A New World, an immersive game experience

"The average level of people will increase here, but on Earth... the strengthening of magic might lead to a great power struggle. In a few dozen years, animals will also start evolving, and should Miracle hasten this, your world might face a calamity within a few years."

"Sadly, our predictions of it taking a thousand years were completely wrong..." GAIA sighed, truly vexed that their predictions had not even been in the ballpark. However, thanks to a few of the breakthroughs Miracle has made, GAIA were able to gather a better understanding of Earth.

It took Eldrian a while to wrap his head around this. He was sure he had heard this before. But this was the first time he actually listened.

"Why? Why was your predictions wrong?"

"Because you aren\'t the only stimuli. There are things in both your and our world that act as resonance beacons. Amplifying the evolution of magic time and time again." GAIA kept things vague, not mentioning what these \'things\' were.

\'How the heck is that possible?!\' Eldrian wanted to scream, but he felt confident he would only get his lack of knowledge thrown in his face. \'Maybe it is something like the elemental foci used in farming?\'

\'I guess this means the density of mana on Earth is increasing... Now that I think of it, it has been feeling easier to use magic. I thought it was just me improving, maybe it was actually more mana becoming available. Once I return, I will have to confirm this.\'

If this was all, however, then at least it wasn\'t the end of the world. It could be... But if things were managed properly; then there wouldn\'t be any problems. But knowing people and having experienced Miracle\'s handling of magical things, Eldrian wasn\'t so stupid as to blindly hope for the best.

\'This again brings me to needing to fight Miracle. Maybe they don\'t need to reform Earth to introduce magic as I feared they might, but who knows what else they might try?\'

"As for your other question, a bloodline power isn\'t an entity. Not physical nor ethereal... It is an ability. It appears you still do not understand what abilities are."

GAIA pondered for a moment, thinking how best to explain it to a level that was comprehensive enough but also easy to follow. "You can think of abilities as shortcuts, skipping the need of focus, of mageia, to summon forth magical powers."

"These shortcuts can be trained, can be gained through understanding, or by luck. The last could be considered the case of bloodline abilities." There were other methods of gaining abilities through luck, but mentioning them did not seem productive.

"The most reliable method to develop abilities is through training, though such an action isn\'t really possible for most."

Eldrian noticed something in GAIA\'s tone, hinting that it was possible for some. It wasn\'t hard to guess who. "Is this something that the high elves do?"

"Indeed. For a high elf child to be allowed to move on to the next Tier, they must master at least one ability of their current Tier."

Eldrian\'s eyes widened in shock. If that was the criteria that higher races were normally held to, then it made perfect sense that they appeared like gods to the average races. Not to mention through this, they would truly master everything a Tier offered before moving forward.

After a few minutes of digesting this piece of information, Eldrian asked, "If an ability is a shortcut, what is it a shortcut to?"

"Nothing. The shortcut is the ability, the ability is the shortcut." Seeing that Eldrian was still not understanding, GAIA changed their approach. "This isn\'t how it works, but... it might help you understand. Consider that there are certain laws, powers. These laws create and maintain the universe.

"In this scenario, an ability is simply a shortcut to access some of these universal laws. Consider what your own ability, mana sense, is to you and how you gained it. It gives you access to see the world of magic, a universal power of magical sight."

That was a while ago, but thinking back, Eldrian realized he had been playing around with Mana Examination and derivatives of the spell. And even now, as he learned more of the magical world, his ability to control mana sense grew.

"I think I get it. That is where the function part comes in with your naming of it, it kind of reminds me of runes." Eldrian meant it as a joke, but GAIA turned serious again. Causing Eldrian to fear another incoming lecture.

"Runes are indeed similar to abilities. You can consider them fixed shortcuts that have been discovered."

\'Wait, what?! I was right?\' Eldrian hadn\'t expected that one. It made perfect sense, but was still shocking.

"But... Runes... I mean- you can... How is that possible? Some runes differ like the moon compared to the sun; but access the same thing!"

GAIA sighed. "This is a topic for another day."

"Wait, does that mean you won\'t answer any more questions? Is our meeting over?"

"No, but discussing this now will be rushing into things. You have great insight, but how you see runes is like that of a novice. First, confirm your foundation before asking for more."

Nodding meekly, Eldrian did not argue. Instead, he asked a few less pressing questions that he was curious about.

The first was how attributes made any sense. GAIA admitted it didn\'t actually form a basic part of the world, they forced it into the world because of necessity. Miracle wanted a game, a game had to have values that influenced reality. So players could see and feel their progress.

Attributes only worked because they were linked to lifeforce and manipulated by divinity. "You can think of it as us placing a massive spell around the world. Causing this particular aspect of reality to act controversially, or at least more significantly than would be normal."

Eldrian continued to talk with GAIA, asking several more questions.

He asked what runes actually were and how they worked. He didn\'t get a direct answer, but he managed to get some useful information by asking variations of the question. Each time he brought up runes, GAIA sighed.

He asked if realms were real, and how the AI would try to survive on Earth. If it would be possible to make a backup to remove Miracle\'s dagger from their throats...

He asked again if mana was some type of matter, but GAIA refused to budge on this matter. Since that didn\'t work, Eldrian asked how magic metals came into existence and how magical plants worked and why certain plants enhance potions.

GAIA didn\'t answer, but Eldrian got a reply on what mana veins were. Though the answer wasn\'t all that special: "They are simply mana hotpots".

Eldrian didn\'t know the science. He understood the concept of hotspots, but not how they formed. Which caused GAIA to again reference his lack of knowledge. Telling him to look it up since they didn\'t want to waste time explaining such a basic concept.

AN: Remember to vote and comment if you are enjoying the story.