n

n

nEldrian struggled to think, to keep his concentration. The worry for his friends was the only thing keeping him from losing consciousness. Luckily his hours of training kicked in, allowing him to cast Frost Needle just as the orc was about to thrust his sword into Terlas.

nThe orc was clearly not a weakling. It sensed the danger and promptly withdrew its attack as it dodged to avoid the spell. Eldrian would not allow this. Focusing on the spell as it flew, it took a great deal of effort, but he managed to will it to turn. Only a slight turn, but this was enough as the spell was far faster than the orc expected.

nStriking true, the spell pierced the orc's neck. It did not kill it outright but caused it to falter as it struggled to breathe and started bleeding out. Seeing the opportunity, Terlas did not waste any time.

nWithout a weapon, he rushed up close to the orc and pushed his remaining hand into the wound with all his might. It was so unexpected to both Eldrian and the orc, neither managing to react to it. This caused the orc's death as Terlas ripped his embedded hand through the orc's neck. Taking its larynx with him.

nAfter doing this Terlas fell to the ground, having no energy left to spare. Eldrian felt the same, his entire body was screaming at him to just let it go. To go to sleep.

nWith sheer will he refused. Shifting his head slightly through the pool of blood under him, Eldrian brought his vision to Vivian. Her back was facing him as she faced a Vargr in front of her. The Vargr was as tall as her and caused her to look like a frail little girl. Eldrian could not help the shock and anger from seeing her condition as he focused on her fight.

nShe was bleeding all over, the left side of her face wounded viciously. Having claimed her eye and ear. This was not all, the rest of her body did not fare much better and the flame enshrouding Nelida's Flame was but an ember.

nJust two... Eldrian whispered without sound, casting Frost Needle again. Doing so caused him great pain as he grappled to stay awake. Flyover. Then... Down!

nThe spell did as he wished it to, flying just over Vivian's head. Her hair raising from the air current. The Vargr did not sense any danger, not until the spell suddenly turned mid-air right above its head. Without any time to react it shattered through its skull, killing it on the spot.

nJust... One... Eldrian did not manage another miracle. Drowning in his own blood, he was thrown out of the game again.

n...

nEldrian did not know that this entire process was being observed by a group of people from Miracle Corporation.

n

"Did you see that! Even with a dead avatar, he logged in and cast two spells. With a dead avatar!

" A random developer in the group of observers shouted as they watched the fight coming to an end.

nUnlike Terlas, Vivian would not allow herself to fall down. Not while she still breathed and there were enemies left alive. She would not, not even if it killed her.

n

"How is that possible. His in-game avatar must certainly have been alive. There is no way a person can climb into a dead body.

" Another remarked, all of them caring little for the group of NPCs.

nTheir conversation might sound pointless since all player bodies could be considered dead when the player was not in them. It made sense, seeing as the avatar did not have its own soul. At least not to the developers' knowledge.

n

"The data does not lie.

"

n

"What data? How does it confirm death? It works for NPCs, but avatars are not NPCs. It is a different story, and the data can not be absolute.

"

n

"Enough! It does not matter if the avatar was alive or dead. We can all agree that it was mangled to such a degree that no one should be able to stay conscious.

"

n

"Wait... This is strange.

"

n

"Come on, out with it!

"

n

"The system did not place him into his avatar. It ascertained that the avatar was too damaged and as such went on to the resurrection path. Yet...

"

n

"Calm down everyone. This might not have been the aim of the new headset, but it is theoretically within the limits possible.

" Joren said, trying to stop them from speculating. Looking at the screen in astonishment, Joren did not like where the conversation was heading. They were clearly only looking at Eldrian as a test subject, not caring for what he had just gone through.

nIndeed, they might have considered kidnapping Eldrian if he had not signed the contract with them. Now those higher up knew of his existence and importance. They would not allow him to disappear.

nJoren had to admit that he was not much different, he too would have gone for kidnapping if it was still on the table. He only cared for Eldrian since Eldrian was the first solid lead they had. They needed to figure out what and how magic worked. The damnable AI did not give them any workable data.

nNaturally, everyone was shocked by how intune this student was with the game and everything in it. It was far past what anyone else had ever managed. During the few seconds he had come back from the dead, his affinity had passed a 100%. Passed it.

nThat was simply astonishing to all those watching. It meant that Eldrian felt more in tune with the game's world and his avatar, than he did with his own body and Earth. This was only the start though, people did not have a 100% attunement with their real bodies!

nMost people only had about 90 to 95% attunement with their real bodies. Normally only athletes or soldiers would have over 95%. Less than 0.5% of the players who had joined the game had managed to reach this a level over 95%.

nOnly 5% of players had managed to reach an affinity over 90%, the rest being between 70 and 90. An affinity lower than 70% was considered so bad that people might not even be able to move their body at will.

nOnly those who changed almost nothing and did well in the calibration simulations would be able to reach an affinity over 95%.

nMost of the people here did not even know what it meant when one reached 100% affinity. They had thought a 100% would be the max, the absolute.

n...

nEldrian woke up right as the headset brought him out of the game. He immediately felt really strange, as if he had been poisoned.

nPulling the headset off, Eldrian stumbled off his bed. Failing to keep his balance, he fell face first.

"What the hell?

" He mumbled, his mouth struggling to form the words. Pushing himself up, Eldrian found his legs would not cooperate. His arms even struggled, shaking violently from the attempt.

nHis struggle brought a massive headache, causing him to give up as he curled into a ball from the pain. This time he did not try to move for close to ten minutes as he waited for it to pass. After which he suddenly felt nauseous.

nCrawling towards the bathroom in haste, he just barely made it as he hurled.

n

"What the **?

" He cursed as he tried cleaning his mouth, finding the taste of water strange on his tongue.

nEldrian quickly realized that he would not be able to make it to class. He did not even know if he would manage to stand. As he lay with the terrible taste of vomit in his mouth, his stomach growled. Crawling on all fours to his kitchen Eldrian planned to make himself some plain toast. He had no idea what was going on. He suspected the new headset but had no proof.

nA minute or two later, Eldrian felt good enough to try standing up with the support of the counter. He did and placed the toast into the toaster as he slid down against the counter. Failing to find the strength to stay standing up.

nFeeling like **, he decided to call Joren and let him know something was wrong.

n

"What is it kid?

" Joren asked, wondering why Eldrian was bothering him so soon again.

n

"I feel shi-

" Eldrian failed to finish the sentence as all his strength left him. Dropping the phone he fell sideways in his sitting manner.

n

"Kid! Kid what happened! Eldrian!

" Vaguely the words reached Eldrian as he looked at the swirling roof.

n

"Dammit! Get an ambulance to his house. And get the helicopter ready!

" Shouts came from the phone as Eldrian fell asleep.

n...

n

"What the hell is going on!

" Joren shouted as he waited for the helicopter pilot to arrive.

n

"It is likely the aftereffects of gaining such a high affinity.

" One of his colleagues answered carefully. Not wishing to become a target for people to vent at. No one wanted to lose such a promising subject.

n

"You got to be kidding me. Are we going to have to pay him hush money to keep those bastards from finding out of the health risks?

" Another colleague complained, causing many to stare at him with disgust.

n

"Come on, you are all thinking it. I just voiced it!

"

n

"Enough! Just get the facility ready. This is the first case of this happening, we can't lose him!

" A female in a black suit shouted, upon hearing her voice, everyone quieted down. Surprised that news had already spread so far up the ladder.

nJoren looked at her strangely.

"Are you coming with?

"

n

"Of course. This is no longer just an outreach. This is now a state secret.

"

nThe sharp intake of breath could be heard as everyone heard the lady's sentence. They hated when such things happened, and it often did in Miracle Corporation. It was a bitch in paperwork and added so many hoops to their already full jobs.

n