A New World, An Immersive Game Experience



"Let us turn our attention towards the battle, our teams have just spawned in!" A rather high-pitched voice announced. Far from the deep manly voice of the previous, and usual, announcer and commentator. This sudden change threw more than a few viewers off-center. 

"Indeed they have," said the voice they were used to. A voice that gave listeners a calm inside their hearts.  "With a map this scale, we can expect some time to pass before combat commences. Hopefully, we will also see some interesting tactics come forth."

"We certainly will!" The feminine voice declared, full of energy. Viewers could almost imagine her swinging her fist as she declared. "Look! Phoenix is already hard at work covering the area around their castle in runic mines!"

"Indeed, and we've seen how effective they can be. But I have to ask, can't these mines be used against them?"

"Of course not."

"How can you be so sure."

"Duh, I'm friends with Eldrian. And while he refused to explain how they worked, he did tell me that the ones creating the mines can dispel them at will." This commenter sounded far too proud of this nugget of information she had over others.

"Really?"

"Indeed!" Everyone could see in their mind's eye the head bobbing this girl had to be doing. Curiously, she hadn't joined Oier, the normal announcer and commentator, on stage. Her voice had just jumped into the center stage from nowhere. 

"Do you know what Eldrian's guild has planned?' Oier asked. 

"Mmm... Nope! He wouldn't talk about—What's that?" How she just jumped to the next topic before even finishing her sentence exasperated some viewers. She sounded like an overly excited kid. 

Camera panning, a magic circle came into view. One which Nihon was carefully setting up in their castle. It was about ten meters in diameter, and they were using some pretty expensive material to make it. 

Especially the Mov Crystal in the center. But the other ten large mana crystals were just as expensive.

"That seems to be a teleportation circle. My, what an ingenious idea!" Oier exclaimed. 

"Why's that?"

"As you well know, players are extremely limited in what they can bring with them for the tournament. Sure, each player has a general inventory of three-by-three-by-three meters, as well as their 10-slot item storage. And that allows for a lot of things to be brought into the battle."

"But it is also limiting." He continued. "You can't bring an especially large item, and you can't bring an endless amount. A teleportation circle would allow them to transport anything that can fit into the circle right onto the battle."

"Is that allowed?"

"Of course it is. But to think they are actually attempting it."

"I know right? It can't be easy to make a teleportation circle."

"Indeed it isn't. However, they've prepared well. What they are making is more a beacon than a teleporter. Which massively reduces the difficulty."

"Do you think they'll succeed?"

"If given enough time, certainly."

The camera moved even closer, close enough for the viewers to hear what Nihon's players were talking about as they worked on engraving the magic circle onto the castle floor. Somehow, they were able to add these engravings even though no attack thus far has managed to leave a scratch on the castle walls. 

Viewers naturally started to wonder if the floor was weaker than the walls. And would that make sapping an effective strategy?

"How's the connection coming along?" One of the players watching over the engravers asked. She was petite, and she wore the armor of a samurai with a long feathery plume in her helmet. 

Luckily, auto-translate (another amazing ability of ANW) destroyed any possible language barrier.

"Still nothing." Replied one of the engravers. 

"Is it impossible then?" The girl asked. 

"According to our intel, it should be possible. But we are only Tier 5 Runesmiths being led by one Arrayist. Teleportation circles normally require Tier 7 Arrayists and a formation master."

"But we're not making a teleportation circle," One of the other engravers—likely also a runesmith—chipped in. "This is just a receiver. So it should..."

"It worked!" Some exclaimed and they all in celebration.

The viewers had no idea what they were celebrating. Things only became more confusing when the Nihon players started talking randomly. It took everyone an embarrassingly long time to realize this was like when someone was on a call or something. Or recording voice messages. 

Camera panning away, the announcer duo started to speak again. 

"Well, would you look at that," Oier said. 

"I-Is this legal? Is it fair?"

"It is totally legal. They managed to break through the barrier stopping communication with outside contacts through legitimate means."

"B-but..."

"I know what you want to say. And it is true. This can cause a massive uproar. But if you need fifteen minutes to simply establish a connection with the outside, any information you might get could be too late."

"Still, isn't this too much? Can they talk with anyone now?"

"No, they can't talk with anyone." Oier confidently declared. Causing the viewers to wonder if they had rigged the match somehow. However, even as that thought crossed the viewers' minds, they couldn't cry out against it as unfairness. 

Eldrian simply stood out too much. He and his guild needed a handicap if he was going to ensure their victory otherwise. The nail and all that. 

Still, would this be enough? Would being able to spy on their enemy turn the tables?

Viewers doubted it. Information meant nothing if the other side was capable of brushing off attacks from an entire armada of mages while casually strolling forward. 

"How does this work? What are the limitations then?" The feminine voice asked. 

"It is rather simple. To stop communication with the outside world while in the tournament, a barrier is placed across the arena. At the same time, all players have their normal chat functions disabled and are instead given access to a tournament-only chat. This allows communication inside the arena, but not out."

"What Nihon has accomplished is to break through the barrier. But nothing more. They can't actively chat with anyone outside the arena via system functions."

"Then how are they talking with people? They haven't gone mad, have they?"

"Most certainly not. They are busy making a teleportation circle, right?"

"That's what you said."

There was a pause as if Oier couldn't believe that was his companion's reply. "Ahh... Uhm..." He seemed quite flustered, her reply had thrown him completely off his A-game. "Their using magic to communicate." It was a rather short, stern reply. 

"What type of spell are they using for that?" This was a natural question to have. After all, players knew all too well how terrible the NPCs' long-distance communication networks were. If they had a spell like that, they should use them! Instead of using players like communication relays. 

"Some simple wind magic. If you look closely at the magic circle they've created, you can see that a small section of it is separate from the rest. That would be their beacon, and it is currently active." 

That much was clear, even though it was only giving off a faint amount of light, it still stood out compared to the rest of the circle. Especially once it was pointed out by Oier. 

"They are using that active part to send messages via wind magic. This in itself isn't too difficult. Think of it as recording a message, writing it down, and then sending it a short distance to someone else through a tube or something similar."

"Like voice messages!"

"Well... yes..." 

Oier seemed defeated, and viewers could sympathize. That was much too simplified an answer. But it also allowed them to finally grasp what was happening.