n

n

nEldrian continued this for the next hour, letting a piece of the module break off and then pulling it back. Each time he managed to connect quicker and more securely. At this time Dave also finished his attempt at entering the magical abyss.

n

"I really don't know how to help you unless you can use mana.

" Dave said after taking some time to process what he had experimented on.

n

"It's okay, I think I found a way which will work.

" Eldrian replied, explaining to Dave how he was letting a piece of the module break off and then reattaching it. Eldrian had a feeling that the connection he felt to the pieces was mana, yet he couldn't connect to the spell module as a whole. His current plan was to continue doing this until he managed to connect almost instantly, then he will try to let more break off. Hopefully keeping it to one piece, just larger.

n

"Interesting, I didn't feel a force pulling at the spell modules I had created.

" Dave commented,

"I wonder if that is because I didn't enter the magical abyss via a spell.

"

nEldrian suspected that it was more Dave's control being too strong. Every time he cast Anthos he felt that the force was lessening. He expected it to disappear after a certain amount of practice.

nAfter this Eldrian continued experimenting until his Magical Fatigue reached Tier 5, leaving him with just 53 mana. This gave Eldrian under a minute in the magical abyss, after trying two times he simply quit. The time being too little for him to do anything at this point.

nLeaving the magic tower, Eldrian's first stop was an inn. Heading to one of the nearest ones he grabbed himself a table and ordered some food. By now it was past 1, leaving a lot of time for the rest of the day.

nNot wanting to do another monotonous task Eldrian decided to skip the blacksmithing. Luckily he didn't need to hand in today, seeing as it was the weekend.

nAfter making this decision Eldrian felt lost, not knowing what to do with the next five-plus hours he now had. After a bit of thinking he decided to go for a walk. He should be able to cover quite some distance before needing to come back.

nHe wasn't planning on going monster or animal hunting, rather he wanted to look at the surroundings a bit. It was something he hadn't really ever done, along with exploring the city.

nThoughts coming to this point Eldrian felt he should also explore the city more. 'That isn't such a good idea.' Eldrian murmured as he paid for his lunch, the dinner and a few beers having cost him 12 coppers. He knew that the city was massive and that he wouldn't be able to see much even with an entire day set aside for exploring.

n'Guess going out it is.' He decided, feeling that he would be able to see much more in this way. Seeing as no buildings would constantly obstruct his view.

nAs he was walking to the gate Eldrian wondered if it might be possible for him to rent a horse. Yet thinking of the cost, he quickly decided against this.

nArriving at the gate Eldrian stopped for a second, both admiring its size and the fact that this will be the first time he left the city in almost a week.

n'Let's go.' He told himself as he left the city gate, he took out his spear just in case. Using it as a walking stick he headed in the direction of the nearest forest, which was a few kilometers from the massive red walls of the city.

nHalf an hour later, Eldrian entered the forest. 'So this is where everyone hunted the wolves.' Eldrian thought, wondering if he was going to run into any. Yet after an hour of walking through the forest he felt that it was unlikely. During this entire time the only animals he had seen were a few squirrels and birds.

nHaving become bored with the constant trees Eldrian decided to start heading back. As he headed back he wondered what type of plants were in this forest. Naturally he had no idea which plants were what, yet he still tried to spot all the different types. Trying his best to remember how they looked, thinking that he might visit an apothecary or alchemist or something similar later.

nEldrian had no idea what types of occupations this game had, from Boran he had learned about four types all connected to blacksmithing and making items. Yet he felt certain there would be even more linked to it. In the end he simply decided to ask Dave when he had more spare time.

nOn his way out Eldrian murmured as he finally left the forest, 'I get their complaint now.' Sure he hadn't tried to find any wolves, but he hadn't run into any after two hours in the forest. This made him realized how hard it actually was for the adventure players.

n'I can't believe they actually did this every day.' Eldrian thought, feeling he would go crazy from the constant searching. He also had a newfound respect for them, especially those who were on the leaderboards.

nSoon he was back in the city. Not having anything else he wanted to do, Eldrian simply logged off.

n...

nWaking up Eldrian first looked at the time.

n

"Yup, it is really early.

" He sighed, seeing that it was around 5 in the morning. While he was used to waking up so early in the game, it felt weird waking up so early IRL.

nEldrian changed, got something to eat and went for a run. After which he lazed around for an hour before starting to work on his university stuff.

nDuring the morning he talked with Erik, asking him if he had joined the game and how it had gone. They also exchanged their names in the game, going to add each other when they log in tonight. Deciding to talk more about it in-game.

nAt twelve Eldrian asked his sister if she wanted to grab something to eat, to which she said yes. After changing into something more comfortable Eldrian headed out to enjoy the dinner with his sister.

n...

nBack home Eldrian was going through the forums again, as was his routine. Curiously he found a few posts where players were reporting monsters having been seen.

nReading these posts Eldrian quickly learned that this was in cases similar to Phallos. Where after the first event no more monsters were found. Looking through these posts Eldrian learned that the monsters which were spotted were few and far between, yet it proved that the monsters were gaining more ground.

n'We'll soon also have a bounty quest.' Eldrian thought to himself, deciding to go the adventurers guild after his magic training. He had no idea how else he was supposed to get news of new quests. The developers had been quiet about it since the first event, it was the only quest they had announced.

n...

nWaking up in his small room Eldrian looked at the time. Seeing that it was still before 4 am he decided to again go train his weapons first. On his way he sent a friend invite to Erik, whose in-game name was Faust. After sending it he wondered when Erik will come online. After arriving at the training field he discarded these thoughts and started training.

nLike the day before he started with the spear, moving to the bow after it.

nAfter the training he headed back to the magic tower, grabbing something to eat on his way.

n

"From there again, did you go training first again?

"

n

"Yeah, I woke up around four and didn't want to wake you.

" Eldrian replied as he took his position, soon finding himself back in the dungeon.

n

"How long do you think I still need to cast the spell here. You know, before I can cast it outside?

" Eldrian asked.

n

"I believed that you first needed to learn how to control your mana. But now I am not so certain, seeing as you managed to enter the magical abyss.

"

n

"Why? What can that change?

"

n

"I don't really know. You might be able to enter it outside the dungeon too.

"

nEldrian nodded to this, wondering why he hadn't tried it yet. 'I'll give it a shot after today's experiment. Hopefully I can manage something more.'

n