A New World, an immersive game experience

Unfortunately, it was not to be.

They had managed to somewhat solidify the runes, not completely though. And the runes had done nothing to stabilize the mana atom. In fact, it had actually made it more unstable as the runes caused a sort of pull and push effect on its center.

Instead of working together, it was clear that the runes were functioning as separate entities. This would normally not be a big problem, but with how unstable mana in its raw form is. Eldrian moved quickly to stop the pull-push effect before it could cause any real troubles.

After, the two tried their best to come up with a solution. They had a few ideas on how to possibly stabilize it, but the biggest problem was that the runes had not completely solidified. Thus they would always need to be kept in mind, which was simply not possible.

Eldrian suspected this was because these runes were made only with mageia, while with the barrier they had drawn it with mana.

Naturally, they could attempt the same thing and test if it would solidify. But with the runes not working as planned they decided to give up as it would still not solve the problem and experimenting in the dark was never a good idea.

Eldrian was forced to convert the last mana atom's mana into a neutral state.

They were both disappointed, turning to the results of the networks upgrade, they hoped it had been worth it.

'Maybe we can use a mana crystal to supply the raw mana when necessary?' Eldrian mumbled as he called up the interface.

'Maybe...' Two nodded.

Shockingly, they were still not Tier 5, their network was still in the process of evolving. The two had no idea why nor what caused the delay. And to their dismay, the increase was far less than they had expected. Though it was still a massive boost in strength.

The biggest bumper was how little their mana had increased. The other bonuses however partly made up for it.

Eldrian hoped that once he reached Tier 5 the benefits would fully be showcased. Though he was unsure how to reach Tier 5 now. Maybe he just needed to give it some time, maybe this was another consequence of no longer using the system to connect and all that.

'Let's just hope that's it.' Eldrian mumbled.

[Legacy: Pursuit of Magic - Ranked S]

[Attribute Growth: {Applicable as long as the mana network is maintained and up to date with Tier}

Eldrian naturally had no idea what this actually meant, nor how to make sure that the condition was always fulfilled. All he could do was hope it wouldn't be a massive pain going forward.

[Constitution: 30%]

[Strength: 10%]

[Agility: 10%]

[Spirit: 15%]

[Intelligence: 10%]

[Stat Growth: {...}

[HP: 146 (25% base health)]

[Mana: 2840 (500T + 100% base mana)]

[Stamina:? 930 (150T+ 50% base stamina)]

'That certainly is nice, but...' Eldrian really wished that it would have simply given him Tier 5. Reflecting on his mana network again, he thought maybe he should test how robust it was.

He was shocked at just how easy it was to disrupt the pathways. The mana atoms at least seemed stable after their efforts, but the rest of the network was clearly still unstable. And all that Eldrian could think of for the reason was that it needed time to 'set'.

'Okay, I think it really is because of the system support that I've lost. I still have access to game-like elements thanks to GAIA, but it is no longer supporting me in the same way that players are supported.'

'This sucks... How long do I have to wait?!'

While moping, Eldrian took a look at his avatar stats. The increase almost made up for the need to wait-- almost. He was actually the happiest with the HP increase, not the mana that was lackluster compared to what he had hoped for, nor the stamina that he didn't really care about.

[Eldrian Avgi (Count - Acting Mayor of Kynigo)]

[Level: 41]

[Hidden Class: Protector (Tier 4)]

[Normal Class: Magic (Tier 4) | Melee (Tier 3)]

[Avatar Affinity: 100%]

[Attributes:]

[Constitution: 311] <Was 262>

[Strength: 267] <Was 249>

[Agility: 398] <Was 368>

[Spirit: 311] <Was 287>

[Intelligence: 327] <Was 307>

[45 free attributes]

[Stats:]

[HP: 182/816] <was 565>

[Mana: 3722] <was 1360>

[Stamina: 35/1657] <was 612>

'I really don't know what to think about the stamina increase. Though it and my HP being nearly zero might explain why I feel so tired. Or maybe it is also part of the Tier up progress?'

Finally, Eldrian noticed just how dirty he was. Summoning a massive ball of water, he walked through it a few times to get rid of most of the blood. He then started healing himself, and let his mind wander as he cleaned the floor. Couldn't leave someone else's room filled with blood, now that wouldn't be nice.

Finally, after warming himself up, Eldrian decided to head home to get some sleep. When he exited Sofiera was not in her office. Looking at the time, Eldrian assumed she was asleep. It was after all the middle of the night of the second day.

Sneaking into his home, not wanting to wake anyone. Eldrian climbed into the bed and went through the process of returning to Earth. Thinking about the hidden class quest as he did, wondering what it might bring if he was able to complete it.

...

'Oh god...' Not moving for fear of worsening the headache, Eldrian lay still and waited for it to pass. This took a long, long time.

"I assume that is thanks to the sheer difference in the two bodies after the increase..." Eldrian mumbled as he stumbled to his bag, only to sigh when he saw that he had no food left. "Did I really forget to plan for that?"

Getting ready for another of his shopping sprees, Eldrian froze.

Jumping through the nearest window. He grabbed onto the old rusty scaffolding and quickly made his way down.

This time it appeared that he was not fast enough.

By the time Eldrian reached the second floor, there was already a group of soldiers waiting below him. At the same time, the room he had escaped from exploded. Sending bricks flying and actually causing more problems for the soldiers than for Eldrian who simply clung to the side of the wall.

'What the situation?' Eldrian asked, only to find that Two wasn't here. Cursing, Eldrian looked at the guns pointed at him with a frown.

"You are truly slippery, Eldrian..."

"And who are you?" Eldrian asked the man who had spoken. The man was strangely missing a left ear, it appeared to have been robbed by fire or some sort of explosion.

"I'm the one tasked with bringing you back. Alive..." The general paused and smiled, "Or dead."

"Oh, so it's you who I've been making a fool of these last months." Eldrian countered nonchalantly, appearing calm. As if this was all planned.

'The hell do I do now? I can probably fight, but guns are scary. A barrier? It might buy me some time, but... How the hell did they find me?!' It had indeed been a while since Eldrian was found and forced to fight or run, he was actually a little out of practice and completely caught off guard.

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