Four words could change everything about a relationship. Yet, a relationship that had changed at the base could still be the exact same on the surface. After a shared kiss, they had gone back and nothing had changed about their conduct. The air between them was just clearer now. Lighter and sweeter and John was starting to wonder if someone had turned down gravity just a tad.

“So, what’s for dinner, tiger?” Rave asked, as they entered the ‘tent’. “Because I’m so hungry I could eat… something big, dunno.”

“A horse?” John suggested.

“Nah, I had horse before and I didn’t like it.”

John walked up to the stove and turned the switches. “We’re out of power again.”

“Then get to the generator. I’ll do the cooking.”

“Finally doing a woman’s job?”

“Oy, ya wanna see what these hands can do to your dick, scrawny boy?” Rave wiggled her slender fingers.

“I experienced that this morning, can’t be that ba-“

“Imma break it.”

“That’s bad… would you break your favourite toy because you’re annoyed?”

“Absolutely – plus Gamer’s Body would just snap it back straight, right?”

“I’d rather not find out.”

“Then ya gonna shut your mouth. Men are for generating mana, not for talking. If you’re nice, Imma buy ya something pretty.” Rave flashed him a disarming grin and then went through the collection of cans John had brought along. “Nope, nuh, Nein, Iie, ingen.” She tapped each of the cans.  

John, meanwhile, gripped the inside of the mana generator again. Between glances at Rave’s – at his girlfriend’s butt, he opened the newly acquired Relationship window.

That seemed kind of useless.

“Alligator! I could eat an Alligator!” Rave suddenly shouted as she stirred whatever she had thrown into the pot.

“That is exotic.”

“Yep, had it once, it was awesome.”

“Where?”

“Back in Japan. My granddad’s a chef. Well, he was. He’s retired but still he sometimes cooked stuff like that.” John nodded, so at least her grandparents were norma- “I remember that one time he cooked a kraken, good stuff.”

And there his expectations went again. Why did he even still try? Rave looked like she knew exactly what he was thinking and winked over her shoulder. John had to ask, “So, is your whole family affiliated with the Abyss or what?”

“Yeah we’ve been in the Abyss for… dunno, never listened when mom went on a tirade on the ‘Hollmey clan history’. We are like middle class in the Abyss.” Rave explained.

“Yeah, about that, I still don’t know how the Abyss… exists. Are people in it mostly the children of other Abyssals or how does it work?” Rave scraped the contents of the pot into the two bowls and gestured for him to follow her to the table. She put on some techno music, then explained as they ate.

“So most of the Abyss is made up of people who are the children of other Abyssals,” she explained. “Like at least 80% of it all. Then you have the magical people, elves, dwarves, all of that jazz, scattered around the globe. The tiniest fraction of the Abyss is people like you. People born in the mundane population who have Innate Abilities.”

“I suppose born Abyssals are typically stronger?”

“Nah, born Abyssals are typically weaker,” Rave told him.

“Wouldn’t Innate Abilities that get passed down-“

“They don’t get passed down,” Rave interrupted him. “I dunno how Innate Abilities work, but they’re not genetic or something. It’s something with your soul. Like, maybe it's more likely that ya get one if your parents have one, but it’s not guaranteed or anything. The vast, vast majority of Abyssals are schmucks who are barely any stronger than mundanes. They’ve just been raised with magic around them, so Gaia ain’t protecting them.”

“Huh, that sounds… like it sucks… so wait, we’re stronger than most Abyssals?”

“I am, dunno about you right now. Maybe if ya got some better spells.” She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter much though. We might be stronger than most people who just live in the Abyss, but if ya meet any actual fighters we’d be bottom rung right about now. I mean, the bikers were even weaker, but ya should assume Baldy’s level at least.”

“Which actually brings me to a different question – what about guns?”

“What about what about guns?”

“I mean, no offense, but you’re not faster than a speeding bullet.”

“Nah, but I’m faster than most people can aim,” Rave told him. “I mean, there’s some people in the lower levels who use guns and that kinda works for a little while, but eventually the enchantments and the skin just gets too tough.”

“Just use Abyssal metals?”

“I mean, ya can try, dunno why they don’t but I’d guess there’s a reason. I know some people use gun-swords, but those usually only have one shot.” She stabbed one of the ravioli in her bowl. “Sorry that I can’t answer all your questions, tiger.”

John bumped into her with his shoulder and she bumped back. That went back and forth for a little while, until she surrendered and he thought of another question. “So, the bottom of the Abyss isn’t that different from mundane life.”

“If ya ignore the constant threats of getting kidnapped, killed, or enslaved, yeah,” Rave responded chirpily. “Although there’s all those guilds that kinda run Abyssal nations. They got more or less of a handle on things. Kinda hard to control a populace that can open pocket dimensions wherever.”

“I can imagine,” John agreed. “So the top of the Abyss are those guilds?”

“I mean, a few, yeah. There’s a bunch of minor regional guilds that no one’s ever heard of, then there’s like state-ish guilds and then there’s really established guilds that have existed really long. You’d be surprised how many of them exist in parallel with modern nations. Ethnicities binding together and all of that stuff. The strongest ones are called the Divided Gates, it’s basically like the UN.”

“Oh? So what are those?” John asked, interested. Grand strategy was one of his favourite game genres and the state of the Abyssal world sounded interesting. “Is the US in there?”

“Nah, in the Abyss history is power, kind of, because powerful people get super old.”

“They do?” That was the first John had heard of it.

“Oh, I didn’t mention that before? The stronger you are, the slower ya age. Mana in the body keeping ya in prime condition and all that. There’s people in the Abyss that’re like thousands of years old. Then there’s gods and all that stuff.”

The implications of that were tantalizing and terrifying. ‘So, if my level gets high enough I become basically immortal?’ he wondered. ‘To live forever with a harem… and to potentially watch all of them die if they can’t keep up with me… or to wither away while they get more powerful than me.’

Rave continued her explanation. “If your guild is old, it probably has a bunch of terrifyingly powerful people taking care of it. The US is all local warbands trying to keep their local share of the pie or foreigners like Moira and the Order trying to get a foothold. Heard Lincoln got close to unifying it all.”

“Abraham Lincoln?” John asked.

“The same – you’d be surprised how much of the Abyss is tangled up with real history. Anyway, ya want me to list the Divided Gates or not? I at least know those by heart.” He nodded and she broke them down quickly. “First and foremost ya got the Two Empires of the World, as they call them: the Mandate of Heaven in China and the Sons of Rome in Italy. There’s the Illuminati in France…”

“For real?”

“For realzies. Anyway, Prometheus is much of Greece and some of the surroundings. There’s the Dangun Clan in Korea, the Great Sultanate in Turkey and beyond, the Purest Front in Brazil, the Sons of Odin in Scandinavia at large, the Blood of the Proleteriat in Russia and here and there in eastern Europe-“

“Are they… Soviets?”

“Yeah, ya know, history might be power but some people still get kookie new ideas. How come you’re bothered by that but not by the Nazis?”

“There’s Nazis?”

“Purest Front didn’t give it away?”

“I don’t think ‘pure’ implies ‘nazi’ immediately, especially not in Brazil. Who is in Germany then? Rex Germaniae?” She shot him a confused glance. “You mentioned them in passing before. The name is also a giveaway.”

“You’re pretty good at remembering stuff,” Rave complimented and he scratched the back of his head. His memory was one of the few things he had counted as his blessings even before he got his powers and it had only gotten sharper since. “Anyway that’s all 10, I think? Yeah.”

“Surprised Great Britain isn’t on the list… or Japan for that matter. Or India. Or that the Nazis are in Brazil.”

“The Abyss of GB got annihilated during World War 2 by the Nazis and the Japanese,” Rave explained. “It was a whole mess. I don’t remember the details but all the ideological fanatics from Rex Germaniae formed a private army and joined with other fanatics from Japan and ravaged the island. They were too afraid to stay there though, so the Japanese then went back home and the Nazis fled to South America. Japan then proceeded to meet the same fate, getting annihilated by the Mandate of Heaven and the Dangun Clan after an initial series of victories… the Dangun Clan raids Japan to this day, preventing any organized Abyss from forming there.” She stopped for a moment. “No idea about India. Colonization broke their kneecaps, maybe?”

John digested all of that. “So among the Abyss’ strongest powers are Nazis, Soviets, vengeful Koreans, vikings and the Holy Roman Empire?”

“Uh, not sure about that last one, but yeah about the rest.”

“What a confusing world…” John said and laughed. “I kind of love it. This is all so strange and… I can’t wait to understand it all while I’m with you.”

“We should ask my dad if he has some books for you to check out when we tell him that we’re a thing now.” Rave smirked at him. “We’re a thing now, right?”

“Yes!” John agreed immediately. It dawned on him that they hadn’t actually stopped to talk about what exactly they were now. They had just done like always and gone with the flow. ‘Should I bring up the harem thing now…?’ He elected not to. He was too happy enjoying this right now to bring up something new. “Will your dad be mad?”

“Prolly not. I dunno. Only had a mistake that lasted a few weeks and a mistake that lasted a few days before.” She looked at him long and longing. “Ya won’t be one of those, will ya?”

“I’ll do anything I can not to be,” he promised. “Anyway, what do we do now? We have to go home at some point…”

“Yeah… quickie while we’re still somewhere I can scream my lungs out without bothering anyone?”