Connected
Jack had re-entered the storage dimension of the dead humanoid and decided to speed through the area in one direction to confirm if it was a finite storage space or an actual dimension that the humanoid managed to connect to. He was not sure which option would be more fascinating since both had varying implications. If a humanoid could create such complex environments out of thin air, then its abilities were near limitless. And if it was able to connect to other dimensions without a reference point, then they had more sophistication regarding Sym abilities than the billions of humans on this planet.
Jack had tried using his window portal to see up into the sky, but it remained clouded by fog which obstructed his view. Jumping up into the air and then using consecutive jumps to reach as far up as possible was an option he had considered, but he viewed the risk as too high. He might shoot himself into space or end up inside a wall somewhere in case this is actually a storage dimension. He decided to explore the ground first until he can see the sky or find other clues.
Jack had been running and long-distance jumping through the environment for over an hour and had finally reached the end of the forest. If this was really a planet, then this forest was the biggest forest he had ever seen. The assistant was not of much use since it needed more data to make predictions about the nature of the environment. It required at least a star formation or some notable landmark or civilization to cross-reference its database. So far, Jack had found neither.
The sky was still nowhere to be seen, but Jack could sense the existence of an ocean behind a cliff and about 800 meters below him. Jack got frustrated after all his work, "So, how do we find out what this place is?"
The assistant placed object markers in Jack's visual field, "I have marked the locations of what I believe to be islands. Based on the faint light source they seem to be exposed to, I assume that there might be a clear sky. Why don't you try jumping there?"
Jack used a window portal to confirm the location of the island, which must have been 12 kilometers away. Since the assistant could apply advanced enhancements on his visual senses, it usually saw things he didn't. Jack decided to jump to the island in two consecutive window jumps while he needed to quickly double-jump across the ocean in order to not plunge into the water. Since he had a great deal of practice, the task was relatively simple to execute. The island was small and only consisted of a flat and rocky surface of only a few hundred meters in diameter. Jack could sense a high level of Sym energy in the ground, which made him curious. Could this be the place where the creatures would gather? He could not detect any movements in the vicinity except for some small fish that were swimming in the sea. When Jack looked up, he could see a sky that was not perfectly clear but provided enough visibility to identify some star patterns. "So this is a planet!" Jack exclaimed. "Do you know which one?"
"I do indeed, since I had just recently studied it. It is one of the three planets I had suggested to you as a target location. I recommended against it since its core had reached stage 5 instability with a high probability of being higher at this point," the assistant noted.
"That can't be a coincidence. You picked the planets with high occurrences of natural Sym energy, right?" Jack asked as he tried to find a better angle on the island to view the sky.
"That is correct. There are many options which will need more data to verify. It could be that the humanoids can connect to any place that has Sym energy, even if it is in a different dimension. It could also be that this is the place where the humanoids originated from, since they were not native to the land," the assistant brainstormed.
"But why didn't I see a single creature here if that's where they came from? I would have expected a whole tribe of the humanoids being right next to the entry portal if that was their base. It seems more plausible that the humanoid connected to this planet by itself since that was the skill it had, but it did not seem to use it for anything in particular," Jack said as he paced up and down.
"We need more data to make any accurate statements," the assistant said.
"That is tru-" Jack was interrupted by an earthquake below his feet with the entire island suddenly moving sideways. "Fuck!!!" Jack tried to use a portal to jump up, but it was too late since he was sucked underwater by the vacuum the shifting island created. As he tried to swim against the current and back up, he detected the movement of the island, which seemed to swim downwards. Then Jack realized why he found the pattern of the rocky island so curious and why it seemed so flat, which was unusual for an island. It had the appearance of a turtle shell, but due to its large size, it was difficult to recognize immediately. As he was diving deeper underwater, he was able to detect at least 5 tentacles that were speeding in his direction, each with a length of at least a few hundred meters. Based on what he could detect, the entire turtle must be a creature of at least 1.5 kilometers in length with a shell that disrupted his detection ability. He had been uncareful once again.
His movement was restricted and even his superhuman strength was of no use in this scenario. Every time he opened a portal, the turtle would move in a way which created a current to suck him away from the entrance. If he placed it above, the turtle pulled him down and vice versa. His oxygen was running out, so he did the most logical thing. He created six portals around his body that covered every possible direction, which rendered the turtle's interference useless. It tried to keep him stationary for a moment, but it was of no use since Jack could simply make the portals suck him in, which was a lifesaver in this scenario. Back at the portal entrance to the planet, he landed on the ground with a flood of water falling on top of him. He coughed and breathed heavily. "Damn, I almost died…"
As he sat on the ground and recovered from the oxygen deprivation, he thought about the implications of what had happened. "Didn't you say this planet was unstable? How can these big-ass turtles just live here if it's that bad?"
"This planet does not show symptoms of level 5 instability. The forests are too healthy and there should be at least hourly earthquakes if the planet was that unstable. I do not know how this is possible, but this planet must have recovered somehow," the assistant said, with a slightly astonished tone.
"Maybe it's the Sym energy," Jack said, just making a wild guess. He stood up and slowly walked back to the portal and jumped back into his world. He stood back on the grave of the humanoid. "It feels kinda macabre to always return here. Can I just steal the link somehow? I mean, if the body rots away, the link must be without a body anyway, right?"
"I have no data on this, but theoretically, it must be possible. Since you already have a storage dimension, you should be able to store the link in the same way. But I do not know how this would work in practice," the assistant said.
"Can't be that hard," Jack said as he dug up the humanoid again and tried to locate where exactly the link was. It seemed to be stuck on its neck, maybe because its head had melted away. He was incredibly disgusted by the smell and sight of the grotesque humanoid corpse, but he knew it was safer to take the dimension with him before it could disappear or another humanoid could take it. He grabbed into the neck and focused on the shape of the dimension as well as the Sym energy containing the link. He then gradually pulled the energy through his hand and into his brain and placed it in the same spot where his storage dimension link was located. Then he got back up and cleaned his hands on some sand. He looked at the corpse but could not sense the link anymore, but when he closed his eyes and focused, he was able to intuitively sense it within himself. He tested jumping to the other planet once to confirm, and it worked as it did before. "I might have a career as a serial killer storage dimension thief ahead of me. I better don't tell Fey about this or she'll be turned into a psycho by her family," Jack laughed.
Jack went back to Jalk City and took a shower to clean himself from the day's adventures. Then he decided to finally give his cave an upgrade and looked through the city for a small house or container he could use. Thanks to the assistant's new datasets, he was able to find a manufacturer of mobile houses that were luxuriously equipped with varying Sym devices for water purification, cleaning, heating, and even air filters. He had been practicing the creation of very large portals for this reason, and even the one he used to jump a car was tiny compared to what he could create now. The tiny house he had his eye on was beautiful. It had a bathroom with a king-sized bed, a pool, and even a barbecue grill attached to the outside of the house with a nice and slick design. It was perfect. Jack went back to the high-density area and looked for a larger cave where he could fit the ten-times-ten-meter house into. He needed a cave to have additional protection since he wanted to avoid creatures raiding his home when he wasn't there.
He found a nice large cave that was not humid and which easily fit the house. Then, all he needed to do was to move the house through a large portal, which he accomplished using a vehicle that reminded Jack of a forklift he had seen on Earth but much larger and specialized on these types of products. Jack sat the house into its new home and placed a large boulder in front of the cave's entrance to avoid any unwanted guests. He then went into his new house to inspect how the appliances like water and toilet would work, but he decided to use the ones in Jalk City for now until he had the time to figure it out. He took off his clothes and lay down in his soft and beautiful bed. He looked at the wall and thought about his next goals. He knew that it was possible to connect to Sym energy fields in other dimensions. Maybe the cloud that was hovering around Mars could be a jumping point for him, but how? And then what? He still needed to get to Earth somehow even if he had accomplished that. He felt frustrated and turned to his side, trying to rest. But he was not sleepy at all since his need for sleep had been declining more and more lately.
He stood up and went into his living room, which was entirely empty with only a small table in the middle. He sat on the ground and started to meditate to accumulate more Sym energy, and he wondered how much energy he would need to jump to Earth.
His goals had changed. Searching for more ability users might be useless now that he had copied Fey's ability since there would be nothing else for him to gain from the human ability users. Even the data stolen from the Ashton family did not mention any similar abilities being discussed in other countries according to their latest intel. The humanoids now hold the greatest potential for his current situation. He needed to find more of them and also study the ones that have links to other dimensions.
Jack spent the rest of the day thinking about the risk he is facing when he enters foreign environments. He nearly died just because he was pressed underwater, and if he was continuing to investigate dimensional jumping abilities, then he faced a high risk of being in even more dangerous environments such as in space, inside a mountain, or even inside a sun. This is a huge risk that is nearly impossible to mitigate. It could even be seen as an occupational hazard for those who want to travel far, instantly. He tried to come up with an ability that would be ideal for such a scenario, but it was difficult to realize since it needed to be ready against extremely different threats. "Ok, assistant. How about this? Is it possible to have a spatial ability that creates a large sphere around me which disconnects me from whatever environment I am in?"
The assistant took a moment to evaluate that suggestion, "That would indeed be ideal, but it would also be hard to realize. Such an ability could exist, but it would be difficult to move in such a sphere and the sphere would also have its limitations since extremely high pressure as is found at the bottom of the ocean or low pressure found in space would impact the shape and size of the sphere. Being able to block the 15 million degrees celsius inside of a sun is also a near impossible condition."
Jack sat in his half-lotus position and closed his eyes to think more creatively while he was circulating his Sym energy across the microcosmic orbit. After a few minutes of silence, he opened his eyes. "This might work. How about I create a sphere with three layers around me. In between these layers, I am leaving a gap so that it becomes insulated on the inside. And if that doesn't work, then I can fill the gaps with whatever you think would be best to protect me from the environment. I can then have portals inside the sphere that can remove any gases or water as well as ventilate the sphere with a clean atmosphere from my cave."
The assistant evaluated the suggestion again and took over a minute to compute its viability. "To simplify my analysis, I will evaluate the suggestion based on it allowing you at least 5 seconds to react to a situation which allows you to create and use a portal to escape. Being able to sustain such a barrier ability in extreme conditions such as inside a sun is infeasible at this point in time. It might become possible, but it would require extensive testing and development. To sustain 5 seconds, creating a layered sphere with insulating materials in between is a feasible approach. Creating a vacuum between the layers would be ideal if it was to protect from cold and hot temperatures, but it makes the sphere more sensitive against high pressures. Filling the layers with a material such as insulation fibers or steel would be an alternative, but it would remove visibility inside the sphere. My recommendation would be simple. Create a small transparent sphere around your body and then try to layer as many spheres above as you can. In the end, you rely on the integrity of your sphere to protect you and the energy contained in the layers is significantly more powerful than any material you could introduce."
Jack stood up and looked at the sky, "Pragmatic, I like it." He walked outside through the rocky desert. He had not seen any creatures in the area since he killed the flying creature here when he just moved in, but he wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad sign. "So how do I learn the barrier technique?"
The assistant looked through the data it obtained from the Ashton family, "I will guide you through it."
Jack had a natural talent for the intuitive nature of these Sym energy-enabled abilities. He learned the barrier ability quickly and had been trying to layer them. A normal user was only able to layer two at most since it requires a lot of Sym energy to keep them in place, but Jack did not have such a restriction. After two hours of meditating and practicing, he had already layered five and each with a space of about two centimeters in between. The technique was not particularly difficult since the barriers would naturally layer themselves with space in between and could not collapse since they appeared to have repulsing charges on their surfaces. The innermost sphere that Jack had created had a diameter of approximately two meters and he would from now on create a sphere whenever he entered an unknown environment. Jack had found it to be the perfect skill to protect himself and would actively practice to stack as many layers as possible. Maybe it would be possible for him to stack dozens or maybe even hundreds of layers in order to survive even the harshest of environments.
But one limitation was his lower body since he would need to walk through the portal which naturally left his feet exposed. For now, this was not a problem, but in the long term, it could become his Achilles heel, literally. To mitigate this, he decided to also learn the levitation ability since it had natural synergy with the barrier ability and could close his gaps. According to the assistant, this ability was very common but was also highly limited since humans lack the Sym energy to fly high and far. The ability has mostly found use in devices such as the ones used by soldiers since they can be easily powered by external energy sources while humans would take health risks if they were to use Sym crystals on their bodies. Since Jack had near unlimited energy reserves, he would be able to use levitation freely and he began learning it.
Learning a new ability was not a problem for Jack, but as he knew right from the start, he would not be able to use all abilities freely if he used too many. He had only used the healing ability and his frying hands a few times which meant that he would still have to focus a lot whenever he wanted to use them. Abilities are only useful if he can use them freely and especially in combat without much thought, but that meant that the number of abilities he could use were limited. Learning dozens of abilities would only distract him from becoming highly proficient at the ones that can help him reach his goals and save his life. An ability that he is not proficient in could cost him his life rather than save it. The portal abilities, detection and healing were important, but he could not practice them all the time. With barriers and levitation entering the mix, he would have even less time for them so he must think carefully about his ability usage.
Jack was able to use detection all the time, albeit at a reach of only 200 meters if he did not consciously focus on it. But 200 meters was enough to save his life in case of an ambush from his blind spot. With all the portals he had opened across the places he had visited, there were no issues since they would not require him to focus at all. They did take some of his energy over time, but it was only a fraction of his total energy reserves so they were indeed a passive skill. The healing ability was not something he had used much, but it was a skill that had many uses in combat since he could heal himself in case he took any significant damage. This was a use case he still wanted to develop when the time comes.
For now, all of his focus will be placed on the barrier and the levitation abilities until he has become proficient in them. Levitation was also a relatively easy ability to learn, but the difficulty lies in energy efficiency. It is easy to make oneself fly in the air if enough Sym energy is burned, but it is hard to be so efficient that only small amounts are needed to stay afloat. This was the introductory statement the assistant recited from the Ashton family's proprietary documents on levitation. For Jack, efficiency was not a primary concern, but when he realized that he could only fly fast if he used small amounts of energy in the right places at the right time instead of using a lot to create an outburst, he started to train his fidelity and technique properly. When it comes to levitation, less is more and doing more slows you down. What an interesting ability, Jack thought. He continued practicing his barrier and levitation ability for three more hours after he went to Jalk City to get some hearty meal consisting of meat and some starchy vegetables. At this point, he could float in the air while meditating and had managed to layer seven barriers on top of each other.
"Jack, you have a message from Fey. She writes that the family's company was tasked with creating a secure container for the corpse of the humanoid that you have killed and she was able to sense that it had a dimensional link," the assistant said.
Jack opened his eyes, "Ask her where the corpse is now." He put on his fox mask and opened a portal to Batan City. It was late afternoon in the city and Jack had forgotten how nice it was to live in a normal city. The people were friendly, although the recent attack by the horde of creatures and the growing numbers of refugees that filled the street were taking a toll on them.
"She said the creature is currently in the company building but everyone has left already. She can show you where it is. I have the location so just follow the marker I placed for you," the assistant said.
Jack jumped to the large industrial facility and could clearly sense the numerous Sym devices that were used for the manufacturing processes. This is where teleportation and detection devices were manufactured at scale. He could immediately sense Fey's presence and jumped towards her. "Hey, thanks for letting me know."
"Oh, hi, you were fast!" She looked slightly nervous at Jack's sudden appearance, but he could sense that she was happy to see him. "I just thought you were probably interested in it and since you also killed it…"
"You did great," Jack said with a warm smile. "Where is it?"
Fey smiled and led the way down a corridor that was secured with multiple entry gates which required ID verification. Since her standing had increased with her revealing the successful use of her abilities, she now had the authority and standing that all core family members had. They entered a corridor with only a single door at the end and Jack could sense that many specialized Sym devices were installed there. One of the symptoms from the high Sym energy density in his brain that he had noticed recently was the increase in paranoia. He had been more compulsive than usual and often overthought simple scenarios to be perfectly sure that everything would go according to plan. As he walked down the corridor next to Fey, he wondered if it would be possible for the Ashtons to use their advanced Sym devices in order to lead him into a trap. Maybe they had a device that could restrict his movements, teleport him into a dangerous environment, or even impact his brain function before he could react. He knew that such a scenario was incredibly unlikely, but he could not shake his instincts and more than he could shake hunger or fatigue. He always had the assistant interpret the data read from his detection ability and let it cross-reference it with all the device records it had stored. This way, he would know ahead of time if anything were to happen. He did not trust Fey, but he also did not think that she would ever harm him. In Jack's mind, it was the opposite. He thought that she had become quite interested in him for other reasons.
Fey noticed his quietness and his tension as he pondered about any potential threats and immediately tried to lighten the mood with a playful tone. "How long will you be wearing this fox mask?"
With Fey's sweet voice, Jack got pulled out of his dark thoughts and back into reality. He looked at her and smiled, "Until I take it off."
Fey smiled back at him and both stopped as they had approached the door. Fey slid her ID card over the entry device and the door opened automatically. In the bright room, there was a large box which housed the body of the humanoid Jack had killed in the city. They stepped closer and Fey pushed a button to remove the top which Jack could tell was a special Sym device that included some kind of barrier. Jack placed his hand on the head of the creature and focused to take its dimensional link for himself. He then looked at Fey who looked back at him with large and expectant eyes. "Do we go in?"
"It's too dangerous for you to go in. I better go by myself," Jack said with a soft tone that revealed real concern.
"We can just go a little bit like last time. Please, I want to try and open the dimension myself this time. I have never done it before," Fey said with a serious tone but also the hint of a childlike tantrum.
Jack thought about it for a moment. Since he was at least somewhat proficient at the barrier technique, it should not be too risky for her. "Ok, but not long." He opened a portal to Jalk City and looked at her with a smile.
"Thanks!" Fey exclaimed, "Don't we go right now?"
"I took the dimension link already. Let's eat and go then," Jack said as Fey focused to determine, to her astonishment, that the link had indeed disappeared from the humanoid. "How did you do that? Can you teach me?"
"Maybe," Jack said with a smile as he looked her in the eyes while walking towards the portal. Fey followed him and both found themselves in Jalk City in the house they had previously been together. Jack started to cook some more food since he had been increasingly hungry since coming into this world. The more energy he accumulated, the greater his hunger became. Both ate a lavish dinner together and Jack let Fey try to open the dimensional link he had just stolen from the humanoid. He first had to guide her to the right one since he now had three links which were his own storage dimensions and the two dimensional links from the humanoids. It took her a while to get the hang of it, but she was a fast learner. He let her open the dimension herself which she accomplished after only 30 minutes of practice.
"Great job. How does it feel?" Jack asked while gently stroking his hand on her back.
Fey looked quite tired from that exercise, "Exhausting. But it feels great."
"Close it again and I will open it myself since it's easier for me to sustain it," Jack said. Fey followed his suggestion and closed her hijacking portal to the other dimension. Jack looked at Fey and extended his arms towards her, "I gotta-" before he could finish his sentence, Fey had hugged him in celebration of her newest feat.
Jack smiled and continued, "I have to pick you up so that you can be within my barrier. We do not know how hostile the environment on the other side will be. The last one had some pretty dangerous creatures so it's best to be prepared."
Fey smiled and extended her arms towards Jack with a big smile on her face. Jack picked her up and then took a portal to a rocky desert where he had more space. He started to levitate in the air and stacked 10 barriers to create a secure protection layer around them. Fey looked at the spectacle with astonishment and could not believe that she was floating in the air inside a bubble of barriers. "That's incredible! I can tell that there are many barriers just by the way it breaks the light!"
Jack smiled and floated through the dimensional portal he had created to explore the new world. When they emerged on the other side, Jack could notice that the Sym energy was incredibly high. It was slightly higher than the energy in his cave and seemed to be more violent than what he was used to. If the energy on Fey's planet was a light breeze, then the Sym energy on this planet was a storm. Jack looked at Fey and had the assistant read her vital signs through the detection ability to make sure that the energy does not reach her fragile body. Luckily, the Sym barriers effectively shielded the Sym energy from the outside.
Both looked in awe at their surroundings. Jack could detect no life in a radius of two kilometers, but that was also no surprise since there was no ground beneath them. The planet did seem to have an atmosphere, but it was not fit for the emergence of life, human or otherwise. Jack decided not to fly around as long as he had Fey with him so he flew back to the portal and returned to her home planet.
"What was that?" Fey asked as Jack let her down.
"It looked like a really dangerous planet. You should never enter a humanoid's dimensional link by yourself since the risk is too high. The Sym energy was extremely high and there was no ground below for at least 2 kilometers," Jack said with his hand on her shoulder and a concerned tone.
Fey did not say anything but looked at him deeply with large eyes and an unwavering gaze. He gently placed his hand on her lower back and pulled her in, towards him. Their faces were now only millimeters apart and both remained still in that position. They could feel each other's breath and heartbeats. Time seemed to stop for both of them as their blood flowed into their heads to create a sense of warmth and intensity. As they moved closer their lips touched, ever so lightly. Jack could feel Fey's lips moving towards his and gently began to kiss her while stroking the back of her neck. He then pulled her in fully and laid his hands on her butt so that she could jump towards him and mount him from the front. As she was clenching her legs around his hips, she pulled her head backwards just enough to look at Jack while slowly taking his mask off with her right hand. As the mask dropped on the ground, Jack looked at her with a smile in his eyes and Fey started to kiss his face.
Jack's hands were diving under Fey's shirt and he could feel her hands exploring his chest. He turned around and gently placed her body on the large couch in which she had fallen asleep during her last visit. This time, she was not sleepy.
The next morning, Jack laid in bed next to Fey whose naked body was wrapped around him the entire night. After a few hours of ecstasy alternated with gentle caresses, Fey fell asleep and remained in deep slumber the entire night. Jack was not sleepy, but he enjoyed the connection he felt to another in a long time. He had not been with a girl since his illness had become so debilitating that he was unable to leave the house. He had always been dating and had girlfriends, but his worsening condition made it near impossible to find the energy for it. Since arriving on this planet, he had been thinking about nothing but returning and tried to not get too involved with people. But what he did not consider was how necessary it was for a human to connect to another. He enjoyed lying next to Fey in bed and just feeling her warmth around him. It made him feel more human. Her smell, her soft skin and her feminine body all created a sense of relaxation in him.
Jack used the time to relax until Fey woke up and had the assistant update him on this planet's affairs, especially relating to the war and the ongoing attacks by the creatures. Jack had not realized how bad it was. The war that had been ongoing for a long time and where the opposing factions could not agree on anything had unanimously agreed to a temporary truce in border regions only since all nations were impacted by the creatures attacks. Over 150,000 people had died in the past months alone even though there weren't that many cities close to the high-density Sym energy areas. It was a massacre if they attacked a city that had little to no defensive capabilities. Jack could only imagine what would have happened to Batan if he wasn't there. He decided to kill two birds with one stone. He would stop the attacks and kill all the humanoids in the process. Since his goal was to get all of their dimensional links anyway, this was the ideal scenario. But he would not do it for free. He would approach all the national leaders and get them all to sign an agreement for a permanent truce with his company for all territories and, if any country breaks the truce, he will not help that country against the creatures. Jack knew full well from millennia of war history from Earth that truces are always broken. But if he increased the consequences by lending his powers only to those who uphold it, they had no choice but to keep the truce alive. He will also include conditions into the agreement where the governments have to share all knowledge relating to spatial abilities that can create dimensional jumps with him. This is not essential for him since he can simply steal it, but it is always better if both parties feel that they have given something, otherwise they will become suspicious of him even though he has no ill intent.
He wanted to keep his powers hidden, but it would cost many lives if he were to play things slow. He had to make bold moves now and save the lives of the innocent people on this planet. He would also be able to fight more humanoid creatures which he was looking forward to. His mind had felt split between the aggression and paranoia he felt from the accumulating Sym energy and the kindness he felt for the people he had made bonds with. He decided that it would be a good idea to make as many connections as possible from now on since this might be the thing that can keep him sane as he gathers more and more power. He had been receiving many messages over the last weeks from Ark, Morena and Juz as well as Officer Faber and General Zage. Even Lance, the father of the family he had traveled with had somehow gotten access to his contact details and sent him a message. He decided to follow up with all of them soon.
His next plan was to have a face to face meeting with all the relevant world leaders. Since there are three major powers who are at war, he should at least visit the leaders of the three countries who are considered to be the leaders of the conflict. He had the assistant draft a truce agreement which outlined the conditions he envisioned. Based on the assistant's suggestion, they also included further financial incentives by using some of the recovered Sym crystals to fund the repairs and the strengthening of the city's residential and defense facilities. All he would need to do was to demonstrate his strength by taking out the attacking creatures in their territory then to show up in their government facility to make them an ultimatum. In Jack's mind, this was easy enough.
But he knew that reality had a tendency to complicate things.