A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

The Emperor, again...  Eldrian picked up on this final sentence, causing him to realize that Itireae herself might not actually care for this. She was only trying to complete a mission. Eldrian had no idea what this mission was, he could tell that she also did not really know.

"You want to know why I care. Yet it sounds more like you want to accomplish what this Emperor of yours asked. What did he ask?"  Eldrian asked, hoping he could simply explain his actions and reasons to her and then be left on his own. He certainly did not want to be tailed the entire time. He also highly doubted someone at her level had time to do that. Then again, she was a High Elf and had time to waste.

"He didn't ask me to do anything. I wanted to come and help. He only told me to try and learn what it means to be here, and to not go to a kingdom which has no hope in defending themselves." She replied, trying to sound proud.

However, Eldrian could easily tell that she was not sure what she actually needed to do. Helping was easy, but learning what it meant to be on the frontlines was not so easy. Especially for someone with basically no notion of death and loss.

How did she become their supreme commander? I doubt she ever led an army in war. She certainly had never been in a desperate fight. Eldrian wondered as he looked at her.

"You won't be able to learn this through following me." He said, instead of voicing his doubts and thoughts.

"But you know what it means."

"Yes..." Eldrian sighed; "Yes I do. It is not something you can explain, you won't be able to understand."

"Are you saying I am too dumb?" Itireae asked, irked.

"No, I am saying it is not something anyone will be able to explain. Let me ask you, how much do you care for that eagle of yours?"

"Eagle?"  Hearing her questioning tone caused Eldrian's face to twitch.

"That big bird you were riding!"

"Oh, Mnene. She is my companion, I have had her for nearly five hundred years now." Again Eldrian's face twitched as he heard five hundred years. An insane amount of time for him, yet she seemed to feel like it was a short time. Like if one had a pet for three years or something. She also did not really answer the answer, pissing him off more.

"How would you feel if she died in battle?"

"She won't. She is really strong, and so to am I."

"Don't divert this. How will you feel if she died and you could do nothing to help!" Eldrian shouted, hoping to get through to her.

Itireae did not answer quickly, her mind incapable of actually considering this case. The only person she had ever lost was her dad, but when that had happened she was still too young. She only knew him through paintings and the words of others. Always praising him for his leadership capabilities and his personal strength, as well as how honorable and loyal he was.

Always telling her that she had a great father. Itireae did not grow up with a loss, she grew up with a hero, a role model. A distant one she never met, but one who was always at her side. Hence even this did not help her consider loss.

"I can't. I don't, know..."

Eldrian gave her a few seconds before talking again,  "That is why I can't explain it to you. You have to experience that, or something similar. If you do not, then you will never be able to understand."

Leaving her thunderstruck, Eldrian searched for his carriage. He was tired from the breakthrough and talking with Itireae was quite draining to him. He simply did not understand her mindset and he did not wish to try and figure it out while he had other things on his mind.

It took him close to an hour, and a lot of direction asking before he finally found the medical carriage train. Where everyone who had been severely injured was brought and healed, while also given time to recover.

However, upon trying to enter the carriages, Eldrian was stopped by one of the guards on horseback following the carriages. He was not alone, there were around twenty guards on horseback and easily a hundred more guards in small groups following the carriages.

"Are you here to see someone?" The guard asked from atop his horse; the sun behind him and his voice stern, a tone of irritants in it.

"No, I was here before and just went for a walk." Eldrian tried to explain, the guard did not seem to care.

"You seem fine to me, don't disturb those who actually need rest." Saying this, the guard shooed like one would shoo a dog. Eldrian felt quite pissed being treated like this, but seeing the grin on the guard's face he decided to simply leave. He could feel that the guard wanted him to react.

Not knowing what to do now, Eldrian started looking at his avatar stats again. Wishing to finally figure out what the hidden class actually did to him. As he did this he wandered around in the army, making sure to never actually stumble into the lines of soldiers that were present at certain locations. Such as at the medical carriages.

For the most part, the army did not travel in a strick formation, it certainly would be extremely draining for a hundred thousand people to stay in formation for weeks and months. Instead, they kept a formation at the edge of the division, and important parts of the division. Between these formations, there was more open space and soldiers could walk alone or in groups.

These were all still disciplined and organized, but they were not in rank and file. Giving everyone some room to breathe, and allowing Eldrian to wander without getting into trouble.

[Haru's Statistics]

[Level: 13 | 0/240K XP]

[Hidden Class: Protector; Tier 1]

[Sub-classes: Magic, Melee]

[Avatar Affinity: 97.65%]

[Attributes]

[Constitution: 115]

[Strength: 125]

[Agility: 155]

[Spirit: 115]

[Intelligence: 130]

[5 free attribute points]

Seems like I got 5 of each attribute, and my affinity increased slightly again.  Eldrian was only slightly shocked by these gains. They were not as insane as he thought, only worth around 5 levels. Not much at all. Naturally, he suspected that the gain would increase with higher Tiers, but that was a long way coming.

[Stats]

[HP: 121]

[Mana: 132]

[Stamina: 132]

[Armor: 0.5]

[Magic Armor: 0.75]

[Physical Resistance: 0.5%]

[Magical Resistance: 0.5%]

Again the growth was quite small, Eldrian was not surprised by this. He had expected this after seeing the small attribute growth.

Having seen what this had given him he searched for his hidden class, wondering if he might be able to see its details. Unfortunately, it did not tell him much, other than repeating the information he had seen before, it only gave one piece of extra information.

[Gain a bonus of 10% to Tier 1 magic, and 110% to Tier 0 magic. Tier 1 bonus]

[Casting Tier 1 magic will also cost an increased amount of mana, equal to the bonus value. Tier 0 magic is not influenced by this constraint.]

That can be quite useful.  Eldrian took note of this, believing it would be able to give him a nice boost in almost anything when needed. He took careful note that it said magic, not spells or skills. Hence it would most likely work for both, maybe even abilities too. Though Eldrian only had one ability, the one from his new spear Aoidos.

Wait, it has no cost. A smile grew on Eldrian's face as he called up the weapons statistics. Realizing that this would mean he could instantly regain over 50 of any stat, every 45 seconds.  That's insane! That's half of any stat! Eldrian wanted to test this immediately, looking around though he did not believe it would be right for him to start training in the middle of the army.

There might currently be enough room, but this could change and Eldrian had a feeling that the guards here were aggressive to him. He did not want to do something which could lead into trouble.

At this time Eldrian realized that he had no idea how this division was organized. He had no idea who was leading it, who was part of it. Most importantly he had no idea how to find Vivian, the only place he felt might work was the medical center.

Let's head back.

Heading back, Eldrian would continue to browse through his interface when he did not need to take careful note of where he was walking or asking directions. In doing this he realized that he had not simply browsed his interface in a long time, much of it has changed to be easier to use.