NovelPantheon

Proto-space Tracker

Dimensional detection toolIn Jason’s possession during the grid-collapse response; later disposition unconfirmed

The Proto-space Tracker is an item Farrah gives Jason to locate forming proto-spaces after Earth’s dimensional detection grid fails. It provides targeted detection during a global emergency, but its narrow function and high production cost prevent it from replacing the lost grid. (Chapter 341)

History

Farrah helps develop contingencies for the possibility that the Network’s grid will stop detecting proto-spaces. When that failure occurs, branches deploy ritualists with a simpler scanning ritual while Jason travels with the tracker. Giving the specialised item to Jason makes tactical sense because his dimensional power lets him enter a proto-space directly once he has found it. (Chapter 341)

The tracker remains a specialised part of the response rather than a mass solution. Farrah’s task force rejects replication as the central strategy because producing enough copies would be prohibitively expensive. Instead, the Network accepts the weaker coverage of distributed rituals while Jason uses the item where his unique capacity to enter the detected spaces can produce an immediate intervention. (Chapter 341)

Properties and use

The tracker detects proto-spaces themselves. It does not identify the apertures that normally provide entry, an important distinction because finding a space does not give most responders a way inside. Jason can bypass that limitation through his own power, so the tool and wielder are far more effective together than either would be for an ordinary Network team. (Chapter 341)

Its limitations are scale, cost and specificity. It is too expensive to reproduce across the many regions threatened by monster outbreaks, and it cannot restore the grid’s broad automatic coverage. The item supports focused searches; it does not prevent undetected spaces from forming elsewhere or remove the need for ritualists and prioritised population-centre scans. (Chapter 341)

Associated characters

  • Jason Asano: Jason carries the tracker because he can directly enter the proto-spaces it detects. (Chapter 341)
  • Farrah Hurin: Farrah supplies the item and designs the broader ritual contingency that compensates for its inability to be mass-produced. (Chapter 341)