Long awaited context

New Spell Modifier unlocked: Mana Shielding

After trying again and again to form the individual layer of Mana, John eventually got that popup, and excitedly clicked on the word, hoping it might bring up more information.

The sheet resembled a skill sheet, but it wasn’t quite the same. What was clear was how much more expensive this made any of his skills. Even a simple Observe would cost almost a quarter of his Mana.

’Still, it’s going to be incredibly useful. Now I can finally use them safely…’ he was immediately interested in what information he could gain from that. In a way, that made him sick, it was a nasty thought to use such an ability to gain information on his friends and teammates, ’but I can’t deny that I need that information’ he decided instead to think about it for a while, and watched over the rest as they practiced integrating the shielding into their own version of a scrying spell.

What he hadn’t noticed before was how different each of their individual methods of scrying were. Now no longer seeing the Mana covering their faces he could see that much more clearly. Yan’s eyes had literally transformed into the eyes of an owl. John, curious, had asked her and she answered briefly that it allowed her to detect Mana in the same way his Observe did. Bass looked at him some time later, and at first he noticed nothing odd. Around her eyes, however, was a slight movement in the air, and after a few moments he felt a vibration in the air. She saw his confused expression quickly and spoke.

“I use sonar waves to see Mana, boss. Good for raves,” she laughed, turning her head back and continuing to practice.

’Huh, I guess the different structures of Mana I saw really don’t tell the whole story about the abilities they enable…’ almost straight afterwards he looked over Charlotte and Matthew thoroughly, desiring to understand their abilities more clearly as well. Thinking a direct approach would be best, he approached the healer, Ember watching over the classroom and focusing on him in particular now.

“Charlotte… I kinda figured everyone has their own way of sensing Mana, and I thought I might ask you how you do it. Am quite curious to hear about it,” he asked, stopping at arms’ reach and speaking gently.

“I g-guess I don’t mind… My M-mana allows me to sense l-lifes-signs,” she turned to him, and John saw the most important detail. Her eyes, usually a dark red, were glowing like nothing he had ever seen, in a way that scared him on some **** level.

Moving a single step back in surprise, John tried to calm himself, “that’s good to know, thank you,” tone as stable as he could manage, he turned to the others, hiding his face from Charlotte and heading towards Matthew.

“Matthew, did you hear me ask Charlotte? I’m intrigued in regards to your ability as well-” John started as he got closer to the ice mage, who was staring at the wall, his eyes completely focused.

“I’ll tell you when and if you need to know, not before then,” he stated plainly, cutting off John.

’Really had enough of that,’ the Gamer wasn’t sure how to respond in words, but his next action was clear now. For once he could possibly gain some useful information on the reason Matthew acted the way he did. He could finally take the knowledge he needed but the ice mage never gave him. With no hesitation, he used the shielded form of Observe on the ice mage. A popup appeared just before the sheet he had expected.

Observe level task has been completed: Observe has now levelled up

“Should have known, fuck!” he murmured, just quietly enough as to not draw the attention of the rest.

’Needed this a few days ago, would have been far more useful, still good information now. The information about his parents doesn't surprise me, but I wish I knew what he really thought a few days ago… Wonder what his father could have done, had to be something awful but why would he even do something like that if he was royalty?’ shaking off the thoughts about Matthew and his head, he decided to leave them for later, ’I have to Observe the others as well, whether I want to or not that I need any insight I can get. In regards to Charlotte and Ember especially.. Since I can only use it on two of them for now, let’s start with those two,’ hesitating for only a moment, John looked over the healer and the spy and accrued two popups.

His jaw flew open with shock, and he realized how strange that must have looked just before he covered his face with his hand, ’she's a **** mage? And she was persecuted for it? Is that why Charlotte is so scared of revealing anything to me?’ John didn't know the exact implications, but he could guess them, and while he was not one to judge based on that, the rest of the Abyss seemed quite different, ’I hope me pressing her didn’t make things worse… But at least it’s unlikely from what this says. Her story sounds so sad, I wish I could do more to help her, but I need to give her the time to tell me herself,’ he paused for a moment, thinking about the meeting they would have later, ’let’s hope that goes as well as possible,’ once again he separated himself from the information and moved onto the next popup.

Once again John found himself surprised, but not as much as before, ’She went up a level…’ was his first thought, it was the smallest difference in the sheet but it somehow felt significant to him, ’she wants to use me to move beyond her obligations? Is that really all she wanted to tell me but couldn’t?’ the Gamer doubted it, but it was possible that was all it was, ’either way, I’m glad I know how she feels. Maybe I shouldn’t have rejected her in the first place if that was her reason,’ it was certainly not the only course of action at the time, but whether it was the best he still didn’t know.

A single word brought him back to reality from his thoughts, “boss!” Bass called from the other side of the class, clearly having completed her training as she signaled him over, “what were you doing standing there?” she asked quietly as John got closer.

“Just standing there after I finished figuring out the Mana shielding, I wasn’t doing anything in particular,” John wasn’t sure he should say, even if she noticed how strange it was. His hand instinctively went to the back of his neck, rubbing it a little.

“Given what you just did I’m not sure I should believe you, boss,” she chuckled slightly before heading towards the door, “hey, Ember, mind if we go out for a minute?” she asked quickly, drawing the attention of the rest of the room.

“Sure,” the spy answered, clearly aloof.

Bass left the class swiftly thereafter, keeping the door open for John to join her. Reluctantly, he did, and closed the door behind him.

After walking a bit into the corridor, she started speaking, “you were scrying the others, weren’t you?” she was direct and her tone was curious.

“I did, I scried Matthew, Charlotte, and Ember,” he responded softly, hoping she wouldn’t judge him too harshly for that. At first, he wasn’t sure what he said anything at all, but deeper than that, he knew. Trusting Bass far more than anyone else there came naturally to him somehow, maybe because of how much she trusted him, and there was no reason to lie to her now.

’Especially now,’ John found himself thinking as she opened her lips to talk, and he noticed they had a faint blue lipstick on them he hadn’t seen her use before.

"So your immediate use for the Mana layer technique Ember taught us was to scry her and half our team," John wasn't sure if her tone was angry or amused, "maybe you should tell me what you found out,” she looked into his eyes straight faced and waited for his reaction.

’Maybe I should explain how my Observe works as well?’ the Gamer considered it for a moment and decided he had nothing to lose, spending the next few minutes explaining how his ability worked and what he had seen.

“Charlotte’s a **** mage?” Bass was obviously shocked, “I knew about Matthew’s family, but what you told me about Ember is surprising… I guess her reason is kinda the same as the rest of us,” she sighed loudly, “thank you for trusting me with this now, boss. Sometimes I’m not sure if anyone in this place can tell the truth.”

“To me it looks like that’s one thing the Abyss encourages, even more than the mundane world.”

“Yeah, more than I’d like,” the sound mage shook her head, “you should scry me too. I trust you with the information, and I want to know what you’ll see.”

John was happy to oblige her request, as much for his own sake as for her trust. Given he didn't need to hide it, his Mana issues were no concern, and a popup appeared in front of him almost immediately.

“You went up two levels… I didn’t notice,” John said immediately, confused at his apparent lack of attention to his party interface.

“Wait… You scried me before? And what do levels mean exactly?” Bass was clearly intrigued by the idea.

“Oh, not exactly. My party interface shows me your levels as well as your health and Mana like you guys can see… I’m not exactly sure what levels mean, but they increase your stats for sure. Guess those must have some impact on your abilities, or they represent them, or something,” the unknown factors that kept following his abilities were now in John’s mind once more.

"Sounds like there’s more to it… Anything else you can tell me, boss?" she asked, her voice full of wonder and curiosity.

John went through the rest of the sheet with Bass, eliciting various complaints and surprised remarks.

“Gaia, you really can be a bitch at times…” she said, “I assume it’s her talking to you, and giving you that kind of information at your leisure,” the sound mage sounded somewhat concerned, “glad you’re probably not going to use it too badly. Otherwise maybe I would have to do something about it. But either way you are a lucky bastard John,” Bass chuckled.