A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

Erik on the other hand was really interested when Eldrian brought up the teleportation fees. He already knew that it was possible since it was how all the other players had gone to the empire. He just had no clue how expensive it was. It was something he was saving for in the game, for if things got really shaky, he hoped to teleport himself and Akarui to safety. Having come to the conclusion that trying to run was simply hopeless.

His next task was instead figuring out where the teleportation hall was inside the city. This was quite difficult as he was being treated as an outcast after having declined the invitation of the empire. While there were a few other players who also did this, they did not even total to ten in the city. All the NPCs felt that they simply did not know what an opportunity was. Seemingly they did not wish to be associated with them, believing that this would earn them the spite of the empire.

Luckily Erik actually had many friends inside the city. While most of them were low-level, they felt truly indebted to him as he had saved their lives on multiple occasions. With things having calmed down they were all now able to actually use their off days and each of them would come and say thank you to Erik. As such he asked them all for information, knowing full well that the information was actually tightly kept only between the nobility.

Eldrian on the other hand simply kept training. He had managed to learn the breeze spell, Aeraki, on the same day as he started. The cool breeze passing through his tent made the rest of his learning much more comfortable. Learning the fire spell had taken some more time as the spell module itself is quite complex, but after some perseverance, Eldrian had managed.

It was not all that powerful, but it was good enough for what it was. If Eldrian aimed it at the floor it would actually dig a small hole in the ground, while if he hit a tree it would directly start to catch flame. It was easy to put out, but this showed promise as Eldrian had only used the default cast of the spell thus far. He had even used it on himself to determine its combat usefulness, hitting his chest it had done 9 damage and caused the area to sear.

The only spell he struggled to learn was the poison spell. Figuring out the default mana flow, as well as the mixture of nature and water elements was harder than he had thought. Similar to Frost Needle he had been trying different variants, but this process was slow. Near the end of the week he finally managed, though having completely misjudged the spell. He ended up splashing his entire tent with the poison.

Seeing the amount of sludge water he had summoned, Eldrian quickly understood why the poison itself was not all that strong. This was clearly a spell to allow a bunch of people to coat their weapons, rather than just for a single individual. It was probably more used for a group of archers to blindly rain into a horde, rather than for one on one combat.

In between the main focus spells, Eldrian had also taken a look at the simpler spells. Managing to learn six of them too, with very little effort. For the most part, they felt like derivatives spells instead of unique ones. Eldrian did not complain though as the experience had allowed him to test how the mana of all the elements felt and how the different spell modules worked.

Heading to the mage's association Eldrian quickly met Myropsis who was sitting at the bar sipping some wine.  "Is that really how you learned magic?" She asked as soon as he approached her, taking another sip of the red wine as she waited for Eldrian's response.

"Yes, why are you asking?"

"Because when I try to cast lower Tier spells without reliance on my previous knowledge, it feels like my mana takes control from me and just finished the cast."

"Oh, I also experienced that. It means you are on the right track, what exactly did you try?" Eldrian asked, listening carefully to Myropsis explain her efforts in the past week. He gave his opinions when he could and told her what to avoid, but ultimately he did not think she would be able to break from her shackles.

She quickly picked up on this from Eldrian's body language. She could tell that he was eager at the start, but as she explained he became more and more upset. This confused her slightly as she had thought he would be glad that she was unable to actually manage dynamic magic casting.

"Why do you care so much?" She asked as she finished explaining her efforts.

Naturally Eldrian could not say that he hoped to also teach those on Earth. So he quickly thought of an excuse, "I had hoped that I might also be able to teach Vivian how to cast dynamic magic. It is far, far stronger than normal magic and would enable her to survive much better."

"And who is Vivian?" Myropsis asked curiously, but Eldrian only replied that she was a dear friend.

"Now what?" She asked after some silence and two sips of her wine.

"Can I get more spell modules?" Eldrian asked in hope.

"I do not mind, but you have not really helped me much, yet."

"Can you organize for us to go to a Magic Crystal?" Eldrian asked next, catching Myropsis off guard.

"Maybe... It won't be easy, but why are you so persistent about this?"

"I truly believe this would be the best way in which I might be able to help you. Though it will certainly not be pleasant."

"You want me to completely let my mental defenses down and let my mana also be pulled?"

"Maybe it might help. I don't really know, I also really want to try and enter the magical abyss again. I believe if I manage to do it again, then I might be able to do it without an influence soon."

"That's crazy."

"But it might work."

"Alright, seeing as you are still willing to try, I won't give up. It normally takes High Elves decades to learn dynamic magic. I am sure I can't give up in just a week."

"Then?" Eldrian asked, himself not knowing what he wanted from this.

"Oh alright. Let's sign you up for the organization. I'll also give you another ten spell modules, these ones won't be as useless as the previous ones." Seeing Eldrian fighting a sigh of relief, Myropsis giggled. "I am surprised you didn't complain about that, instead you just listened and tried to help."

Eldrian awkwardly scratched his head, "I did say I just wanted to learn them, not use them. So I didn't have much ground to stand on."

"But seeing your sincerity, I will also be sincere. I will also give you two Tier 2 spells."

Eldrian was extremely happy to hear this. Following Myropsis he was quickly registered into the guild, the process far simpler thanks to Myropsis intervention. Eldrian had no idea what her actual position and rank was in the guild, but she was very influential. When she said she wanted to directly make Eldrian part of the guild, no one argued. Instead they quickly gathered everything that was needed for this.

[Player has joined a guild; Association of Mages, Kynigo branch in Taurus kingdom. When doing tasks in the future player can decide whether or not to do it in the name of the guild. Doing so will gain both the player and the guild some influence.]

Alright, I wonder what other functions this has...  Eldrian thought, finding quickly that other than being listed as part of the guild, there was no further information. He sighed upon finding this, causing Myropsis to misunderstand.

"This is needed, we can't skip these questions." She said, also feeling like the questions were meaningless.

"No, it's not that. Right, what was this one on?" Eldrian replied, finishing the survey which had to be modified to actually be of any relevance to Chosen. It still was not of much use. Once this was done Myropsis disappeared for a while to get another book.

Handing it to Eldrian, he thanked her profusely and explained to her what he was actually aiming for. To create his own spells by mixing and matching from others, or changing the spell modules. He wanted to enter the magical abyss since this was the easiest and safest approach. He knew he could cast spells just through controlling the mana. He did not think this was replicable, and thus he hoped to follow a more proven path.

She was shocked by this revelation and it added some more motivation to getting them access to a Magic Crystal, as Eldrian had promised to share what he discovered with her.

It is a pity we aren't in the capital or one of the large cities. That would make things far easier as there are many magic towers there, all with a Magic Crystal. The only ones here are the city main defense and the teleportation hall. Myropsis thought as she watched Eldrian leave. Determined to not be overshadowed by such a young person she returned to her room to continue her practice.

Eldrian instead quickly opened the book once he left the building, looking for the Tier 2 spells with extreme excitement. While Constantin had drawn a few for him and even shared some photos with him, there were no explanations on how to use them. Constantin had not shared it as Eldrian was still far from needing it. Eldrian had not pushed as he was already glad to simply be able to see them at this stage.