Exploring the Gateway

As he opened his eyes, once again driven by that same strange force to wake up, he looked around to find the Victorian furnishings of his surroundings still felt foreign. However, they had nonetheless begun to feel like home, both the people and the place seeming more familiar to him now. John shook his head to wake himself further, there was no time to sit idly around. So he quickly got out of bed, dressed for the coming day, and left the room.

'Guess there's no oversleeping in here…' he thought groggily as he entered the hallway. Bass and Matthew were both already awake, just the same as yesterday.

"Morning, John!" Bass was the first to notice him. It looked like she was completely healed, no bandage was in sight and she was as energetic as ever. Matthew sent a slight nod in his direction soon after. The sight of a girl dressed like she was going to a rave and a nobleman standing two meters from each other was almost surreal, but it was also starting to feel normal. A second later, a maid appeared out of one of the connected hallways and instructed John to follow her to Ingrid. Even that was almost normal now.

"We have personal magics again, so I guess I'm off to see Ingrid. I'll see you all later," John quickly told the others.

"Good luck boss," Bass sent him off with a cheery tone, while Matthew said nothing.

John had once again been escorted to the training room. Inside it stood Ingrid, looking just a regal and serious as ever.

"I told you I would explain. And so I will," she paused for a moment, letting the maid who had brought John leave the room, "the test you performed is meant to detect all Mana types the user naturally generates. It's usually quite a small amount, needing other Mana generation techniques to supplement it, but it's good at detecting what type that person will have an affinity for. As I suspected, it seems you generate an incredible amount of Psychic Mana naturally. Now, that in itself is not unheard of, but still quite rare, what's more incredible is that you seemingly generate a similar amount of Mana for all the base types. An affinity for all or most types isn't impossible either, but there have been no recorded cases I'm aware of where a late bloomer has shown that level of potential.

“Think of the natural Mana generation as the upper limit of your powers, there are quite a few ways to enhance it, but only forbidden techniques can be used to fully replace it. In other words, the upper limit of your powers, your potential, is not only incredibly high, but also varied to a degree that is quite rare. It'll take time to develop it, but ideally you would spend the next ten years mastering just Psychic magic. Sadly, we don't have that kind of luxury. For now, you will learn Psychic magic with me, we'll see how far you've progressed in two weeks and move on from there. First, I want to start with a demonstration. Please attempt to use any of your magical abilities. Your arcane bolts or wall would be ideal."

Confused, John followed her instructions, and a second later the bolts popped into existence. In only a second they had disappeared, as John felt the channeling of Mana that came with every one of his abilities be broken apart and ripped from him. The bolts turned to dust just as they did when he dismissed them himself. Despite the feeling being quite unpleasant, it wasn’t exactly painful. More like taking out hairs than being injured.

"The hell was that?"

"I disrupted the flow and structure of your Mana, that is one of the main strengths of Psychic magic. The ability to disrupt your opponent's magic is difficult and requires quite a bit of concentration, but it is nonexistent in every other type of magic. Psychic magic is all about manipulating Mana, and by extent, the soul that generates it. That is what you are doing when you invade another's mind, to simplify it. Remember that from now on."

'Their souls? Wait… Shit! What the fuck did I do to Brad?' John missed all she said next until she grabbed him by the shoulder.

"That is why it must be taught properly. It is seen by many as the most powerful type of magic, but it is also by far the most dangerous in the wrong hands. I am grateful that the responsibility of having the power to manipulate minds was never thrust upon me, but you stumbled into it, and if you do not learn to control it and yourself, destruction will be your only legacy. Do you now understand how much weight is upon your shoulders?" John nodded quickly to signal his understanding, his mouth dry and his tongue tied, "I truly wish that you didn't have to bear this responsibility, but it is as it is. That responsibility comes with power, see that I never need to remind you which comes first," he tone was final and firm, but her eyes showed she cared.

"I'm still stuck on this. Souls are real?" John was too shocked to handle all this at once, so he took it one thing at a time.

"Yes, they are the source of Mana. It is a power generated from willpower, exertion of the soul's energies, which includes physical exertion and emotions. You might notice people tend to become stronger and more resilient when their mental states are extreme. I believe even mundanes exhibit this. More than that, the natural generation of Mana is usually a good indicator of the strength of one’s personality and ideals. In other words, growing as a person can sometimes affect how much Mana you generate, for good or ill."

'That would explain a lot of things…'

"Regardless, shall we get started with the lesson itself now?" Ingrid asked, her tone impatient.

"This wasn't the lesson?" John asked, a bit confused. That was already more information than he expected to get, but now she said there was still more.

"No, that was the introduction. Yesterday was a… fluke."

"I guess I'm as ready as I can be then," John said, hesitant given the flood of new and somewhat disturbing information.

"Let's start with how to form Mana into structures. Like regenerating Mana, it seems you are already capable of doing this to some degree, but I doubt you have all of the nuances down. What do you know about forming Mana?"

"I'm not even sure what you mean by that…" John thought back to when he had created the few skills that he had not gotten, "I guess it's the act of channeling Mana into a certain shape and purpose," he guessed that’s what she had meant, as that is exactly what he had done with Arcane Bolts and the other skills he had gained back then.

"You are correct. But it's quite a bit more than that. Mana is a varied thing, its properties change as it is manipulated by a mage. That manipulation happens through the unity of spirit and body. Or through concentration, if you will. Some experts in manipulating Mana are so skilled they can create entirely new spells and fields of magic simply by varying the density and shape of Mana, but for now let us start simply. Shape implies purpose, but there is another factor that decides how Mana affects the world around it. Do you know what that is?"

"Is it the caster's intent?" John guessed, but it made sense to him that it might be the case. After all, that’s most of how he’d made his prior spells.

"Indeed. More than form, intent is what creates spells and by extent magic. One can create a shield of Mana, but if he commands it to attack, it will act with that force, with that intent. I want you to create a simple structure. A cube or other basic geometric shape, and imbue it with the intent to stay as solid and hard as possible. Can you do that?" she looked at him with a genuinely curious expression. She wanted to test him, clearly, but he could tell she believed in him as well.

"I'll do the best I can," John was still unsure if he could even understand what Ingrid was saying, no less that he was capable of doing what she asked.

He looked inward, just as he did the time he had Arcane Barrier. Inside him he still felt that ever present energy, and so once again he imagined it flowing out of his body like blood, pouring into the air and eventually taking the form of a small cube. As Ingrid instructed he attempted to imbue it with purpose. He focused his entire mind on it holding up to as much stress as possible. Seconds later, when he opened his eyes, he saw a cube in his hand. Weirdly, however, no popup appeared like the last time he had done this.

"Good, now let us test it," it began floating in the air almost immediately, and was then thrown at the wall at a relatively quick speed. The block of blue light hit the wall with a strong smashing sound, and flew into the dust the second it touched the wall. Not waiting, Ingrid talked once more, "again."

John wasn't going to argue, so once again he looked to the paths of energy, or Mana, as he now knew it was called. This time, he knew what to do. It wasn't difficult beforehand, but forming the cube felt easier, like he was retreading the same paths, rather than making new ones. He tried focusing on the intent for it to last while forming the cube, almost chipping at it and smashing it in his mind. John could feel that it worked, it was tougher than before, his mind’s attempts couldn’t break it. Yet, it was shattered against the wall just the same.

"Again," was all Ingrid said in the next hour.

---

Two techs had come to her small quarters, once again informing her of something she didn’t particularly care about. Unlike the last time, it was at least something she needed to know. Strange readings had been found on the planet. Not that she listened, her head was elsewhere, and what she needed and wanted to know were too different for her liking.

"We don't know what is there exactly, but the Mana concentration is off the charts. Far beyond normal parameters," the younger male tech said once they had escorted her to the ready room, where the captain of the ship was also waiting.

"So is there a gateway there or not?" she asked in response, barely raising her head from the table.

"At this point, we still can’t be sure," the older female tech answered her question quickly.

"Then why did I even bother coming to this debriefing," Ruby had enough of it. She wasn't the captain, nor the most experienced officer onboard. But everybody insisted on treating her as if she was in command of something. It was a waste, she didn’t care to be and there were people far better equipped for that kind of thing, even onboard. The captain had insisted on it, as always.

"Well, I believe that's all the information we have anyways. You are dismissed, Lieutenant Hunt," an ominous voice came from the dark end of the room. From the ship’s ever mysterious captain. Unlike the rest of his crew, he wasn't from Earth or the first plane, he was one of the representatives of this plane's Earth.

Ruby respected Commander Ray, he was her captain after all, but nonetheless, all this operational nonsense was a waste of her time. Even her title wasn’t truly hers. She had gotten the promotion years ago now, when she became a pilot, but she never wanted it. Her interest lay in things outside of military organization.

"I'm going back to training," she said, frustrated. The captain shot back a nod, and the two techs hurried to let her leave.

She walked out the door and into the rest of the ship. Making small, quick steps as she headed to the hanger. There were only two weeks left now until they arrived, and she was getting even more restless. A part of her mind kept telling her this wasn't just any mission. With the unsettling feeling that had set over the entire ship, she knew it was true, but she was also the only one that could feel it.

Her confidence returned as she saw the shadow of her suit looming over her and the gigantic room that was the hanger bay. It was painted in the traditional colors of a mobile suit, white and red. Obviously designed after the original model, but hundreds of years of improvements and upgrades stimulated by magic showed their effects. Given its year of creation on her Earth, Ruby had taken to calling it the "Millennium Gundam".

---

Yan was once again utterly frustrated by her private magic lessons. Her attempts at learning new transformations were rebuffed at every step. She wanted to advance her magic, and learn how to transform into new and interesting animals, but her professor, as usual, refused. The professor was the same one that had taught her since she arrived at the Council. An old explorer by the name of Seren Weaver, a man with black hair and a gaunt form that despite his capacity to hide the white hairs on his head didn’t do so.

Seren had started his career as a biomancer, but he no longer engaged in active field duty. It bothered Yan that she was learning from someone like that, and more so when he continued stubbornly insisting that she should master her owl form first before moving onto any others.

“You must learn to change an owl’s wings as you do your own arms before you can move on to other forms, Yan!” he said one time, when she complained as always.

Even her own body seemed to agree, refusing to accept any other forms, no matter how much effort she put in to learn them. And so, another magic lesson began with a clearly marked lack of progress.

“Today we’ll be continuing to work on your owl form, please enter it Yan,” her teacher instructed as she stepped into the large training room. It was of her teacher’s own design, like most training rooms around the Council. At its center stood a large boxing ring, and various sandbags and other equipment were scattered about. Taking her place in front of her teacher, Yan quickly did as she was taught.

She didn’t do it out of desire, but there wasn’t much else she could do, and as annoying as she found him, he was still much better than she was currently. Once she did, he continued to speak.

“Now, the aura of Mana that surrounds your body, shape it into the form of a wolf’s paw, the same way you do when you are in human form,” it was the same thing he had tried to teach her for months. Yan already knew how this would go.

Still, she focused again. Her Mana had collected around her in the form of an aura to maintain her form, almost like a second skin on top of her. First, it wrapped around her, tightening into the form of an owl, and her body soon followed. Constricted by the almost oppressive force of her own Mana. Then, she tried modifying it, playing with the lengths of her wings to form a paw. Just as she did with her arms in her normal form. Unexpectedly, she felt things shifting, and after a sound of wonder from her teacher she opened her eyes.

Her right hand was now a wolf’s paw, and not an owl’s wing, despite the rest of her body.

---

By the end of the lesson, John was mentally and physically drained. Repeated uses of his Mana and waiting for it to charge back up again took a clear physical toll on him, and Ingrid’s destruction of his creations. In addition, Ingrid’s single worded responses to both his failures and requests for rest mentally challenged him. Despite him half lying on the floor in that dojo by the end, his breath barely keeping up, he had become much better at creating the cubes of Mana. The pathways to it were so set in his mind that his instincts took over when he called upon it again. It was also quite a bit harder to break, requiring her to move it at greater speeds in order to shatter it the same way she had before. Progress had been made, and Ingrid recognized it with John soon enough.

“You did well, John. I’m sorry if this feels useless to you, but believe me, it is necessary. Many of our more advanced techniques are based on this method. This is how most of us learn most spells and magic, and it is a way you must learn as well. Your abilities, as significant as they are, do not seem to let you skip this step entirely,” she stopped and reached out with her hand to help the Gamer up.

She continued when he stood again, “regardless, it is quite impressive indeed that a novice can do so much in just an hour. However, you still have much to learn, John. We’ll start on more practical constructs next time. For now, you should return to the others. You have another lesson with Mr. Graham soon,” her tone was kind, and the look in her eyes told John she was proud of him. She then escorted him out of the room.

He left the room with her begrudgingly, learning magic like others do was an interesting experience. It illustrated to him how lucky he was to get Arcane Bolts and Arcane Barrier so easily. Still, he had not yet entirely processed all of the information Ingrid had told him, and there was more to ask and still more he wanted to know. Disrupting his wandering mind, a pop-up appeared as they walked out.

’That’s a cool skill! And it really is what I just did. Gonna have to investigate what it exactly can do later,’ the Gamer thought to himself as he walked along the winding corridors. A maid had taken him from the door, where she looked to be waiting and was now escorting him to his CQC lesson. John now took the time to look her over, it still felt unnatural that the Abyss even had servants, much less when they were dressed like her. The garbs of english maids he had seen in shows like Downton Abbey was standing before him, on a girl barely his age, and in almost disturbing detail. He shook his head and shifted his gaze, not wanting to be rude. Once he arrived, the girl informed him, and he entered to find the others along with Graham.

"Split into groups. Today we'll be working on basic counters and grabs," Graham said almost as soon as he joined them. He was being curt, as usual, but he did go on to teach them some useful maneuvers soon enough.

Despite John’s inexperience with martial arts, he once again got some sense of what they were doing as they trained. Starting out, they simply practiced various blocks. Some were intended to lock the opponent’s arms or legs, as to disable their movement, and some were intended to allow for further attacks on the enemy. Bass was John’s sparring partner this time as well. Anytime she attempted to block him, she succeeded, and he could barely keep up with the speed of her attacks.

He knew how much better her physical stats were, but there was more to it. Bass had far superior technique and clearly more training. That almost made him wonder if he should ask from where, but he saved that for another time, as about half way through the lesson he got a pop-up.

Counter might have been the most useful skill he had gotten so far, if only because it worked to help his weaknesses. It made his melee options far more varied than they were before.

’Anything is more varied than nothing,’ he chuckled in his mind as he asked Bass for a short break and went to sit on one of the benches at the side of the yard.

Then he got to thinking, first, he had still not invested the points he got from his two level ups. He also needed a minute to rest, the training was quite intensive, and his stamina was obviously not infinite. More physical options were necessary, of that he was sure, but his Mana pool was also getting quite limited with how much he used it. Given that, he decided to put three points into both Strength and Endurance, and the rest of his points into Intelligence. He looked at his character sheet a moment later.

Afterwards, he turned to the others, looking at their progress. It looked like Matthew was already proficient at this, as he had trained with Graham earlier, but was now standing at the side of the courtyard. Yan and Charlotte were both sparring against each other as well, but it was quite obvious Yan was more suited to this. A few minutes later, once he had caught his breath and John noticed Bass was clearly eager to continue, they returned to sparring.

The next time John took a break was just as the lesson ended.