someaxolotl - Tumblr blog

[someaxolotl]

Abysia Down on a Farm

After the mess, the rest of the day seemed kinda boring. Gwyn stayed behind to arrest the attackers and Nim said she has something to do and vanished. I decided to stock up on some food and proceeded to return to my room.

...Instant noodles are fine I guess, I mean they are quick… I put a pot of water on the stove and wait for it to boil. With nothing else to do while waiting, I guess I’ll see what my screen can exactly do. I unlock it and start poking around… Hmmm, what’s Flippy, some kind of forum? I tap on it, and I’m taken to a login screen. Create an account… hmmmm… after a bit of thinking I decide to make my username vthehunter48 and I put in a random password. The second I tap create an account, I get a message instantly. 

[YourFriendNim]: *this message was sent automatically* Hey there, welcome to Flippy, Abysia’s premiere social media! Here you can post, interact with your friends, build a following, and experience all new things! To get you started, here are a few recommendations for friends

After the message, there’s a list of users… I don’t think I know anyone here… ummmm oh wait that one is just gwynsteleoffical… He really is excessively formal… As soon as I send the request to Gwyn, I get a message…

[YourFriendNim]: hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Veve!!! :D

(incoming friend request from YourFriendNim)

[vthehunter48]: hello nim how did you know it was me?

[YourFriendNim]: I serve as the backbone of the digital system, also I know the address of your screen.:3

[vthehunter48]: ...should I be concerned about that?

[YourFriendNim]: Nope!!:33333

[vthehunter48]: ...fantastic

...since I can’t hide from her anyway, I guess I’ll just accept her friend request. I look over at the pot and the water is bubbling fairly vigorously. Looking at the package, it says to just cook it in water for a bit… huh they aren’t instant then?! I take a glance at my screen…

(gwynsteleoffical has accepted your request)

[gwynsteleoffical]: Hello, I’m guessing I am talking to Veronica?

[vthehunter48]: yeah hi Gwyn

[gwynsteleoffical]: Hello, I sent your profile to Mila and Elias, so they’ll eventually friend you. I forgot to tell you, but tomorrow I’ll be having you guys running requests so meet me in my office.

[vthehunter48]: oh… ok thanks

[gwynsteleoffical]: Yep, no problem.

...I need to find more entertaining stuff to do, don’t I? I sigh as I scan over the packaging. So I just pour in this packet and stir? Seems easy… I grab a bowl and pour the soup into it. Hmmm, it’s incredibly salty… not amazing but not horrid.

…

…

…

After my strange dream from last night, I find it kinda strange there was nothing strange this time. I toss on my clothes and head over to the kitchen. I should probably grab something quick… I’ll just grab a cereal bar. 

…

I arrived without much of an issue, that’s nice. The hall is slightly less busy than what I’ve noticed in the past. 

“Hey, Victoria.” I turn around and see that Elias.

“Hey, what’s up?”

He stretches. “Not much, you should hang out with us after work, yesterday was fun.”

“Didn’t you guys destroy a bar?”

“Eh, Mila got overly drunk and said she wanted to see if I could withstand an explosion.”

“Wait, what…?”

“Oh, that’s exactly what I said! Of course, I can withstand an explosion, that’s child’s play.”

“...you agreed to be used as an explosion tester?”

“...I was also drunk…” Elias sighs. “Honestly though I was not expecting her to attack me afterward.”

“Wait, what happened to Mila?”

“She somehow got even drunker and collapsed or something.”

We get to Gwyn’s office and I open the door “Oh hi guys!” Mila is sitting in a chair handcuffed.

“Finally you’re here, grab a seat.” Gwyn looks almost dead. He takes a sip from a mug. “I was going to have a few requests set aside for you guys but it’s been a long night.” He takes another sip from the mug.

...I’m curious. “Hey, Gwyn, what’s in there, coffee?”

He seems startled. “Hmm?! Oh yeah sure…” He takes another sip. “It’s only your second day as a team and one of you guys already caused major property damage and got in trouble with enforcement.” He glances at Mila. “Anyway, I’m just going to give you a random job from my screen and give it to you guys.” He glances down at the screen. “...ok, there’s a farm that needs assistance with both harvesting and pest control.” He chugs the rest of the mug. “Now get out.”

Mila glances down at her wrists. “Hey buddy, aren’t you forgetting something?”

“...suffer” He snaps his fingers and the cuffs come loose. “Now, for real, get out.”

…

We took a portal to the outskirts of Abysia and ended up in a large field. There’s a dirt path leading to what looks like a village. 

Mila walks forward while looking down at her screen. “The farm is directly past the village.”

Elias walks up to her. “Hey Spiky, care telling us why you ended up in handcuffs.”

“First, don’t call me that, second, I have a massive hangover so let’s not talk about that.”

“Oh, what a shame it’s not as if I have also have a massive hangover. Deal with it.”

“Deal with it?! What, you just want me to ignore the headache or something?!”

“I guess so?” Mila kicks him in the knee and he falls. “Isn’t irritability a part of a hangover?” She kicks him again.

...I should probably chime in. “Both of you stop, we are a team and we have a job to do. Besides, Mila probably just assaulted someone else.”

Milla turns to face me. “...huh, you guessed right. I assaulted an enforcer…”

Elias starts laughing from the floor so I kick him. “Oh come on not you too.”

“Elias you’re wearing armor, you’ll be fine.” I help him stand back up. “Anyway let’s get back on track.”

We walk through the village in silence. It is a quaint little place with a few houses and a market. On the other side, there's a large farm with a plowed field with a damaged-looking barn. I shout towards the field. “Hey, we’re here for the job.”

“Oh good!” There’s a voice out in the distance. “I’ll be there in a second.” There’s a strange slopping sound and suddenly a blob of slime wearing a cowboy hat appears. “Howdy, y’all welcome to my farm!” All three of us are taken aback. “Oh, what's the matter have you city slickers never seen a slime before, I’ll have you know we are mighty common.” 

Mila sighs. “...out of all the days to have a hangover… No, it’s more that the slimes we are used to are in a humanoid or similar form.”

The slime chuckles. “Well, there are just as many types of slimes as stars in the sky. My kind can’t change our appearance that much but we still have intelligence. I do reckon it must be strange for y’all.” They wobble forward and unlatch the gate. “Name’s Hubert. Now I need some assistance with two things. The ol’ barn is in a bad state so it’ll be great if two of y’all can reinforce and there’s a darn plague of gopher mantises, I need someone to help me flush out their burrows and kill them.”

I step into the farm. “If it helps with anything, I can use wind magic, Mila over there is best at ice, and Elias is kinda just good at moving quickly.”

Hubert seems to ponder for a second. “All right then Mila and Elias can help rebuild the barn, while you can use your wind magic to fish out the burrows miss… ummm…”

“Oh yeah sorry, I’m Veronica.”

“Ok, the materials are in the barn while I’ll come to help with the critters.” Hubert pulls a hunting rifle out of nowhere.

We walk out into the fields. “Hey Hubert, What exactly are gopher mantises?”

“Ah, they are nasty little critters. Bugs about the size of squirrels that dig below crops and kill the roots to eat plants, a darn right nuisance. Piss them off enough and they spray acid.”

“So I’m guessing I’m to find their burrows and use wind magic to launch them out?”

“Yep!”

I walk over to the first hole I find. “Gust.” I feel the mana gathering around my arm and fire forward. There’s a pop and a large bug fires out of the ground. Hubert aims their gun and nails the insect in midair. “Oh, so that's the goal?”

“Killing them? Yeah, they are tenacious little things, even if you get them out of your land they will become aggressive and attack everything with acid. Besides if too many of them gather it can attract a queen. Think of a 25 ft tall bug with an extremely hard shell, I think the administration actually sees them as a raid threat. Typically takes around ten folks to bring one down.”

“Fair.” I walk over to the next hole and launch the bugs out of it.

…

It’s been around two hours or so and honestly it’s starting to get tiring. “Say Hubert, there’s a lot of these aren’t they.” I launch another out of its hole.

Hubert perfectly nails the bug. “Yes, I’m almost out of bullets and the possibility of a queen is getting uncomfortably high.”

“Say why do you farm?” I started walking over to the next hole.

“Oh, it’s something that’s always interested me, and I get to be my own boss. I’m incredibly self-sufficient, my slime can be used as both fertilizer and water in times of drought.”

“Isn’t that bad for you though.” I launch a larger nest of bugs. 

Hubert picks them all off. “No not really, I can eat literally anything so it’s rare for me to have nothing to eat.”

“Yo, we are done with the barn.” I turn around and Elias is walking up towards us with Mila is lagging behind.

Hubert smiles at them. “That was quick, what did y’all do?”

Elias looks slightly embarrassed. “We tried building it normally but I wasn’t able to properly nail in the boards and Mila’s headache got worse because of the banging so she used magic to grow plants and I trimmed them to match the existing boards.”

Hubert chuckles. “That’s mighty fine, thanks y’all.”

I look over at Mila. “Wait, you can also use nature magic?”

“Yes, I’m an elementalist so I can use most types, I just mainly prefer ice magic.” She gestures with her hand and creates a few sparks.

Hubert looks impressed. “Now that’s darn impressive. Now do you two want to help us?”

They both hesitate for a second then they nod. I launch another few bugs, and Elias launches himself and pierces them. He lands and starts taunting Mila. “Your turn now.” 

She looks slightly annoyed. I launch a few bugs and she hits them with spines. “There, happy?”

Elias laughs a bit. “Wow, nothing special today? You were so fancy yesterday.”

I turn to him. “I thought I told both of you, focus on the job, don’t bicke-”

I’m cut off by a loud and low growl. The ground starts rumbling.

Hubert looks scared. “Welp, that's a queen…”

A giant bug erupts from the ground and I draw my weapons… my weapons aren’t doing anything. “Hubert, you said that their exoskeleton is reinforced, what about their insides.”

“They are fairly soft why?”

The bug swings its blades towards us, but Elias blocks it. He goes in for a thrust but it bounces off. “Veronica do you have any idea?”

“Yes,” I turn to Mila. “Do you have a flask of gasoline?”

“...out of all the days to have a hangover…” She digs into a bag. “Yeah, I do.”

“Put a spine in it and give it to me.” 

“One sec… alright.” She tosses me the flask.

I dash towards the queen while concentrating mana into my arm. I do hope this works. “Phase blade!” The mana flows into the flask and it turns translucent. I drive it into the exoskeleton and blink out of there. “Mila now!”

She hesitates for a second. “Oh… ember.” The flask explodes and shatters some of the exoskeleton. 

I start gathering mana again. “Elias, I’m going to launch you. You know what to do right?”

“Oh absolutely!” He gets into a running stance. I fire off a blast of wind and Elias rockets forward. “Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa” He impacts the queen and pierces it entirely. It lets out a loud screech as it collapses.

Hubert seems incredibly impressed. “I gotta say that was mighty impressive!”

[someaxolotl]

Shopping Trip

After being given the potions and notepad I made my way out of the labs. As I was walking back to the portal my Abyscreen started to ring.

“Hey, Veronica! Good job!” It’s Gwyn. “The request has been marked as complete, thanks for dealing with Trem.”

“Wait does she not like you.”

“Kinda… Anyway, it has been brought to my attention that you’re somewhat low on supplies.”

“No, not really.”

“Oh? Then what do you have to heal yourself with? Do you have any anti-poison, smelling salts, food?”

“...fine, I’m low on supplies…”

“Ok, meet me outside the Hall, we’ll make our way to the commerce district.”

Suddenly a second voice cuts in. “Wait are you two going shopping without me?”

Gwyn sighs. “Nim you do realize that you’re a part of both of our screens right? Technically it’s not “without” you.”

“Still it’s not the same, I would love to go shopping in person with my favorite manager and trainee.”

“Fine… if you want you can tag along… but only if Veronica also agrees.”

“It’s fine.”

“Yay! I’ll meet the two of you in front of the hall.” Nim cuts out of the call.

“Sorry about that, Nim can be insistent sometimes. Anyway, you’re also short on cash so I’ll lend you some money.”

“...thanks for the reminder.”

…

Once I got back to the hall I popped into a restroom to change into my casual clothes. A pair of jeans and a hoodie, the only things I still have from home… I guess it should be somewhat somber, but eh, they are just things that haven’t been destroyed yet. Items are meant to be used if they break then they served their purpose. Still…

I step out of the restroom and into the plaza in front of the hall. Gwyn is standing next to a lamppost, he’s wearing a button-down shirt and pants. “Ah good, you’re here.”

Nim pops out of a nearby bush. “She’s here?! Yay!” She rushes at me but I sidestep and she faceplants on the ground. “Oh… boo...”

Gwyn walks over to her and pokes her. “Please control yourself, we are in public.” He turns to face me. “Anyway, now that you’re here I guess we can start or trip.”

There's a muffled “yay…” from the still face down Nim.

“So how do you guys get around?”

“Oh, we take the rail.” Gwyn gestures his head towards a larger building.

“Wait, rail? There’s a rail system here?!”

Nim pops up from the ground. “Oh yeah it’s fun you dummy, it connects most of the city! You haven’t been walking everywhere, right?”

“No?”

Gwyn looks concerned. “Wait how have you been getting around?”

“I’m not really sure what to call it but I kinda fly and/or jump using wind magic. Why?”

“I’m just making sure you aren’t doing anything illegal. You’re fine, just keep the property damage to a minimum.” Gwyn starts reaching into his pocket and grabs his card. “Anyway the rail is free as long as a person is an active member of Abysia. You’ll just need to scan your card.” 

We enter the station and Gwyn and I scan our cards. Nim just jumps over the barrier.

“Nim please stop…” Gwyn seems more tired than anything at Nim’s antics.

“What am I going to do, arrest myself? :3”

“Wait is Nim law enforcement?”

Gwyn sighed. “Yeah, she’s in charge of enforcing the rules determined by a council of leaders from different guilds. She’s helped out by some managers like me and some smaller guilds.”

“How does she effectively do it, she seems too… jovial?”

Nim chimes in. “Oh give me more credit, Vevi, I can easily destroy any guild.”

“Wait, Vevi?”

Gwyn facepalms. “Yeah, she came up with that nickname for you.”

“Do you not like Vevi?” Nim seems almost sad.

“No it’s fine I just never had a nickname before…”

Nim seems to perk up and blush in response… wait can an AI blush? 

The train arrives and we step inside. We are the only ones in the cabin and once the doors close Gwyn speaks up. “Say, Veronica, what did you do before you arrived here? Your file gives no clear homeworld.”

“Oh well, let’s see,” I think for a bit. “I got kicked out of my family because I “manifested the wrong powers or something” so I acted as a hunter until I messed something up and fell into a different world. I worked rescuing people there and exterminating threatening beasts. Got bored of that place and left for a different world. Rinse and repeat until I ended up here. Some worlds were better than others but I managed.” I look up and Gwyn is typing stuff down into his screen. “Wait are you writing this down!?”

“Yes because this is useful information. Anyway it makes sense why no homeworld was determined, you jumped through so many worlds you don’t have very much of a trace left of your homeworld. Do you happen to know its name?”

“No, sorry…”

Nim suddenly hugged me. “Don’t be sorry Vevi, you’ve had a rough time.”

“Eh honestly it’s fine, it was not bad.” I turn and look out the window. For some reason, in the distance there was a pillar of smoke. “Hey is that supposed to be there?”

Gwyn also looks out the window. “No? See if there’s anything on the screen.”

I pull out my screen… There are a few trending links… A sale… Some random pet video… Ah, here we go, a live stream. I open it. “...oh no.” The live stream shows a half-destroyed bar, and in front, Mila and Elias are arguing over something. The sound quality is bad but they probably got in a fight over drinking.

“Well, I guess I should deduct some money from their accounts…” Gwyn sighs heavily. “At least you haven’t destroyed anything yet…”

“Oh come on you two, at least we know they are exciting people to be around. :3”

Gwyn is just done now. “Nim, they just committed arson, aren’t you supposed to stop breaches?”

“Eh, but that’s not fun. :(“

The train slowly comes to a stop and Gwyn stands up. “This is our stop.”

We step out onto the platform and make our way out of the station. There’s a large collection of buildings. “Vevi, welcome to the commerce district.”

Gwyn starts explaining. “The commerce district is a collection of ‘malls’. Within each mall, there are independently run stores and stores run by guilds. The malls are broken up by purpose and there’s a tier system of sorts, Bronze, copper, silver, gold, and platinum. Each tier is more related to pricing, you can still find some decent stuff from lower tiers. We are making our way over to the silver adventurer mall. A guild by the name of the Gilded Roses sells the excess loot from their dives into the Dungeon and other locales.”

Nim seems excited. “Ooooo can we get crepes?!” 

“Crepes? You guys have crepes?”

Gwyn pauses for a second. “Sure.”

…

It did not take long to get to the mall, it is fairly well decorated and there is a wide variety of different stalls peddling stuff like backpacks and anti-poison and other similar stuff. Eventually, we stop at a stall built into a wall. Gwyn steps up and rings a small bell on the counter.

There’s a small voice from the back. “One sec.” A small goblin walks up to the counter, he is oddly sleepy looking. “Oh hello Gwyn, oh and Nim is here too… Did I accidentally sell something illegal again?”

“No Steve, you’re fine.” Gwyn pulls out his screen. “We need to outfit a rookie, have anything on this list?”

Steve looks at the screen. “...I think so? Come on in to the back, I’ll check the stock.”

We walk into the stall and into a small sitting area. “What’s exactly on the list?”

“Oh, nothing special Vevi just a few items to make sure nothing bad happens.”

“Yeah, you already have weapons so you're fine on that front.” Gwyn thinks for a second. “Wait what do you fight in?”

Oop that an embarrassing question… “A tank top and shorts…”

“Heh?! 8/ That's so dangerous Vevi!!”

“I guess we need to get you some armor. Light, standard, or heavy?”

“Oh, I’m not bothered much by weight classes. I can’t wear sleeves in combat though it can interfere with the brands.”

Gwyn thinks for a second. “Eh, we’ll just get you whatever they have without sleeves.”

Steve pops over to where we are sitting carrying a bag. “Lucky you, I found everything. Five health potions and mana potions, three vials antivenom and pouches of smelling salts, ten rations, and a tent.”

Gwyn seems happy. “Thanks, Steve, do you have any vest or sleeveless armor?”

“...I’ll get my sister to check.” Steve turns around. “Clara?”

Another goblin pops her head out from behind the shelves. “Yeah?”

“This lass wants some armor.”

“What type?”

“Vest or sleeveless”

“Ok!” Clara disappears behind the shelves. She runs over with a stack of armor. “So what do you like?”

There's a few varieties of armor like a kevlar vest, a plate cuirass, a chainmail vest, a leather vest… “I’ll take the cuirass.”

“Good choice!” Clara grins, grabs the leftover armor, and disappears back into the back.

Steve waves to Clara. “Is that everything? I’ll send the charge to the administration.”

Gwyn stands and shakes his hand. “That’s all, thanks Steve.”

“So… Crepe time? :3”

…

After we left the stall we walked outside a bit till we got to a crepe stand.

“Gods, these crepes are great!” I am currently eating my third crepe.

“Oh definitely. :D” Nim on the other hand is on her fifth crepe.

“Eh, they are fine.” Gwyn is still eating his first one.

We are currently seated in a park with a nearby crepe stand. It's nice and peace-

“What do you mean we are on probation!” There’s a nearby group of what seems to be adventures arguing with a manager.

“You guys have received a number of complaints from a variety of source-”

One of the larger adventurers flips the table knocking the manager to the floor. “Oh well, I guess another complaint won’t hurt.”

I find myself rushing in between the manager and the adventurers. “Stop what you are doing!”

“Don’t interfere!” the largest one tries to throw a punch but it’s blocked by Gwyn holding a rapier.

“It is against the laws of Abysia to harm a manager.” Gwyn sweeps the adventurer to the floor and stabs the back of his leg.

A second adventure stands up. Just from her general air, she seems to be the leader. “Well if it isn’t one of the prissy ‘enforcers’ what is the robot bitch also here? Oh well, I’ll end all of you!” She pulls out a sword and starts rushing us, but suddenly she stops moving and I feel a flow of electrical mana coming from Nim. “Oh, Nimueh is here, how fun.”

Nim is full of malice. “Stand down…”

“Oh, what are you going to do, kill me.”

The flow of mana stops. “I’ll let you go but if you try to harm any of them I'll show you that there are fates worse than death…”

The adventure flashes a crazed smile. “Bet.” She takes a step forward and there’s an extreme flow of electrical mana almost as if-

There’s a horrifying cacophony of cracks and the adventurer crumbles to the ground. “Nim what did you do!?”

“Nothing major, I just forced electrical signals into her muscles that caused them to flex and fracture a fair majority of her bones.” She kicks the adventure. “Gwyn, call an enforcer and get them to pick these two up. Now, who wants more crepes!:3”

[someaxolotl]

Interesting Characters

It was not hard to find our way out. Portals have a very unique energy to them. After the oversized Roc we killed, nothing else really posed a problem. Elias and Mila are talking about something right now.

“Only a single bottle?! For someone who’s bragging, that’s a pathetic amount.” Mila seems unimpressed about something.

“Oh really, what’s your record.”

“I don’t keep track of stuff like that. Look if you want to prove yourself,” Mila digs into her bag and pulls out a flask. “down this.”

Elias takes the flask and opens it. “Mila, this is gasoline… Nice joke I guess?”

“If you aren’t going to drink it give it back.” She snatches back the flask and downs it.

“Wait did you just…”

Mila starts getting slightly flushed. “As I said Elias you’re weak.”

I turn around and face the two. “ What exactly were you guys talking about?”

“Elias was bragging about how much he can drink, so I proved him wrong!”

“Mila, I was referring to alcohol not gasoline, apparently.”

“Wait, you drank gasoline?!”

“Out of everything strange you have seen, that’s what you question?” Mila starts laughing. “It’s not natural, I’ll give you that. Sometimes it’s hard to get test subjects so I experiment on myself. My body treats gasoline similarly to alcohol now.”

“...what a fun party trick. When we get back, I’ll show you how much I can down. Veronica is also invited, what do you say?”

“Oh, no thanks I don’t drink, I’ve never really found any time to do so.”

Elias seems confused. “Wait, what exactly do you do for fun?”

“Oh ummmmm...” What do I do? I never really have much free time… “I don’t do much but I guess I just kinda sit and dissociate.”

Both of them are stunned. “And you question me for drinking gasoline...”

“That’s because that’s normally dangerous.”

Elias chimes in. “First, sure I guess Veronica. Second, why gasoline?”

“It’s multipurpose!” Mila pulls out a flask, takes a few drinks, drops a spine into it, seals it, and throws it at an approaching Roc. “ember.” The flask explodes.

I look at the resulting crater in a cliff face. “That just proves how dangerous it is!”

“Eh, whatever.”

Elias chimes in. “Hey, we’re almost at the portal. How about we hold a competition? The first person to make it to the gathering hall doesn’t have to deal with the follow-up.” He seems incredibly confident.

I can probably at least put up a fair game… “Sure, how about you Mila?”

“I’m down.”

We step through the exit portal. “Ready?” Elias seems very excited. “Start!” He takes off running.

I don’t want to fall behind so I take off with a Jump.

…

It’s fairly close, we’re neck and neck. My main strategy was to just utilize gravity and well-timed Jumps to get to speed, Elias is simply sprinting, and I have no idea what Mila is doing. Right now we are in the park surrounding the Hall. I build up speed by launching myself downwards from a large tree. “Easy.” I quickly overtake Elias. I just need to keep up speed now. I launch myself out of the park. I’m in the clear, I can see the hall.

Suddenly a few spines imbed themself directly in front of the hall and they create a slide made of ice. I look up and Mila zooms past me, lands on the slide, and gets up. “Surprised?”

Elias makes it a few seconds later. “What…I lost?”

Mila dusts herself off. “Yeah, I mean you’re just running on foot, you should look into other methods. Also, I’m impressed Veronica, you kept up a good speed.”

I’m incredibly confused. “Wait, what exactly did you do?”

“Oh, easy. I just calculated the correct angle and launched myself with an ice block. Anyway, let’s report in with Gwyn.”

…

“So you guys killed the Mother Roc… Fine I guess that makes you guys Rank 2 now.” Gwyn opens a drawer, digs around a bit, and pulls out a party popper. *pop* “Congrats.” He brushes the resulting confetti off the table. “Anyway the quest reward and rank-up reward will be wired to your accounts. I do need someone to deliver the eggs though.”

I don’t have anything else to do… “I’ll do it.”

“Thank you, Veronica. Elias and Mila you’re dismissed.” They both leave the room. “I’ll send you the order details. The order comes from the Corvid Dreamers, they are a part of Soma as you probably know. There’s a portal there right outside of the hall. Thanks for volunteering!”

I leave the room.

…

The portal to Soma leaves me on a hill. I thought Abysia was gorgeous but this is just on another level. From where I’m standing the closest structure is a large almost palace of sorts built directly into a mountain. On my left, there’s a large town situated within a valley and to the right is a large number of floating islands. There’s a sign that says ‘Welcome to Soma’ which points to the palace and labels it as the archives and has a few more locations. Corvid Dreamers is listed towards the bottom and points to the right.

…

It wasn’t a bad walk, pretty enjoyable actually. The Dreamers seem to be based out of a complex at the start of the floating islands. Inside is a cozy lobby of sorts, there's three hallways, one labeled shop, another labeled experiments, and the other labeled members-only. I step up to the front desk. “Hi, I have a delivery of seven Roc eggs.”

The receptionist looks up from a screen. “Oh, do you have the order details?”

I pull out my Abyscreen and open up the file Gwyn sent me. “Here.”

“Ah ok, go down the members-only hall then enter the door labeled ‘Head Staff Lounge’ while there ask for Rook.”

“Thanks.” I head down the hall. There are rooms labeled chemistry, optics, mana study, cafeteria, pain… ok? I find the door and knock.

A young man with black wings opens up the door. “Hello? May I ask why you are here?”

“I have a delivery of Roc eggs, they told me to ask for Rook.”

“Oh I’m Rook, but I never ordered any eggs… Can I see the order details?”

“Yeah sure.” I hand him my Abyscreen.

“...why is she like this.” Rook sighs. “Follow me.” He leads me into the lounge. There are a few scientists seated on couches and tables chatting. Rook walks up to another door. “This way.” We enter another hall that has a variety of offices. We walk over to the office at the end of the hall. It feels immensely cold and unsettling. Rook knocks. “Your highness, did you order some eggs?” Your highness?

The door swings open inside is not an office but a full-sized lab. Standing behind a table there's a child with black wings looking at some flasks. “Hi, Rook!”

“Greetings, your highness.” Rook bows. “We have a delivery here for eggs.”

“Oh, they finally arrived!” The girl walks over. “What’s your name, delivery person”

“Oh I am Veronica, I just arrived at Abysia.”

“So you probably don’t know who I am then… I’m Trem, leader of Corvid Dreamers and former princess of the space between reality.” Rook leans over to her and whispers something to her that makes her incredibly intrigued. “Wait a second Veronica are you the one who can see mana?”

“Yeah? What about it?”

“If you want to help out with some experiments we’ll pay you. Having someone who can see mana can be extremely helpful in recording data. Don’t worry we won’t maim and/or kill you.”

“Huh ummm, can you please take the eggs?”

Rook chimes in. “Why did you order eggs anyway?”

“Oh, the shells are a good stabilizer for alchemy.”

“Yes your highness, but why eggs? We have plenty of stabilizers in storage.”

“Oh, I’m just hungry.” One of the eggs floats up into the air and cracks open. Trem snaps her fingers and the air around the egg turns into mana and the egg instantly becomes cooked. “Hmmm, that’s good.” She swallows it whole. 

“I don’t know much about how you guys work but don’t you guys actually have people who run errands for you guys? Why don’t you send them?”

“...Please do not question my methods.” The air starts to become stale and cold. “They have more important things to do.”

Rook walks over and pats Trem on the head. “Enough your highness, she’s new cut her some slack.”

“..fine” Trem walks over to the counter and grabs a few flasks. “Here, some payment for coming out all this way.”

I look at the flasks. “What do they do?”

Trem shrugged. “I don’t actually know...” She tosses me a note pad. “Do let me know.”

...why is everyone here off?

[someaxolotl]

First Asignment

…

…

Oh, that’s my alarm! …that was a really strange dream… oh well. I should probably get ready, guess I need to change first.

“Good morning Veronica!”

“Aaaaaa!” Instinctively, I throw a knife in the direction of the voice.

“Wow, that was rude.” There's a small hologram of Nim being displayed from the Abyscreen. “I just want to say hi.”

“Can I put on clothes first?”

“Nope, time doesn’t stop for stuff like that. Anyway, in about an hour, meet up with Gwyn, I’ll send you directions. Byeee!”

…

After putting on my traveling clothes I grabbed a bar and left my room. The directions lead to a large plaza with a large portal and a bunch of stands. It is fairly busy but Gwyn was easy to spot.

“Ah there you are Veronica, you’re the last one to arrive.” standing next to Gwyn is a girl wearing a parka and a guy wearing a full set of armor and a spear. “Ok, follow me I’ll brief you guys inside.” Gwyn walks into the portal and the three of us follow along.

…

We are no longer in the plaza, instead, we are standing in a maze of cliffs and ridges.

“Welcome to the Dungeon you three. Let me explain some stuff first. The Dungeon is a result of warped reality caused by a variety of factors. We knew of its existence for a while but we were only able to access it around 25 years ago, so we don’t know much about it. What we do know is limited, but here’s what’s important right now: 1. Every few floors or so have a different theme, they seem to be based on fears. 2. Each floor is around the size of a district of Abysia but floor exit and entrance are typically closer than that. 3. The Dungeon naturally produces chests and monsters and the loot found seems to be tailored to the person who finds it. 4. Each floor has a boss.

So that’s enough of that, now I’ll go into what you’re here for. You three are paired together as you’re all on an accelerated path and I decided your abilities all paired together well… I guess I need to do introductions… First, this is Veronica, she specializes in wind and space magic along with being good with guns and knives and having an uncanny ability to trace manna.

“Hello!”

“Next is Mila, she is a researcher that utilizes ice magic to both attacks and defend.”

“Nice to meet both of you!” She pulls back the hood of her parka and instead of hair, she has spines growing in a hair-like pattern. “It’ll be exciting to work together!”

“Finally there’s Elias, he is a physical attacker who wields a spear and focuses on speed and evasion.”

“Greetings, I hope we can all become friends!” He removes his helmet, he has fish-like fins on the side of his head. He bows. “The better we get along, the better our teamwork will be.”

“Good, you are all acquainted, now here’s your task. We have a request to procure seven Roc eggs. You can find them in nests but you’ll need to take care of the Rocs, obviously. Veronica, you should be able to track the nests… here.” Gwyn hands me an egg. “You should be able to use this to get a general feel of the eggs’ mana. Good luck, meet me back at the Hall.” Gwyn disappeared back through the portal.

There is an awkward pause, Elias is the first to speak up “...so what do we do now?”

“I can feel faint traces of other eggs…”

“Well then take the lead, Elias you’ll take care of foes, and I’ll make sure none of us get injured.” Mila attaches a round shield adorned with a few gems to her arm. “I suggest equipping your arms, Rocs are fairly aggressive.”

I concentrate and get a good feel of nearby eggs. “Ok, let’s go!”

…

…

“So how did everyone arrive in Abysia?” After 5 minutes or so of awkward silence, Mila asked a question.

“Oh, I was actually recruited. I had a run-in with Nocturnis Canibus and they invited me, as soon as I reach rank four I’ll join up with them.” Elias seems fairly excited about that.

“I just decided to wander and explore new places, I ended up just drifting to Abysia.”

Mila started to chuckle. “Is that really it, Veronica? That's incredibly tame compared to most people here. I mean I ended up here because I was kicked out of my homeworld for breaking some ‘rules’ or something.”

I feel like she’s hiding something. “Wait what ‘rule’ exac-”

*SQWAK*

“Well, it looks like we have company.” Elias got into a battle stance. “Three Rocs, one for each of us, let’s go.” He jumps off the cliff, lands on a Roc, and after stabbing it multiple times, jumps back to solid ground.

“Impressive, my turn.” Mila pulls out a crossbow and a spine and fires it at a Roc. Mana started to condense and the Roc became completely encased in ice and immediately plummeted. Now Veronica, what can you do?”

“Ummmmm…” I fire off my pistol and directly nail the final Roc, it goes down quickly. 

“Huh, good shot I guess?” Elias was dusting himself off.

“Interesting, is that the best you could do?” Mila seems unimpressed.

“No, but it did the job, what's the point of flair?”

“Flare makes stuff fun.”

“Eh, I guess I’ll try it next time.” I sighed. “Anyway this is the first nest.” There are two eggs in a nest of straw. “We now have three eggs.” 

“So four more? This shouldn’t be too bad.” Elias seems relieved.

“There is a strong trail, let's get going.” Something feels off, it feels like… “Wait.” I fire a shot at a pile of rocks and they start to rumble.

“Oh a rock golem, fun.” Mila starts preparing a spell.

“Wait, you want to see flair don’t you? I’ll take care of this.” A stone golem should have a weak crystalline core… I dash forward and dodge its punch by blinking behind it. “Phase Edge!” I plunge my hand into the golem’s chest and pull out its core. I toss it into the air and fire a shot into it. “Was that the flair you guys wanted? Anyway, let's get back to looking for the eggs.”

Mila seems a bit confused. “What do you use as a focus? I didn’t see you with any.”

“Oh, I use brands.” I roll up my sleeves and show them my arms.

“Isn’t that incredibly dangerous!? I’ve never met anyone who uses brands as a main focus.”

Elias chimes in also concerned. “I have but it’s ended badly for everyone, most of the time they were killed by misfires, and if they weren’t killed they at least lost their branded limbs.”

“That’s strange, in my homeworld brands are the type of magical focus. When I was wandering I only got the impression that brands were just rare not dangerous.”

Mila thought for a second. “How did you not know brands were dangerous? Even just the process of acquiring a brand is incredibly dangerous.”

“Really? We just kinda woke up with them, no one really knows where they come from.”

Elias sighed. “Brands are normally gained by taking a rune and forcing it to misfire and scorch the skin… It’s not pretty but people are crazy enough to do it.”

“Hey, can I see your brands?” I stop walking and hold out my arms for Mila to see. “Interesting… It’s not just a rune or two, its kinda like a runic array, they also look more like tattoos…”

“Wait can you not tattoo brands?” 

“No, you can tattoo protective charms and wards but not focuses. This is so fascinating!! When we get back you must let me look into them in more detail.” 

“Eh sure, why not.” We start walking again. “Say do you two have any unique abilities?”

“Oh!” Mila pulls out a spine. “You might have noticed this earlier but my spines can detach and regrow and I can also use them to store spells.”

“Ummm…” Elias is silent for a second or two. “I can breathe underwater I guess that counts?”

“Oh, that’s cool!” I stop walking. “Ok there's a nest on a small ridge above us I’ll get it. Jump!” I launch myself up and manage to grab three eggs. “Ok, we just need one more.” I jump back down. “There’s an egg fairly close by.”

...It’s interesting isn’t it, just a few days ago I was just floating through space, is this what I’m going to do with the rest of my life… It’s fun but I don’t know if I fit in, everyone here is so loose and carefree, that’s not something I can easily do… I can’t drop my guard, I can’t be carefree…

“What about you Victoria?” Elias pokes me in the shoulder.

“Wait, what? Sorry I wasn’t paying attention.”

“We are talking about our weapons, I just have a basic light spear, but Mila custom made a shield to act as a focus.”

“Oh, I was given a knife and pistol by the administration, I think they are just standard issue.”

“Eh that’s fair, not everyone can get a special weapon.” 

“Oh, we are here!” In front of us is a circular platform with a nest in the middle with a single egg. “Got it, let’s-”

*SQWAK!!!*

A Roc that's significantly larger than the others swoops up from a crevasse.

“Another one, I got this!” Elias waits for the Roc to swoop in close and jumps but quickly is hit by a wing and slammed backwards.

“Hold on!” Mila’s shield starts to glow and a wall of ice forms to catch Elias. “I’m  guessing this is the ‘boss’ Gwyn mentioned.” Mila fires a spine and ice starts to form around the Roc but it manages to break free. “We are going to need a plan.”

I think I can pull something off… “I’m going to agitate it and then stun it. Once it's stunned, Mila will freeze it and that should knock it to the ground where Elias can finish it off. Is that good?”

Elias is brushing off some ice. “Sounds good to me.”

Mila gets a spine ready. “I’ll back you up.”

I walk out into the middle of the platform and fire some shots at the Roc to attract its attention.

*SQWAK!!!!!*

Good, it's mad. It flies around and aligns itself on a path to hit me. “Oh space bend to my will, Grant me protection from ills. My reality becomes clearer, come forth Karmic Mirror!” Right before the Roc’s talons hit me, space warped and there was a blast of energy. “Mila now!” 

Ice solidified around its left-wing and it was pinned to the ground. “Elias you're up!”

“Got it!” Elias stabs the Roc multiple times. “Die you oversized chicken tender!” He drives his spear through its skull.

*SqWak…*

The Roc collapses and a chest materializes in front of it. I kick open the chest and inside there's a few feathers, some gold, and a gem. “Does anyone want any of this?”

“I’ll take the feathers they might be useful for crafting.” Mila grabs the feathers. “Oh, that looks like a speed enhancement gem.”

“I guess I’ll take the gem then.” Elias picks up the gem.

“I guess the gold is mine…” Good, I need money, that was lucky. “Anyway, we have all seven eggs so let's head back.”

[someaxolotl]

Interlude

Tick… Tick… Tick…

‘Well, this is interesting…’

Tick… Tick… Tick… 

‘A new player has arrived…’

Tick… Tick… Tick…

‘We are almost at the endgame…’

Tick… Tick… Tick…

‘Just a few more players...’

Tick… Tick… Tick…

‘I can’t wait fo-’

‘What are you doing here?’

‘Oh, I finally got your attention.’

‘How are you interfering with dreams? That’s my work you’re treading on.’

‘Calm yourself, I’m not here for malicious means. I just want to know what’s going on in the physical world, also I thought that maybe you could directly manifest.’

‘Wait what did you do?’

‘Well it turns out the realm of void has similar properties to the realm of dreams, so I made a part of me appear like a dream.’

‘Impressive, so what do you want to say?’

‘There will be another attack on Abyisa, it's going to be in a bit but I just want you to know.’

‘Why are you telling me this, you know I can’t help out. I’m trying to stay neutral in all of these conflicts, I want to assure their safety.’

‘I’m aware, I’m just making sure you’re okay with your child taking part.’

‘...my ‘child’ can easily defend themselves, thank you for checking in though. Now, whose dream are we in?’  

‘It’s the dream of a new player.’

‘That’s not enough detail.’

‘Spoilers.’

‘...suffer.’

‘Look I’ll give you a title, it’s the Queen of Mirrors.’

‘Fine I guess that’s enough info. I’m guessing she’s important or something.’

‘Oh, that’s not something you’re privy to. Anyway let’s catch up a bit, find someplace nice and we’ll chat a bit more. I’ll catch up.’

‘Ok, that’s fine. Don’t do anything bad.’

‘Cheers friend.’

Tick… Tick… Tick…

‘Now Queen of Mirrors…’

Tick… Tick… Tick…

‘Good luck…’

Tick… Tick… Tick…

[someaxolotl]

Registration

I made my way back to the gathering hall. Out of everyone I’ve met here the only one who didn’t strike me as insane was Silv and still he’s kinda off. I really hope there's more sane people here…

…

Honestly, it’s not hard to find my way back… granted it’s perhaps the largest building in the area… 

…

...why did I walk… I could have just jumped. Eh oh well.

…

I’m here, it’s just as busy as last time. Great, where do I need to go?

“Excuse me are you miss Veronica.” I feel a tap on my shoulder.

“Ahk!” I instinctively spin while drawing my pistol.

I’m pointing my gun at what seems to be a young man with light blue hair and a bright smile. “Heh, I’m sorry miss I didn’t mean to startle you. You can put the gun away now, I mean you’ll definitely miss. I probably already know the answer to this but you are miss Veronica right?”

“Yes, yes I am.” I holstered the pistol “Did Nim send you?”

“Oh, you’re inquisitive aren't you! Yes, Nim gave me orders to look for you, now would you please follow me.”

…

We ended up in what looks like a fairly spacious office room, there’s a large wall of files and books and a purple crystal in the corner.

“Please take a seat, I’ll let Nim know you are here.” The receptionist walks over to the crystal and taps it. “Nim, she’s here.”

The crystal shines and Nim suddenly appears. “Oh hiya, Veronica. Good to see that you’re okay.”

“Whaa…”

“Wait, why are you confused?” Nim thinks for a second. “Oh! Ok so as I said I’m an AI, normally I can manifest in any electronic device that is connected to Abysia’s network. These crystals allow me to manifest semi-physically.”

“Wait… can you do multiple things at once?”

The receptionist chimes in. “Nim can run basically an unlimited amount of tasks at once. The processors that run her are pretty strong. Now, shall we discuss what we are supposed to?” ...He’s still incredibly cheery.

“Oh, yeah whoops, Veronica this is Gwyn. He’s going to be who personally manages your activities through Abysia.”

Gwyn bowed. “I look forward to serving you. We are currently in my office, if you ever need my assistance I’ll typically be here.”

“While you were being treated, we registered you, so we need to tell you some information and give you some things. Gwyn?”

“Got it!” Gwyn’s figure fades and suddenly he’s floating towards the top of the shelf. He pulls out a box and a file and then appears where he originally was. “Here you go Victoria.” He hands me both items.

The file says ‘Welcome, Veronica’ and the box says ‘apologies’

“Thank you, Gwyn. Now Veronica, open up the folder.” Within the folder are a card and a few papers “Although your abilities are on par with a rank 4 or 5 until you complete an assignment or two your current rank is rank 1. You just have to reach the assignment requirements for each rank till you hit 4. While you work on ranking up you’ll be paired with 2 others which will be assigned tomorrow before your first assignment.”

“If you look at your card Veronica you’ll see a room assignment number, your dormitory is marked on a map within the file. Your card also allows you to access your room along with shopping and other services. Speaking of shopping there’s also a voucher for a free item from any crafting guild.”

Nim looks somewhat embarrassed. “Normally the voucher is limited to smaller crafting guilds but yours is unlimited as an apology for sending you to the hospital. Now if you want, open the box.”

I opened up the box and inside was a small device. “Oh, thanks… now what is it?”

“That’s a collaboration between Soma, ARO, and the administrative guild. It’s called an Abyscreen, it’s the latest innovation in smart devices. It can keep track of your location, vitals, abilities, assignments, teammates, and a bunch of other stuff, but best of all,” Nim’s voice emanates from the device. “it also includes a portable me!”

Gwyn steps forward. “That should be all for now, thank you for your time, Veronica. Now I suggest you get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a long day. If you have any more questions my number should be in the Abyscreen, farewell.”

Nim smiles and waves. “Bye, Veronica!”

…

As I walked out of the hall, I started to look at the map. My room is a ways away in the residential district… I guess I’ll jump there… Concentrate… and “jump!”

…

Any free item from a crafting guild… That’s going to be annoying to choose. 

…

The Abyscreen is nice, I set that up later.

…

...I should probably buy more clothes…

…

Here we are… and landed. Ok, this place doesn’t seem bad, at least compared to where I’ve stayed in the past… I’m room 143.

…

I swipe my card and the door unlocks. It’s a fairly plain room, a bed, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a couch. Not bad.

I should probably do an inventory of what I have…

…

Ok, let’s see, in my bag there's a change of casual clothes, the file, a journal, and a blanket… I’m currently wearing traveling clothes, a knife, a pistol, a bracelet, and a necklace… and in my pockets is the Abyscreen… I don’t have any food… Great… I also don’t have money…

...

I wonder how big the fridge is… I opened the fridge and there’s a basket with some fruit and snack bars inside. ‘Please enjoy our welcome basket! -Administration’ and there was a doodle of Nim on the back… cute. I guess that solves the food problem.

…

I ate like 5 apples… whoops… Anyway, I should set up the Abyscreen, shower, and then sleep.

…

…

…

Ok, that’s everything… I really sleepy for some reason…I’ll lie down

[someaxolotl]

Rivalry

Uggggh… what… what happened…

...the exam…a basilisk…”NIM!!”

“Oh, good you’re up. I’ll let Celeste know.”

…I’m in a bed, it feels comfortable enough, my arms are bandaged though… There's a girl sitting in a chair busy on a device of sorts. “Hey, where am I?”

“Oh, you died.” ...she didn’t even look up from her device.

“Where actually am I?”

“Wow you’re no fun, you’re in the Rainbow Sanctuary. There, happy?”

“No actually. Why am I here?”

“Oh, some dumb bs about how Celeste went overboard and pissed off AI bitch enough for her to threaten consequences or something, bringing you here seemed to shut her dumbass mouth.” She leaned back in the chair and continued using her device.

I guess I’ll just sit here in silence.

...

..-oh the door opened. It’s… Celeste, she seems a tad preoccupied.

“I’ll be outside…” The girl left while still on her device…

“Sorry Veronica, we’ve been kinda busy dealing with stuff. Some bodies of Coven of Shards witches were found, and they are blaming us.”

“Coven of Shards?”

“Oh, I guess you would only know about us and Soma. Another major guild here is A.R.O. or Abysia Reserve Organization. Made up of the Scale Choir, the Nocturnis Canibus, and, of course, the Coven of Shards, A.R.O. is pretty much exclusively a fighting guild, except for collecting and researching animals. The Coven is a collection of witches specializing in chaos magic and they kinda hate our guts because we are also witches, well actually its just me and a large collection of fighters here. They don’t actively disturb our medical forces but they have killed a fair number of us so we’re kinda rivals.”

“Wait… did you guys actually kill the witches?”

“....no…” That was definitely a lie.

“Anyway, why am I here?”

“Hmmm, oh let’s see.” Celeste pulls out a device. “Ok, so you went into a coma from overuse of mana and also treated for minor burns from a rebound… so nothing tooo major…

“Wait how long have I been out for?”

“Oh not long… ummm I think it has been two days or so. For using such high-level spells in such a short order you suffered very minor consequences. It was incredibly impressive.”

“Wait, what exactly happened?”

“Humans have an interesting response to danger. Typically the body limits itself from going overboard and causing self-injury, in danger humans can suppress that and utilize force beyond their baseline capabilities. You entered that state and because you utilized an extremely high-level spell along with a strange unique spell, you forced your body to overuse mana and caused a comatose state. Now that I brought it up, what exactly did you cast?”

“Oh… I don’t actually know, it just kinda popped into my head…”

“Have you ever heard of ‘Karmic Mirror’ before? Like you could have seen someone use it before.”

“No, I have no idea where it came from.”

“Interesting,” Celeste’s entire disposition seems to change. “I can pull some strings and get you registered as a member of the Rainbow Sanctuary, and I can directly mentor you.”

“Wait… why?”

“You have a high magic potential, you can easily be taken advantage of. You’ll be welcome here as a witch, and you’ll eas-”

The girl from before opened the door. “Celie we have a problem, Moka is here, they want to talk to you.” She seems incredibly panicked.

“...great… Tell them I’m with a patient, I’ll be out in a second.”

“Ok…” the girl seems even more panicked and left… That’s probably not a good sign.

Celeste seems more exhausted now. “So where were we…”

Something is wrong...Mana is condensing! This isn’t good! “Celes-” The door explodes into the room and the girl is thrown in with it. 

Celeste runs over to the girl. Mana starts building around her, she seems incredibly angry. “LAY ANOTHER HAND ON HER AND I’LL MAKE YOU WISH YOU CAN DIE.”

...There's a cloud of dust, but it feels like there’s a person in it. “Calm yourself, Celeste. I’m not here to indiscriminately slaughter, at least not today.” 

I feel an incredibly heavy presence from whoever spoke… It’s like every single part of my being was being ripped apart and my mind is being flooded with chaotic thoughts… who exactly is this?

The dust cloud is settling down… There’s a figure standing there… Porcelain white skin… Black cat ears and a tail… Red eyes… Hair that’s shifting colors… All wearing a gothic dress… “I’m just here to chat. There's the matter of the bodies that were found, but I’ve also heard that you have an interesting patient. Luckily I found both of you in the same room.”

Celeste seems more annoyed at this point than anything else. “We have patient conf-”

Celeste was slammed into the wall by a wall of magic… “I’ll talk to you, second Celeste. Now, greetings miss mana hound, I’m Moka the leader of the coven of shards.”

“What exactly do you want?” 

“Oh don’t worry I’m not here to threaten or attack you or anything, I just want to say hi.”

“And why exactly do I interest you enough to say ‘hi’”

“Oh come on isn’t that obvious.” Moka’s form kinda shudders and in front of me, instead of Moka, there’s a grayscale copy of Silv with red eyes and cat features. “You’re a special case, or whatever” Moka shifts back to their regular appearance. “Sheep boi is a mess to deal with but his predictions are always correct. Anyway, we keep tabs on people of interest and you caught our attention with your ‘mana nose’ skill and ‘Karmic Mirror’. I’ll give you some advice, stay away from the higher levels of the Rainbow Sanctuary, we aren’t great people but neither are they. The difference is that the Sanctuary tries to make themselves look good. Also never let your guard down, I would say the only leader you can truly trust in Nim. Anyway, that’s all I have to say, you should stop by the Forest one day, I’ll give you a tour.” Moka snaps and Celeste starts to move again.

“...wha…”

“Celeste, I believe this patient here is healthy, clear her.”

“Wait, we still have to run some tests.”

“I said clear her.” A mental pressure builds from Moka.

“... I’m too tired for this… Fine.” Celeste pulls out her device and does some things on it. “Sorry about all this Veronica. Anyway, Nim asked for you to report to her after we release you, so I guess make your way there.

“Ok, I guess I owe both of you, thanks.”

Moka bows. “You’re welcome, we'll meet again.”

Celeste just slightly waves. “Ok, now leave. I have to deal with this.”

…

Everyone here is incredibly strange...

[someaxolotl]

Practical Exam

I have no idea how I managed to confuse an AI… “Nim, did I do something wrong?”

“…” Her face is glitching slightly…

“Nim?”

“...jolt”

It is still extremely easy to dodge. “STOP TRYING TO ELECTROCUTE ME!”

“...it’s wrong…”

“Nim, seriously what’s wrong?”

“...follow me”

Nim floated away… great… “Hey, wait up.” 

...

Oh, it looks like we ended up in a training room with a few dummies and such.”

“Ok Veronica, watch. Jolt.” As expected the dummy she was aiming at was struck. 

“So, what was so special about that?”

“How long did it take for it to strike?”

“Oh around a second or so, why?”

“Jolt is a basic level electricity spell, but it has the positive of being almost instant. I’m currently casting it equal to a rank 2 or so, only rank 6 and up would be able to doge it effortlessly like you do. So, why is it saying that you should be a rank 1?”

“Well, the screen I saw said there was an error or something under ‘build’. Could that be it?”

“No, ‘build’ is just a way we categorize what members are best at. They are all self-explanatory, Fighter, Supporter, Explorer, Creator, and Researcher. Not fitting in one should not really cause an error that affects rank… I don’t want to but we may have to do a practical exam…” Nim is starting to look concerned.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“I’m worried that you could be injured or such… you haven’t made us any money yet.”

“Oh… great…”

“Yep!” She seems happier but still slightly off. “So standard regulations state that in order for a practical exam to be valid, two guild leaders must be present. In most situations, it would be the guild leader of the testee’s guild and me but you don’t have a guild… so I’ll just put out a request for a guild leader. In the meantime, we can begin to record what you can do.” 

A few objects materialize into the room, it looks like there’s a few dummies, an orb, and a strange box. “Ok Nim, what do you want me to do.”

“Do you have weapons on you?”

“Oh… no. I lost them before arriving here.”

“So a pistol and a knife… Ok, I’ll send a request to administration staff. For now, let’s test out your magic. Is your wind magic mainly offense, support, or utility?”

“Oh it’s a mix of both offense and utility I guess.”

“Ok, attack that dummy with a base level wind spell.”

“Got it!” Ok, light and airy, concentrate… “wisp” A small shot of wind magic impacted the dummy.

“Good! You were even able to cast it without a focus! Now what is the strongest attack you can do with wind magic?”

Ok, I’ve got this… still light and airy, but fierce and unrelenting… focus on the mana… there’s the heat from the brand… and “Gale!”... That’s a hit!

Nim looks impressed. “Great! So why exactly do you use brands?”

“Oh, I just think it’s almost comforting, the flow of mana feels nice…”

“You’re channeling a large amount of mana directly into your arm… If you misfire there can be extremely bad consequences.”

“Really?!” That’s strange… “Whenever I misfire the spell just kinda pops.”

“Oh, is that so?” Nim’s face is displaying some character that kinda looks like a thinking face.

...I hear footsteps… It’s a person carrying a case, oh he’s waving at Nim.

“Nimue, here are the items you requested.”

Nim is somehow holding the case. “Thank you, Fredrick. That is all I need. Thanks!”

He seems to be pretty busy because he just took off… 

Nim is still holding the case… “Hey Nim, how exactly are you holding the case, you’re just a hologram right?”

“Oh, that’s just a little trick I can do.” ...another colon three face

Now that I think about it I feel a slight amount of mana… It feels heavy and constant… “You’re using gravity magic aren’t you?”

“Whaaaaaat, noooooo…” Nim is making a face with a greater than symbol, a dash, and a less than symbol. “What makes you say that?”

“I can feel you using it.”

“Wait really?!” Huh, that really surprised her! “Anyway, here.”

Oh it’s the case, let’s see… It's a pistol and knife of decent quality.

“Ok Veronica, let’s get back on track. Show me what you can do with wind utility spells.”

“Ok” ...focus… and… “jump!” Like typical, I fired off two streams of air, shot up into the air, and landed comfortably.

“Interesting… Can you do that non verbally?”

“Oh, I just said ‘jump’ out of force of habit.” 

“Hah, nerd. So any other things you can do?”

“...I wish i could punch you right now, but eh yes.” … I dash towards the dummy using wind as a boost.

“Ok cool! Now how about-”

I hear some distant clopping. “Hey Nim, gotcha call. I had some free time, and I thought maybe this new girl might be cute.”

Oh, I guess it’s a centaur, that’s coo-...Huh, she’s not a centaur… that’s a llama’s lower half… also a llama neck...nothing here is normal is it…

Nim seems relieved somewhat. “Good to see you. Veronica, this is Celeste, the guild leader of the Rainbow Sanctuary”

Celeste seems nice enough… “Hi Veronica, nice to meet you! Can I interest you in joining the Sanctuary?”

That seems to have angered Nim and she whispered to Celeste. They are in a conversation but I can’t make out what they are saying… Oh, wait Celeste just said, “but she’s cute.” ...fantastic. 

...

Oh it looks like they are done arguing, good.

“Before you interrupted us, Celeste, I was documenting Veronica’s abilities. It is probably a good idea that we understand what she can do before we drop her into a practical exam.”

“Very well… What do you have so far?”

The screen that has my info was pulled up again, this time however it also displayed the wind spells I can do.

Celeste seems curious about the info. “So let’s get to testing!” I feel mana building up for some reason. “I’ll ask the questions and Nim will record what happens.” 

“Celeste what ar-”

“So Veronica, let’s see that space magic!”

...are they fighting over me? “Ummm I can only do utility spells for space…”

“Then show those!”

“Ok” steady...ready the pistol ...focus on the target… feel the warmth of the mana...and fire! Even though I was aiming at the ground, the bullet hit the dummy from behind.

Nim seems pretty impressed “Impressiv-”

“Don’t worry about talking, Nim just focus on recording the results.” Did I somehow cause this hostility… “Any other fun things you can do with space magic?”

“There are a few more things I can do.” ok… focus on the knife… conduct the mana into it… “Phase Edge!” Good… now think of where I’m going to land… and use the mana to jump forward! Ok, I’m in the air behind the dummy, so now I just… the knife flies through the dummy and imbeds itself in the ground in front of it.

“Good job, a weapon infusion and blink, are you getting this Nim?”

“...suffer…”

“Thanks Nim! Now for your skills, it said you have curse resistance, so can you go touch the orb?”

“Is the orb going to curse me?”

“Maybe, being honest I don’t know. Nim summoned it, not me.”

“Fine.” I pat the orb and nothing…

“Nim, what does the orb do?”

“Oh it’s supposed to put an enfeebling curse on the person who touches it, but there’s no effect on Veronica… I guess it’s curse immunity not resistance.”

“Interesting…” Their hostility seems to be decreasing. “I guess trap resistance is also trap immunity. Ok, Veronica open the box.”

“Fine…” I very lightly tap the box and it breaks. A pink gas emerges from it and nothing else happens.

“Nim?” 

“Sleeping gas, so it’s also blanket trap immunity… now, what does mana nose mean?”

“Hmmm, Veronica?”

“Yea?” I feel mana coalescing into an orb. Celeste snaps and the orb shoots toward me but I manage to dodge it.

“Oh, impressive!”

Nim looks concerned “What did you do Celeste?”

“I casted stealth shot and Veronica managed to know and dodge it... Say, did you ever feel me charging up mana?”

“Yep, after you read the stat info thing on me.”

“...You’re right…” Celeste is completely shocked.

“Wait, that explains a lot! Mana nose must give you a sort of sixth sense that allows you to sense the flow of mana.” Nim’s face is doing the colon three thing again… “I’m so happy I’m the one who found you in the park!”

“Ok, that’s pretty unique Veronica. Anyway, I believe that that is all the preliminary stuff shall we move on to the exam?”

“First off we will test your combat capabilities, Celeste and I will watch you defeat a Rank 3 simulated monster.” Nim pulls open a screen and marks some things on it. The training room turns into a cavern-like arena. “Your opponent is a… Possessed armor! Begin.”

A set of armor is materializing around a shadowy sphere…  ok, let’s do this. “Phase Edge!” If I dash in I should be able to stab at the core… “hya!”...the knife is not long enough… that’s bad it’s starting to get mad… I need to Blink… good I got out before a punch landed…

I need to think of a plan. I can’t pierce its armor with any of my own attacks, so is there anything I can use… rocks, rocks, more rocks… great nothing… wait! If I take a big rock… ok focus… The rock blinks from the floor to the air directly above the armor, falls, and destroys the helmet. Good! Now, just need to… “Jump!” and throw… The knife pierces the core and the armor collapses. The arena turns back into the training room.

“Good job Veronica. Celeste will heal you and we’ll move on to the next test.”

…

…

…

…

“And good, you completed the twenty-third test… How do we still not have complete results?” Nim seems tired, to be fair though I’m also incredibly tired, it’s been at least 4 hours.

“Maybe we aren’t testing her correctly?”

“Celeste… we’ve tested her every way we can. Do you have any form of a suggestion.”

Celeste is oddly suspect right now… “Actually, yes. Yes, I do.” I feel a strong flow of magic gathering around Nim.

“Celeste! What are yo-” Nim is silenced… and seems to be trapped.

“I’m speeding up the process!” The training room becomes a labyrinthine maze. “Your next test, Veronica, is to save Nim. Begin!”

...why… everyone in this place is insane… if I focus enough I might be able to track the prison spell… ok I got a trace… I run through a bunch of turns. 

Ok, I’m at the center, I see Nim trying to say something to me… I feel an interesting type of mana.

Celeste’s voice echoes throughout the maze. “I forgot to say you also have to defeat a basilisk.”

...why is this not surprising… The basilisk’s eyes glare but I guess petrification is considered a curse so I only feel a slight burning. 

“Gale!” The spell hits the monster’s body… Its tail whips around… I was too slow… I brush myself off. The basilisk is drawing in mana. This is bad… A single hit from the basilisk’s magic will easily end me. Instinctively I start a chant and my brands heat up, “Oh space bend to my will, Grant me protection from ills. My reality becomes clearer, come forth Karmic Mirror!”

The basilisk opens its mouth and fires a shot of acid but it strikes the air in front of me and dissipates. Space shatters and a massive beam of energy impacts the basilisk, burning its scales. “Suffer” Mana swirls around me. “TYPHOON!” ...the basilisk is shredded in the resulting blast.

The room returns to its regular state and Nim is freed from the spell. “...how…”

Celeste starts clapping. “Impressive...”

“Thank-” I fall toward the ground and the world goes black.

[someaxolotl]

The Gathering Hall

Some people in cloaks lead me out of the room and to what looks like a portal of sorts. One of them spoke up. “This portal will lead you to the city of Abysia, you should be able to find your own way there, if not then oh well.”

“And what if I don’t want to go thro-” One of them kicked me through the portal…

…

…

“-re you ok?” 

Dirt, I guess I passed out on arrival…

There’s a digital sounding voice coming from somewhere. “Hey! Answer my question!” 

“Hmmm-” 

“Jolt!”

There’s a slight feeling of static building up, but before the spell’s effect is completed, I jump up and it misses. “WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO!”

In front of me is a projection of a girl with a strange mark under her eye. “Oh good, you’re awake. I guess I can call off the medics.”

“Were you trying to kill me?!”

“Wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I was just checking to see if I could wake you up.”

“So why did you cast magic?!”

“Oh, that… electric shocks are pretty good at waking people up” her face turned into a colon and a three.

“...I can’t punch you can I?”

“Nope!” Her face added another three. “I’m completely digital!”

“...great”

“I’m Nim, short for Nimue, I’m an AI that is in charge of the administrative capabilities of Abysia, and I also function as the leader of the “guilds” within Abysia City. You’re not on any of my records so how exactly did you end up in a park fairly deep in the city without me noticing?”

Oh, I guess the portal did actually lead to where those bastards said it would. “Some sheep-person and his cult kidnapped me and then dropped me here.”

“So Silv already gave you the intro, good. He should have notified me but the Cloth Theatre is a bunch of assholes, granted most of the archives are, so I guess your info never got through. Anyway, that’s not that big of a bother, follow me I’ll get you registered.”

“Where exactly are we right now?”

“So right now we are in Hub Park, it’s the largest park in the city. It forms a ring around the central part of the city, which is where we are headed at the moment. The layout here originally was a circle with different parts of the circle being different districts like the manufacturing district or the residential district. As the city expanded the circle shape started to be warped the only part of the city that is still circular is the park and the central district.”

“Silv mentioned something about the Soma Archives being the original guild, so why is Abysia City separate from them.”

“Oh there’s an easy answer to that, see this is technically New Abysia, although it’s a piece of ancient trash. Old Abysia was originally in Soma but as more and more guilds were added, the archives got flooded with more and more people. Eventually, the leaders decided to create a central hub to allow the archive to function as just an archive again, and New Abysia was created. Old Abysia was a significantly better city but eh, it was dragged into the Dungeon during a war in the past.” 

I don’t know why but I feel an aura of sadness from around Nim. “What about you? What’s your story?”

“Hmmm, oh… I’m nothing special. I was originally an AI made to help people access the archives but as I grew, I was seen as too disruptive for the archives, granted they were not wrong… so they put me in charge of managing requests and missions along with recording the information and advances of different members. When New Abysia was created I was moved here and was given control of the city.”

“Oh, interesting. What’s the mark on your face?”

“Oh! That’s ummm… That’s nothing major…”

I guess I messed up… She seems pretty upset, almost sad... I’ll just shut up for now…

…

…

Wow, this park is big…

…

…

Oh, Nim seems to be fine again.

“Hey, were here, welcome to the central district.” 

Damn… from where we are standing I see a large ornate hall flanked by buildings, and a ways behind there’s also a large tower… It’s gorgeous! “Say Nim, what exactly the point of this place?” 

“The Central District is a hub for members of all guilds, so it includes most amenities that they need. There are shops, restaurants, training halls, entertainment, and all sorts of other stuff, all run by the administrative guild. We are one of the two guilds which are standalone and are based out of the big hall over there, that’s the gathering hall and it’s where members of Abysia go to deal with registration and such. Most of our process can be done remotely because, you know, I’m an AI, but sometimes people just like doing things in person. We are headed there so we can register you and put you through some tests.”

“What about the tower?”

“Oh that’s the headquarters of the other stand-alone guild, Rainbow Sanctuary, they are our medic force. If you’re in trouble go there, they will probably be able to help.”

“Wait, you said tests what do you mean?” 

“Oh don’t worry nothing bad… anyway we are going to enter the hall, keep following me.”

Nim just casually floated through the door sooooooo… oh well.

…

Wow, theres a lot of people in here… Oh, there’s also a lot of Nim’s…

“Jolt!”

I feel static from behind me… I dodged it again…

“Nim! Why are you trying to shock me again!”

“Because it’s fun.” She made another colon three face… “Here take this and fill it out and I’ll scan your abilities.”

It looks like it’s just a simple questionnaire…

After I filled it out, Nim pulled up a screen and it displayed information about me.

Name: Veronica

Species: Human(x,x)

Homeworld: ?

Magic: Y(Wind and Space)

Weapons of Choice: pistol, knives, brands

Combat skill: Mid

Magic skill: Mid

Defense skill: Low 

Special skills: curse resistance, trap resistance, mana nose

Build: ERrOr

Estimated rank: 1

I feel something off from Nim again…

“No… that can’t be right…”

[someaxolotl]

Welcome to Abysia

…

…

…

I probably shouldn’t have jumped into the unknown, I have no idea of how people actually navigate through the empty space.

…

…

…

Screw it, I'm hopping into the next world I see.

…

…

…

I'm going to regret this aren’t I… ok let’s go.

…

I need a better landing strategy. At least I think I’m laying on grass, hopefully, this is a somewhat normal world. Ok so let’s see, its grass, theres a city a bit out in the distance, a person wearing a cloak walking towards me… I guess that’s not strange. There’s not much I can do right now so I guess I’ll talk to them.

“Hello there, what’s up.” ...that was bad… whoops

“Hello child, we’ve been expecting you.”

...nope this place is jank, great. I should still have a knife one me… yep, still here, I’ll just hold it… “what do you want”

“Follow me.”

Theres something I really don’t like about this guy, I need to defend myself. “What if I don’t want to!”

“You don’t have a choice.”

I feel something strange happening around me, it feels like magic but there was something different abo… 

…

What… what happened… oh great I’m tied up in a chair… lovely.

Some sheep person is on the other side of a glass panel. I think he just noticed that I’m conscious, it looks like he’s walking into the room.

“I understand why you would be jumpy, apologies, our standard procedures would appear to be concerning to people who don’t know where they are.”

“Let me out… what do you want from me.”

“Oh, I don’t personally have any business with you, at least right now. Most people who arrive here know at least a bit about where they are, but you arrived here accidentally by just drifting through empty space.”

“How do you know that!”

“Oh I’m a seer, I can see details about people I come into contact with. I take an interest in people with a large amount of potential. Typically my subordinates are the ones to do the introductions but for special cases, I’ll do it.

“What do you mean by special cases!” I feel magic starts to gather. “Don’t you dare d…” I can’t talk! Why can’t I talk!

“Oh, that’s because I silenced you. Oh yeah, I can also read minds, so that’s fun. Anyway, the special case thing is not important right now, just pay attention.

You are in Abysia, we are a large group of multiple different groups and guilds. Right now you are in Soma, we are the original guild and officially the Soma Archives. Each major guild has its own sub-world while Abysia functions as the main hub. Guilds are often split into more distinctive groups, for example, Soma has 3 but only 2 are currently active with the Corvid Dreamers, lead by Trem, which is our R&D and the Cloth Teatre, lead by me, Silv, which is a collection of seers. The archives themselves are run by Arius and we have general members that serve the archives as a whole. Most other guilds follow our example and have a similar structure. 

I’m not going to bore you with history details I’m just giving you a broad overview. We classify members based on abilities and classify them into ranks. New members serve Abysia as a whole until they are around rank 4. Now in general members are given missions based off their allegiance, missions can be hired work or for your respective group, it depends. Mission locations can be any world we have ever made contact with, but there is an extremely important location you should now of, because of events in our past Abysia has hundreds of sub-worlds that are corrupted and form a dungeon of sorts. This “dungeon” is where you will start your training.

That should be everything, for now, I’ll have some of my subordinates escort you to the main hall in Abysia, there you’ll be ranked and given your first assignment. Do you have any questions?”

Oh, I can finally talk again...neat. “ Do I need to join?”

“Typically no but I’m strongly urging you to.”

Something feels really off about this guy, I don’t think I’m going to be given an option… “Fine”