I stared at the faintly glowing two dimensional box that could only be described as a menu screen

'Holy crap it worked.'

I honestly hadn't actually expected it would, at least not so literally.

The box itself was a tan with a black boarder and text. I don't recall the details well enough to really compare to the games. I assume they are similar enough.

On the Menu itself it was somewhat bare, listing the options on buttons with black labels on them; [Infusion], [Channel], [Rule Shift],[Inspect] and [Wish].

[Politics?] was also listed, just above Wish , but was grayed out.

'If this place is hooked up to my subconscious knowledge, maybe im expecting some heavy political action? Come to think of it all the Disgaea games had some form of senate or the like ,where you have to vote to get permission to do things. I should really ask about that.'

Hopefully it would go away, having to go around bribing people sounded like a real pain in the ass, and from what I recall that was 90% of netherworld politics, another 9% was persuade by force, and the remainder was meeting the perquisites for the votes. I don't recall suddenly knowing what to bribe people with, so once again, I hope it goes away.

Refocusing on the current oddity at hand, I tried messing with the menu to my success much to my surprise. The first thing i noticed was i could touch it physically, which made moving it around easy. I could move it pretty much anywhere and it would just lazily float there, like a paper thin touch screen.

Messing around eventually caused me to notice my environment, which granted hadn't change from the desert and might of explained why I didn't really notice.

Only two things had altered. One I was floating near what appeared to be my body body, and two, everything seemed sort of dulled to various matted greys.

I could see Mya looking over her gear and glancing at me periodically. Most likely making sure I haven't grown horns, or spontaneously combust ,or something.

'Both of which, are completely normal for some demons, but thus far, not for me.'

While interesting it didn't really help much, and I found I was tethered lightly to my body. I just sort of drifted back to its area after going only about a few yards away, and the further I went, the quicker I was snapped back. If that wasn't lame enough I couldn't phase through anything either, heck I couldn't even kick over my little stick castle. On the bright side though I tried poking my finger on a sharp branch. Then I tried slamming my hand on it with increasing force. And nothing happened. So at least im not vulnerable like this.

It might seem weird that I test the what else can I do aspect before I check my baseline abilities. But honestly im looking for any unfair advantage I can get. If I could have gone far away from my body and pass through walls, I'd essentially be an instant first class scout and spy. A leap in ability, instead of an incremental one that I would expect from this universe who's games where a grind fest.

Letting out a (mental) sigh, I looked back at the menu. Wish was fairly straight forward, but I had to test it. 'I wish the stick castle I made earlier was colored blue'

I thought loudly, while pushing at my Mana. I still felt it and it didn't budge a bit to my relief.

'Well at least I won't have any more accidental screw ups, that only leaves the intentional ones.' I thought dryly. If nothing else I can just use Wish for everything and not have to worry about screwing anything up.

Well seems like nothing is going to explode, so lets go poke around.

Might as well start at the top and work my way down.

I clicked on infusion, and I suddenly felt Mana channel into my palms as a little pop-up window of text appeared to the side of the original window, it read;

'Infuse Mana into an object to create a unit. Infuse Mana into a unit to upgrade that unit. Upgrading units allows for new related unit types to be made. Channeling raw Mana without determining any unit types will spawn a demon based upon the area...'

'That...was insanely helpful, Okay, so take Mana. Push into thing, pick a type of unit and you make person of that type. If you opt not to pick a unit type you get a monster from the area, I think Mya mentioned something like that like when Mana comes into an area a random soul just pops into it..I wonder how I pick a unit type?'

I continued reading.

'It is possible to Infuse Mana into the ground to create objects and structures however the most generalized rule set for each object/ structure called its "Form" is likewise needed'

''Huh that's weird, maybe forms are like instinctive blueprints or something.'

I was mostly guessing, but thus far everything I had made had been more or less me wishing for something and then nudging it with some details.

'Except my body, but then again all I was thinking of was trying to get a body at the time. So maybe I did it without realizing?'

I couldn't remember, and I still had another two options to look into to I put It aside.

I clicked the cancel button causing my Mana to flow back to its resting position. I didn't wanna make any more units without talking to Mya.

She would do the 'Pinch her nose, because I did something annoying' thing.

I hate it when the does that thing.

Anyways I pressed cancel, which closed the description of Infusion, and moved one down to Channel.

Mana flowed into my hands, as another pop-up description presented itself.

I read like like a cheat-sheet five minutes before final test I hadn't studied for.

'It is possible to Channel Mana one of two ways. First select an owned object by connecting through the natural link formed when infusion is selected. Once selected the object can have Mana channeled in two ways. Soul channeling forces Mana through the soul of the selected, This allows an overlord to imprint some of the knowledge of that soul into themselves. The end result is to produce a Form based upon the type of soul channeled. This normally destroys the units body due to having too much Mana however Mana Savants, such as Overlord Enki never destroy a unit in this manner..'

'What the fuck is a Mana Savant?' was the first thing that came to mind. Actually it was obvious that 'I' was what the fuck a Mana savant was. I know this because it told me.

The question was referring to the fact I had no fucking clue of what all that was supposed implied. I guess the weird channeling thing, but that's not much to work with. I'd guess that it is supposed to mean instead of using Mana normally, I get the weird infusion and Channel methods.

I couldn't really decide what to make of it so I just chalked it up to more evidence I'm a wizard.

Having decided to put aside alternate implications of my demon type, in favor a pointy hat, I continued.

'..In addition to channeling a units soul, it is also possible to channel Mana into certain aspects of 'owned ' targets. These aspects are expanded upon due to the influx of power and become enhanced or altered based upon the ability selected. When a target is successfully upgraded in this manner the previous ability is added as a Law to your 'Book of Laws'. The guidelines for how Laws interact are listed on the front cover of the book. The only way to acquire Laws and additional Form's without Channeling is through a Wish, however Wishing will likely cost significantly more to unlock it if it would be otherwise avalible.

'Hmm, okay so thus far, Infusion is my "make stuff" button, and lets me make units and objects. The former well, I'm kinda fuzzy on how to pick my unit type, but ill cross, and somehow accidentally break, that bridge when I come to it. But that latter requires me to unlock a 'Form', which from what I understand is a blueprint to make an object. Rule Change lets Channel is how I get Forms and Laws at least cheaply, and can let me upgrade abilities or something like that. Apparently Rule Change lets use whatever Laws I get, and do stuff with them.' May I wish I had a piece o paper to take notes.

Well on the bright side ill have these pop up. At least I think I do.

I canceled an clicked infusion once again and fortunately, yes the pop up did return along with the slight Mana flow, which I'm guessing is how I choose an object to infuse. For completions sake I tried to move around the pop-up, which did indeed move just as easily as the menu itself, so it would be constantly in my way when I'm trying to do things.

Wanting to follow up immediately on the closest train of thought I jumped Inspect and went straight to Rule Change. To my surprise an Actual book popped in front of me floating lazily. Another pop-up sprang to life.

'Laws can be applied to owned objects to change the very nature of that object. To manipulate a Law tear it out of the Book of Laws and place it into its slot displayed via the pop-up menu that appears when creating selecting a person or object. The book of Laws always opens to the appropriate page as it is a mental construct. Unwanted laws must be torn out and mentally commanded to be destroyed.'

The cover of the book had its own little introduction.

Limitations to applying Laws:

1) Laws can only be applied if an object is 'owned' by the same Overlord.

2) Only two additional Laws may be applied to any object.

3) Rules added at Infusion cost nothing.

4) Base Abilities cannot be altered at Infusion.

5) Base Abilities cannot be exchanged except by higher or lower tier for the selected unit.

6)Laws cannot be destroyed while present in a unit, only exchanged.

7)Exchanging a Law Places one Law in the Book, and the other upon the target.

'Okay that was extremely straight forward, Take abilities, shove into things to give them that ability.. Also I officially have a spellbook' Not entirely accurate latter part, but highly entertaining none the less.

It sounded like the Evilities in later games, except I apparently wasn't limited to what I could put where.

At some point I need to make a tank or something with the 'Really Goddamn Hard' ability, then put it into myself, if I can, then talk Mya into a spar. Man that would be hilarious.

Okay, so no obviously broken things power wise, but at least there is some potential. I'll have to work it out with Mya sense she is really on the ball.

'Speaking of Mya', I grinned at the grayed out Mya nearby. 'I'd like to see why she was able to win so easily' I thought as I clicked cancel, and Inspect.

Mana channeled into my hands and a pop-up appeared stating "Select what is is you would like to inspect." Succulent if nothing else.

I walked/hovered over to Mya and tapped her. With the orb in my left palm, Suddenly a window popped up next to her which I quickly began to read.

To my annoyance she was labeled at "Tier 1" instead of having a , which most likely put her on right on par with me. I gave a quick read of her abilities,

Then I burst out laughing.

Her basic ability, was called "Gun Bunny". Just imagining Mya running up a hill rifle in hand wearing a sexy light-blue bunny costume, was hilarious.

It was also appealing for some other reasons I won't go into detail over.. She is very cute if you recall my mentioning.

I think she would prefer to be shot than suffer the embarrassment of being forced to wear a bunny costume which makes the idea even funnier. Actually I think she would shoot me first, just for thinking about it.

The ability itself was actually pretty good. It boost to her evasion when at lower terrain or in a defensive position.

To my surprise she had a second ability called Natural Leader, which more or less said she could perform the leadership roles of an Overlord, and gives a moral boost to those serving under her.

Her weapon proficiencies where a bit what I expected. Daggers and Gatling Guns, where listed as B rank.

Rifles, and to my horror Flamethrowers, had an A rank.

'Note to self: Never make suggestions to Mya regarding Ability-Wardrobe synchronization.'

No other weapons where listed which I think meant she had no experience with them at all.

I felt her fist deserved at least a C given the number of times I've been impacted with them.

Mya's stats themselves didn't actually show me numbers, just bars floating around various positions of the screen screen , with each bar appearing to be measuring each stat compared to the others nearby. I suppose relative measurements made more sense in a real world scenario than numerical ones.

Each skill had a ranking which I guessed was her natural aptitude towards that stat.

One interesting facet was that she had both Hit and Tec stats, so I guess they combined for some things, both pretty high so I guess those relate to her skill list.

Her Aim was a high A rank, followed by Tec and HP both rated 'B'. She also had a B in movement. And C's almost everywhere else.

Her defense had a D. Which means when I punched her and it didn't hurt, meant I was that much weaker..

Having seen her defense, I hesitantly closed her pop-up, and selected myself.

I read.

I slumped.

"...god..damn-it..." I muttered quietly into the greyed out air.

[Edit: Fixed a error which stated Mya was level 1, Numerical representation of abstracts is something I'm trying to avoid as reading about number crunching is not fun]