A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

And his perseverance was repaid. Once Eldrian managed to get a good grasp on the feel of ether, he also slowly managed to reign it in. Slowly, his mana took on the form of ether.

This did not feel as natural as elemental mana, and keeping it contained and in its form was a constant struggle. Yet, despite these troubles, Eldrian smiled. He smiled widely.

The feeling he was currently experiencing was similar to when he had forced his mana to stay in mana's raw form. It was constantly pressuring him to return to that form now, whereas back then it had constantly pressured him to return to the form of elemental mana.

'This pressure is likely because it is unstable... I know the raw mana settled once I completed the conversion and pathways. For ether, I don't think that's the thing causing it to be unstable since that was never my aim.'

Eldrian didn't think too much on this. While he was now under far more pressure to make massive leaps forward, he still understood the need to rest and recover. Knowing that often the best ideas came when you were not thinking of anything in particular.

However, he wasn't done for the day. He still had one thing he had to do.

Informing Ceph with a simple message, 'We stay another night.' Eldrian sat down to meditate after confirming that Ceph had received his message.

To send it, Eldrian had envisioned the words as physical objects in his mind. Exactly how one envisioned spell modules. He was happy that it had worked, as he didn't want to also need to experiment to get a feel for it.

'Right, I haven't talked with her in a while and I have a few questioned.' Eldrian mumbled as he closed his eyes and used his old way of entering the magic abyss.

Since his soul was in a sort of special state, he didn't want to risk its discovery. Not that he had any proof that the AI didn't already know of it and his new abilities.

It took him a moment to recall the method and to also not rely on his natural link with his soul that he had developed. After a few minutes, Eldrian found himself inside the magic abyss before the spell module of Floga.

He waited patiently and after another couple of minutes, a wisp arrived. She circled around Eldrian in confusion for a while,

"Somethings different..." Said the wisp.

Eldrian smiled and replied, "Nice to see you too."

"Eldrian, what happened?"

"Don't you already know?" Eldrian asked instead of answering. While he didn't want to distrust Ziraili after everything and especially helping him and Ceph finish their bonding, the time before that had informed Eldrian that the AI were not kind-hearted nor anyone's benefactors.

"I know about your exploits and your increased control over your auras. But no, I don't know what caused this change in you."

'What change is she talking about?' Eldrian wondered and replied, "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Mmm, there is certainly something different..." Ziraili paused and tried to read Eldrian's data like always. She was shocked when she found something stopping her from probing deeper than the surface.

She could still get the normal readings, but she couldn't get the precise numbers. The simplest example was Eldrian's affinity, it was still 100%. But she could no longer see past the integers, she was blocked from the decimals.

"Eldrian... What happened?"

Hearing her concern, Eldrian found himself slowly coming to rather want to trust than distrust her. So, he collected his thoughts and started explaining what had happened after his bonding with Ceph.

"I'm sure you know about me summoning flames from my aura, and later ice. But..." Eldrian paused and wondered if they were alone.

Sensing his worries, Ziraili quickly constructed a bubble similar to Eldrian's soul's to keep them separate and safe from praying ears.

Feeling the separation from the magic abyss, a very subtle feeling that Eldrian could just barely notice, he smiled and resumed. Only to pause as he saw the spell module flickering and slowly dissipating.

Since Eldrian wasn't constantly focusing to keep it active, the absence of its connection with the Mageia Avyssos caused it to collapse. It was absolute proof that the bubble was the real deal.

"My soul awakened," Eldrian said, the words not ideal but the best he could think of.

"You mean, it hatched?"

"No- Maybe... It isn't just- it's complicated. Let's go visit Two." Saying this, Eldrian shared the connection he felt with his soul, even through the bubble.

Ziraili was shocked that she had been completely unable to detect it, finally why Eldrian's soul had disappeared from her and the other AI's senses made sense. However, how Eldrian could create a separate space inside of Skepsi's realm was beyond even her understanding.

Maybe it was more correct to say she knew how but she could not come to accept what it would mean.

"Whoa whoa whoa! What is she doing here!" Two shouted as soon as Eldrian and a small white wisp dived through the bubble and into Eldrian's 'soul'.

Eldrian had been comforted when he had been able to reject Ziraili's entrance once they had reached the bubble. He wasn't sure if he would have been able, but knowing he was able to sense her approach and also do something about it, even if futile, was a comforting realization.

It also informed him that quite possibly an AI's/God's realm was simply their soul. But he didn't have the time to delve into that puzzle right now as Two was acting up

"Relax Two, I trust her."

"No, you don't!" Two countered, causing the two similar-looking people, one a half-elf and the other... The other Eldrian, formless and yet in the form of his avatar at the moment.

"I do." Eldrian countered sternly, looking Two in the eyes and attempting to make it clear that now was not the time to discuss this.

"Maybe you think you do, but you don't."

"Fascinating!" Ziraili interrupted their argument, the wisp constantly moved closer to the one and then the other. Attempting to make sense of her finding.

"This... This is fascinating!" She exclaimed as they resumed their argument.

"See, you don't trust her." Two said while starting to try and collect their willpower to banish Ziraili from their bubble. Only to find Eldrian fighting his attempt and causing it to fail.

"Two! Don't!" Eldrian quickly took back control and did what he had done with Ceph. Only, in this space, he wasn't as limited in what he could send.

Instead of sending just a few simple words, he sent the entire process he had gone through to his decision to bring Ziraili onboard.

'You might trust her consciously, but you are wary.' Two finally relented.

'Of course I am, but that is what trust is. It is overcoming your doubts and taking the leap.' Eldrian countered before closing their mental connection and apologizing to Ziraili.

"Sorry about Two. First time having visitors."

Two didn't quite like the blame being put on him when he was just acting on Eldrian's subconscious, but he accepted it.

"No, I understand. This, this is quite something. I have never seen, or even heard of a soul awakening." She now understood why Eldrian had chosen awakened as his description of events.

"Never?" Two and Eldrian echoed at the same time in questioning disbelief.

AN: A big thank you to everyone who continues to read and support the story on WN.