Building a magic system on threat of destruction

Jack made his way back to the bore-bot lab with Jeler. The two of them bounced a few ideas off of each other concerning future system skills but Jack wanted to hold off on making any more until he learned a bit more about the magic of the world. Hopefully, Reph, Glimm, and Dirge could walk him through some of the basics without too much trouble. To be honest, he had more questions for them as well. Working on the system and trying to figure out its issues had taken most of his time so far but he needed to ask about a lot of things, some vitally important to his survival, others being an idle curiosity.

They made it back to the main building where the bore-bots lived. Jack hadn't really spent much time inside of it except for the basement. Most of his time had been spent outdoors working with the mercenaries to test skills and stats. The building itself was two stories and rather open concept, it vaguely resembled a Spanish house, with solid exterior walls and tiled roofing. The valley they were in seemed tropical in nature and the large doorframes were often open to allow breezes into the buildings.

He and Jeler walked into the building and saw Glimm inside, looking over some papers in the living room. She was absorbed in them until Jeler knocked lightly on the wall, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Oh Jack, I wasn't expecting you back so soon." Her expression turned serious, "You didn't break again did you?"

Jack laughed at her serious tone, "No I'm alright. Used up a bit too much mana earlier but Zrez transferred some to me."

Glimm sighed, "He did, did he? Well come here and let me have a look at you. Non-bore-bots tend to get mana injections wrong, especially for dual-types." Jack approached and sat down next to her and she began touching various points on his body to check for the proper flow of mana. "So what brings you back here? No offense, but I thought you were working." She smiled slightly as she spoke, almost like she was gently chiding him for slacking off.

"Actually, that's why I wanted to come talk to you three. Jeler told me that you're the people to ask about magic and how it works. I also have a lot of other questions that could help me improve the system."

"Oh!" she exclaimed, seeming a little off guard. "Well, I'll just go grab them then. Jeler will you be joining us?"

Jeler nodded. "Still on guard duty till further notice, I can stand outside if you would prefer though."

Glimm shook her head, "That's alright, why don't you grab yourself some food while you wait." Then she headed off into the house to grab her partners.

Jeler moved over to an adjacent room which had some cupboards in it. Jack felt curiosity bubbling up. "Jeler, do I need to eat? I haven't spent a huge amount of time in this body but I haven't felt hungry at any point."

Jeler grabbed a bag of something and turned back to Jack, frowning slightly. "No, bore-bots don't eat food typically." He paused, hesitating before asking another question. "Do you normally need to eat food? When you aren't in this body I mean."

Jack had the sudden realization that he hadn't eaten anything in the better part of a week, nor had he felt any desire to. It shook him deeply, such an important part of life was all but forgotten in the face of survival. "No...I guess I don't."

Jeler seemed to understand that he had hit a nerve. The cat man fell into silence, munching on the dried meat that he had brought back with him.

After a minute or two the three bore-bots came into the room. They all sat down on reinforced wicker chairs, opposite Jack on the couch with Jeler. Reph spoke up for the group. "Well Jack, I understand that you have some questions for us. We would be happy to assist you however we can."

Jack smiled appreciatively, the bore-bots had been nothing but accommodating to him so far. "Well to start, I wanted to thank you for this body. I don't think I've really expressed how much it means to me to be able to talk to people and walk around. Thank you very much for building this for me." Jack bowed slightly in thanks.

When Jack raised his head to look back at the three bore-bots, they were all wearing complicated expressions. A mixture of happiness, sadness, and regret tinged all three of them. Reph spoke, emotion in his normally stoic tone. "Well...we are glad you appreciate it, Jack. It really means a lot to hear you say you are thankful."

Dirge decided to chime in at that moment with a question. "Jack, what do you mean by that? Do you not have people to talk to...wherever you live?"

Jack shook his head before pausing. Technically he had Plexion now, but before that, he had been alone in the white void. Deis only appeared when he wanted something and wasn't much of a conversation partner. "Not really. Just the High Deity and someone who I recently became aware of."

Everyone in the room looked at him intently before Drige spoke again. "Jack, where do you live when you aren't in this body?"

"The sun I think, it's an endless white void where Deis lives. It's also where spirits go when they die apparently." Jack hadn't confirmed any of this, but the things Plexion had told him did make sense.

The three bore-bots looked surprised but not as surprised as Jeler. While the group of three turned to each other to whisper something Jack couldn't hear, Jeler spoke animatedly. "Wait so you can see all the spirits of the dead? Like talk to them and stuff?"

Jack shook his head. "I've only met one other spirit so far." Jack paused at this admission. He didn't know if he should tell the others about the self-titled King of all demons. The demon was hiding from Deis, which made him a potentially powerful ally. If Jack told the bore-bots or Jeler about Plexion, would they inform Deis of the man? Jack didn't know.

Dirge had overheard them and leaned out of the whispering to address something Jack had said. "One other spirit?"

Jack nodded, "I'm a spirit as well."

This time the surprise was far more pronounced from everyone in the room. "You're a spirit? How did you die? Who did you used to be?" Glimm asked before Reph gave her a small shake of his head. She winced before apologizing. "Sorry, that might be a bit personal. You don't have to answer."

Jack held up his hands in reassurance. "No, that's fine! I honestly don't know how I died. I have no memories of it happening, just being in front of Deis. As for who I was..." Jack trailed off. Should he tell them about being from another world? Did it truly matter? There was a chance that Deis might punish him for revealing the truth, he didn't seem to want anything he didn't make personally to influence Drowl. But Jack was supposedly hidden, wasn't he? He wanted to extend trust to these four people. Jeler had been more than helpful and seemed to be trustworthy. Jack had spent less time with the bore-bots, barely any at all actually. But they were his anchor to this world, and Jack needed to build a strong relationship with them. Giving trust in order to receive trust.

Jack spoke slowly. "Well, I might get in trouble for saying this..." he took a deep breath. "I'm a human from another world. I was summoned to help create a reward for the people of Drowl and the system is the result. I've been helping Deis put it together and have taken the role of the fall guy for anything that goes wrong."

Jack waited for a response. The air in the room was still and tense, Jack felt adrenaline course through his mechanical body. After minutes of no one moving or speaking, Reph finally broke the silence. "Another world...is there really another world out there, beyond the boundary?" His face was full of awe as he asked the question, suddenly looking at Jack in wonder.

Jack was confused. Boundary? "I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand the question. I come from a planet called Earth, it's...well it's very different to this place. For one thing, it's not inside out like Drowl is."

It was everyone else's turn to be confused. Glimm saw the confusion everyone was sharing before clapping her hands, drawing all eyes to her. "Let's take a step back for a moment. Jack, I'll explain some context for you and then you can explain some things to us. Is that alright with everyone?" Everyone nodded their assent.

Glimm smiled. "Jack, the world of Drowl was created by the High Deity to be a perfect paradise for his people. He created the lands we walk on around his holy domain, the sun, so that he may shine down on all of creation equally. However, many people became curious about what lay beneath our feet and decided to dig down and explore the land. They discovered the boundary, a place of death. When a person digs too deep into the land, they break through into nothingness, a black void that kills and consumes. Three different societies independently created us, the bore-bots, to try and explore past the boundary. There was mixed success according to history, but nothing of note was ever discovered except for distant specks of lights. Eventually, the various bore-bots from different countries got sick of being used this way and left to form our own country and society. So to tell us that there was some truth to the idea that people can live beyond the boundary is...well it's very exciting to us."

Jack's mind raced at this new information. Was Drowl just some rock floating in space? If the other lights seen in the void were stars... "Glimm, when bore-bots moved past the boundary, could they float? Like they didn't weigh anything at all?"

Reph, Glimm, and Dirge all looked shocked at his question. "How can you know that?" Reph asked quietly. "That information belongs to the bore-bots alone, it was never revealed to the other people of Drowl."

Jack took a deep breath, then began explaining where he came from and what he knew about space.