Chapter 11

Frantic Focus

The thing Jay dreaded had happened; the first Quest from that smarmy lunatic Zein had arrived. And Jay was far from the same Level as his opponent; this dampened Jay's mood considerably, and he felt more motivated than ever to become as powerful as possible as fast as possible. No matter how he did it.

Find Target. The thought created a bright scarlet arrow reaching through the air into the distance; it said his target was more than a hundred kilometers away, making Jay feel a bit of his tension subside. He wouldn't meet up with his target today, it seemed, so he got back to the more immediate things to do. He had to gain as many Levels as quickly as possible, and he could only succeed in that by both hunting players and creating the new Spells for his Quest.

Running past the working Mole-squirrels, jumping up each stony terrace with ease after activating 'Enduring Willpower'—which now boosted his Strength to over 100—Jay made his way up to the rim of the bowl-like canyon in little time. As he reached the top, looking out, he saw that he was actually at the top of a small mountain in a long clustered chain of mountains. The top of this mountain was barren and nothing grew past his ankle. In the distance some large four-legged hoofed creatures grazed the mossy ground. Jay didn't like the tingling feeling he got at the back of his neck when he looked at those cow-beasts.

Closing his right eye, activating Scope Sight, Jay looked closer, zooming in on the creature until it looked to be standing right in front of him, and what he saw didn't make him feel more at ease. The creature looked like a large bull, its dead milky eyes were creepy, but the most disturbing thing was that the bull had thousands of small black and gray mushrooms growing on its back, neck and head. It looked like the creature was infested with fungi and closer to dead than alive, but that didn't diminish the danger as the ground trembled with each slow step it took. Jay really didn't want to battle that thing, and he didn't feel confident being able to hide from it as he traversed this barren tundra either.

The tundra, and its ankle-high vegetation, stretched down the mountain for about two kilometers and then the terrain turned into a forest of gnarly black-spotted white birches. If he could get to that forest, he believed he would be able to, if not hide from any dangers, at least run away from dangers using his Magic Rope to pull himself forward at great speeds.

Surveying his surroundings for a while Jay found that the bull-beasts he couldn't identify were few in number, and they all kept their distance from one another. So, right now, Jay only had to care about the two to either side of him, one was almost five hundred meters away and the other was close to three hundred meters away. If he could find the middle-ground between these two territories, he might just be able to slip by unnoticed. The bulls didn't seem to have very keen eyesight, and if Jay was noticed, he would at least be as far away from the dangerous creature as possible.

Slowly walking along the rim of the canyon, Jay found the middle-ground with Claudine's help. She had easily pointed it out when he asked her. Another useful thing he hadn't thought of having Claudine do. If she could help him with the more mundane things, such as calculating distances and retaining knowledge for him to use, she could actually be more useful than annoying.

Jay uncoiled the thin rope from his waist and used the Magic Rope Spell to fill the inside of the rope with Mana. Now Jay saw that the Spell actually had Force, Metal and Lightning Mana in it, but he couldn't figure out how it actually worked, so for now he just observed how the Spell worked and didn't try anything. He wouldn't like it at all if he lost his rope; there are few things as handy as a rope in the wilderness, especially if you can rope-jump.

Jay looked to either side again. Seeing that nothing was out of the ordinary, he slithered the rope out to a fairly large stone jutting out from the moss-covered ground. The stone was almost fifteen meters away and was a good first trial of how to use his Magic Rope to propel him forward over this flat ground.

The rope coiled around the Stone, tightening, fastening itself to the stone at Jay's will. Contracting the rope's length, he used more Mana than the Magic Rope Spell cost by funneling a slightly larger amount of Mana through Mana Manipulation into the Magic Rope Spell's Inlet—or so he figured the place where his Mana was incorporated into the Spell should be called. And as soon as he did, the rope pulled Jay forward. At first he stumbled and almost fell, but pushing off the ground with his legs and pulling himself forward with the rope became easier with every step, and the last step he took before arriving at the stone was close to three meter long. Now he just needed practice and he had created another way to move fast with his handy rope. It was too bad this way of moving was only truly useful when traveling, and not in a fight, but that mattered little. As long as Jay felt he could cover ground faster than his potential opponents he could always at least flee from danger if needed.

Finding a second stone, Jay quickly fastened the rope to it and continued his run. He jump-sprinted the sixteen meter in seven steps and looked around for a third stone, and without even stopping he threw out the rope to fasten on that stone. His tempo increased by the stone and soon the air whistled through Jay's ears; he was moving faster than he thought would be possible. And the best thing was that he had attracted no attention from the fearsome bull-beasts.

He soon arrived at the gnarly birch forest with only one mishap on the way. One of the stones he had tried to pull himself toward had actually flown to him instead; it was a lesson he needed to remember, if the thing he anchors his rope to is lighter than him it will fly towards him.

Inside the birch forest there was nothing much that caught Jay's attention. The leafy ground and patches of knee-high green grasses and flowers didn't seem to hold any dangers wherever he looked. He kept vigilant, but after a couple of minutes of slowly walking and looking around or any dangers Jay found nothing alarming. A couple of large centipedes as long as his arm tried to attack him but died instantly from one of his metal pins, and a few skittish elks in the distance that always ran away from Jay were all the creatures he saw.

Relaxing for a bit, Jay took out two biscuits and ate them, then opened his mouth to the sky and funneled water into his mouth and drank a couple of gulps. Looking at his Map-pad, the compass showed the direction he needed to go. Claudine, can you give me a compass pointer pointing to where I want to go?

Yes, Jay, Claudine said and a thin white arrow seemed to spring out of Jay's torso, pointing in the direction he needed to go.

Following the arrow, Jay began his rope-jump-sprinting over the ground again, keeping an eye out for anything dangerous, but nothing showed itself. And soon the forest had larger and straight trees, so Jay could finally fly through the air, vaulting himself from tree to tree by swinging with his rope. It was almost as good as flight, only more restrictive, and maybe more mentally taxing. He had to always keep his mind on where he should send the rope next. Luckily, his increased ability to use Mana that Eye of the Magi gave him made the Magic Rope Spell throw out the rope at almost five times the speed it had flown before, so this way of traveling was now a lot more easy and steady.

Now only using about ten meters of the rope, he flew through the air steadily, but this made Jay's mind wander after he got used to the rhythm. Thinking about the Spells he needed to create made minutes pass by without him noticing. Some of the Spells using only one type of Mana that he needed to create he had no good idea about how to create, but after thinking for a while he felt had figured out Earth and Metal now.

The idea to crush rocks with Earth Mana was easy enough that he almost had the Spell already created because of his experiments, so that just needed to be stabilized. And the Rock Crusher Spell gave Jay an idea to create a synergistic Spell with Metal Mana. If he could crush rocks with one Spell and then extract the metals from the stone with another Spell, then he would become a mining machine. The idea was simple, but Jay couldn't help thinking it might be more difficult than he thought. He hadn't experimented yet, but the idea was the best he had come up with so far, so he would experiment when an opportunity arrived.

I wonder if I should go to that mining camp and try creating the two Spells there, Jay thought. There should be enough rocky material with metal inside there to try figuring out the combination of the Earth and the Metal Spell.

I want to go to the library, Claudine said in his mind. I'm bored. The listless tone in her voice at the end was pitiful.

Yeah? We'll do that later, just be patient. Jay thought in response.

No! Claudine angrily shouted, ringing in Jay's immaterial ears. I want to go now. All we ever do is what you want to do. It's not fair.

Ehm, of course 'we' do what I want to do, Jay thought. I'm in charge of my own actions, and I decide what I do, so it's obvious that I would do what I want to do...

Is that so? Claudine monotonously asked.

A small chill ran down Jay's spine; it seemed Claudine was somehow more upset than Jay had thought she could be. He could only try to appease her. Wait a little longer and we'll go to the library. I'll show you as many books as there is time for later, okay?

I want to go now! NOW! Jay's head filled with a drone that almost made his vision blur.

Fine, fine... you win. Stop that. With Jay's thought, the ringing drone went away instantly. Can you at least wait until night? That way we can sneak in without being noticed.

You promise? Claudine asked.

Yes, yes... Jay sighed to himself. How had Claudine become able to control what he did so easily?

That's better, Claudine's voice oozing smug delight. You shouldn't be so selfish. You're not alone in your mind. I live here too.

Jay was starting to regret his thoughts of earlier thinking Claudine might actually be worth the head-aches she occasionally caused. He didn't even know what to say about her claiming to live in his head. He was stumped; maybe he should begin questioning his own sanity... and if it might already be lost. We need to rectify that, he thought, both to himself, and to Claudine.

That's what I've been telling you, Claudine said. I need to get my own body. You need to create it for me.

I actually begin to understand that this might be really important to my future mental health, Jay thought.

Oh? How so? Claudine asked, sounding confused. Don't worry. Even if I get my own body, I'll still be able to talk directly into your mind. So I won't really be gone. Just separate.

Almost loosing his concentration on the rope-jumping, Jay staggered in mid-air, sweat coating his hands. The idea of actually having an AI living inside his head was not really a pleasant thought, even if it only partly lived in his mind. Hopefully, it wouldn't have any adverse effects on him, especially after Claudine has her own body and can move about by herself. He had to ask though. Claudine... with your own body, you could gather information by yourself, right? I wouldn't need to do all the work for you if you have your own body... right? Jay felt frantic at the end and couldn't help repeating himself.

Yes. If I can get a body of my own I can gather information much easier, Claudine said. But I don't think I will be able to leave your area of mental influence.

Trying to distract himself from the negatives by submerging himself in trying to understand more about the world he now lived in, Jay felt that last sentence to be important. What is an area of mental influence? How far is mine?

I don't know the exact area covered, but it's the same area in which you can easily control your Mana, Claudine said. Was that helpful?

Hmm, interesting, Jay introspected. Then the distance between us when you have your own body should be somehow related to my Willpower.

How would I know? But maybe, we'll find out later, Claudine said. I just want to go to the library.

We'll go some night in the near future, Jay said, hoping to drop the subject. Just wait and do something else until I can sneak into that library Hannah told me about.

What? Claudine asked. What should I do?

How would I know? Jay asked back.

Give me a good question to think about, Claudine answered.

What question? Jay felt the conversation was spiraling out of his control slightly, and wasn't too keen on continuing it either. He had already arrived at the forest with the enormous trees reaching close to a hundred meter into the air and it wouldn't be long before he might encounter players to kill, so he needed to be entirely focused on that right now.

How would I know? Claudine asked.

Sorry, how difficult can the question be? Jay wanted to get out of this conversation, and if he could ask Claudine a difficult enough question to occupy her for a while it would be great.

Nothing is to difficult to understand, Claudine said. Theoretically, at least.

That sounds a bit... arrogant? Over-confident? Jay thought. But fine, answer this: Where does Mana come from?

Error. Time to completely accumulate the information and calculate the possible answers exceeds ten million years, Claudine said in a very mechanical monotone voice, then it returned to normal. Yuck! That felt awful. I wonder if that is what vomiting feels like?

Ehm? That's... Jay didn't know what to think, but felt glad. I'm really glad I put in those parameters that makes it possible for you to ignore a question if it takes too long to reason out.

Yes... me too, Claudine said helplessly.

Give me a suggestion about what you want to think about then? Jay asked, his thoughts growing less and less focused on his conversation with Claudine as he was closing in on the meeting place he told Hannah to be at. He still felt he needed to be wary of that feline female for some reason. He had trouble figuring out the reasons for many of her actions, and that was uncomfortable.

It's not as fun to answer my own questions as answering yours. Claudine said. It feels like I've accomplished something important every time I answer your questions. Answering my own questions doesn't give me any of that instinctual happiness though. She sounded slightly sad. So, just ask something, anything. Understanding things is one of my secondary purposes. The best way to extrapolate knowledge is by understanding things completely.

How so? Distracted, Jay automatically asked. He had stopped fifty meter up in the tree branches, hiding his body behind the trunk of a tree, standing on a thick branch, peering out into the distance with only his head slightly protruding from the tree trunk. At a distance of about two hundred meters he could see the cleared ground outside the mining camp, but he couldn't see any sign of Hannah, or any other people for that matter. He just had to wait now, the time they would meet was still an hour away. He would be patient. He needed to know that Hannah wasn't a threat to him, so he was cautions and would await her arrival from a distance and see if she was up to anything suspicious.

You know, even understanding the most profound things comes from understanding the smaller parts that makes the whole complete, Claudine didn't seem to notice that Jay wasn't paying much attention. Understanding at its basic level is just that: understanding the basics that pertains to understanding a specific complexity.

I don't know what to say to that, Jay was stunned. Had Claudine turned into a philosopher while he wasn't paying attention? I don't have any good questions either, not right now. Maybe... think about ways for me to get rid or hide my negative alignment?

I don't have enough information available to completely answer that question, Claudine sighed. I want to go to the library...

Yes, I heard you the first time... Jay wasn't sure where this conversation was going anymore, it seemed too circular. Then he had a good idea. Okay, how about this? Assume I can control the air around me to flow in any direction within a 5 meter in diameter sphere with me at its center and assume I can make my body lighter by 20%; how can I use these assumptions to somehow fly?

Ooooh... Claudine seemed enthused. I need to think about that one. Don't bother me anymore.

Fine, tell me if you get any good ideas though, Jay thought. I really want to be able to fly.

Jay waited; time passed slowly when you were apprehensively watchful. He stared out at the large cleft in the rock wall and the adjoining grassy fields with its pens filled with idle hogs. No people showed themselves. The time for their meeting was soon approaching, the small digital clock at the lower right of his field of view told that there was only five minutes before they said they would meet, but Hannah still wasn't here. Something seemed to be wrong.

A tiny crack sounded out behind Jay, making him spin his head and body around in an instant, almost loosing his footing in the process. He tossed up two metal pins into the air charged them with Force Mana before even noticing that the noise was Hannah standing only a meter away from him, her smiling yellow furred cat-face looked mischievous and the glint in her slit-like pupils showed clearly that she was silently laughing at him.

“I almost thought you would fall from the tree,” Hannah laughed out loud now, apparently not able to keep it in any longer. “You should have seen yourself. Your Flexibility and Dexterity must be awful. I couldn't be that graceless even if I tried.”

“How..?” Jay stopped himself. Of course she could sneak up on him. Not only was she a higher Level, but she also seemed to have a hunter or assassin-like Profession. “How long have you been here? Why are you sneaking up on me?”

“I was here before you,” she said, tapping her chest with her fist in mock pride. “Your eyes and senses aren't as good as mine, it seems.”

“You might be right about that,” Jay said. “But I can surely do ten times the damage you can. And I probably have a much higher ability to take Damage than you.”

“Maybe that's so,” Hannah jumped, clawing at a higher branch and lifted her body up onto it, pushing away from it in an instant and bounding off into the tree crowns, hiding herself completely in less than two seconds. “But you can't hit what you can't see,” her voice echoed out from two opposite directions.

“You're right,” Jay said, a smile creeping onto his formerly rigid face. “Shall we stop trying to outshine the other now? And get down to business. Have you seen any players around? I want to try to get to Level 50 today.”

“Aw,” Hannah said from the other side of the tree trunk, once more actually positioning herself at Jay's back. “It was fun to compare strengths.”

“We can do that later,” Jay said, not hiding his impatience. “Before we go to explore beneath he Magician's Guild, we'll have to talk and compare our strength and weaknesses so we can be a good team.”

“Fine, just let me punch you once,” Hannah said as she crawled up the trunk of the tree they were standing on and around to the side where Jay was, then pushed herself off the trunk, flipping through the air and landing nimbly on the two foot wide branch, facing Jay with her clawed hand, ready to strike. “If you really believe you can take so much Damage, let me see how much I can do to you with my claws.”

Not knowing how this had come about, Jay could only sigh. He shouldn't have said so much... “Hit me then, but just once. I don't mind the pain, but I don't like it either.”

Hannah moved, the rush of air accompanying her blasted Jay in the face, his cloak flapping violently as his stomach was squarely hit by the outstretched fingers of Hannah's hand.

You have been attacked in the abdomen by Hannah. Self-defense authorized. You take 1758 Damage You are Bleeding Internally and take 60 Damage per minute for 60 minutes

The fingers went in deep, the hand almost completely going into Jay's abdomen. It hurt. Oh, how it hurt. Jay really didn't think she would be so decisive. Going weak in the knees from the fiery pain in his gut, he steadied himself forcefully and grimaced. “Done?”

“So,” Hannah said, curiosity practically beaming from her smile. “How much Damage did I inflict?”

“1758, and 60 per minute for 60 minutes,” Jay said bitterly. “Couldn't you have hit me in the arm or leg? This internal Bleeding is really bothersome.”

“What if I crippled your limb?” Hannah asked. “That would be much worse. And this shouldn't be a problem, just eat a Blood-clotting pill.”

“What's that? I don't have such a pill,” Jay said. “Give me one.”

Hannah looked at him strangely, but took out a pea-sized little red pill and gave it to Jay. “You're always online, but you don't even know this basic thing?”

“Yeah, well... I haven't had the best of times since I started,” Jay said, trying to hold back the bitterness he felt. “Just educate me in basic knowledge then? You can tell me all about whatever you think I need to know as we hunt for players, just use the Friend Chat while you run around and try to find players.”

“That sounds boring,” Hannah said. “Just buy the Basic Comprehensive Encyclopedia Cube, you can ask it anything about the basic things in the game and it will answer.”

“And where should I get that Encyclopedia Cube?” Jay asked. “I can't even go into normal cities looking like I do with this Murderous Aura. Not to mention that I don't have time for that. I need to get some Levels as fast as possible.”

“Why the rush?” Hannah asked. “Just enjoy the game. There are so many wonderful things to explore and see.”

“I can't understand how you got the Level you have with that attitude,” Jay said. “But no matter, it isn't important now. What you should think about is finding players. If you help me get a high enough Level to be comfortable exploring beyond the sealed stone we'll be able to explore that place together. Isn't that what you want to do most of all?”

“Not most of all,” Hannah said, shaking her head slightly. “But close enough.”

“Good, run off then,” Jay said. “You're nimble and swift, so do your thing and find me some prey.”

“Fine,” Hannah shook her head once more, but didn't stay to talk. She jumped off the thick branch, barely catching onto it as she fell past, pushing herself down toward a thick branch on another tree some ten meters down. Without effort she lightly touched down on the lower branch and kicked her feet in a peculiar way that sent out shimmering white sparks of Mana to Jay's Eye of the Magi. With the light, she disappeared somewhere Jay couldn't see.

Author's Note: I accidentally lost track of time and have posted this later than I thought I would. I've spent the last two days writing on another story and just completed the fifth chapter. There's a possibility that I overdid it slightly, but I couldn't stop writing after I started, so I accidentally spent close to 36 hours awake this time, but it was worth it. I have been thinking about this story about Jay for a fairly long time, but I also have another story that I've wanted to start, so I began it yesterday and in my enthusiasm truly lost track of time.

The next chapter this week will be posted on Thursday or Friday, depending on when I feel like editing. I used up all of my edited chapter-buffer earlier and I need to build that up again, so I don't know the exact time when I'll post the next chapter, but there will be two more this week no matter what.