A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

"What type of crutch?" Eldrian asked, confused by her saying it was one. Most mages struggled to even enter the magic abyss. However, one thing Eldrian realized was that it was also only possible for him to enter his soul, or rather find it in this abyss due to him being a player.

'What on earth is it like for the natives?' He wondered as he listened to Ziraili's answer.

"The type that you never even know you had. The easiest way to explain it might be to use a common saying. You cannot run before you learn to walk."

"Only, in this case, you can run before learning to walk. You do not need to learn how to walk, because the Mageia Avyssos covers that part of using magic for everyone. You just needed to learn how to run."

'Learn how to run?' Thinking back to how he had learned magic at the start Eldrian felt that he had first crawled. "Wait, is my situation the same?"

"Not quite, comparing players to natives is never a good analogy. They skip even running and dive directly into flying. Except for those who chose High Elf as their race, you had the same starting point."

Eldrian found that analogy really easy to follow. It also made perfect sense, NPCs had to learn how to connect to mana as he had to. The difference between him and them was that that had not been enough. He had also needed to learn how to control his mana.

Whether the magic abyss helped in that regard he did not know, but he felt certain he had started a bit lower than NPCs. Contrary to what the System said. However, Eldrian gave her the benefit of the doubt and assumed she just did not mention it since there was not really a need to.

Other players simply needed to memorize the spell module. They didn't even need to learn what mana is before learning spells. Hence them flying instead of running also made perfect sense.

Eldrian discussed this with Ziraili until he was satisfied he understood this as best he could. Then he asked her a few other questions since he had no idea when they would meet again.

"What are titles exactly? I know I can choose whether or not others can see them through Observe, but what do they actually mean?"

"That is an interesting question, and what we had asked our creators when they had asked us to implement it for the players. The natives in general do not have titles, or rather their titles are connected with their standing and prestige. People know of theirs even without it being something that can be discovered through using the Observe."

She wanted to go into what Observe actually was and how it worked, however, she kept herself in check. Knowing that if she started talking about what she wanted then they would never reach an end. There were many things she too wanted to ask, but she felt it was not the right time.

"For you players, titles work as a tracker of your greatest achievements, or conversely stains of your great failures or significant sins."

"Does it have any bonuses other than the levels you gain?"

"A few do, but not the title itself. As you have experienced when you gained the title  Legacy Creation.  For the most part, it is like having a short summary of your life on display."

"If you have few or many achievements it indicates that you are a driven and good person, for the most part. If you have stains, it shows the opposite. While if you have just one or two, or even none, it shows that you are average."

"What about abilities, what are they?"

"That is a much more interesting question and one of the mysteries even we are unsure of. An ability can be considered a talent, to make it easier to understand. And much like talents, there is no good answer to why some just have an innate talent for something."

"Some people just have them, some don't. Some races are more likely to have certain ones than others, and this also goes for certain bloodlines."

"Abilities are the one type of magic that is spread throughout the world yet has nothing to do with Mageia Avyssos. It is the one type of magic where people can access it without needing a crutch, and yet they do it like they have much more than a crutch. Hence the talent analogy, it is something they are simply capable of doing."

"What about Mana Sense, how did I gain it then? You can't gain a talent."

"Maybe, maybe not. But through practice and diligence you can achieve a level where everyone would assume you are talented. This I would assume is similar."

"Mana Sense is an ability you earned through constant practice and training. Few ever consider the usefulness of Mana Examination and Mana Inspection. Fewer try to train with it as you did."

Eldrian mind nodded and thought on this for a while. Unsure why he had gained the ability so quickly. For it had truly not taken him long to acquire it. When he asked Ziraili she said she did not know either, only that she had discovered it and informed him through the system message.

Eldrian was unsure if this was true or if she was not able to say otherwise. He felt it was true since for all cases where she was bound by rule or code she would inform him of this.

"What about skills? They aren't like spells, heck all that happens is you enhance yourself."

"That is not true, however, it does not matter either. To use a skill you still have to access mana. While abilities might also require mana, they often use the mana within a person. Not the mana you are used to, not the mana you see in your stats."

"What other mana can there be?" Eldrian asked, thinking to all the times he had meditated and never found any other signs of mana outside of those flowing through him.

"The mana that enhances your body. How else do you think you can be more than twice as fast, nearly twice as strong, and even now almost twice as quick of thought."

'Quick of thought, an interesting way to put it.' Eldrian smirked as he took this in. Clearly, she had avoided saying intelligent since there is no direct increase in intellect. It was not something that could magically increase.

After a bit more questions Eldrian felt satisfied and got the feeling that Ziraili was tired of answering questions nonstop. Thanking her he finally left, finding this very easy this time. All he needed to do was will it.

Standing up and stretching Eldrian was curious if her advice for resetting his mind would work. Not wishing to delay and forget Eldrian decide to log out right away. As soon as he did he immediately tried to empty his mind.

Naturally, this took quite some time as he was still digesting all that they had talked about. However, after a few minutes of complete failure, he suddenly succeeded to think of absolutely nothing. A few minutes passing in the blink and Eldrian feeling refreshed as if he had just cast Anthisma on himself.

When he moved he also found that he did not feel disconnected at all. It was like there was never a problem and this in itself felt strange. Eldrian had grown so used to the disconnect and lagging feeling that not having it almost made him feel like he was missing something. Almost.

Stretching, Eldrian suddenly felt like going for a run, which he did. 'While I need to grow stronger still, all work and no play just leads to burnout and no growth. I need to find a balance, even if it is heavily tipped, it needs to be a balance.'

Eldrian's impromptu run soon brought him to the tree he had last meditated under. Its bright green leaves and equally eye-catching purple flowers catching his eyes immediately.

Without thinking he took a break and meditated again, by the time he came out of it this time around it was nearly night again.

"Oh wow, has it already been four hours?" Eldrian was absolutely shocked when he opened his eyes to the setting sun. Having been in his magic abyss for the entire day in the game, and now having meditated for the majority of the day in the real world.

"But gosh if I don't feel great." Standing up Eldrian felt far more refreshed than he had ever before in his life. He felt filled with energy, so much that he even thought he might explode if he did not let it out. Finishing his run with a sprint, over a kilometer at that, Eldrian arrived just slightly out of breath. Far more parched than he was gasping for air.

Heading straight for the cafeteria he saw Flavia already there and decided to join her. Downing two orange juices and drinking a cranberry one after with his food while they talked.

Eldrian asking what she did her, and what she did for her free time seeing as she did not play ANW. Confused when she said she often read in the virtual homes, and always worked when 'awake'.

Entering a virtual home she considered sleep, and while Eldrian got that, he never thought of playing as sleep. The feeling was completely different, even if it removed the need for sleep.

"Then what do you read?" Eldrian asked after a bit of back and forth on whether it should be called sleep or not.

"Mostly scientific journals."

"Really? Aren't they boring?"

"Not at all, you should give it a try. Just don't go into the math, that is where most people find the boredom. Though for me that is where the magic happens."

"Nothing else?"

"The occasionally romance or thriller." She finally said after Eldrian over and over again said that there was no way she only read that.

'I am sure the occasionally actually means mostly and that she only "occasionally" reads science journals.' Eldrian thought, trying to make himself feel better for only indulging himself in the past. And even now, though now his indulging himself was paying for his room and food.