New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Alexander had Violette sit down in an open area before having all the monster cores placed around her, as close to each other as possible, and then he asked everyone to surround the crystals, forming a last ring.

"All right, Violette. I'll have you focus on the monster cores first. Once you have all that mana inside you, start pushing it toward the mana lobe area, and compressing it. We'll inject mana into you, as well, so the supply doesn't run short.

"Once you have a solid core, tell me. I'll have to focus on forming an Aether particle, which will take most of my concentration, but I'll hear you. And that Aether particle is what will solidify the mana lobe.

"Are you ready?" he asked, after finishing his explanation.

Violette looked a bit out of place, surrounded by crystals of varying sizes, and a ring of people, also varying in sizes, but she nodded toward him.

"I am. We can begin."

Alex nodded, and looked at everyone, before he felt the mana leaving their bodies and the crystals.

Katherine herself felt the change in pressure in the air and frowned.

She looked at Alex, who was the only one outside the ring of people, whose eyes were already closed, and asked, "What is this feeling? It's like something is pushing on my shoulders…"

Alex smirked before replying.

"It's mana. It's heavy when you aren't used to it. But Violette is handling it like a champion. Wait until Aether arrives. This is nothing."

Katherine's frown deepened before she took a step back. She could tell that whatever Alexander was doing, the surrounding pressure was growing at an exponential rate.

Violette had soon consumed all the mana from the monster cores, and they turned to dust in front of everyone's eyes. And a few moments later, she called out to Alex.

"I've formed a basic core. The mana from the others is already channelling into it, but there doesn't seem to be any solidification. It's like there is not enough mana."

Alex didn't even open his eyes to respond, as he pulsed his mana outward toward her, to get a beat on the situation.

Once his mana brushed on Violette's mind, he saw what she meant. The girl must have been constantly trying to form a mana lobe on her own already, because he could see traces of her mana lobe's shell.

Like an echo of something that was yet to be.

"Don't worry about it. Keep pushing all the mana they give you into it. Once you feel like you can't amass anymore, then I'll push Aether into it. It'll hurt, though. I have to warn you…"

Violette didn't respond to that, most likely already aware that it wouldn't be pleasant. Their process continued for almost half an hour, with some of the awakened people already dropping out, as they ran out of mana to help.

But Alex and Violette didn't give up. Even with a reduced flow, Violette was keeping a tight grasp on every mana particle she had received up to now.

And with Alex's heightened senses, he felt the moment where Violette reached saturation before she even did. He started compressing his own mana even faster, fine tuning every particle manually, to remove any impurities he could find.

On the side of the pool, the water was already reacting to their pressure, as two sets of waves could be seen undulating on the surface of the water, with clear origin points. There was no wind, or actual vibration, coming from Alex or Violette.

But the elements themselves were reacting to the primal call of power.

"I think I reached my limit, Alex. What now?"

Alex was almost done compressing his mana into Aether, as he didn't want to summon Luna for this. If he could do this himself, he would save an enormous amount of resources and time.

Plus, this was great practice for mana control.

"I'm almost done on my end. Just hold the mana in place."

Violette's face was starting to show signs of discomfort, and her mother was getting worried. She was holding herself back from stepping in, not knowing if interrupting the process they were doing would cause harm.

That was the last thing she wanted. To hurt her daughter by trying to help with something she didn't understand.

Once the mana finally shifted into Aether, the pressure on everyone suddenly went up ten times, and Katherine fainted without knowing what was happening.

Most of these people had never witnessed the power of Aether, even within New Eden, and were shocked to see the difference it made.

Kary was the least affected, with in second place, Violette, whose focus was already all taken by holding the mana that had started searing at her mind.

"Alright. Once you absorb the Aether, your mind will feel like molten lava. Push through the pain. Condense and push as much as you can," Alex said, walking toward Violette with the now-visible Aether particle.

It was like the particle was in fusion, shedding light in every direction like a high-power LED node.

And once he got near Violette, the Aether particle reacted on its own, flying into Violette's head, who started screaming in pain. But even through the shouts and cries, Alex could tell she never stopped focusing.

When Jonathan tried jumping in to help her, Alex held him back.

"Stop. She has to do this on her own. She is ok. The screams are to get the pain out of her mind."

Jonathan looked worriedly at her, wondering how much of Alex's statement was a lie, but he stopped pulling on his arm.

Kary pursed her lips, looking toward Katherine, wondering how she was holding up, and that's when she saw her passed out on the ground.

'It's a good thing she doesn't see this, I guess. I want to jump in and help her. I can't imagine how she would have reacted,' she thought.

But the screams and cries didn't last long. Soon enough, Violette's mouth shut, and she started convulsing on the ground.

"Alex, what's happening?" Kary asked in panic.

"It's her body. It's trying to reject the mana lobe," Alex said, his eyes narrowing.

This hadn't happened to him, at least not that he was aware of. He had no idea why it did.

The mana lobe was clearly forming, but it was like Violette's mind was pushing against it, trying to get it out of her head. If nothing was done, this could hurt her.

Alex jumped to her side, his eyes turning golden, and he started healing her, but it changed nothing to her convulsions.

So he did the only thing he could think of.

'Sangis, help me seal the lobe away temporarily.'

If her body couldn't accept the new organ, then he would seal it away, until it could.

The strange, modulated voice of Sangis Oxym echoed in his mind. Novel Fire - novelfire.net

'Yes, Master.'

Soon after, letters flowed out of his hands, visible to everyone, and entered Violette's head. The convulsions slowed down until they halted completely, and Alex sighed in relief.

Kary looked at him and saw his eyes, making her frown.

"What the hell happened to your eyes?"

Alex lifted his head toward her, clueless of what she meant.

"Huh?"

"Your eyes. I've never seen them like this… Did you call on a new demon?"

Alex hadn't used Sangis yet, so he had no idea what his body would look like if he melded with him. But he knew what the thing's eyes looked like.

But, as he blinked, they turned back to normal.

"Something like that. I had to seal her mana lobe away temporarily. I think the lack of mana in the air was making her body reject it. Once she's back awake, I can fix this. Until then, we'll have to wait," Alex said, brushing the subject aside.

Kary still frowned at him, but said nothing.

It took a moment before Violette's eyes began to flutter open, and when she saw the ceiling up above, she groaned.

"What happened?"

Alex picked her up, smiling.

"You managed to form your mana lobe. But there was little set back. Nothing I can't fix, fortunately, but you passed out from pain. Are you feeling ok?"

Violette grabbed the sides of her head, focusing on her mind, but she couldn't feel her mana lobe.

"I can't feel it, Alex. Are you sure I succeeded?" she asked, worried.

"Yes, you did great. I had to seal it away for now. The lack of mana was playing against us. But I can unseal it, after pouring mana into you. But I needed you conscious to do this. When you feel up to it, we can do that."

Violette nodded, caressing her temples, her mind still feeling like a hot mess.

She wondered if she would be able to do anything with how weakened she felt right now.

Would she be able to prove to her mother she was strong enough to make her own decisions in this state?

Thinking about her mother, she looked around, trying to find her.

But she couldn't spot her.

"Where is my mom?" she asked, her voice panicky.

"She passed out from the pressure. I asked some of the guys to carry her outside, so the fresh air would wake her up. She should be back any moment now," Alex said.

And right on queue.

"Violette! Are you alright?!"