeated that experiment ten times, observing that the Hidden Eye focused on repeated offenders with priority. The second time he repeated the experiment, the second Biome Bomb was erased, as this was its second time assuming flight.
"Onto the next one." After making a note of his observations, Inala watched a puppet grab a rock and throw it into the air, targeting the Biome Bomb that had assumed flight. An instant before the two collided, the Biome Bomb assumed flight.
Right as the Hidden Eye appeared, the rock slammed into the Hidden Eye. An instant later, the puppet that had thrown the rock had been erased too, even though it hadn't assumed flight even once.
'So, it has some self-preservation tendencies. When it is damaged, it goes beyond its rules and erases the target.' Inala then repeated the experiment. But this time, the one throwing the rock was a mechanical catapult.
Once tightened, it would stay still. Above the trigger was a seesaw, carrying containers of equal amounts of water on both ends. Water leaked out of one container, drop by drop, resulting in an imbalance after a few minutes. The seesaw toppled and pressed the trigger, following which the rock was launched.
Right as the rock was about to collide into the Biome Bomb, the latter assumed flight. But unlike before, the Hidden Eye appeared on another side of the Biome Bomb, causing the rock to miss it.
Inala then created an encirclement of catapults, repeating the experiment. The rock from one of them successfully landed on the Hidden Eye, causing the respective catapult to be erased. All the other catapults were safe though.
After rocks, Inala made the catapults launch Biome Bombs next, observing no difference from the rock experiment. 'Both matter and energy substances can interact with it and the result is the same in both cases.'
Next, Inala headed into the depths of the ocean, creating a Biome Bomb within another Biome Bomb. But this time, the space within the two wasn't large enough to accommodate the Hidden Eye.
As the outer Biome Bomb hovered on the ocean bed, the inner Biome Bomb assumed flight. At that time, Inala observed a hair-thin line appearing in the ocean. The Hidden Eye had erased that part to create a line of sight.
However, the depths of the ocean were dark. And hence, it couldn't see despite creating a line of sight. Moreover, the Hidden Eye didn't enter the water.
'Its condition for erasing flight is to prevent anyone from flying out of Sumatra. Even if there is a large enough air pocket within the water, flight there cannot result in the existence flying out of Sumatra, since they're within the water.' Inala thought, 'However, as it's an eye, it relies on sight to function. And since it cannot see at the depths, it cannot target the Biome Bomb even when it's flying.'
"I have enough information now." Inala grinned, "Time to begin preparations."
He knew the Hidden Eye was glitching now, unable to perform its functions as intended by the rules forming its existence. "A bit more and I'll be ready. First,"
He stared in the direction of the surface, "I need to exhaust its power."