A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

Eldrian stayed and meditated for another hour after Constantin left. He wasn't in a rush to return to his small room when the game was still down and he wanted to explore what him being able to sense his surroundings meant.

Unfortunately, even after an hour, he failed to manage anything other than increasing his sensitivity to what was around him, slightly. 'Can't expect all things to just fall in line once inspiration appeared.' Eldrian mumbled as he stood up and looked at the tree and plants nearby with a strange look.

They all seemed more vibrant, or the rest of the world now seemed less so. As if a gray filter had been placed over all but these plants. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts however also caused this filter to disappear.

'Was it my imagination?' Eldrian wondered as he headed back, checking his phone and confirming with Erik that they were still going out during the weekend.

As he arrived back home, the devs also sent a message to everyone through the forum. With a recent small update, notifications on the forum could be linked to one's phone.

[The cause of the issue has been found and resolved. Gameplay, however, will be postponed until tomorrow at the time the servers had gone down, else the timezones will be skewed.]

A simple message, but one that players did not like. Naturally, everyone wanted to dive right back into it all. However, it made sense since people were distributed by time zone to mirror their real life. With day being night and night being day.

Curiously. Eldrian browsed the forums for a bit and found a few posts by the devs explaining how logging in after would work. There would be a 15-minute window to log in to allow players to start where they had been kicked.

If you were unable to log in at that time, your avatar will be dematerialized to prevent you from dying, while you would be given two options upon logging in. Spawn in the temple you had set as your respawn point, or where you had been. With the latter naturally having some dangers.

Eldrian also read through the one about the tournament and found that everything was simply going to be shifted back one day. So there were no real issues there. Next, he looked at the posts he had made and read some of the comments on them. Before making a new one.

[The unknown touched upon] He titled the post, and it was about the magic abyss and magic.

Eldrian hoping to help players in managing to use magic without relying on the system. With his new insights, he finally felt like he could actually try and help others come to their own understanding. He wouldn't force his own view on them, rather he hoped he could share in theirs and gain even more inspiration.

The comments on his other posts had made him optimistic that many players would be able to if they just received a push in the right direction.

[Magic is a wonderful thing that most of us can only fantasize about, yet ANW has made it a reality for us all...] Eldrian started off by saying that while it was wonderful to simply dive into things, that this would limit one's path forward.

[If you only rely on the system, then you will never learn to feel what magic is. That it is making thoughts reality. Turning the Ethereal into the real and physical. So, put down your assisted cast and attempt to feel the mana inside of you. An energy that might just change your life...]

It was hard to put it in words, but he had gotten much better now that he also understood things far more clearly.

[When casting a spell, have any of you tried using Mana Examinations? It is the spell I created a while back and is known by the NPCs in Taurus as Colorful Sights...] Eldrian attached the spell module for people to try and use.

[Watch as your mana moves from you to the spell, as the environmental elements join or clash with the spell and as you make a thought reality. Then try to feel it, try to sense it...]

Eldrian went on to explain a few ways he thought might work for people, after which he finished his post with a simple question.

[Do not let the easy path blind you. The more used you become to the system casting magic for you, the more limited your experience will be.]

[Who wants to live in a bubble when there is an entire world to explore?]

With nothing much to do, Eldrian decided to practice a bit in the gym. A place he had not visited ever since his first few weeks. Taking up a wooden pole, he executed his normal routine with the practice of an expert. Moving so fast that most would be unable to follow his spear.

One of the trainers in the gym nearly lost his sense of reality when he saw Eldrian training and he quickly called his mentor. "Sir, look at this guys!"

"What is it-" The man's mouth fell open as he saw Eldrian moving as if he had trained from birth. Yet, it was clear his technique was being worked upon. After Eldrian warmed up by going at full speed, he suddenly slowed down.

Doing what he had done in just a few seconds now in a minute. Drawing out each movement so his muscles ached from the slowness of it all.

"Who is this guy? Why have I never seen him in any sport?"

Eldrian ignored that he was being watched, and instead just kept at doing all the techniques as slowly as he possibly could. It was not something new, he always did this when training in the game too. It was the only way to train the skills without using mana, yet it was no pleasant experience.

Having your muscles be in positions they had never been in before ached like no other workout could give one. Repeating it time after time only made this ache turn into a burn that gum junkies always chased after.

After his tenth time of completing Flowing Winds, Eldrian then moved on to Consecutive Thrusts. It was a less 'flashy' skill compared to Flowing Winds. Instead of trying to move gracefully and being able to alter your path and strikes at will, this focused on overwhelming your opening by attacking one spot repeatedly.

Eldrian started by doing six quick thrusts, his current limit at speed. Practicing this technique forced one to focus on their accuracy. When he slowed down and made each thrust take 10 seconds, fighting through the burn, he was forced to stop on his 23rd strike. The dummy was unharmed, yet each strike having landed on the same place without fail.

'If I can manage to actually execute this with ease, it will be really strong.' Eldrian thought, knowing that when he added mana to the mix then each following strike landed faster and harder than the first.

The increase was not massive, but if he could gain enough proficiency, then it would become insane.. 'And it is only a Tier 2 skill, though Tiers are actually misleading.'