“Wizards and Gentlemages. Please keep your hands, legs, and feet in the bubble”, Vestara announced as the liquid platform curled up from the sides and engulfed us in a massive water ball.

We stood in an air pocket in the middle of what was now essentially a bubble and watched in awe as it slowly sunk beneath the surface of the ocean. For a while, we were bathed in an eerie blue-green glow as surface light filtered through the water, but the deeper we descended the darker it got until eventually, no light made it in from the outside.

Little by little, lights started to blink into existence as the adventurers demonstrated their abilities to deal with the darkness. I excitedly observed the different solutions to a common problem. Vestara stood next to glowing globes of water that orbited her slowly. Several mages summoned wisps that glowed and hummed through the dark chamber. Sebastian’s arm had a green glow that did little to conquer the darkness around him, but Enrique held a powerful flashlight that got the job done.

Kalliphae noticed what I was looking at and showed off by whispering her favorite spell.

“Pvruzth”

She coated herself in a thin layer of flame that lit up our section of the bubble. She grinned at me. Everyone has at least one solution to fight off the darkness.

I realized I didn’t have anything other than staying in at night or sticking to well-lit parts of town after dark. I decided that I needed to come up with a solution. While I could edit something like a miniature sun, I was worried that it would stand out, or worse, burn everyone alive.

I pulled up a list of my skills.

Skills

Traits

World Editor

Bloodline M

Manipulation

True Sight

Buff (Edited)

Enhanced Regeneration

Enhanced Mana Regeneration

Absorption

True Sight didn’t seem to help with the darkness. That was strange because it had helped me see Eddie when he was invisible. I still needed magical eyes, just different ones. I tried adding a buff.

Night Vision (Edited)

Everything turned green. It was also very bright because my eyes had a difficult time filtering out the other mage's light sources which were all doing a good job of blinding me.

I sighed as I tried to remember what the best vision buffs were called in video games. That gave me an idea.

Do you think mages write video games?

Shana was quick to answer. Some of them. Some scholars create video games as a way of educating young awakened on ways to properly grow in their chosen class.

Wait a second. You mean I’ve been training my whole life for this and I didn’t realize it?

Shara giggled. It depends on which games you played.

I don’t know. I’ve played a lot.

Suddenly remembering something, Shara continued. Oh yes. There is also a new kind of game. It’s a group project shared by many families. It’s called vertical reality or something like that. Specialized sorcerers have it all worked out so that the uninitiated can experience what it's like to be awakened. They use a magical device that transports them to a world made out of pure magic.

I was suddenly gripped by an urge to stop being awakened and sign up to beta test this new game. I swallowed hard and asked.

Is there any way someone like me can play?

Shara gave me an exasperated look. Why would you want to play a game about this world? You’re living it? Right now we are testing the magic out on coma patients. They are stuck in a dream state anyway. Might as well give them good dreams.

I didn’t have an answer for that, so I went back to trying to find the perfect trait for night vision. I tried a new one.

Ultravision (Edited)

The effect was similar to Night Vision. The only difference was I could see in color rather than green. While this one was better than the other buff, it still struggled with the lights in the room. I sat down and racked my brain trying to find the perfect buff. After a while, I had an idea.

God Eye (Edited)

I blinked and all of the lights went away. Not only could I see everything in the bubble as though we were topside on a clear sunny day, but the depths of the ocean surrendered their secrets to me. I could see creatures swimming around just outside of the glow of the bubble investigating the invader as it sunk through their territory.

Satisfied with my new buff, I winked at Kalli and asked.

Want to see a magic trick?

Shara’s eyes widened. He’s going to do something weird again.

Kalliphae laughed along with the girl and agreed. Well, he is weird. Let’s see it though. Go ahead, Mel.

So I shared the buff with the group.

If we had been trying not to attract attention then sharing that buff was not the way to go. The four people in my group all reacted at once. The bodyguards lost their composure and I heard them both for the first time. They screamed as the world around them lit up. Enrique, in a moment of panic, drew his gun and fired several bursts of blue magic into the wall of the bubble.

Had Vestara not been as skilled of an aquizard as she was, we probably would have all died. As it was, her bubble absorbed the blast in a flash of blue that rippled up and down the water barrier. Vestara sent a stream of water over to engulf the bodyguard, restraining him. Kalli screamed at the top of her lungs when she spotted a massive squid following us through the sea. She had little experience with sea creatures. If only she’d had spent more time in her marine biology class. Shara uttered a single yelp and passed out. The only person moderately holding up was Sebastian, and he was whimpering silently as he gaped at the world beyond the bubble.

Vestara worked her way over to us and asked, “What on Earth is going on over here?”

We all sat in a circle in chairs made out of water. They were just as comfortable as chairs with cradle spray on them. Vestara gave us all stern looks and demanded, “Would any of you care to explain what that was?”

Shara pouted, “Melvin wanted to show us a magic trick.”

Vestara turned her reproachful glare to me and explained, “This is a very serious S rank mission. We can’t have any fooling around down here. Someone could have been injured.”

I sighed and tried to explain, “Look. I’m sorry that I called it a magic trick. I just found a way to see in the dark and decided to share it with the group.”

She considered my response for a moment before asking, “How did you find a way to see in the dark?”

I gulped, not quite sure how much I wanted to share. Shara nodded encouragingly, so I decided, “I suppose I could show you, but you’d have to join the group.”

Vestara Shaw has joined the group

The woman’s eyes widened as she looked around, taking in the depths of the ocean as if for the first time. She muttered, “I had no idea…”

“You took it better than the others”, I pointed out helpfully.

Kalli punched me in the arm and barked, “She had warning. You just dumped it on us.”

Vestara spent quite a bit of time walking around the bubble examining the ocean around her. She didn’t set our aquatic elevator in motion again until a group of mages cornered her and insisted that she get the quest moving again.

The alliance leader left our group as we prepared to hit the seafloor. I watched anxiously as the murky bottom loomed closer and closer to the bubble and it wasn’t even slowing down.

Right when we were about to make contact, the floor opened up, admitting the bubble into the muddy seafloor. The cavern we emerged into was pitch black, yet still held no secrets from me. I gaped at the sheer size of the chamber that somehow existed under the ocean.

How is this possible?

Shara decided to play tour guide once again. Ancient magic carved out this cave system as a way of traveling between continents when sea travel was dangerous. Ancient magic lives in the walls and keeps the ocean above us at bay. It takes a water mage like my aunt to manipulate the magic to get in and out. The caves have fallen to the monsters over the years since other forms of travel have become safer. My family is sponsoring a project to restore the passage and return it to use.

Kalliphae sent impressed feelings through the group along with a reply. That’s amazing Shara. Your family must be really something.

The kid responded by fidgeting and replying. Daddy is awesome…

The group was suddenly filled with a heavy silence. I decided to change the subject.

So when was the last time these caves were used?

Shara perked back up when the attention was shifted from her family back to the mission. Travel was very common until around 500 years ago, though awakened did occasionally use the tunnels until the early 20th century. By that point booking passage via ship was actually safer than traveling through the caves which could take months in some cases. Even with regular monster clearing quests, the caves can be quite dangerous. There are also legends of pirates using the caves to stash legendary treasures. That's why we always get so many takers when we offer this quest.

We landed on the floor of the cavern with the bubble making a sloshing sound as it made contact with the ground. It then unraveled itself and Vestara drew the water into her hand the same way that Kalli manipulated fire. Only once she collected it, she condensed it into a ball and it joined the other orbs of water in orbit around her.

The groups of mages quickly organized and dispersed into the many caves and fissures branching off of the main chamber. What was left was a skeleton crew that spread out in the large chamber and rummaged through the rocks looking for treasure.

Do you think there are relics in this chamber?

Shara shrugged. You never know. Most people don’t look too closely around here while choosing to explore. There could be something here.

Kalliphae was already wandering around looking intently at the strangely shaped landscape. Porous rocks lined the floor, creating a lot of places where treasure could be hidden. Kalli squealed with delight and announced to the group. Hey, look what I found.

We all raced over to discover the redhead cradling a seashell in her hand, smiling like she had found a lost relic.

Shara stopped short and stared at the girl. I don’t think that’s magic. Haven’t you seen a seashell before?

Kalli flashed a smile that made my knees weak and replied. I think it's magic. Look at how adorable this thing is.

The kid rolled her eyes and turned to me. You’ve seen a seashell before, right Melvin?

I nodded dumbly, still soaking in Kalliphae’s reaction. Shara groaned. Come on, guys. Let’s go find a magical artifact.

I didn’t budge right away when Shara walked away with her bodyguards. There were several very high-level mages in our vicinity that were keeping a wary eye on us. The rest of the alliance had all disappeared into the various tunnels and fissures that riddled the chamber.

Since I was on a roll with my editing, I decided I wanted to find a way to use my skill to find hidden treasure. I pulled up the map. I was surrounded by a sea of yellow and red dots. Mostly red. Kalli and I were the only low-level people in the underground. The map did a good job of locating landmarks, but not much else.

Remembering the monster dots, I turned the green dots back on. We were surrounded by hundreds of green dots. I let out a heavy sigh. I was going to have to find a way to fix that sometime. The radar was showing everything from starfish to things in the ocean above us, to potential monsters right in front of me.

It wasn’t monsters I was looking for though. It was treasure. I scoured my personal windows trying to find a map listing. Finding none, I gave myself a new trait hoping it would do what I wanted it to.

Treasure Map (Edited)

It didn’t work as a trait at all. The old map sat in front of me with the same old data on it. That was the key. I didn’t need to edit the map, I needed to edit the legend.

High Level

O

Medium Level

O

Low Level

O

Creature

O

Group

O

Treasure (Edited)

X (Edited)

I decided on a red X because X marks the spot. When I looked at the map again I could see several new marks on the map. One of them was close. Only it was just inside of a small nook that none of the other groups seemed to have explored.

I wandered off with my eyes glued to the red X…