Chapter 12 – Trial and Error
For a while, neither of them said anything.
Neel leaned back against the cold stone, eyes half-closed, letting his breathing finally settle into something normal. His body still hurt like hell, but it wasn't that sharp, I'm-about-to-die kind of pain anymore—just a dull, annoying reminder that yeah, he got folded not too long ago.
Across from him, Alan stretched his arms over his head like they hadn't just been chased through a forest by something that could turn them into paste.
"…You know," Alan said after a bit, glancing at him, "I thought I'd meet you again in-game, not… whatever the hell this is."
Neel let out a quiet breath, not opening his eyes. "Yeah. Same. Pretty sure this wasn't in the patch notes."
Alan snorted. "Worst launch ever."
"Zero stars," Neel muttered. "Would not recommend. Devs should get sued."
Silence settled again. Not awkward this time. Just… heavy. The kind that comes after everything goes to shit and somehow you're still alive.
Neel opened his eyes slowly, staring at the cave ceiling for a second before speaking. "Sooo… what now?"
Alan hummed but didn't answer immediately.
Neel dragged a hand over his face and pushed himself up a little straighter, ignoring the way his body protested. "How are we even supposed to survive in this place?" he continued, voice rough but steady. "Everything's frozen. We can't just eat snow—that'll screw our body temperature. Water's a problem unless we heat it, for which we need some kind of container.
He paused, then added, "Food's worse. Either we hunt—which, yeah, no—or we eat whatever scraps those things leave behind."
Alan made a face. "That's… actually disgusting."
"Yeah," Neel said flatly. "Also realistic."
His gaze drifted toward the cave entrance. White. Quiet. Empty in a way that didn't feel normal.
"And shelter," he went on. "We got lucky with this cave. That's not happening every time."
A short pause.
"And this cold…" Neel muttered, glancing at Alan for half a second before immediately looking away again. "Do you not feel it in those clothes?"
Alan opened his mouth.
Neel raised a hand immediately. "No—don't say 'we can make a fire.' You light one, and congratulations, everything outside knows exactly where we are."
Alan paused mid-thought, then slowly closed his mouth. "…Right."
Neel exhaled through his nose. "And even if we deal with the cold, there's the smell. Blood, sweat, We're basically walking bait right now."
Alan shifted slightly, looking down at his clothes.
Neel leaned his head back again, staring at the ceiling. "After that… we test abilities. Properly. Range, cooldown, output, control—everything. No guessing mid-fight again."
Alan nodded once. "Yeah, that part I agree with."
Neel hesitated for a second, then added, quieter this time, "And I know you know I lied earlier."
Alan didn't react much. Just looked at him.
Neel let out a small breath. "I don't have a mana core. Not like you. Or anyone else." He paused, then said it anyway. "It's a soul core."
Saying it out loud felt heavier than it should've.
"And that thing barely explained anything," Neel continued, frowning. "Just said it evolves. That's it. No mechanics, no limits, no scaling. Nothing. So yeah—we're basically guessing blind."
Alan slowly raised his hand like he was in class.
Neel stared at him. "…What."
"Are you seriously about to skip the tutorial again?" Alan asked, dead serious.
Neel blinked. "What tutorial?"
Alan stared at him like he'd just committed a crime. "The one the creepy void guy literally gave us? Status window? Info tabs? Documents? Any of that ring a bell?"
Neel paused.
"…I thought that was just extra stuff."
Alan leaned back slightly, disbelief written all over his face. "You're the kind of guy who skips instructions and then complains when things break, aren't you?"
"…Maybe."
"Unbelievable," Alan muttered, shaking his head. "There's probably info about your weird soul thing in there."
Neel clicked his tongue. "Fine. I'll check it."
"But," Alan added, leaning forward slightly, "before you disappear into reading mode, we should still test things."
Neel glanced at him. "Didn't expect you to actually have ideas. Damn. I'm impressed." He paused. "So what are we testing first?"
"No clue," Alan said instantly.
Neel stared at him for a solid second.
"…Of course," he sighed. "Why did I even ask?"
He rubbed his chin, thinking. Then his eyes lit up slightly.
"Alright—start simple. Try changing shapes. Not just orbs. Make… I don't know—a triangle, square, whatever. If you can control structure, that's already huge."
Alan blinked. "That's actually—"
"And touch it," Neel added quickly, leaning forward now, interest building. "See if it burns you. If it doesn't, that's insane. That means you can hold it, shape it mid-air, maybe even coat stuff with it."
He was talking faster now.
"Try density too—condense it, expand it. More compact means more heat, probably more damage. Bigger means AoE. There's gotta be trade-offs—mana cost, stability, something."
Neel's eyes were actually shining a bit now.
"I don't know what my soul core does yet, but if I get something like elemental control—wind, water, fire, anything attack-based—that's perfect. Utility's kinda…" he paused, frowning slightly, "…meh."
He scratched his head. "I mean, what's the point of something like teleportation if it has cooldowns and you need insane control to not mess up? It's not even—"
Meanwhile, Alan had already started testing.
He raised his hand slightly, forming a small plasma orb. It flickered into existence like before, unstable but familiar. Then he tried to compress it.
Nothing.
He pushed more energy into it, making it bigger instead. The glow intensified.
"…Nope," he muttered, focusing harder, trying to force it smaller.
Still nothing.
"This is so damn hard," he said, frowning. "Like, making an orb is easy, I don't even think about it. But changing it? Compressing it? It just—doesn't listen."
He tried again, jaw tightening. The orb wobbled slightly.
"And shapes are worse," he went on. "I know I can do it, but it just won't—" he gestured vaguely, frustrated, "—work. It's like I need to understand the shape properly. Balance, structure, all that crap."
Neel, meanwhile, was still going.
"…and if I get something like wind, I can combine it with movement, maybe reduce fall damage, increase speed—water could be insane too, control, defense, healing maybe—fire's just raw output, can't go wrong there—"
A vein popped on Alan's forehead.
He slowly turned.
Then crawled forward and grabbed Neel by the collar.
"YOU LITTLE SHIT—ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?" he yelled right into his ear. "OR DO YOU WANT ME TO BURN YOU ALIVE RIGHT NOW?"