John gave Gwen a quick rundown of how he had requested the Research ability, and that it seemed to work similarly to a tech tree in a Real-Time Strategy or 4X game. Gwen gave a look of confusion at those terms, so John decided the should probably get into a discussion of technology levels from their respective worlds. Gwen has come from a similar world known as Urth, which was a much more magical based and had the System as far back as anyone could remember. In comparison, they had some technologies beyond Earth, with Teleportation being available to those with high enough skills or wealth, and plumbing and other modern Earth commodities handled by magic. Gwen herself had been born in a Dungeon to Fairy parents, though she had gone to school and began her professional career in the Fairy Realm. As Gwen explains it, Realms or Planes were intradimensional spaces attached to planets and some of them where virtually another planet layered on the base planet in dimensional space. The Fairy realm was one such space and was the traditional home of the Fae races on Urth.

John explained that Earth was a realm without magic or the System and developed by Humans using the Sciences. John told how science had allowed Earth to develop mass communication methods and ways of even beginning to explore space and other planets. Gwen was excited to find out the vast availability of books, due to the lack of printing presses on Urth. Some Scribes could create multiple copies of books at once with Skills and Abilities, but each book had to be copied by hand each time a new order came in for a set of transcripts. She was practically vibrating as John finished a quick explanation of computers, and began explaining what information can be found through the internet.

“I can’t wait for a chance to check out this Internet!” Gwen said with a look of wonder on her face as she paced around in front of John.

“That may be a bit hard with me being stuck as a Core,” John said to Gwen as John said that a DING! and a notification popped up.

New Research Available.

John was about to check his status, but then he thought to himself, “I’m going to need a computer and a source of power to use the internet. Perhaps there’s some way to convert mana into electrical energy.” Again a notification popped up, letting John know more Research had become available.

John then checked his status and found that there were a couple of new avenues for Research available.

Research

Completed Research: Creation Ability

Available Research: Mana - General (2 RP), Trap Creation (1 RP), Interdimensional Internet Connection (5 RP), Mana To Electrical Power Conversion (5 RP)

John then brought up the description of Interdimensional Internet Connection first, followed by Mana To Electrical Power Conversion.

Interdimensional Internet Connection

Description: Allows Dungeons to connect to Earth’s internet.

Research Cost: 5 RP

Benefit Of Research: Allows the user to connect to the internet.

Parent Research: None

Research Unlocked: ???

Dungeon Ability Unlocked: None

Mana To Electrical Power Conversion

Description: Gives the Dungeon the knowledge of how to convert mana into electricity.

Research Cost: 5 RP

Benefit Of Research: Allow dungeons to use mana in place of electricity in electrical circuits.

Parent Research: None

Research Unlocked: ???

Dungeon Ability Unlocked: None

Jon heard a sound that sounded suspiciously like a “Squee” coming from Gwen in front of him as she read an invisible screen. As long as she wasn’t a literal manic pixie dream girl, he could forgive her for not holding in her excitement. John himself was excited at what he would be able to do with the Research he had just unlocked and the available resources back home.

As John was mulling over his thoughts, Gwen appeared to finish reading over the status changes and gave John a look mixed between excitement and embarrassment.

“Oh… it just kind of -”

Gwen was interrupted from what she was about to say by the sudden reappearance of Mahaytar.

“Hi, John and Gwen. I can see you both seem to agree about moving forwards with a partnership and looking excited to get started. John, is there anywhere else besides the city you were living in that you would like to get started? It seems like it is a medium-sized city for the area, not too big or too small, and has a decent amount of potential resources in the surrounding area.”

“Yeah, that should be good, do I get to choose where I start in the city?” John said.

“Sure, you can mark on the map where you would like to start.”

“And just double-checking, will I be returning to roughly the same time I left, or will there be some shift forwards in time.”

“There has been a bit of time between you coming here and going back, but it is only a couple of hours.”

“Okay, I fell ready to get started. Anything else you can think of, Gwen?”

“Nope, I think we’re ready to get started,” Gwen said with a shake of her head.

“Okay, you two should get ready. I’ll come to check on you in a little while and see how you are progressing,” Mahaytar said as he began to raise his hands in the air.

There was a bright flash, and John found himself with an aerial view of his city. He had an area already in mind, so he selected Sorensen Station. It was a bus station downtown with a parkade over top of it. He figured it would be an excellent central location in the city, and the river was close enough by that he thought he would be able to use it as a resource soon.

As a small cave appeared around John, he turned to talk to Gwen, but realized he didn’t have a body, and that his view was currently almost a third-person overhead view of the cave he was in, though John found he could move the view around as he wanted within the room. However, a sense of panic began to come over him as he realized no airflow in the room. He saw Gwen reach out her hand towards a fist-sized black opal that he realized must be his Core body, and was a bit startled as her voice entered his mind.

“Relax, John. I can feel the panic across our connection.”

John realized he could sense a feeling of warmth and amusement that seemed to be originating from Gwen. He said, “I’m not panicked about my safety or anything like that, but how will you breathe?”

Gwen smiled in John’s general direction and said, “Due to the bond between us, your mana can help with most of my bodily functions while I am in the dungeon. I won’t need to eat, breathe or drink for the time being, but if you provide me with a way to do those things, I will need to use less of your mana. What we should do is start making an entrance to the surface and your first room.”

“Do I need to worry about being open to the world this early?

“No, we can cover the entrance with a door when you get a pattern for one for now. The important thing is to get your first room and entrance started, and you should get some new abilities from it. Just absorb enough material from around you to make a room and entrance, while ignoring any notifications that may occur.”

“Do I need to worry about structural integrity above me, or will the Dungeon mana handle that?”

“Structures around you are reinforced with mana during this process, so don’t worry about causing any collapse.”

“Got it.” With that, John began to absorb the surrounding material heading south from his position. He roughed out a first room that was roughly the size of a hotel lobby. John figured that this room would eventually be a meeting ground for people looking to go through the dungeon. After that, he made a spiral going upwards where a door would exit out a sidewall of Sorensen Station for an entrance. John saw a bunch of waiting notifications as he finished this process but figured he had something to say to Gwen first. “Gwen, welcome to Red Deer, Alberta, Canada,” he said with warmth towards her.