General Knowledge I

Jacob was currently sitting in a lecture hall with about a dozen others. All of them were waiting for their general knowledge class to begin. This was one of the 3 classes that let him catch up on everything he had missed because of not being born into a dreamer family.

Honestly speaking he still couldn't quite believe there was something so systematic and... normal in place for people like him.

After all his hours of reading, he was more expecting a world filled with danger where everyone was out to get him for no particular reason. But it seemed he had overestimated himself, as it was he simply wasn't worth the effort.

A part of him wanted to cling to the belief that this was all an elaborate ruse to lure him into a false sense of security. But he kept coming back to the same question. 

Why?

He simply couldn't come up with a reason why they would put in so much effort to fool him, he simply didn't see the benefit. 

Which led him to the conclusion that everything he was seeing was real. Until something managed to prove him wrong.

This led to Jacob's current mood, in a word he was delighted.

It was all because of the half-full light blue bar encased in a yellow rectangular box that was currently hovering in his vision.

Last night, after helping Shin with his English writing. He had taken the time to explore his ability further. His goal was to gauge how many times he could use it before he was unable to.

A few inquiries were all it took to determine that analysis used some form of fuel to function. When it ran out, the ability was unable to be used.

From there, he worked on his ability to create a numerical metric for how many times he could use it when he had a full 'tank' so to speak. He had also decided to call the fuel mana since Sully had mentioned it earlier, meaning it was most likely an official term.

The eventual result was that he couldn't quite gauge an exact amount of mana with a metric, meaning he couldn't simply say that 1 use of analysis used 1 mana. But he could gauge his total amount compared to what he had at that moment. Meaning that he could represent the cost as a percentage.

The analysis didn't appear to operate on a standard consumption per request. 

If Jacob asked for a transcript of what Sully had said to him earlier that day it would take less than 1%.

On the other end of the spectrum, if he tasked his ability to streamline all the useful information from that transcript and present it as a series of summarised points it would take something like 5%.

It also became clear that the cost of each use was decided by the complexity of what Jaocb had asked for, something simple like displaying pre-existing information took very little. While asking it to review, streamline and summarise that information took much more.

There was one other aspect of his ability that increased his excitement towards this class.

Effectively speaking, the more he knew, the cheaper the mana cost of his ability. 

Since the ability to draw on data to form conclusions, the more data he had the less the ability had to work to draw his own conclusions. To give a simple example, if he asked his ability what 11 x 5 was it would calculate the answer using 2% of his mana. However if he then asked the same question again it would simply refer to the data it already had, this now included the answer to his question. Since it didn't have to do as much it would only cost 1% of his mana.

This led him to an obvious conclusion.

He had to study.

Luckily, he was in the literal learning hub for supernatural beings across the world. Not only that, but he was sitting in a room with nearly a dozen others about to receive a lesson on exactly what he wanted to know.

This led to his current glee.

He was about to fill in a lot of blanks in his database.

Before he could think further, he received a tap on the shoulder.

"Mind if I sit here?" Said a scrawny English boy.

The kid, well not a kid since he looked at least 18, only a year younger than Jacob. The expression of his face and general posture also made him appear a little more mature than his looks suggested.

If Jacob were to use a single word to describe him, it would be 'proper'.

"Go ahead. Not like it's got my name on it." Jacob responded casually. He wasn't normally so casual when meeting new people but he was looking forward to the lecture so much that his excitement was overriding his social ineptitude.

"The name's Erwin. Nice to meet you. If I might ask, How long has it been since you awoke?" Erwin asked him.

"Uhh, about 2 hours. Why?" Responded Jacob to the odd question from a person he had just met.

"2 hours. Wow, that's… oh, my apologies. When I say awoke, I mean from the nightmare that made you a dreamer." Erwin clarified after being briefly astounded.

"Ah, that makes more sense. About 2 days then." Jacob answered, understanding that it was a greeting question for people in his circumstance.

"Ah, you're still something of a newbie then? I've been a dreamer for more than a month now, but the intro course only happens twice a year, and you can't if it's progressed past the first month" Erwin explained.

"Well, I'm Jacob. I like reading, long walks on the beach, and not dying to supernatural creatures in nightmares. Pleased to meet you." Jacob joked.

"Well, I can get behind the reading part, not so much the beach. The ocean's always been a bit too mysterious for my liking. Especially now that I know there's a supernatural side to the world." Jacob's new buddy responded.

After sharing a short laugh, they fell into a somewhat awkward silence.

This was one of Jacob's biggest weaknesses, apart from running, fighting, and long division (not much of a problem anymore but before he had his ability it was the bane of his existence). He could talk out of his ass for hours on end when it came to getting what he wanted in the short term, or simply annoying someone he disliked. 

You might think that his speaking skills would translate to at least some level of EQ but alas, his skills seemed to lean heavily in favour of infuriating people rather than gaining their favour.

During that period of awkward silence, Jacob looked around the lecture hall. Only to see that to his other side was his roommate Shin, who had sneaked into his neighbouring seat while he wasn't looking.

Thankfully a middle-aged man walked in before Jacob had to make any more small talk with Erwin.

"Good morning new dreamers, my name is Professor Duncan Howinster of the Dempster clan, and I will be your guiding light, your hope and your master for the next 6 months. I will not accept complaints, stupidity or disrespect towards me or your fellow students. Rest assured that following my tutelage you WILL graduate and excel in your chosen area due to the knowledge I will pass on to you.

Any questions?" The man concluded after his impactful introduction.

The impression he gave off was one of confidence, primarily in his own abilities rather than the student's potential. But that was fine with Jacob, the way he saw it he didn't need someone babysitting him considering his ability would make studying easy, what he needed was someone who knew what they were on about.

A moment of silence followed his speech as if he was waiting for someone to step up and question his skills or promises. When no one did, he turned to the board behind him and began writing.

Not with a pen or marker but by using a light blue magical glow that emanated from his finger. It remained on the board as the letters straightened from haphazard lines drawn in haste to easy-to-read English.

What he wrote was simple, 'dreamer general knowledge'.

"Since this is the first lesson, I'm going to cover the most basic of basics even if many of you already know this, some may not, and I want to correct any misconceptions that may exist."

"First off, I'll explain a little about your abilities and how you got them."

"The short version is this, the experience that led to your abilities is what we refer to as the nightmare trial. Every individual who becomes a dreamer will face a nightmare trial, those that pass become dreamers while those who do not will forget the experience entirely,. Becoming a dreamer means completing whatever condition the trial sets, sometimes it's as simple as befriending a spirit, and that spirit may even become the first ability of the dreamer."

"Other times it's as annoying as being made to survive a week on an inhospitable island. This leads to the next piece of information you should have picked up on, time."

"In the nightmare trial no matter how much time passes, only a single moment will pass for the dreamer in the real world. The way it works is quite simple, the dreamer will enter their trial while asleep and upon completion will continue to sleep until they awaken as normal."

"Of course, when they awaken, they'll have an ability. Like the ones you have now. Questions?" The professor asked patiently.

Jacob quickly jumped in, eager to answer a question that had been on his mind for a while.

"When I woke up there were two people from The Agency waiting at my door, how did they know that I was a dreamer?" He asked.

"A surprisingly good question considering our next topic. Mana" Howinster responded with a slight look of appreciation to Jacob for helping him begin his next point.

"Upon completing their nightmare trial dreamers become linked with the realm in which their trial occurred, through mana. As you could probably guess mana is the 'fuel' that abilities use to function, and each nightmare realm's mana differs compared to other realms. This is what we call mana affinity."

"Mana is taken from the realm and stored within the dreamer's body. Of course, this isn't infinite as a dreamer's body will have a limit to how much mana it can hold at any time and will only slowly regenerate mana by refilling from the realm after it is used. Funnily enough, sleeping is one of the best methods to replenish mana as the connection to the dream realm is stronger in sleep."

"When a person first becomes a dreamer the establishment of the connection causes a large burst of mana which is easily detected by some of our mana-augmented technology, M.A.T's for short."

"Since a dreamer actually completes their trial in an instant, the officials have plenty of time to head over to their house and wait for them to wake up."

"Does that answer your question?" The professor asked with a slightly smug look on his face.

Seeing an earnest nod from Jacob, he continued his lecture.