n

n

n

"Why do I care? Why do I care!? Because she was a friend!

" Eldrian shouted at the top of his lungs, furious at her neutral attitude. Even disdain would have been better. It would have told him that she regarded them as something.

nThis neutrality caused him to feel like she did not even see them as people. He actually preferred the nobles and their arrogance and toxicity to this. He could fight them, fight their idea, could he do the same against her?

nNo, if he did it would not change her belief and only get himself killed.

n

"How can you care for humans so much. They die so quickly.

"

nHearing this, Eldrian felt defeated. What was he to say to that? It was like trying to convince a fanatic that they were wrong. There simply was no way to converse with them. They would never understand your logic and words.

n

"Do not follow me!

" Eldrian now just wanted to get away from her. Hate growing in him.

nHearing his tone, Itireae flinched. She had never received such anger, having always been sheltered in the empire. Allowed to grow without any pain. Without any struggles.

n

"I could not save her,

" Itireae said, hoping to sway Eldrian's hate. She was too curious about him to allow him to just alienate her like this. She simply wished to know why he cared so much for a different race, one so much weaker than theirs.

n

"Explain!

" Eldrian spat out, turning to face her only because her tone indicated that she was afraid.

n

"While I do know resurrection magic, I am not all that good in it. I can only cast it at Tier 7 at best, and then it would take me a few minutes to actually pull of casting it.

"

n

"So?

" Eldrian asked in disdain.

n

"It is important because Tier 7 resurrection can only resurrect one who has died less than 25 minutes ago. This is even an oversimplification, as it only has an 80% chance at 25 minutes. Every minute after this will half the chance. Thus 26 minutes would have a 40% chance of working, 27; 20%.

"

n

"This, Sabrea

" Itireae paused to recall the name, nor having minded to actually try and remember it before.

"She died around 30 minutes before I arrived, along with my casting time, it would mean around 33 minutes would have passed.

"

nEldrian listened, but he felt using numbers to explain her reason was just wrong. How could numbers explain a life lost?

n

"This meant that it would have only around 1% chance of working on her.

"

n

"Bull**! How can you even talk about percentages? It certainly depends on the person!

" He countered strongly, not willing to reduce her life to simple percentages.

n

"True, it does depend on the person. Even so, this stays really accurate.

" Itireae stopped as she collected her own thoughts.

"You have never cast resurrection, so you do not know how it works. The reason these values are so accurate is because of how it works and how little the person can change it. This is also one of the things which makes you so interesting.

"

nEldrian still did not care for her explanation, but seeing her try, he decided to give her the chance. Not directly throwing her words out of mind. Remembering that he had told himself a long time ago to not let any advice just go. He promised himself to always consider it to the best of his abilities.

nWhile this was not advice, it certainly was knowledge that he needed to learn. It certainly was hard to suppress his anger, his sadness, his fear. He only did his best to try and calm his mind, to make sense of what he was hearing.

n

"Firstly, resurrection spells need to heal the target's body. The more damaged, the less likely the spell is to succeed. Your case was extreme, while hers was not.

"

n

"However, this is just the first step.

" She quickly continued before Eldrian could vent at these words.

"This step can even be avoided by using other healing spells first, but generally resurrection works the best as it can heal almost any wound without needing to alter the spell much.

"

n

"The next step is where the actual difficulty comes from. And why resurrections always, always, has a time limit. A person's soul can not live outside of a body, nor can it stay in a corpse. As such it will drift out and be pulled to the afterlife.

"

n

"There are naturally exceptions to this. Such as people who have linked their souls, instead of their souls being pulled to the afterlife, they are pulled to their other. Where they will be temporarily protected until their body can be recovered.

"

n

"I believe you Chosen are also an exception, your souls being pulled to a temple instead of another. I do not really know how it works, but that does not matter. The fact is that after 5 minutes, on average, your soul will be pulled.

"

n

"Some people might be able to keep their souls drifting near their body for longer. But it will never be much longer, and the longer a soul drifts, the more it becomes damaged and the faster it will be pulled later.

"

n

"So...

" Eldrian's anger had started subsiding as he realized what this would and could mean. That one's soul might even dissipate if their will is too stubborn.

n

"Yes, even if she was exceptional. Her soul would be so damaged at that point, when I got there, that my spell might not even be able to heal her soul. And this is if she was truly exceptionally strong-willed.

"

n

"Then how did you revive me after an hour?

" Eldrian asked, now more with curiosity than anger. He was starting to see her point, still, it hurt him that she did not even try.

n

"I do not know. It is why I am so curious. My assumption of Chosen is that your souls will be pulled to a temple. Yours was not. It was hanging over you, extremely damaged and nearly faded. Yet it refused to move.

"

n

"Wait...

"

n

"That's right. I believe you are that exception, that strong-willed. I also believe that your soul would have been extinguished if I had not saved you.

"

nHearing this gave Eldrian the chills. At the least, this meant his avatar would have died. At most, his real-life could have been in more danger than he had thought. He had no idea what souls were, how they worked, and more importantly how they worked along with the game. Some part of him felt that his avatar's soul and his was linked in some way.

nHearing this also allowed Eldrian to connect the dots. How he had died twice, how he had gained his hidden class. The only thing he did not understand was how he actually willed his soul to drift for so long. Was it because he was not in the game anymore, or was it because of something else?

n

"Truthfully, I did not even know your condition. I had only taken the chance on you since I hold a High Elf's life far over humans.

" Hearing her admit this pissed Eldrian off, but he could not blame her. She was truly a different race, no a different species even. Of course, she would value her own kind more than others. Eldrian only cared so much for humans since he was actually one.

nHe was actually surprised by the fact that racism was not rampant in this world. In the real world, it was such a large thing for only small differences caused by race. Everyone still being human beings.

nA High Elf is not a human. Eldrian had never really thought of this before, always having thought of all the humanoid species as a race of humans. Certainly with more extreme differences than on earth, but he had thought of them as races. Not different species.

nThis was certainly something far bigger than simply color, tone, culture, or language. Heck, these things were even included in the different species.

n

"Why are you so curious about why I care? You clearly do not, nor does it seem like you wish to change your view.

" Eldrian said this in an almost defeated tone. There was no way he could still hold this against her.

nHe was surprised that she was not hostile to humans like many races are to each other on earth. This meant that she was already far better than many humans, causing him to feel quite awkward. While on the modern earth this racism had become much scarcer, just a few decades before, one race would look on in entertainment as another bled out. Her not having such an inbred hatred was already something to praise.

nEldrian hated when such low standards were worth praising, when doing the bare minimum was something to be awarded. However, he could not deny that it was certainly better than going under the bare minimum.

n

"I don't really know. I have not been outside of the empire much. In fact, I have never left it. Only having left the main capital a few times. I was sent to observe and learn what it means to be on the frontlines...

" She paused and took a deep breath,

"What I felt. That distress signal or whatever you sent out. That... It truly conveyed to me more than I ever felt I could learn. I want to understand that. I feel that is what the Emperor wants me to learn.

"

n