Exploring the Gateway

“Hold on, it's not like I have a real plan yet. My instincts are telling me something's up, but I'm not really sure,” John was surprised, having expected more suspicion.

“Then we'll make one together, and I trust your instincts just as much as I trust you,” Alice smiled, “maybe you should too. But anyway, what makes you think my mom knows anything?” Alice asked, talking faster as John could almost see the gears turning in her head.

John thought about what to say for a second before speaking, “do you remember when she asked me to stay down to talk? She didn't ask me anything, but I did. I asked her if she knew anything about what I'm doing. Mostly because, well…” he sighed for a second, unsure how to phrase it, “I think I saw something like your old bracelet over there, and it got me thinking about what happened with your dad,' he looked over to Alice to see her frozen, trying to process his words. Not sure he could help, he kept talking instead, “Anyways, then she had this look like she knew something and told me to go, like that already answered her question…”

“You're serious?” John just nodded, “then my mom knows about whatever this is, and it might have something to do with my dad, and my bracelet is somehow connected,” she started rambling, trying to connect the dots, “damn it John, isn't there more you know? Can you tell me exactly what you told my mom?” she was frustrated but also curious, though he sensed her frustration wasn't with him.

“I wish I could,” he held her hand, feeling her breathing getting heavier and her trying to calm herself down, “Alice, I don't think she's involved in what I am, or with anything that happened to your father. But maybe we can find out something from her, a lead, ” John wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. She accepted it but sat there for a few minutes, before she could finally relax.

“I just want the people I love would tell me the truth. You, dad, and now mom as well? All of it is just so awful, I hate it, and to top it all off, every single one of you thinks it's for my own protection. Why can't I take care of myself? Is whatever this is so dangerous?” she asked, and John wished he could tell her it was, but it would only make this worse. He hugged her tighter, hoping to ease the tension.

They both sat there for a while, Alice’s tears slowly dried, and she took comfort in John’s closeness. Her head laid on his shoulder as she spoke again, taking a deep breath and clearing her throat, “fine, I think I know the answer anyways. You’re staying here tonight,” her voice was stable, “and tomorrow night, before you leave, we’re gonna look in my mom’s room. Maybe we’ll find some answers there.“

“That’s a good plan, and if it’s what you want then of course we’ll do it. But I worry your mom might catch us.”

“Let me worry about her, and of course it is,” she chuckled a bit, her mood seemingly improved, ‘if my mom has something to do with all this, I have to find out,” her tone was firm again, and John knew she wouldn’t budge, he didn’t want her to, “ok, now let’s talk about something else. I don’t want to think about this anymore.“

Neither did John, and they chatted about normal things instead, he even told her a bit about Bass and the others. It wasn’t long before they both drifted asleep, cuddled together.

By the time John got back to HQ it was around eight in the morning, and his group, including Matthew, had gathered in their classroom. Seeing they were all already there, John understood the stares as he walked into the room. Yet there was a sense of routine present that he quite enjoyed. The tension from yesterday had disappeared, John figured.

“You’re late, boss!” Bass shouted vibrantly at John, her and Yan laughing as he took a seat near her.

“Had some things to do this morning, sorry,” he paused for a second, looking over the room, “anyways, how are you all doing this morning-“

“We’re wasting time. Tell us the plan for today,” Matthew cut John off and demanded, dejected.

John instantly saw Yan about to say something, but he shook his head towards her, “Matthew’s right, we have a lot of work to today, we can catch up while we do,” Bass gave him a sour face, but she knew he was right as well, “first, we’re going to need to the warehouse for that generator, and whatever else Strong has for us. Then I think-” he was interrupted again this time by the opening of the door. Ember quickly joined them inside the room, even taking a seat. It was a surprise, to say the least.

‘She’s a part of the team now, I need to get used to it. After all, she was a massive help yesterday, even with her weird behavior lately,’ John resolved in his mind, and was about to continue when she spoke up.

“I suggest you attend my class afterwards. The Council has plenty of useful secrets that I am in a position to share, and I think some of them are particularly important now,” she said, her tone warmer than usual.

“That sounds like a good idea, is everyone ok with that?” John asked, and after a few nods of agreement and a sigh from Matthew they headed to the warehouse. That reminded him of what Strong had told him yesterday. He fell back to walk next to Matthew and spoke to him.

“Strong mentioned there was something you came to tell us yesterday while we were on the mission? I’m not sure what that was about but it sounded important, and I want you to know that even if we disagree personally, or you don’t like me, we’re still a team. So if there’s anything you want to tell me, whatever it is, you can. And even more so if you need our help,” John wanted to help Matthew, he was still human, despite his flaws. And he sensed there was some hangup holding the aristocrat back.

“That old man must have been confused, since I said nothing of the sort,” Matthew responded, trying to hide the surprise on his face.

“Are you sure, because I would like to hear what you had to say,” John wasn’t sure he should believe him.

“John,” he emphasized, “I do have anything to tell you. Do not pressure me further,” Matthew said, far more decisively this time.

*’He's lying, yeah, but I really don’t want to pressure him any more. I wonder what Strong was talking about, it was probably important but I guess I’ll find out when the time is right,’* he shook his head in acceptance and frustration.

“Sorry about that then, I don’t want to push you,” John walked a bit faster, catching up to the rest.

A bit later he was back to walking with Yan at the front when she nodded towards him, knowingly, “I think you should know how Matthew is by now. My guess is it's something about his family. He’s done it a few times before, starting to reveal some deep secret to me or Bass before regretting halfway through a sentence. Shouldn’t judge him for it, it’s tough on him too, I think,” John sensed worry in her voice.

“You’re probably right. Still, I’m curious, what did he manage to tell you guys?“

“Let’s talk about that later,” she drew his attention to the warehouse’s door, which they were about to reach. After waiting for the group for a minute, they all entered in a hurry.

John saw Strong standing near the counter again, and placed on it was a large metal orb with a bundle of cables and a cylindrical slot jutting out from it. In addition to the few supplies still on the team’s list. Six tents, most of the rations they would need, and six metal panes that looked like tablets. As well as a single pistol modified in the same way as the other weapons John had seen from the council. The tablets seemed Abyssal but the rest of the supplies might have been as well, so he decided to take a look at them all later.

“Is that everything, Strong?” he asked almost immediately, trying to sound professional.

“Yeah, it’s the supplies you guys earned from yesterday. This is the generator I promised,” he picked up the sphere, “you can use these fuel canisters to power it by placing it in the slot. They should last about a day each, as long as you don’t overuse them,” he pulled out a few white metal canisters that had some sort of white-bluish gas floating inside them, “feel free to do whatever you want with all this equipment now, it’s yours. And if you work here again that will be enough to cover everything that’s left on your list. No missions today, though. I’ve got to get back to work, come find me if you want to help out today!” he laughed and scratched his chin before turning back and disappearing into the depths of the warehouse.

“So, boss, what do we do with all this now?”

“Let’s take it back to the class first and look over everything. We’ll figure out where to store it then.”

When they arrived back to the classroom a couple minutes later, they all discussed what was next. There were a few things he wanted to test, some with the help of the others. And they still needed to attend Ember’s class. Still, he had seen the rest use pocket spaces, as the lack of them was one of his concerns. Like Orianna and himself, they could instantly summon or put in any object in their hands. Which would be immensely useful. John had also noticed that the items inside his own inventory don’t stack, and when he grabbed a tent it filled up three slots. Just as if he was in Resident Evil, with one of those Tetris style inventories. After using Observe on and looking over the items, which now sat on the table, he found out a few things.

The tablet was a Council design, it had mapping and communications software on it, and they were all linked to each other through a specific radio frequency. Six earpieces were there along with the tablets having their own dedicated storage inside the frame. John quickly figured out they could be used to communicate through private and public frequencies.

’Pretty useful, glad they thought of that,’ the tents and the rations were more mundane. What he found out about the pistol and generator, however, was important. For the engine, it told him it ran off Helium 3, and that it already had some fuel inside of it. Even having a small bar for how much fuel remained. It also told him it generated around ten megawatt hours, ’that sounds like an insane amount of power, no way we’re gonna overtax that, right?’

“I’ve never seen one of these before, quite interesting technology I must admit,” Matthew examined the generator with some measure of interest. John was surprised the ice mage shared his interest, but was somewhat happy, before returning to focus on the pistol’s sheet.

It was an interesting sheet all things considered, letting him know what the gun was based on. And given it could be used with Mana as well as ammo, John was sure they would be fine on that front. Yet he had no idea how to use it, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to.

“Anyone here know how to handle a gun?” the rest told him they didn’t, besides Ember who put her hand up quickly. John guessed it was part of her training, and gave her the pistol instead of asking further. After doing so, when a few minutes of simple chatter followed, he felt a soft tap on his shoulder in the middle of talking to Bass. When he turned to respond, he saw Charlotte standing behind him.

“J-John, m-mind if we t-talk?” she asked, nervous, her hands fidgeting just like yesterday.

“Sure,” she pulled him away as soon as he answered, and they both left the classroom. John saw Yan follow them to the door, but stayed inside afterward.

“Umm… I wanted to tell you something...” she started as they stood in the corridor away from the classroom. She was clearly less nervous now that they were alone, “about yesterday.“

It took John a while to realize she was waiting for a reply, “what about yesterday? Are you alright?” he was primarily concerned, but he was equally confused.

“Yeah, I’m f-fine... But there’s something I need to say,” she paused for a second, doubts clearly showing on her face, “when Y-Yan asked Ember about why she was with us, it made me want to t-tell you why. W-why I came to the Council. My t-teacher can help explain, maybe… Do you m-mind coming with me to meet her l-later?” her tone was almost excited, yet she turned and her fidgeting returned in force.

“If there’s something you want to tell me, of course I’ll come to hear it,” he said, trying to reassure Charlotte.

“Good!” she nodded her head, then rushed back into the classroom without waiting for him to follow. For a minute John stood there in silence, unsure what to make of the interaction. But he figured he would find out later, and returned to the class to see Ember had begun her lesson.

John immediately sat down in the closest chair, which ended up being next to Yan. She nodded him a greeting, but John could see something was making her nervous, as she was tapping the table with some regularity.

“What I was talking about earlier is a simple technique that’s used almost daily by all Council agents and explorers alike. It was created as a modification of traditional methods of hiding Mana,” the spy stopped, her hands making a few movements, then spoke again, “as you can see I have just now placed a layer of Mana on my body. One you can easily detect by using Mana as well. You may confirm this now, if you wish.”

John jumped at the chance, hoping to test his new form of Observe. He saw a layer of white colored Mana across Ember’s body, ’huh, it’s the same pattern I could see on her in the mine,’ when he looked around to the others he could see they all were staring at Ember. Each with a Mana structure resembling lenses on their eyes, with their own strange structure and color.

“As you are all also aware, you can easily hide this Mana by thinning it out. There is, however, one problem with that. It changes the effect of the spell channeling that Mana. For example,” the same instant, she disappeared. With only the wall behind her now visible to the naked eye. Ember’s Mana, however, was still there. It was also slowly fading, and soon left only a silhouette of her behind. John could barely see a shimmer, but it was still there.

“I’m sure that shall suffice as an example,” Ember reappeared fully, “this was a problem posed to all magic users in the Abyss. Given our need to hide ourselves outside of the places where magic is well known. Or where magic may be known about, but frowned on. Luckily, it was also solved. There is a way to achieve both. And it’s quite simple. All you must do is create a layer of Mana around the original one to hide it. It must be incredibly thin, and of much the same properties as regular hidden Mana. Once it’s placed over a second level of normal Mana and both are

maintained individually, both will become impossible to view. Be aware, this will require significantly more Mana than the original technique, and can leave you extremely vulnerable if you use it unwisely, so be cautious,” she warned. Her voice was as professional as John was used to, but also showed her genuine interest in teaching them.

She told them to stand up and began demonstrating how to make these two layers step by step. Once she was finished, she continued, “now, you should practice making the second layer.“