The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Gains

I looked at my new skills, eyes wide in pleased awe. Of course, I'd known I'd get three skills for raising WIS over a hundred—and that they'd likely be amazing, as the ones with INT had been—but this…

I heard my grandmother's airship lowering to the earth a ways away, but barely paid it mind as I considered the potential of my new skills. Each of the skills had opened up entire worlds of possibilities, so much so that I thought my head would spin, but I tried to organize my thoughts.

First, there was the random skill I'd gained, 'Familiar.'

Familiar (Active & Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%

An ability given to those with a profound connection with an animal and an affinity with nature. Through the binding of spirits, this ability allows the user to closely tie an animal to themselves, linking their souls. Once so bound, the animal's Aura reacts to changes in the user's own, responding or even mirroring it to achieve a number of effects. Additional abilities may be gained with increase of skill level or the level of the Familiar, along with increased range.

The user may call to their Familiar regardless of distance, at which point they will make their way to the needed location as quickly as possible. The Familiar is immune to all status effects that would turn it against the user and the intentions of the user may be freely conveyed.

At the user's choice, Active Skills targeting the user may also affect the Familiar at no further cost, if they are within range. The effect of such skills fade if the Familiar leaves this range for any reason and do not renew if they reenters said range. Additionally, Active Skills that may normally target only the user may instead target the Familiar, regardless of range.

Whenever the user gains experience, the Familiar gains an equal amount of experience. The Familiar may never have a level higher than the user's.

Once a Familiar is selected, it can only be changed after the death of the Familiar.

Closeness with Familiar is greatly increased.

Range: 10 meters

For me, such an ability was probably even more useful than Clairvoyance. Essentially, I could bind myself to an animal and they'd gain enormous power as a result and, because of how skills and experience were shared, they'd effectively become a free high-level combatant. Without taking up any of my party slots, I could train them and they'd grow alongside me—and with all of my skills…well, between the White Tiger Style, my healing, my Dust abilities, and everything else, the possibilities were endless. With just a little effort, the amount of power in such ability was…was just mind-boggling.

The only question was who I'd pick. Gou and Autumn leapt instantly to mind, but it specified 'animals,' so it was probably limited to Gou. I suppose that might have been for the best; he was still at a low level because I'd been wary of letting him fight until he was strong enough to take it, but if I could enhance him like this, well…a few Grimm shouldn't be a concern. And if he gained experience at the same rate I did, I could just find a few more Giant Nevermore and kill them quickly, no problem. With the potential of Naraka especially…I'd have to test it first, of course, and make sure there weren't any hidden downsides, but…

And maybe there were other possibilities for it, too. It said additional abilities would develop as the skill improved, so who knows what could happen. And if it was possible to expand the breadth of the ability, to target more than one familiar, or target plants, or ideally both…

God, this skill was just amazing. I was a little wary of the potential risks, of how I'd explain everything about Gou, of what side-effects it might have on my dog, but still. The potential power in this skill alone might have surpassed that of Summon Elemental.

So it said something that the other two rivaled it.

Harmony (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%

An ability given to the few that are born with an exceptional insight into the patterns of mana and a great affinity for the elements. Mimicking the nature of Dust, basic Elements may be combined into more complex forms through careful mixture.

Allows for the use of Intermediate Elements. Elemental Affinities are equal to the average of all component Affinities.

Grants resistance to Elemental Attacks. Resistance to a specific Element is equal to the average resistance to all component Elements.

15% less MP used for all Elemental attacks.

Pathfinder (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%

An ability given to those born with an understanding of their purpose in life.

Activates Quest Markers and Objectives.

If these abilities worked the way I thought they did…then Pathfinder especially…

In games, it wasn't uncommon for the system to tell you what to do or where to go to fulfill your quest. It wasn't usually specific—it might tell you who to beat and where they were but not necessarily how—but if you apply that simple ability to real life…just imagine. Arrows pointing you when you're uncertain, notes informing you of things you'd otherwise have no possible way of knowing about. That was an amazingly powerful ability; the stuff I'd done in games that I shouldn't have had any real way of knowing about was just unbelievable. If my ability could do that in real life…then Pathfinder could be my strongest skill, in its own way.

And with Harmony, opening up additional possibilities for my Elementals…

Yes, I thought. Without a doubt, putting points in Wisdom had been the right move. And with the points I had left, I could…

"Jaune," My grandmother's voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Yes?" I said, turning to look at her. She stood close to me, sharp eyes slowly scanning the area. She glanced from the Goliath's slowly fading corpse to the tiger statue to the bundle in my hands, expression thoughtful. Cynosarges stood a ways away, leaning down to look at the Goliath's remains. "Sorry, I was just thinking about something."

She nodded, seeming to accept that.

"This was informative, if concerning," She said, tilting her head to watch the Grimm. "Did you see anything from down here that might have given away its intentions?"

I shook my head, earlier concerns returning as I was drawn away from my distractions.

"No, but…" I hesitated. "Whatever it was doing seemed deliberate. Even when I killed it, it looked like it thought it'd won. I don't know why, really—maybe it thought it had killed me somehow? Or…did you check if anything was happening elsewhere?"

"Yes," She said quietly, frowning. "Nothing is happening near Mistral, as far as we can tell. The observation towers and surveillance networks haven't reported anything unusual, either, and no one's even responded to our absence yet. If this was meant as a distraction, then whatever we're being distracted from probably didn't need the help."

"Then…what?" I asked. "Do you think it made a mistake? Or…I don't know. Have you ever seen the Grimm act this way?"

She was silent for a moment, eyes closing.

"Perhaps," She said at last. "A few times, maybe, I'm not sure. It's something…there are oddities that've been noticed from time to time, uncharacteristic behavior in individual or small groups of Grimm. Unexpected attacks, sometimes, or a few odd survivors in otherwise depopulated towns."

"Why?" I asked, having never heard of this.

My grandmother shook her head.

"No one knows," She answered. "There are theories, of course, but as with most theories about the Grimm, it went nowhere because there was no proof of anything. Some have suggested some type of controlling force, generally linking into one of the various conspiracy theories about the source of the Grimm; others have suggested it's a type of malady that afflicts the Grimm, some strange form of madness. It's also been proposed that it might be some tactic, meant to sow confusion or fear in the ranks to draw in more of their kind—a call to arms to their fellow Grimm, in a way."

"What do you think, Grandmother?" I asked.

"Nothing," She snorted. "I don't know and I don't think anyone else does, either—and if you cling to a theory too hard, people tend to make things fit the way they want them to. Better to keep an open mind, I think, and wait for more information."

She exhaled slowly, looking at the destruction around her.

"And this…" She shook her head, cutting herself off in irritation. "What we learned to day could be invaluable. Things we suspected and believed…you did well today, Jaune. Everything we learn about the Grimm is important and I learned more today than I have in years. If we could only…"

She shook her head while I metaphorically perked up.

"Maybe I could help with that, Grandmother," I said, lifting my new skill book. "This is one of the things the Goliath dropped—a skill book for an ability called 'Naraka.' I Observed it and…well, it says it can make a barrier of sorts, Grandmother. One that can create Grimm."

Her eyes snapped to me, wide and shockingly intense—enough to nearly make me flinch back a step.

"What?" She whispered fiercely, as if suddenly worried we might be overheard. I checked, just in case, but there was no one there. "What did it say exactly?"

"Uh," I said. "It said it was 'A skill to form dimensional barriers around oneself, removing one from the normal world. The Dungeons created give rise to Grimm that attack all humans within the barrier, including the user; stronger dungeons may be created at higher levels to create mightier Grimm and cause additional effects. Barrier dissolves if the user leaves.'"

She glanced down at it, hand twitching almost as if to snatch it up but hesitating.

"It's still a book, right?" She said. "The things your ability creates—its actual knowledge, put into book form. You can read it, right?"

"I think so," I said, shrugging as I opened the book and then frowned. "Well, not me, I guess. I don't know what language this is."

This time, she did take it from me, plucking it from my fingers to scan the pages as she flipped through quickly. In the end, she shook her head.

"It's Babel," She breathed.

"You can't read it, either?" I asked, surprised.

"Not babel," She said. "Babel, the language."

"It's a language?" I muttered.

"It's not the actual name of the language," She answered. "But it's the name we gave to an ancient language family we've found traces of in ruins."

"How ancient?" I asked curiously.

"Ancient," She said, glancing over the words. "Older then even our earliest records—and more, we've found traces of it all over the world. In Vale, Vacuo, Atlas, and Mistral, in ancient ruins, even in forays into the Shadowlands, we've found signs of it. Different dialects, we think, but the style, the structure…it looks the same. Whoever they were, they covered much of the world in their time, perhaps even before…Is this the language your power writes in, Jaune?"

"I don't know; I never really checked," I said and then paused. "Wait, no. Adam looked through one of my books once—an ability called Far Strike that I got from a Giant Nevermore—and he could read it. He didn't notice anything odd about it, either, and he said the information inside of it was accurate."

"This means something," She shook her head. "Does your power write the book in its original language, then? What is 'Far Strike'?"

"Uh," I said. "It's…well, it's this."

I gestured and sent a Far Strike at a nearby rock, cutting it in half.

"No, that's an old, old skill," She shook her head. "Then…what? The most recent language it's been recorded in? But how does your ability…"

She went silent.

"Jaune," She said. "Does your ability create knowledge? Has it ever created abilities for you?"

I thought I knew where she was going with this, but I still had to think about it.

"I…" I mulled it over. "I can create new skills, like my Magic Missile and Flare, and sometimes it'll ask me to name it and everything, but…"

"But that's not the norm?" She pressed.

"No," I shook my head. "Usually, my skills already have names. I don't know if that means it didn't create them, but…"

"Let me ask a different question, then," She said. "Has it ever given you an ability that you were the only person who could ever use? Something no one else could possibly ever learn?"

"The Gamer's Body," I said. "And the Gamer's Mind. I mean, I think those are just me."

"And that's your Semblance, correct?" She said. "Those are the skills that let you live like a game character, right?"

I nodded.

"So everything else, someone could have had?" She asked. "They could have learned?"

"I…think so," I mused, nodding slowly. "I mean, it'd probably be pretty hard in a lot of cases, because most people have a much harder time doing…everything then I do. But if you were born with an affinity for the right things, if you trained hard enough, if you were smart or wise or strong enough…some of them, I'm not sure people have a natural way of getting after birth, but…yeah. I think a lot of stuff is modified by my Semblance so it might not work exactly the same way for someone without HP or MP or quests or whatever, but…I think so."

She took a breath and then exhaled.

"So this book," She continued. "This Naraka. Someone else could have known it in the past?"

"Yeah," I said, nodding quietly. "Yeah, I suppose so. What does that…what do you think it means? Do you think it has anything to do with the Grimm?"

"I don't know," She answered, eyes on Naraka.

"What's the book say, then?" I asked again.

"I don't know," She repeated. "I can't read it. Nobody can read it. That's why we call it Babel."

She looked up at me slowly.

"But of course, that doesn't matter to you, does it?" She said.

I held out my hand and took back the book. A moment later it dissolved into light.

The knowledge filled me as the matter it was inscribed upon faded, an amazing sensation that I was never sure how to truly describe. It was like the pieces of a puzzle I hadn't even known about had slid suddenly into place, filling a void I'd never realized was there. It wasn't the same as memorizing something a book nor did it manifest that way in my head, but in a moment of illumination I understood, completely and comprehensively, everything that had once been contained within the text. I knew what it did. I knew how it worked. I knew how to make it work.

Except…

"Naraka," I said, raising a hand. There was a sudden shift in the air—not a sound, but a sudden absence of sound. The thousands of noises of the forest and fields, the multitude of animals that called those places home, the countless things that made you think 'this place was full of life'—it dropped away as quickly as someone closing a scroll or dropping a stone and we well in a silent world of my creation.

For the moment. I could feel it abruptly, a focus that set my teeth on edge. Cynosarges lifted his head and looked to the side, the Goliath's corpse vanishing as we shifted from one realm to another. The silence persisted around us for a minute or two, despite the feeling, but then came the shifting, the rustling of limbs and lives in the brush. Even without my senses, I'd have known things were coming my way. There was a black smoke, curling slowly down from the skies and up from the earth, faint but gathering, and before anything even made a move, I was sure that we were surrounded.

I snorted, glancing around as I brushed the odd feeling of unease away.

"Just some Beowolves?" My grandmother asked.

"The ability is only at level one," I replied distractedly, bringing up the profile. Suryasta and Vulturnus formed to either side of me, shoulders set as they stalked forward to arrange a slaughter.

Naraka (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 6000

A skill to form dimensional barriers around oneself, removed from the normal world—the power to create a hell around the user, where one will be attacked until the technique ends. The Dungeon created gives birth to creatures of Grimm that relentlessly attack all humans within the barrier, including the user; stronger dungeons may be created at higher levels to create mightier forms of Grimm and cause additional effects. If the user leaves for any reason, the barrier dissolves.

Additional 6000 MP used per hour.

Currently available Dungeon list:

Hunger of the Wolf – Monsters: Beowolves.

"It'll get stronger," I said after a moment, looking at it. "It's a pretty expensive technique, but…it's not a problem. Well, not right now at least; at higher levels, when it starts spawning greater monsters, it could be a serious issue. But hopefully the cost will decrease quickly as the ability improves."

"What's going on here?" Cynosarges meandered over, a furrow in his brow. "Did you…?"

"He created Grimm, yes," She said dismissively, ignoring her friend's sudden look. "It's a massive barrier that spawns monsters, I'll tell you about it later, so go kill something. Or stick around; I don't care. More importantly, how does it work, Jaune?"

The Alexandrian head frowned at her before casting his searching gaze towards me

"It…" I paused, frown deepening. "I don't know the word. I understand it in my head, but I can't think of a good translation. But this barrier…it's not like the others. It's not just containing or sealing off a volume of space, it's…separating it. When it says it's a dimensional barrier, what it means is that…"

I paused, frowned, and shook my head.

"Everything inside is cut us off from the outside, because what it's a barrier against is reality, in a way. It's…locking us away from it and also out of it, it's hard to explain. It's less like…it's less like the barrier is meant to keep what's 'outside' from reaching what's inside, though that's part of it—but it's designed to separate the 'outside' and 'inside' entirely, so nothing in one can affect the other. But that's…I'm not sure if it's working right. I can get us out, no problem, and that's partially because I'm the caster, but normally…I…I'm not sure."

"You're not sure?" She asked, eyebrow going up. "I thought you understood any book you absorbed?"

"I do," I said immediately. "I understand it completely. But this skill…it's not working exactly how the book said. It's built off a rule or a system or some natural law or something that it exploits, but…I understand how it works and how it's supposed to work."

I frowned, looking around.

"It's weird. What I learned when I ate the book and what its profile says, they don't match up completely. And the profile is right but it's odd, because the book…the…the math seems right, for lack of a better word, but I feel like the result's not exactly what it's supposed to be. But everything is so strange that I'm not sure if that's because the equation is wrong or if the result is. Except the latter shouldn't be possible; it should be the same as one plus one equaling two, true no matter what, but it's adding up to three for some reason. The…the physics in the book don't look wrong, but it doesn't do what its makers thought it would…or it doesn't now. It's incomplete or…or out of date. It's hard to explain, but I'm not sure if they didn't take something into account or if the rules have changed."

"What do you mean?" She asked, expression cautious.

"I don't know," I mused, shaking my head as I tried to put the thoughts together. "Because…maybe it is the book that's in error and I'm just biased because I'm getting the story from the people whose experiment went horribly awry and probably killed them all. But there's a part of me that sees the result as it is and doesn't think its right. I can see it in my head, how all the pieces line up to create this, and I get it, but I feel like maybe they shouldn't. Like a step's been added or subtracted, but not by me or the book. No…it's worse than that, because I feel like even if the equation was wrong, the result would be wrong independent of that—like, even if it didn't do what it was supposed to, it shouldn't do this, maybe? It's like there's two versions in my head, showing how it works and how it's supposed to work, but…there's no way to get from one to the other. It's messed up."

"What could cause something like that?"

I shrugged, uncertain.

"I don't know." I admitted. "Maybe I'm just missing something. This book, it was a part of a field of science or…or something. And I get this topic, but maybe I'm missing something unrelated to it in the large field? Maybe some piece that…"

I stopped and shook my head, irritated.

"Jaune," She said as a sudden flash of light silenced screams—Vulturnus at work, I assumed. "Could this be the source? Of the Grimm? Some…massive barrier gone out of control that's now unleashing Grimm or…some related experiment? Could this be how they were created?"

"Maybe?" I hedged. "I don't understand how such a thing could have happened, but I don't fully understand how this is happening. But I think…I don't know if it's right or wrong, but I feel like the Grimm are a part of what's wrong, not just a result of it. This barrier is meant to do something and they're messing that up or something is making them mess it up. And…I don't know what all this means, but even if that was what was happening, this couldn't be just a barrier, you know? The way this thing is built…if I leave, it'll disappear. If I die, it would fade. If it was a barrier, it'd have to be something different from Naraka, or else something would have to maintain it."

"Is that possible?"

I looked around slowly, looking at the destruction of the area around me, the remains of my fight. I thought about the Goliath and then about how many other creatures there were just like it. About how there were creatures even stronger then it, the demons that stalked the Shadowlands and the beasts of legend like Ziz. Thousands upon thousands of years of constant struggle against the Grimm, of Humanity rising from the ashes only to be struck down again and again.

I imagined someone just watching all of that. Allowing it for thousands of years, drawing it out instead of ending it.

"Hard to imagine," I whispered, not specifying why. "There are a lot of reasons it'd probably be unfeasible—the range, the amount of people contained within, the duration, on and on—but…I guess it's not impossible. But if you could do such a thing, if you could live so long, then why bother? Why not just kill everyone? I think…there would have to be more to it than just some immortal asshole powering it for the laughs."

She nodded, though whether she was agreeing with the words or just acknowledging my opinion, I wasn't sure.

"You can read Babel, correct?" She asked. "Or not read, but you can tell what it means?"

"I can Observe it, yeah, like I did to the book—I'll know what it's about, at least. It doesn't work so well on small stuff like individual pages or rocks or stuff, though—my ability…well, it can be finicky, at times." I said, shrugging a shoulder as I remembered long hours grinding Observe on rocks and books and trees. "Sarcastic, really. It should give a summary of whatever I'm looking at, but…"

"Even so, it's something to look into," She said, as serious as I'd ever seen her. "If what I suspect is true…this may hold the answer to what we've been searching so long for. For thousands of years, we've looked to history for answers and found nothing, but this…at the very least, we can draw a connection between Babel and the Grimm of some sort. Whether they created them, studied them, or were simply the longest to hold out against them, it's a place to start. I'll do what I can on my end to find something; even with so little remaining, there has to be something."

A part of me wondered if she believed that. The way she talked about it…if Babel had been before history as we knew it now, then it had fallen, what? Six thousand years ago? Eight thousand? Ten thousand years ago? Perhaps even more. Given how much had been lost in that time frame…how many civilizations had disappeared without a trace…between the Grimm and simple wear and tear, how much would have survived that long.

And, of course, if they had had some answer, some solution, then…well, why were they all dead?

But she was right, I chided myself. It was possible—and more than worth looking into as a result. Even if we didn't find a solution, if we could learn more, if we could find something, then it would mean…god only knows. It was hard to even imagine a future when Humanity didn't live in fear of the Grimm, a world where we were free to expand beyond our borders. It would be…

It was worth trying, especially since…

"I raised my Wisdom over a hundred, Grandmother," I said. "And I got three skills in the process, as before. All of them are amazing, but…for this and what's going on in Mistral…I think I may have a solution. My new skill, it's called Pathfinder, and…well, it's supposed to lead me where I'm supposed to go."

Her eyes gleamed as she leaned forward—and then paused, frowning slightly.

"Where you're supposed to go?" She repeated. "According to who?"

"My power, I suppose," I shrugged. "I haven't gotten to test it, yet—but if it works like it should, it should tell me what to do next for this Raven quest. And if it does…"

"I can imagine," She said, glancing up. "Let's go home then; we have a lot to do, it seems."

I nodded and lifted a hand before stopping. Glancing down at myself and walked a ways away, curious.

"Is something wrong?" Cynosarges rumbled, looking confused and bored.

"Just…testing something," I said, a good ten meters from my previous position. There was no reason it shouldn't work, but…

I snapped my fingers and the barrier unraveled around me, leaving me where I was.

"Well, well," I mused, smiling as I prodded the dirt with a toe. "That's interesting…"