A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

"Would you be able to contact Old Sword for me?" Eldrian asked, hoping that Rhall would be willing.

Rhall took a moment to really think about how much this would take. "I can inform Old Sword that you are here, but I am not under his command. I am from a different division which means I won't be able to reach him before we sets off."

"For now, I think it would be best if you sign up to join the mission, I will inform Old Sword that you are here and looking for him. It should be far easier for him to find you than the other way around."

"That would be great, thank you Rhall." Eldrian said, before asking, "Where is the Adventurers' Guild?" He wanted to get the registration over as soon as possible. He also needed to figure out where he could set his spawn point. Since there was no temple, he now had no idea.

"See that large tent over there?" Rhall asked, pointing to a distant tent which was only visible due to its size towering over all the other tents. After seeing Eldrian nod Rhall continued, "That is their temporary location. Good luck."

Eldrian then said goodbye and thanked Rhall again before setting off. Trudging through the muddy earth Eldrian wondered why they had not hardened it. Ultimately he attributed to them being in a rush.

Eldrian came to this conclusion after a few minutes of walking, when he started understanding just how large the castle was. He was never good at figuring out distance from simply looking, but the time and distance the tent was still at told him that the castle span far over a kilometer in this direction.

Around ten more minutes later Eldrian reached the tent. Looking at the massive flabby structure Eldrian wondered just how they had managed to get it here.  Did they make it here? But from what?

Eldrian continued to think of this as he entered the tent, finding that it was organized in a similar manner to the Adventurers Guild in Agosstead.

Right as he had entered he found a counter to both his sides, along with a bar at the far end of the tent. Between him and the bar was a bunch of circular tavern tables occupied by a large array of people.

The counter to his sides where the counters where one could talk with guild employees. Mission boards had been set up at the end of both counters.

Eldrian quickly decided to go left first, finding to his luck that it was indeed the mission board for single individuals. Though this did not matter, since the Taurus Relief Mission was added to both. Eldrian's luck was that with this board he could also see all the side missions made available to small groups or individual people.

These included finding certain herbs, gems, or ores. Along with a description of where these things could likely be found. There were also side quests requesting arms or armor, potions and even spell scrolls. The last Eldrian found an interesting concept, having thought that it would not be a thing in ANW.

After finishing browsing Eldrian decided to simply sign up for the basic relief mission. According to the mission board this would mean he had to stay with the army at all times and participate in all major battles. Which was currently the limit of Eldrian's plans.

He wanted to first learn all the spells he had bought before doing anything more.

"Sorry to disturb you," Eldrian said, taking the attention of a guild clerk from the book she was reading.

"Yes?" She said, looking up from her book to Eldrian. Shock briefly flashed through her eyes after she used Observe on Eldrian.

"I would like to sign up for the Taurus Relief Mission."

"No problem, you are a Chosen correct?"

"Yes?" Eldrian replied, wondering why she asked this so soon.

"Would you like to sing up for the special mission made for Chosen or only as a normal adventurer?"

"What is the difference?"

"Well..." Taking a moment to collect her thoughts the lady tried to use the best words she could. "Joining the special mission would entail you to special rewards; including items, spells and skills."

"What is the catch?"

"Nothing, you will only be required to always be on the frontlines and swear and oath to not share the spells and skills you learn through this contract."

'So they want to use us to absorb the impact.' Eldrian thought to himself, deciding to decline this option. He would rather not die over and over again.

"I would like to join as a normal adventurer."

"No problem, if you change your mind we can move you to the special division." The lady answered quickly, making Eldrian wonder just how many players had actually accepted those conditions. While it might sound good, he felt it would take too much time along with being extremely dangerous.

Eldrian started filling in the necessary paperwork to join as an adventurer right after their short conversation. It did not need much, simply his name race and reason for joining. He did not really know what to say for the last, in the end saying that he wanted to gain experience from it. Which was true.

After finishing the paperwork Eldrian had to swear to the goddess of life that he would do his best to support the mission. After which he got a system notification.

[Player has signed up for Taurus Relief mission]

[Quest Name: Taurus Relief Mission(TRM)]

[Quest Giver: Kingdom of Phallos]

[Quest Rank: S]

[Quest Description: Help Taurus fight the monster invasion. Players can get recognition for their heroic accomplishments be they gathering intel or killing hordes of monsters.

[Player currently only joined as a supporter in case of major fighting. Player can take other side quests at the Adventurers Guild or receive them from senior soldiers. Player is both protected and bound by oath.]

[The aim of the mission is to prepare soldiers for when the monsters invade Phallos. As such it is required that the player go back to Phallos after the quest completes. Not doing so will cause the player to fail the mission. Player will have one month to return to Phallos and hand in the quest after it has been completed.]

[Quest Reward: 50K XP or 3 levels]

[Quest Requirement: Stay with the army unless doing a different task.]

[Quest Payment: 10 copper per day]

[Quest Party: 856 Players]

After having read through all the information Eldrian knew immediately that this quest was going to take a long time. Luckily it did not say they would fail if Taurus fell, something he had thought would be part of it. This meant that he could complete the quest automatically as long as something did not upset things too much.

He was also surprised by how few players had actually joined the mission. Having thought it would be over a thousand, yet it was still under a thousand after more than a week had passed. So the other thousand thought it would be similar to the First Expedition?

Having confirmed that the quest seemed to be correct Eldrian got ready to leave, as he did he saw Elizabeth talking to a clerk at the other counter. Deciding to wait for her to finish Eldrian cast Nidia and started playing with the water ball.

He had decided to not use Floga since he was afraid he might light something on fire, while also believing it would attract all the other peoples' attention. Playing with a spell like he did still garnered him a large amount of attention, soon the entire tent was looking at him. Eldrian himself too absorbed in trying crazy things to even notice.

"Haru, is that you?" Elizabeth asked, having been drawn to Eldrian the same as the rest of the people. She had even stopped her talk with the guild clerk early to come over.

"Hey Elizabeth, what are you doing here?" Eldrian asked, letting the water ball move back from behind his back and land in his hand. After which he canceled the spell, instead of simply stopping his mana flow Eldrian instead willed it to move back into the air. Causing the water ball to seemingly steam as it evaporated, leaving nothing behind.

"Wh-... What was that?" Elizabeth asked right after the ball disappeared completely. She had never seen anything like it and it had taken all her thoughts and thrown them into an abyss, leaving her with only wonder.

"Huh? Oh that. That was Nidia, cool right? I have been playing with it to train my mana control." Eldrian replied, smirking as he did. He was quite happy with how Nidia had disappeared, it certainly was flashy.

"Nidia? Playing? Mana control?" Elizabeth mumbled, finding each word strange.

"Yeah, Nidia. The Tier 0 water summoning spell." Eldrian replied, wondering just why Elizabeth was as shocked as she appeared.

"H-how was that playing?"

"Well, it works like a yoyo. I have been trying some different things with it. I am hoping I can mix this control with all my spells."

"Are you a monster?" She asked, finding Eldrian's response to her questions far too light-hearted.

Tilting his head in a questioning manner Eldrian replied, "No, I am a High Elf." Finding the reply funny he started chuckling, leaving Elizabeth even more baffled.