A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

The two were confident that if they failed to keep their sense of self, then they would die. Two had actually had a very close call with this, it was why he had disappeared for a week. He had only barely managed to recall who he was in the sea of nothingness that Tranquility was.

Auras were truly unimaginable in power, at the cost of an unimaginable cost. As proven with Two's case, even the soul would be consumed. If there was an afterlife, the user of an aura who failed to keep their sense of self would never be able to join it.

Spirit magic could be considered a lesser version of auras. The two had realized that Incinerate was actually spirit magic.

Spirit magic was when emotions are used to activate and fuel a spell, instead of purely mana. It certainly is a shortcut to power, but it is far less stable and far more dangerous to both the caster and target than elemental mana.

Still, it is far safer to use than auras that literally tries to consume their users. An aura becomes the person, whereas spirit magic just influences the caster.

Eldrian and Two had practiced what they could and theorized a great deal and slowly learned how the cost worked and to what extent they could use this type of magic. However, through its nature, it was a magic type that required a situation of despair and desperation. Be it your own or others.

Hence why Eldrian had grown stronger upon the fear of the soldiers during his escape and through his own anger.

They had no idea how they could use this type of magic, nor how they had grown so accustomed to it, to be able to use it for their escape. It had saved their lives, yet the two feared this magic and the consequences using it brought.

Much like an aura, it would activate inactive mana; however, unlike an aura, it would not completely alter and use the mana. Hence, where an aura left a vacuum, which was indeed unstable, it was not a reactive instability, just a pressurized instability.

It could lead to some funky stuff, but not to the scale of Chaotic mana storms.

Spirit magic instead left a destabilized bunch of wrongly activated mana. Mana between states and without a certain type, ready to chaotically react to a new presence. How it didn't immediately react and explode or implode the two did not know.

They assumed that on Gaia either the AI or the amount of mana kept it stable in some weird unknown way. On Earth, it seemed like just a matter of time until catastrophe would happen. The two considered it to be like anti-matter, and it was just a matter of time until it would meet matter.

While all of these conclusions and answers to long unanswered questioned were fascinating, the two did not care much for them. It was just something they had lapsed upon while trying to survive and find a way to fight back.

The fighting back was about to start.

The first thing they had to do was to get their hands on a laptop, which hadn't been hard at all.

'But they didn't always share things with the public.' Two commented on Eldrian's comment that they had not made progress.

"Of course, but with no one reaching Tier 5, it means they are stuck at trying to connect with mana," Eldrian countered.

'How can people not accomplish such a simple thing?'

"It isn't that simple Two. To actually be able to feel mana you need to consider ANW more than just a game. You need to accept that it is a second reality, almost like a different dimension or universe that you are transported to."

'Which most people consider insane. What about the rest of the plan?'

"It seems like it should be simple enough, Jen might still have her headset. That's our best bet."

'Are you sure about this? It will bring her into the spotlight.'

"Yeah, that part sucks..." Eldrian sighed, he did not want to drag Jen into even more of this than he already had.

'What about Erik?'

"That, that might work. We just need to examine the headset."

'We don't know that it will work.'

"Well, somehow we can understand how everything works by just looking at it. I assume it's mana sense, but not sure. It's our best bet that it will be able to at least give us something to grab onto."

'I understand, but how will we-'

"Telepathy."

'Are you sure? It is part of spirit magic.'

"I know, but it is one of the stable branches of spirit magic. It is only our thoughts, it does not use external mana."

'But, we also don't know what this would do to people.'

"Yeah, the sheep we tried it on certainly didn't like it." Eldrian nodded, their experiments had killed or turned mad the animal they had tried to talk to.

However, when they had tried it on a few random people they had just seemed confused. There hadn't seemed like there were lasting effects on the people. However, there was no proof either that there weren't lasting effects.

Yes, indeed, Eldrian's morals had changed quite a bit. After killing so many people in the escape, and then further when they chased him. He had resolved himself to focus on the results and not the method.

'But, how can we even know that the game is the answer?'

"It's the only way we can grow stronger. I don't want to risk experimenting on Earth. Not only is the mana more unstable, but we also won't have a redo."

'And in the game we will?'

"It's like you said, as long as our body and consciousnesses survive, we will be able to survive. Not sure about the standard resurrection, but we should find the answers as soon as we enter the simulation."

'Have you decided to forgive the AI?'

"No..." Eldrian laughed at the idea, "They will prioritize their own survival over anyone else's. It is the normal instincts of any living thing, but it is a dangerous instinct."

'Then?'

"We'll use them."

'You've really changed.' Two sighed, remembering the Eldrian who had willingly sacrificed himself to save a village. The Eldrian of now would not do that, he would weigh up the cons and pros to himself and the goal, lives mattered not in that equation. Or rather, they mattered far less.

"You think I don't know that? I'm constantly haunted by what I've- we've done. But, nothing is more important than stopping the misuse of mana. Even if our means are..."

Two mentally nodded, indeed, compared to the possible destruction of the world, a few lives mattered little.

Even though they said this, they both knew that if their friends or family were in danger they would be willing to curse everyone to hell to save them. Just as they had done in their escape.

For some things are just beyond what they would be willing to sacrifice. Some things they would never give up on and would do everything in their power to save. That, this, it was after all the true reason why they cared so much for the world's survival.

If it was destroyed, how would their family and friends be able to survive?

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