Innate Talents (1)

Jason sat alone in his room after a small talk with his dad. He figured that his mom would have some choice words for him when she woke up, so the teen decided it was best to just avoid her till she went off for work in the morning. This led him to kill time within his room in the very early morning.

He propped himself against the wall, leaning against the pure white sheets of his bed that folded up flush on the metallic walls of his room. Like his living room, there were several holograms that shifted between several moving photos, detailing his hunts with his dad or playing random newscasts about reported crimes within the Blues of his Pillar. Other than those though, Jason chose not to spend much on decorations. All he had was a small wooden desk set up in one corner of the room with a barely living plant he had stolen from one of the Hunting Grounds placed on it.

To pass the time, Jason set up his Holo on the floor, angling it so that it could project its screen on the opposite wall. He scrolled through public information about Delvers, researching about what he should be looking for his Abyss Stone appointment.

In the beginning, Abyss Stones were some of the most sought after materials after humanity began its descent. Even after hundreds of years, the prices of them barely went below a couple thousand. And that was only for the smallest of them.

However, the price was necessary. Contrary to most people's idea of it, Abyss Stones were rather fragile; a tradeoff for a more adaptable material. Even a random normal teenager could break one like glass. The catch was that they seemed to react to someone's personal Mana. Some even called the stones as analyzers as larger ones could detail someone's achievements and talent as quickly as a second.

Still, smaller ones could at least tell someone about their potential. Their Innate Talents.

Just like normal people, everyone is different in their own way. Whether it is looks, body and even personality, these things set people apart. Of course, there are similarities that are commonplace, but those do not represent the whole of humanity. With the inclusion of Abyss Infections that mutated people, those similarities also grew smaller.

From what he read, Jason liked to relate the differences in Delver's Innate Talents like those between normal people. Everything he found online only supported his theory.

This only made the usage of Abyss Stones all that more important. And subsequently, expensive. They could accurately tell how many Innate Talents someone had, and could also allow someone to tell just how powerful those talents were.

However, very quickly Jason ran into a problem. He scanned for examples of Innate Talents, but only found a couple ones that were fairly common like enhanced senses or strengthened musculature. Yet, the teen found several articles that stated there were as many unique Innate Talents as there were cells in the human body with that number only increasing by the day.

"Another thing hidden…" Jason mused aloud, rubbing his brow. Delvers were people who hid information almost as if it were a habit.

They all seemed to guard their information like it was their livelihood. The same could be said for companies associated with Delvers and Delver unions themselves. It was what led to Delver colleges that were sponsored by different companies, all with their own NDA contract that every student had to sign. Even Adam, a Delver who seemed to have all the power in the world, hid things from him; like whatever was wrong with that Lyonire in the older man's pictures.

There had to be a larger reason for the systematic censure of deeper Delver knowledge other than simply the colleges being dicks about it. Though, Jason gave that idea more credit as well. They were assholes, sure, but not so blatant about it.

"Jason?"

The teen paused in his search, looking over to the wall where three seams traced out an outline of a door. He cast a glance at the time. 7:15 on the dot. The time his mom habitually woke up for work.

"I know you came back earlier. Delvers don't need that much sleep… Are–" She stopped, and the teen could tell what she was doing. His mom always shakes her head, auditing over what she was going to say. "Your dad said you got the attention of the Delver who runs one of the Hunting Grounds. Congratulations. I– I might not be able to see what your talents are, but I know you will–" Jason could barely hear the hitch in her voice as she spoke. "I'll see you later."

Jason pursed his lips, hesitating where he sat. In the end, he chickened out, remaining silent till he heard her footsteps disappear in the direction of the front door. He breathed loudly as he listened to the front door hiss open and closed, feeling disproportionately sorry for himself.

He knocked his head back against the soft bed that laid within the wall. Jason knew he should have spoken up; all he had done was just get home late. However, there was always a wall that existed between them since he became a Delver.

Jason supposed it was inevitable. His mom dealt with the hypocritical and twisted laws that pertained to Delvers, and she had been witness to some of the people that committed heinous crimes and still allowed to walk free due to the flimsy laws created by Delver organizations and companies.

"I really shouldn't have gone down to the Basement…" Jason murmured to himself, knowing that's exactly when his mom stopped seeing him wholly as her son. When he had been the exact thing she complained about.

Once again, the teen knocked his head against his bed, nearly cracking his jaw with a yawn. Soon enough, despite his inhuman stamina, his eyelids grew heavy enough to shut into a blissful sleep.

He supposed Abyss Stone research was just that boring.

~~~

Jason jerked upright as if a bomb just exploded right next to his ears. His hands slapped over his ears, trying to block out the loud noise. He glared at the door.

"I hear you! Stop!" Jason yelled, feeling relieved that the noise immediately did so. His back popped as he stood up, feeling like he barely got any sleep. Sleep… Oh.

Jason's hand blurred as it snatched his Holo off the ground, slapping it on his wrist. He moved across his room fast enough to feel the floor under his feet strain slightly against the force he used, and his fingers hurriedly tapped the walls in front of him before drawers popped out from their seams. Panicked, the teen could only randomly pull out various clothes, swapping out them for what he wore in a flurry of speed.

"Uh, I know you might be mad, but I remember your appointment's time was around… nowish? Probably." Jason filtered his dad's voice through his thoughts, and quickly scrolled through his Holo for information about his Abyss Stone Appointment while struggling to get a shirt over his head. Luckily, he wasn't late.

Sadly, he only had thirty minutes to go down forty floors.

Jason slowed just enough to take that information in. The elevators that shot through the Pillar City were fast, but it would take too much time to actually get there and drop all those floors. Especially with all the stops in between. On top of that, Jason knew his family did not have enough money to buy a personal cruiser to skip those lines and stops.

"Everything okay in there, son?"

Jason pursed his lips, conflicting emotions in his stomach. His increased senses always jarred him, but he always could shut them out when he slept. Sighing, the teen waved his hand to open the door. A hiss of pressurized air and moving gears revealed his dad, standing awkwardly in the open doorway.

The white and black haired man held two steaming cups in his hands. Jason could smell the subtle lemon scent that came from them, and he silently took the drink as an offered truce.

Lemon was useful in that it drowned out most of his superior sense of smell. Most Delvers had some similar strong flavor that helped drown out one sense to focus or control another. The effects were nearly instantaneous. His nerves calmed with each sip and allowed the teen to settle back into his usual state.

"Its fine, dad." Jason said, taking another sip of the lemonade and holding it in his mouth to calm down. "I just need to find a way to steal a cruiser to get to my appointment on time."

His dad shook his head wryly, moving over to ruffle Jason's hair. The teen made his discontent known as the man fixed the younger teen's brown hair. "You know as well as me that your mom wouldn't like hearing about that. Can you call to reschedule? They can't be that cutthroat, right?" Jason saw his face change in an instant as if he recalled all the atrocities that the Delver Companies did to save less than one percent of their profits. "Err, maybe call them, then we can panic."

"It doesn't work like that, dad." Jason rolled his eyes. "I already looked over Abyss Stone stuff. Appointments only reserve a stone from their main suppliers, and if you're late, even if you paid, they can reserve the right to give it to someone who will pay more."

"Huh, Delvers are assholes. No offense."

"Really dad?"

"What?" The man raised his hands in mock surrender. "I am right. How do you think your mom and I bonded?"

"I know, I know, you were a witness for a Delver case and cussed him out in the court. Yadda yadda. I heard that so many times, dad." Jason felt exasperated with his dad's need to retell that story in increasing detail every time.

"Humph, fine. But still, I would rather not sit through another talk about responsible use of your immunity to grand theft. I have an idea, though. Follow me. We're not letting some rich idiot steal your opportunity."

Jason took another sip from his drink, set it down, and then wordlessly followed his dad out. The teen learned to trust his dad in these sorts of things. After all, long before he started to run out and do jobs around the Pillar City, his dad had done the same thing before he snagged a job as a hunter in the Hunting Grounds.

They quickly made their way out of the housing complex through the long, metallic hallways, and arrived on the bustling streets. Throngs of people roved about on larger streets of the Clouds. If the Blues were cramped because of space, the Clouds made you claustrophobic due to the sheer quantity of people that moved about.

It was one of those things people in the Blues never really cared to notice. That there were just as many people in the Clouds as well; all of them stuffed in nice-looking homes.

The crowds of morning patrons move about like a stream of water. They all stumbled in the direction of the elevators, shuffling like zombies. Jason's eyes could catch a couple people who tried to go against the flow, and they had to struggle to slip through the crowds in the other direction.

"Damn, forgot about the crowds this early." Jason's dad complained, slumping a little on the safety of their housing complex's porch. "Well, come on, son. Go and do your thing."

Jason gave his dad a dry stare. "You haven't even told me your plan. What do you want me to do?"

"Ah, right. Let's get to the airlock docks. You should have the reaction speed necessary to do what we used to call… Line Diving."

Jason paused, staring at his dad's smirk. He had heard of Line Diving before; a dumb pastime that had ended long before Jason had been born. The teen didn't really know exactly what happened for the pastime to get banned almost immediately, but Jason didn't really care too much to research it beyond the fact that it existed.

"Mom's gonna be pissed if she finds out." Jason reasoned, cracking his neck as he looked at the crowds of people. He would need to control his strength to not push anyone to the ground.

Jason's dad laughed. "That's if she finds out."

"Well…" Jason shook his head with a grin of his own. His mom was totally going to find out. "It won't hurt to try it."

Jason took the lead, pushing into the crowd. Slowly, almost glacially, they made their way to the outer regions of his floor. To the airlock docks.