The Open Sea

Jack was not the sentimental type and decided to convey his thoughts to Ark and the group via a letter instead of visiting them in person. They would be fine without him, he thought. He had also been considering just revealing his abilities and helping the government by providing them with important information and even the dead body of a humanoid creature. He even considered fighting for them in order to help them, but he was not sure if such a move would get him closer or further away from his goal to learn about spatial abilities that could be useful for dimensional jumps. He had been experimenting with different brain regions, but it was near impossible to create a new ability if you do not know what it does. He felt like a newbie that had been placed in a chemistry lab without any knowledge of what he was supposed to do. Without knowledge, infinite abilities are of little use.

But to Jack, this was a serious consideration. If the government were to become aware of his powers, they would likely support him greatly in anything he did, which would be a great asset. But it would also jeopardize his future plans in case major ability users that are versed in spatial abilities are in other countries that would automatically become his enemies if he sided with one nation. And to try and reveal his powers while supporting all nations could make him a target for political and military attacks if he was not careful. Right now, his best strategy is to be as independent and low-key as possible until he has a better understanding of what he would need in order to return home. According to the assistant, he would likely rely on this world's manufacturing capabilities and knowledge on Sym energy-enabled abilities, which makes him highly dependent on many countries that are currently at war with each other.

Jack was walking down the main street after he had left the bank. He now had sufficient capital to do anything he needed on this planet, but, even if he had more need for money, he still had dozens of Sym crystals lying in his cave. There was only one thing he would need as of this moment, and that was information. He needed information on ability users, nations, politics, technical capabilities, and more. All of the assistant's knowledge was outdated, and he had been flying blind for quite a long time. Now was the time to change that.

When he was traveling with Ark and the others, he had learned about an information network that did sound remarkably similar to Earth's internet, but it seemed to be based on Sym energy devices that utilized communication abilities. From what he understood, the information network was centralized and only large corporations had the capital to keep large Sym devices active indefinitely. These devices seemed to be similar to server farms where large devices are continually sending and receiving information within a certain radius. While Earth's internet connects the whole world through cables and satellites, the Sym network is similar to a hotspot that can cover a large area of over 500 kilometers in any direction, and this radius increases with network extenders which can lead to a 1,000 kilometer radius of network access. A small tablet-like device is used to access the network, and it can be used to access any network in any country.

While this type of information network is useful, it also meant that, like radio stations on Earth, Jack must travel to gather all the necessary information regarding his areas of interest. The information that he would find across the globe would be entirely different compared to the information he could access here.

To obtain a receiver device, Jack entered a shop that was recommended by the bank clerk. It reminded him of an Apple store since it had an elegant design and a strong focus on displaying their products. Jack could have likely gotten a device for free in the fallen city of Jalk, but, since money wasn't an issue, he decided to get professional advice before buying a good model.

"Hi, how can I help you?" the friendly woman behind the counter asked Jack the moment he entered the store.

"Hey, do you have network receiver devices?" Jack asked.

"Sure, please follow me," the lady said while hiding a smile since his question must have been phrased in an odd way. She led him to the heart of the store which featured about a dozen different devices, all of similar sizes but with different price tags. "What is most important to you? The performance, the reach, or the battery life?"

"Can you tell me about the battery? I thought that there are no electr—" Jack coughed and caught himself before continuing, "that they are running on the Sym energy in the air?"

"There are artificial Sym crystals in the device since it requires energy to use them. The battery life is often 12-14 hours for the average device but can be smaller and larger," she said as she placed a device and a spare battery in Jack's hands.

"Jack, if I may, you will not need to worry about battery life since you can charge them with your accumulated Sym energy. The process is quite simple, but the humans on this planet cannot achieve this since their energy levels are too low," the assistant interjected.

Jack smiled and looked back up at the woman, "Just give me the one with the best reach and performance."

The woman smiled since she was about to make a good sale and answered, "Great, then you will want this model. It is the newest device on the market and has the highest performance levels with over 24 hours of uninterrupted use and no limitations in the type of data that is transmitted, including video and large database files. It can also store data locally. Its reach is consistently 20% higher compared to the industry standard, which means that it is able to pick up faint signals that others can't. For some customers, the downside of this device lies in the low battery life of only 6 hours and the high price." As she was speaking, she pointed her finger at the price tag which was slightly higher than the other models on the table.

Jack smiled, "That one sounds perfect. I'll take it." He followed the smiling woman back to the counter and purchased the device with his new ID which was seconded as his payment card and was connected to his bank account. Since no electronics exist in this world and Sym devices are comparatively expensive, it has established itself to multi-use as many devices as possible, which is why most people only own one or two devices on average. After his purchase, he left the shop and looked for a park or a plaza to sit down and do some research. For some reason, this city was a concrete jungle, and he found no place where he could sit quietly. The streets were filled with refugees from Jalk City and other smaller villages that had fled from the creatures, and it wasn't a comfortable environment.

Jack looked for a quiet corner and set up a portal to return to his cave. As soon as he arrived, he felt a rush of energy going into his head which stemmed from the high-density Sym energy in this place. He hadn't even noticed how his body had been trembling when he was in the low-density region, and, only now, he realized that he needed Sym energy to feel calm. He was always circulating his energy, but only here the energy accumulated fast enough for Jack to notice a difference. Jack went to his favorite fresh-water source and filled his bottle which he had purchased before leaving Gosi.

He did not detect any creatures in the vicinity, so he sat down on a rock and took out the device from his bag. Since the device should have a wide reach, he should be able to access any information that was available in Gosi, but he decided to compare the data sources between the other cities after his initial research phase. Jack started up the device and tried to find his way through the complex user interface which seemed to be entirely list-based. He expected a search engine like Google or at least an encyclopedia like Wikipedia, but the index seemed to be source-based rather than topic-based. This meant Jack needed to know the source of the information first before he could even find out what information he was after.

"Call me lazy, but this is unacceptable. Can you see this? This is all they got? This is ridiculous!" Jack addressed the assistant while cursing mercilessly. "Can I plug you in there somehow?"

"As soon as you started up the device and touched it, I was able to access and read the data on the device. I will access and backup all of the data we can receive in this location inside my system. Please allow me 7 hours to crawl through all the files that can be received. It was a good decision to purchase the high-performance device since we do not need to worry about overheating. I will let you know when charging the battery will be necessary," the assistant answered.

Jack raised his eyebrows and quietly leaned back. "Great…" Then he thought about what the assistant said some more and continued, "So, you are basically saving everything inside my body? What is your maximum storage space then?"

"You do not need to worry about the capacity since the data compression technology of the Rasp is many millennia ahead of anything you have encountered on Earth. I can easily store all of the data available on this planet and will not even have filled 5% of my capacities," the assistant answered.

Jack relaxed, "Great, then let me know." He sat quietly for a bit and then decided to meditate some more and expand his detection radius while also deciding on a plan for how to approach these high-level ability users in this world. As he was just about to close his eyes, he heard a beeping noise from the device. He took a glance at the display and saw the preview of a message that read, "Dear Jack, I hope you have been able to receive all of the assets. You can reach me through this contact channel in the future. If you are interested in trading or have a request, then do not hesitate to contact me. Regards, Officer Faber."

"Damn, the military really is all-seeing in this city," Jack mumbled. "I guess I could also send this contact to the others." He ignored the message and closed his eyes for what only seemed a few minutes, but, before he knew it, the assistant notified him, "Jack, I have completed the data analysis. I would recommend visiting Gosi and Jalk briefly to see if there is more data available in these regions."

Jack followed the suggestion and visited both cities briefly so that the assistant could include the new information in its database. Afterwards, he returned to his cave and sat back on the rock in the middle of the rocky fields. "So, what have you learned?" he asked the assistant.

"I have collected a significant amount of data that has filled in many gaps in my knowledge regarding this planet. There is indeed an ongoing war that includes 95 or more nations and has been divided into three factions. Apparently, the attacks of creatures on human settlements have increased significantly in the past 5,000 years, which can be attributed to the increase in the human population as well as the gradual movements of the high-density Sym energy zones. Humanoid creatures have not been reported anywhere, and I believe that the military keeps them a secret until more information on them becomes known," the assistant said.

"Ok, I already knew that. What else is important? Where are the spatial ability users?" Jack asked.

"This country has one family estate that is known for producing spatial ability users, and there are also multiple companies that have specialized in services related to spatial abilities. It seems that new models to nurture ability users have emerged as the civilizations became economically more mature. Since ability users can be born anywhere and are not necessarily bound to a family tree, companies have started creating schools and orphanages in order to integrate gifted children early. These children are then groomed into leadership positions in the company and continually incentivized through equity to stay with them. That way, companies have started to rival the expertise and power of the largest families in many countries," the assistant explained.

Jack had gotten up and was pacing up and down the field as he was listening. Walking always helped him think more clearly. "Anything on dimensional abilities?" Jack asked.

"Unfortunately not," the assistant answered.

"How about the manufacturing capabilities that we need for the device?" Jack asked as he found himself back at his groundwater source and lowered himself to fill his bottle.

"The manufacturing capabilities on this planet are insufficient to create a dimensional jump device. I postulate that it can be possible to build a rudimentary device that can be supplemented with Sym abilities in order to enable a dimensional jump. For that, we would need to find certain materials and likewise find information on spatial abilities. Another possibility could be to find traces of the Rasp and try to contact them in order to leverage their capabilities, but this presents a certain risk," the assistant said.

"Yeah, let's first try to do it ourselves and use them as a last resort," Jack said as he sat back down and drank from his water bottle. "Let's first look for ability users since we can gather the materials anytime anyway. Who is the most promising?"

"According to the latest data, there seems to be an assault on a city in a neighboring country called Motola. The city of Batan has been attacked by creatures about three hours ago, and they seem to have penetrated the walls already. They are currently attacking the civilian population and engaging in battle with the military. One of the most skilled families of spatial ability users on this planet is located in that city. I suggest using this attack to gain their favor or to find a way to copy their knowledge files directly. This country is technically an enemy of Cibolas, where we are currently located, albeit they have not engaged in direct warfare yet. This is assumed to be due to their equal position bordering the high-density area, and neither can divert their manpower away from the defense against creatures," the assistant explained.

Jack considered his options and how he would handle that situation. "How far is it?"

"It is 232 kilometers away from here. You can reach it in less than 5 minutes if you perform 23 long-distance jumps using 10 kilometers as the target range," the assistant answered.

Jack started stretching his legs and looked up at the sky where the sun was shining brightly, "Sometimes I forget how far these window portals can propel me. Makes me feel like an idiot for traveling so long just to hide my skills."

"But there was another benefit to it. You have managed to obtain an identity which gives you access to commerce and financial services as a normal citizen. If you had shown your abilities, you would likely not have gained this access but would have either become an enemy or been subject to additional conditions. You can now disguise yourself and fully display your abilities as you see fit since you can always return to your normal identity and lay low. I recommend returning to Jalk City to get a mask which can hide your face," the assistant said.

"That's a great idea," Jack said as he opened the portal to Jalk City. He had been itching for a fight more and more, and it felt like his desire to kill had emerged as a new basic need similar to the need to eat or sleep. He felt hungry for conflict. He was aware that the Sym energy was making him more combative, but the way it changed his decision making was a surprise even to him.

He was looking forward to killing something.