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"So you came,

" An old voice filled the air as Athtar, the emperor of the Ehevell, arrived at a range of truly massive mountains. Their peaks seemingly having no end, and their caverns connecting the subterrain and surface. Sprawling as far as the eye could see.

nAthtar landed and transformed back into his elven form. Having taken the form of an alicorn for the journey, the place having no teleportation halls and in fact, dimensional magic of any kind was impossible to use here.

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"Sirius, how are you old friend,

" Athtar greeted the massive dragon whose claw was bigger than the average man.

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"Ever the same. It is always a joy to watch the young ones grow,

" Sirius replied while looking to the distance where a few dragonlings were playing around one of the lower peaks.

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"It certainly is,

" Athtar agreed, enjoying the sights with his old friend for a few minutes to an hour. Catching up what had happened in the few thousand years they had not seen each other.

n

"Nytalys is pregnant!

" Athtar rejoiced for his friend upon hearing this, especially knowing that they had been trying for nearly five millennia now.

n

"Yes, it happened a few months back. I can't wait.

" Unlike humans or most any creatures, it took a few years for a dragon to be born.

n

"I am truly happy for you my friend,

" Athtar said, taking out a toast of the finest and sharing it with Sirius who quickly shapeshifted into a smaller form so as to not make the toast but a drop.

nThey spent a few minutes simply celebrating until Sirius finally asked.

"But why did you come? You know we have no interest in joining the war.

"

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"I know.

" Athtar replied,

"However, I wanted to ask the council.

"

n

"Are you certain?

"

n

"I would not have come if I wasn't. You should also be aware that this time there will be no signal for them to stop. You know they are not waging war for anything but to wage war.

"

n

"It is their nature,

" Sirius replied, their drinking already catching up to him. Size did not matter when drinking something made to get even the elven emperor drunk. It would knock anyone out. Well, maybe not those in the dragon council.

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"I know. Like it is the nature of man to hunt for food. And when food becomes plentiful to then hunt for sport.

" Athtar replied,

"I know this well. We all want to feel a purpose, I just can't accept their methods.

"

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"Then why come?

" The dragon asked, confused why his friend would come if he knew that the answer would be no.

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"It is not the only thing I wish to ask, I wish to know if they know of the Chosen candidate.

"

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"They do,

" Sirius paused as he himself still struggled with the news. For someone new to the world to catch the gaze of so many gods. In his entire life, he had never been more than a dragon. Like all dragons, he had reached Tier 10 simply through age.

nHe had long since put trying to become stronger behind and focused on his wife and making a family. Still, the mention of this made him think back to the last invasion when he was an energetic youngling.

nAthtar nodded to the silence, he too was still stunned by the amount of interest the Chosen had garnered. He had also gotten word from Amnur that there had been two legends at the invasion.

nBoth had escaped, naturally, Tovack would not be able to kill a legend and Azamud was no pushover. Most legends would struggle to face him, only he and Amnur could confidently say that he was not much.

n

"I am going in then,

" Athtar said after the silence became too much. Walking past his old friend towards the council with three questions.

n...

n

"What did you do?

" Joren asked, Micaela and the other department heads were seated around a table. Some who Eldrian had never even met. A total of nine people were staring at him. Eldrian stood as if he was supposed to give a presentation, the screen behind him replying to the fight.

nEldrian was thunderstruck as he looked at the footage. It was sped up and only focused on the parts where he actively did something. Another screen to the side showed his readings. His heart rate, brain activity, brain waves, hormones. All the science stuff. Most of which meant nothing to Eldrian.

nIt took Eldrian some time to finally find some words, yet they were not the right ones so he stayed silent. Finally, after a really long time he told them most of what he recalled. He kept Ziraili out of it, though he shared with them how after the heart when he logged in he had gotten parts of someone else's memories.

nHis explanation focused on how these took over his anger and caused him to lose himself in rage. Like a true berserker.

nAfter listening to it all, Micaela sighed,

"Joren, I need an explanation.

"

nSilence filled the room as Joren now struggled for one. There was no information on anything Eldrian had just explained. While they had known that they could not see his thoughts and follow when he went to his soul... This was a step extra and too far.

n

"Micaela...

" Joren faltered.

"I have none.

"

n

"Gengxin, please explain to us what the readings on the second screen are saying,

" Micaela ordered, Gengxin replacing Eldrian at the front. Giving him an encouraging pat as they passed each other.

nThe entire thing started from the start again, with Gengxin explaining how the readings were as expected as in the start. His brain activity normal, if compared to other players. Until the vampire. There his brain activity suddenly skyrocketed, as well as a specific frequency governed. It almost never fluctuating.

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"I suspect this might be linked to the connection, I have confirmed before the meeting though. Eldrian's everything is normal now.

" Turning to Eldrian Gengxin complained a bit about how he did not understand how Eldrian managed that.

nEldrian offered him the answer by explaining how he had started meditating at a certain tree during his runs. And how it had somehow allowed him to refocus his mind. Staying as vague as he could so he could not be called out on any lies.

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"Meditation?

" Gengxin questioned in disbelief, the nod from Eldrian not helping one bit. For the next few seconds, he mumbled to himself in true disbelief, finally snapping out of it.

n

"Sorry,

" Gengxin had someone plug in his tablet and threw some graphs onto the main screen. Explaining how he had gone back and searched for the same frequency throughout all Eldrian's time at Miracle.

n

"It makes sense now. This frequency is always focused, however, normally it still varies enough for me to have missed that it is focused. This case caused it to stand out clearly.

" Pausing, Gengxin quickly ordered someone to bring two headsets to the room through his tablet. While he shared his theory.

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"Eldrian, please meditate. Constantin you too.

"

nConfused the latter took the headset and attempted to do so. Though he had nearly no experience in it. He had tried it a few times after his talks with Eldrian, yet he had never managed to clear his mind.

nEldrian instead quickly emptied his mind. Finding himself in a unique place. For once, he did not just empty his mind. He seemingly even left his body. Naturally, this is just a figure of speech, but Eldrian found himself completely just a thought.

nA thought in nothing, capable of thinking of anything or nothing. Capable of replicating the darkness of sleep consciously.

nEldrian enjoyed this state so much that time flew by. By the time he recalled why he had done this he was certain hours had passed. In haste, he quickly woke himself and took off the headset.

n

"Ah, I had thought you would stay in that state for longer,

" Gengxin replied, adding that Constantin had yet to even succeed. Confused, Eldrian asked just how much time had passed.

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"It has only been a few minutes,

" Constantin replied, trying to defend his defeat.

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"Seven minutes to be exact.

" Gengxin corrected.

n'No way... That felt like hours, maybe even a day.' Eldrian thought, suddenly realizing that it must have been just a feeling. Like how dreams could feel like days, weeks, or even years. Yet they were never more than a night.

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"Should I-

" Eldrian indicated by picking up the headset.

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"No need, we already have the data needed.

" With that Gengxin pulled up Eldrian's and Constantin's.

nThere was no comparison between the two. Constantin's brain activity was chaotic, ups and downs at random, and no one frequency focused. Massively bouncing from high in the Gamma band to low. In fact, it looked like his mind was overly filled with thoughts.

nEldrian instead was almost blank. There was a few seconds of his normal activity which reflected Constantin's. Thereafter it was like his brain only focused on one thing. All the activity was focused, the other parts of his brain seemingly shutting down to give more energy to what he was focusing on.

nIn this state, the frequency of his brain waves nearly did not fluctuate. It was also extremely close to the same precise Hz as Gengxin had highlighted before.

nGengxin did not share what he thought this might mean, for obvious reasons. Most there had no clue what any of this could mean. Instead, he summarized that meditating seemed to allow Eldrian to hyper-focus on a single thought.

nThat when doing so it seemed like he always had a specific frequency of brain waves. Like he could control how much he would focus on something. Naturally, this contradicted what had happened in the game, yet it was what the reading gave them.

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