A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

Looking at the Tier 2 spells, Eldrian's hope of learning them right away, was quickly dashed. He could most certainly memorize and reconstruct the entire spell module with some training. The problem came with maintaining it while he also had to push his mana into the spell. As such he set this aside for now, also knowing that learning higher Tiered spells before reaching the correct Tier through meditation might cause a backlash.

Not wishing to risk this, he focused on the other spells Myropsis had given him. Quickly becoming absorbed as he attempted in casting them after having memorized their spell modules. Unlike Alicorns, Eldrian did not discard spell modules. Where they would cast spells simply through intent, he rather tried to do it through a mix of intent and guidance.

It was a far easier way to learn and Eldrian suspected that this was actually the original purpose of spell modules. He could actually now cast spells simply through guidance, through the spell module, but he preferred to still figure out the mana distribution himself. Believing spell modules to be the starting place to get used to a certain type of magic, though with time it had most likely turned into a this versus that. As such he did not want to overly rely on them, rather just make use of them.

While he was busy studying, Eldrian also remembered to try and separate magic from mana. He failed miserably, not gaining any inspiration and even doubting Constantin's words. How could magic and mana not be one and the same, he wondered.

...

In this manner time flew, Eldrian working mostly on learning more spells and skills. Having gone and asked Old Sword to teach him some as per their agreement. There was not all that much Old Sword could teach him, as he believed that keeping a few really well-practiced skills was better than knowing a bunch and being unable to use them. Especially when one just started and no matter what they would not know many.

This was in fact essential on the battlefield. In the heat of battle being able to split ones attention to use a spell was not easy. To get into the right position and state of mind to use offensive skills were essentially impossible in one on one fights. The results were certainly worth it even so, and hence learning a skill till it was second nature was far better than knowing many and struggling to use each.

During the day IRL, Eldrian would often head to Constantin to converse more on magic, however soon they reached a point where they could not talk without showing each other. This was naturally impossible as they were not together in the game, and casting magic in the real world is most certainly not possible.

The game testers were also currently not allowed to enter the struggle that was the war. Their task rather to keep training and trying to figure things out. Constantin could certainly fight this, or circumvent it, but he was not in such a rush to meet Eldrian in-game. Not believing he would manage to learn much more through this. Rather he focused on being allowed near a Magic Crystal, something not so easy to organize, even for the game testers.

Still, Eldrian headed over each day, their conversations turning to other things just as interesting. Eldrian also asked if they could teach him how to fight in real life. This had come up when Constantin had explained how they had undergone training for their exploration mission, to be able to protect themselves.

This training was far different from Old Swords. In the game, he would train mostly the basics and some skills alone. Other than this is training would fight against others constantly. Constantin instead only drilled the basics into Eldrian, not moving on until Eldrian could perform the actions perfectly a hundred times in a row. This was dreadful training that Eldrian quickly wanted to drop out of.

He did not as this provided a nice environment for him to converse with Constantin, without feeling like a bother. During these sessions Eldrian started bringing up the more obscure questions he had, those he did not even feel were worth asking at this point.

"Time dilation? No, I have no idea how that might work. It sounds like an adrenalin rush. Are you sure that isn't all it was?" Constantin replied to one of these topics.

"It can't be just that." Eldrian quickly countered as he thought back to how much things had slowed down.

"Well, I really don't know. It is quite interesting though, and this is also connected to you surpassing the system limits in regards to affinity, isn't it?"

"Not too sure, I am only sure of it having happened in one of my last fights," Eldrian replied as he performed a standard punch into the air. Not understanding the point of doing this so much when he could rather fight against someone and gain far more valuable experience.

"Maybe it is a mix of adrenaline and some skill or ability." Constantin offered, adding on a bit later, "I'll ask the others if they ever experienced something like that. Though it sounds like it is hard to even realize it as it happened to you only when you are fully focused on your fight."

On a different occasion, Eldrian mentioned his fight against a Night Terror, as well as the black shadow which had clung to him and hinted at him killing himself. Eldrian considering both as similar creatures.

"Wow, that is interesting. Not sure what Night Terrors really are, but the black shadow was likely a Stimata demon, they are actually quite common and as such I know quite a bit about them. They feed on the emotional pain of their host, and they can influence your subconscious." Constantin had replied.

"How the hell is that even possible?"

"A bit of black magic, a branch of magic outlawed by the human races, as well as some nature magic."

"Nature magic? Really?" Eldrian failed to connect pure nature magic to such nefarious magic. He quickly discarded this prejudice as he thought of the poison spells he had learned. They were not much better.

"Yes, nature magic. It is a magic that is in tune with life on a level even more basic than cells. Thus it is the easiest magic to use if you want to influence someone, just add some Black magic in, or even the dark element, and it will become a negative influence. Light naturally will be a more positive influence, and that is how stronger healing spells work. Though adding a great deal can lead to the collapse of a person's systems as you overload it."

Constantin explained, surprised that Eldrian had actually encountered one of these foul demons. It had actually caused a great deal of trouble to more than one game tester. With them needing to be locked up and drugged to remove the influence, yet those who had suffered never wanted to enter the game again. Somehow the influence could travel past the game and into their real life. How this was possible was still up to speculation.

"Then is this also how telepathy works?" Eldrian asked, this all sounding far too similar to how he had communicated with the Alicorns. Not understanding Eldrian's question, he had him explain before actually saying anything.

"Interesting, I am really impressed you were actually able to reply in kind. Are you sure you haven't managed to feel what magic is?"

"Yes, I tried the last couple of days but I have no idea what I am even looking for."

"Then how did you converse with them?" Before Constantin had thought they had talked through wind magic with Eldrian, he was surprised to hear that the Alicorns had used telepathy instead. He had only come into contact with this once, and he had completely failed to reply. This was back when he had met one of the gods.

"I... I have no idea. I just focused on the words I wanted to say, the same as one would do with a spell module when trying to cast a spell. Through doing this they managed to hear me."

Is it that simple?  Constantin mumbled, unable to accept that it was that simple. If he knew this back then, then the conversation would have been far more interesting.

"Why is this so surprising?" Eldrian asked.

"Have you ever wondered how the system voice, and even all the interface information can be delivered to you?"

"Some science stuff."

"No... Well yes... But... Definitely no."

"That doesn't make any sense," Eldrian almost laughed at Constantin's flustered response, which would have resulted in him having to start his current set of kicks all over. While they talked, he had to keep training and if he screwed up he had to restart. Constantin did not go light on him.

"Well, you know that for most players the system forms the bridge to allow them to use magic." To which Eldrian nodded, "Well this bridge is a mix of magic and science, with your intents collected and handed over through science. From there the system takes over and forms the magic, and when you are in your avatar the system uses magic to communicate with you."

"Wha-?"

"That might sound strange, just forget that for now." Constantin quickly added, not wishing to get into the details of what they actually understood and what not. The current system was more a sequence of happy coincidences than truly their creation.

"The thing is, telepathy is a method of using purely magic to communicate. Having been unable to reply to the god I met certainly caused a large amount of the information he shared to be lost through the system's translation." Constantin added the last part more as a grumbled complaint than something he actually wanted Eldrian to hear.

Eldrian did not even really hear that, he was stuck on the part that telepathy, and in fact the system itself, was magic without mana. Gears seemed to be cranking in the back of his head and he felt like he understood something, causing him to quickly call the training short to dive back into the game.

Constantin was not happy with the lack of discipline. However upon seeing Eldrian's eagerness and recognizing that look of inspiration and did not stop him.