Chapter 6: The Lost Boy

Many days passed, during which Alexander was lost.

He was exempt from school for a week to grieve and manage his family affairs though aside from signing a few electronic forms he spent most of his time in Eden.

The youth remained atop the Sky Reaching Mountain, sitting beside where his mother had disappeared. He gazed out over the world beyond and contemplated life. The pain of losing his mother was the worst pain he had ever experienced; this had been verified by an almost insulting window that had popped up not long after her death:

Eden Window [https://i.imgur.com/Vsv0diU.png]

This was soon followed by another window:

image [https://i.imgur.com/NsSn8qV.png]

Most people would have been excited to receive a rare mental ability; however, the child couldn't bear to even look at the screen and quickly dismissed them. He then sank into his vacant lull of thoughtfulness as he processed his loss.

After a week of mourning, during which his mind was consumed by sadness, his emotions subsided, leaving him feeling empty.

In real life, he had all but returned to normal, and only in Eden did he let his depression show. Like a hollow husk of a person, he sat unmoving from his spot atop the mountain, trying to find a reason to go on playing. Without his moth, the world had lost its color, and all he wanted to do was sleep. The doctors told him he was going through the stages of grief and gave him some antidepressants to stabilize his mood.

Different people dealt with grief in different ways, and for Alexander, this was thinking.

He reminisced over the good times he and his mother had shared, the lessons she had taught him, and the dreams they had shared. This was not enough to fill the void in his heart; however, as months flew by, the pain began to fade. The sorrow dissipated, replaced by the warmth of an enduring love that transcends reality, time, and even death.

Strength slowly began to return to his heart as he began to embrace his mother's legacy. Rather than mourning her loss he slowly but surely was beginning to see things differently. She might have been gone but her love, her hopes, and her dreams remained with him. He could not let these things be passed on in vain.

The youth took a full 6 months to heal, during which the only disturbance he faced was the emergence of a window from the game.

First was:

image [https://imgur.com/2YCkVW7.png]

Mediation was a useful skill for mana recovery and could even raise one mana permanently. However, the increase was only 0.1 per level, and to gain this bonus, one had to meditate for a whole hour of game time. On a brighter note, in Eden, time was 5 faster than in the normal world, so during his five hours of gameplay, a whole day would pass in the game. Still, to successfully meditate, one's heart rate had to be low enough and brainwaves calm enough for an entire 10 minutes or so before one saw even a little benefit, which was far too much work for most people. Likewise, even the most basic spells required 10 mana, so wasting so much time for a tenth of a stat point was considered insane. Regardless, for the sake of the mana recovery element, which increased by 10% with each level, his mother forced him to learn and practice. The woman did have her reasons, primarily that as an elf with limited endurance, there was a lot of time during their gameplay when they couldn't move, during which they could still improve their magic with this mellow skill.

Alexander hadn't realized his state of morning met the criteria for meditative practice, though he didn't mind advancing to level 6 with this skill despite his lack of mana-dependent abilities at the moment.

After this, the next window surprised him a bit:

image [https://i.imgur.com/bfIsl46.png]

image [https://imgur.com/AiUtQ6D.png]

This achievement was a true blessing as he was too out of sorts to gather food but had enough stores on hand to substantiate himself with this new ability throughout the duration of his healing. It was a class he had never intended to earn through; after reading its details more, he found it rather humorous. To earn this class, one needed a high enough affinity with nature, one couldn't have killed a Mob, one needed a class-related skill, which for him both Basic Staffmanship and Mediation counted, and one needed to spend enough time in isolation. Compared to other classes, its benefits were almost comical, though the stat bonuses were rather impressive.

Still, the youth paid this little attention and continued to rest till he once again received a window that stated:

image [https://imgur.com/2YCkVW7.png]

This was his last notification before one fateful day he watched a glorious sunrise. As the light filled the world he felt a weight finally fade from his heart. His mother wouldn't want him to lament for the rest of his day; she would want him to stand up and be brave. To face the world and keep living as wonderful a life as he could.

Indeed, his mother was dead, but she would now live on inside him as he lived the best life he could live.

Alexander smiled to himself and then closed his eyes as he offered up a prayer for his mother's soul. In this act, he poured all of his love, and one found resolve. Once finished, he rose to his feet with a few final tears flowing down his cheeks. He wanted to admire the sunrise a little longer, but a window blocked his view:

image [https://imgur.com/LhxgR9d.png]

After this came:

image [https://imgur.com/wiNcB7d.png]

Followed by:

image [https://imgur.com/RgMcZhr.png]

The youth was baffled but pleased by this achievement; if Eden was recognizing him, then that meant his fleeings were real. At the same time, he had been told one could only unlock the Faith stat by compiling a special mission for a Religious Order or having a special Class. The amount of Faith he gained had also surprised him but after an educated guess and a quick evaluation, the 608 was just under the total number of days he had been playing Eden for. Given that he and his mother had prayed almost every day when they ate, he could assume his additional merit had come from their commitment to a real-world religion rather than an in-game one.

Alexander wasn't one to question his blessings, so he happily closed these screens, excited to see how he could make use of these points in the future. In the meantime, he had promised his mother they would travel to the end of the Green Mountains together, and that was what he intended to do.

Summoning out his walking stick, he began to slowly walk onwards, ready to continue his journey.