<h4>Chapter 542 - New Reality (Part 2 - Answers)</h4>


    "How is it possible that he simply disappeared?" General Axel questioned, unable to ept that this was actually the best of the best.


    After the first few days, no more traces of Eldrian was found. It was like he had disappeared into thin air.


    "Well, he is capable of using magic-"


    "And how far are we with that?"


    "We haven''t made any further progress." The new ANW department head, Qiren, replied. When the offer hade she had wanted to refuse, unfortunately, that had not been an option.


    "I thought you had a breakthrough?"


    "We had, but... We aren''t able to do anything with it. We now know with certainty that mana is present on Earth, we also know that ying the game somehow improves our physical attributes."


    "However, we don''t understand quite how this works and we have never been able to use magic without the System''s assistance. I''m afraid the knowledge of mana existing does not help us any more than when we just hoped that it did."


    The general cursed, "What if we still had the subject?"


    "No way to know now," Qiren replied while keeping her objections to herself. Miracle had changed, utterly andpletely.


    ...


    A few months passed and the search continues. Little sess has been made and little progress was made in the area of magic. More and more yers reached Tier 4, but no one managed to break through to Tier 5.


    Getting a feel for mana was hard, even with the advice that Eldrian had shared nearly no one seeded. If someone might seed in feeling mana, then they weren''t able to memorize and envision the Tier 5 spell correctly. And they most certainly weren''t able to connect the two.


    Connecting those two parts was no longer something that yers considered possible. Thetter took so much concentration that it left no room for them to think, or feel in this case. Especially not something as fake as mana, something non-physical.


    Naturally, the yers hadined about the absurdity of reaching Tier 5. Saying it was impossible and that the difficulty had to be decreased. Of course, this was not something that Miracle themselves had control over.


    They would never admit this, so they spun an excuse while monitoring everyone who reached Tier 4 and especially those who were trying to reach Tier 5. Hoping for another Eldrian.


    Erik had made sure to make himself as uninteresting as he could once he heard about Eldrian. Like Jen, he did not believe that Eldrian would kill himself, and knowing a bit more than the public, he quickly felt that something shady was going on.


    He had deactivated all types of streaming and monitoring actions that a yer could activate. He knew that this would do little if Miracle really wanted to look into him. Thus, he had also stopped trying to master his hidden ss.


    Instead, once Akarui was given the all-clear by Zamia, the two had decided to go visit and stay in Taurtania. Zamia had been more than willing to give them a ride, she had used that opportunity to also go visit Cephaphyr and see how he was doing.


    Ceph was beating himself up, ming himself. It had broken Zamia''s heart, but she had also managed to confirm that their link was still active, and thus that Eldrian was still alive. A relief to both mother and son.


    Taurtania was one of the three duchies of Taurus. Situated in the center of the kingdom, along with the other two, the three duchies surrounded the capital of Taurus, Taur. Massive walls stretched between the duchies, acting as a massive scale castle stretching over more than 500 kilometers.


    The city of Taurtania was massive, heavily fortified, and had a moderate -Gaia scale- poption of over five million people. The two quickly disappeared in the city and made an honest living through Erik''s apothecary. Buying a house for themselves after just a month in the city and starting their own garden.


    ANW had also officially reached a billion yers, a massive milestone for thepany. And due to the realism of ANW, not many other games managed to pop up in the immersion-VR area.


    There was a number that tried and managed to get a good number of yers, but those games were considered for casuals. A game to y and rx. And of course, those games didn''t have the neat feature of being able to y through your sleep.


    It quickly became a trend that people would dive into these games after a number of days of frustration in ANW. Yet, these yers would alwayse back to ANW. The realism and challenge, something that couldn''t be found anywhere else.


    Especially regarding the NPCs, it was near impossible to go back to nk standard NPCs after ying ANW. It always pulled the yers out of their immersion.


    "So, they haven''t made any progress. That''s good." Eldrian mumbled after reading through what was publicly avable on the inte and forums.


    Over these past months, he had focused on staying in the shadows, constantly improving his magic along with Two. Though they hadn''t been able to do much actual magic, they had managed to go through all their theories and knowledge and condense what they knew and had discovered.


    Thanks to Two and their enhanced physical and mental attributes, the two were able to recall almost everything with perfect rity when working together.


    Magic on Earth was different from inside ANW and they had quickly learned that elemental mana was almost impossible to use. The''s elements seemed to be out of bnce.


    Trying to cast simple spells like Aeraki was possible, but trying to cast Volida would result in the spell either imploding or dissipating. Even after all this time, Eldrian and Two were unable to improve on this.


    What they had managed to improve on was their understanding of auras. After the escape, they had talked long and hard about how they had managed to escape.


    They hade to realize two things, they had used their auras and spirit magic. Thetter was what they had decided to call magic that relied on emotions but wasn''t an aura per se.


    Auras, they are things that overwhelm and overtake a person''s mind. But it does not stop there, they alter the very fabric of mana. Turning it into the purest form represented of the aura type.


    Wrath created mes of unimaginable heat, consuming and converting all the mana near it. Aimed at burning and destroying everything ites into contact with. Even inert and inactive mana would be consumed and converted.


    Tranquility, Tranquility did the same but instead froze everything. Trying instead of consuming and destroying everything, to turn it into a state of ever stillness. To bring bnce, and hence no change, no life, no movement. It was absolute zero, in all forms.


    This was why auras are so strong and also why there was no personal mana requirement. It consumed, converted, and altered all that it touched. To control it, Eldrian and Two had no idea how that could ever be possible.


    The best they coulde up with was to make use of it, and then stop before it consumed them. For it did not stop with mana, it altered the person too, in all regards. Wrath was the clearest example, but Tranquility was just as, if not more, dangerous.


    What was required for an aura was a spark, and thereafter it was a struggle of not losing yourself to them. To somehow, someway keep your sense of self and suppress the aura.


    Auras burn bright, but not long.


    AN: A big thank you to everyone who continues to read and support the story on WN.