New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Astaroth ran like a madman, going down the stairs in groups of four, as the dark particles of mana he dreaded thickened the further down he went. He had been down almost five hundred steps when he finally saw the end of the stairs.

He calculated he was about a hundred meters under the tree palace, and by how the stairs spiralled, he was still right under the core. When he reached the floor, his thoughts were confirmed.

All around him, the walls were a mix of compacted dirt, stone, and roots; some thin, some thick. He was in an oddly shaped room, closely resembling an octagon, with a large stone dais in the center.

But his attention was on something else right now.

At the far end of the room, a large red gash in the air itself was spewing out thick red and black miasma. The miasma was filled with the same mana signature he had been dreading finding.

Demonic mana.

When the others reached the end of the staircase behind him, small gasps of shock escaped them. Only Khalor was unfazed.

He stepped forward, reaching next to Astaroth.

“This is what I wanted to show you. Since we have made this base ours, we need to get rid of this right now. Or else, when the update finishes, there won’t be a base to come back to.”

Astaroth kept his eyes on the tear, but still felt questions bubbling inside him.

“What do you mean, it won’t be there?”

“First, let’s let the priest close this, while he still can.”

Turning around to face Silent Light, Khalor gestured for him to come forward.

“You are the only one of us who can close this, kid. So do us a favour, and blast it full of divine energy.”

Silent looked confused. He had no attack spells yet and did not know how to convey his mana in any other way than healing.

Seeing his apparent confusion, Khalor clicked his tongue. He turned to Phoenix, then to Astaroth.

“Have you guys not taught at least your officers how to use mana more fluidly, yet? This is important stuff! God damn it. Fine, I’ll teach him”

His head snapped back at Silent.

“First things first. Cast a healing spell on an ally, but focus on the energy doing the healing.”

Silent Light did as ordered, and cast a small healing spell, choosing Khalor as his target. But as the energy touched Khalor, a sizzling noise emanated from him, as he yelped in pain.

“Not me, you imbecile! I’m an undead, you are damaging me!”

Khalor lightly conked Silent Light on the head, glaring at him in pain.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know!”

Silent Light hurriedly picked Astaroth as his next target, before casting the same healing spell. This time, he was able to focus on the energy conveying his healing power.

But it was only a vague feeling, as he was not graced with mana sensing like Phoenix. But this vague feeling was enough for him to get a sense of what it was supposed to feel like.

The energy felt like a ray of sunlight that hit you while you rested under the shade of a tree. It was warm and soothing, almost like a hug from your grandmother.

Seeing him squinting, Khalor knew he had grasped the base.

“Okay, next step. Now that you know how that feels, I need you to envision it differently. Imagine that same feeling, but instead of being just a ray or wave, make it into a bubble, and wrap it around the red tear.”

The other officers listened to his explanation, and wheels were turning in their heads too. The ones that had yet to understand the underlying use of mana started trying to repeat the experiment Khalor was making Silent Light do.

Athena had already grasped at this when she unlocked her new legacy. The same thing could apply to Gulnur.

As for the other officers, other situations also clued them into it. Morticia had unlocked a mastery level through this process on her own.

Astaroth, Violette, and Phoenix all had understood this principle quite early in their magic training. I’die had figured a part of it out, when Violette had synergized their spells on their dungeon run.

As for Gale, he was the most advanced in it, since he was already applying it outside of New Eden. This left only Declan, who did not know how to use mana at all.

But that didn’t stop the less experienced to double down on this lesson, making I’die, Morticia, Athena, and Declan squint like Silent, while they tried to understand more about the natural energy in New Eden.

Silent Light was having trouble following Khalor’s instructions, sensing the eyes of the latter, as well as those of Astaroth, Phoenix, and Violette linger on him. His lack of focus caused him to fumble many times, earning him stern reprimands from Khalor.

But after a dozen attempts, Khalor noticed the change, at the same time as Astaroth did. The miasma leaking out of the tear was slowly thinning as a faint golden glow started surrounding it.

A few minutes went by, with Silent Light now sweating abundantly, his eyes closed as he focused on the feeling. He was envisioning a warm blanket wrapping around the red tear, forming a cozy cocoon.

Then he got a notification as a hand hit his shoulder. 𝘦𝘯.𝘰𝘳𝘨

“Congrats, kid. You did it.”

Opening his eyes, Silent was face to face with Khalor’s terrifying, ghostly face. He held back a scream of surprise, only jolting back.

But he was more interested in the notification he heard.

Opening his interface, he read it.

*Congratulations! Your practice has formed a new spell. Spell ‘Minor Divine Seal’ added to the skill list.*

Silent Light was ecstatic about this, and when he looked forward, at where the tear was, he saw a golden cocoon, slowly shrinking on itself. The golden ball shrunk and shrunk until it completely disappeared, bringing the leaking miasma crack with it.

The miasma on the ground quickly dissipated when it lost its source. Looking back at Khalor, he seemed to have a satisfied look on his face, even though it was hard to read it, as it was bones and a shifting mist.

“Now! On to the next part of the explanation!” Khalor exclaimed, grabbing everyone’s attention.