A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

"Can you cast some type of blessing on us to combat the corruption of the death-mana?" Eldrian asked.

The adventurers who now all clearly understood the threat all tried to eavesdrop on their conversation quite shamelessly. Eldrian didn't mind if they heard them talk, but he did mind their lack of basic manners.

Most of the adventurers weren't all that strong, at least compared to the army. There were a few Tier 6 people in the mix and they were the strongest, most of the adventurers were Tier 4 or 5. There wasn't anyone weaker than that as then even a normal skeleton could become a danger.

Elizabeth pondered his request for a bit. "I don't think what I can do will be of much help. I can cast a spell to ward of evil, but... I don't think death-mana is inherently evil."

"Oh, why do you say that?" Eldrian asked though he agreed with her. Saying it was evil is the same as saying gasses that are harmful to a person are evil, like carbon monoxide (CO).

Yes, inhaling them will kill you if the dosage is large enough. But that was just their properties, gas and mana Eldrian felt fell in a similar vein. They didn't have intention. They just were.

"It is just a feeling. Sorry."

"Ah, it's no problem. I had just hoped we might be able to stay in there a bit longer. Right, Ceph," Turning to the little guy next to him Eldrian explained that this time their aim is to find the core of the array.

"Wait!" One of the adventures shouted out as Eldrian and Cep prepared to return to the caves.

"What is it?" Eldrian asked, turning to look at the centaur before him.

"Why don't you wait until everyone can enter?"

"Why should I do that?"

"Because... People will become jealous."

"Oh, and is that my fault?" Eldrian countered, "I never stopped you from finding a solution. I am not going to wait just because you ask."

With that, Eldrian and Ceph headed back in while frowns quickly spread through all the adventurers. Seeing the situation, Elizabeth rubbed her head and sighed in worry. Cursing that it seems like Eldrian has no tact at all.

As soon as they entered the caves Ceph asked a ridiculous question.

'Is that girl your crush?' He asked it so innocently that Eldrian almost failed to even realize the implications of the question.

'What? No!'

'Really, but you seem to get each other so well. I mean...'

'She's just a friend! Now focus, we can only stay in the caves for around 5 minutes, so move it!'

Saying this, Eldrian took the left and Ceph the right at the fork they had reached. All the time Eldrian was keeping his map open and trying to get a picture of the network of caves.

'Hah! Me and Elizabeth?'  Eldrian scoffed, but his thoughts kept going back to it.  'I mean, she is pretty and all. But, no... Agh!'

Doing his best to throw the thoughts out of his mind, Eldrian followed the array's carvings with mana sense and started trying to make sense of them.

They didn't make sense.

It was like looking at a foreign language that used a different alphabet, like Kanji. No matter how much he stared, he just couldn't figure out what it was supposed to mean.

However, he did manage to slowly learn that there were actually two types of arrays. So this must be a formation. The first was the one they had spotted, one of elemental mana used to detect intruders.

The other was invisible until triggered, and it was now carrying the death-mana. And, it seems like the mana was released out of a specific engraving each time.

So while Eldrian had no idea what they meant, he slowly figured out which did what. Of course, he was forced to retreat from the cave before managing much more.

This time, as they exited, the adventurers quickly hounded them about what they managed to find. After a bit of contemplation, Eldrian decided to share what he discovered in the hopes it would shave off some time of guessing in the dark.

"I found that it is actually a formation that is the cause for all this. So far I found two arrays, one that is elemental and I believe detects our movement. The other I can't really say much about, but I know it is the cause for releasing the death-mana into the caves."

"Then, can't you just disable that array?" Someone asked and Eldrian countered with a how?

"I have no idea how arrays work outside of the bare basics. So tell me, how do I disable it? I won't just attack it, there is no telling if there are more arrays that I can't see waiting to be enabled."

"Indeed, you can't do something so reckless."

"What about..."

They continued to talk for around twenty minutes, after which Eldrian excused himself and headed over to the other players.

"Any ideas?" He asked as he joined their group, most of the players knew of Eldrian but for many it was their first time meeting him.

He was quite the enigma in the guild. He played ANW more like a rogue/lone player, but he was in the guild and it was clear to everyone that he had a really good relationship with their guild leader and the guild commanders.

"Did you find something?" Ilmadia asked.

Over the past few weeks she had tried learning how arrays worked and trying to form one. However, she was still incapable of even making a Tier 1 array.  It required a vastly different skillset to casting spells.

Sharing what he knew, Ilmadia was left with a blank. She hadn't even started touching upon formations, so she didn't have much to offer.

"Ah, this sucks!" Eldrian complained as he realized there was no way they were going to be able to head deep enough into the caves to find the core.

"Maybe you should just give up on trying to find the core." Elizabeth proposed, but Eldrian didn't like that idea.

"It is certainly the most valuable thing left in the cave. I can't just do that."

"But if you keep focusing on it, you won't be able to gain any more spoils before the mana runs outs."

Eldrian sighed, knowing that she was right. Sighing again he felt like now that things started calming down he should really take up a craft again. Besides, he wanted to try and add runes to his mana pathway. 'I still have no idea what to name my legacy, lol.'

"Alright, I don't see any other way. Ceph, let's go back to looting."

Hearing this, those near the players, and a few of the players, cursed. However, they couldn't do much about it, some even started thinking of trying shady things.

That only lasted until they realized that Eldrian was a Chosen and as such it was impossible to gain access to his dimensional storage, the inventory of the Chosen.

After three more raids, the death-mana started becoming less. Those who were watching the entrances quickly relayed this to the rest of the group. On the fifth raid, the adventurers risked heading in.

AN: A big thanks to everyone who continues to support this novel on WN.