New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Phoenix figured she could explore her new powers later, extinguished the flame and went to sit back down next to Astaroth.

"Thank you for that," she said to Aravelle, her face still dripping in sweat from her painful episode.

"Bah, don't worry about it. I've had to wring things out of her a few times myself. Logith is quite stingy," Aravelle said, waving his hand dismissively.

"But I'm not here for this. I came because I sensed someone reaching out to the Ley lines. I just came to ask why."

Astaroth tilted his head sideways, wondering what made him curious about their reasons.

"Does it matter?" he asked, curious.

"It does. If you drain the Aether out of the Ley lines, you will ruin my efforts. So why are you reaching into them?"

'That's right. He mentioned he was here for the Ley lines last time. What is he doing anyway?' Astaroth wondered.

"I was just going to show her how to control Aether better. And here is a perfect place to gain easy access to it. Is that a bad thing?"

Aravelle frowned.

"Why do you want her to learn how to control Aether? I can't even sense a single speck of Aether inside her. Unlike you, I doubt she could use it."

Phoenix scoffed at his words.

She felt aggrieved that he thought he knew her better than herself, so she decided to show him what she could do, to put him in his place.

Lighting her hands on fire, she rapidly condensed her mana to the maximum, until it burned away any impurities within itself, and sent it back inside her. Within seconds, she set her body alight, bright white flames flickering off her form, as she entered her avatar of flames mode.

Aravelle looked at her for a moment, realizing he had completely underestimated her, and his brows furrowed.

"But you are not using Aether. You are forcing your mana to self-purify, making it pure. The process is so wasteful. But that doesn't mean you could wield true Aether. I still don't think it is a good idea. You don't seem to realize how powerful Aether is, young Astaroth."

Astaroth shrugged his shoulders at him.

"We won't know unless we try, right?" he asked.

Aravelle looked at him with a dumbfounded look.

"And what if you cripple her mana lobe, doing something that requires more control and power than she is ready for? How would you make it up to her, then?"

It was Phoenix's turn to frown. Those words sounded strangely like her master's words, back when she entered New Eden.

"Is it truly that dangerous? I feel like my Abnormal body would mitigate a significant part of the danger," she claimed.

But he looked at her like she was a fool.

"You overestimate the capabilities of your strange body. You would not be the first Abnormal to try something this foolish. But it didn't end well last time, and most likely won't end well this time. I beseech you, be reasonable."

Astaroth clicked his tongue, annoyed by his insistence.

"Then why don't you stay with us and warn us if things begin to slip away from our control? Would that assuage your worries? Because we will be trying this regardless of your accord."

Aravelle wanted to cough blood at the young man's arrogance. He acted like he knew better than a progenitor of magic.

One that had lived for thousands of his lifetimes.

A vein started pulsing on his forehead as anger rose inside him.

'Don't murder him, he's a fool. Don't murder him, he's a fool. Don't murder him, he's a fool,' Aravelle recited in his head, almost like a mantra.

"Fine. I'll stay and guide you. But the moment things become dangerous, I'm putting an end to it, and I will ban you from accessing this room ever again. Understood?"

"What?! But this is my—"

"Do you understand me?!" Aravelle interrupted him, his tone final.

Grumbling to himself, Astaroth nodded his head.

Astaroth started guiding Phoenix through the process of sensing Aether, which she would need to do before she could control it. It would be a long road ahead, but he felt like the few hours they had before logging out were enough to at least reach the sensing point.

***

Meanwhile, miles away from there, in a desert scape of sand and jagged stone, another member of Paragon was also training.

But instead of training his magic or physical prowess, he was training his mind. Gale, the youngest member of Paragon, and also an officer of the guild, was still on his journey to steel his mind.

He could already feel like his training was paying out, as the sight of demonized monsters no longer sent him shivering. But he had yet to find his ultimate goal.

He told himself when he found a demon, even a lesser one, and resisted the urge to flee or throw up, he would be okay to go back to the guild. But every expedition he joined to clear out a demonic breach had yet to turn out such a foe.

Which was why he had gone away from civilized areas and delved into more inhospitable lands. He hoped that in places like these, no one would have discovered the tears, and he would find one that had been left unattended long enough for demons to come out.

In his travels, he had crossed paths with Khalor once or twice, the undead man giving him directions to this specific desert.

He had said that a tear would be on the point of turning into a portal by the time he made it, and that it would be perfect if someone could take care of it while he dealt with bigger ones.

Thus, Gale had travelled into this desert alone, with nothing but his gear and some supplies stocked away in his inventory, hoping to reach his goal. As of yet, he had only crossed the occasional monsters, most of them scorpions, until this morning.

He had seen his first corrupted monster and knew he was getting close to his target.

"Once I find it, and deal with the first demons that pour out, I'll be ready back to the guild base. I wonder what everyone is doing?" Gale spoke to himself.

But time would prove to him he had bitten off more than he could chew.