New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Outside New Eden, Alex, David, and Kary had finally finished planning their next few steps.

Kary would have loved to plan further ahead, but David insisted that it was useless.

"There are too many moving pieces at play here. Planning too far ahead could be just as bad as not planning ahead at all in this situation. We've done enough for now and can add a few more steps once the plan is in full swing."

Even though she hated that David was acting as the voice of reason, she couldn't fault his argument. She wasn't entirely confident in planning so far ahead, anyway.

'This isn't a game of chess anymore. It's turned into a MOBA. And the arena is too big, with too many players to calculate every outcome,' she imagined, calming her reticence down.

"In this case, I will bid you a good night, David. It's still three am, and I'm tired," Alex said, yawning.

"Yeah, I agree. We'll make our other calls in the morning. Until then, resting doesn't sound too bad."

Alex hung up, taking the earpiece out. He looked at his bed, figuring a shower would be a good idea, before heading in it, but Kary flumped herself on top of it.

"We can clean the sheets tomorrow. I'm way too tired to stand under hot water. I'll fall asleep in the shower. All that thinking and stress drained me."

Alex chuckled, looking at her lovingly.

"You're right. Let's get a few hours of sleep in first. We can care about our sweaty bodies when we wake up."

"Hey, speak for yourself. I'm not sweaty, and I smell like roses," Kary mocked, whipping her hair to the side.

Alex laughed as he jumped into the bed next to her and grabbed her in a tight embrace.

They fell asleep almost instantly once they were comfortably wrapped under the covers, and if it weren't for a hastily set alarm, they would have slept in until late in the morning.

Alex was the first to wake up, shutting off the alarm as Kary groaned beside him.

"Mmm… Just a few more minutes…"

Chuckling silently, Alex got out of bed and headed downstairs to start a pot of coffee. He knew she wouldn't be in bed for long, as she was usually the early riser.

The least he could do was have coffee ready for her, right?

And lo-and-behold, once the smell of coffee started infusing the air of the penthouse, he heard a moan from upstairs.

"That smells amazing. Pour me a cup, please," Alex heard, muffled and distant.

He grabbed two cups from the cupboard and slowly filled them, before dropping a bit of sugar and milk into them.

Kary liked her coffee sweater more than he did, so he added a second sugar cube, grimacing at the thought of the sweet coffee.

"Hey! I saw that," Kary grunted as she came down the stairs.

"Huh? Saw what?" Alex asked, acting innocent, as he grabbed his cup and brought her hers.

She clicked her tongue lightly, giving a slight glare, before grabbing the hot cup.

As she took her first sip, a moan of satisfaction escaped her lips, her eyes closing in delight.

"Ahhh. That first sip really touches your soul, doesn't it?"

Alex took a sip, closing his eyes as well as he enjoyed the beverage, but didn't respond.

'As a matter of fact, it doesn't. That would be weird for all my companions, now wouldn't it?' he mused, laughing internally. Novel Fire - novelfire.net

But Alex was preoccupied with something else.

He opened up his TV, zapping to a news channel that treated the gaming world, and quickly found what he was looking for.

"Coming live from the EG headquarters this morning, where the CEO, Ms. Constatine Levesque, has convened a press conference. She refused to tell us what it was about until now, but there can only be one reason for her to talk to the press today.

"With the scandal of their servers going offline last night, in the middle of the highest traffic time of the day, because of a hack, we hope she sheds light on their solutions. We haven't yet caught wind of her or her assistant, but the time for the conference is nearing.

"Stay tuned for more news on New Eden's crash!" the reporter said in her microphone, sounding way too excited.

Alex wanted to know more, and it seemed he tuned in just in time. He had expected the shrewd woman wouldn't hold off on talking to the press for too long.

Would she have answers to everyone's questions? That much he doubted.

But she would at least talk enough to give everyone a clear picture to deal with.

Alex was only hoping she would have a timeline before they could return to New Eden.

Getting stronger on this side of the veil wasn't that easy. The minimal amount of mana their world now contained wouldn't be enough for everyone to get strong.

Luckily for him, he had a mana lobe, now. This saved him from a lot of trouble.

But he couldn't say the same for Kary, David, or any of his friends.

'I don't even know if I can help them form one. It took so much out of me to form mine. Would it be dangerous for them in the state we are now?' he wondered.

But there would need to be a change, eventually. Because without a mana lobe, there was a hard limit to how much they could grow in power right now.

And it would stay that way until mana started leaking back into their world.

"You seem lost in thought," Kary said, bringing him out of his head.

"Hmm? Ah, yeah. I was thinking about the situation on a bigger scale. With the mana wells gone, getting stronger is going to be tough. I was trying to figure out a way around it. Gear can only make us so much more powerful."

Kary smiled at him.

"Look at you, using all that brain power. I'm proud of you," she mocked with a sly smile.

Alex growled at her playfully.

"We'll see how long you keep up that attitude when I start whipping that ass of yours," he playfully threatened.

"Oooh. Whipping. I like the sound of that," she replied, making her eyebrows wiggle suggestively.

Alex wanted to wrestle her, but a shout on the TV cut him short.

"She's here! Ms. Levesque! Ms. Levesque! What do you plan to do about your servers?!"

The conference was starting.

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