The Vision

As Magnus had expected, the military had just about finished installing an evacuation camp at Butler Field and Grant Park. Not all Chicagoans had found the chance to take shelter there, though, as many were still stuck at their homes either due to fear, denial, or because they were literally unable to plow through the hordes of monsters coming out of the Abyss portals every few hours. It was as if the monsters were constantly being manufactured on an assembly line in the place beyond the portals. Once the ones dispatched to Earth had perished, more were being prepared to be sent away shortly after.

Magnus knew that the truth was, monsters simply had a spectacularly fast reproduction rate. Not to mention, their primal instincts also entailed unrestrained lust. In The Abyss, it wasn't uncommon to see a plain filled with billions of the same kind of monsters. And yes, Magnus had seen it with his own eyes. After all, Abyss portals were of the two-way type.

You'd go into The Abyss, slay some monsters, and defeat their leader who happened to be holding a blessed item. You might ask how they had come into possession of items blessed by the gods, when The Abyss was not where the gods lived. Or maybe the weapons just kind of fell like rain onto this habitat of monsters? And so they fought for those shinies, and whoever the weapon ended up being held by would declare themselves a leader?

Not exactly.

Just like in any other Realms, Arc Towers also existed in The Abyss. The only difference was, the gods activated the Transfer function within the ones in The Abyss with abandon.

Transfer function, also known as 'the main source of dopamine in the post-Prolog era', was the process in which Protagonists and Supporting Characters stepped into the Reward Room within the Tower to receive their due rewards in the form of blessed items for the former and guides to blessed items' locations for the latter. The name Transfer was literal, since the process involved a god choosing an item from their Treasury to be sent down onto the altar inside the Reward Room.

Arc Towers were like elevators that connected the mortal Realms to Heaven, particularly the Gods' Treasury. Magnus had come to know of this fact since he himself had gone to one of the Towers and using a 'special key card', literally had to Transfer himself up to Heaven before paying a visit to the Hall of Gods—not before snatching the Element Orb outside the Reward Room as a souvenir.

Did that mean the gods were able to also Transfer themselves down to the mortal world? Nah. There was a reason they needed a vessel to Descend. They were mighty powerful up there, but weak as chickens down here. Their bodies simply couldn't cope well with the dimension of the mortal. At least that was what Magnus had heard about. It wasn't as if he knew what exactly would happen if a god used the elevator—the Tower—to physically Descend. He hadn't seen nor heard about such a case during all his years as a Protagonist back in the original Universe.

And so, through the Towers that had popped up all over The Abyss, the gods would dump all kinds of blessed items and let the monsters duke it out to see who was 'worthy' to obtain the items literally piled up in the Reward Room.

It said, 'Room', but it was actually just a big alcove in the Tower where Protagonists and Supporting Characters could sometimes be seen waiting in line to receive their rewards. Like a queue of customers waiting in front of a bank teller wanting to withdraw a big sum of cash. The room was also used to 'bless'—a.k.a stat boost—the Supports via their Protagonist. An Author couldn't directly boost Supports, after all. Which was why Magnus had to touch his Team members every time he needed to up their stat points.

Magnus liked to think of The Abyss as the gods' dumpster. They threw out used products, otherwise known as low-ranked items, to this so-called forgotten Realm, and saved the ones with better qualities for a direct Transfer to their Protagonists. That said, a few portals did lead to a monster leader that held a high-ranked item, and Magnus knew just where one of those was located.

But that was for later. For now, he had to deal with the military. After Summer's and Henry's display of skills, Magnus had told the others to rest up for tonight. He himself had taken a two-hour nap; even though he was able to stay awake for days, he still needed a bit of sleep from time to time. He was still a mortal, after all.

After waking up, he headed to one of the camps, the one at Butler Field, where a few tents had been erected and military vehicles were parked. This was where the military's main operation took place.

Meanwhile, the bigger camp, the one at Grant Park, was still in the middle of organizing. The original purpose of the camp itself was to mainly serve as one of the evacuation centers, where civilians who had lost their homes and needed help went. As for the rest of the people? Well, a few facilities like clinics and hospitals were still operating, and many houses and apartments had been hardly affected by the earthquake. So people could still take shelter within their own homes.

That was, until the emergence of the Abyss portals. The military hadn't finished building the Grant Park camp when that happened. So they had to find a way to increase the maximum capacity of the camp and bring some doctors and medical equipment from nearby hospitals over to the camp. At the same time, they cooperated with local law enforcement to safely evacuate the people.

The Butler Field camp reminded him of the time when he'd arrived back in the city after traveling across The States in order to level up. There, he had to skim through the list of names of dead bodies found after the devastation of the north side of Chicago. He eventually found his parents' names on the list.

Over to one side, the tents were congregated. This was the 'living quarter' for the soldiers. On the other side, they had a big area kept empty, surrounded by a makeshift fence. It was a place where the soldiers would be training.

People weren't stupid; they had realized what it really meant to be awakened. They were also starting to learn how to use the system and control mana. Their understanding and path toward power was still at its infancy, but hey, at least it was a start. And so, they needed to allocate a special place to learn skills. Though, most would be relying on physical skills rather than magic, since it was difficult for a non-Protagonist to increase their Mana so soon.

Unless, of course, they had their personal Magnus.

Would Magnus bring his group over to the Grant Park camp so they would be able to have easier access to foods and other supplies? No, thanks. He would like to keep them far away from a congestion of people. Who knew which one of those strangers the gods would turn into their disposable Protagonist. Better to be safe than sorry.

Granted, the odd was low, since it would be a waste of time and AP to attempt another hasty murder, either through a Descent or an overly boosted Protagonist. Especially after two of them had been beaten back by Magnus, the gods must have realized by now, that there really was no way around killing him and his group other than growing a powerful Protagonist, which would take time.

Honestly, they should have learned about this after Scoville lost that tiny portion of his soul. But apparently, some gods were too stubborn to give up.

And Magnus had also learned his lesson; there was strength in numbers. If the group needed to separate, they had to be in a large number, with a fair distribution of skills. And more importantly, everybody needed to grow stronger quickly; he couldn't stress this enough.

So, what was Magnus doing at the camp in the middle of the night?

When it came to the military, initially he had wanted to bring his father straight to whoever was in charge and, using the man's charming smile, 'greet' them in a friendly manner. That way, he and Magnus would have an easier time negotiating a deal.

But that wouldn't be enough. His father was a likeable person, yes. But that didn't guarantee Magnus would end up in a favorable position. Now that he had gained the proper skill, he could employ it to 'set the mood' first before the meeting commenced.

Using [Subtle], he snuck behind one of the tents from which he had heard soldiers addressing the person who seemed to be in charge. Her name was Lieutenant Colonel Fatima Jameel. She was almost always in the company of this guy named Sergeant Major Trevor Cain. So Magnus had chosen the time where the woman had dismissed her adviser and decided it was time for some shut-eye.

Magnus crawled to a spot where the lights from the generator couldn't reach. They had to place the generator all the way to the edge of the field, since an Abyss portal had spawned near the other side, making it impossible for electricity to function at a fifth of the entire field. This portion happened to be close to Lt. Col. Jameel's tent. There were a couple of guards manning the front of the tent, but none at the back.

Magnus didn't have to actually enter the tent. The skill he was going to use could work at a distance. All he needed to do was focus on the target.

He crouched under the protection of the shadow from a tree, and cancelled [Subtle]. His high Perception could sense where his target was. He then channeled light element mana and sent it into Jameel's tent, before entering the woman's mind.

It was his second time performing [Dream Painting]. But this time, on a sleeping person. And Magnus had to admit, it really was way easier to penetrate a person's mind that way. He encountered literally zero resistance. Once he was inside her lump of consciousness, he was immediately affected by the Aura given off by her emotions. Since she was sleeping, they were mostly subconscious emotions. And holy crap, did the woman carry a ton of stress and anxiety beneath her stern façade! Magnus had to hold himself together to not be swept by those heavy emotions.

After getting back his bearings, Magnus began manipulating his mana, painting a scene in which he and his father were standing in front of her and her adviser in the tent. He made them look as if they were talking, but he deliberately kept it soundless. He was trying to be as vague as possible in order not to rouse any suspicion. The short scene ended with Markus and Jameel shaking hands.

After that, he erased the scene and painted a new one. In it, some soldiers were seen standing in awe as Magnus and his group were wiping out monsters on the street. Magnus didn't have the time to memorize their faces, so he made the soldiers' appearance as blurry as possible. The scene only lasted for a couple of seconds to avoid details. The next scene was of a large group of civilians arriving at Grant Park camp safe and sound. The last scene then showed Jameel herself smiling in relief.

'Congratulations, you're now a psychic who can see the future, Lieutenant Colonel.' Magnus mentally chuckled.

After planting the 'future vision' in the woman's head, he quickly moved on to do the same to Sergeant Major Cain. Both people having the same 'vision' would just add more credibility to it. This would surely make tomorrow's negotiation tilt more in Magnus' favor.