Answers and Questions Wait at Home.

John stared at the book in front of him for what must have been the tenth consecutive time, as if engaging in a staring contest with a book. Once again, he lost, glancing away toward the window. Moira hadn't said much to him on their way home, and his mother had only asked how his day was. That was a lot of quiet time - a lot of time to think. Think about everything that had happened… but also think about the book in front of him.

John had skimmed the first few chapters, but frankly the book was thick, in small print, and oddly complex for a supposed novice level guide. It would take him days, if not weeks, to read it thoroughly enough to understand - and that was assuming he dedicated enough of his free time to it. Something he wasn't sure that he could afford to do, now that he knew he could be attacked at any moment by supernatural creatures.

But he had examined the Table of Contents, as well as the glossary. This book contained information on everything from the nature of the Abyss to the actual process of creating and maintaining a Barrier… even creating the very kind of creatures that he had seen. It explained everything from what kinds of mages there were to what human weapons worked best against different Abyssal creatures. All at a surface level, but it was still an immense amount of knowledge. What would learning this book do to him? Would he learn the very kind of abilities he denied having earlier? That was not something he was eager to do.

Caution weighed against… other caution. Because at the end of the day, he couldn't waste time on reading a book when he could be attacked at any moment. According to Moira there was a dangerous person out there with powerful abilities, and John needed to be strong enough to at least survive until the Brightons arrived. With a heavy sigh, John glanced at the book and cast Observe.

Do you want to learn "A History of the Abyss and its Uses in Magic"?

John reluctantly pressed the yes button beneath that question and watched as the windows started to roll in.

Achievement Unlocked! "Toe in the Water" ~ Begin to understand the mystery that is the Abyss. If you can call it an understanding.
+1 INT
+1 WIS

Skill Unlocked: Create Barrier.
Create Barrier: Create a Barrier of up to 100 feet x 100 feet. Barrier mimics the area it is created around. Mana Cost: 10

"Woah. I'm in some deep shit."

Despite the skill he had just unlocked, John was more surprised by the kind of knowledge he had just obtained. It was just like Mr. Brighton had said - mages weren't just rare occurrences or bloodlines passed down from ancient times… they were everywhere, throughout every city and country on every continent. New mages - like himself, apparently - awoke occasionally, while entire families like the Brightons frequently existed. All of it in secret, something that blew him away. Apparently the **** Mr. Brighton had referenced during their last meeting - Gaia - was the source of magic, and was capable of influencing the human mind to forget about its existence if they weren't a mage themselves. In time, even huge events could be pared down to just a footnote in history - apparently the Salem Witch Trials were more real than John had ever imagined…

But more important was the Abyss. It covered the entire world like an alternate reality, and Barriers were formed inside of it. That was where those creatures came from. And the book agreed with Mr. Brighton - there was no way that something from the Abyss should've been solid after ****, much less left items behind. He could only explain that through his Gamer abilities. There was some more information, but a lot of the book was apparently dedicated to history - various factions that had risen and fallen over the course of the last few centuries. It seemed more specific information on what the world of magic was really like would have to come from experience or further tutoring.

"Wait, what's this?"

John had missed a window. There, in the corner of his vision, a small golden window floated. He dragged it over in front of him so he didn't have to crane his neck and examined it more closely.

Skill Unlocked: Purify.
Purify: Purifies the Abyss Mana Cost: Based on Purification.
What? Can't I keep a few secrets? Just use it.

"The hell does that mean?" John asked, more than a little surprised to see that message pop up. Seriously, what was the point of even giving him that ability? John had no idea what it did and no reason to use it, but apparently his new abilities were highly encouraging him to use it. John focused on the name of the ability, but nothing happened. Given that he had no idea how to use it, it probably-

Notification: Use it in the Abyss, moron.

"Just rude," John muttered, sighing. Well… his mother was already asleep, something about an early meeting. Maybe he could visit the Abyss right now? He needed to train anyway… but if he was going into an Abyss area to grind some EXP, he needed a weapon. Last time he'd had a distraction and gotten lucky the skeleton didn't impale him. Time to depend a little more on himself.

John went to his closet and dug until he reached the back of the pile of unused garbage sitting on the floor. Deep inside, way back, he found what he was looking for - an aluminum bat that he had abandoned a long time ago, when he was younger and his father had still insisted that spending all day on the computer would never get him anywhere in life… well, John wasn't usually one for "I told you so", but at least now the bat had some kind of use to him. He was pretty sure by how easily those Skeletons had crumbled that one hit would do the job.

Basic Aluminum Bat
5-10 Damage + 1.2x STR
Durability: 100/100
A basic aluminum bat. What more do you want? Swing for the bleachers.

"Hm… I wonder…"

John examined his inventory, now that the bat was equipped. He eyed the dust that he had in his inventory and thought about combining it with the bat. Before him, another interface popped up that showed the icons of both the bat and the dust, with a little plus sign and their descriptions, and then…

Minor Unholy Aluminum Bat
5-10 Damage + 1.25x STR + 2-4 Unholy Damage
Durability: 110/110
An aluminum bat infused with the essence of undeath. Keep on swingin'.
Requirements: Aluminum Bat + 3 Dust of Undeath Mana Cost: 25

"That's not that much better," John said, hefting the bat. He wanted a better weapon - if only for the bragging rights of using a motherfucking magic weapon - but the pros of this bat were way outweighed by the cons. It was using up materials that might be fairly valuable, for not much gain, and frankly it was not going to go over well with the Brightons if he showed up wielding a weapon that reeked of undeath. Besides, if he could, he was hoping to fight more of those weak skeletons - that meant he wouldn't benefit very much from a lot of unholy damage.

In the end he kept the items stowed. Then, thinking for a moment, he wondered what else he could combine with those things. He might be able to make armor or even magical items with enough practice. Of course, skeletons might be unholy but getting stabbed with a sword was probably still regular damage, so he wasn't going to bother crafting any of that right now.

Maybe he could go to a junkyard? He put it on his list of things to do - if he could get a bunch of scrap metal and other assorted junk he might be able to make more valuable things out of it… actually, could he craft stuff like iPhones and PCs out of some of the components? If he could, that would be incredible for value alone, much less upgrading his own tech…

No, he was losing focus. And John had more important things to do right now. Smashing faces and testing out his new ability.

And, hopefully, figuring out where exactly those messages were originating.