A New World, an immersive game experience

"How is it possible for it to increase my attributes?" Eldrian asked.

"That is only natural, all consumables of this level would enhance your body. It can even solidify and repair your soul to some extent. Especially if it was processed through alchemy, as a tea its effects are minimal. But it helps clear the mind. In lamens terms, it helps me stay sane."

'To drink something worth a Magic Crystal. Daily? Weekly? To stay sane... Her wealth...' Eldrian didn't know how to act now, suddenly he also wanted to show some more respect to this lady. Until now he had been talking to her as he would talk to anyone else.

"As for your previous question. I'm not too certain what exactly you mean by a realm. I was simply too shocked by how much your soul had gone through. For it to take on such formative changes, it is very telling and extremely shocking."

"By realm-" Eldrian paused as Two suddenly interrupted him.

'That tea... Don't drink anymore.' Two sounded scared.

'What? Why?'

'Remember how Ziraili said that the breakthrough awakened a part of our bloodline. This, it feels like this might awakened it more. Unless you're ready to deal with it, don't drink anymore.'

"What's wrong?" Ashliel keenly picked up how Eldrian suddenly looked at the tea with worry.

'Do I trust her?' Eldrian pondered while looking at the tea and fighting his thirst for it. It wasn't that he wanted the stat growth, but how it had made him feel. It was an addictive feeling.

Eldrian was truly impressed that Ashliel could control herself to not drink all she had. To not down her cup, to not down the teapot. She was drinking it leisurely, small sip after small sip with large breaks between them.

"Would it be possible for us to make a contract through the AI?" Eldrian remembered this neat function at the last moment but was unsure if it would work.

"I would rather have you come to trust me naturally. If you don't mind trying, why don't you attempt to contact GAIA now? I don't mind waiting."

"But that will come back to if I can use XP."

"And why not? All that you lacked was what it is. Once you can find it you can slowly learn how to control it like the other forms of mana. I assume you learned first by memorizing spell modules, that process should be similar to access and use lifeforce."

'Is it really mageia? Can't be.' If it was that simple Eldrian felt he would have long ago learned how to control it. He would have at least seen something to indicate it could be more than a guiding force. 'Maybe it is the manipulation of that space? Using it as fuel? It would be the next step in mageia...'

"I might have an idea, but I'm not sure how to shift it to the outside."

"I can't answer that. But maybe forming it and then trying to access it from outside would help?"

'Like with my mana soul? Does this mean XP is truly a unique type of mana? Different from those used in spells? It does make up the soul, all life... Are there two types of mana, or is lifeforce more than mana?'

Eldrian dived into his consciousness. He already knew how to manipulate this space, it wasn't difficult. How to make something to contact GAIA, that was a more difficult question. In the end, he decided to form a question with the space of his consciousness itself.

It did not take Eldrian long, by the time Ashliel took her second sip of tea he was back. 'This is kind of how I first struggled to connect with the system, how I had to learn how to use the interface. If this works, I might be able to fully modify it. I wonder what the limits would be...'

Focusing from the outside, Eldrian envisioned the message he had created and attempted to activate it. This in turn was similar to how he accessed his mana soul while the first step had been similar to how he had made it. The similarity allowed him to succeed on his first attempt.

[Message <Can we talk?> has been sent] Came the system reply, seeing it Eldrian hoped that it would reach the right AI. After all, it wasn't like he had an address. All he could do was envision the duality god and hope his message would find its way to them.

"That was quick," Ashliel noted upon seeing Eldrian relax, she also picked up that he was still not touching his cup.

"I've had some experience with what I needed to do. I still don't know how to really use this lifeforce, but I now know why I couldn't feel or detect it before." Eldrian replied, the reason was so simple.

It was his soul, it was him. Unlike mana, it wasn't something foreign he had to search for. He just had to realize what it was. He kind of understood why Ashliel tried to explain that people were individuals and they are also part of a larger whole.

Each person was like a bubble in an ocean. Each bubble was unique and separate from the others, but they were all part of the ocean nonetheless.

This also perfectly fit with his idea of each consciousness being a realm, they were simply all part of the larger ocean realm. And then that ocean realm might be part of a larger world, the landmasses being separate realms along with the sky, the void of space, the core of the planet...

There could even be multiple planets, some barren, some shattered by some unknown events. Maybe even stars could be unique realms.

Some things might be able to shift between the realms, and some things would forever be contained within their realm of origin. Maybe it was even possible for things to transverse planets.

Eldrian suspected lifeforce was one capable of shifting, and that mana as he knew it and used was not.

'If I use mageia to draw and then fill it with this 'space', this lifeforce. Can I shift it to the physical realms, would it allow me to access endless amounts of mana? Is lifeforce limited in usage to connecting us with mana, or is it mana?'

Eldrian had an itch to experiment but he also understood that this would be a truly dangerous thing to do. If what he was thinking was correct, then the usage of lifeforce as a source of mana would be extremely damaging to the person. And also extremely powerful.

In all likelihood, this would be exponentially more powerful than using an aura. However, how it influenced the rest of reality was unknown. How it would react in a realm outside of its origin, Eldrian did not know. It might be more explosive, or it might be completely inert.

As his thoughts were running wild, a system reply came. Short and to the point.

AN: A big thanks to everyone who continues to support the story by simply reading on Web, voting for the story, or sharing comments. It is all greatly appreciated.