A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

Eldrian stopped on the tab for quests, staring strangely at the insanely hard quests he had. Simply looking at these quests made him feel like he should have always realized how un-gamelike this game was. That it was very different to other games, though he had long since realized this part. As had most players.

Just this Taurus Relief Mission should be a very clear indication of this. An S-ranked quest, given to any player who wanted to accept it; as long as they were in Phallos. This was simply insane, but it has also become clear that it is not a mission that will be finished quickly.

Eldrian had first thought it would take around a month or maybe up to three to finish this. Now he started feeling that instead, it will take years. Heck just traveling to the other kingdom had already taken over two weeks, nearing the third week past. This was insanely slow.

Eldrian realized that he had actually missed how much time had passed. Unlike other players, he had gone out on a dangerous mission, fought for his life and those around him time and time again. When he did not fight, he was bust gaining invaluable knowledge or training with those far stronger than him.

I wonder what the other players had been doing these weeks. Eldrian was tempted to go to the forum in search for specifically this, but stopped himself as he wanted to finish his browsing first.

This relief quest was not even the hardest one he had, he also had an SSS-ranked quest still waiting for him to start again. It was currently halted, or rather the daily quests were, the main quest still required him to reach Tier 6 in blacksmithing.

Other than this he even had another apprenticeship with Old Sword... Wait, is it even a quest? Eldrian looked at it in confusion. He had only glanced at his apprenticeship message when he took Old Sword as a mentor. Vivian's disappearance having caused him to completely forget about it.

Now looking at it again he realized that it was not classified as a quest, but rather only as an oath. Well, it was still under quests as it bound him to the promise he made, but unlike other quests, he did not have a specific goal to finish it. It simply stated that Old Sword would guide him in how to fight, and in return, Eldrain needed to help protect Phallos to the best of his abilities.

I never realized how loose his conditions were compared to Boran's. Eldrian was unsure if he was happy that he was not completely bound to Old Sword. It meant he lost out on the rewards coming with quests and also that Old Sword was less bound to him.

That does not matter for now, the hidden quest... Eldrian turned his focus to the hidden quest. Unsure why it was still not considered done.

[Hidden Quest: Bring Vivian home]

[You have managed to find and safely bring Vivian back to the army, yet you are not at the correct division. The army might look strong and cohesive, but some do not wish for others to succeed and do well.]

[Next stage: Help Vivian reach her father's division while ensuring her survival.]

Fuuuck! Goddamit! What the hell is wrong with this world's people! Eldrian cursed as he read this. He would not have minded if he just needed to help her reach Old Sword, but this clearly indicated that she still was not safe! Still!

After all we have gone through!

Eldrian almost snapped upon reading this, wondering just which piece of shit in the army wished to harm her. He was no longer in the mood to simply wait, rushing back to the medical carriages, he felt both his blood and mana rushing through him. Giving him an uncanny speed as he simply ignored the guards who wanted to stop him at the carriages.

Pushing past through the gaps he dived into different carriages, searching, hoping that it was not too late. As he dove into the umpteenth carriage he heard Vivian's voice from behind.

"Haru, what is going on?" She asked in curiosity as she looked at Eldrian who had just jumped onto the carriage, frightening both the driver and the passengers. Hearing her voice Eldrian quickly dropped down and hugged her, shouts reaching them soon as the guards were rushing at them.

"Sorry, seems like we have to run." Eldrian grabbed her hand and ran from the medical carriages and into the distance. The soldiers stopping their pursuit as soon as Eldrian and Vivian left the area they patrolled.

Some of them cursed, others spat at the running two. They did not pursue them because then they would be breaking the rules. They had no reason to pursue the two, everyone was actually allowed to enter the area. Disturbing other patients might be considered wrong, but there was not a rule against it.

Running until they could no longer see the guards nor the carriages, both of them stopped. Vivian looked at Eldrian strangely. "What was that about?"

"Sorry." Eldrian apologized, having no idea how to explain his reasons to her. "I-I... It... I think someone is trying to harm you."

"What? Who?" She asked, not too surprised by this news. Itireae had brought them to one of the middle division.

The army was walking in a diamond shape, with a few divisions inside of the diamond. There was actually four such division, one of which is the division where the players are located at. These four are the safest, only ever coming into contact with stragglers who had passed the other 11.

These four were also those with the least discipline. Similar to the player division, these four also carried materials, food and water, and other things. This was also where most of the nobles joined, seeing as it was the safest option for long travel.

Due to this, Vivian was not surprised that not everyone was friendly or even neutral. She and her father have never tried buttering up the nobles. Normally this would be fine, but only because of her father's power and the safety of the city.

In this place, here... Things could easily go wrong.

"I have no idea who, and how I know is due to one of the quarks of being a Chosen. So just... Please, let's just be careful."

Seeing how worried Eldrian was, Vivian could not be angry nor did she wish to ask him more. Instead, she simply started laughing. Causing Eldrian to become quite awkward.

After a few seconds, she calmed down, "What is the plan then?"

"I have no idea..." Eldrian sighed as he looked at all the soldiers. He felt confident that none of the normal soldiers were gunning for her. However, it did not mean they might not be the hands that actually complete the task, causing him to look at everyone with wariness.

"What division are we in?" Eldrian asked, certain that the division must have something to do with this.

"We are in division 9, led by Walter. As far as I know, he and my father are on good terms. He was a bit strict when we arrived, curious as to why we arrived in such bad condition and why so few people came back. Though he did not even know what size our group was originally, nor did I. He did not pressure me after confirming what I said to be true, so I doubt it is him. "

"That's good. It means we aren't in too much trouble. Do you think we will be able to leave and head for your dad's division?"

Vivian bit her lower lip as she concentrated, trying to figure out if it would be possible. "It is possible. But the soldiers might try to stop us when we leave, and we might run into some monsters on the way."

"That is still better than simply waiting for something to happen." Eldrian really did not like the option of waiting for something to go wrong. Vivian nodded, agreeing with that statement. She did not have any friends in this division, thus they could not ask for any help. They could also easily be set up.

"So the question now is, tonight or in the morning?" Eldrian did not know if they should risk going at night, he still had no idea why everyone was so afraid of the night. However, leaving at night would be far easier since the guards would likely miss them as they headed out. He felt certain they would not dare chase them at night.

Vivian paused for a few seconds as she considered this. She thought back to when she ran, how she had never been bothered by Night Terrors.

"Let's go tonight, it is just a few hours away. But will you be able to stay?" Vivian asked, knowing that Eldrian normally slept at night, and when he did his body would disappear. She did not know the details behind this, thus her question.

"I can. What should we do while we wait?"

"Let's just try and not make any noise." Vivian offered and Eldrian agreed. As such they moved to one of the sides of the division, waiting for night to fall.

A few hours later as the sun started setting Eldrian asked, "Do you even knew where your father's division is?"

"Not really. I know where it should be in the division, which should be good enough. We might just not be able to find them during the night."

Of course, it won't be too easy.