A New World, An Immersive Game Experience



Chaos erupted as all hell broke out. The initial attack had managed to claim the lives of several Nihon players, but the guild quickly recovered. Their counterattack might not have claimed many Phoenix players' lives, but it did stop their escape. Causing the entire scene to develop into an all-out melee, with spells being flung without a care. Players died left and right, some from friendly fire. 

While this was happening, Eldrian had taken flight. Refracting the light around him was a rather difficult task, and it didn't make him completely invisible. But he couldn't do much more in the spur of the moment, especially not while maintaining flight and preventing his mana from being detected. 

Shockingly, several of Nihon's players glanced in his direction. Even after he moved around the battle. While their tracking seemed delayed, they were certainly following his movements. 

'That confirms it. They know where I am, but can't see me. Or my mana camouflage is flawed, and they can see me. Yet, that doesn't explain how they found us in the forest. It isn't so simple to find other parties, and it should have been impossible with our camouflage.'

Eldrian had no idea how, but he now understood that hiding was impossible. Most likely, any sneak attack would fail. 

If that was the case, he might as well go all out. Yet, he also had to make sure he wasn't caught in any traps. 

'They might want to lull me into a false sense of security. Only keeping track of my movements until they defeated everyone else.' Eldrian thought, moving sporadically around the battlefield to prevent anyone from pinning down his location. Just in case they were trying to trap him. 

As he moved, he watched Judith struggling to kill as many players as possible. She had clearly abandoned any plans of escaping. She struck her enemies with all her might. Attacking savagely, like a crazed beast. Uncaring for any wound she would take, if it meant inflicting one more onto her enemies. 

Using mob tactics, the enemy surrounded her and threw simple numbers at her. This, sadly, was enough. Judith didn't surpass the other players in Tier. Heck, she had lower stats than many here. What with her only having one class in Tier 5 while many of Nihon's members were dual or even triple Tier 5 holders. 

Despite being outclassed in stats, and likely even equipment, she fought valiantly. Her savage, reckless attacks had claimed several lives. It did come at a massive cost to her HP. Which she regained through potions (courtesy of Erik and Akarui) and some spells the mages focused on her; over protecting themselves.

Her style of fighting seemed incredibly effective against other players.  Most players weren't used to a do and die attacks. After all, very few enemies were willing to die with you. And everyone, including players, wanted to survive their encounters. Death came at the cost of too many levels. 

Judith was one of the few insane enough to want to take damage as she fought. And oh, did she take damage. With the mages prioritizing healing her over fighting, and her seemingly endless supply of potions, she just wouldn't go down. And she wouldn't without a one-hit kill. 

Sadly, someone realized what she was up to. As their cry filled the air, "She's trying to—" Judith realized her time was up. And before Nihon could scatter, she attacked.

Laughing like a maddened demon, she swung down her sword. One last time. 

"Bwahahaha, eat this!"

Empowered with all the damage she had taken, all her mana, and the rest of her health, the attack bore a terrifying amount of power behind it. It sent shockwaves through the battle. Ripped through armor and players alike. Killing a total of eight players, and sending twenty others flying. Heavily wounded. At death's door. 

'Now!' Seeing his timing, Eldrian joined the fray. His first targets were those who had been waiting for him to appear. Too distracted now by Judith's destructive display, he snuck past their guard. 

His spells, fine-tuned after years of training, and especially his 'training' under Ziraili's guidance, found their mark with ease. 

Simple bombs, small as a fingernail, covered in an ether barrier, slip past the player's armor. Striking into any soft tissue, be this an eye, an ear, or the neck. And there, it exploded. 

Seven players collapsed, headless. Perfectly timed with Judith's final attack, Eldrian was sure he would be able to turn the fight around from here.

He had taken out those who were targeting him, and his next target was those who were only half into the fight. Sparing focus onto those assigned to track Eldrian, they were sure to react to his attack, but with some delay. Eldrian was already firing his spell to stop their attempts. Yet, the spell he called never formed. 

His mana... dissipated into the air. Dispelled. 

'What the—'

"Quick, before he escapes!" One of Nihon's vice leaders shouted, those unwounded turning their attention to Eldrian. 

'Shit, I need time to think!' Luckily, with all his training and all the fights he had been through, Eldrian now knew what the power of time felt like. While he couldn't slow time perfectly, he could enhance the speed at which he thought. 

Doubly lucky, it seemed that whatever was dissipating his spells only worked with external spells. Thus, Eldrian concluded that it was some type of magical barrier. But when had it been erected? And by whom?

'Thought Acceleration.' Eldrian had been working hard on perfecting this spell. While mana already heightened a person's speed of thought. This was limited to Agility and Intelligence stats. There were some spells that allowed greater focus, and a few that slightly increased other things. But nothing could compare to the power of Chronos. 

The one downside, however, was that he couldn't move as fast as he was thinking. This was the key difference between his usual reckless calling on his bloodline and Thought Acceleration. 

And while this difference made a world of difference in what he could do, for now, he just needed to figure out how he had gotten trapped. And what he could do to escape. 

The first question then; why did his mana dissipate upon being cast?

With time dilated to a fraction of a second, Eldrian observed his surroundings. Sadly, even moving his eyes was excruciatingly slow. But he could still focus his mind on key areas. Mageia also moved much faster than anything else, though still slow compared to his thoughts. 

By splitting these two senses, he figured out the general situation. His eyes taking in the physical, and Mageia the magical. Sadly, the burden on his mind was great, and he was already tiring. 

But that wasn't enough to stop him. 

'Fascinating.' That was all that Eldrian could say to describe what Nihon had done. It was truly something he had never considered. Somewhere along the line, Eldrian had forgotten that he wasn't special. 

Sure, he had a talent for magic. But that wasn't why he was currently as strong as he was. No, that was because of his experiences. Experiences he had in ANW. Experiences that other players could also gain. 

Sure, his auras and bloodline perhaps made him more special. But he had always wondered why he was so far ahead of the other players in magic. After all, he had shared how he had learned magic with the world. Anyone could attempt to copy his method. 

To his knowledge, no one had. Which meant no other person had their soul altered via a Magic Crystal while still learning magic; before their souls took on a clear characteristic. 

Yet, what he realized now was, that wasn't the only way to gain something special. Besides, his life and death struggle had been what had truly unlocked his talents. The altering of his soul had only made things more likely to develop as they had. 

Eldrian was assuredly not the only player to have those experiences. His were perhaps on the extreme end, but he wasn't alone. 

'So, how do I break out of a trap laid by ghosts? He asked himself. Trying to figure out how they were able to wield mana while dead. It shouldn't be possible, even for him. After all, it took a great deal of effort to resist the pull of the Realm of Souls.