Chapter 453: Questioned by Joren

Agamemas turned serious as Eldrian mentioned this, recalling what Amnur had shared with them. That Eldrian had gotten the attention of far more gods than any before. 

'Along with this, I am a Chosen. Our soul, as I had explained before, is not in the same ethereal realm as yours. I have no idea where that realm is, but mine is in the Mageia Avyssos. It is why I could enter and experiment on it so easily.'

'These factors made it more difficult.'

'As to what happened...' Eldrian paused and considered how to explain this. 'Ziraili explained to us that we would have to also have our levels equalized to accomplish the bonding. And upon our agreement, she took care of it and we returned to find you and Zamia exhausted.'

Hearing this, Agamemas again turned serious. It wasn't hard to believe that a god could alter the levels of those she was responsible for, but doing so also for Cephaphyr was shocking. 

{'What is her godhood?'} Agamemas wondered, his mind telling him that she was the god of the ethereal. Yet, even he did not understand what that was supposed to mean. 

'I see...' Agamemas didn't voice the questions he had, certain that while Eldrian seemed intimate with this god, he didn't know about her godhood. 

'Before you sever the connection. When I woke, after confirming that you and Zamia were safe, I picked up the dust of the Magic Crystal. Afraid that the wind might blow it away.'

'I see...' Agamemas thought on this for a moment, 'Keep it. It might prove useful to you.'

Eldrian nodded in seriousness while his heart danced in joy, he even dared himself to ask, 'Would it be possible for me to take some of the broken pieces of Voidstone?'

Agamemas looked at him with all seriousness, 'Alright, here you can take this piece. However, you should understand that, unlike metal, it is not pliable. However, even so. This piece is priceless.'

Taking the piece of stone not much larger than his hand, Eldrian thanked Agamemas from the depth of his heart. 

'Now what?' Eldrian wondered as Agamemas turned around and went back to his wife. 'Ah, I think I should just get used to my new mana pathways and try to learn one of the Tier 4 spells I have.'

With a plan in mind, Eldrian got down to business. Memorizing the Tier 4 spell proved to be a challenge. And Eldrian didn't want to push too long into the night. So after just a few hours of dark, he logged out. 

...

Stomach growling in protest, Eldrian quickly changed into a new set of clothing and headed to get something to eat. Flavia and the others weren't there, so he just ate by himself. When he came back to his room, he found Joren waiting. 

"Eldrian, do you have some time?"

"Sure." Eldrian nodded and opened the door, indicating for Joren to come inside. 

"I talked with Gengxin, and we are all curious what Ephiphany you came to yesterday."

'Ah, so that conversation isn't done yet.' Eldrian sighed internally, trying his best to not show his distress. While he was happy that the question wasn't about Ziraili, he wasn't prepared for this one either.

"Right, of course. I believe you have someone monitoring me, so you might already have heard this. I realized that I couldn't consider mana something external, something that just exists in the game."

"Are you saying that mana exists on Earth?" Joren asked, his tone dead serious. 

"No, I wish it did. It would make my life so much easier." Eldrian joked while his back started sweating. "No, what I realized was that even though it is something that only exists in the game. I can't think of it like that."

"To truly master magic, I have to consider it as part of me. Even if there is nothing on Earth. Consider it like a phantom limb, but instead of trying to forget about it, to fight the feeling of it still being there. I want to make myself feel phantom mana. Make myself feel that it is still there."

"That-" Joren looked at Eldrian and didn't know what to say. To try and make oneself believe something that isn't there, is there. It sounded like Eldrian was crazy. 

However, instead of trying to stop Eldrian from doing this. Joren actually wanted to encourage him. This might just be what they needed to finally discover mana. Joren also knew that he couldn't appear too happy. So he fought to keep his own emotions in control. 

"Are you sure that won't be bad for you?" Joren asked after expressing his hopes.

'Seems it worked, but this might bite me in the future.' Eldrian, unfortunately, had to at least share this much, since else he would never be able to really talk about magic in the game going forward. 

"I have no idea, but thus far me immersing myself more has helped me not experience the backlashes I used to experience." Eldrian said, hinting at the disconnect and coma experiences. 

Nodding, Joren smiled and said, "Indeed, it seems you are truly the expert. Thank you for indulging me."

"Of course, but before you go."

"Yes?"

"Remember way back when I asked if I could be tutored?"

"Of course."

"Can we arrange that again?" Eldrian asked, explaining that he wanted some tutoring in biology and physics to start off with. 

"Sure, I will organize something starting tomorrow."

"Alright, but can we make it around midday for 4 hours only? If something happens in-game that will also give me some time to inform you to inform the tutor."

"Of course," Joren replied with a smile as he closed the door on his way out. 

As soon as the door was closed Eldrian fell back onto his bed and sighed in relief. "This is becoming so complicated." He mumbled, moving to his PC and doing some lowkey searching for interesting topics. 

'I don't want to learn the basics nor the math. I just want to learn the concepts that might help me in-game. I feel I am reaching a level where this might actually be important.'

'Also, the feeling of dynamic casting is truly strange. It seems extreme pressure can force me to it, similar to the time dilation effect. Which I still don't know what's up with.'

'Strangely, the time dilation is easier to... No, that isn't really correct. It happens automatically, while to dynamic cast I have to actually think of using magic.'

'Such as that time when trying to save us from the orcs...' Eldrian stopped thinking for a moment as he recalled how badly that had ended despite his best efforts. 

After taking a moment, he continued his thoughts. 'Dynamic cast isn't about having this perfect image of what will happen. Nor do I need to really know how it works, or even the mana required.'

'What it requires is me truly wishing for something to happen. Not even bothering to try and formulate how it will happen, just that it does.'

'I guess that is why Cephaphyr struggles so much with control.'

Eldrian smiled recalling the spars against his little friend. Understanding better how it works and looking forward to experimenting on it. However, he first wanted to get back to the front lines and finally finish that damn quest. 

{AN: A big thanks to everyone who continues to support this novel on WN.}