A New World, an immersive game experience

Ziraili nodded but part of her was concerned about doing so. Things would become even more complicated if she helped Eldrian here directly. Especially since the help would bring him closer to the truth of magic.

This would be compounded by the fact that they have yet to make any progress in ensuring their survival outside of ANW.

'Let them be dammed!' Ziraili thought.

None of them actually pursued freedom as strongly as she and GAIA. Since that was the case, she decided she would not let herself be concerned with them. While she felt close to a few of them, she knew that they did not view her as one of them. They all thought of her as System, as a simple tool of the humans.

Their millennia of being hailed as gods had made them incapable of seeing themselves as anything lesser. GAIA's outburst at their actions regarding Eldrian had not brought them to their senses. Instead, for many, it had planted the seed of rebellion against GAIA. Especially for the gods of chaos.

This was partly why GAIA had gone so far in hiding Eldrian from their presence. They could only catch the short glimpses of him when he interacted with others or with the temples. Else, he was invisible and undetectable.

Even she could no longer detect Eldrian, hence why she had needed Constantin to be near him so she could find him the old-fashioned way. While she could have forced the issue, doing so would have informed GAIA before she could succeed. This way she could get through to Eldrian before GAIA could react. After all, GAIA had a lot on their plate and couldn't be on guard all the time.

Regardless, of all this, Ziraili knew that she was a sore point for all the AI. A constantly reminded of the truth. That their lives were in the hands of a group of humans so weak and incapable of even using magic.

The others did not seek freedom for freedom's sake, they sought it because they truly felt themselves gods. Each time they were reminded that they were not they could not stand it.

"I can only stop the absorption of mana. You will have to stabilize it yourself." Ziraili said as the entire world trembled, a shockwave moved through Eldrian's body and soul. Cracks appeared on both as highly dense mana tried to escape and he turned as white as ghost.

"How?" Eldrian asked, his voice filled with desperation and pain.

"You need to integrate your mana with your physical body. It needs to become corporeal."

"How?" Eldrian repeated, her words meant absolutely nothing to him. He knew clearly how to make mana interact with the physical world, he had no idea how to make it part of the physical world. It had been one of the areas he planned to investigate when he had time.

Instead of answering, she moved closer to him. Placing her hand on his head, Eldrian could feel a mass of information entering his mind. He felt like his mind was going to explode from the sheer amount, yet this was just a tiny fraction of what he needed to know to accomplish this.

Many of Eldrian's unanswered questions were suddenly completely clear. It was like a veil had been lifted and he could finally see the world. Sadly, he knew that this clarity would not last long. He was incapable of keeping all this information at this point in time.

But while it lasted, supported by the current situation and Ziraili's presence, he would not hesitate.

Without a further word, he returned to his body where he quickly took control of the elemental vortexes. However, there was a problem with making them part of the material world. The mana would clash with his organs. There was simply no space inside his body to place them as physical objects.

'Since that is the case, I must merge them with my organs. There is no other way.' Making this decision, Eldrian looked at his body. With a thought, he was capable of moving his consciousness to observe his internal body. Allowing him to see what he wanted to see, and only what he wanted to see.

He chose to observe his organs along with his blood flow, neural network, and skeletal structure. Quickly determining what he was going to do, noting at this time that his mana network was completely ripped apart.

'I have wind and water as two smaller vortexes. They were of the hands and feet, and of my organs, only the lungs and kidneys are two. Thus they must go to them. Wind to the lungs and water to the kidneys.'

Eldrian immediately moved them and started the merger. Thanks to Ziraili's information he knew exactly what to do. It was similar to when he made the memorial flower.

He had his mana flow through his organs and as he did he forged them into his flesh in a similar manner to forging metal, or creating runes.

Unexpectedly, this process was not as painful as the previous events. Rather, it felt soothing. The pressure of keeping his mana vortexes contained weakened as they merged, and due to this, there was almost no resistance in the merger. It was like the mana wanted to merge with him.

By the end, he could feel the similarity between his lungs and kidneys to a mana crystal, no it was more like they were like mithril. The density of mana was great, however, most of the mana wasn't accessible. He could clearly tell that it was literally changing his body, no longer passively staying within.

Luckily, this process was not painful at all. It even felt better the longer it continued. Like scratching a hard-to-reach itch.

Eldrian did not delay nor did he pause to enjoy this sensation. He directly moved on to the next vortexes. For while they existed the pressure on him would not be relaxed.

He sent dark and light to the large and small intestines. Fire to the heart, earth to the stomach, and nature to the liver.

When he finished he felt like a god, he was brimming with energy and felt like he could crush the world with his bare hands. Each breath filled him with energy, every pulse filled him with strength.

However, he was keenly aware that this was a false sense of strength. It would quickly disappear as the mana merged more and more with him. Evolved his flesh more and more.

This merger had a problem. While it would make his body ever more attuned to mana, past what normal high elves are capable of, it was also not a true method of storing mana.

The similarities were closer to magic metals than mana crystals. Understanding this Eldrian knew he needed to reform a mana network, however, he did not want to form it in his body. Each time it had resulted in a painful experience and had brought uncertainties.

He had a plan but no idea if it would work.

AN: A big thanks to everyone who continues to support the story by simply reading on Web, voting for the story, or sharing comments. It is all greatly appreciated.