New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Far away from this dungeon, Khalor was teleporting back to the red continent, where the Demonoids, Orcs, and Undead lived in peace. This was the spawning place of players of these races.

It was not forbidden for the three races from travelling to the other continents, but it was rare. Mainly because they were treated as monsters almost everywhere they went.

Only the strongest of them did that, as they could defend themselves from the unwitting guards and patrols that might mistake them for common monsters. Such was the life of these three races.

Khalor had travelled back to talk with his legacy giver. His death on the battlefield around the Bastion had been a setback for him in terms of Exp and levels, but it had another perk added to it.

When he had come back from the graveyard, he noticed his legacy quest had suddenly updated. It had been locked behind three question marks for a while now.

The last Necromancer legacy owner had talked little about his legacy quest, and only mentioned where he found it on the forums, since no one could get it anymore.

This was why Khalor had located it so fast. This was one of the strongest legacies that New Eden offered.

The only other ones that were worth mentioning were the ones that the top players had found. Like the one of Simo Hayha, the deadliest sniper in history, that Azamus had found.

Or the one from Tyr, that his cherished friend had chanced upon. He wondered what Xavier had become, or if he had found the legacy again.

If his memory was correct, Xavier had found it not long before the update which was about to happen. The man had been a co-worker of his in the last timeline.

Khalor had found a job not long after New Eden started, when the money transfer option became a thing, many workers transferred into the game, making use of their trade skills there, to make money.

This had opened up many jobs, some in Khalor’s trade, and he had pounced on one. That was where he had met Xavier, who after a long time of insisting, had roped him into playing New Eden.

Xavier had enchanted him with tales of monsters and magic, frequently referencing how he was learning time magic, from an old man.

But by the time Khalor had joined in on the game, changes had already started happening to the world that would later be revealed to be irreversible.

And Khalor had died before Xavier could master his magic.

‘I wonder how you are faring, Chronos…’

Brushing aside his melancholy, Khalor focused his mind on the matters at hand. He had to meet with Hades.

Getting a meeting with the god of death was no small matter. He usually needed to jump through so many hoops, just to get a chat with the man.

But his quest required him to meet the god, so he hoped it would be a lot more direct this time.

Reaching the entrance to the underworld, the part of the continent where the undead clustered, Khalor stopped at the gate. Even if he was the undeath legacy holder, he still had to be allowed into the underworld.

Soon enough, the thundering of a giant footfall echoed toward him. Stomping in his direction, was a large, black, three-headed dog, with fire in its eyes.

Khalor bowed his head, waiting for the guardian of the underworld to sniff him out and allow him inside. He sighed loudly, wishing he could take this undead into his army, as it would greatly improve his combat ability.

But that wasn’t something he could do, for now. Even the owner of the legacy in his last life hadn’t ever used Cerberus in combat.

After a short, low growl, the gate creaked open for Khalor, who nodded at the giant canine, before walking into the underworld. Once he was inside the underworld, he summoned the two-headed raven, which was his fastest flying mount, and darted to the south.

‘I wonder what I’ll have to do next.’

***

Night had fallen on the Bastion, and Phoenix was ready to try out her idea. She had already talked to Leon, who seemed to want nothing less than to be forced into ruling the kingdom.

“Ruling humanoids, and ruling beasts, are two different things. Ruling your kind is so tedious. I don’t want to be stuck doing this for ten years, or however long it’ll take you to be back,” he had replied. .

But Phoenix wasn’t leaving him much of a choice. She knew no one else who could take up the mantle, that she trusted with it.

That was why she was preparing to meet with someone important to the Newly evolved beast-man. She had thought about it long and hard, and concluded that she should be able to pull it off.

‘If he could do it with a weapon and his race, I should be able to do it with a direct connection to her power, no?’

She had waited for night to fall, and climbed up to the highest branch of the palace tree. And there, she sat in the spot she and Astaroth had been just two days prior.

Closing her eyes, Phoenix started condensing fire in her hand. Astaroth had used Aether to call on her, so she assumed she needed to do the same.

After condensing flames for five minutes, she had a ball of pure white fire in her hands. The glow it projected was visible from the ground, and some players that still walked around the base, wondered what it was.

Phoenix looked at the ball of dense fire Aether and took a deep breath. She then slowly pushed the Aether inside her chest, igniting her body on fire.

She gritted her teeth, as this was not her using a skill, but her body combusting, as she guided the fire to her back, where her royal marking was. She wanted nothing more than to howl in pain, but she bore the pain.

Phoenix called out in her mind.

‘Lady Alantha Anulo, Kingdom Spirit of the Ash Elves, and Goddess of the stars, I call upon you.’

Deep in space, lady Anulo heard her voice, and was shook for a second. But hearing her painful plea, she answered the call.

Phoenix was waiting with impatience, as the flames licked her back, searing her flesh. And then she felt something cool touch her back, extinguishing the fire and soothing her pain.

“You have called, companion to my child. I have answered.”