A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

Eldrian was curious about the warlock and luck parts, but he didn't want to know more about interspecies relations. Just thinking of someone trying to get a dragon pregnant; yeah, no. He didn't want to dig into that topic.

While the warlocks' magic was a foul thing, Eldrian could discuss it with a smile. Turns out, most warlocks turned into devils or mindless demons. Their magic required playing with souls, and this was always a dangerous game. Mixing in the bloodlines of races was reckless. Naturally, it more often than not led to death or the losing of their sanity.

Yet, for power, many continued the path in hopes of the slight chance of success. Though, most who followed the path of warlocks died in the previous invasion. Causing the profession to turn to dust with the turning of time. Now, the only places to find a warlock would be within the devils' ranks.

Consider Eldrian's actions of absorbing now two souls, GAIA had felt it necessary to explain the profession, warning him time and time again to not go down the same path.

He was a headache, but the AI-duality god had started caring for this bundle of surprises. He was becoming more than just a means to an end.

"Does that mean my and Ceph's bond might cause us problems?" Eldrian asked, worried that his assimilating the lich might have untuned their souls and some sort of backlash might be waiting.

Especially since the form of soul bonding was similar to one of the methods of the Warlocks' GAIA had explained.

"That is... the alicorn you bonded with?" GAIA waited for confirmation. "Because of the assimilation, your bond will no longer be one of equals. As you two do not appear to be particularly close and you do not wish to abuse this difference, you have nothing to fear."

"That's a relief..." It sucked that they weren't close, but there being no danger was certainly a relief.

While they couldn't be called best buds, Eldrian still cared for Ceph. He wouldn't want this to become something like a thorn in their relationship.

He had been pondering their bond for a while now. Eldrian didn't particularly regret it; he was sure it would be beneficial for both once the true war starts.

But he didn't feel like he and Ceph were close enough for what it was supposed to mean. Especially after recent events, first his separation from ANW and then separating again as he and Ceph went their own ways to train.

'Our relationship changed and I am still trying to figure it out. And now it might change again... I wish things would stop changing!' Eldrian sighed in exasperation. A tug grabbing his soul wisp and slamming him against the walls of the locked space.

"What the?!" Eldrian shouted as he saw a constellation of spinning stars around his wisp head.

"It appears that our time has come to an end. Until next time." The kind old gramps waved Eldrian off as he was forcefully pulled out of the locked space before he could react and place any resistance.

Left alone in the locked space, GAIA mumbled about things not going to be quiet for a while. "Truly, what an interesting human. It appears our plans will move smoothly with him in the spotlight."

***

'Too late to fight it now.' Using the pull as a guide, Eldrian rushed through the realm of souls.

The next thing he knew, he was back in his body.

"You're safe!" Vivan jumped on Eldrian in relief while Myropsis collapsed from exhaustion.

"Is she alright?" Eldrian asked, returning Vivian's embrace while looking at Myropsis with worry.

"She's probably exhausted. She was working restlessly to repair your body so you could resurrect!"

Looking down, Eldrian noted the only clothing he had was a loose bundle of scraps placed over his lower parts. Realizing that he was practically naked, he turned beet red. His clothes were burnt to a crisp and god knows what happened to his armor.

Feeling the softness of Vivian's skin, and the hardness of her armor, on his bare chest, something stirred. Making the entire thing even more awkward.

In a hurry, Eldrian pushed Vivian off and quickly equipped some spare clothes as fast as he could. Which, with his speed, was extremely quick. Vivian didn't even register what had happened before Eldrian was fully clothed.

Piling the bundle of clothing on his lap, Eldrian tried to hide his embarrassment.

"What—" Vivian also turned red as she realized Eldrian had been naked but for a bundle of scraps. It took the two some time to recover from their embarrassment. Eldrian was the first. He stood up and checked on Myropsis.

"She has a fever, we should move her to a proper bed." Looking around, Eldrian realized they were still in the middle of nowhere. They had no horses and returning to the fort -which was the closest place with a bed- was not an option.

There were no more enemies in the fort, but Eldrian was sure that it would not be a pleasant experience for Vivian to spend time where her father had been captured, tortured, and killed. And Eldrian himself felt no wish to return, overcome with guilt as the one who had killed an old friend.

'I'm sure it was the right thing, ending his misery and hopefully saving his soul, but... I still feel like crap.'

Placing this to the back of his mind, Eldrian focused on the task at hand. Myropsis had clearly pushed herself past her limits and was suffering from a backlash.

'Let's make a place for us to rest. Why I never just did and always analyzed, I can't even understand myself. I'm was so dumb... I can at least make a house and some comfortable beds.'

Eldrian had done the former even on Earth (kind of), while the latter he had a simple plan for.

Placing his hand on the ground, Eldrian focused and envisioned a simple one room building. Large enough for the four of them. Theas was sleeping not far away, seems that his wounds were treated but not healed.

Eldrian cast a rejuvenation spell towards the dwarf and Myropsis as he envisioned the room and poured his mana into the ground. Bringing his vision to life.  The ground rose and hardened. It remained dirt, but appeared like it had hardened in the sun for days.

Luckily, Myropsis was in her human form. While Eldrian had the strength to carry a horse, it would be quite awkward.  Carrying Myropsis inside, Eldrian repeated the process to form beds (slabs of dirt).

They had prepared some camping materials, considering that things might not end in a single day, so they could convert the slabs of dirt into a relatively comfortable bed. If on the bit hard side.

'Maybe I can grow some grass on the top to form a type of cushion?' Eldrian pondered and tried it on one of the bed.

He hadn't tried manipulating plant growth before, but he didn't think it would be that hard. Feed it mana and stimulate growth, guide the mana to form new cells and supply it with nutrients and water to grow healthily.

Eldrian let his instincts guide the mana composition while he envisioned a thick blanket of grass growing atop the dirt slab. Following this principle took some time, but after ten minutes Eldrian had formed what could be considered a comfortable bed.

"This is amazing." Vivian said, laying Myropsis down on the finished bed while Eldrian worked on the second.

"I'm always so narrow focused. I never just do." Eldrian grumbled, mad at himself for having always limited himself so much. Thinking that he had to perfectly understand for magic to work.

GAIA might have refused to explain anything to do with what mana actually is, but Eldrian had managed to break out of his shell, nonetheless.

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