As much as Eldrian wanted to ask what Ziraili meant, he was in no condition to do so. While he had suffered no injuries in the fight—physically—that did not mean he wasn't tired and drained.
By using Tranquility as he had, he had expended a vast amount of energy. Yes, this energy was the XP he had in excess. It did not touch on his soul world: The manifested world with form—excess XP is the void extended past the 'physical' world within Eldrian's soul.
Having the excess lifeforce in the from of XP helped. It was like fat Eldrian could burn before needing to burn his own muscles. However, using it still put a drain on him.
While he might have the energy to burn, that didn't mean he could use it without repercussions. This tired state of his was the cost of overly drawing on a power he had yet to learn full control of.
Before, this point would have him in complete loss of control or unconscious, but that he was still awake and conscious was a clear indication of his growth.
His current state was similar, perhaps, to magical fatigue. Something Eldrian had long since outgrown, and now only rarely showed itself if he pushed himself too far for too long.
"Rest. We will talk more later." Ziraili said, and the next thing Eldrianknew, he was awake on Earth. Still as groggy as before. The cabin roof welcomed him with its soft lighting to simulate the mind.
While Eldrian had some serious questions about her sending him back here, he was too tired to complete his thoughts.
So, he climbed out of the cabin (the one they had ordered had arrived around two weeks ago—despite Eldrian's complaints, he was using it) and into bed.
—
"Is he doing alright?" Nikki asked.
The group of friends had been slowly moving to make their guild and their play in ANW their work. While they still had their jobs as fallbacks, they were spending more and more time in the warehouse they had bought.
Currently, two of them were there, Erik and Nikki—and not online in ANW. They were resting after a long day of fighting, or in Erik's case, healing. With reinforcements from Phallos scheduled to arrive, the north had to be cleared.
As a result, the kingdom sent all their spare soldiers to fight back the monsters who came from the Chaos Lands. The players had all joined in on the quest. Taking many minor quests to further their XP and money gains.
As for the warehouse they were in, it was starting to look like a type of remodeled open-plan house.
For now, they only had one cabin—due to how expensive they were. Not to mention how difficult it was to buy one; they flew off the metaphorical shelves faster than they could be made.
Still, it was getting there. They hadn't installed walls yet; outside of the walls for Eldrian's privacy, his bed was surrounded by makeshift walls, and there was a bathroom that obviously had walls. But their rest was all in more or less the same room.
A place with tables for laptops (or PCs); after all, ANW wasn't their entire world, unlike Eldrian's case.
They enjoyed the occasional other game, enjoyed watching series and anime, and also sometimes just wanted to surf the web. There was also a lounge area, where they were currently watching a show together.
Now, of course, this place wasn't equally close for everyone. Zyviss had the longest commute if he wanted to visit. And, for now, only the core members of the guild knew of the warehouse.
The plan was to, at some point, make it an actual office. For now, as they shifted from having ANW be a game they play to their jobs, it was more of a second house for them all.
"Who knows? You know how he is." Came the obvious reply from Erik. "He doesn't share much. Not that I can blame him."
Most of what Eldrian had to share was simply not something the others could follow. When he talked of magic, they could somewhat continue the conversation. But if Eldrian talked about things beyond that, they just didn't get it.
Erik tried his best, but it was just like when he was trying to understand Akarui's struggles. Since he didn't have the same experiences, he simply couldn't.
There was a massive difference between knowing and understanding. A chasm that separated them.
It was a sad reality that he had to accept, and in both situations, he tried his best to accommodate the other. For Akarui, he tried to be a foster parent, and for Eldrian, a friend who was always welcome to listen—should he ever open up.
"But is he doing okay?" Nikki followed up.
Recently, Eldrian had been living a seemingly more healthy lifestyle. The cabin was also designed with the knowledge of extended gameplay. It had various functions to ensure its occupant's health for extended sessions.
Sure, it wasn't healthy to fully rely on it, but it was better than the headsets. In fact, normal headsets disconnected players due to health risks after a time period of 16 hours.
Only Eldrian's, perhaps not only his but only he, according to their knowledge, could extend past that limitation.
Originally it hadn't been because of Eldrian's affinity or anything. But Miracle themselves having altered his gaming limitations while he was working for them. Their aim had been to give Eldrian more time; and let him find himself in more desperate situations.
Their hope had been simple, that he would do something which would give them some better insight. And it had worked.
But they could do it only because they had been ready to give Eldrian medical care when he entered extended sessions. Normal players couldn't be allowed such a luxury. As terrible as a forced log-out could be, it was better than suffering some sort of other complication from gaming.
Once the cabins were designed, Eldrian had been shifted onto them. In fact, he had been the first to test their prototype. And even with a cabin, players couldn't play indefinitely. The soft limit was two days, and the hard limit was three. And only once per week was that allowed.
It wasn't supposed to replace your need for food and all other life necessities. But to give you some more time to play with when the situation demanded it.
"Physically, he is fine. As baffling as it is. His body shouldn't be doing as good as it is considering all he's been through." While Erik hadn't gone to med school as he had once planned, but he was learning so, so much.
When he had time, and the energy, he studied online. When he was in ANW, he studied under Alicorns. With the situation calmed, Zamia was helping Akarui, and guiding Erik while she had time.
Agamemas was instead readying the others for war. They were not happy with being invaded.
Back to Eldrian, considering all he's been through and his abandonment of his physical body to stay longer on ANW (even before the cabin and without a headset). Honestly, he should have been skin and bones.
That he still looked like an athlete was baffling to Erik. His only conclusion is it had to be because of magic. How, he had no idea.
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