A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

'Another proof that mana is something different, something fleeting perhaps? Perhaps it is an unstable form of energy that is exhausted while active...'

'Does it recover? Am I right, or am I now going down a completely wrong path? GAIA, why didn't you at least explain the basic structure? I'm sure I would have understood!' Eldrian felt like crying. The answer was on his fingertips, but he just couldn't figure it out.

He had to drop the topic as the group around him became noisy about the stick he had handed Judith.

Judith didn't even notice her state of undress, though if she would care was another question. She was trembling with excitement while holding the stick like it was a holy treasure. "Do I need to shout Chievasmos?"

"No way, a hundred meters!?" Ilmadia exclaimed. She thought she had prepared herself for the mental shock from what she had witnessed, but that was just too insane. To increase the skill range by ten times, and with a stick!

She couldn't take it and plopped down on the ground in defeat.

"No, you can shout whatever you want as long as you collect what you hate of the target into your shout." Eldrian replied to Judith's question, turning a confused gaze towards the disheartened Ilmadia.

At this time, a beautiful girl exited the mini-tower and looked at the commotion. Her eyes turning to the stick in the dwarf's hand and then moving to the girl who seemed to be suffering from some severe emotional shock.

"Eldrian, at least make it seem a little difficult." Myropsis sighed. She could imagine that anyone would be shocked speechless should they be shown that without any explanation.

This mini-tower was even more shocking. Myropsis wasn't sure what Eldrian had gone through while dead, but it seems he has grown much, much stronger.

From what she could tell -after spending the morning with him- his understanding of magic has skyrocketed. And his attitude towards it had also completely changed.

Myropsis knew Eldrian had always had some fear of his own strength and powers, especially towards his auras.

Of course, he also jumped into things with little thought or preparation, which caused things to spiral. And this spiralling increased his apprehension of relying on things he didn't understand and have full control over.

Which led to him limited what he attempted. Only going out of his shell if he felt it was necessary. He tried to slow down, to take things step by step to ensure he could maintain control. This was what the past month was.

But now, it seems like he figured out how to be free from fear.

A free Eldrian. What a nightmarish thought...

Even worse, Myropsis did not know if he had found a way to prevent his fears, his powers -especially his auras- from going out of control. Or if he had simply decided to no longer care. She dearly prayed that it was the former.

The new free Eldrian used magic with even greater ease than before. He even used runes meant for necromancy. Somehow, he had learned such a taboo. Myropsis still couldn't fathom from where. And his understanding of the runes he had used didn't seem shallow, either.

Of course, he had only used them to counter the undead, not to make more. Understanding how the lower undead existed, Eldrian created a magic circle at the top of the tower and powered it with a mana crystal. One of the last he had.

Any lower undead entering within a few hundred meters would have their strength sapped and die if they didn't escape quickly.

Lower undead were truly pitiable creatures. Away from a source of miasma -created by an aura of death, slowly altering the ambient mana to the death aspect- they could not survive for long. Their very existence was reliant on their environment, or on the higher undead altering the environment.

In the case of Pyknos forest, the revenant inside the fort, and the lingering damage from the experiments that had been conducted to form that strange death knight, kept the undead alive.

To kill them, Eldrian did not need to employ a divine spell or even a spell that focused on dealing damage. The undead were created by tearing apart the original soul and infusing it into the corpse.

All he had to do was target the soul and while the curse that kept the undead alive fought, he would suction the mana that supported its animation.

The first part was how divine spells attacked the undead, but since that was not the true aim, it greatly lowered the mana cost required for his magic circle. He did not need to overpower the curse, only distract it.

It even allowed him to gather some death mana while he was at it. After all, the suctioned mana had to go somewhere.

This, however, only worked against the lower undead, who had all reason stolen from them. If even a semblance of reason remained, this would clash with the soul targeting and force it into a battle of strength. Which Eldrian's formation would lose against.

The most shocking part for Myropsis was that he was filling a near empty mana crystal with the death element.

Refilling mana crystals wasn't a strange concept. Any decent mage or craftsman would do so if time allowed. But to alter the type of mana entering, if he succeeded and he could replicate this, it would revolutionize the magical field.

The magic circle itself, to her at least, seemed to be a slightly simpler array. She knew there was more to it, but the effectiveness gave her this feel.

When Eldrian had explained everything, Myropsis had almost felt like her world would collapse. Just as she was catching up, a massive earthquake had split the world, and she was falling to the depths of despair.

"Don't compare yourself to him," Myropsis said, helping Ilmadia to her feet. "It will only make your sense of reality collapse." Myropsis' words contained genuine compassion and sympathy. After all, she had gone through a similar experience just a few hours ago.

"Y-you're right... I shouldn't, but..." Ilmadia stammered, trying to find the words.

"I know. You don't want to be left behind." Myropsis smiled, trying to heal the mental scars Eldrian had unknowing inflicted upon the poor girl.

'Umm, I'm just going to keep my trap shut.' Eldrian smiled awkwardly and decided not to say anything. He had a feeling he had a lecture incoming if he did anything else.

Heading into the mini-tower, Judith finally realized her state of undress and rushed to the second floor to fix her clothing while the rest waited in the first room.

However, her focus remained more on the stick than on her clothes. Implying that she didn't actually mind if the others saw her in such a state.

'Is she an exhibitionist, or is her obsession with being scantily dressed to cosplay a barbarian that great?' Eldrian couldn't fathom what was going on in the girl's head.

As for the mini-tower, there were magic circles dotted around the walls. Eldrian didn't want to let it collapse since this would serve as their base for the night after clearing the fort. Most of these magic circles simply strengthened the walls, while a few others ensured proper airflow and regulated the temperature.

As for their mana drain, Eldrian had simply enriched the parts of the walls they were added to with his own mana. It should last until they finished their business.

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