-All Might

"Is this all becoming… too normal?"

John was laying on his back, utterly blown away by how natural the past twenty-four hours had felt. Honestly, the past few days felt rather like a dream when John actually thought about them, but at the time that everything happened, it felt almost natural. Perhaps it was an automatic reaction, the ability of the human mind to cope with such **** change more easily than was normal. Perhaps it was simply because John had played so many video games that his mind had adapted to learning new worlds and coming up with new tactics more easily. Whatever the reason… no matter what hit John, he ended up being too busy dealing with it to feel the full impact.

It wasn't so much the normalcy that bothered him, really. It was the fact that what used to be normal was now "normal" and felt almost boring. John had found out that Puppy Chow was actually meant for puppies and was in fact a highly nutritious food for Lunaya to subsist on until John could find something more permanent. Lunaya herself returned shortly before John was set to leave, and though communicating with her was still difficult, she seemed rather agreeable to the idea of keeping the Nekos in check while John was gone.

Meanwhile, his return to his world with the still-somber Seras had been as exhilarating as listening to a lecture used to be. She curled up in a corner, and John couldn't manage to break through whatever walls she had erected to properly communicate with her. She replied to any questions or comments he had with as few words or sentences as possible, to the point that John quickly surrendered any further inquiries. John couldn't seem to find the right approach or wording to his concerns about her to get her to open up, and for the moment, he couldn't blame her. Learning your entire reality and memories were all in question was certainly something that could cause a lot of distress.

The next day was about as exciting as the remainder of his night. True to his predictions, Moira did not even approach him at school, leaving him to his own machinations as he passed the day by going over everything he knew. By the time second period was over, he'd filled a baker's dozen notebook pages with what could've easily passed as a madman's handwriting: calculations, paragraphs of theorycrafting, and single sentences crossed out and repeated over and over until they seemed as accurate as John could make them.

Years of grinding and min-maxing had prepared John for this, but it had never been so important to get it all right. Especially now that… well, regardless of tomorrow, if John could survive long enough, who knew how far these gifts could take him. A week ago he was an ordinary student. Today he was an elemental master who could create life and made several thousand dollars a day doing it.

But for all the equations John wrote, he realized he had far too many variables. He needed answers if he was going to maximize his gains, and there was only one person that could give those to him. John brought up Moira's contact information and began frantically texting the entire ride home. Moira must have made wonderful time on that bike of hers, because he was only about halfway home when the first responses started coming in.

Need to know something. Tried burning a creature in a Barrier last night - barely did any damage, even though it was literally on fire. Any idea why? It was just a regular animal - no fire resistance that would make sense.

<Did you use magical fire?>

<<I mean, I conjured it… what makes it magical?>>

<Give me your e-mail. When this initial mission is over and as you prove yourself loyal to the Order, John Newman, I promise we will delve more into the nuances of magical combat.>

John raised an eyebrow but immediately thanked Moira, and the conversation ended as quickly as it had begun. When he got home and managed to pry himself away from his mother and into his room, John scrolled through the file that Moira had sent him.

It was a PDF file that appeared to be nothing but scans of one of the books from Moira's library. It was the first real sign of modernization he'd seen yet from the Order - it seemed like a good idea, though. Even with magic to preserve them, eventually the books would be destroyed or lost. Good idea to have a backup, and to have a way to send texts across the world, if need be.

Unfortunately, the book was exactly what John needed, in exactly the wrong format. He found himself casting Observe five times before he accepted that - as much of a travesty as it was - he was going to have to actually read the text. Apparently, Observe didn't work so well on digital files. Probably because it couldn't just erase them… not that a few empty pages were too high a price to never have to read a book again.

So instead of training, John spent his first hour home scouring every page he could find of the Magical Combat Novice Guide. It was actually incredibly simple yet very, very helpful for John's situation. One passage in particular near the front of the chapter on offensive magic seemed to sum up what his problem was, at least as best as John could tell based on his minimal experience and Moira's brief text.

*Spells that can be created, learned, and used in combat are almost as infinite and impossible to fully cover as the Abyss itself. Generally speaking, however, offensive magic can best be grouped into three categories, based on how it affects the target.

The first category of offensive magic, Non-Infused Magic, is based around controlling non-magical substance in a manner to attack an enemy. This is a fairly large category, including everything from physically moving objects in a way that is meant to cause harm to conjuring fire, water, air, or other substances in a manner that could damage or impair an enemy. The defining trait of this category of spells is also its greatest weakness. Most mages who train their bodies as well as their spells and minds infuse themselves with a great deal of Abyssal energy over time. Most mid-tier mages and creatures created by mages of the same level are generally immune to harm through mundane methods, and as such, no spells of this category will pose significant risk. There are, of course, exceptions - controlling the air in someone's throat or lungs to prevent breathing, for instance, may still cause a great deal of distress or harm to a mage with no ability to break the spell or compensate for the lost oxygen.*

"Why didn't I think of that? …Wait, would **** cause damage? Or kill them? Is there a **** status effect?"

John didn't particularly care about the answers to the new questions that had been raised by the paragraph, because he had the answer he was looking for - the reason his magic had done so much damage to the lower-level enemies was that they weren't very powerful and weren't incredibly infused with Abyssal energy. They didn't have a high physical resistance… but the Gnoll that became Lunaya did. It was the first enemy John had faced of level 6 or above. Whatever metrics the game used to determine levels, it seemed like around level 6 was where the Abyssal energies in a given foe were enough to reduce mundane forms of attack. In the Gnoll's case, John's fire had barely done any damage at all. It also explained why his Elemental Control ability had no damage equation in its description, while even his Aluminum Bat had one, which was also explained in that passage.

*The second category of offensive magic is referred to as Channeling Magic and involves any conveyance of a magical source of energy through a tangible material in a way that causes harm to an enemy. This includes physical weaponry enforced through magical means - even enchanted weaponry in the hands of a non-magical combatant. It also includes normal physical phenomena such as fire, light, vibrations, and even images that are infused with magical energies with the intent to cause harm. Most basic offensive spells fall under this category, creating physical manifestations that then inflict damage through the magical energy bestowed upon them. Furthermore, almost all physical objects are capable of Channeling. Any mage whose physical strength is enhanced above that of a normal human's will typically be able to instinctively Channel enough magical power to equal or exceed a mage's natural resistance to mundane attacks.

The third category of offensive magic is known as Manifestation Magic. It is called such because rather than create an enhanced (but otherwise normal) physical object or source to convey magic through, in these spells the magic itself is the medium. Sometimes the magic is not visible at all to the unaided eye. Most magics designed to instantly kill or incapacitate a foe simply overpower an opponent's magical essence and subdue their mind, though the amount of metaphysical superiority required may be quite high. Many arcane spells also fall under this umbrella, as they create physical embodiments of magical energy to assail their targets in a way that bypasses a great number of normal or enchanted armors.

Note that these three categories are designed to encompass only the basic, direct kind of offensive magic. Many spells that could otherwise be classified as "offensive" magic, including mind-control, emotional manipulation, summoning, and other various combat magics do not fit neatly into any one of these categories. All the same, keeping in mind these three basic categories will help novice mages to understand what they may be up against and to develop strategies that aid them in surviving the treacherous realm that is called the Abyss.*

"Jesus, all this in a beginner's guide?"

John didn't expect magic to be an easy task to understand, but he was kind of hoping that three paragraphs out of a "For Novices" style book would be a bit easier to parse than that. Still, he had a basic grasp of what he had to do to keep growing… and that meant he needed to grow beyond Elemental Control.

With his first hour already lost, John turned to practice. Of all the elements he could control, only Fire, Electricity, Wind, and Metal seemed suited to the kind of spells he was hoping to learn. He wasn’t even sure if he could learn spells in the way he had planned; so far, the only spell he had actually learned without an outside influence was the Lesser Heal spell, which Moira had tutored him in.

Still, he was determined, if nothing else. John created a Barrier to practice in, this one empty. He could've used his personal world, but he needed somewhere he could check back in from occasionally, at least until his mother went to sleep or it was late enough to pretend that he was going to bed himself. It was one thing if he went missing for twenty minutes and pretended he'd gone to the bathroom or something and his mother had missed him when she came in to check on him - it was entirely another thing to go missing all night and show up the next morning. Though, she'd probably assume he ran off like a normal teenager and not that he was risking his life in an otherworldly plane…

Inside of the empty Barrier, John spent all of his mana slowly working on trying to figure out exactly what infusing mana into his elements was supposed to feel like. In short bursts so as to get as many tries as possible out of it, John summoned flames on the ground and did his best to notice any difference in them. He tried to imagine turning raw mana into fire, tried to picture magical flames erupting from whatever object he chose to burn, and even tried to picture magical essence in the form of flames, but none of it quite worked. Once or twice he thought the flames seemed more solid, more forceful than normal, but it never felt like a real spell.

"Maybe I'm focusing too much on the campfire style," John thought when he eventually ran out of mana. He exited the Barrier and went to the kitchen to grab a quick snack in the hopes that he could regain some mana, as well as determine if his mother had missed him. She made no comments or even really acknowledgement of his visit to the downstairs area, too engrossed in what appeared to be a massive marathon of Bachelor episodes to properly notice him at all, much less check on him in his room.

So John retreated up to his room with a platter of snacks, wolfing them down even on his way up the stairs. He always got a buff from eating, but it was so rarely relevant because he never remembered to grab something before tumbling into a Barrier and because his rate of regeneration was so slow to begin with.

Status Effect: Sated - Sufficient, Duration: 1 Hour
x3 Mana Regen
x2 Health Regen

"That should help out," John murmured to himself, doing some quick math. With all of his increased stats and new items, John found that the buff raised him to over six points of mana per minute. It would barely be noticeable in a fast-paced combat situation, but now he only needed around twenty-five minutes to fully regenerate his mana. In fact, with all the time that passed between him exiting the Barrier and now, he'd already regained about thirty points of mana.

"So I just have to eat all the time… great," John noted, shaking his head. He needed to bolster himself a lot if he was going to be of use to Moira. As it was, any foe she faced that could even provide a modest challenge to herself would utterly annihilate John. Hell, they'd probably crush him even if he brought along all four of his new companions.

Despite her relatively numbed attitude, Seras had no problems letting John Siphon off her mana, not appearing affected by the transfer other than a slight weariness that she didn't complain about. John felt bad even asking, but he couldn't very well help Seras through whatever emotions she was dealing with if he never made it back from the mission.

So with a half-filled mana bar, John decided to try something new. Instead of seeing the fire and magic as mixing, he tried to picture the fire as springing from magic itself. Like a gas stove if magic poured from the burners and ignited into a crimson flame of power and-

John's hand ignited in a blaze so suddenly and so spectacularly that he almost lost it for a moment. Fire swirled and formed around his palm, in an orb so bright that it seemed to ignite his entire faux-room.

Skill Innovation! New Skill learned!

Fire Orb Level 1 - Conjure an orb of fire, which is controlled by the user. Erupts on contact with a target, searing them with the deadly flames concentrated within. Mana Cost: 50, Damage: [10-15 + .3x Intelligence].

"Not exactly super powerful, but at a range? That's pretty goddamn awesome. I feel like a real mage, now," John noted, casually tossing the ball of fire from one hand to the other. It actually seemed to respond as much to his mind as his physical control; at one point, John stopped the orb from falling in mid-arc so that it was hovering in the air a few feet above the ground. John glanced forward and willed it to smash into the far side of his room, watching the orb fly forward and careen into the wall. At the last moment, he tried to stop it, but the Fire Orb didn't even hesitate, smashing open against the wall and spraying its flames everywhere.

"So it either has a range or can't be recalled after it gets thrown," John noted, nodding to himself as he exited the Barrier before the ever-expanding blaze could consume him with it.

His mana was mostly drained, so John made a show of appearing downstairs again, fetching a quick snack and checking in on his mother. Fortunately, her marathon had ended, and she bid John a goodnight as he crept back up the stairs. John waited for a few more minutes, giving his mana time to partially regenerate and make sure his mother was deeply asleep. Then he locked his door and created another Barrier, this one a properly populated one.

John chose zombies for the enemies and set the Dungeon to Level 5. It was still well below his own, so he hoped not to have any problems completing it even alone, but he needed to make sure the boss was at least level 6 or 7, so that he could properly test his new ability. The undead in the dungeon weren't quite like that Random Encounter John had dealt with so long ago, having weapons and armor instead of just rusted blades that looked ready to fall apart. He tore through the zombies one after another, his trusty Aluminum Bat proving to be as formidable a weapon as ever.

The end boss of the Dungeon was a towering eight-foot tall, rotting monstrosity that looked like it may have once been the decaying corpse of a Bigfoot, armed with a spear that landed at John's feet the moment he walked into the chamber. From there, it was never far away, but running up against a foe that had such reach was no longer quite as large of an issue for him. John threw a Fire Orb at the hulking corpse and watched it erupt like napalm.

Elemental weakness exploited! x1.5 Damage!
40 Damage!
Magical Burn Inflicted!
10 Damage inflicted by Magical Burn

"Now that's more like it," John shouted, raising up his fist. As a test, he threw a quick stream of fire at the zombie's chest while it was raising its spear for another strike.

Elemental weakness exploited! x1.5 Damage!
0 Damage!

"Moira was right, as usual," John noted. It seemed any creature of the Abyss and any reasonably talented mage wasn't going to be harmed just because John was controlling a mundane element. He had a long way to go before he was a real danger to anyone in the Abyss.

"Right… come on, you oversized fire hazard, let's do this!" John shouted, throwing himself back into the fray.

He had a long way to go, it was true. But he had years of grinding experience, and a thrill had been ignited in him ever since he got these powers. He was living a real-life video game, and there was not a game alive that John Newman couldn't beat. All he needed now was time and to push himself beyond his limits.