Of Power, Plans, and Prospects

“Change the math?” Moira asked, inquisitively, eyebrow raised. “What are you talking about?”

The whole room turned to John. Reflexively, he winced at his own small outburst. Taking a deep breath, he tried to cut off his own anxiety before it could really start to take hold.

“I- I’m talking about my powers,” The Gamer started to speak, but stopped himself. “Sorry. I think I did that thing where I have half the conversation in my head before I start talking. Lemme… lemme start over.”

He took another deep breath before he began again, looking over at Ela and Moira. “I’ve only read a little bit of Abyssal history, so I don’t really know all the names or anything, but I get the idea just from watching you two react. These guys are dangerous, or were, at least, before the Order stopped them before. Now, they’re back.

“If it’s like you were saying,” John continued, turning to face Lord Brighton directly, “and these… demon cultists were really waiting all this time for their chance, then they’re not just gonna stop, right? Whether it’s an assassin or an army, they’ll try again.”

“That is one of many concerns, yes,” the Lord-Protector answered, his tone growing more inquisitive. “Where are you going with this?”

“They’re basically on a timer, if I understand things,” The Gamer said, nervously lacing his fingers together as he looked over at Moira. “At some point, eventually, you’ll be as strong as your father was, right? So you’d be powerful enough to stop them.”

“In principle, you’re correct,” the Warden replied, uncertainly, “but it could take a decade or more of training and experience to get there.”

John nodded, biting his lip as he considered his words. “That’s- I could shorten that time, I think. Make you stronger in less time.”

“What do you mean?” Moira asked, raising an eyebrow. “How?”

“My powers have basically turned me into a video game character, right?” he continued, his voice picking up confidence. “An RPG character specifically - one designed to learn new skills, to grow, and to get stronger. Really, that’s the core of what my powers do - they give me a lot of different ways to get stronger.

“The alchemy and stuff I’ve learned are just how I’ve chosen to apply the potential that I unlocked by leveling up.” The Gamer stopped, realizing that he might need to explain the term a bit. “Loosely speaking, levels are gauges of power. The higher level you are, the higher the total measure of your statistics should be.

“When I first got my powers on Monday, the display on my abilities said I was level three. Four days later, and I’m now level eleven. When I first met her, Ela registered as level eight, which means that in that time I’ve gone from being weaker than most of our classmates at Ashcroft to stronger than Ela was then.

John was on a roll now, his arms moving around him to emphasize his points with gestures as he continued, “Heck, Moira, on Monday you were level fifteen. I even got an achievement for meeting someone so much stronger than me. Believe it or not, according to my powers, most of the gap between us is gone now.”

“It sounds strange when you put it like that,” the redhead replied, a deeply thoughtful expression etched onto her face, “though I would never doubt the Lady’s ability to assess either of our powers. The Wardens were once new Late Bloomers as well…”

“To be clear,” John clarified, “I’m not saying I’m anywhere close to your actual skill in combat - obviously not - but in terms of raw statistics, raw power… I can do that, and I can share that potential, too.

“Ela and I tried that a couple days ago, after I first came by the manor.” He paused to take a breath, gesturing to the blonde knight next to him, who offered an encouraging smile. “She completed one of my dungeon barriers with me and gained a couple levels. You might have already noticed one of the effects, too, Moira.

“Yesterday, when the fighting ended, all three of us were completely healed, right? That’s one of the things my powers do when someone levels up, so I know it works on you, too,” John said, a tinge of nervousness beginning to come through again. “I… don’t know how much one single level really represents, or how many you’d need, but it’s something, right?

Silence settled upon the room, a still moment, frozen in time, that let John just begin to regret saying anything before anyone responded. His cheeks flushed with all-too familiar embarrassment. Neither of which went unnoticed by the woman to his side.

“I can confirm the power of the abilities he is talking about, Lord Brighton,” Ela said, the song of her voice offering his nerves comfort. “Over the last two days, I have experienced several of these ‘level ups,’ and they have healed wounds I thought impossible to mend, made me stronger than I have ever been. It is… miraculous.”

John turned to her and smiled, hanging on to those words as another quiet moment passed.

“Indeed, that would seem to be the case,” the Lord-Protector began. “If I understand the situation correctly, your innate ability allows you to rapidly increase your own capacity for magic. Some facet of it also allows you to share that means of growth with others, yes?”

“Uh, yeah,” The Gamer replied, nervously scratching his neck. “That’s a much more succinct way of putting it.”

The older man waved that off. “You do not need to apologize for the extra detail in this situation. I am curious what the limits are of this power, though. Could you train an army with it?”

“No, at least not very quickly. I guess I should have mentioned that before. When I talk about me basically becoming a game character, I mean that both for upsides AND downsides, so my powers tend to have restrictions that make sense if you were trying to make a game fair,” John explained, opening up his character and party sheets. “I only share experience - and the ability to level up - with individuals that are in my party. So, right now, three people at a time at most, including myself.

“There’s also a limit on who I can party with if I want to gain experience properly. If someone is too high a level, I slow down or stop gaining experience entirely - and so do they. It’s a measure used in some games to prevent people from getting easily boosted to high power by having strong friends. Moira was outside that range on Tuesday, when I first came here, but she seemed to be within it by the end of the battle yesterday.”

The Gamer leaned back in his chair, eyes wandering out the window to the afternoon sun as he thought. “If we’re talking about downsides, then I should also be clear about how the experience works. I don’t just get it passively - I have to fight or explore or something like that.

“I think the intended way to do that consistently is to use my barrier creation spell to open dungeons, like the one I told you about before. They’re… dangerous, at best, but at least I think that the relative power of that area is close to where we’re at. Plus, we can go in with better planning and supplies. Haven’t had a chance to try it, but we can also theoretically leave in the middle of any fight that goes south.”

“Hmm…” the older man rumbled, intense contemplation behind his eyes. “You are incapable of producing any alternative types of barrier?”

“Yeah, unfortunately. I haven’t had much chance to try developing it though. I might be able to make something else, given some time or practice, but I’m not sure.” John shrugged as he thought back to the Gem Refinement Orb he’d gotten from the last dungeon. ’Maybe I ought to consider trying something like that with my [Create Dungeon], if I ever get another charge for the thing. It’s a paperweight right now.’

“That is an interesting proposal - fundamentally sensible, assuming that the magic works the way you believe. Though it is not without risks and unknowns, even then,” Lord Brighton said, locking eyes with The Gamer for a moment. “If you and Knight Grzmot would please step outside for a moment, I would discuss this with Moira in private.”

“Of course, sir.” “Oh, sure.”

John and Ela answered almost in unison. The couple shared a look and smiled. The Gamer reached down next to him to grab the basket which contained the phoenix’s egg, carefully checking over its wrapping to make sure all was well.

“Should we just wait by the door?” John asked, finally standing up.

“There are seats just down the hall,” the Lord-Protector replied. “I will send for you once we are ready.”

The Gamer nodded, turning to follow Ela out of the room. He noticed that, at some point, Reginald had silently slipped away, surely off to do something important elsewhere in the manor. The heavy wooden doors of the study clicked shut behind the two as they left, ruby-colored magic washing over the door as the sound seal reappeared again.

“Well, for something that spontaneous, it could have gone a lot worse,” John said, turning to face his girlfriend. “Thanks, uh, for backing me up.”

“Of course,” she sang. “We are a team. I will say though, I am surprised at how forward you were. I did not think that you had made a decision about the Order yet. You seemed apprehensive earlier this morning.”

Together, the two started moving down the hallway, past the many portraits of Wardens, down to where a bench had been set next to a large window. Their conversation continued as they walked.

“Yeah, well, I still haven’t made my decision on the Order, really.”

“Then where did all of that fervor come from?” she inquired, tilting her head ever-so-slightly.

“Well, you remember what you told me earlier?” he asked, coming to a stop by the window they’d been headed toward. “About how we kinda know each other, without knowing everything?”

“Of course.” Ela smiled.

John sighed, grabbing her hand as he spoke. “I know you haven’t officially rejoined them yet, but I can see the look in your eyes when you talk about the Order. I don’t even really need to know you as well as I do to know that if they do end up at war with these cultists or whoever, you’d be the first in line to join them, whether you’re still injured or not.

“So, the best - maybe the only - way for me to influence your safety in that case is to make sure that you’re strong and that the Order is strong,” he said, smiling wryly. “Then, I just gotta hope that these guys aren’t as bad as Lord Brighton makes them sound.”

The Bookworm Knight squeezed his hand. “That is a very long way of saying that you are doing it for me.”

“Yeah, well, they did try to kill me, too,” he joked. “Maybe I also want my own shot at ‘em.”

“Technically, they only ordered the attack on Moira, as far as we know,” she replied. “We just got in the way.”

“‘Technically’ is the worst kind of correct, you know.”

Ela stuck her tongue out at him, sitting down on the bench. John chuckled back, plopping down next to her. He brought the basket up, resting it on his lap as silence reigned again for a precious few minutes. This time, that quiet was comforting to him.

It was the blonde knight’s voice that broke it eventually, “Are you sure that you want to go back into one of your dungeons? After all we saw in the last one?”

“No, but we don’t have much choice, if we want to get stronger, fast…” He spoke evenly, somberly, as he remembered the storm they’d weathered before. “I don’t have to like it for it to be the best choice, tactically.”

“You don’t have to do anything,” Ela asserted, leaning over to him.

“I’ll be fine,” he said, trying to sound confident. “We’re already much stronger than before, and now we both know better what we’re getting into. Maybe, if I’m lucky, another dungeon will give me another charge on that skill refinement thing, and then I can go looking for a safer way to level.”

The Gamer reached into his inventory, drawing out both his [Create Dungeon] skill and the Gem Refinement Orb into his hands. Just to make sure he wasn’t misremembering, he re-confirmed that he was unable to socket the shimmering violet gemstone into any of his slots - no skill upgrades for that without something else to trigger it. The other item, the once brilliantly shining orb, was flat as stone, its magic symbols absent now that its singular evolution charge had been expended.

He shook his head. “Nothing. I basically burned my future options in exchange for immediate solutions yesterday. Not that I had much choice.”

“You did what you had to do,” Ela said, her voice calming. “I am sure that was not the only chance to evolve a skill that you will have. Perhaps, if they agree to the plan, the Order might be able to find you a barrier specialist to train with.”

“That might work,” John replied, putting away his items. “I did learn the healing magic from your books. I don’t know how it would apply to a skill I already have, though. Either way, you’ve got a point. Hopefully, if we are doing this, it will be with the Order’s backing, and Moira alongside us. That’ll help for sure.”

He chuckled, nudging his girlfriend’s side. “Maybe we can even have better supplies than ‘whatever I took from my pantry’ this time.”

That got a smile from the blonde. “We ought to pay your parents back for that, eventually.”

“Once I get whatever cover story from the Order about the payment for yesterday, I’ll buy groceries for the month. Just need an explanation for how I got the money. Don’t think they’ll buy ‘an almighty goddess turned me into a video game character.’”

They shared a laugh at that before returning to their comfortable equilibrium. Before silence could truly take hold though, John had one more thing to add, so quietly it was almost a whisper.

“You know… I do wanna do one thing differently though, if it’s even possible.” His mind was distant, thinking back to the cold, unmoving face of the woman they’d freed from the prison, just too late. “If we find anyone else in that barrier, another survivor… I wanna get them out, this time.”