Pride

At 2 am, Fey had fallen asleep and was lying in Jack's arms. He did not need to sleep, so he stayed awake and meditated. He cleared his mind and decided to fully relax while focusing on his breath and the low-density Sym energy around him. He could sense Alpha, Omega, and the other bat creatures from his swarm wherever they were. It was a strange connection that had brought them together through the technology developed by the assistant. Omega had the duty to go through the portals he had set up and investigate the area to look for clues or patterns that could provide important information. Nothing had been discovered yet, but it was recording the attack patterns from the assaults and trying to judge the humanoid's level of intelligence.

"Jack, I have completed the reading of the humanoid's memories," the assistant said.

Jack thought of his response to avoid waking Fey. "Great. Where is it now? And what did you find?"

"I can barely track its current position. It teleported into the high-density Sym energy through 20 consecutive jumps and then went through a dimensional portal. The subordination does not work as well as it does for the bat creatures, but this is likely due to their general hostility, which makes it harder to take them over. It has met with another humanoid and then disappeared through a portal. Either it has disappeared into another dimension or it is in an area that is shielded from Sym energy in some way, which would block my sensing capabilities," the assistant said.

"Too bad, let me know when it returns," Jack said as he opened his eyes and looked at the sleeping Fey. "What did you find in its memories?"

"I have made a surprising observation. These humanoids seem to be part of a hive where each member has a specific role that is intuitive instead of earned or given. Like a worker bee, it is going out to fulfill its duty without any knowledge of why it does it. This particular humanoid was following a fluctuation in the Sym energy field of the region and tried to exterminate it."

Jack thought carefully about the assistant's words. "Are you saying that they were trying to stop humans from using Sym energy?"

"That seems to be the case," the assistant said. "It seems that these humanoids have a close relationship to the nature of the Sym energy. They are likewise very sensitive to it, so they can naturally feel its fluctuations even from very far away."

"Then why could they not detect me when I was nearby?" Jack asked.

"If they do not have a detection ability, then they will not be able to. Their sensitivity only allows them to sense general changes in the energy fields of large areas, but with very low resolution. Once they get close, they can pinpoint the cause," the assistant explained.

"What's bad about using Sym energy? I thought the energy was infinite and was never used up," Jack asked with a frown on his face.

"I do not fully understand it since the nature of Sym energy is quite mysterious, but it seems to be about balance and not about absolute quantities. Using Sym energy changes its state, which can have secondary effects. I will have to investigate this further," the assistant said.

"Ok, do that. So, where did the humanoid come from and why have they been unknown so far?" Jack asked.

"This humanoid emerged from some kind of breeding ground where plant-like organisms produced eggs. I do not know the exact location, but it must be underground somewhere or deep inside a mountain. Unfortunately, I was not able to gather any more information. The humanoid had been awake for only a few weeks before it met you, so it had not experienced much during its time," the assistant said.

"That's crazy. Now I'm wondering who the bad guy really is in this conflict. I might have to try to talk some more with the next one. Did you understand what they meant by 'they create life'?" Jack asked.

"No, this is a mysterious statement. But I can deduce that there are higher-ranking humanoids than the ones we have met, which are likely more intelligent," the assistant said.

Jack closed his eyes again and focused on his breath. "And more powerful than these toddlers we have been fighting so far."

The night had almost passed, and the sun started to shine into the room and on Fey's naked body at 8 am. Jack lay still and meditated while Fey started to move, and he heard her sweet voice, "...are you awake?"

Jack pulled her closer. "Yes..." She rolled her body on top of his. "When do you leave?" she asked while looking at him with her blue eyes. He looked at her with an intense gaze and smiled, "I will leave in two hours."

She kissed him and pulled up her legs to sit on his hip. "When will you come back?" she asked while slowly moving her hips with a gentle but firm rhythm.

Jack put his hands on her butt and pushed her upper body towards him. "I will have to meet with some people and then clean up a few cities. Then I will show you my new house and my pets," he said as he felt her getting more and more wet.

Two hours passed by quickly, and Jack got up from the bed where Fey had fallen asleep again. It was good for her to sleep out a little more, he thought. He had decided to station one of his bat creatures that had an invisibility skill on top of her apartment, just in case someone was tracking him somehow. Since Fey was the only person who had close contact with him, she was an obvious target for anyone trying to get to him, including any intelligent humanoids that might be observing him.

Jack went to the designated location and arrived at the teleportation gate wearing his fox mask. When he entered the building, he got a lot of strange looks, but they were fearful rather than dismissive. He assumed that Carl Ashton had warned them to be as careful as possible with him. The teleportation gate had a large Sym energy device attached to it, and Jack could feel the energy, which was clearly a spatial ability. He looked at the gate and then at the three employees who were operating it while guiding him to the right spot. "Is it already open?"

One man, who looked like a scientist, responded, "Yes, you can simply step through right now."

"Great," Jack said and generated a small sphere with his hand. He threw the compressed portal through the teleportation gate and then addressed the assistant, "Can you locate where the portal landed?"

"Yes, the portal has indeed arrived in Silve City," the assistant responded.

Jack then grabbed a Sym crystal from his storage and dropped it on the ground to the shock of the staff around him. "Give Mr. Ashton my thanks." Then he opened another portal and stepped through instead of using the large gate. He could never be careful enough since he likely had made quite a few enemies through his appearances. On the other side, he was faced with a military checkpoint that had built a line for all the arrivals from all over the world. It felt like a large international airport back on Earth. No one was paying any attention to him except for two technical staff members who had just witnessed him not stepping out of the gate but emerging from a portal that just bounced through the gate a moment before. Jack smiled at them with his fox mask on and gave them a nod. The two men cautiously nodded back, but he could notice them activating their communication device to report his arrival.

Jack lost no time and went to a place that looked like a bathroom. He entered a stall and then jumped through a window portal about 5 kilometers into the city center and on top of a skyscraper. From this vantage point, he could observe the city more clearly and could compare it to what he had seen before. This city was clearly different. There were no advertisements, no decorations, and no gardens. The entire city looked more like an industrial park than a city where people lived. Everything looked gray, and he felt depressed just looking at the scene. This city looked like nothing he had ever seen on Earth. It was bland but not comparable to the Soviet construction style, and it looked like it was celebrating combat but without the bravado of the Roman architecture.

The city appeared minimalist, but by design rather than poverty. He could see large fields where men and women were training their bodies, large buildings that seemed to primarily function for the manufacturing of goods, and residential districts that were encircling the city from the outside. The entire architecture seemed to show dedication. The people sleep on the outside and come to the heart to serve. Everything seemed like it had meaning. On the streets, he saw no couples leisurely holding hands and no families just spending their time in parks. Everyone seemed disciplined. "What a strange place," he uttered.

The assistant helped him locate the main government building and identify the leader of the country. According to the assistant, this place was not a dictatorship, and every leader has a term of a maximum of ten years. There are no elections, but a council of senior military members elects the next leader while previous leaders are retained as advisors. For some reason, this highly militarized culture has avoided falling into a full dictatorship for hundreds of years, which was a feat that even Earth had not produced. Military governments were not known for a peaceful transfer of power where he came from, so it intrigued him. But seeing all of this focus on strength made him question how exactly he should go about his plan. But he did not have many options. He would either barge in or wait until he was old and gray for an appointment. So he decided to just go in and think later.

Jack found the leader, a man named Supreme General Wao, standing alone in his office and looking at a picture hanging on his wall. Then he jumped.

As soon as he arrived, the general turned around and faced him. Without asking a question, he pulled a gun from him and shot at Jack. The energy bullets dissipated on his barrier, and the General pulled out his communicator.

Jack raised his arms and smiled. "Wait. I just want to talk."

The General did not listen and placed the communicator next to his mouth. Jack jumped forward and covered himself and the general inside a large barrier, which Jack knew would block off all communication. "It won't work. No one can hear you."

The General, not having flinched even once, leaped forward and kicked Jack's chest, after which he looked visibly shaken since he felt like he had just hit a large boulder. Thinking it was just some protective gear hidden under his clothes, he closed the gap and punched Jack with an uppercut right under his chin. At this close distance, Jack could see his face showing a painful expression just for a split second as he nearly broke his hand with a single punch. Jack looked at him calmly. "Can we please talk now?"

The General took a few steps backwards and rubbed his right hand, which seemed to be slightly bruised. "Who are you?"

"I am the guy who saved Batan from the creature attack," Jack said with a calm tone.

"You don't look like a rabbit," the general said after having recorded his exposure with his arms folded in front of his chest.

"I am a fox now," Jack said with a grin.

"What do you want? We did not ask you to help us," the General said.

Jack thought that this would be a difficult negotiation. "I came with an offer. I know that you have two cities that have fallen and three are under attack. I can take care of that for you. You get your cities back and get rid of all the creatures," Jack said with a neutral but professional tone.

"We do not need your help," the General answered.

Jack paused for a moment. He was not sure what this flow of the conversation meant and where it would lead. It was an unexpected reaction since he was the solution to a problem they could impossibly solve themselves. What was he missing? "You do need my help. What has happened so far is only the beginning. It will get worse, and your entire country could fall to the creatures."

The General paused for a moment. "If that is all you had to say, then you can leave now. We are fighting our own wars."

Jack kept quiet. He carefully assessed the General and tried to figure out if he was a cunning negotiator who was trying to put himself in the most optimal position or if he was just crazy and really wanted no help. It was common for people to try and reject the other party off continuously so that they can have more leverage once the negotiation begins, but he was taking it too far. Jack needed to test him more. "I am approaching the other Alliances as well. If you are the only one who is not taking my help, then you will weaken while they gain more strength. In 5 years, all of your land will be theirs since you will have nothing left to fight them with."

Jack let that statement sink in and stared at the General. It was the truth. If he protected the other two, then they would take no damage while the South Alliance would take all the damage from the creatures. It would be a bloodbath and a gradual collapse over time.

The General did not waver. He looked back at Jack. "Then so be it."

Jack could not believe it. Such a stubborn man. "Are you aware that I could take out this entire city in a matter of minutes? A smart man would listen to my offer first before rejecting it so foolishly."

The General looked to the side, and his eyes fixated on the same photo he had been eying when Jack arrived. It was a photograph showing a young group of military cadets. They were standing on top of a large vehicle that might be akin to a tank or military truck.

Jack followed his eyes and looked back at the man. "You want to protect your people, but you do not want help, is that it? I am a flexible man. I can work around that."

The General looked at Jack but said nothing. Jack started to understand how he thought. He thought of a way to reach him. He walked towards the desk and reached one of the communicators lying there. "Stop attacking the other alliances as of right now. Only defend yourself when you are being attacked. The Cibola Alliance will not attack you anymore, something you likely have already noticed. If you can do that, I will take care of all the creatures that have assaulted your cities. If you cannot do that, I will do nothing. If you ever feel like creating a relationship with me, then I have added my contact details in this device. You can also find a document on there which is a Truce Agreement between the three alliances."

The General had followed Jack with his eyes, very carefully, but had remained silent and did not seem like he wanted to respond.

Jack went back to face the General. "The Cibola Alliance has already signed the agreement, and the West Alliance will be next. They will stop the war, and I will protect their cities. Of course, I will also get compensated handsomely. If you end up being the only one who keeps attacking the territories, then I will place my swarm around your borders and defend them too. Your country cannot defend against the creatures, and it can definitely not win against me. You do not have to ask for my help. All you have to do is collaborate with me. We both want something. It's as easy as that."

Jack turned around and released the barrier, but the General did not move. He was thinking deeply about Jack's words, but he did not respond. Jack opened a portal and returned to the top of the building he had been at before. "Pride," he uttered and shook his head. He felt bad for the people in this country who were dying, but he did not want to help them if they insisted on killing others at the same time. They have to end the war before they deserve his help. Jack made his way back into his cave where Alpha was already waiting for him as if it knew about his arrival. The remaining bat creatures from his fleet were patrolling the area and were exploring the terrain in order to gather more data for the assistant. The high-density Sym energy areas are notoriously unexplored, which is why such reconnaissance was very useful. Whenever they would encounter humanoids, they were to report them to Jack. Omega was getting special missions to track humanoids from afar and observe their movements.

"Send another message to Carl and ask him if he can teleport me to Zios." This was the capital of Seinas, which is the one leading the West Alliance. Since the negotiation with the South Alliance had failed, he needed to move on. He could also try to split the South Alliance now and try to make deals with the individual countries, but he decided to wait for a bit.

"He responds that there are no teleportation gates connected to the entire country or any of the countries in the alliance. The entire region is closed off from the outside. It is more of a cult than it is a country, according to him," the assistant said.

"Oh boy," Jack said with a sigh. "Let's see how that one will go. Calculate a route for me and also consider other teleportation gates on the way."

"Understood. Fey has sent you two pictures of her lying in bed, naked," the assistant said with a professional tone.

Jack paused for a moment. "Put them into my visual field." He smiled.

"There is no direct route. The distance is approximately 120,000 kilometers from here, so it would be difficult to travel there. Since this planet is 50-times the size of Earth, the scale is very different from what you are used to. I would recommend teleporting to the nearest area and then crossing into the territory of the alliance. Once inside, you can try to access their teleportation gates to get to the capital," the assistant said.

"Damn, that's far," Jack said. "Do you have any intel on how many attacks they have?"

"I do not," the assistant said. "This alliance is the largest and the most mysterious. Its strong religious doctrines lead to a cult-like secrecy around anything relating to their culture and governments. Only some trades are being made through them, largely in the food and commodity industries. But there are many reports from traders who had witnessed public executions, slave trades, and religious ceremonies that are far beyond anything found in the other regions."

"Fascinating," Jack said as he thought of a way to reach the capital. "Is there no way of doing long-range teleportation around the globe?"

The assistant paused in order to search for a suitable skill or a way to calculate a hypothetical skill. "I have searched my databases, but there is none."

Jack thought for a moment. "But I will need such a skill. Based on what we have learned, these abilities will only work where Sym energy is. It is very unlikely that I will just find a dimensional link to Earth, but maybe I will find another planet far away that shares the same dimension. In any case, I would need to be able to teleport from one planet to another. If I cannot teleport that distance here, then I have no hope of ever returning."

"You are making an important point, but I view varying alternative strategies. Since you are constantly accumulating and condensing Sym energy in your body, you will always be able to manifest abilities no matter where you are. Also, you might be able to develop a way to travel in space where the resistance is near zero. One such option could be to place a portal into a small and rudimentary spaceship that can travel at high speeds. Or you could try to contact the Rasp and get their support, but this would bear a variety of risks. One of them would be that they will likely remove me from your body," the assistant explained.

Jack scratched his head and walked outside of his cave with Alpha following him. He looked at the creature which, with its large size and dark purple skin, should not be cute at all but its large eyes and owl-like face gave it a certain charm. He mounted it and the two of them flew over the terrain while Jack ordered his thoughts. "Try to find a way. I don't want to be stuck in the right dimension but on the wrong planet. Try to combine the technology you have used to bring me here with the abilities created through Sym energy."

"I understand. I will let you know once I have discovered something. I will also expand my research capabilities in order to seek a solution." The assistant said.

Jack enjoyed the breeze while flying and thought of his next step. "Actually, calculate how many hours it would take for one of my bats to fly to the city of Zios. Use their fastest speed even if they cannot sustain it for long."

"Based on my observations, the bat creatures can fly at a high speed of approximately 400 km/h but should only be able to sustain it for 30 to 60 minutes at most. With a distance of 120,000 kilometers, this would lead to a travel duration of 12.5 days." The assistant said.

"Got it. Let's get one to the city of Silve and have it fly towards Zios at a high speed. I will attach a small bag with a portal to its body so that it can return after it is exhausted and be exchanged with another bat. Then they can take turns until they arrive." Jack said while summoning his swarm and telling Alpha to land. Jack was able to collapse and expand his portal which made them easy to transport and inconspicuous. He had already left over a hundred portals all over the different territories and, when in standby mode, they were entirely unnoticeable. Since portals, with their black-purple appearance covered in fog, did not contain any matter, he could condense them to a size smaller than a needle tip. They were still present, just very, very small. This allowed them to remain unnoticed even if he placed them in populated areas or those with active detection devices.

Jack briefly made a visit to Jalk City, which was being patrolled by 5 of his bats, and visited a budget jewelry show which contained chains of different sizes. On his way, he noticed that the military had been returning to Jalk City. They were being cautious of his bats but did not engage with them. Instead, they had begun to remove the creature's bodies from the street and were collecting the remains of the fallen. While Jack had been treating Jalk as his own private playground, it was a devastated place. There were many areas that were filled with bodies and streets that were dark from the blood that covered them. Jack had avoided these places but they were a stark reminder of why he wanted to end the wars between humans and protect them from the creatures. It was generally the civilians that died and rarely the soldiers.

In the jewelry store, he found what he was looking for, namely a type of pendant that he could use to store a portal. Once he expanded the portal, the pendant would be forced to open and the portal would appear in front of the creature. He grabbed an entire box of the pendants and made his way back to his swarm which was patiently waiting where he had left them. He attached a portal pendant to every creature, including the ones he had patrolling in Jalk and in Lhurda which were protected by his bats, and sent the first one off to fly towards Zios. In about 12 days, he would be there and this approach also had the benefit of being able to scan the environment of the land through the assistant. He would be able to have a bird's-eye view of what was happening on the ground. All he needed to do was to create new portals every day for those who had used theirs to return and get their replacement bat to take their spot. The assistant would take care of the logistics of connecting the right portals.

While he was done with that, he thought about how to most effectively use his time. He was sitting and meditating on Alpha's back while it was resting peacefully. He tried to explore new ways of combining teleportation and dimensional links but it seemed near impossible to create something that he did not even have a general concept for. Since he did not know what the goal was, there seemed to be no way of reaching it. He had to rely on the assistant to create new types of technical functions and merge them with his spatial abilities since he would never be able to intuitively find earth from where he was now. This required a geographic mapping that only computers can achieve.

But Jack still wanted to improve his chances so he carefully investigated the dimensional storage and long-distance window portal abilities. These were his best bets when it came to reaching home. If only there was a way of creating a new dimensional link. Since the humanoids have them, there must be a way to create them. According to the subordinated humanoid's memories, they did not create the links themselves but are simply born with it. So either their creator can make them or they are a natural occurrence just like the natural process of inosculation where two trees grow attached through the same branch.

Since dimensional links were the hardest to figure out, Jack experimented with his window portals. They were useful because they allowed him to jump into the distance without requiring an exit portal and with full visibility on the exit point through a screen-like interface. He frequently used them as monitors which was a valuable feature all by itself. One new way of using them was a recent discovery since he figured out a way of not jumping himself but transporting a regular portal instead. This had a few benefits. Firstly, the portal was not impacted by the strain it had on the body and he was able to use the maximum distance which had expanded to 20 kilometers while he only ever jumped 10 kilometers to avoid headaches. Also, he had been experimenting with a way of stacking the window portals in order to shoot an object further than the maximum reach. This was still unstable but he assumed that it should be possible to shoot a portal hundreds of kilometers into the distance with a single jump.

"Jack, I have just received a confidential military communication from Silvant addressed to the South Alliance. Apparently, Supreme General Wao and his administration have decided to cease all attacks on the neighboring Alliances in order to strengthen their internal defense against the creature attacks." The assistant reported.

"That sneaky bastard, do you think this was his way of complying with us or is it a coincidence?" Jack asked as he jumped down from Alpha's back.

"I was not certain but the second part of the message confirms the former assumption. The Supreme General has offered a bounty to any person or organization, domestic or foreign, who can free the three fallen cities and can protect the ones that are being attacked. It appears that another city had fallen since we had visited." The assistant said.

"It was only a matter of time. What's the bounty?" Jack asked, curiously.

"A large piece of land in a prime location with a villa on the premises in addition to 30 years of tax exemption." The assistant said.

"That damn weasel!" Jack shouted out loud while laughing, "That's exactly what was in the truce agreement. But I don't care if they sign it. Confirm if they stick to their word through the intelligence reports you get from Cibolas." He got back on Alpha's back and opened a large portal in front of them. "Let's go get my bounty."