A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

After posting his experience, Eldrian continued to go through all the other posts on the forum. Finding that most guilds had decided to disband. This wasn't all that hard though, as most of them were only kept together by saying they were together. Most guilds were stuck at level 2 or 1, allowing only 250 people at most to be part of it.

Now with most of the player base being at the empire, they had realized just how impractical it was to keep saying they were all part of one. This was especially true for very spread-out guilds, due to how players were sent into the game according to timezones they would almost never be able to meet up. At least not until a couple of hundred gold coins became common to use for one teleportation.

With this guilds had decided to disband and rather regrow based on the players they could actually use in their respective empires. Focusing on the empire where their top leaders were, while discarding the lower-ranked members spread over the world.

Alliances quickly formed between friendly guilds who decided to split their members between each other. A way in which they didn't totally leave their members out to dry, naturally most members weren't happy with this. They had mostly joined the guilds for benefits and fun with friends in previous games. While the former might still hold the latter certainly won't. Most of this was done outside of the game through social media, and as such a large part of it wouldn't last long in any case.

A few guilds slowly started rising up, mostly within groups who were used to being so spread out. They each started affiliated guilds, who would later all work towards a certain goal. Some of these guilds had a single leader, while others worked with a number of executives. These guilds quickly started resembling businesses much more than just guilds for a game.

At this stage though, this was where the resemblance stopped. Certainly due to the lack of real value of having a guild in the game, at this stage. Eldrian found this interesting and wondered if Elizabeth and Flaming Heart was still a thing. He felt he needed to contact her again, not having done so since having just joined the Taurus Relief Mission(TRM).

At this stage, the guilds that were more than just social gatherings were all trying to curry favor with the empire they resided in. For now, this didn't mean much since most players were still far too weak to do much for the empire. But they were slowly making themselves known by the lower rungs of society by doing menial tasks with vigor.

After reading this, and some more unusual posts, Eldrian finally felt his stomach growling at him. Realizing for the first time just how hungry he was. He slowly stood up and headed down to get a bite. Finding the short trip down quite tiring and difficult as his legs still didn't quite follow his commands.

Five minutes into eating he had only finished half his soup, at which time someone approached him. "Can I join you?" A female in the light blue outfit of Miracle Corporation asked.

"Sure, but why?" Eldrian replied, looking up only to see her outfit and not much more. He was fully focused on his soup. Eldrian was used to eating alone, hence this disturbance was quite out of place. He didn't have the spare energy to care though.

He didn't know many people in Miracle, mostly just meeting with Gengxin, Joren, and Constantin. He had met some of the more senior game testers, but only briefly. He was far more focused on the game than fitting in with the social dynamics of the company. He didn't even think of trying to fit in, he just wanted to continue growing in the game.

"Because I am curious. Just who are you? We've seen you around for over a month now, yet you never introduced yourself or anything." The girl replied, taking her seat and quickly digging into her breakfast. Bacon and eggs, quite common for people here.

"I'm Eldrian, why do you care?" Eldrian replied, not wishing to speak as it took much more effort than he was used to. It also caused a headache to slowly come forward.

"Curious... You know that you have become quite well known."

"No, who are you?"

"Flavia. Aren't you curious how you've become well known?" She replied, slightly taken aback by Eldrian's lack of interest. He was fully focused on his meal, only looking up when she said something.

Actually only when she asked if she could join him, since then his eyes hadn't strayed from his soup. While she knew she wasn't a top-class beauty or something, she was used to men checking her out at least once. Eldrian hadn't even lifted his head high enough to see her face.

"Okay, so why did you want to join me?" Eldrian replied after taking another sip of his soup, having chosen something soft to ease his stomach into food again. He knew that when someone hadn't eaten for days, then eating something like bacon would cause him a terrible time soon after. He hoped soup would not.

"Because I am curious. You have such a weird routine, almost everyone knows of it by now. It has actually become a well-known rumor. You only meet with the heads of departments, often at that. Other than that you stay in your room, you don't even eat here all that much. Normally you bring your own plates, the staff was quite confused at first... Who are you?" Flavia asked, deciding to be a bit more direct seeing as Eldrian really didn't seem to care.

"I'm Eldrian. I already told you... Now please let me enjoy my soup." Eldrian replied again, already feelingly slightly ill from just the soup and certainly not enjoying it. Maybe I should have started with jelly... But they don't have any in the morning...

Flavia was truly surprised when Eldrian didn't even react to her mentioning his routine. In silence she slowly ate her own breakfast, noting that Eldrian was quite pale. His hands were unsteady and it seemed that he was really struggling to take even one more sip of soup.

Quite strange for someone of his size and built, especially considering how tones his muscles were. While they were well hidden under Eldrian's slacks, she had noticed it before when looking at him while gossiping with her friends.

"Are you alright?" She asked with slight concern.

"No... But it is to be expected." Eldrian said slowly, pausing for quite a while after the no. He was started to feel like he needed to run. Yet he knew he wasn't up to that yet. Climbing down the stairs had taken a considerable amount of effort.

His feet often not landing where he aimed them at, having almost caused him to fall more than three times. He was now simply staring at the soup trying to stop it all from coming up again. He had also already pinged Gengxin that something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" Flavia asked, shifting her chair slightly back. She recognized that paleness, and she didn't want to be in the splash area.

A minuter or two passed before Eldrian finally managed to win over his nausea. "Sorry, but can you help me back to my room?" Eldrian asked, certain he wouldn't make it himself and that Gengxin might not arrive in time.

"Sure, but only if you tell me what's wrong."

"I'm sick, clearly... Haven't eaten in days, and seems to soup is too much. Rather... Take me to the nearest bathroom!" Eldrian quickly changed his request as he felt the soup fighting up again.

Flavia reacted quickly as she saw him struggling again to keep things down. She quickly ducked under his arm and helped him move. She was just slightly shorter than Eldrian, her hair a deep brown and figure quite reasonable. Eldrian naturally realized non of this, he only focused on not hurling before reaching the bathroom.

As soon as he did he tried to go in alone, but with his focus now on his throat, he couldn't move his legs well enough. In the end, Flavia had to help him to the toilet itself, standing outside the door she could hear Eldrian hurling his guts out.

What the hell did I get myself into? I just wanted to find out who he is. He didn't arrive with us, so he isn't part of the interns. He seems to know people though, I had hoped to befriend him... Listening to Eldrian she felt certain that he must have drunk too much the day before. It was all she could think of to cause such a violent burst, Doesn't seem like that was the right idea.

At this point, she just wanted to leave. To her surprise, she saw Gengxin suddenly rushing past her and into the bathroom. Catching her completely off guard, she knew he had contact with the heads of departments. But the leader of the cabin development rushing to his aid, that surprised her and caused her to feel she really needed to get close to Eldrian.

A few minutes later Gengxin came out with Eldrian leaning on his shoulder. As they did Gengxin thanked her for helping Eldrian before taking him to his room, where Eldrian slept the rest of the day away.