New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

It took the pair the rest of the day just to interact with the ambient mana actively. This was much tougher than in New Eden.

They easily understood that if mana had always been present, their bodies would be accustomed to it. So that cleared away the theory that it wasn't a recent phenomenon.

They could only have a light effect on it, though. Just enough to move it around and absorb a minute portion of the particles.

After barely an hour of absorbing some mana, the pair were already sweating profusely. Their bodies were fighting against this alternative energy source entering it, and they were tiring themselves out.

The first one to stop was Violette. Her body was smaller and she could take much less of this physical burden than Alexander.

Alexander kept absorbing mana for a few more minutes, before his body threatened to shut down from fatigue. He dropped to his back, gasping for air.

Violette had already fetched a glass of water for him, since she had been parched after this exertion. Alex drank the water like he had been in the desert for days.

After hydrating himself, he sat there for a few more minutes to let his body rest.

'If it's that complicated to get mana in our bodies now, I can't imagine how it will be for non-players.'

Alexander had already guessed that without his prior knowledge and experience with mana, from playing New Eden, he wouldn't have been able to sense it at all. This explained why David was so preoccupied with getting more people to play.

'What if playing the game is the only way to even sense it in the first place?' he wondered.

His stomach suddenly grumbled. Alex looked at the clock and realized it was already past dinner, and they hadn't eaten yet.

He asked Violette what she would like to eat, but she seemed too tired to answer. So he opted for some takeout.

He called in some poutine from a nearby fast-food restaurant. He could already guess Violette probably never had this kind of 'peasant' food, but he knew she would love it.

After all, who in the world would dislike a good old poutine? Especially a person from Quebec.

It took close to twenty minutes for the delivery guy to arrive in the lobby, and Alex used this time to go wash up. He was sticky with sweat, and it wasn't a pleasant sensation.

Violette did the same, as it went against her upbringing to be in this physical state. It was very unladylike.

The meal went similarly to when he ordered pizza, with Violette almost crying in happiness at trying new food. Alex laughed a bit, telling her more than once to be careful, as poutine could be messy.

The sauce could rapidly transform this divine food into a nightmare for clothes.

After eating lunch, Alex and Violette logged into New Eden for the day. That would let them get more stuff done.

Alex got a message from Kary while they were heading to their pods, saying she could play with them that night. He relayed the message to Violette, telling her they would have to stay close to the inn so they could meet up.

She was done with the things her mother needed help with, and could finally go back to playing more. She couldn't wait to go back to levelling, so she could catch up to the now over-levelled Astaroth.

His little stunt with the PVP had burned him across many levels. They already frowned upon PVP a lot in the higher community.

When a pro player started using PVP to level up, the other pro players would come and stomp them. This was all to stroke their egos and prove they were better than others without killing low-level trash.

Astaroth had probably painted a huge target on his back already by doing it. It all depended on how well-known it was that he levelled up that way.

As Alex went to his room to log in, he felt a presence brush against his mind. The feeling was faint and extremely brief, but it still nagged at his subconscious.

He tried feeling it again, for a little while, but seeing as it wasn't happening again, he brushed the thought aside. He stepped inside his pod and closed the top.

"Log in."

*Launching 'New Eden'*

*Logging in*

*Welcome back player Astaroth*

***Somewhere in outer space***

Lady Alantha Anulo was once again in front of her mirror, looking at the region of space being altered every moment. She could see new spots appearing, slowly growing in size.

Some spots were getting big enough for her to send her consciousness through, trying to see what was on the other side. She tried sending through many of these, all leading into caves and forests, or jungles.

She could guess these places now receiving mana would soon become dungeons. But one final hole she pushed her mind through brought her to something new to her.

Her consciousness was hovering over a humongous city, with buildings high enough to touch the sky, and carts without horses rolling around roads made of some strange stone.

Her eyes scanned around her, seeing the polluted river in the distance, and the air dirty with gas and dust. She wondered how anyone could even breathe this muck.

As she extended her senses across a wider scope, her mind brushed on a consciousness she vaguely recognized. When she tried focusing on it, the surrounding space collapsed, and her mind snapped back to her body.

"That soul and mind. I know them. Wasn't that Astaroth?"

She looked at her mirror again, but all she could see was the space riddled with many spots of white. She thought back to her contact with the consciousness.

There were many similarities with Astaroth's soul, but some things felt different. The first of them was that he felt more human than Ash Elf.

The next one was that his mana signature was almost nonexistent. It felt weird, since Astaroth was a powerful mage for his age.

She vowed to look again after a while, to get a better read.