Ren, in the meantime, was getting to work in the morning as well. He figured that no one was really going to grind this early, or if they were they would be smart and message someone else and not him. Regardless, Ren didn't want to be bothered. So after setting up an Empty Pseudospace he began to get to work. There would be no way to create an efficient Healing Skill right now, so he focused on a stronger, cheaper projectile skill first. Mana Bolt was nice, but it wasn't all that powerful and it took a good bit of MP with each bolt fired. Even if it was just 4, after several bolts that amount added up, especially if he was firing off three at once. There had to be a Skill he could devise that could launch multiple projectiles, but in one single shot rather than drain more of his MP for multiple shots. Sure he had Giga Spiral Bolt, but that was a finishing move and a trump card to only be used on really tough enemies and if he had no other choice.

Instead of a projectile that just explodes on impact Ren wanted something with slashing or piercing power. He began to think of a possible shape as he gathered the mana in his hand. A blade. A blade could work, but he couldn't literally create a mana sword. No, but he thought of Kagura from Inuyasha and her blades of wind that she threw. They were not only sharp, but could also spin as well and she threw multiple blades with one throw. While Ren wouldn't be created blades of wind, blades of mana could work, so first he condensed the mana into a flat shape and began experimentation.

---

Ren Experimentation: 44 - 28 Focus = 16

---

But making just a blade of energy with a single didn't seem all that effective. That's when Zero's Shield Boomerang came to mind. Its edges were kind of like a chainsaw, jagged. With a spinning motion and protrusions of the end like that then the blades would be like mini, spinning chainsaw discs. It could work. Slowly he began to smooth out the energy a little bit, creating a disc. After that the slightly jagged, saw like edges began to form, these being curved slightly to give it a more of an attack that slashed many times rather than tore into an enemy as even though tearing was good, it was slow and messy and also an enemy capable of catching or throwing away the disc before it dealt too much damage would be troublesome. With this instead it would slash the opponent with many slashes that were quick. sure it wasn't as strong as something that tore, but it was swifter through the air and through the body.

Now holding it floating above one hand he threw the quite small, spinning disc (that was probably about the size of a smaller Frisbee) at a tree, watching in glide through the air swiftly like a Frisbee, only much faster. He watched with apt satisfaction as the spinning blade disc cut well into a tree before dissipating, leaving a pretty nice gash in it. He was panting softly, smiling as a new Skill window appeared for him, but then quickly breaking and recreating the Pseudospace to return the tree to normal since he didn't want to risk leaving a pretty small gash on a tree. While the Skill seemed a little weak now, Ren knew that in no time it would level up and grow alot stronger than Mana Bolt.

Next was a buff skill. He wanted something that could power up his mana skills to give them an extra kick. Luckily Paper Mario and Ren's thoughts on that came into play. A Charge style ability, Charge being an ability in Paper Mario, to increase the power of his next attack. He knew that the more mana in a mana based attack, the more powerful it is. So he figured if he could just find a way to charge a short burst of mana into a skill to increase its power. To experiment with this Ren decided to try it out with Mana Bolt, a skill he knew already. Ren's thoughts were by gathering a small 'charge' of mana and then using a skill he could imbue the mana 'charge' with the skill to increase its strength somewhat.

---

Ren Experimentation: 35 - 28 Focus = 7

---

Luckily it worked. The small charge of mana made his Mana Bolt right as he used it a little more powerful. He did this one more time before he completely got it down, smirking a little in satisfaction as he looked at his newly acquired Skill with satisfaction. After meditating for a short bit to regain back his Mana, Ren decided it was time to fight some Imps. Then after that he faced a tree, beginning to grind three of his newly acquired Skills. Spinning Mana Blade, Charge, and Repulse Wave (using that as for now just using it gave EXP, he would probably have to use it on enemies later to grind it). He did this for a little while until he gained a few levels in all three skills, deciding that if he was going to use these skills on newer, stronger enemies then he would need to level them up quickly and easily first without the hassle of fighting any Imps as he originally planned to level his Skill.

The fight went pretty well. Ren got bit a few times and got infected by the Disease Status from the Zombie, but a usage of some medicine cured that. It was a wonder how common items like general purpose medicine could become such marvelous things with the usage of this power. Over all he leveled up a couple of Skills one or two times, but the biggest accomplishment was the level up. As much as he wanted to put points into Int and Wis he poured some into Vit because he needed a Vit of 10 as the final requirement for learning Eldritch Flame. Still he wasn't sure if he was going to learn it just yet. A short rest at the park though, as the morning was over now, as Ren began to think of how he should spend his day next, wondering if he should go visit Saito after all.

alright. on my way

Sasha was a bit hesitant about partying up with Mike. The kid screwed up really badly when they were investigating Sumi, and then he was taken out quite early when they were fighting the Imps. However, no one else replied to her message, so she might as well take what she can get. Sasha opened her wardrobe to change. She picked out a pair of dark gray track pants and a black tank top. Using the inventory to change, Sasha was done in a couple of seconds. She threw on a drab hoodie and headed out. She could move much better in these clothes than the usual casual wear.

She jogged to the train station, getting a feel for her new levels of athleticism. While she wasn't terrible at sports during highschool, months of sedentary living had certainly taken its toll. She had noticed with a heavy heart that her once shapely hips had grown wider. Now, even though she looked no different physically, could run much faster than she ever managed to.

Around 40 minutes later, she arrived at the gates Gekkoukan Gakuen. It felt strange coming to her old school so often after she had graduated from it. Considering a couple of the gamers were from this school, she had a feeling she was going to be here regularly. It didn't seem appropriate standing near the gate, so she stood across the street in the shade of a building. Mike was nowhere to be found. She opened her menu and messaged him:

where r u? im in front of the school

Were it not for him being distracted by all the sights and smells on his way over there, Mike would have gotten to the school before Sasha. In fact right before the school came into view, he got a message from said girl. Instead of answering it, he opted for just ignoring it since he would probably see her in a few seconds, and in fact he did "heyyyy!" he called out to her. After reaching the gates of the school, he asked Sasha "so are we still waiting for anyone, or is it just us today?" He put away his scooter and replaced it with his folding chair. Suddenly remembering, he asked her "oh yeah! Do you know if you can get free stat points? You know, stat points that you get from someway besides leveling? Because I could really use a free source of STR. I only have 2 STR, and you need 5 to use this thing right, otherwise you suffer penalties"

Silas woke up, he felt good today. It seemed that he had restored himself, just like in some games. If you rest, you heal. He didn't know how late it was, but he guessed it was around noon. That would mean that his girlfriend Tomoyo already had left for work. That girl had it really tough. Working on a sunday, that it something he couldn't do. Not that he had any work at all, aside from the money he earned from winning squash tournaments. Silas was still a bit bothered from the piece of paper he received from Sumi yesterday, mainly because it was blank. That however made him question, why did she give a blank piece of paper to him, and not one of the others? Luckily he had remembered what was displayed above her head. It said that she was from the Ban Dojo, at least that is what he gathered from the text above her head. And luckily good ol' internet could locate the the Ban Dojo immediately.

After all that thinking he finally decided to eat something, and headed out afterwards. He had written the address on the blank piece of paper, which apparently was useful for something, and headed to the dojo. Once he arrived there, he locked his bike and suddenly noticed that a PM was send to him, two of them to be exact. Both of them had been send some time ago. The first one was from Ren, and the second one from Sasha, but he decided to ignore both of them. He walked towards the entrance of the dojo and knocked. He hoped that it wasn't a trap, like some said.

As he knocked on the door it wouldn't open for a few moments. Suddenly though a few minutes later the door would open, a boy standing there. He looked older than Sumi in terms of height and appearance, but his level was two levels lower than her's at Level 23, his Level being 21. His name above his head was Genji Ban and his class was different than Sumi's. His was 'Heir to the Chikyū-shin no Ken'. Genji looked to be about Silas' age and height as he seemed to look Silas up and down for a few moments. "What brings you here to the Ban Dojo? Are you interested in lessons?" It didn't seem like it was a trap, but then again who could tell at this point.

Silas looked at the boy, who seemed to be around his age, in front of him. He didn't expect someone else to open the door, but it was not like Sumi was the only one living in this place. Silas assumed that it was her older brother, but didn't jump to conclusions yet. "Uh... hey." Silas began, not sounding nervous but just a little bit uncomfortable. "This is also the place where Sumi lives, right? She kinda, or not, invited me to come here... because of..." Silas decided not to say anything but instead pointed to the empty space above his head, where other Gamers, could see his name.

"Ah, the crazy people who believe they can see names over people's heads" Genji chuckled a little jokingly, this obviously being a joke. "Im just joking. So you are a Natural Ability user huh..." Genji seemed to be looking Silas up and down. "It seems you also decided to ignore Nee-san's advice and have not ignored your power, not that it could actually go away unless you ignore it right after discovering it for Natural Ability Users anyway."

"That's right, I didn't invite him!" Sumi came forward now, wearing a karate gi as she was panting a little softly, looking like she had just been training as she wiped the sweat from her brow. "I gave you that blank piece of paper in hoping that you and your little group would leave all well alone because if this was a trap..." Suddenly Sumi's hand would be right in front of his throat, formed in a glowing, yellow fist, the pressure and weight of the punch being enough to actually be felt against his neck. "You'd be dead..."

"Now now Nee-san. No need to frighten him, he's probably new to the Abyss, although I have to agree." He gently put a hand on her fist and lowered it, Sumi taking a step back. "So, why are you here? But more importantly why don't you tell us your name. After all while I do not feel like attacking you I would like to know why you have come here and who you are. In this world of the Abyss, trust is earned after all."

Silas got a little bit of a shock when the boy said that he didn't ignore his sister's advice. He almost thought that this could be a trap after all. Then Sumi joined the conversation, and compared to her brother she was a lot more hostile. She seemed irritated, but hopefully not only because of his presence. Sumi then suddenly launched her fist at his throat, Silas could feel the large energy of it pushing against him. Yet, Silas didn't change his expression, keeping his boring and indifferent face. He was startled inside of his head, but didn't show that, and just looked down to the fist. "I also said that I didn't know if it was an inventation or not." he said.

Luckily her brother lowered the fist of Sumi, but as expected he did want to know why he came here, what his name was and all that kind of stuff. "Well, for starters, my name is Silas von Wainright. The reason that I decided to come here was in the hope of getting stronger. I want to discover the secrets and origins of this gift, and the only way to find that out is to get stronger. Both physically and mentally." he said, with his voice sounding different from before. Instead of his monotone and indifferent voice, he said it in a really serious and determined voice.

Well he seemed honest, and that was good enough in Genji's eyes. "Alright, you seem like an honest fellow. I like that. Nee-san mentioned though that you had some other people with you. Where are they?" Genji looked around behind Silas, wondering if they were hiding nearby cause they were nervous or something.

Silas chuckled a little. "Neh... to say it nice. I don't like being around them." he turned towards Sumi now. "You know that other boy, well he is an idiot. And that girl, she is a little bit full of herself. However I am keeping contact with them, mainly because they are the same as me." he explained. "Hope that calms you down a bit."

Sumi nodded, remembering Mike well as he was an idiot, at least to her anyway.

"Even if you don't like them they still have the same power as you. You should probably bring them along anyway especially if you wish to find out the secrets of your power." Genji spoke this time.

"I understand. But I think they are training by themselves at the moment. And they also don't trust you guys enough to even bother to visit." that was a lie, because Sasha said yesterday that she wouldn't mind going to the dojo along with him.

---

Silas Negotiation: 48 - 11 Negotiation = 37

Sumi Observation: 27

Genji Observation: 3 (Not a Crit)

---

Genji raised his eyebrow and Sumi just shook her head a small bit. "Im going back to training Genji." She walked off, leaving Genji and Silas alone.

"You're quite the bad lier you know." Sure Silas' lie sounded believable, it really did. After all, Genji would have probably felt the same way if he was in their situation. Still to lie like that, Genji just sighed a little. "Well to not like someone is one thing, but to lie about what they are like is another. Not that I am going to judge you, but to try and come here for training by yourself to try and... well.. get ahead of your friends I assume? Forgive me if I sound presumptious, but if you really did want to find out more about your power you would have probably brought a few others with you, not that I don't believe that you don't want to find out, but it would be alot easier if you brought some others with you..."

After his explanation he looked at Silas, not really mad or anything that the man lied, just somewhat disappointed since he thought he found an honest fellow. "Well, am I right?"

Silas facepalmed himself inside of his head. Why did he have to lie about this? But there was a way to make this right, Genji luckily didn't immediately walk away like his sister did. "You're kinda right. One person said she wouldn't mind coming along, but the others did talk about this being a trap. But the subject about it wasn't brought up again. I indeed want to be trained alone, but those other would hold me back and... well, yeah. Sorry. I hope I didn't threw all the trust you guys had out of the window." he said. Unlike how he normally was, he actually wanted to fix this, a bit emberassed that he lied to people he just met.

Genji smiled, patting the man's shoulder. "Well that's an honest response there. Although I would like to meet the other members of your group some time, I don't mind training ya a bit. I can't teach you our family's secretive techniques, but nothing says I can't teach you the basics of a few things... still..." He looked over Silas for a few moments. "You got a strong, sturdy build of someone who is athletic. You probably need to train a little more though before you can handle the basics of our family's basic techniques. Do you have any place to train in?"

A smile appeared on Silas' face. He was happy that Genji liked him, unlike the other people he met, Genji was more likable. "Well, I'm 'professionally' doing squash. I participate in tournaments etc. But I don't know how much stronger I will get from it. But I will train some more before coming back here again. And I shall ask if some others are willing to come too." he held his hand out. "Does that sound good?" he asked hoping Genji would shake his hand in agreement.

"Squash huh... that some kind of foreign sport?" Genji really didn't know what it was, but it sounded interesting nonetheless. "And sure. After all its better if we have more of ya here. After all according to Sumi your group said that they just recently discovered their power and three people all getting the same Natural Ability at the same time is very... well... it hasn't been seen before. So having more of you all here could help us discover more of whatever your power is..." In truth none of the Gamers actually said what their power was and Genji did seem intrigued. "Plus... you'll be... safer... if you train here."

"Thanks." he said. "I'll probably see you soon then." Silas turned around to leave again, but quickly turned around again to say one last thing. "Oh, and also say Sumi that I'm sorry. I really don't want to be in conflict with her!" he unlocked his bicycle and jumped on. Waving goodbye as he departed.

Genji nodded, waving farewell before he closed the doors after Silas had left.

While riding his bike, Silas opened his menu with the command of his voice. He went to his messages and went to the last PM send by him. The one of Sasha asking if anyone wanting to train with her. He wrote back.

I don't mind a nice exercise. Btw I have something to tell

Alright then, that will do for a starter. Lucian was content with the new ability that he had learned, it would take a lot of practise to use it the way he wanted, but it seemed like and ability that would be useful for its passive and as a foundation for his future endeavors. He would spend a good chunk of his afternoon practising his new skill Mana Flow, wanting to get a better understanding of it, before he would put it to a practical test.

He was just taking a breather when he noticed a pm appear from Sasha. Lucian read through it quickly, "More training with the others?" a look of disgust crept over his face, he wasn't really in the mood to be with them again so soon, he had just been with them for most of the day before after all. "It would be for the best I suppose." He let out a sigh, his strange dream still playing on his mind, "After I try a few things out though." He grinned as he typed away his reply.



After hitting reply, he tried his best to calm himself down as he sat crossed legged on the ground, and tried to get focused for his experiment.

Lucian Mana Flow (Focus): 76 - 24 Focus = 52

---

Lucian managed to gather the flow of his mana into one spot and pour it into the ground. Lucian feels his focus isn't exactly at its sharpest as he did this, but the Skill lets him do it somewhat easily anyway. Its difficult and Lucian can definitely feel his Mana going down as he controlled the flow of it with this Skill. Not by much of course, but it is slowly draining indeed. As Lucian forces it through his body he then manages to just barely flow it into the ground, sitting down helping with this. A few windows did appear for him after his experiment.

"Hey, Mike. Strength? Why don't you lift weights or something. It would probably work?" Sasha suggested. The boy was a lively one, if a little dim. More notifications popped up as they were talking. "Looks like the ball's rolling. Silas is coming, and Lucian said he's joining later."

"So, um, I kinda forgot that I can't create pseudospaces with Imps in them. Do you have the ability to?" Sasha said, stepping out from where she was leaning against the wall.

The Imps didn't seem to stop being tough. Somehow they were pretty skilled in combat and it didn't really help that Mike wasn't using his weapon either, trying his best to do with Force Pulse, but he was a bit clumsy the entire time. Still though, like Silas, he only suffered a couple of small hits. No Skills of his leveled up during this fight, but he did get just enough EXP to hit Level 6, giving him more Stat Points and Talent Points to apply. Silas and Sasha would receive a couple of Skill level ups and some EXP, but they didn't level up yet. It appeared that Imps were starting to give less EXP and it was taking more to level up, meaning that they wouldn't be leveling up as quickly.

For Sasha though her usage of Stealth was quite excellent in the battle, the woman managing to sneak off several times to only come in for some skilled sneak attacks, managing to even get a Critical Strike once which boosted her Melee Weaponry by 1 and gave her the Critical Strike skill as well as a Level in Sneak Attack, Sneak Expertise, and Blunt Weapon Mastery. Despite not leveling up Sasha still benefited greatly from their first session of grinding.

---

The second time the Imps seemed to be better this time as there were a few more as well. These Imps fought well, but their defense was nearly impeccable. Silas and Sasha fought incredibly well. While Sasha wasn't able to execute Stealth this time, as there were no open opportunities and she just wasn't on game with it this time, her usage of Mana Revolver was impeccable, leveling Mana Shot and Mana Revolver a good bit and even scoring a Critical Strike, giving a +1 to Projectile Weaponry. Silas also did well, increasing his Skills' experience a bit and gaining a couple of Skill levels. The main thing he got though was a Level Up, giving him Stat and Talent points now to apply.

---

This third time did not turn out as well. Mike fought pretty well with Force Pulse and managed to dodge a good number of blows. Silas also fought pretty well, but did not dodge as well as Mike did. Both of them increased their Attack Skills a bit as well as receiving a level in Physical Endurance. Sasha didn't do as well this time. She missed with nearly every shot and was quite clumsy with all of her attacks, this affecting her dodging somewhat. She still got hit a good bit, leveling up Physical Endurance and gaining 1 Level, but nothing else.

The imps were savage though this time and fought alot better than the group did. This forced the group to need to use ID Escape to retreat, probably creating another Pseudospace, empty one, to recuperate in, having to now think about how to apply their stat boosts while also recuperating from the very hard fight they just had, the afternoon nearly over now for them as it was starting to near evening.

Closing the new windows that had appeared infront of him, Lucian smiled as a drop of sweat raced down from his brow, "Fascinating...Skills can change, or evolve instead of just having a mass of skills? this works out nicely," To say Lucian was pleased with the new development of his Mana flow would be an understatement. Because of what he had learned, he had many new ideas flood into his mind on what he could do now with enough practice. He sat back for a second, before he got up and got himself a glass of water from the tap. Before I move on though, it would be best if I tried to master this skill somewhat, I can always work more on my tree after I get home from training with the others. He drank his water while leaning on his counter, But if what that window stated is to be taken literally, that would mean that the earth has its own mana...He stared at the ground, Could I observe 'Gaia' ? he placed his glass in the sink after he finished. "That would be silly." He shook his head and at back down. He would spend the rest of his afternoon focusing on flowing mana into the ground, then flowing mana into him, and back and forth.

Lucian would do well enough in using the Mana Flow Skill to control his mana, having to take a few breaks a couple of times to regenerate his mana as controlling the flow used Mana, but near the end of the afternoon Lucian would gain three more levels in the Skill, it probably going to be a little harder now that it was level 5. It would take the rest of the afternoon though, but Lucian would feel that he had a bit more control over his Mana now.

Ren was panting heavily, thankful for those glorious level ups as right after he killed the monster he got enough EXP to level twice and upon leveling up his HP and MP healed. His body was in so much pain, her battle cosplay outfit dirty, as he had worn it while grinding cause it was cool. Getting hit and nearly crushed by large boulders twice as well as a large fist hurt alot. Ren was still physically and mentally exhausted after the battle though, leveling up not curing fatigue. Still he had barely survived, even going unconscious for a moment, but Ren's desire to not die gave him a second wind and let him keep on fighting instead of dying.

In fact, during the fight when Ren's HP did go below 0 around the time everyone completed their afternoon activities brought up the following window. It didn't appear directly in front of them, but more in the corner of their vision. It was like a health bar that shows on the side of the screen for the health of party members. It showed Ren's name and below that a health bar, but it was empty. Instead it had 'Deadly' in dark red text with a small skull next to it, just like the Deadly Status that Sasha received during that one battle. It most likely was a party alert to indicate that Ren was in danger.

When Ren leveled up though after destroying the monster that bar would fill back up to full red to show that he was alright. Still he had been in incredible danger from something despite the fact that he was a higher level than all of them, which meant that whatever it was had to be a force to be reckoned with. That small window would remain there though until dismissed by touching it.

After the battle Ren looked towards where his foe had been, a familiar small chest like from when the Big Imp had been defeated. Ren touched it and in a small blink of light the chest vanished, a few items in its place. A stack of yen bills, four vials, a book, and a strange looking stone. Ren used Observe on all of the Items. There was alot of money and the four vials were three mana potions, one being a Medium one instead of small, and one Small Health Potion. A Skill Book was there, this one seeming and being somewhat rare, and the stone was also strange. It had a strange power to it according to Ren's Observe Skills.

Ren picked up the four Zombie Teeth that were there as well, sighing to himself. He was quite tired. Unfortunately he didn't have much time to relax as he suddenly noticed his Minimap. A white dot was right behind him and he quickly turned around, not giving the dot any chance as it wasn't green, so it wasn't any of the party members. "Spinning Mana Blades!" The three disc shaped, spinning blades of mana shot towards whoever was there as Ren turned around.

A man in a dark suit was standing there, a relaxed and calm look on his face. The three blades just broke and dissipated before they even hit the man, not even making him blink. "Now now...that wasn't very nice was it? I'm not here to harm you. No, I'm here just for three reasons. A request, a gift, and a warning. Sorry that I did not speak up sooner."

Ren's eyes widened as he saw his level. His Skill was completely ineffective. Not only did they not deal any damage, but they didn't even hit him. Was this the power of those with ??? Level as Ren looked at the text above his head. Gin Kazama Lv ??? and above that was 'Abyss Auction Dealer'. So this man was from the Abyss Auction then? Did all dealers have this level? If so then Saito was right in that this place was not something to mess with. Ren was taken out of his thoughts though when a card was suddenly handed to him, Ren gently taking it and looking at it.

"Our service wishes to see the patronage of you and your friends. We have noticed you, Hitori Ren-san, a while ago after you contact with the Messengers of Gaia. Since then we have kept tabs on you with things like long range observation magic although we haven't really learned much from it since you have done well in obscuring yourself. Of course we have been keeping tabs on your friends as well over these past two days ever since their contact with a Messenger of Gaia as well. You all possess some incredible potential and we wish for your patronage."

Ren looked at the card for a few moments. A website was printed on it beneath the words 'Abyss Auction' on one side. On the other was Gin Kazama and a phone number. "If you wish use the Abyss Auction Service go to this website or call this phone number to get the app for your phone. If you use my name you and your other friends will get a 25% discount on your first purchase as long as it is a purchase of upper D Rank or lower."

Was this man seriously speaking of this like an American TV commercial, which Ren had seen before when his parents were in America for a bit. Ren remembered going to some party there one day for his parents' work. Those thoughts and past memories were quickly pushed out of his mind though when the man suddenly handed him a bag. In it were four small vials, Ren using Observe on one of them by mumbling it quietly beneath his breath.

"Some very small health potions. They are somewhat smaller than the somewhat other small ones, but they should help you all out in a pinch so split them among your friends. Don't worry about paying me for them, they are a gift from me to your group as I do wish for you all to do well, which is also why I have come here." The man's relaxed, laid back, and calm tone became more serious as he adjusted the glasses on his face. "The Messengers of Gaia do not just contact anyone. The fact that they have contacted you and your friends has made information on all of you has sell well, especially by those who are more interested in the messengers. Which is where my warning comes in." He sighed a little, adjusting his glasses once again.

"You all are being watched. Some people have begun to suspect that you all have incredible potential and they will probably do anything to get it. All the Auction knows about your power is that you can see things above people's heads, have Skills, and can get Experience Points. Still thanks to some information gathered from some of your fights against some monsters you all are said to have incredible potential. Some people are targeting you and you all are now in danger. So all I can tell you is that you and your friends need to grow stronger. Also be careful of where you go and where you set up Pseudospaces to train. I recommend finding a secretive, more secure place. Anyway, with that, I bid you adieu."

With that the man left, the man disappearing in a small blink of black energy. Ren's eyes widened, wondering if he could get a teleportation skill like that. Still, he just heard some bad news. Ren opened up his Friends List and sent a PM to everyone else. It read as follows.



After that Ren fell down onto his back, not even bothering to change out of his 'battle outfit' despite the fact that the others could possibly some here. All of that exhaustion was now catching up with him. Even if the pain was all mostly gone thanks to leveling up and his HP healing he was still exhausted from that incredibly tough and very long fight that he was lucky to have survived. He slowly closed his eyes, deciding to catch some rest for now until the others showed up, so if and when any of the others showed up they would find Ren in an interesting looking cosplay (just the outfit, everything else appearance wise still looks like Ren), eyes closed as he looked passed out, his breathing very slow.

When Mike read the message, he was instantly worried "'too tired to move'? That would be a lot less unsettling if he didn't also have bad news for us. We need to hurry" he said to the others. Putting his folding chair back and taking out his scooter, Mike hurried to Ren's location along with the other two. It was starting to get late, so he was a little worried about the time

Lucian had just finished grinding his skill for the time being, opening his window he looked at it, pleased with his progress, "Already level 5? Not bad, I think I will take it to the next step after it makes it to level seven or higher." He looked at the clock mounted on the wall and pulled himself off the ground, he had been planning on meeting with the others to train, but still felt a bit hesitant about it as he hadn't made it as far in his personal endeavors as he had hoped, but he did say he would go, as he was getting himself ready at a leisurely pace, a new window appeared before him, one that he had never seen before, and afterwards he hoped to never see again.

Ren is in trouble? The window displayed that the other gamer was in a Deadly status, worry crept into Lucian's mind as he wondered what could be going on, he got everything together and started running, only stopping when he noticed the health meter displayed returned to normal, and then realizing that he actually had no idea were anyone was in the first place. Slumped, Lucian opened his mini map, and would play with the toggle of its zoom, while standing in the shadow of an alleyway. His question of where to go was answered in a message he got shortly after though. He continued on his way as quick as he could, arriving after the others. "Are you okay? Is everyone okay?" Lucian was panting, this was more running than he had done in years.

Sasha shook her head and sighed audibly. "Why does Ren insist on meeting in person all the time? Forget the gamer system's messaging thingy- doesn't he have a damn phone? Mike, I'm sure he's fine."

Despite her complains, the boy was already headed towards the meeting point at full speed. Sasha rolled her eyes. There was only Silas left... it shouldn't be a problem leveling with just the two of them, but the earlier fights were tougher than she expected. The girl was also slightly worried about Ren's "unsettling news". It would probably be wise to find out what was going on first.

"Let's go," she said to Silas.

As everyone arrived and began talking to another or looking at the possibly unconscious Ren a soft groan would escape from him, the young Gamer suddenly opening his eyes slowly, those red and green eyes of Ren's taking a few moments to open as he looked to be pretty groggy. Slowly he sat up, rubbing his temple as he looked at the others, glaring at them a little. "Can't you all be a little quieter? I was trying to sleep." Ren sat up, looking at his somewhat torn and dirty outfit for a few moments before sighing softly to himself. "Well I guess that's a little more EXP for the Craft Skill then..."

He opened his inventory with the command and seemed to press his finger on his window judging from how he was touching the air. With just a few 'touches' a small blip of light washed over Ren for a moment and in the next instant he was back in his male Gekkoukan High uniform. Next he removed a small bag from his inventory as he sat with his back to the tree he had been sleeping under. He emptied the bag onto the ground in front of him and out from the sack came four vials of light pink liquid. "Everyone take one and save it as it could save you. They were a gift from the person who delivered to me the unsettling news I mentioned."

Ren waited for them to examine and do whatever with the vials they would take, there being one for each of the others. Any usage of the Observe Skill on them would display the following.



Once they were done with the vials Ren would get right to the point.

"We are being watched." Plain and simple, yet also quite ominous sounding. "An Abyss Auction Dealer, whose level was just ?'s, approached me after my boss fight. He told me that the little information there is about us is selling well and that if we don't want to die then we need to get stronger. He also pretty much mentioned that we have been careless by training out in the open as if he, or anyone else after us, wanted to they could easily kill us after we are tired from training. This means that we need to find a safe place to grind and to meet up as well. Anyone have any leads on safe places?"

The usual coldness in Ren's voice was still there as it always was around others, but there was a large amount of seriousness as well, this unsettling news indeed being quite unsettling.

A safe place to train? Mike suddenly remembered something "hey, what about that dojo we were invited to by that girl we met before? That sounds like it would make for a safe place to train. Not only that, but they also know about this whole abyss thing there, that would leave less for us to have to explain. Not only that, but I bet they have some awesome skill books over there......although based on what I could tell, their martial art style seems to be more DEX based, which isn't going to do me a lot of good. Oh well, it's still better then nothing. I think Silas has that paper she gave us with the address on it"

Silas had done some good training today. After his visit at the Ban Dojo he really wanted to improve himself. He still didn't exactly know why he wanted to become so strong. It wouldn't have much effect in real life, only in this game life. In the back of his head was always the thought that, like in most games, a giant quest would present itself before him with big importance. Maybe something with the destruction of the world, or someone dear to him being held captive. He suddenly saw the PM of Ren. Like Sasha he rolled his eyes. Mike on the other hand was really worried and already went ahead. Sasha, although he could sense she also was a bit bothered by it, said that they also should guy. "I guess that is the right thing to do." he said.

Once he and Sasha arrived on the spot, he saw that Mike already was there, which was no surprise. He first gave all of us one recovery potion. Silas knew he wouldn't use it unless he was in a critical situation. He never was one to use potions. He'd preferred to rest and thus wait, instead of wasting a potion. And now he had one that was 'a little uncommon' so he wouldn't waste it. Then the subject about a safe place to train came up. Silas immediately had to think about this morning, when he was at the Ban Dojo. But before he could say anything about it, Mike already mentioned it.

"The paper Sumi gave me was blank." Silas replied with a monotone voice. "However I looked up the address and went there earlier today. Sumi didn't want us to come there, However her older brother was open to training us all, not only me. But your stats have to be high enough to come there. I think with the training I did today I should be able to go there. Dunno about you guys though."

Ren was battered but alive. Sasha wondered what he was fighting that made his appearance so, since her clothes were untouched during the previous fights with the Imps. He was also wearing... cosplay?

"Sweet, thanks," Sasha said, grabbing the recovery potion.

"The question comes back to whether or not we trust this dojo. In the end, they could still be after something. I don't see why they want to help us." Sasha twirled the potion around in her hands, thinking. "If not, then where would be a good, 'secretive' place to train?"

Letting out a sigh, Lucian was starting to loosen up after seeing that everyone was well and accounted for. He razed a brow at seeing Ren in what appeared to be a destroyed cosplay, but thought it best not to ask, everyone had strange habits he guessed, who was he to judge? Taking what would appear to be a potion in hand, Lucian used to observe skill to view the pink liquid, then he placed it in his inventory.

"So, we really did have reason to worry about just being out and in the open then?" So would it be safe then to practice in my own place then? I guess I'll just have to be careful about what I do on my own then. He stood fiddling with his glasses, then placing them back on his face spoke, "Well if we are dealing with people with other fantasy based abilities, and levels that we can't even see yet, would there truly be any place safe that we could just stumble upon? I see it as we are stuck between two unknown choices, but at least one has a friendly face so far." He shrugged, he felt regardless of what they chose, they would be in for a rough time.

Ren listened to the others speak. They all presented some valid points and from the looks of things the dojo was their best bet, at least for those three. Ren, currently in his male school uniform right now as he used his inventory to instantly change, slowly stand up, groaning a little as he stretched. Whatever he must of fought seemed to take a lot out of him since he looked passed out when they got here. "Training on our own or not, one thing is clear. We need allies, people who can help us out and people who know more about those watching us." Ren took a few moments to stretch out and relax his slightly sore and tired form before speaking again.

"Tomorrow you all should go to the dojo. After all if they did have something planned then why would one person give us a blank note if they did want us to show up? To be honest, I trust that more than them just giving us their address. After all if one of them was Level 23 then don't you all think they would have killed Silas when he went there or killed you three" Ren gestured to Mike, Silas, and Sasha, "when you encountered her?" After stretching for a few moments Ren sighed some as he leaned back a little against the tree he had been sleeping beneath.

"If we're lucky we can learn who is watching us and you all can get some martial arts training and level up some more. If we aren't lucky, we die. Either way its too late to turn back now, so we might as well go for it." Ren wondered why he was talking about all of them dying so lightly. It was a strange feeling and his usual cold tone only served to make the words all the more ominous. Was this the result of the Gamer's Mind Skill and a higher Int that allowed him to think about these things so calmly? That was a little unnerving. "Ill be visiting Tatsumi-san in the meantime tomorrow. Maybe he'll be more willing to help us out with more information since he seemed to know a lot about the Abyss Auction."

He raised his hand towards the sky. "ID Escape!" With that the Pseudospace was broken. If the others had taken a good look around the area during their conversation inside of it they would have noticed a few small craters in the ground that appeared to have a strange shape, like they were made with a large fist. There were also large pieces of earth that looked like they were torn straight from the ground judging by the other large holes there. Once the Pseudospace was broken though the park reverted back to its normal self, indeed abandoned, but not looking like a battlefield at least.

"If you really feel like training on your own though some more, make sure you're not alone. You won't die as easily that way." With that Ren decided to go home for the evening, luckily living not too far away from their current location so he wouldn't have to walk his slightly tired and wobbling form home that far, of course with his slightly slower pace as he walked off it probably wouldn't be too hard to catch up with him if any of the others had any questions or things to say to the young, white haired boy. If not, then everyone would be able to go home without a hitch.

Unfortunately it would be pretty late so there really wouldn't be much time to do anything else except go home unless they wanted to stay up late into the night to do so and risk being tired the next day for a day that instead would require a clear head and a good night's sleep to achieve that.