The technique was crude compared to actual vision, and maintaining constant mana output drained his mana steadily.
But it worked, providing a functional navigation method in an environment designed to eliminate all normal sensory input.
Minutes passed.
Jack couldn't track time accurately without external cues, but his internal sense could guess it had been fifteen minutes.
The mana echolocation grew more refined as he practiced, his awareness learning to interpret the feedback patterns with increasing precision.
Then he detected it: a gap in the feedback approximately forty meters ahead and slightly to the left.
Opening where mana passed through rather than bouncing back.
A passage to the next floor.
Jack adjusted his trajectory, moving toward the gap with careful steps that tested the ground before committing weight.
The mana pulses confirmed the path remained clear, no obstacles between his position and the exit.
