Of Ups and Downs

In the rapidly fading evening light, a small black drone whirred through the air above Springfield’s neighborhoods. Gently bobbing up and down, it happily made its way towards its destination, carrying a medium-sized parcel underneath it. It faintly shimmered with the magic that kept it out of the eye of any curious mundanes, the light of the moon bouncing off its reflective metals and plastics.

With a merry beep, it slowed and began to descend, floating down towards the mana signature it was tracking. Suddenly, its sensor was **** to try and re-align as the mana it was tracking shot upwards to meet it. The drone stopped, its internal computer struggling to recalculate constantly as a human figure came up to right next to it, coming just level as they crested.

“Hey there, little buddy, you’re right on time!” The Gamer smiled, resisting the urge to reach out to pat the little machine as he started to fall back to earth.

The jovial expression on John’s face hardened as the ground approached. His limbs twisted as he angled himself downward, thrusting his hands forward, the winds around him bending to his whim. With a flash of green, a [Lesser Air Burst] formed between his hands and he blasted it at the ground, whirling color piercing the night as it flew from his control.

With now-practiced timing, he detonated the skill in time to slow his descent a little, a wave of expanding magic **** rising to meet him. He hit the ground, hard, stumbling over onto his knees as his entire lower half flashed with the blue energy of his [Mana Shield] skill, the magical power absorbing most of the damage and pain of the impact. The Gamer groaned, his legs protesting his reckless action.

Grimacing with frustration, John pushed himself back up, brushing the dirt from his hands.

For the last hour, he’d been practicing with the new ability he was trying to refine, dialing in the power he needed to launch himself higher and higher, as well as the coordination he needed to keep himself upright after being thrown. He’d gotten pretty good at both of those, but landing after all was said and done was still a struggle.

Between his defensive mana skill and his one air skill, he was able to get his touchdown close enough to zero damage to be useful in a pinch, but he still wasn’t nearly coordinated enough to actually land on his feet, certainly not in the middle of combat. He was worried that if he tried to pull it off in a dungeon, the opening he’d be giving to whatever was trying to kill him would be enough to end up critically wounded.

’Maybe this will be what I need,’ he thought, turning his gaze upward to the drone, which had finally decided to follow him back down to the ground.

John was amazed at how fast and convenient the Abyss Auction had made purchasing something that he would have considered quite niche in the normal world. Once he’d decided that he wanted it, it really hadn’t taken more than fifteen minutes for a little robot to have flown over to him with what he’d picked out. It had even had real-time tracking on his phone, which is how he’d known that it was close enough to try his stunt on it.

’I wonder if it can really fly that fast or if it has some kind of teleportation or something behind it…’

Though it might have been less painful if he’d started his jumping practice by purchasing a wingsuit immediately, The Gamer thought it prudent to make sure that he could safely handle falling before he committed the money. Plus, he wanted to prepare for worst-case scenarios. If his suit was damaged or if he had to launch himself unexpectedly, he had to be sure that he had a plan for if he ever had to suddenly greet the dirt again.

He stomach gurgled. ’A thousand dollars is still a nauseating amount of money…’

“THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING!” a mechanized voice called as the drone approached, releasing an inconspicuous brown package from its grasp into John’s waiting arms. Without thinking, he offered a wave goodbye back to the little machine as it flew off into the night, its magical shielding causing it to disappear amongst the clouds once it was high enough.

Carefully unwrapping his purchase, The Gamer sat down on the grass of his yard to inspect it. He’d ordered a suit labeled for beginners, which sported relatively small wings and webbing for more control. That sounded perfect to him, seeing as how he wasn’t really trying to be particularly fast or nimble, for now at least.

Eager to see if he’d just wasted more money than he’d ever previously had at one time in his life, John equipped the one-piece wingsuit. The top half was a very clean white nylon interspersed with various straps and wing flaps, which cut to a fresh green color along the sides and down to the pants, which were similarly strapped to his legs. He’d gone through a lot of colors, including various reds, but decided that the green accents were fitting, considering the coloration of his air magic.

Momentarily, he checked if he could still equip his armor overtop of the wingsuit, but considering their overlapping and conflicting designs, he was not surprised that his inventory flashed red when he tried, labeling them as incompatible with each other.

’Still, that’s a shame. I’ll have to juggle equipment sets more carefully if I ever want to use this in one of my dungeons.’

The Gamer stood, mentally readying himself to make his first real attempt at gliding since he’d gone outside to test that evening. He looked himself over, manually checking his straps, though he knew that whatever he was doing was entirely placebo. He wasn’t trained in wingsuits - he had no idea how they were supposed to be strapped in order to allow themselves to spread properly in the air.

’I’m putting my faith in you, equipment screen. Don’t fail me now.’

John took a deep breath, absentmindedly reaching out to the mana in the air around him. Ever since he’d evolved his [Observe] into [Unawakened Eye], he’d felt a pleasant sense of peace while his mana was connected to the world around him. It was relaxing, like laying down after a long day onto a warm bed with a cool pillow. Idly, he wondered if that had to do with how [Gamer’s Body] had seemed to change him.

Casting that tangent aside, he tentatively whirled wind around himself, a soft gale with just enough **** to test his new wings. Immediately he could feel the suit around him tense as air filled the flaps, the wings snapping outward to catch the wind. It still wasn’t **** that might knock him over, but even this small test was far more intense than he’d produced on his own.

With the jitter of nerves at his back, John stepped forward onto the empty patch of the yard he’d been launching from, rolling his head around, sending the heaviest stretch he could all the way through all of his muscles. Exhaling, he crouched down, preparing to spring upward with his spell’s ****. Mana began to gather in his core, flowing downwards. Almost imperceptibly, the ground thrummed gently with amber light as material began to pool together.

’I wonder how many times I’m gonna have to do this before I actually get a skill gem…’ he wondered as the power built beneath him. ’Certainly seems like it’s taking longer, but I guess my idea was a lot more precise than “giant spike of earth.”’

He swallowed, shaking his nerves away one final time. ’Let’s go.’

The ground popped, quaking with the **** of The Gamer’s magic, lines of amber-orange light leaking through cracks in the earth. John allowed himself to be thrown by a smooth pillar of stone, which shot from the ground like a piston. He resisted the panicked urge to dive back to the safety of the ground, leaning into the power produced by his alchemy. He leapt as he broke contact with the pillar he’d summoned, carrying his momentum into the winds above.

John closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the feeling of adrenaline flowing into his veins as he waited to crest. With all the practice he’d done, he could launch himself a couple stories up by now, high enough that there was noticeable travel time as he ascended. He exhaled a heavy breath he hadn’t realized that he’d been holding. As suddenly as he’d shot up, he slowed, feeling the familiar pull of gravity take control of his arc. Instead of turning down to prepare a [Lesser Air Burst] for landing, he spread himself as wide as he could, holding his rigid limbs out and hoping that his wingsuit would catch the air.

Nothing.

He started to fall.

A thousand anxious worries flooded his mind - disappointment, failure, loathing that he’d been so stupid as to think this would work. He pushed that all aside, seizing the air around him. Remembering the test he’d first done, he pulled the largest mass of air he could up from beneath him, forcing it up into the flaps and wings of his suit. Green mana flickered along the winds around him, flashing through his suit as it finally expanded.

He slowed, his momentum shifting. The downward pull of gravity tilted, John’s wings flaring as they redirected him forward. Again, The Gamer seized a mass of air and sent a gale up and back over his body, hoping to fuel the **** that he was desperately cultivating. Speed begat more speed as the winds ran over his wings, carrying him onward.

He blinked, almost in disbelief, as everything came together.

Exhilaration.

The Gamer swooped forward, gliding out beyond his yard and over his neighbor’s house. A laugh erupted from the depths of his soul as he sailed forward along the winds, occasionally supplementing the natural forces of the air with thrusts of magic. Closing his eyes again, he let the feelings roll over him. On a whim, he activated his [Unawakened Eye], allowing his mind to take in the world around him.

Vibrant greens flowed all around, whirling lines alight with life. For a moment, John felt as if he was one with the air. He was surfing the mana-filled currents, adrift among his brethren winds. and everything felt right. He bathed himself in that glorious freedom for a time, dreaming of a day that he could do this forever. Unfortunately, he could feel his time in the air coming to an end.

He’d been burning momentum since he started, and now his suit was beginning to lose traction in the air as he slowed down. Opening his eyes, he looked upwards at the clouds, with the first of the stars beginning to peek down on him, and sighed, relinquishing his dream. With his attention elsewhere, he hadn’t noticed just how far down he’d floated, now being only about as high as he’d gone on his first launch attempts - just below the roof line.

With an internal acceptance, he brought his arms inward, dropping what little lift he had left and falling back to earth. Again, he formed a [Lesser Air Burst], providing just enough counter **** with its detonation that he could shield himself with mana as he landed on the street. He tumbled over himself, rolling just out of the road as he came to a stop, mana flickering faintly across his body. With a deep breath, he allowed himself to rest on the sidewalk for a moment.

I’m going to be generous and remind you about not showing your magic to the mundane. My Veil will only turn so many heads away.

’Oh, yeah… right,’ he thought, bringing an arm up to scratch his head. ’I wasn’t thinking about how far beyond my walled backyard this was going to get.’

...You were literally trying to fly.

’And I got my powers three days ago. It’s easy to forget details.’

An audible sigh echoed through his brain. A single red notification blip popped up to accompany the next message.

...All things considered, not bad for a first attempt.

’Those are some pretty big footsteps. I’m not exactly planning to change the world or anything. I just wanna fly around where I can’t get hit.’

Getting no response, John finally stood up, brushing the dirt off his wingsuit and checking its durability in his inventory to make sure he hadn’t damaged it on landing. Once he was sure it was alright, he swapped back to his comfortable clothes as he looked around; he’d made it most of the way down towards the bus stop at the end of his street.

’Right. Trek back home, I suppose.’

As The Gamer began his journey back home, he claimed his achievement rewards, watching with interest as a small emerald gemstone appeared in front of him, floating. Its color was especially radiant, a beacon of almost neon green against the darkness of the evening. The center was cleanly carved into a square, wrapped in swirls of silver steel, mimicking a whirlwind around it.

John rolled the skill gem over in his hand, holding it up between two fingers so that he could examine it even more closely. It almost hurt his eyes to look at the glow of the gem in contrast to the dark of the evening around him. Despite that, he was really happy looking at it, not necessarily because of what the skill did, but because of the potential it represented.

The ability wasn’t bad, necessarily, though it was more expensive on the ground than trying to do the same motion manually. But if it was anything like his other skills, removing the mental overhead of trying to form the ability would be worth it in the long run.

Beyond that, the real draw was what he imagined it could become. If skill evolution could create the [Swirling Mirrorjade Barrier] that he’d used earlier, then what could it turn this into? With luck, perhaps this could be the first rung of the evolutionary ladder towards the flight he’d desired to start.

’Unfortunately…’ John thought, opening up his inventory. ’I’m outta luck on that front, for now.’

Along with the rest of his equipment, the Radiant Gem Refinement Orb had been in the duffel bag Ela had handed back to him earlier - retrieved by the Order from where he’d dropped it in the grocery store. The orb, which had once danced with vibrant colors and magic symbols, now lay dead silent in his hand, completely drained of its power. It had only come with one use, and he’d consumed it earlier.

’No regrets about that, though I have no idea how to get another one of these, er, how to recharge this one?’ He scratched the back of his head, recollecting how he’d gotten this one. ’I don’t remember anymore - was this a dungeon reward or from the quest to do that dungeon? Ugh, either way, I suppose that something related to my dungeons seems like a good place to start.’

A chill crept down his spine at the thought of going back to the post-apocalypse. He wasn’t sure how ready he’d ever be for combat again, though he didn’t see how he was going to avoid it, either.

’I suppose that’s one downside of being “The Gamer” - I’m going to have to engage with the game mechanics eventually… Maybe I can talk Moira into coming along, next time. The extra firepower would be nice.’

As John pondered how likely that would be to work out, he finally reached his home again, fishing his keys out of his inventory to unlock the front door. At first, he moved to continue all the way through his home and back outside to continue practicing, but the sight of the clock in the living room reminded him of his intent to get to sleep early. He’d completely lost track of time, consumed by his work on his new skill.

He momentarily weighed the costs of just one more flight, but he really didn’t want to leave himself exhausted in the morning when he was supposed to work out with Ela.

’I’m probably going to be dragging her down anyway… really wouldn’t be fair to make it worse.’

His decision made, John stored away his new gem and the refinement orb before shutting down the television, which had remained frozen on Iron Man since he’d walked outside earlier. After double checking that the house was locked up for the night, The Gamer headed upstairs to his room to sleep, filled with tense anxiety about the morning.