A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

Cursing ensued every time someone arrived and was informed of this new development. "Couldn't you have waited till after?" Zyviss asked quite rudely. He quickly apologized, but the words were already spoken.

"No," Eldrian didn't take offense, rather he felt this could help him explain why he needed to rush so much. "You all know how Erik and I see the NPCs."

This got a round of nods, Eldrian continuing, "Now... Just think of this. Since we have joined the game over 20 known kingdoms have fallen. Imagine how many we know nothing about."

Again the others nodded, this time with a heavier feeling. "I get that... Sorry, Eldrian." Zyviss said, feeling embarrassed at his outburst. He knew how invested the two were in the game, it was almost an obsession and likely unhealthy. He would not bring it up however, they were not close enough.

It was also not that the others thought of the NPCs as simple AI, they were far too real for such a mindset. But they did not believe they were real. Still, this did not mean they did not get close to the NPCs and felt saddened by their deaths.

It was why most players kept to themselves, kept to their kind. Hearing about those deaths meant little if they were not friends. In this manner they could keep thinking of the NPCs as just that, NPCs.

After a moment of silence, Elizabeth spoke up, "Shall we queue then? I am curious to see what your increase in strength is."

Rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, Eldrian did not know what to say. He wanted to say it would be small, he still needed to learn some Tier 3 spells. Yet, his increase in attributes alone should be massive.

A few minutes later they found themselves in a sparse woods. The lighting was moody but visibility was clear, there was almost no undergrowth.

As usual, Zyviss quickly split from the group, Eldrian and Judith taking the front and Therdul staying with the mages. Recently Nikki had also reached Tier 2 in magic, a boost in strength that did not influence their points since she was already Tier 2.

Their opponents were a less well-known team also in the top 20. "Stay together," Nikki said as they tried discovering their opponents.

'Mmm. I wonder.' Eldrian suddenly stopped.

"What is it?" Judith asked, stopping as well and the others following suit.

"I want to try something," Eldrian said, unsure how to call the new ability of his. Luckily, all it took was him wanting to use it, something so simple he blinked his eyes in surprise as he now saw a forest filled with colors, all colors.

"Ugh, that isn't working," Eldrian mumbled, wishing for the sights to disappear and it soon did.

"What now?" Nikki asked from behind, getting no response from Eldrian who was trying to figure out his ability.

'I need to skip the environmental mana vision.' Eldrian thought, trying to figure out how.

It took him a few tries, but soon he managed to see the world without his sight clouded by the mana filling the air. Unfortunately now he had all the information of the trees, now clearly visible, flooding his mind. Giving him a massive headache.

"Such a pain" Eldrian mumbled after canceling his ability again. 'Alright, ignore the terrain. Please ignore the terrain.' He repeated this as he activated and canceled his ability until finally he no longer had that trouble.

'Now what?' Suddenly Eldrian did not know what the point was. When he looked at the others their information would flash into his mind, he could also see their mana flowing in their mana pools. 'Well, none of them have a hidden class.' Eldrian thought, stopping suddenly as he looked at Erik.

"Wh-" His question was derailed as an arrow whistled and hit him in the shoulder. A non-vital hit, but causing him to stumble a bit from the impact.

"Crap! Ambush!" Everyone shouted almost simultaneously.

Eldrian spat out some blood and grabbed the arrowhead and broke it with a grunt. Erik quickly arriving next to him, pulling the shaft out and healing him. Therdul having rushed forward and pulled out his tower shield in the direction of the arrow.

"That way!" Judith shouted, managing to keep herself from rushing out. Her shout caused everyone to look toward the side the arrow had come from.

All but Eldrian, who was still waiting for his wound to close. Hearing the whistle he looked up and saw the arrow not aimed at him, but at Erik. Yet, unlike all the times before, the arrow did not whizz past too fast for him to react.

Flinging his hand out, Eldrian's arm was pierced. The arrow stopping centimeters from Erik's forehead.

"Thanks," Erik muttered after recovering from the blood spattering over his face. Some had entered his mouth and eyes even, yet he ignored the irritating feeling and taste to heal Eldrian first.

Yet before he knew it Eldrian was rushing off, shouting back at them, "Wind magic, now!"

His shout brought Ilmadia back to earth. Instead of looking for the enemy, she acted to try and make it hard for arrows to reach them. Casting her strongest wind spell, Thýella. It was not the strongest in Tier 3, but the only she had managed to learn. The others were too complicated for her at this point.

The spell brought on winds so fast that small twigs and branches flew off the trees. Those caught unprepared were even pushed off their feet. It easily threw the arrows around like little sticks.

The hard part however was keeping the spell active. It was not a mana cheap spell and Ilmadia could keep it going for a minute at most. Unlike Eldrian she did not have any extra mana from a legacy, nor did she get the return he did as a semi-dynamic magic-user.

In fact, she could only keep it active since the spell was designed to be kept active. Unlike Eldrian she and all players couldn't precast spells. They only had a few seconds before they had to let it do its thing.

"This won't last long. Guys, figure out where they are coming from," Ilmaida shouted, the strain on her suddenly lifting as Erik cast Anthisma on her. Filling most of her spent mana and almost canceling out the cost of Thýella.

"Never mind, I can last for well over a minute now." She said, throwing Erik a grateful smile.

Yet that was not the end of things, Erik had made sure that he would become useful in these fights. Similar to Eldrian, he found envisioning spells to not be that hard. As such he could learn far faster than most, he already knew 5 offensive Tier 2 spells, and 4 Tier 1's.

He might not have the accuracy Eldrian had, but he was not aiming to do much other than counterfire. When the next arrow flew towards them, Erik followed its direction and sent a small rock flying with Vrachos.

The rock's small size making its wind resistance far less than that of the arrows, yet it too was derailed.

"I hate these kinds of teams," Nikki grunted, they always felt so useless when they faced a team adept at range attacks. This was not even one of the well-known ones, so it was very clear to see how big of a weakness it was for them.

Without proper armor, they were all just targets waiting to be killed.

Suddenly a shout arrived, distorted by the wind. Making it impossible to know from where it came.

...

Eldrian had rushed from the group because he had seen the figure moving. They all knew they would lose if they did not act, but they had to act smartly. Yet even then they normally still lost.

Eldrian, however, did not care about winning. He wanted to test his new abilities. These matches were certainly the perfect place to push himself.

He knew from experience that the connection was lesser to that of the game, pain being reduced even further down to allow players to enjoy the fights without a care. This meant the feeling of touch was also lessened, but that mattered little to the players in a death match.

On top of that, there were only players here. None of the deaths mattered, Eldrian realized he could go crazy.

Weaving between the trees and pulling the arrow out of his arm, Eldrian enjoyed his new speed. Especially his enhanced perception. He had time to look up, then look at his wound, burn it with Floga, and then avoid the incoming tree.

Always keeping the retreating figure in his sights too. It did not take him long to catch up to the person, a female with bright blond hair stared him down her bow trained on his heart. Just 20 meters separating them, a distance she was confident was too little to react in time.

Eldrian smiled seeing her confident smile as she loosed the arrow. Her movements were clear to him. When he saw her finger flexing to release the string, he jumped to the side. The arrow passing him harmlessly, Eldrian rebounding in an awkward roll.

'No magic, I need to learn how to fight on my own.' Eldrian told himself, tempted to end her life before the surprised look could leave her face.

Instead of sending Frost Needle at her throat, Eldrian sprinted at her again. Noting that he had to get better at those roll dodged that he always saw in movies.

The girl scoffed at Eldrian charging her. Even with their enhanced physiques in the game, it took around 3 seconds to cover that distance. She could shoot again in 2.

Yet to her surprise she found Eldrian in front of her as she was mid pull. She let loose in panic. Eldrian having waited for it, jumping to the side and finally pulling out his spear. Thrusting out before she could react, his spear smoothly going through her unprotected neck.