Having done his morning exercise, dressed and eaten, Eldrian opened the forum to see the reaction to the trail/hearing. While at it he also sent Erik a message asking if he had tried logging back in at the same time.

Not surprisingly there was a large number of complaints. Especially on how the company was willing to just abandon everything. The player base was enraged, yet they had no way to really fight back. The company had kept its promise, giving them a device that allowed them to get their sleep back. Being able to use this for nearly a month already and the world which they could explore.

The cheapness of the headset to beta players made this even more difficult to fight. There had been no promise that the game would be online for years. They had actually signed up to test it, naturally, this meant the test could end quickly.

Eldrian found this uproar to be a good thing. This had brought most of the players together. They had no idea if the company was going to release another game after or not. The players, at the very least, did not want to lose the hours they gained from the headset. Some more sympathetic wanted to help the NPCs and others simply wanted to learn more about the world.

All of which led to them wanting the game to survive.

Many new posts appeared. The players coming together to form a plan for helping the NPCs. Naturally, guns were one of the hottest topics made, with many players asking if any player knew how to actually make one from scratch. Wondering if they would even be able to make guns in the game.

Some even went as far as to contact friends and professionals they knew, asking them to teach them how to make guns, gunpowder and bullets. The difficult part was that these people had to teach them how to do it from medieval technology. Most of the players also did not have free capital to use in the game.

But how effective will they be? Eldrian questioned if this would resolve everything, but at the least it would enable the NPCs to gain a massive advantage. He knew from experience that most of the weakest monsters could be killed by normal arrows, thus they should logically be killable by a gun.

The question was rather how many stronger ones were there and if a gun could hurt them.

Can a gun beat magic, can a gun be integrated into magic? This question was also raised in the posts, most agreed that there was no way to know unless they tried.

Eldrian liked that the players now actually were on track with what he had hoped for. This made him decide to share what he had gone through with the other High Elves. Naturally he warned them that the process took long and was extremely difficult, he hoped it would give them hope to continue trying as High Elves.

At the same time he hoped many would give up and choose an easier race, allowing them to be of more help. Leaving only the most determined as High Elves.

As he finished browsing and leaving a few motivational comments, he received a reply from Erik. From which Erik replied that he had not entered the game, he was rather going to wait until he was sure he would not be hunted and forced. Eldrian simply replied by saying that it should be fine by tonight, after which they talked about the reveal Miracle had done.

Erik was deeply shocked by it too, but for other reasons. He now understood how the world could seem so real, leading him to wonder what it actually was that they had used to make it. He really wanted to learn more about how the AI's made the world.

Just before Eldrian headed to class he also got a call from his sister. She told him that she was planning on going home for the weekend, asking if he wanted to join. Since they only had one car between them.

Eldrian decided not to, feeling that his parents wouldn't allow him to game as much as he wanted. If not for class and the time limit, he was certain he would pull a few full-day plays. His parents would differently not allow him to be on the game for 16 hours each day.

...

Back in game Eldrian excitedly tried casting Anthos as soon as he woke up, failing.

Why did it fail? Not understanding why he headed to the first floor, Dave already waiting for him.

"Ready?"

"Yes," As Eldrian took his normal spot he asked, "I tried to cast the Anthos, but it failed."

"Naturally." Eldrian heard this reply right before they teleported, after which he heard the rest. "You only focused on the spell model right?"

"Yes?"

"Have you forgotten that you are a High Elf? You need to also focus on the mana. Not just on the mana either, but on its flow too."

"But I still can't feel it mana."

"You should be able to, just need to figure out what it feels like. Go ahead cast the spell."

Eldrian did as he was told, finding himself in the magical abyss again. The spell module again having no nodes. Spending a few seconds he quickly managed to grow the nodes, getting kicked out of the magical abyss and feeling the effect of the spell.

"You didn't cast it immediately. Why?"

"The nodes were small again."

"Why?"

"I don't know?"

"What are nodes?"

"I can't remember..." Eldrian mumbled as he scratched his head. Having completely forgotten what Dave had told him long ago.

"The nodes are how mana goes into the spell module. Without them, no spell can be cast. The pathways, or lines, are how the mana flows after entering the module. They determine the type of spell."

"So when you do not have nodes, what happens?" Dave had thought of this a great deal after yesterday, himself wanting to find out the difference between High Elves and humans. He believed that he had found at least one of the large differences.

"The spell simply, floats?" Eldrian said, lacking a better word for what he felt was happening.

"In a sense, yes. You have a spell and no mana, the crystal pulls mana and some flows through the spell module. Yet the spell is not the main cause of the flow of mana."

"On your next cast, focus on the feeling you get when casting the spell. This should be the end result of the mana. Also, try to feel the mana before. Unfortunately, I can't help you in this step either."

Eldrian did as instructed. Casting the spell again, he first enlarged only one node, trying to feel if something changed. Not feeling anything he enlarged another, not feeling anything either he enlarge the third.

What is this?

Before he could get an answer he was back in his body. Yet he believed that was the transition point. The spell didn't cast fully allowing him to feel a bit longer than when he enlarged all four.

He repeated this for around half an hour, finding that his mana spent was actually less now that the spells were being half-cast. This allowed him to do it four times in a row before needing to rest.

I think that should be the mana before.

Eldrian concluded that the cool air, similar to soft water at the right Ph, was the mana before being transformed. He then spent another half an hour to feel what it felt like if he enlarged all three.

This feeling was soothing, similar to placing ice or burn relief on a burn wound. Sending an immediate relief through his body.

I still don't get how this is mana, but let's try it.

Determined Eldrian focused on casting the spell. Imagining the spell module now did not even take a tenth of his concentration. The rest of his concentration was on the feeling.

As he said Anthos he focused on the cool soft feeling turning into the burn relief feeling. This time he did not find his mind entering the magical abyss, nor did he cast the spell.

"I think you are ready. Let's leave the dungeon."

Eldrian complied while confused about what Dave was even talking about. He felt certain he had failed just now.

Unknown to him Dave had seen his mana getting stolen by the magic crystal, instead of it moving through him and showing its effect. This was what Dave had always thought would happen when people tried casting spells near the Magic Crystal. Unless they could actually keep their spell's mana focused that is.

This was actually what he had expected to happen at the start with Eldrian. His plan had been to have him then fight the Magic Crystal for his mana. Yet things had taken a completely different route.

Dave had hoped to temper one's control over mana through this, now it seemed that this option was still possible. Just not for High Elves.

'I should bring some more people to try. I wonder if the spell Tier would effect the Magic Crystal's effect?' Dave pondered as he teleported them back to the ground floor.