-Louis de Bernières

Level Up!
John has reached level 6!
+2 to all Stats!

"Fascinating… absolutely fascinating… your body's capacity for mana literally increased before my eyes, and, more importantly, my sensors."

"Great… we done?" John asked disinterestedly. He was actually quite into the idea of training some more, particularly after the promise that he'd made to Moira, but it had quickly gotten boring. Tricia wanted to see him level but insisted it not involved completing a dungeon or quest, so that way she could eliminate variables. It ended up taking most of their remaining time before John's World Shift came off cooldown, thanks to the division of experience and lack of extra rewards. On the plus side, he had about 30 more Damaged Wood, so that was… something?

"For now. I will have to return here to witness many of your abilities, including your bizarre method of construction, but there will be time for that later. Besides, I must analyze the data I have recorded. Although all signs point to it, I am still highly skeptical of so many things about your powers - especially your ability to form Barriers inside of this personal Barrier of yours. Still, there should be plenty of time for you to visit for us to engage our agreement regarding my experiments and your questioning. Moira tells me that you have abandoned your schooling?"

"I- well- when you put it like that…" John mumbled, distracting himself from the awkward question by dismissing the Barrier he had summoned. As they reformed in his world near the campsite though, Tricia seemed intent on continuing.

"Have you considered possible ramifications regarding your abandonment of normal civilian life?"

"Hey, listen, I just figured there was no point, since I already make so much money doing this," John protested, holding his hands up. Despite Tricia's bland tone, she seemed quite aggressive in her questioning.

"Yes, you told me that you receive a regular income from completing quests and dungeons. But what of your responsibilities to your government, family, and society? Have you considered how you will obtain high-cost products such as a house, cars, or high-value materials without a reportable income? Living entirely within this world of yours might be possible, but I assume you have at least some familial connections. Do you have a plan to deal with their questions and visitations?"

"I don't, I mean, not really," John admitted, gently scratching the back of his head. "I haven't even told my mother that I dropped out yet."

Tricia sighed, summoning one of her drones over to her. It projected a screen in mid-air, clearly visible and only very minimally translucent, something John found fascinating. He barely had time to study it because Tricia began flicking through screens until she came up with… well, something that resembled eBay, John supposed. It looked like single pictures of items next to descriptors and listings of prices, but the prices were way beyond anything John had ever seen before. Just in the few items on the front page, John could see half a dozen books with prices that could buy small mansions!

"Pay close attention, John, as this may be important to your future among both the Abyssal and the ordinary. This browser I am using connects to a private network similar to the darkweb among ordinary non-Abyssal folks. You have to know the address and exact connection requirements for any site you visit - the one that I am showing you now is by far the most popular. It is frequently referred to as the "Abyss Auction", closely resembling eBay or a number of other mundane sites. They sell most every good that you can possibly desire, ranging from the mundane to the outright extraordinary. If you intend to abandon the mundane lifestyle, they can provide you with social security documents, income forms, and various other government identification forms. All you need to do is come up with a pseudonym, and they will handle the rest with minor exceptions."

"That's… wow!" John exclaimed, amazed that such a service even existed, much less that he was getting a firsthand introduction. "What are you even using to access this? No way it's on the ordinary internet; is it some kind of Abyss-specific private server?"

Tricia smiled just a tinge as John examined the drone's holographic display. "Something similar to that, think of it as a version of the mundane internet which is accessed with a mana-based connection instead of a preferably fiber-optic one. There are many accessible services with the proper start, but the simplest and easiest is this Abyssal Auction site. If we sign you up for an account and I provide you with a mobile tool capable of access, they'll let you join in with no questions, assuming you pass a basic background check."

"That seems… kind of easy," John murmured, looking suspiciously at Tricia. "Is that really all it takes? Moira made it seem like all Abyssal factions were more or less at war, only refraining from fighting when they thought someone else would take advantage of them while they were weak from their last war."

"That is true, for most of the American Abyss," Tricia explained, leafing through multiple pages. John didn't see all of what she appeared to be glancing over, but he saw maps of Europe, Asia, and even Australia amidst tides of colors and shapes he didn't recognize. "Other nations have more history and, as such, have more established boundaries. The Abyssal Auction has its roots in the Silk Road, or at least the Abyssal version of such, and so is very well established. It also holds very little actual territory and typically operates as an inter-faction medium rather than a landed interest in any given nation. Since they control a majority of trade between different branches of the Abyss, almost no one is foolish enough to attack an Abyss Auctioneer or any of their staff except under the most dire of circumstances."

"Wow, I had no idea there was so much depth under all this **** and war," John said, sounding almost sarcastic but legitimately surprised to hear the Abyss wasn't entirely consisting of murderers, tyrants, and those who opposed both. "But how much would the paperwork to justify my income cost?"

"Currently, almost seventeen million dollars," Tricia said immediately.

"Holy shit, that's way more than I have on me!"

"That's quite cheap by Abyssal standards; as I said, most factions outside of North- and South America are well established, meaning they have billions of dollars to toy around with. Prices on the Abyss Auction site will be higher to compensate, although the quality is likely increased above any mundane objects you might find similar."

John spent the next few minutes going over the basics of the system with Tricia. Unfortunately, as she was quick to remind him, selling most of his ill-gotten gains was out of the question. Even assuming someone believed that he had the claw of a Barrier creature like a Giant Rat, or the talon of a Harpy, they'd be more interested in figuring out how to track down and capture John than they would in the actual goods. Tricia noted that all of the magical trinkets he had received - despite their unusual origins - were relatively generic and so were things he could potentially sell if he one day outgrew them. Aside from those, though, he was relatively limited, which meant official documents to falsify his source of income were well out of his reach until he got several more levels and completed many more dungeons.

"I will loan you one of my Abyss-connected devices when you visit me at my laboratory. Think of it as an incentive for you to allow me further testing sooner, rather than later."

"Giving me an incentive to come visit you? I'm almost starting to think you like me."

"My opinion of you is neutral but irrelevant. I simply require more data," Tricia noted, before disabling the display on her drone and beginning to walk away. She didn't even turn her head as she followed it up, "I believe Moira wished to speak with you regarding the results of my initial analysis."

"Huh…" John mumbled as Tricia traipsed away toward the main part of the camp, "…that flirting is a lot more fun with Seras."

Shrugging away his disappointment, John resolved to boost his Charisma a bit more… though not with his precious free points. He found Moira at the campsite as well, standing off to the side, watching the antics of the Nekos who had apparently returned while John and Tricia were going over the Abyss Auction.

"So… Tricia said you wanted to talk?"

Moira turned her head toward John. She seemed to have calmed down since storming off earlier, though a touch of annoyance still graced Moira's visage as she saw John.

"I wanted to speak with you earlier, but you were occupied," Moira emphasized, raising an eyebrow. "Tricia seems quite baffled by what you can do, so… I suppose you have not technically created an undead abomination the likes of which the Order has rarely seen, so… congratulations on that."

"Is… is that an apology?"

"I… regret that I showed such hostility toward you due to your abilities, although I must still admit my caution was well-deserved considering even one of our finest contracted scientists is amazed."

"So are you saying that you were wrong?"

Moira's jaw tightened noticeably, and John swore he saw a vein bulging on her neck. "I was mistaken as to the source of your abilities, yes, but my disbelief was understandable, and so-"

John laughed out loud, which only reddened Moira's face further.

"You really have a hard time saying you're sorry, don't you?"

"Enough of this. Are we quite ready to leave?"

"Almost. I still have one thing left to do."

“And that would be?”

“This.”

John stepped away from the camp until he was on a relatively flat part of the ground and far enough away from everyone else that he could use his Build in peace without worrying about them. Thanks to farming the Treants, he had enough Damaged Wood to almost double what he’d gotten from chopping down that tree. He had a new ability, and as always, John planned on finding out what it did by leaping in headfirst.

Thinking of his own house back home, John tried to imagine the entire first floor of it as vividly as he could. The entryway, the kitchen, the living room, the master bedroom and bathroom in particular, but he did his best to think about every closet, and the spare room too. Then he put his palm out, and in the same way he awkwardly summoned every other one of his powers, John felt a mass of mana flow through his body.

Build started!
House #1 under construction! Mana Cost: 100, Materials Consumed: 97x Damaged Wood, Build time: 72 Hours

In front of John a massive, translucent blue outline appeared. It was perfectly rectangular, over two dozen feet on each side, and John could see multiple walls on the inside outlining rooms in a manner identical to John's own home. John actually took a half-step back in surprise as the sounds of hammers and saws seemed to appear out of thin air, while in one corner of the building-shaped blueprint a trickle of wood began to appear, immensely slow and tiny, as if someone had liquefied actual wood and was pouring it into a pre-set mold.

"This must be the Build ability you described to me. That was on my list of features to test when I had more space available for data storage, but if you planned on using it, I wish you would have told me, John Newman," Tricia said, striding up beside John. "This is fascinating; just from casual observation, it seems your ability is transferring the materials you store in your dimensional pocket directly to the outside world, piece by piece. Yet when they appear there is no damage or sign of change to the composition, as if they were always whole, and in completely new forms - unless you have been hoarding two-by-fours in your pocket, of course…"

"Did you just make a joke?" John asked in shock.

"John, get us out of here quickly," Moira groaned. "If we do not leave now, we will have to pry her out with a crowbar, lab equipment or not."

"Alright, alright… Hey, everyone, I'll be back soon! You'll have a house in a few days, too!"

John gave a last wave before stepping closer to Moira and Tricia, whisking the three of them away. The familiar halls of the Brighton manor appeared a moment later out of a fragmented picture of reality.

"John, as you are no longer a member of the Academy, and since you have not yet informed your family of the situation, perhaps I could convince you to visit my laboratory instead? Only two or three days a week, of course - I will need time to process data and come up with new experiments."

"Sure thing, I really don't have much else to do. Going to the arcade five days a week would probably get boring… eventually… maybe?" John finished uncertainly. He was about to ask them both if they needed anything else before he left for home when the door to the room burst open and one of the Order's Knights burst in. He was one of the older knights John had seen, which put him into his mid-forties, at least. The black hair on his head was just beginning to see touches of gray, and his thick broom-like moustache twitched from the tension in his lips. The abruptness of his entry and the worried look on his face froze John, but Moira reacted almost immediately.

"What is it? What is wrong, Knight Gautric?"

"My Warden, Lord Brighton told us you would return here, and that you were to be summoned to his side immediately. It is an emergency."

"What has caused such a commotion? I was only gone for four hours," Moira asked, almost defensively.

"It's the Cabal, milady. They've attacked another one of our outposts - the safehouse on Northern Dowley Street."

"The Confessors' secondary chambers? Why would they attack there?"

"We aren't sure yet. They ransacked it and left immediately - our Knights arrived on the scene to find the Knights and Confessors stationed there slaughtered and are doing an inventory to see what they were so interested in."

"This- this will not be tolerated, this is an act of war!"

"That's just it, my Warden…" Knight Gautric said, his eyes darting to the ground for a brief moment.

"That's the emergency. The Cabal have just declared open war."