A New World, an immersive game experience

Clueless on why this question would anger the goddess, Eldrian wavered for a few seconds. Contemplating if he should continue to push or not.

He understood well enough that the afterlife was not meant for the living. GAIA had also told him that it wasn't as simple as he might imagine it. 'Is that the reason?' Eldrian wondered.

Perhaps it was an impossible thing to ask for.  Regardless, he wanted to at least know if it was possible.

"I know you don't have many followers, and I do not know if you welcome any souls into the afterlife." His bluntness stung the goddess. After all, the amount of followers one had was directly correlated to their divine powers.

Skepsi was second to last in this area, with only Ziraili having fewer believers. As a result, neither of them had much divinity to spare.

However, this did not mean that Skepsi was the second weakest god. Her prowess with magic was unparalleled, allowing her to rank among the top 10. However, it still stung to be reminded that despite providing the world with the magic abyss, nearly no one had faith in her like they had faith in Asteria or Dioktis.

She made it possible for humans to use magic. Without her, only a select few would be capable of connecting with mana through their will alone. Yet, no one thanked her for the gift she gave them.

Seeing that his words had reached her and that her anger was dissipating -replaced with despondence-, Eldrian pushed on despite knowing this might incur her wrath.

"Can you at least ask a god or goddess for me to..." Faltering, Eldrian decided he should rather not push further. Skepsi's glare was scaring him. He at least knew when he was about to cross a line that should not be crossed.

"Alright, I'll change my last condition." Eldrian conceded, holding up his hands in a show of defeat. "Simply answer a few of my questions."

Receiving a nod in agreement, Eldrian asked for her to start by explaining how he -out of everyone- obtained two auras (not one) and even unlocked a dormant bloodline that was not handed down by ancestry.

"Stating that it is not handed down is technically wrong. Consider it a part of your DNA, a part that is dormant. Of course, this part isn't in your physical DNA, but an equivalent that makes up your soul. Call it SNA for simplicity."

Of course, the acronym lost all meaning. You can't just change the D to an S and have it make sense. The AI certainly didn't dub what made up the structure of one's soul as SNA.

Regardless, Skepsi called it such since it should help Eldrian understand what she was talking about.  Sometimes, being incorrect helped one understand a difficult subject correctly.

"Most humans would have this dormant SNA strand. You intermingle so much, it is disturbing how related everyone is to one another." Shuddering at the thought, Skepsi paused to overcome her disgust.

"In this regard, your strain was a slightly active. This isn't too rare. Most people can unlock one of the countless dormant bloodline SNA strains when in crisis."

"Generally, it only exhibits its powers during moments of heightened adrenaline. Such as a car crash, when you are about to die, when your loved one is in danger."

"You generally ignore the effects, contributing it all to an adrenaline rush. And for many, that is indeed the case. But for some, it is more than that. We speculate that this occurs for one in a thousand. So in this regard, you are not particularly special."

Eldrian nodded. That much made sense. He also recalled that his first time experiencing anything to do with this unique power was during his fight with the direwolf alpha. Way, way back when he was still a complete noob.

"The only thing special is the strain that you unlocked. The strain of Chronos, a power connected to the power of Kosmos. It is one of the rarer strains, but about one in a million will still have this strain active to some degree."

"What of a family with this power?" Eldrian asked, thinking of Jade as he spoke. "I know someone who inherited the power to charm people. I assume that is... Aphrodite? Venus?"

Skepsi slowly shook her head. "Miracle has done their utmost to keep us in the dark regarding their powers." Naturally, the AI did their best to uncover their powers. After all, to ensure victory, they needed to know their enemy.

But she wasn't about to share classified information with Eldrian.

Despondently, Eldrian nodded with an "Oh, alright..." saddened that he could not gather any information on this.

"Back to how you unlocked this strain of yours. I believe using a magic crystal as a crutch to forcefully learn how to awaken your will and connect with mana changed something inside of you."

Nodding, Eldrian felt this was super likely. After all, the experience had been hell. How he had pushed through it, in retrospect, he couldn't understand what had gone through his mind. Any sane person would have stopped completely after their first attempt.

"But the biggest change was certainly when you fought to stay connected in this world, defying death, to try to save those around you." Skepsi paused. "This is an act commonly referred to as defying the will of the heavens—or gods."

"I believe this is what truly awakened your dormant powers." Dumbing things down for Eldrian, Skepsi went on. "Consider a crystal containing within it a mystical mist. By defying the will of the heavens, you caused the crystal to fracture. Allowing some of that mist to escape."

"Since then, you obeyed the heavens. As such, the amount of mist that can leak from the crystal has not increased. And the only way to grow is to once again the defy heaven's will and fracture the crystal even more."

Interpreting it in his own way, Eldrian nodded. Recalling his torn and bleeding soul, represented as a heart, way back then. He could understand what she was getting at.

It was like working metal. Only by constantly putting it under high stress and repeatedly hammering it can you bring out the best in it. If the temperature of the fire was lacking or if the intent of the hammer was missing, then it would never become the best blade.

However, during forging, there was a high chance that the metal might fracture, that the blade would crack, or that it would warp. These were the dangers that Eldrian had to accept and overcome. It was the dangers of losing himself, a terrifying prospect.

'It is still scary, but... at least I understand what she is getting at now.' Eldrian didn't think she was trying to trick him either. Her intent was to be entertained and whether Eldrian succeeded or failed, it would still be entertaining.

'In fact, success will be more entertaining for her. And it will probably match with the plans that the other AI have for me... and, I suspect Miracle also wants me to grow.'

Seeing how they were letting him live and not using his family as hostages, this was the only conclusion Eldrian could come to. Especially after his match with Zaphreal.

This was perhaps the worst feeling. Eldrian understood his opponent's aim, or at least some part of it, but he could do nothing but to follow along their plan. After all, he couldn't change anything if he was too weak to win.

He needed power, and to obtain power, he needed to fall into their trap.

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