The Hunter And The Hunted
Jack stared at the creature above the mountain that he had made his home as it was sitting on the cliff, looking down at him. It looked like an octopus that had merged with an eagle. The head was that of an octopus but it had a black beak and it had 6 wings across a long body. Its wings were full of tentacles and Jack kept wondering how that thing could even fly. It looked aerodynamic with its long and thin body but that amount of tentacles would stop its wings from working properly.
The bird-like creature stared at Jack and did not move. They were about 300 meters apart. Jack felt like it was sizing him up and trying to decide if Jack was easy prey or not. Jack knew that look since he had seen plenty of mountain lions back at home and they would always try to size you up as if they wanted you to tell them if you were worth it.
Jack had no interest in making it easy for that thing so he just stared back at it. He was already circulating his Sym energy and had concentrated it in every part of his body. He was so loaded up with energy that his naked feet had already created footprints in the rock below him. He was ready to go all out.
Both sides remained perfectly still. Neither was willing to break eye contact but the monster seemed to have second thoughts. Jack could tell that it was wavering. Its head had moved slightly and he saw some of the tentacles slightly moving backward.
"Jack, I know what you're thinking but you should run into-" before the assistant could finish its sentence, the creature had broken eye contact and turned around at a high speed to fly away but that's when Jack jumped up with all his strength and grabbed the creature by two of its back tentacles. The creature struggled and Jack slammed against the mountain but he kept holding on to the two tentacles and used the rocks by pushing his legs against them to gain enough leverage to pull the creature back down and slam it into the ground with all his might. As it was hitting the ground he followed and stomped on its head, making it explode.
The fight lasted no longer than 10 seconds.
The creature was lying flat on the ground with its body fully intact but its head completely split open and unrecognizable. Its body was flat but long with its length amounting to at least 7 meters but its height only to 1 meter. It reminded Jack of these long dragons from Chinese mythology.
"You have to be more careful," the assistant said.
"I knew I could take it," Jack responded calmly as he was grabbing the big crystal that stuck out of the creature's head. "Do you know what that is?" Jack asked.
"This is a Sym energy crystal. You can recognize them by their dark purple color and the high density of Sym energy," the assistant responded.
"I can tell, I can feel the condensed energy. Is there a use for it?" Jack inquired.
"According to the documentation by the Rasp, the crystals are worth a lot as an energy source and for military purposes. Since the high Sym energy is toxic to normal humans, it is a restricted good but its value is very high. A good comparison would be enriched uranium which is valuable but restricted in commerce on Earth," the assistant answered.
"Great, glad I kept the other one. Maybe we can find a way to sell them later," Jack said.
"We can certainly try that. Before we move on you should focus on learning an ability which will be useful to you in your goal to return back home. I do have data on teleportation and space-related abilities that we can use and that will have multiple benefits for your current situation," the assistant said.
"Awesome, let's start right now!" Jack said as he was stuffing his mouth with meat. "Do I need to cook this by the way?"
"You should be fine with the high density of Sym energy circulating in your stomach. I think you could not get a parasite to survive there even if you tried," the assistant said, with a hint of cynicism, Jack thought.
"One of the abilities that was reported by the Rasp was space connection which was developed by some natives who had Sym energy accumulation in a certain brain region. The ability would allow you to connect two spaces and move between them at will whereas they can be as far away as you desire. I would suggest that you meditate while I guide the energy into that specific region on your behalf until you feel that you are able to concentrate the energy on your own. Once you are able to condense the energy in that specific part, we can move on to realizing the technique," the assistant continued.
"Great," Jack said as he sat down into a half-lotus position and started to circulate his energy along the microcosmic orbit.
"I will now start guiding the energy into the brain region so pay attention to the sensation in order to replicate it later. You need to loosen your circulation so that I am able to intervene with your energy flow since I do not have the capability to control your body. I can only slightly manipulate the flow of Sym energy using electrical currents emitted by my device particles," the assistant said.
Jack sat in deep concentration and with his eyes closed. He could feel a small portion of Sym energy going against the flow and moving up his body into his brain. One property of Sym energy was that he could always feel its presence in great detail and with high certainty. While humans aren't able to feel pain in many parts inside their bodies because not all parts have the respective nerves, Sym energy was always noticeable. It was always possible to know where exactly it was in the body and how much.
The energy started to concentrate in a small area in his brain which was approximately as large as a fingernail.
"I will now leave the energy in this area and you should start controlling it and try moving it away from the spot and back to memorize the exact location," the assistant said.
Jack was carefully following the instructions and kept moving the energy into the correct area to improve his accuracy. Every time he made a mistake and missed the area, the assistant would scold him. "This is really tough," Jack said.
"That is the limitation of your ability to accumulate Sym energy everywhere inside your body. If you had a genetic trait that allowed you to accumulate the energy in only one part of the brain then accumulating energy there would be as easy as moving a finger. But since you can accumulate it everywhere, you must learn how to find the right spot in order to use a certain ability," the assistant explained.
"I have a question," Jack responded with his face deep in thought.
"Sure, go ahead," the assistant said.
"Why don't I just accumulate Sym energy in my entire brain since I accumulate it in my whole body anyways since I have arrived on this planet. Would I then not be able to learn and train all abilities by default? It sounds like the prerequisite to learning an ability is to have Sym energy in one particular part of the brain but there is no reason to have all the remaining parts be free of energy, right? I can just keep accumulating Sym energy everywhere and we're good to go!" Jack said.
"I have considered that possibility but you would be encountering a lot of problems with that approach. Accumulating energy in your entire brain will enable you to learn all known abilities but how would you train any ability if they all activate at the same time? I have recorded approximately 12,000 abilities that are likely related to brain accumulation so you would experience many side effects that way," the assistant warned.
Jack thought about it for a moment. He had only been circulating the energy in a circle through the microcosmic orbit and he had accumulated energy consciously in his body to strengthen certain parts but he had not focused on accumulating energy in his brain per se. If he were to accumulate a lot of energy in his brain, would he suddenly start to teleport, shoot fire and fly around? Losing control was not very appealing to him. What if he accidentally teleported into space or the ocean and died?
He instinctively knew that this was a real problem far beyond the training he was currently doing. He had to be sure that no strange phenomena occurred by accident.
"I see," Jack said, "So let me keep training for now the way you suggest and then we can still see if there is another way in the future once I have some experience with using abilities."
"Great, then just keep training and practice circulating your energy while also concentrating it in this particular spot," the assistant said.
"Is what I'm doing now for the teleportation technique?" Jack asked while sitting and focusing on his energy in deep concentration.
"It is not. It is for the purpose of learning the portal technique which is easier to learn and more versatile compared to teleportation. The teleportation technique is inferior to creating a portal with the exception of its speed since teleportation can be executed instantly. Teleportation is not a way of moving the body from one space to another but rather a way of opening a door and having the body move through it. In the case of the teleportation technique, the door is placed around the body and collapses in an instant to make the user disappear and reappear at another location. But technically speaking, it is the creation of a portal that allows the user to teleport. The teleportation ability is closely related to other abilities such as the portal and the storage abilities. All these three abilities are corresponding to very similar brain regions and it is very common for siblings or close family members to exhibit such similarities in their abilities. The brain is like a map and similar abilities are related to parts of the brain that are in close proximity. One part of the brain might enable long-distance space travel as for portals while another might allow shaping portals at will but is limited to short-distances as for teleportation. Yet another might allow the creation of new space dimensions such as the storage ability. All these are closely related but different. It was even common for scholars to postulate the existence of theoretical abilities based on regions in the brain that are close to other ability areas and where ability users have not appeared just yet," the assistant explained.
"So why is the portal ability better than the teleportation and the storage abilities?" Jack asked.
"The portal is the easiest among the three and also the most useful. It involves the creation of two portals that connect two spaces with each other. The user can simply step through the portals and thereby teleport between them. It requires significantly less sophistication and practice compared to teleportation since the user does not need to create a complex portal around their own body while simultaneously creating the exit portal in the proximity. Teleportation likewise has the downside that it only allows short-distance travel and the user could hurt themselves if the portal is misaligned by accidentally amputating their own limb. Teleportation portals are generally unstable and could not be used like regular portals since they tend to collapse instantly. The storage ability involves the creation of a space that allows the user to store objects in it or even hide themselves. This ability is highly sophisticated since it involves the creation of an extra dimension that is controlled by the user. Little has been reported on this ability by the Rasp but there were rumors of deaths and disappearances involved with this technique. A user might create a dimension to transport objects or a person but then later lose the ability to access that specific dimension. The ability has many flaws which makes it hard to master. The portal ability is more pragmatic and allows you to effectively move anywhere instantly and also use storage functions," the assistant explained.
"Isn't the storage ability perfect for my return to Earth? If I can create dimensions, there must be a way to teleport between them as well, right?" Jack said with his eyes open in excitement.
"Keep circulating the energy back and forth and do not lose focus," the assistant said, scolding Jack. "Yes, I am hypothesizing that there has to be a way to create portals between dimensions using one of the space-related techniques. It could be necessary to master all known space abilities first and potentially develop new ones in the process. Our first goal when entering human society will be to gather information on space-related abilities which can help us reach Earth. We should seek out high-level space ability users and identify if we can learn new approaches from them. We also need to identify if it is possible to create portals between dimensions using my internal maps which will present a challenging development since space abilities are often restricted in their distances or places that the user has visited prior. Creating a dimensional jump device such as the single-use devices that I was equipped with is infeasible since this planet lacks the materials and technological requirements for the production. Using a Sym energy derived ability for a dimensional jump is the method with the highest probability of success," the assistant said.
"Got it, how about we just try to contact the Rasp and ask them to send us back?" Jack asked with his eyes closed after being scolded.
"It is highly unlikely that the Rasp still have a presence on or around this planet but, even if they do, it would not be wise to contact them prematurely. I have no data on how their values and policy has evolved in the past 5000 years but it could be that they will either avoid all contact with all Earth inhabitants including you, take you in as a research subject or would view this as first contact by Earth's society and create a permanent presence on this planet. Due to the high risk, I would avoid contacting them for the time being even if there was an opportunity to do so," the assistant warned.
"Got it, first we master space abilities then we gather more data outside and then we go back home. That sounds easy enough. You said that a normal portal can also be used like a storage ability. How do I use the storage with a portal then?" Jack asked, still meditating and moving the energy back and forth between brain regions.
"There is a rather pragmatic solution for that. Once you have mastered the portal technique then I will recommend that you create a portal in the cave you have prepared as well as a portal close to the water source which will be invaluable during your travels. Since the Sym energy is high in this region which allows you to condense more and more Sym energy, it will be useful to return here for meditation and sleeping to accumulate more energy. You can also use your cave as a storage space," the assistant said.
"So I basically create a door and put it into the cave so that I can return anytime?" Jack asked, surprised.
"Exactly. According to my data, the inherent limitation of the portal technique was its exceptionally high energy use. Even teleportation requires far less since the portals are unstable and must only be maintained for an instant. But for the portal ability, maintaining a portal is considered to require an excessive amount of energy. According to the data recorded by the Rasp, no ability user would use portals for longer periods but there were some societies that were gathering Sym crystals as energy sources to help users maintain portals for longer durations. Since your Sym energy is exceptionally high, stored within your body and continuously growing every day, you should face no problems while maintaining multiple portals indefinitely," the assistant said.
"I better clean up my cave then if that'll be my home on this planet," Jack said.