A New World, an immersive game experience

Eldrian spent his following days working tirelessly. First, he talked with Aspen to ensure everything in the city was going as planned. Luckily, the wolfkin was organized and had some insight into Eldrian's hopes, and most players had similar ideas.

Aspen managed the estate perfectly, integrating the newly formed vertical farms into the gardens and also gathered capable individuals to work under Eldrian.

From there, Eldrian moved between Kynigo, Fort Phoenix, and the forsaken caverns daily. Ensuring that talks with the vampires had started -Pelaros was heading them-, testing a few things with his familiar, and exploring the top layers of the abandoned mines.

On top of this, at night, he would spend his time training. Ziraili's guidance helped Eldrian know what to do, but not how to do it. Sadly, as a god her experiences were fundamentally different and her advice could only go so far.

As such, each day normally ended in failure. Because of this, Eldrian was training not in the city, but outside past the border wall.

Often, the results of his training left the surroundings destroyed as he lost control. Turning it into either an inferno of hellfire, or a frozen landscape of glacial frost.

The occasional undead interrupting him was certainly frustrating, but it was better than placing others at risk. Thus, Eldrian did not even ask anyone to help keep them at bay.

When their time aligned, Eldrian met with Solvi. Discussing with her the potential uses for the material that Night Terrors were. It certainly wasn't flesh, but rather some slime like substance.

When left as is, the substance was as small as a pebble, but when fed mana, it expanded. From their experiments, a single pebble could become as large as an entire room—given enough mana.

Sadly, this was the only use they had confirmed for the slime like substance. And such a simple expansion was of little to no use. Sure, it was firm. It could be used as a trampoline or something, but they wanted to make it into a secret weapon.

Eldrian could replicate those ideas with magic alone, but the focus required meant he could not do so while fighting an equal foe. Two, of course, could. But Eldrian wanted more. He wanted something with the power of taking on any form with but a thought.

And so he spent his time. Training, exploring, and making connections.

—

"Ten golds." A rotten corpse demanded the skeleton before him.

"For that?" The skeleton countered, the red flames that were its eyes flaring in anger.

"Ten golds," the corpse replied, not backing down, "each Tier 5."

"One gold each, then?" The skeleton asked, looking over the humans before him. Their eyes were devoid of life, as if they were staring into the abyss. As was expected, their lives had become a living hell. Their lives were not even guaranteed. "They seem dead already."

"Ten golds." The corpse repeated.

"Five."

"Ten golds."

"Tsk." How the skeleton made that noise while lacking a tongue no one can tell, but its annoyance was clear. "Rotten brains. Don't know what haggling is?"

"Ten golds."

The skeleton again clicked its non-existent tongue. The red flames that were his eyes looking over the captured slaves. There was little point in buying them alive if they were already dead inside. Dead, they would have each fetched only a few silvers, instead of a gold a piece.

Despite this, the skeleton could not go with that option. His master had ordered living specimens.

"Eight."

"Ten golds."

Again, he clicked his non- existent tongue. How he wished the one he was talking to was more intelligent. "Fine." Handing over the golds, the skeleton ordered the humans to move.

They did so without a single change in their expressions. Dead inside was apt. But that was to be expected, considering what they had lived through and what was awaiting them.

—

"I must say, he is indeed entertaining." A violet haired goddess commented.

There were some limits to the amount they could spy on those living on Gaia, especially those who were not their believers. But given that all Chosen used her divine realm as a means to enter this world, Skepsi could spy on all the Chosen as much as she wanted.

Eldrian was a bit special. You couldn't really say whether his bridge to this world was still through the magic abyss, but he was nonetheless still linked to it.

Using this connection, Skepsi was basically watching TV. Her focus Eldrian. He was currently losing control and the flames of wrath were destroying everything around him. Including his clothes. Well, at this point, Eldrian had learned his lesson. When he practiced control of wrath, he stripped.

"He is, but..." Skepsi's companion seemed hesitant to speak. She was the goddess often hailed as the one responsible for bringing the Chosen to Gaia. But honestly, she had nothing to do with it. It was all Ziraili and Skepsi.

"Do you want to know why I asked you to come?" Skepsi asked, sipping some wine as she did.

Of course, it was just as insubstantial as the tea she and Ziraili had enjoyed. But the action itself was enjoyable, even with the wine being as tasteless as it was.

The divine had no need for food or drink. And sadly, no such thing naturally existed in line with their forms. But given the influence humans had on them, they had started copying them.  Some as a mocking jester, others had found the ritual calming. Luckily, none of them had tasted the real deal. Else they would rebel... well, they already were rebelling.

"Yes, I know he is a candidate, but..."

Eldrian was certainly an interesting human, but compared to those who had reached the level of legends, he wasn't that impressive. Most of all, had he not been a Chosen, a player, he would have long since been dead.

"Yes, I understand that." Skepsi replied, "Even though he has died a few times, his soul was never damaged beyond repair. And so far, he has managed to not be devoured by the powers he holds."

Of course, there were close calls. Especially early on. Eldrian had forced himself past his limits and damaged his soul greatly as a result. It was a reckless action, but looking at it now, Skepsi found it might have a been a hidden blessing.

All of Eldrian's peculiarity could be traced back to that moment. He had fought nature itself, and as cost, his soul had been ripped apart. With only the core remaining, but even that was tattered and, in a manner of speaking, bleeding.

However, surviving that had certainly given him a unique connection to magic. It was also the origin of not just his auras, but also his bloodline. However, since he has not gone through a similar danger since, these powers had stagnated.

"Why did you ask me here?" Asteria asked, unable to gleam at Skepsi's plan.

"I want an avatar." This reply made Asteria doubt her hearing. Such an action was borderline insanity. Entering a corporeal form would be damaging. It would not be irreversible, but the experience would completely alter a god. Many had gone mad for millennia, doing the same.

"Our plan is to have avatars on Earth. What's so strange?" Skepsi asked her question highlighting the biggest flaw in their plans.

Earth was not hospitable.

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