A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

Eldrian paused, his hand about to grasp Crystoi's shaft. Looking at the leaking mana and occasional sparks forming around the elemental crystals, Eldrian hesitated. The cracks spreading across the crystals told him just how damaged the spear was.

This was not the only damage. The dark gold runes were dim in color, cracks spreading from blade to blade. The shaft, in particular, seemed about to snap. Recklessly pulling the spear loose might cause it to truly be destroyed.

Moving his gaze to the adamantine back blade, Eldrian extended the platform he was standing on and searched for the nested voidstone.

'Yeah, that doesn't look good.' It appeared that the interwoven mix of metal and wood was withdrawing from the black stone. Some of the branches of the nest having snapped and others being strained—as if fighting to contain the stone.

Taking his time to observe things, Eldrian and Two discussed the best course of action. It was clear the spear required immediate treatment, but Eldrian didn't know how to fix it. Nor did he have any spare materials to try to repair the cracks.

The only thing he could do was guide his mana into the spear. And as he would envision spells healing others, he would envision his mana repairing the spear. Or, at the very least, strengthening it.

Gently placing his hand over the nested voidstone, Eldrian slowly channeled mana into the spear. Aiming for the woven nest to repair itself and keep the voidstone in place.

This did not happen, but the spear did appear to repair itself a truly small amount. The runes grew a bit in luster, and the wooden exousia wood regained some of its vibrance.

Eldrian wished to continue, but he feared adding too much mana might cause the elemental crystals to overload. He did not wish to rush things. Pulling Crystoi out of the roof before confirming things might lead to devastating consequences.

Thus, he sat down and waited. Wishing to see whether the mana he had supplied the spear got sucked into the roof as his spells had been consumed. All the while observing the movement of the mana in the spear with mana sense. It was no longer as stable as it once was. The damage had clearly affected the movement of mana through the spear.

As they waited, Eldrian and Two discussed the existence of this room. Trying to make sense of it, along with the rest of their knowledge. Tying parallels between this space, ANW and its existence on Earth, souls, and the memorial artifact they had created.

'It's certainly different from the others.' Two commented. The fact that Eldrian was physically present, or at least so they thought, made this a completely different type of alternate realms formed in souls or the artifacts.

In fact, ANW itself was also something that could only be visited by the soul or consciousness of a person. It, too, wasn't a physical world like the space inside the voidstone.

'But what of dimensional storages and the inventory of players?' Eldrian countered. Those were physical cases where space was morphed and allowed for things to be moved in and out of. 'How exactly is this different to them?'

Sadly, the two could not find an answer to their burning questions. They had a few guesses at what this might mean, but neither of them wanted to jump to conclusions.

However, one thing had become certain. There must be a connection between everything. While this was a physical manifestation of a separate world, room, or dimension, Eldrian's soul was just as much an ethereal manifestation of a unique world. Each person's soul was.

This led them to asking what separated these worlds, which worlds could be considered true and which false, and how each type was created and maintained.

The importance lay in the last bit. If it was possible to create something that was self-sustainable or eternal, then it might be possible to use such a thing as an escape for the AI from Miracle's thumb—without letting them out into Earth.  A situation Eldrian would rather avoid from coming to be.

'Is this how they created the servers? Would this work to separate ANW from those servers?' And again, Eldrian asked what his role was within this mess.

Since he was connected to ANW, what would happen if the servers were shut down? Would the burden suddenly fall on him? Would he die?

Or, perhaps, would his connection alone be enough to sustain the virtual world that was ANW? Like every soul could sustain a mind space that reflected the personality of the person it was created from.

It was their consciousness, and thus its existence did not drain the person of strength. Yet, it was undeniable to Eldrian now that such fictional worlds truly existed. A dream might be fleeting, but it wasn't fake. Sure, it might not interact with the physical world, but it could interact with you.

Eldrian doubted things would be so simple for him. But perhaps the energy sources could come from ANW itself. It sounded like a paradox, but considering the existence of souls and personal worlds, he felt it wasn't too implausible.

'Crystoi seems stable.' Two commented after they went in circles for almost an hour.

'Yeah.' Eldrian nodded. Unlike with his spells, the mana hadn't been drawn into the cracks in the roof. The spear was certainly still in no condition to be pulled from the wall, but they had run a few tests.

Unlike with ANW and Earth, Eldrian could still enter his soul here. Or rather, the soul he could enter here was his ANW one, not his smaller Earth one—nor a new one. Indicating that this space was, without a doubt, still linked to ANW.

Which also meant he was still connected to the spear, and if possible, he might be able to store it instead of pulling it out.

Attempting just that, beads of sweat dripped down Eldrian's forehead as he focused. The feeling as he was envisioning the spear being stored was like he was fighting against a powerful magnetic pull.

And as Eldrian continued to fight, he sensed his surroundings changing. Sadly, he had no spare energy to focus on what was happening. Two, however, happily memorized what was going on.

Falling onto the ground, the hard molten earth knocking Eldrian's breath out, he heard two excited shouts.

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