New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

*Soul Imbue*

Imbue the power of your soul into your strikes, making you reach the soul of your target directly. Attacks deal 1000% damage, in true damage, but you take 1% of it back as true damage in a soul whiplash, for using the power of your soul to attack.

**

Astaroth finished reading the skill as another notification rang in his ear.

*Soul whiplash calculated. Damage returned: 64,484. This damage is also true damage.*

He didn't even get time to activate Sublimate or meld with anything that a soul-wrenching pain assaulted him.

Astaroth gripped his chest as the damage trickled in, in stacks of a thousand, draining his hp slowly but in a manner that left him unable to react. It was like someone was jamming burning rods through his body, slowly pushing them through.

The pain was almost enough to make him pass out. There was no gritting his teeth through that one.

Phoenix landed beside him, seeing his health deteriorating, and wondered what was affecting him.

She slightly panicked as Astaroth screamed off the top of his lungs in agony.

"What's wrong?! What's attacking you?!"

But Astaroth couldn't hear her. His ears were ringing, his mind pounding, his heart thumping. All he could hear was his soul flaring up in response to his stupid use of a skill he knew nothing about.

In less than a minute, with Phoenix unable to help him since she didn't know what was affecting him, Astaroth hit zero HP.

Phoenix watched with horror as Astaroth turned to pixels before shattering and dispersing to the wind.

"Let's just hope that his death penalty isn't too harsh…" she mumbled as she turned toward Bastion City.

She was sure that was where he would reappear, so that was where she made her way to.

In the meantime, Astaroth reappeared in a graveyard, everything around him in grey tones, and sighed loudly.

"So this is what it's like to die?" he asked no one in particular.

He could see before him the timer to his respawn. But he also had other notifications flashing in his sights.

Tapping on them, he started reading them because he had time to spare.

*Calculating death penalty: Error!*

*Resolving issue: Error!*

*Player wasn't killed by another player or enemy. Creating alternative penalty.*

*Penalty created. Suicide Penalty: Upon respawn, the player will be forcefully logged out, and the account will be locked for a week. A world announcement will be made for this new penalty.*

He stared at the last one with a blank stare.

"…"

"…"

His timer hit zero, and just like clockwork, instead of reappearing in the graveyard, with his sight going back to normal, Astaroth's vision swam before turning to the inside of his pod.

As he was logged out, a world notification rang in the skies over New Eden's two continents.

*World Announcement: A player has died by means of his own. A death penalty was created for this situation and will now come into play for any player doing the same. Suicide Penalty: Upon death by means of his own, the player will get forcefully logged out and his account locked for a week. Thank you for your comprehension.*

Many players around the world of New Eden paused to hear this news. This was big.

Losing a level because you died to monsters or other players was already inconvenient. But losing an entire week of playtime?

At this stage of the game, the loss of EXP alone was massive, and suddenly, dying in PVP didn't seem that bad…

Phoenix heard the notification like everyone else, but she also saw Astaroth log out, and her face paled.

"Please be someone else. Please be someone else," she uttered as she opened her friends' list.

She quickly tapped on Astaroth's name and initiated a call.

The call picked up, and she could hear his ragged breath on the other side.

"Please tell me you lagged out and are about to log back in. A week-long lockout will kill your advantage over other players…"

She could hear the breathing on the other side, as if he was containing rage.

"It's not a mistake. I can't log back in. It's giving me a countdown with a week on it…" Alex replied, his voice shivering in rage.

"God dammit. What happened, Alex?" Phoenix asked.

Alexander took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down, before responding.

"I tried out a new skill that I got, but I didn't read it beforehand. And it turns out that skill had a whiplash to it. I couldn't meld with a companion in time or use Sublimation, and the pain locked me out of my skills. I died to the whiplash…"

Phoenix took a second to digest what he had told her.

This was a serious matter.

Not only because he couldn't play for a week, but also because the narrative of this penalty wasn't something he was the only subject to.

On the forums, many players had found skills with health costs or whiplash effects, but usually, they used them in controlled environments with potions to spare, healers at hand, or stopped before they killed themselves.

Which was why the suicide penalty was never issued until now.

With this news out, many players using these skills would suddenly grow cold feet at their use. Even she had one such skill in her arsenal that she seldom used.

Now, she was even more terrified of using it.

The problem here was that these skills were often extremely useful or powerful.

But it seemed like the game was trying to remind them that dying came at a risk. It was probably New Eden's way of regulating the fact they were practically immortal.

They sat silently for a moment as one processed, and the other tried calming down.

"What are you going to do for the time being? Do you want me to stay out of the game with you?" Phoenix asked, her voice shaking.

"No. Please don't waste your week on my mistake. I'll find a way to catch back. For now, use this opportunity to power level. In the worst-case scenario, I'll use the taxed EXP. But I'm sure I can figure out something.

"As for what I'll do for the week? I'll figure something out. Don't worry about it. Anyway, it's still the middle of the night here. I'll take a shower and sleep in the bed a bit. See you later. Love you."

Alexander hung up the call before leaving his pod with a pissed look. He couldn't blame or force her to suffer his penalty with him.

He'd have to manage his time on his own.

"They should have figured these things out before we played. I get that New Eden isn't a game, and that our mechanics are strange in that world, but jesus, Evo Gaming. Do your homework next time…"

Alexander cursed them a bit more as he ran a hot shower. This just wasn't a good week for him, he guessed.