A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

Reaching the bottom of the tower, Eldrian sealed of the stairs with ice. The doors he also covered with ice, just to be on the safe side. While they were sealed with magic, anyone in the top control room could open them. Now, if they did, they would have to break through a few meters of ice.

With the room secured, Eldrian turned to the engraved array on the floor.  'Here, right?' Eldrian asked, finding a specific circle among the many paths in the array.

'Yes, that is where you perform the spell, but...'

'Yeah, I know.' Eldrian nodded. Even Myropsis wasn't able to arbitrarily learn the spell to access the hidden control rooms of magic towers. Which meant Eldrian hadn't learnt it either. And even if he knew the spell, he couldn't use it.

If he was to try without having had his mana registered, the tower would see his actions as an invasion and focus on disposing him. Which was a terrifying thought. But he still felt it was better than simply disabling the tower. They would need as many as possible once the enemy's reinforcements arrived.

'What exactly is the plan?' Two asked.

'Well...' Eldrian paused. He had hoped he might be able to figure it out while rushing down. Or when he saw the arrays engraved on the first floor once again. However, these rilpai and protii making up the array were for teleportation and teleportation alone. And to activate them, you needed access.

Probing the array, Eldrian sent his mageia into the pathways. Inspecting its flow and structure, careful to not activate it or let his mana follow behind his probing. Slowly, he searched for the key to the hidden room. Carefully analyzing each part of the array, probing its functions with care.

Thanks to his dealings with magic towers, even having been involved in the construction of a new one, and the books he had read, Eldrian knew more or less what he was looking for.

After a few minutes, he found it. It wasn't in the top layer of the array, but rather a ways down in what Eldrian sensed as a third layer. And, as was to be expected, it was sealed.

Probing the barrier, Eldrian received a massive headache as the tower deflected his infiltration attempt. Security finally turning so tight even his slither of will was detected and annihilated.

'Well, that didn't work.' Eldrian thought for a moment to force his way through. However, he wasn't so dumb as to think he could face off against a magic tower. He pondered heading back up to disable the tower, but still, he wanted to try gaining its control.

'Maybe... if I use the magic crystal I have...'  The problem with that idea was he couldn't access its powers.

Eldrian simply wasn't strong enough to draw upon it. Still, absentmindedly, Eldrian took the magic crystal out of his inventory. Wishing to probe it to see if things might have changed.

"Wait, what?!" Falling to the ground, the crystal weighing a thousand tons, Eldrian felt his hand being crushed by its weight. He even heard the bones in his hand snap, and as he was trying to push the crystal back into his inventory, he suddenly found himself inside the secret room.

The crystal that had turned his hand to a mushed pancake shot towards the crystal in the center of the room. Hovering around it like a satellite around a planet, sparks flying between the two.

"I did it now..." Eldrian mumbled, never having expected the crystals would be pulled towards one another. Even forcefully teleporting itself, and him, to the hidden room.

'I should have considered that such vast mana storages would be attracted to one another...'

Magic crystals were like black holes when it came to mana. The amount of mana inside them mind boggling. Eldrian simply never considered that it would give them gravity? Magnetic, mana, magic attraction? Regardless, they were clearly pulled towards one another.

And now, the mana in the room was thickening like a soup. Becoming so thick that it formed a mist, visible even without mana sense.

'Wait, is that liquid mana?' The sight was something else. Eldrian felt confident it would even form mana crystals if left for a while longer. But things were clearly not stable enough for the situation to last that long.

Channeling some of the excess mana into his ruined hand, it returned to normal in seconds. The pain being lifted certainly helped Eldrian shift his focus to the spinning magic crystals. Resembling a binary system circling one another chaotically.

'Oh shit, that looks super dangerous.' The crystals were orbiting one another faster and faster, sparks of lightning, plasma, and liquid mana flowing between the two. The two crystals were now fighting one another for dominance. Trying to pull each other apart and eat the other's mana.

"Whose that — what the fuck did you do?!" Confused, Eldrian looked around him to find the source. Shockingly, he saw four other hidden rooms. As if his eyes could peer through the walls and earth separating them.

"Ah, I didn't know magic crystals were magnetic, or something..." Eldrian said, jumping to the side as a bolt of lightning crashed into one of the walls. The array engraved on it illuminating the dark hidden room. Its glow growing brighter and brighter.

The voice from before turned frantic. "Quick, guide it outward!"

While still lost, Eldrian understood he had to do something or the room he was in, and likely much of the city, would explode. "How?" Eldrian shouted in question.

Shocked that Eldrian didn't even know that much, the owner of the voice groaned. "How!" she shouted, indignant. "Just envision the mana flowing out of the tower!"

Nodding, Eldrian did just that. But he paused for a second. "Do you mind if I aim it at our enemies?"

"Enemies? No, you aren't capable of controlling—you'll turn the city into rubble!"

"No, no. I wasn't thinking of—" Sensing that he had no time to explain, and noting that it wasn't denial for any reason but collateral damage, Eldrian looked towards his map. "Right, off you go." Eldrian said, imagining a thunderbolt striking his target.

Shockingly, he found his mind ripped from his body right up to the top of the tower. Where the mana gathered and gave him a bird's-eye view of the surroundings. And far-off past the horizon, Eldrian directed his gaze.

As soon as he did, he sped forward, flying towards his target at an unnatural speed. Crashing into the middle of the charging company of vargr riders before he could even register what was happening.

Falling to the ground, Eldrian moaned. His body was fine, but his soul felt like it was shattered into a thousand pieces. "Ugh, that wasn't plea—" Throwing himself to the side, Eldrian hurled. But not just the food that he ate came out, a large quantity of blood accompanied it.

Bright red, shiny blood. Seemingly containing crystals. "What's going on—" Hurling again, this time mostly blood. Eldrian fell to the side. Totally drained.

'That really fucked you up.' Two's analysis was right on point.

Eldrian could feel the excess mana surging through his body. It reminded him of when his Tier up had gone haywire. He also vaguely noted that his mana was being pulled towards the spinning crystals. It felt like his body was being torn apart.

"What the hell did you do?!" the voice boomed again, but Eldrian was in no state to answer her.

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