Book 1 Chapter 13: Preparing and Haggling

Jaeger explained everything to the group, and Jack who once wanted to give himself werewolf genetics changed his mind learning that he could receive a curse for it instead. Nobody but him understood why he would want a curse instead of DNA but it was up to him to choose.

Even Jaeger who had originally planned on going for the god of magic thought more highly of the god of craft. Even though in the eyes of everyone this person was weaker, somehow he felt a greater pull towards him than others.

Regardless, everyone looked over to the crowd that gathered and was murmuring around the fountain.

Damon turned towards Jaeger and waved him over. Everyone parted as a silence came down over the crowd.

Damon scratched the back of his head, "Listen…can you see the woman anywhere from their point of view currently?"

Jaeger shrugged but still pulled up his watch and moved his finger towards the fountain.

Soon the display came to life above the watch, and through it Jaeger could see several people with their backs against each other looking around. As if for the fear of being caught from behind that people were safer than a wall.

Jaeger flipped between the views of the 6, the swordsman, the cryomancer, the abjurationist, the priest, the brute and the engineer. The power was fluctuating around them, the light eerily flickering back and forth and off and on. For some reason even though the power system was a mere 20 feet away the engineer wasn't getting up to fix it. In fact it seemed like they were, waiting for something?

"Nothing so far…wait…the mirror" He could feel it, out of every corner of the room a particular corner that the engineer was looking at was beyond cold. This was more of a tingle sensation on the back of the neck, not temperature. Like when something evil was watching you, or that feeling when you were in bed as a kid and peered from afar into a dark closet.

Jaeger felt 'her' eyes on the engineer.

"The mirror…I feel her from there, can't say more than that but it's a gut feeling…like when I look through the engineers eyes, I feel watched too. Can we communicate with the people inside? Tell them?" Jaeger switched to a different view point of the swordsmen and felt better.

Damon discussed some things with his group, and then all of them turned towards Jaeger.

"Listen…you can make a lot of money. We can't let those people in there die, because they are the best of the best…we can't let them die. There is a loophole indeed, that you kill up to the second boss and then leap into theirs at the equal level. However, to not have your flow of time the same as that outside, you can't set it for us to watch. You would have to go through each level, up to a year by yourself. Alone…"

"I just got here? What makes you think I am that good because of some gut feelings?" Jaeger got what the group felt, and that was that none of them felt they could accomplish it and Jaeger in the first place was the one who could sense that malicious spirit.

"We can set you up to make it through it, we will use our own currency. These people are each the best currently of the players who have gone in, although most elite have died in there we can't let them die. The…god of magic told us this before you arrived via messenger. We don't know why he is pushing for it…but a lot of the students who were under them are willing to help as well. We're all in this together…"

Jaeger took a step back and sat down on the edge of the fountain before lighting a smoke up. Solomon, Jack, Malcom, Ana, and especially Alexandra were giving him looks that told him most certainly that they thought it was a bad idea.

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Up in the mage tower, the same man who had greeted Jaeger and his friends was pacing back and forth.

"Your lordship…is it okay to push this kid Jaeger into a mess like that? Just to get him under you?"

"You don't understand young one…I sensed it the first time this kid came around. That that old man had given him an ability…one revered to be a mix of magic and power. He had been experimenting with people for quite a while, and finally it seemed one stuck…I have to push him."

"Your lordship…you don't happen to mean…the god Spectre… of powers?"

"I do indeed…I do indeed…he must have been working with Animus the god of spirit as well, only through him as it seems this jaeger has a spirit summons…could this be possible…he might very well have created a few other powers with the god Psyche of mind, and Corporis of body as well. I can't be sure, but I am certain as to the fact a big push is coming…the city might very well get opened. I don't know why we were all placed in this city, and not the countless others. To gather us all in one place...and not spread us out like before amongst the other cities…is hard to make sense of."

"Can you not sense outside the city?..." The servant had forgotten to add 'Your lordship' because he was horrified at the prospect of what this all meant.

"Yes…unlike the other times where we prepared people, and then were sucked back away…this time, I feel we are being met with a large force. Why else would the portals of this city be far deadlier then before? That thing in the portal fountain…I don't know why it is there."

The servant nodded, stopping himself from pacing back and forth long enough to look out the window.

"What now?"

"Now…now we must shove to make these people stronger, and it will start with someone like him…what hardships he will endure…."

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Jaeger looked amongst the crowd who seem entranced by the idea to throw him into the lion's den. He hadn't even come to understand this new 'way of life' all that much before he was being shoved into danger. This was the same as sending a man who was at level one into a battlefield of giants.

The god of magic, Enigma, had offered him recently to speak to him. With this push from the school who worshiped him, a common correlation could easily be drawn between the two. Enigma, wanted him to come over for guidance or power but Jaeger was still reeling at what all this might do to him.

Death? Disfigurement? Become an undead?

Thinking now, the fact that Enigma had wanted to give him a power could now explain why he was being pushed towards the portal. To prepare, if not outright give him a boost while being shoved towards the inevitable in other words.

Am I a hero? A person who stands by with the crowd? If I don't, will it affect my friends? Although the first two questions were moral, the last that came to mind was the real plot puller. He liked his new friends even if it hadn't been long since he'd known them, he loved Alexandra.

"I have several conditions…" Jaeger turned to the fountain, mulling over his next sentences as the smoke passed from his lungs.

Damon could understand if he had a few, they were sending Jaeger to Solo the portal up to a year and even defeat two bosses just to help people they cared about. Who wouldn't want a reward?

"Speak it…we will do our best."

"First…pay for the lodgings of my friends" Jaeger gave a 'do it or die' type of look to Damon who nodded amiably, "Easy".

"Secondly…I am going to go over to the crafting shop; I don't want a lot I will choose one item to go in with. Tell me of several skills that might associate with my choice…and I will go retrieve them, and come back."

These made sense as well, go in with something you were comfortable with, "Alright?" What could he possibly ask for that cost that much? Plus they just had to tell him where the skill was that he wanted, which was easy as anywhere in a ten mile radius had been profiled for what skills, abilities, and boons they contained as well as items.

"Lastly…give me a map to each of the different sanctuaries…" This guy was asking for not all that much! Damon was almost surprised.

"Uh…well, not a lot of us have been out as this is a safe zone…and because…of the dangers out in the city…we…don't have any…"

"Hmm…give me the list of the skills and abilities I can pick up from around here then, and we shall go from there."

Damon nodded and waved for a thin man to come over, "Go over to the mage tower…ask Doru to come by with the directory people have made up so far" The skinny man nodded and ran off like he was carried by the wind, obviously an air mage type.

"Well uh…what now?" Damon looked at Jaeger with a serious look mixed amongst the others around him wondering what he would do next.

"Solomon was right…I should train with what I have so far but… there was a purpose in telling you to help me go into there." Damon looked at him confused but Solomon and his group nodded, Jaeger would have to go see Enigma and receive what he had to offer. So far, Jaeger had no real pull towards fire, water, earth, or wind type abilities as they weren't that useful compared to metal and lightning. So, why not trade the 4 as people said he could, for something more direct and better?

Jaeger lit up that last smoke from his pack, taking in the vanilla rush with love. "If you find me a pack of vanilla laced or flavored smokes…ill owe you one" Damon gave a quirky look in reply but nodded.

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The man at the desk from before was already waiting for Jaeger when he walked through the door to the small entrance building.

"Hello! Young Jaeger…ready to meet the lord of magic himself? His lordship's name is Enigma, and so you know on a side note…his words are very enigmatic sometimes, very befitting of his name"

Jaeger smirked but held in a laugh.

Jaeger was going to simply walk up the steps but the man grinned, and before his eyes a portal opened up to reveal a large room with circular windows wrapping around the periphery. A fireplace crackled, and a sweet smell like old paper wafted to his nose.

"Come come…it won't kill you, see…" He stepped through as to prove it was real, Jaeger wanted to be surprised but he had already seen portals and so he shrugged and took a large step through. Looking back, the portal had disappeared and in its place sat a chair with an old man in it.

"Nice to finally meet you kiddo…" He smiled, while Jaeger gave him a nod in return.

"So uh…how does this whole trade work, and secondly if not most importantly why are you shoving me into that fountain portal for those people? You can't be lacking in people with potential so you must know well of my powers"

Enigma raised a brow, not at the questions but the intelligence of the person in front of him. Most would take it for face value, and get the feeling they were special or chosen for this, but this Jaeger had seen through the causes of the situation by correlating it with Enigma wanting to see him.

"Got me there…haha…many reasons, and yet directly only some…others will be given the same powers as you, in this case I would like to recruit you because you are one of them. Your power and magic combination abilities…are proof of this."

Jaeger nodded, but looked around the room as he listened. Walking over to the window that wrapped around the room like a wall he could see far below to the streets and the people huddled by the fountain talking.

"If I do somehow get to the point I can help them…or save them, I am doing it because I too see potential in them as a team and we need…good people to look up to. For others to continue to push forward upwards through this horror of a shit show. That it is possible to become stronger, and not fear the darkness. That is the reason why I will save them…but that doesn't mean I don't want a reward."

"I overheard you like Vanilla smokes from someone…how about I make you one that never goes out?" Enigma waved his hands and from the air energy formed and moved like a fluid before compressing down into a cylindrical tube that was identical to the smokes Jaeger smoked. Jaeger gave a tempted look, and walked over taking it from Enigmas hands.

"Hmm…" Flipping it around in his hand with a real vanilla smoke he couldn't tell the difference, "So it just never runs out? What if it snaps in half? Does it just look lit but never burns?"

"I could tell you but it's so profound your brain might explode?" Enigma smiled.

"Better way than most to die…so spill it" Jaeger lit the smoke and took a breath. It felt, clean? Like the carbon that was the main byproduct of smoke wasn't there, but that didn't mean the heaviness was taken away it simply tasted slightly different. Jaeger looked at the end of the smoke, and ash was falling off. How was it some immortal smoke then?

"It burns, it fades…however, within your hand the smoke stays." Enigma laughed as if that was the greatest parable he had ever said.

Several minutes passed, and Jaeger put out the smoke on his shoe. He brought it back up for a glance, only to find the ash that had been left before was gone and as he looked at his hand the smoke was as good as new!

"Fuck me…alright, maybe it would explode."

The servant man came forward with several sheets of paper, "You see…you trade affinities for others, or combine affinities…if you had fire and water, you can choose between the many combinations that come forth from the two….for example, fire water, or boiling water, gas, molecular manipulation through the slowing or speeding of molecules. Water and Fire actually have the closest alikeness amongst the elements physically."

Jaeger hummed before clicking his tongue, "Sounds not too bad… not too bad…however I want a higher tier outcome…I will give up my Fire, water, earth, and air affinities and manipulations for it…all 4"

"Oh?" The servant was surprised, that was trading quite a bit but the return value would indeed be more powerful. It wasn't as a simple as 1+1+1+1 equals 4.

"Well…the more elements you combine, that higher the outcome in a sense. Fire solo to the extreme is powerful, but a combined element like ice fire to the extreme would outstrip it in potential. Like tiers of combinance…these are laws and theories we teach in our school but it isn't important for now" The servant waved his hand and a couple chairs fell through a portal. He waved for Jaeger to sit, and then after Jaeger did he finally grabbed a seat himself.

Enigma played with his goatee deep in thought, "You seem to have something specific in mind…I don't believe its related to the prime elements, as you are trading all 4. So, what is it that you have in mind? Do you even know what you can do with those 4 combined?"

"Well…it's easy to think about, if you just think about powers or magic the potential is pretty obvious. Fire is the vibration of molecules, and thus the power of vibration can equate to the manipulation of liquid state or setting everything on fire by accelerating the molecules in the surrounding space. Earth has density, mass, spacial weight, let alone the elements like dirt…stone…granite…countless others. There are aspects to the elements beyond their physical forms like air or water."

Enigma got the vibe Jaeger was the type who thought about these things all the time, indeed the elements had many aspects that weren't physical in nature.

"So…you must be one of that closet Geek's I hear about, collect comics?" The servant said this with such nonchalantness that it was like being called a geek was an honor.

"Well…yeah, I like to think about things. We were in a city of super powers, who wouldn't wonder about it all? I know quite a few powers, it has come in handy over my life when fighting with those with them."

Enigma became more intrigued as Jaeger talked, he was indeed quite intelligent. Intelligence was the one thing he sought, not strength.

"What do you have in mind then?" Enigma asked more directly.

"I want an ability that manipulates space…I hear that when the 4 main elements combine, spatial manipulation can occur. I haven't talked to a lot of mages about it, but I have read some…secret books…in my works throughout the city, only those with 4 affinities for fire, water, earth, and airs are capable of performing it after much training."

Enigma nodded, "Indeed…each of those elements has an aspect over space, like you said elements are far more in nature then just their physical forms…vibration being one of the strongest ones. However….there are many…many forms of spatial manipulation. Portals as you saw with him…teleportation, time freezing or slowing…or accelerating…you can't have it all, you must train directly in a form of it. These are known as the higher Dao…so, what is it that you seek."

"I want a bit of everything honestly" Jaeger shrugged.

Enigma and the man beside him looked at each other before turning to Jaeger, "What?" They said in confused sync.

Jaeger smiled, "Of course they would have limitations…so that I could attain it all. That's what I want as your chosen then."

"What is it exactly you have in mind" Enigma gave him a stern look.

"Could you pop a window and can you make it rain? I miss it…" Jaeger gave him a forlorn look.

Enigma sighed, to have his powers used like this? Jaeger however thought differently, these were trivial things to ask for. Enigma waved a hand, and all the windows opened around the room letting in a cool breeze. The outside darkened before rainclouds that clapped with thunder formed and let loose a maelstrom of water. The smell hit Jaeger, and now Enigma knew what he meant.

Jaeger didn't just like the rain, he loved it. This slight depressed feeling Enigma had felt from him had washed away as the scent of rain took him in. Strange, most would feel oppressed and sad when it rains, but somehow this child had found comfort in it. Was he an orphan? Enigma couldn't just ask this, he had seen far too many people orphaned and far deader as a whole.

Before, a god would be given a city and from there fight with other gods through the distances between the cities. That's why ruins and items could be found all over the place outside the cities. Now however, all the gods were stuffed into this city called the 'Abyss'. Thus Enigma felt more obligated to learn about the city and the people here, as Jaeger being the best so far he had seen he was intrigued by the nature that had always rained.

Jaeger had closed his eyes, and opened them with greater vigor before having closed his eyes.

"Shock me" He said directly holding his hand out.

The servant looked at him strangely, "Shock?"

"Yes…" Jaeger told them both deeply about every aspect of his abilities, which confounded the two greatly. Enigma even more so, 'This…how…'

Jaeger was giving up 4 elements yes, but in the overall picture there were countless things in the world he could still pull into himself.

What was losing 4? Enigma understood now, if he hit a limit with being given the Spatial manipulation well…theoretically he had every element in the world at his disposal to throw into making it possible. It might seem confusing, but to Enigma Jaeger had infinite potential litterly!

"Alright! Tell me what you want! I must know now" Enigma flicked his finger, and a bolt of lightning shot forward and struck Jaeger. It wasn't enough to make him convulse, but 3 lines on his palm appeared showing his lightning runes were filled. With his mind accelerated, Jaeger took a deep breath.

"First…the ability to teleport, but only a certain distance…the three lines on my hand will pertain to 3 jumps at max distance…what is the smallest distance I could do for this."

Enigma's eyes flashed with wondrous light, as countless symbols appeared in his eyes.

"150 feet" Enigma said after a while.

"Good…that isn't bad…so that would mean 450 max after three jumps. I would like percentage jumps as well, so to jump 150 feet it would take one line…however, to jump ten feet minimum would take a 15th of the line instead. In total, 45 ten foot jumps"

Runes moved back and forth within Enigma's eyes, "This is quite possible…most teleportation after training can move you between planets at its extremes, to have something this…low level, actually allows it to exist with other things. You truly do want a bit of everything don't you…hmm…"

"Good if it's possible…I'll take that, Secondly the ability to manipulate time…the three lines stand at clocks when that ability is in place. Each line will stand for 1 minute of stopped time, I can not affect anything in the vicinity…" Enigma lifted his hand, "Don't…you have an affinity for lightning, time manipulation is useless when you can manipulate speed. Don't waste such a thing, time is incorporeal and such an ability isn't that quite useful…I understand that stopping time would have its perks in a situation where you are close to death, but think about using such a thing a different way."

Jaeger closed his mouth and nodded, "What do you propose then?"

Enigma smiled, feeling like he had gained his prestige as the greatest mage teacher back he spoke lightly "I recommend increasing you affinities for Lightning and Metal, lightning is the peak of speed…do you know that when you go faster after a point…time to you becomes slower? It's hard to put in mathematical terms vocally, but it does occur. Why ask for time stopping, which…even if you asked for 3 seconds would take considerable power, and not for ability through the elements that has more possibilities?"

"I see…well, what other forms of spatial manipulation are there?" Jaeger asked in the context of what he could receive for trade, rather than a list.

Enigma thought for a moment, "Create, destroy and manipulate…these are the genres of space, for lack of better and broader terms. Portals like you saw, well…he can create them, some can collapse them, and others through manipulation find them or change the ones they find. The creation of them can be for weapons, summoning, distance travel, alteration of the space around you by creating an opening through splitting the molecules and like a curtain parting them…many variances. Let's see…

Dimensional shifting…dimensional slashes…walls...locating…

Spatial constructs…bending…compression…displacement…transposition…

Summoning…banishment…pocket dimension…duplication…

Spacial rift…portal creation…spacial bubble…black holes...

He listed a near endless amount of words to the point Jaeger had to shut his eyes and focus his ears.

"So?" Enigma smiled.

"This is magically related…the Power to do these same things has no drawbacks other than a flaw…I never realized just how much depth is needed to perform these feats magically…I truly praise you Enigma." Jaeger lit up his smoke again, taking in the clean smoke it created.

Enigma's eyes flickered, "Thanks kiddo…that was heartfelt, so I will take it to heart."

"Pocket dimension, my frog spirit can consume materials and become them. If possible, could we have a pocket dimension within him? To allow for a large consumption of things, and…if possible a warping, to allow people or large objects to enter the space?"

Enigma's eyes danced as countless lights flashed from them, "Yes…with his ability to do so, yes…Nothing else?"

"If…I can receive that teleportation, and the inner pocket dimension for my frog…I wouldn't know what else to?"

"It will be quite painful, this frog is tied to your soul and thus will be unlike any pain you have experienced physically. The ability to teleport will be branded on your bones, so when you activate the ability to draw in spatial energy for the jumps…it will be the medium. It will be painful…prepare yourself."

Jaeger slowly stood up and cracked his back before walking over to a window, and sticking his hand out to feel the rain as it fell.

"That's okay…this pain isn't for me, I am doing it to protect my friends and girlfriend. Sometimes you have to go through rough times to become strong enough to do these things…or else it's all here say."

Jaeger turned to him and smiled, Enigma nodded, "Ill gift you something…I like you."

As his words fell horrendous screams poured out from within the rain. Everyone looked up to the tower, thinking of Jaeger.