Who Are You

Jack practiced another 2 hours and, while he was moving the energy back and forth, the assistant explained the basics of the technique that was the portal ability. The initial principle was simple enough since the user would create a condensed form of Sym energy and make it as large and thin as possible but the next step was more complicated which involved the connection of two distinct bodies of Sym energy with each other and to then allow the flow of matter between them. According to the assistant, there was little sense behind this technique and it was more of an artistic endeavor. The user must feel the connection and intuitively follow the flow of the technique.

Jack was glad that he did not condense Sym energy in his entire brain since this would have been a complete mess, he thought. Intuitively feeling a technique while tens of thousands of other techniques could activate at the same time would have been impossible. But trying to force the activation of one technique when only one is possible is much easier.

After another 3 hours of practice, he was able to create two portals and move objects between them. The portals had an oval shape and looked like large purple but dark mirrors. They were as thin as razor blades but had bulky edges that contained the dark purple fog of the Sym energy.

"A fascinating ability," Jack thought, "how come different brain regions create abilities in the first place? It's not like the brain naturally has a space creation function."

"That is a curious circumstance that even the Rasp had no answer to. Some researchers postulated that the electromagnetic fields created by brain regions exhibit subtle differences which resonate with Sym energy in a specific way. The differences in their resonance changes the way Sym energy responds to them, thereby creating different abilities. According to this theory, it is not the brain that is inherently creating the ability but it is the Sym energy that has the potential to create all these abilities. But this theory was highly controversial and caused many debates among the Rasp's research circles," the assistant said.

As Jack listened to the explanations of the assistant, he had been experimenting with the portals and had thrown many rocks into them to test their functions. The assistant assured him that portals are inherently quite stable as long as they have sufficient Sym energy but Jack was overly cautious.

Before he would step into the portal himself, he wanted to conduct a long term experiment so he placed two portals opposite to each other and threw a stone into one of them with all the strength he could muster. The stone flew like a bullet between the two portals and it looked like the portals were connected by a rope since the stone was moving so fast.

After Jack confirmed that his portals and the stone were still working after 10 minutes, he had gotten up and had begun expanding his little cave. If he had to live there for longer, he wanted it to be more hospitable and comfortable. Using his strengthened body, he started to destroy parts of the cave's interior, thereby creating a much larger space. He spent 4 hours with this reconstruction process until the cave had a total space of about 70 square meters and had multiple shelves on the wall that were punched out from the rock. He had also specifically created a flat wall on the back side which would be his portal entry point.

He then returned to his two portals and found the stone lying on the ground between them.

"That went well," Jack said.

"As I said, portals are quite safe compared to other space abilities," the assistant said, "so you should try them out now."

"I know," Jack said as he slowly walked to the two portals and stopped in front of one. His face looked concerned but he knew that he would have to test it at some point anyways. Jumping to another dimension will be much more dangerous so he cannot stop here. He looked at his reflection at the mirror-like portal and slowly let his hand slide in. He turned around and saw his fingers emerging from the portal behind him. "That's creepy as hell!" Jack explained loudly.

Jack took a deep breath and held it while walking swiftly through the portal. Once he emerged on the other side, he quickly looked over his entire body to check if anything had changed.

"Is all ok?" Jack asked, cautiously.

"Yes, everything is as before," the assistant answered, in a slightly bored tone.

After Jack had confirmed that the portals are entirely safe, he started to experiment with them. He walked through them slowly, quickly and he even walked back and forth to see what would happen. He even spent 30 minutes attempting and finally succeeding to execute a double jump which meant jumping into one portal and then, while still in mid air, emerging and re-entering the portal to move through it twice.

The assistant had remained silent during Jack's experiments.

After Jack felt confident in the portals, he had removed his two testing portals and created one portal in his newly redesigned cave and one above the water source. He had closed his cave again with the boulder and had likewise closed the opening around the water source with all the spare rocks he had removed from his cave. That way, he could simply refill his leather bag underground anytime he wanted without worrying that a creature would contaminate his opened spot. Whenever he wished, he could now open a portal at his current location and connect to either of his two portals and return to them anytime.

"Do you feel the energy drain from the two portals you have open now?" the assistant asked.

"I can barely sense it. It is almost unnoticeable. I gain way more energy while just sitting and doing nothing compared to what I'm losing. They really do not take any energy at all," Jack answered.

"That's because you have such high levels of Sym energy but, for normal people, this would be impossible," the assistant said.

"Yeah, I'm awesome," Jack said, sarcastically, "so let's get out of here and find some humans. If space-related abilities really are as rare as you say then finding experts will take a lot of time," Jack said as he was eating more of the flying creatures' meat. "And I also want to have some real food. Just eating this bird and fish meat raw is not good long-term."

Jack, still wearing his leather pants but also a shirt made of leather and feathers that he took from the flying creature, started his journey to leave the high-density Sym energy area. He followed the assistant's directions to the nearest exit point and began moving faster using a combination of running and jumping to close the distance. His vision through the fog had remained unchanged at an estimated 2.5 kilometers of visibility and he seemed to have reached the maximum of his visual enhancement, he thought.

On his way, he would encounter creatures occasionally. Some were stronger than others but Jack was strong enough to kill them rapidly if a fight was unavoidable. He also kept collecting the Sym crystals as well as leather and meat for later use which he stored in his cave. He did not store much meat since it would go bad but he made sure to keep enough for a day or two. Once he could create fire or found salt to preserve the meat, he would be able to store much more.

He had been moving rapidly over a few hours but something in the distance caught his attention.

"Do you see that?" Jack said quietly while taking cover behind a rock.

"Yes, I do. I am not sure what is happening and I have no theory to offer," the assistant said.

Jack could make out a group of approximately 50 creatures that were moving together like a caravan. They resembled a herd of elephants that were migrating to another region. From everything Jack had known about creatures so far and from his own observation during his travels, they should be naturally hostile towards each other and should be trying to kill or be killed.

But Jack was staring at a large group of creatures that were moving in perfect harmony.

"You are more than capable to kill one creature in a fight but approaching them would be suicide," the assistant warned.

"Even I know that," Jack said dismissively. "But do you see that smaller thing on the right?"

"That appears to be a human," the assistant said, "but that should not be possible according to my data."

"Your data is 5000 years old," Jack said, "things change."

Jack moved to the side to get a better grasp on the situation. He could make out a human or at least a humanoid individual that was walking besides the caravan and seemed to be leading it. As he was observing the group, one of the creatures at the back of the caravan started to bump into the other creatures and Jack could clearly make out its tentacles that were starting to attack the creature around it. The humanoid turned around and jumped backwards, right next to the creature that moved out of line. With one gesture he hit the creature on the head and sent it flying for at least 100 meters. The other creatures kept marching as if nothing had happened.

The creature slowly got up and faced the humanoid. It then showed a submissive gesture by lowering its head and ran to the end of the caravan to rejoin the group.

"What the hell was that?" Jack uttered with a blank stare. "I couldn't even see that human move, it was so fast. And that punch was strong as hell."

"I do not think that this thing is human. It appears more like a humanoid creature. Even though the lighting is poor through the fog, the humanoid seems to have a dark purple color and I can see fog around it as is typical for creatures. But I have no record of any humanoid creatures in my records. I also have no record of any intelligent creatures that are able to command and control other creatures. This is a very concerning development since we don't know how this will impact or has impacted this world in the past 5000 years," the assistant said, with a surprisingly concerned voice.

As Jack moved from his position and wanted to continue on his journey, which luckily did not force him to cross path with the caravan, he took one last look at the humanoid creature and was shocked to the bone when he saw the creature staring back in his direction. He could barely make out any features of the humanoid since it was standing at least 1.5 km away but he could intuitively sense that it was looking at him. The gaze felt human but also inhuman. It felt cold but intelligent. Jack's entire body was shaking.

"We should move fast," the assistant warned in an alarmed voice, "there is no benefit for us in engaging this thing in a fight especially since it seems to command so many creatures. It is likely hostile."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Jack said and kept running on his path to the exit of this creature infested area. He kept looking back multiple times but he did not see the caravan change directions or pursue him in any way.

"Your strength is impressive but I recommend avoiding humanoid creatures for now," the assistant said.

"Yes," Jack said quietly and deep in thought. "Actually, I will set up a portal here and return home to the cave to eat and then sleep for a bit."

"I think that is a wise decision. You have been moving and training for a long time so you should rest. It is hard to notice day and night cycles here due to the heavy Sym energy fog but it should be past midnight already," the assistant said.

Jack searched for a cave that he could cover with a boulder at a nearby mountain range and placed a portal inside of it. He then walked through the portal and found himself back at home. His cave had leather, meat and Sym crystals lying on the floor which he had just thrown through a temporary portal along the way. He picked them up and ordered them into his shelves on the wall.

Jack felt tired. He had felt strong and superior due to all the Sym energy that he was able to condense. He had been so strong that he could easily destroy rocks and the creatures he encountered did not seem threatening to him at all. But that humanoid creature gave him the creeps. It was as fast as lightning and did not seem to even try very hard when it punched a large creature across the stone desert. He had become arrogant. Jack had felt safe until just a moment ago but now the fear had returned.

"I know you are worried, Jack, but you have made it this far. Once we have left the high-density area, you will be much safer," the assistant said, encouragingly.

"I know. Before I go to sleep, can you teach me how to make fire? I really need to start cooking my food. I don't think I can eat raw food for much longer," Jack said.

"Certainly, I recommend an ability that allows you to create heat inside your hands which is not directly fire since fire requires a combustible material or gas but you will be able to use it to fry your food conveniently in your hand. Start meditating and circulating your energy, I will show you which part of the brain will activate the ability," the assistant said.

Then Jack spent another 2 hours learning the new technique that he called the 'hand fryer' since it was just that. He managed to heat the surfaces of his hands to nearly 200 °C which allowed him to enjoy a nicely fried fish steak. Due to his body strengthening and high Sym energy accumulation in his entire body, he experienced no side effects such as burns. But he had to wash his hands thoroughly afterwards since this method was equivalent to frying meat without fat in a steel pan.

And with that, Jack went to sleep with a full stomach and started to forget about the humanoid creature that gave him the chills just a few hours ago. But his dreams were just about to start.