A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

Eldrian gladly accepted the book, eager to read it all. What he needed most was a varied amount of ways to improve, since he had no one way. Hence the notes were a very welcomed addition. Eldrian believed that looking and trying to learn all the ways other have masters magic, would help him to gain inspiration. Naturally always trying to integrate it with his own way.

"You can go now, I want to practice," Myropsis said, shooing him with her hand until he was outside of the room. Closing the door in his face, she sat down and tried to discard what she knew to follow what she took from Eldrian.

"That's kinda rude..." Eldrian mumbled, quickly getting over it as he looked at the book. He really wanted to just rush back and start reading it, but first, he needed to go to the temples to see how the shops work. He had heard from Erik that it was really easy to make some quick cash through them.

Though Erik's situation was slightly different as he actually knew how to craft something, potions to be exact. They did not do much, in fact, what Erik actually sold more of was the healing salve he made. It went for around twenty copper for a small wooden container of it.

Erik did not need to pay for anything as there was plenty of plants inside Veutvale, and he asked Akarui to make the containers for him when she had spare time. They were not large, each one taking her only around half an hour to craft. Naturally, he gave her some spare cash to use for her efforts. She really loved having some cash of her own.

Eldrian headed to the nearest temple as he thought of the conversation with Erik. Thinking of blacksmithing as he walked. He did not need cash right now, however this was certain to change. I'll probably get outclassed by other players... Eldrian thought, realizing that if he split his attention he would quickly fall behind other players who only dedicated their online time to crafting.

The first temple Eldrian entered was one dedicated to Skepsi, a lesser know goddess. She was the goddess of advanced thought, such as magic, meditation, philosophy and so forth. Arriving at the temple, Eldrian had to consult the forums on how to actually open the shop.

Following the steps in one of the guides, he headed to the main altar dedicated to the goddess. Once close enough he focused on it as he would when he accessed his inventory. Doing so caused an interface to appear before him.

It had opened on the page with buyable items, though it was empty. Looking at the details Eldrian realized that this temple would only allow the trading of books, scrolls, or other similar items. Naturally players have yet to reach the stage where these would be things they could trade.

Moving on Eldrian headed to the other two temples. A temple to Asteria, goddess of life, and one to Dioktis, god of war. The temple of Asteria's shop had a few potions and salves for sale, along with three plants. Eldrian had found it quite strange that someone would sell plants, though they certainly looked amazing.

Two of the plants were flowers. One a mix of bright colors, giving a rainbow-like look of red, orange, purple, and light blue. Each petal a certain one and all blending in wonderfully. It was called an arcane rose, a magic plant. Its properties were not explained, and its price was twenty gold making it far too expensive. It would certainly not sell for a long time, but Eldrian wanted it as soon as he saw it. It simply looked too amazing and reminded him of the Magic Crystal in how its colors seemed to ebb and flow, even on the photo.

The other flower looked like a wildflower and was ice blue, the description stating that it could cure any frost injuries. Not of much interest to current players, but it could quickly become a commodity once players actually explored certain areas, or faced certain monsters.

The last plant was simply what was used to make the salves that sold like hotcakes, properly dug out and replanted into a small flower pot. The description stating that careful care was taken to ensure it was possible to replant it. A short description even mentioned that once the player bought it, they would also get the knowledge of how to cultivate it.

I wonder who managed to find such exotic plants, and who actually thought sell them. Eldrian mumbled after looking over the options, he certainly had no use for them. Though if he had money to spare he would buy the arcane rose just for its beauty.

The temple of Dioktis was by far the busiest. Its interface constantly updating as weapons changed hands. Luckily one could freeze it, or go over to the bid items to not have to deal with it. Scrolling through all the weapons, around forty in total and around twenty armors, Eldrian found a couple of muskets available.

[Please consider helping us by buying a gun. While the muskets are not of much use, we won't lie about this. The money will help us to continue our research without the need for NPCs. We believe they will try to monopolize us once they actually understand the value of guns, and while they can't force us, they can withhold material and money. Naturally, we do not wish for this to happen, so do buy one if you can.]

Reading this Eldrian contemplated for a while. The musket looked crude and was nowhere near to even normal grade. It will have meaning later, everyone with one will be able to say they supported them. Let's just do it, it is just seven silver.

Eldrian did not do this just for this fact, but also to figure out how the shop interface functioned, with regard to payments and delivery of the item. Once he clicked buy, a menu popped up, when he confirmed his cash disappeared and the weapon appeared in his inventory.

Neat, that is nice and easy. Eldrian commented and left, not interested in any of the other weapons on display. He was contemplating putting up the weaker weapons he had, though they would not make much. This shop was far cheaper than NPC shops. It had to be else no one would use it unless it was an emergency.

As such if he sold all those he had on him, he would probably only make around five to seven gold. Since he would keep the Tier 4 and 5 weapons for now. While this was a decent amount, he did not need it at this moment. Nor did he suspect he would need much in the coming month. Though he would probably come to sell some soon since their value would only drop with time.

This settled he headed back to camp, realizing on the way that he had never reclaimed his daggers from Terlas. This caused a slight ache in his heart as he thought of the Tier 3 magic daggers he had effectively lost. Causing his spirits to drop quite a bit, the book only slightly helping to lift this ache.

He also took the time to look at the stats of the musket, understanding quickly why they had admitted that it was not great. It had a few extra stat lines, being range and accuracy. Both of which sucked, the range was only 20 meters and the accuracy was around 20%, its durability was also under a hundred. The explanation on accuracy saying that out of ten well-aimed shots, only 2 would land on the target. In other words, it had no grouping.

...

Waking up, Eldrian pulled out the needle in his arm and quickly got dressed. By the second week with nothing major happening, the amount of IV's had decreased to only one. Gengxin had also taught Eldrian how to insert it himself, and naturally how to take it out.

It was quite a pain, however Eldrian had become much more resistant to pain thanks to the game. If it was two months ago, there would be no way he could insert it himself.

A few hours later, Eldrian pinged Gengxin on the tablet, saying that he wanted to talk. While waiting he simply browsed on the PC provided with the room.

"What do you want to talk about?" Gengxin asked as soon as he entered the room.

"About the game..." Eldrian sighed as he said this, half wishing to not open the can of worms. He had put it off as he got used to his new life, now that he was he could not longer do this.

"What about it?" Gengxin asked, became weary thanks to Eldrian's demeanor.

"Why do you guys still treat it only as an experiment. I might have understood if you treated it only as a game, at least then you would be invested in keeping it active. But why does the company's tone say that it does not care what happens. This makes no sense, it can quickly become the top game in the market. If only for the 24-hour playtime, with the ability to play while sleeping."

"Truthfully, even I do not know. You should probably talk with some of the game testers. You are technically also one now, and they should be able to help you progress in the game."

"That isn't what I am asking," Though it is a nice idea, Eldrian admitted, "I want to know how the company can treat the lives in that world as nothing!"

"Because it's just data?" Gengxin himself sounded unsure, he was not part of that department and really did not know what to say, he had also never entered the game. He actually liked to sleep. "You are talking to the wrong person. If you want I can organize that you meet with some of the developers."