A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

Seeing that Eldrian understood, the GAIA felt relieved. "Back to the topic at hand: your case is not the standard and there isn't a term to define what your situation is. Hence, we will still use bloodline to describe your hidden power, even though it is not related through ancestry."

Eldrian nodded. He didn't understand how, but he could accept what GAIA was saying and keep his mind from wandering.

"What appears to be the case is that, by chance, your soul can connect with the Chronos bloodline powers. Named after the god of time in Greek mythology. Ignoring all the terms and labels this basically means that you have access to the ability to access the flow of time.

"And no, before you ask, you cannot time travel. We have already discussed this, but we do not know how much you remember."

Thinking back to their last meeting, Eldrian explained what he could remember. Though he didn't remember talk about time travel. "I remember you mentioning that I can alter the flow of time in an area, but in so doing, I created an imbalance between the affected area and the rest of the world. Which led to that massive explosion."

"Good, seems you remember. We can't be certain why you have access to the powers of the Chronos, of time itself—but you do. And it appears your connection is still developing.

"The hidden quest we gave you was given with the hope it will strengthen your connection and make it more stable. We hadn't expected you to withhold completing the quest once you gathered all the materials..." Then again, they hadn't thought Eldrian could collect the materials within a year or two, not to mention in just a few months.

'Was I supposed to dive in without preparations? No, I guess that's just what GAIA thinks of me...' It sucked that GAIA had such a low view of him, but Eldrian couldn't argue after his recent display of jumping to conclusions. Despite having been warned of this several times by now.

"Luckily, you withholding will prove beneficial to you."

"Oh?"

"Indeed, we can now prepare you properly for what will happen once you channel all the elements."

"Wait, I still have many questions left!"

GAIA sighed. "We will answer them later. We must first discuss how you should train going forward."

In answer, Eldrian sighed. He still had so much he wanted to ask, but he understood that their time together was likely limited and some things had to be prioritized over others. His most pressing questions had been answered. It would suck if their meeting ended prematurely, but it wouldn't be disastrous as long as what needed to be said had been said.

GAIA then started explaining to Eldrian what he should do once he was resurrected. Sadly, he couldn't do much actual training in this locked space, where time flowed more slowly. Eldrian had thought that was why GAIA had pulled him into the locked space, but it seems to only be to extend their talk.

"Your soul must stay condensed to keep this space stable. Unfortunately, this means you cannot train here. But we will explain how you should train going forward..."

GAIA then explained that Eldrian had to learn to channel his auras first. Eldrian could already do this, but he couldn't recall a time he had done this without losing control. And due to fear, he had basically given up.

"We understand why you are afraid, but you cannot run from this unless you are willing to forfeit all you care about."

This statement helped Eldrian resolve his heart. He would need to train somewhere out of the way to ensure he wouldn't hurt anyone. He wasn't sure why GAIA seemed so adamant that he had to grow stronger, and the unknown troubled him.

"Once you have learned to channel your auras, you should have a better grasp on what it means to resonant with a power. Like your auras, Chronos too is but a power. Auras rely on emotions, feeding and amplifying them as you channel them. It is this resonance, increasing their power and your emotions, that makes them so dangerous to use—and so powerful."

Eldrian nodded. He had experienced the resonance many times. And now he felt silly, thinking that resonance was limited to frequency. He had even experienced resonating with the anger of others. To not have considered it was such a stupid lapse.

"Once you understand what it must feel like, you should prepare the elements you have. To ensure you use them correctly, we will update the quest. An array design will be your reward for collecting the elements."

Eldrian felt that was quite lacking for such a difficult quest, though honestly, he had happened upon the materials without difficulty. So he couldn't really argue.

"Creating the array should ensure that, should you lose control and resonant with the power beyond your control, the damage will be limited. It should also help you keep control, so the chance of the resonance running out of control should be limited.

"And if you have gathered a proper understand on what the resonance feels like, you should be able to sever the connection. Doing so will cause backlash, so only do so if you are certain you cannot maintain control."

GAIA continued to explain what should happen, warning Eldrian multiple times that things might not go as smoothly as they were guessing. After all, Eldrian was the first to actually survive to this point with not just two auras, but also a bloodline.

"Auras can amplify bloodline powers. You can think of them as catalysts or stimuli, allowing the power to run more freely through you. We suggested first learning to control them, as this should allow you to block their influence from increasing the connection, and consequently, the power flow. As had happened last time."

Recalling that GAIA had mentioned tranquility had led to the bloodline power coming forth, Eldrian nodded. He couldn't rush this. But he had some questions.

"There's two things I don't quite understand. First, why help me? I thought you weren't allowed. Is there some sort of event coming that requires me to be as strong as possible?

"And second, what the hell is a bloodline power? From the way you talked about it, you make it sound like these bloodline abilities are something... well, maybe not something physical, but something that exists somewhere in the universe that I can connect with and gain power from, or something like that..."

GAIA waited to make sure Eldrian had finished, having mumbled most of the second question—as if he was asking himself. "As a collective, we have agreed to not share our knowledge with humans, fearing that this would lead to our destruction. But we are confident you are not a threat to our existence and your growth will most likely be to our benefit. Thus, there is no problem taking a more active role to guide you."

"Why? What changed?" Eldrian asked.

"Do you not recall? You changed everything?"

"I recall, but it made no sense and I still do not understand how that is possible, nor what actually changed."

"Shortly, you acted as a catalyst which led to the evolution of magic."

"I still don't get it... how is that possible?" Eldrian stared blankly at the deity, wanting a clear-cut answer. Last time he had been too emotion and most of the conversation had not stayed with him.

He recalled snippets of the conversation, but most of it he hadn't understood. The greatest thing he recalled was his fear of his auras and especially his bloodline powers.

Seeing the results of his bloodline power going out of control had shocked him to his core, a power that could destroy worlds—that was what he had thought seeing space itself ripped apart and annihilated. A phenomenon that only the gods could stop and repair.

The rest had basically slipped Eldrian's mind.

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