Abyss 101

After an hour and a half, John finished his recount of the morning's events. He would have finished sooner but Brenda kept her promise and called twice to check up on him. “That's my story, Jasmine. Will any of that be useful to help find Meadow?" he asked the question most pressing on his mind.

Jasmine had listened to John recount everything in silence, only taking notes while he spoke. When The Gamer presented her with this question, the reporter stopped writing and the professional aura she had maintained broke. With her vibrant smile and an excited voice, she said, “John, that was quite an interesting tale. You’d be surprised how much people enjoy firsthand accounts of a Late Bloomer diving headfirst into the Abyss especially because those that survive usually turn into unique powerhouses.” She paused and took a moment to compose herself. Jasmine continued with a calm tone, “Sorry that this has turned into a big case. I’ll answer your question first, like promised, before I question you on your powers.” She placed her slender fingers on his shoulder in a gentle manner. “At the very least your involvement here drastically increased her chances of being found. I’m 99% sure Meadow is alive.”

When those words left her mouth, John relaxed and leaned against the bridge, scaring away a squirrel that was walking on the handrail. “She’s alive, that means there’s still hope.”

“I have a few theories but it’s best not to scare you unnecessarily until I have more information. Tonight, we should be able to slip into your friend’s house. I’ve only seen things within the barrier, so I want a better look,” Jasmine continued.

“But I need to know what’s going on. Are you not telling me because you think I can’t handle it?” John asked cautiously.

The reporter sighed while shaking her head. “Clearly that’s part of the reason. If I told you the kidnapper only took your friend to stare at her lovingly from a distance, it would still ruin the calm mood you just had,” Jasmine answered with a bit of snark. “Either way, there’s nothing we can do for Meadow right now. I’ve been patient with you because you’re going through a lot, but this is my job, I can’t spend all day babysitting you. We made a deal and I’ll honor my end of it, just be patient. Do you understand, John?” A gust of wind blew through the park as if to punctuate her question.

“Yes, Jasmine, I understand,” John answered reflexively, unsure if the wind was a coincidence or caused by the woman. “What would you like to know?”

“First, I need to ask about the game windows you speak of. Do you know if others can see them?” Jasmine asked excitedly.

“No, as far as I can tell other people can’t see them. I used Observe in front of you and my mother but neither of you noticed the window. Also, when I changed clothes in the barrier, I had my inventory window open, but you made no mention of anything out of place until I actually changed uniforms,” The Gamer answered her question. “I haven’t checked yet if there is a way for me to show it. I had planned to get a better grasp on my abilities when I got on the bus. There is a bit of my menu I have yet to explore as well.” Thinking about that, he opened his menu to check if it was possible.

"That would be great if you can find something. From what you’ve told me, the biggest advantage you have is that skill Gamer’s Spirit. You learned scrying magic with almost no effort; this alone shows how strong that ability is.” The reporter smirked at John, who was moving his right hand about as he interacted with his invisible menu. “Your game windows provide you with a lot more information than even a seasoned Abyssal. Never underestimate the value of this information. Most of the Late Bloomers I read about needed to practice and get a feel for what they were capable of. You on the other hand only need-”

“Found it!” John suddenly shouted, interrupting the reporter. “Sorry about that, got a bit excited. I was looking through my UI settings trying to see if there was a visibility option, but most of those say locked at this time. That’s when I noticed I overlooked the obvious answer for any gamer.” He did an exaggerated pressing motion with his right hand. “You should be seeing something at any moment now.”

A small orange window appeared in front of Jasmine. The orange box said, John Newman sent you a party invite, do you accept? With a yes/no option that she instantly hit yes on.

Achievement unlocked: Teamwork makes the dream work
Form your first party
Reward CHA+2

“John, this is certainly unique,” Jasmine said, scooting closer to him. “I instantly was able to see our names in the upper left corner of my vision with our health and mana bars.” Excitedly, she gestured in the direction of her own interface. “More importantly, I can see this window floating before you; it’s very convenient that you got rewarded for something so miniscule. Hurry, show me your stats and skills sheet, I need to see this for myself,” she urged, giving him a playful push.

While John was getting used to the woman’s repeated invasion of his personal space, enough to keep from another embarrassing blush, his lower half reacted again to her close proximity and physical contact. ‘I really need to say something to get a better handle on my self-control or I’ll die of embarrassment from interacting with Jasmine,’ he thought while adjusting his pants and selecting his skills menu. “It is a bit useful; this is only my second Achievement. I’m lucky to have gotten stat points for this one. Those seem way more important than the Exp I gained from my other one,” he said while waving away the Achievement window. “Here’s my character page with the skills menu, there are all 6 that I currently have.”

The reporter took a moment to slowly analyze his character page. A tranquil silence between them that was accentuated by the pristine environment of the park. “One question I need to ask, do you have any idea who or what is giving you this information?” Jasmine asked, breaking the small silence.

The Gamer shrugged and shook his head. His gesture and clueless expression answered the question before he even vocalized it. “I have no clue. I’d figured it was God or my powers themselves.”

“Dang, I was banking on you maybe neglecting to mention a name in your story,” Jasmine said while snapping her fingers. “In the Abyss we have multiple gods, so that assumption doesn’t narrow it down much. I’m sure by now there’s a god of video games, but I doubt it has the power to facilitate your abilities and give out regular rewards. The detailed information you get in text form with your Observe skill can probably only come directly from the world itself, plus putting everything into a quantifiable form. My guess is you’ve been granted this information from Gaia herself or a knowledge god.”

“Hold up. Gods, the gods are real and there are multiple of them?” he queried with a face full of bewilderment.

“That’s right, we haven’t gone over anything about the Abyss yet. I’d been too enamored with your story and powers,” she said as she withdrew another cigarette from thin air and lit it. “I’ll explain that before we get to the fun stuff, like seeing what you can do. Where to start, where to start?” she repeated to herself while inhaling a bit of the caramel scented cigarette.

“Can you explain what a Late Bloomer is? I think I know from the way you used the term, but I want to be sure,” John asked as he admired the ebony woman with her relaxed expression while she smoked.

“That’s the perfect starting point, thanks, John,” Jasmine answered, gesturing her hand toward him. “Alright, listen carefully and try not to interrupt me.” John gave a quick nod in agreement. “Late Bloomers are people like yourself who live in the mundane world with no prior knowledge of mana, aside from fantasy. One day, individuals such as yourself are awakened to mana, sometimes it’s through maturation, other times through a powerful stimulus. Those who awaken naturally tend to have powerful or unique abilities, but they also have a very high mortality rate. The lucky ones meet an Abyssal and get taken advantage of, the unlucky ones fall to any number of the pitfalls in the Abyss that they had no clue about.”

“Sorry to interrupt but... ‘taken advantage of’? Are you admitting to taking advantage of me?” John asked hesitantly.

“Compared to the way I was explaining it, no. I will say the contract doesn’t ask much of me, I only need to try and help you find your friend and help with your growth. This means that even if we fail to save Meadow, I’ll still have fulfilled my end of the bargain. As for your powers, the stronger you get, the better my article about you will be, so helping with that is beneficial to me,” Jasmine answered nonchalantly. “Lucky for you, my father would kill me if I pulled anything similar to those asshats that take advantage of newbies like yourself. You’ve seen a bit of my history. I was an orphan that had a rough childhood; if it weren’t for my father helping me, my life would be much worse or nonexistent,” the reporter said with a wry smile.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have doubted you.” John’s face was full of guilt as he looked at the woman.

Jasmine gave a soft chuckle in response to his words. “John, I talked about that because you need to doubt people more. I am explaining to you how dangerous this world is for the weak and uninformed individuals like yourself. Doubt will keep you alive, only trust those that have earned it. Let’s continue rectifying your lack of information.

“The Abyss is a mystical world governed by the will of the world, commonly known as Gaia. This being has put rules into place dividing those with access to mana, or chi or any number of other irregular things found only in stories, and those without that live blissfully unaware of the mystical. If a member of the Abyss uses their abilities openly in the mundane world, they will be punished depending on a lot of factors, usually how much exposure the individual was responsible for. For example, I can create a shadow knife out of thin air like so,” a small purplish blade swiftly formed in her hand and was dismissed just as quickly, “and get no punishment because it was only revealed to you, another Abyssal. If I showed that to a mundane person, they would only view it as sleight of hand or doubt they saw anything. However, if I were to manipulate those same shadows and make an orb,” shadows coalesced into the palm of her hand, forming a ball, “like so, and demonstrating what it could do in public... Well, let’s just say my singular existence being erased is the best case scenario,” she said with a wry smile. “Anyway, the most important rule of the Abyss is discretion. That leads us to barriers. The space around your friend’s home is known as a barrier. It is a pocket space that protects reality from the Abyss. Barrier creation is something that all of us need to know. Are you ready for your first lesson, John?” Jasmine asked with a bright smile plastered on her face.

“Yes, of course, let's give it a shot,” John responded as he pushed off the bridge, stretching his body after being in the same spot for so long.

“Cool, finally the fun stuff. Before I forget, send your mother a text message telling her you’re going to see a movie or something. Your phone can’t connect in a barrier and you don't want her worrying again. We’ll get that fixed later,” the reporter said while John complied, sending the message to his mother.

“All set, Mom shouldn’t bother me for at least 2 hours. I’m ready to give this a shot.” The Gamer took a goofy looking ready stance that was met with another chuckle.

Jasmine walked up and clasped her hands around his, and he felt a low tingling in them. “Alright John, I don’t know how much your powers will help you here, so I’m going to try the simplest method I know of. Your hands should feel a bit warm, maybe tingly. Do you feel what I’m talking about?” He nodded a few times to confirm, even if he didn’t know if that was the magic she was alluding towards or the fact a gorgeous woman was holding his hands. “Perfect, focus on that feeling, that’s how raw mana feels to those not used to it. What I want you to do after I remove my hands from yours is pull on your own mana by focusing on that feeling.” She removed her hands from his. “Let me know when you feel it on your own.”

He focused on the residual tingle she left behind. After a few moments he felt the feeling return to his hands. “I think I’ve got it.”

“Great, what I want you to do next is to focus on our environment and think about making a copy of it, like the one of Meadow’s house. This place should be easy for you because you visit it regularly. Focus that intent into the mana in your hands. When you’re ready, release that and it should create a barrier,” the reporter said while taking a few steps back.

John hesitated for a second and spread his hands, trying to throw the barrier into the air.

New Skill unlocked: Create Barrier/Dungeon Lvl 1
Allows you to create a protected space.
Cost 10 MP

Achievement Unlocked: Basic Mana Control
Use basic mana control to learn a simple spell.
Reward INT+3