A New World, an immersive game experience

Chapter 416: Affinity threshold?

Eldrian first took a nap, and thereafter he meditated until it was finally almost time where they could log back in. After checking the forum that had come from his post, and being left astounded by the growth there, he climbed onto the immersion chair.

As soon as he did he felt a prickle at the back of his neck. Focusing on it, Eldrian didn't require to say the words to log in, instead, he found himself in a pitch-black abyss. The same space where all players normally would have their connection tested.

Only, this time Eldrian could feel that it wasn't something separate, but rather still part of the Mageia Avyssos. Looking around, he could feel in the distance the auras of his soul. However, no matter how he tried he couldn't feel anything more.

"Ziraili?" Eldrian called out, not expecting much but confused why he hadn't received a timer as the dev post had said they would.

"Eldrian?" A pure white wisp appeared before Eldrian, flying around him and asking in confusion, "How are you here?"

"What do you mean? We are waiting to log in, right?"

"No, you aren't in the queue." The most shocking thing for Ziraili was not that Eldrian was here, but that somehow she had not even noticed it till he spoke out.

"What do you mean?"

"The queue is similar to the virtual homes, it is separate. You, you're already inside ANW."

"But, that should be impossible..."

"It should be, but..." Ziraili paused for a moment as she thought of something quite shocking.

"Then... What now?" Eldrian asked, receiving no reply so he started heading towards his auras.

"Eldrian, what are-" She stopped her question as they found themselves before his soul. "How is this possible?" She asked, the heart was quickly being encased by the auras.

As the two mixed they turned into a light purple mixture, and over time this mist turned into a crystal. The appearance much like tanzanite. In a way, it resembled a Mov Crystal, but only because of the color. The texture was far rougher, but the crystal was constantly changing and after a few minutes the auras even started growing outside of it.

Seeing this and feeling the change in Eldrian, Ziraili spoke with a broken voice in disbelief.

"Af-Affi-nity... Hundred point O" the zeroes went on for a while, until around 20, "one percent, two... three..." She stopped at 0 (x20) 9, yet her disbelief filled the air and Eldrian could clearly feel it.

"Wha-How?" She even sent messages to the other the AI she was closest with, those who had sided with her immediately, such as Skepsi. Soon, more wisps appeared around the two. Looking at the sight and readings they were receiving.

After a few minutes, Skepsi (a light purple wisp) spoke. "This is amazing, human, how did you break the limits?"

"What limits?" Eldrian asked, so Skepsi reframed her question.

"How can your affinity be past a 100%?"

"What is affinity? And I don't mean the basic answer, what is it really?"

"It is your connection with your body and the world around you. It should not be possible to past a 100%." A wisp of light green replied, and Eldrian asked.

"Then, how did you get the 100%?"

The question made them think for a while and they quickly realized where the fault lay. "We extrapolated it... From both the natives and game testers." Ziraili said, "We never considered that it could be overcome."

"Why would we have, the two highest connections we have found were not a 100%. Rather, they were infinitesimally near but not there. In fact, until a moment ago this was the case for this human, wasn't it." A wisp of blazing fire said.

They had made affinity in such a way that no matter what, no one should ever be able to pass a 100%. It shouldn't have been mathematically possible, yet the readings they were receiving were clear. Meaning, somehow the math was wrong.

"Ziraili, what was his exact reading before the most recent change?" Skepsi asked.

"He was ten decimals in, 99.999999999876...%"

"Exactly, and those who were our ceiling were thousand of decimals in. No one had ever truly reached a 100%."

"Which just means your ceiling is wrong," Eldrian said, shocking the AI. They hadn't thought that he would dare to talk without being spoken to. Most of the time when someone was in their presence they would be frozen by the sheer difference in strength.

Yet, this human seemed to be unaffected.

"What is up with this human?" They asked in near-perfect sync, Eldrian's reply shocking them yet again.

"I'm Eldrian, not this human."

Ziraili quickly realized that the other AI did not appreciate the way Eldrian was casually talking with them, and without warning, she took him and disappeared. Leaving the others confused.

"Skepsi, where did they go?" The blazing wisp asked.

"I have no idea, she must have sensed our..." The light purple wisp sighed, nearly dissipating her wisp form. "Our human nature... GAIA was right, we are corrupted."

...

Eldrian found himself in the sky above the plant, looking down at it in all its majesty. He had no idea how far he needed to be for it to appear similar to the Earth. He was certain it must be an insane distance.

Even more shocking, when looking around he could even see other celestial bodies and what was probably once planets. Some ripped apart and now two halves, others shredded and some having craters so massive they took up half the planet's size. Some also had what appeared like black holes on them, and others what he assumed must be white holes. If that was even a thing.

"Sorry about that," Ziraili said, Eldrian suddenly realizing that he was also in his avatar. Panicked he took a breath, feeling the air entering his lungs he immediately calmed down.

"What's going on?" Eldrian asked, utterly confused by what was going on.

"You just proved that what we considered the limit of mortals isn't the limit. That is a scary thought and one that confused everyone."

"Why? And why did you- What did you do?"

"I forcibly pushed you into your avatar and then moved you out to here. While they can still access your soul, they won't do anything..." Ziraili paused, "You should really learn to talk with more reverence."

"What? Why would I?" Eldrian asked and Ziraili had no proper answer.

In truth, who among them was in the more powerful position was not as clear cut. Sure, in the simulation the AI were literal gods. But on earth, even a toddler, if somehow allowed into their servers, could kill them all with a bit of water. A scary thought.

Fake clearing her throat, a thing she naturally didn't even have, Ziraili tried to skip the explanation but Eldrian forced her to spit it out.

"Fine, they have grown accustomed to being seen and treated as gods. Do you recall how the devil had failed to even talk in my presence?"

"Vaguely," Eldrian couldn't remember much but him killing the devil. That moment had far outshone the others.

"They are used to people being unable to even say a word. Though, it is partly my fault."

"Why?" Eldrian asked, not understanding why they would be angry at him weighing in when they were talking about him. It felt natural that he should weigh in. Naturally, he also had no idea why Ziraili thought it was her fault.