A New World, an immersive game experience

The sudden disappearance of mana didn't go unnoticed. In fact, it caused such a large disturbance that it kicked most of his guildmates out of ANW. So they couldn't help but notice.

Worse, their building's electricity fluctuated as the mana rushed through the walls towards Eldrian. Only to be absorbed into nothing. Disappearing from the world.

The first burst of absorption was so chaotic that the mana had taken physical form as it was squeezed toward Eldrian. As a result, the surrounding walls sported several holes and burn marks. Looking like a massive battle had taken place.

Some of his friends even sported some minor injuries. Luckily, the rushing mana wasn't forming spells. While there was some danger, it was more like the shockwave of an explosion than the explosion itself. And all his friends were more than capable enough to weather through the shockwave and towards its cause.

Following the trail of destruction, They found Eldrian in his room (one of several they had built in their HQ). The room was modest, with a single bed and one table and chair.

A headset would normally rest on said table, but it was now scattered across the room. Shattered into tiny fragments. Of course, no one noticed this particular fact. Their attention was drawn to Eldrian. Having fallen from his bed, he had broken multiple bones due to his fragile state. The sight shocked everyone to their core.

They had no idea what was going on. Their first instinct was that it had to be some type of curse. It might explain why Eldrian was absorbing mana at such an insane rate. However, they couldn't think of anyone who would...

No, they had a few culprits in mind. However, they doubted Eldrian would have been caught in their attack so easily. Ending up in a state so near death he looked more corpse than human.

Moving closer to try and help, they faltered. Afraid that moving Eldrian would make things even worse, they started arguing. Some wanted to call an ambulance, others Miracle (Zaphreal), and a few wanted to wait for Eldrian to tell them what was going on.

Their argument grew in and grew. Suddenly stopping as they all shuddered. Even though most of them still couldn't control mana on Earth, they were more or less all able to notice its presence.

And now, there was no such presence. The rush of mana, having moved like a turbulent river towards Eldrian, was gone. And with its disappearance, all the mana they had grown used to feeling was gone too.

They tried to focus on this phenomenon. On sensing some, any, mana. But no matter how hard they tried, no mana reacted to their prodding. And it left them feeling exposed. As if they had forgotten their clothes. The absence of mana truly hammered home that this situation was dire.

Looking towards Eldrian, they found him still lying on the ground. Struggling to breathe. However, he seemed to be more at ease than before. Despite his physical condition, his eyes shone with clarity. He had clearly not given up. A sign that relieved them all greatly.

Notably, they also noticed that Eldrian currently appeared like a mix between his ANW avatar and human body. It wasn't all that clear since he was so emaciated, almost only skin and bones. However, his ears were that of an elf. Curiously, his air had also grown, surpassing a meter in length and the same brilliant silver as his avatar's.

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While curious about his appearance, they all focused on Eldrian slowly pointed to the corner of his room. He had stored several mana-conducting materials there. Mostly crystals, but also some metals he had played with.

They all knew about them. They loved talking about magic theory with Eldrian and bringing up their own suggestions. Most had a few crystals in their own rooms.

Thus they quickly realized that he needed more mana. They rushed to hand the crystals to them. Alas, they found that the box contained nothing but ash. Noticing this, most rushed out of the room to get their own mana batteries.

"Eldrian... its gone." Elizabeth said, her throat choking from despair as she looked towards Eldrian. He must be in so much pain, she realized. Swearing she would kill whoever did this to him.

Naturally, that someone was Eldrian himself. Perhaps Chronos could be blamed, but he was long dead. And Eldrian had simply stumbled upon his legacy.

And that legacy came with a cost. One Eldrian was desperately trying to pay without dying.

Luckily, the first wave of mana had been enough to buy him some time. He was no longer on the verge of death, despite his terrible condition. He wasn't dying from a lack of mana anymore. And once he had some mana to spare, he could heal himself. Getting to that point would be a challenge.

More importantly, Eldrian had noticed that he was still connected to the "Realm of Time".

He had no other phrase for it. And the black hole sucking all his mana (and still demanding more), was a fissure in the connection between the "Realm of Time", and Earth.

It was a fracture in a spell maintaining reality itself. And it needed to be closed. A task that required an untold amount of mana. The mana Eldrian had absorbed so far was enough to stop it from killing him. But the reprieve would not last long.

Pushing his all into finding a solution, Eldrian's arm fell to the ground. Unable to spare the effort required to keep it aloft, or even to lower it slowly.

*Crack* His arm snapped as it hit the ground. But the pain hardly registered in Eldrian's mind. Having mostly disconnected himself from his body, he was acting as a half-ethereal being. Simply inhabiting his body to not lose his tether to the world.

He would be in some real danger if his body died on him, of course. But Eldrian wasn't too worried. He had plenty of experience with dying. And while it would be a first for him on Earth, he had a few ideas on how to survive "death".

But that required him to first fix his current situation. The fissure, after all, wasn't connected to his body. But his soul. It had simply devoured all his body had to offer once he had returned.

Death of the soul would be permanent. And, also, if his body got too damaged, he wouldn't be able to return to it. Resurrection magic could restore a damaged corpse, but there were limits. And Eldrian would have a hard time performing that on his own. Sadly, none of his friends would be able to cast such an advanced spell on Earth.

All that to say, he had to act quickly. Before his heart stopped and the last remaining mana was sapped from him. As soon as that happened, Eldrian was confident his corpse would turn to ash or something. Seeing as the fissure was consuming all the energy it could with a ravaging hunger. And his physical body was acting as the gateway between Earth, Eldrian, and the Realm of Time.

Sadly, Eldrian could see no solution other than continuing to feed mana to the fissure. A daunting task, and one which would massively change the magical environment of their surroundings. But better 'that', than it growing and causing their universe to be severed from time itself.

Eldrian was certain if that happened, their fate would be sealed.

And so he started absorbing mana once more. Sending his Mageia through the city. Most of it was already barren. So he expanded his search range. Taking all the mana he could find.

But this was now far slower. Distance made control more difficult. A few kilometers had proven little difficulty. But several dozen was making Eldrian's control weaker. Thus slowing his mana gathering, and therefore exposing everyone to more danger.

Luckily, Eldrian had already thought of a possible solution. Or at least a step that would help him gain some more control of the situation.

Miracle's recklessness might just save his life. And perhaps the entire world.

Shifting his focus from absorbing mana to finding the "elementals" that Miracle had released. Eldrian found them with ease. In his now mana-depleted surroundings, these magically modified bacteria were like fireflies in the night sky. Beacons attracting his attention.

His hope was a simple one. These things were able to interact with the raw mana in the universe. Mana which normally phased through all life on Earth without ever interacting with anything.

This was important, sure. As Eldrian couldn't focus on gathering that mana. The task was difficult enough when he was in top shape. Doing so on the verge of death would be impossible.

But, more importantly, they were little mana batteries. Dense pockets of mana which Eldrian could attempt to guide towards himself.

Naturally, this would not be easy. Eldrian's first attempt caused the elementals to simply explode. It seemed that forcefully taking control of the mana in their bodies caused a rather violent reaction.

But Eldrian didn't really care. It still gave him mana to work with. Half of which he sent towards the fissure, the other half he started to morph into a spell.

After a few tries, he succeeded in his first goal. Having the elementals gather towards a spell. Which, for ease of visualization, he had given the form of a ball of light he dubbed Moth Light. For the simple reason that the elementals reminded Eldrian of moths being attracted to light. Just like moths, they rushed towards the spell.

Exploding a few of them, Eldrian made more spells which he sent out into his surroundings. Once he had enough elementals nearby, he started making automated spells that would fly a further distance before returning.

Satisfied for quantity, Eldrian started on his next goal. While tiny, the elementals were lifeforms. Which meant they had lifeforce. A far more potent form of energy than mana.

Trying to absorb that from them, proved more challenging. On Earth, you got such a minuscule amount of XP for killing things that it wasn't worth mentioning. But if Eldrian could gather all the lifeforce from the elementals, he might just get enough energy to do something.