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And hold out Vriski did. The promise of this being his last day of 'experimenting' had the pup put his all and more into it.

And if he hadn't, Eldrian would never have been able to analyze what was happening. After casting high-cost, low-efficiency AOE spells for hours and hours, finally, Eldrian could see it.

Or rather, finally, the mana Vriski used became completely spent.

His internal stores refused to bend to his command, his regeneration failing to make up the difference, and the area around them had barely any 'active' mana left. Only mana drained of all its energy and on the verge of disappearing.

Vriski's evolution, Eldrian summarized:

- Store vasts of mana, surpassing his own mana soul.

- Incredible regeneration of the energy of spent mana. Allowing the re-activation of mana without the normal regeneration cycle mana goes into.

- Massive draw of mana towards himself.

- And, lastly, the ability to consume the essence of mana itself. Consuming not only the energy it carries but the mana particles themselves.

This last bit is something that went beyond 'normal' magic. It was what happened when one used lifeforce alongside a spell. And, normally, it was chaotic.

Vriski, however, could convert this perfectly. Taking the mass of the mana particle (or its ethereal counterpart) and changing it into energy without any loss. Without any required input to do the conversion. It simply happened.

Unlocking vast stores of energy for his use. Which Vriski then used to revitalize the surrounding mana. With which he cast his next spells.

And while this was far more draining than before, it only required some modest effort on Vriski's part. A truly shocking feat.

And, following along the process as best he could, Eldrian could keenly feel the similarities between this and his use of his own auras. In some aspects, it was similar to Wrath. But Wrath was a flame, consuming the mana and spreading.

Vriski, instead, used only as much as he needed for his spell. If the consumption used less than the sacrificed mana particles. Well, then that energy was simply stored back inside Vriski. And the next few spells were cast without conversion.

Witnessing all this, Eldrian gained insight into what Ziraili had been trying to teach him. Sadly, he couldn't see the world as she did. And when she dumbed things down, he could follow the concept. But he couldn't come to understand it for what it was.

This was the tragic reality of trying to understand something he had no reference frame for. Her examples were extrapolations towards his frame of reference. But they were too far extrapolated. Too far from the actual thing.

It helped him understand what she was trying to teach him. But not her actual teachings. A lamentable reality they had been stuck on for a while now.

And without an understanding of the material world (with mana and magic included). Eldrian had no chance of understanding time.

Time, after all, falls outside the purview of humans. Trapped within its flow, they cannot 'view' it as they could the three physical dimensions.

Seeing this conversion in action helped Eldrian form his own understanding. The link between material, ethereal, and beyond. Slowly, it was becoming clearer.

There was the world. Matter. Atoms. The Quanta. And the fabric of spacetime. Interwoven, making everything all the harder to understand.

Then there was magic. Mana, lifeforce, and UE (universal energy).

And, somehow, matter also existed from UE.

As Ziraili said, it goes:

- UE

- astral and fabric

- lifeforce and quanta

- mana (Tier 8-10) and subatomic

- mana (Tiers 6-7) and atoms

- mana (Tiers 3-5) and Micro

- mana (Tiers 1 -2) and Macro

- mana (Tier 0) and life's POV.

There was some leakage at the edges. With high-grade Tier 5 spells, for example, starting to mimic the atomic. Or High-grade Tier 7 mimicking subatomic, and High-grade Tier 10 mimicking the quanta. But those were the exceptions, not the rules.

As Ziraili had explained, souls fell outside of space and time. Or rather, it was on the same level, but not trapped within the web of space and time. But still inside the universal energy that makes up all of existence. Something Eldrian was never able to 'get'.

Seeing Vriski doing what he was doing, however, gave Eldrian an idea.

What if the soul, part of the Astral, was able to pluck at strings of Fabric's spacetime web?

That, of course, would allow the rewriting of all known laws of the entire universe. An impossible task. Yet, GAIA had done so—in a separate dimension. Granted. But it was possible. There was precedent.

'But it isn't so easy, is it.' Eldrian thought. He understood that it wasn't as simple as 1 + 1 + 1= 4. And that in itself was already difficult. After all, 1 + 1 +1 = 3, under normal rules.

The three dimensions of space. They couldn't interact or even influence one another. But together they formed what was known as all of the space where 1 + 1 + 1 = 3.

Time added movement to space, but again, it couldn't change the laws of the three dimensions. 1 + 1 + 1 would still equal 3. Time allowed three to exist in different states, but it was always 3. Just at different times.

'That isn't to say it can't change how the laws are perceived.' Eldrian carefully noted. Depending on the flow of time, things could appear wonky. But within perspective, it would always follow the known laws.

So, how does 1 + 1 + 1 = 4?

Simple. There was an invisible +1. An unknown factor influencing the rules. Magic.

And, if you took the three dimensions, time, and Astral. There was exactly one unaccounted for. Not that that meant anything. This was only Eldrian's way of trying to understand the complexity of reality. But to him, it fit.

It is something non-physical like time. Thus it isn't in the equation. And while time is also non-physical, it presents physically. Thus it doesn't change the laws as it is part of them. Astral could perhaps be outside of those laws.

That was why his bloodline could cause time and space to collapse in on itself. It was the power of his soul trying to influence the Fabric. Altering one of the laws.

Even if he couldn't go back into the past or forward into the future. He could slow the flow of time. Perhaps, someday, even completely halt it.

But this only held as long as his concentration did. He couldn't rewrite the natural laws. The 'code' of reality. He could modify them under force of will, but not rewrite them.

'Is this where UE comes into play? If I'm following the hierarchy, it shouldn't be possible to access it. It would be like a two-dimensional being accessing the third dimension. It simply shouldn't be possible.'

'But was that the truth?' Eldrian asked himself.

Math (tries to) prove that there were more than three, or even four (if time is added) dimensions. Some proofs say 7, others 11, others 26. And there were three-dimensional representations of four-dimensional objects. The tesseract and hypersphere to name two.

While it wasn't possible (at least at this point in time) to recreate these objects in three-dimensional space and time. Their mathematics and projections were possible.

'So, does my bloodline give me the tools to act on a level above the Astral?' Eldrian pondered. 'And if not, perhaps it gives me just enough of a step up to interact with the Fabric without control of the Astral. A key to skip ahead.' And how Eldrian loved skipping ahead.

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