A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

"I want something that will help the smith make a spear similar to Aoidos. The focus is going to be on keeping me standing, not on destruction. So, something that supports a high amount of mana."

Hearing this, Agamemas laughed, finding Eldrian's suggestion extremely funny. "That is the same thing a weapon of destruction would require. However, I understand and know just the tree for this..."

"I hope the smith knows how to work with wood, and won't just destroy it." Agamemas commented as he handed Eldrian a spear shaft he had just formed from a tree. A tree with a massive trunk with golden veins of sap and bright yellow flowers.

The shaft Eldrian held seemed to mold to his hands, giving him a near-perfect grip. A soft golden glow appeared where his hands touched the wood.

[Exousia wood - Rank 3 Crafting Material]

[The wood from an Exousia Tree, the tree of power. So-called because it draws in the mana surrounding it, hardening its wood and empowering its flowers with strong pollen. Outside of its mana density, the wood and pollen do not have much more to speak of.]

[One of the best woods for a staff.]

After getting the shaft, Eldrian didn't rush to get a move on. Instead, he and Ceph stayed for around an hour during which Ceph went crazy recounting all that had happened.

His parents wanted to hear more about the undead-hybrid, but Ceph was adamant to keep the story focused on all the sweets he got to taste and amazing places he had visited.

It was so severe a case, that Zamia and Agamemas had made a separate connection with Eldrian to get the details on the attack.

'It was quite bad, but I made sure that Ceph ran as soon as things turned for the worse. While I did end up dying, I resurrected as expected.' Eldrian wanted to mention this as that was the first time he had died and resurrected like other players.

After some contemplation, he had finally realized why that had happened. While his mind had been in disarray, his thoughts had been simple. To use all he could to help his friends and then die.

For once, he hadn't fought dying but had welcomed it. This was likely why things hadn't been so complicated, though of course, his case was still unique. Eldrian still needed to talk to Ziraili about the fact that he was outside of the temple at the start.

'But a demon undead hybrid, you do realize how dangerous that was for you?' Zamia asked with the concern of a mother while smiling at Ceph's recount of things in a childlike naivety.

'I did, but things worked out well in the end.' Eldrian replied and smiled before diving into the conversation on Ceph's side and joking around.

Finally, the two flew for Aggostead. Arriving an hour before sunrise.

Not knowing where to go, they headed to Vivian's home. Eldrian wanted to also fill her in on what had been happening.

As they landed, they of course shocked everyone who was already awake. A few guards were also rushing to come and see what was going on. The commotion woke Diane and brought her to her front door.

"Haru?!" She rushed forward upon seeing the elf. The hug was unexpected and caused Eldrian and the soldiers to freeze.

"How is my Vivian? How is my little girl?" Daine asked after distancing herself slightly and taking Eldrian's face in her hands.

"She is doing great," Eldrian replied with an awkward smile, "Can we go inside?"

"Of course, and who is this little friend of yours?" She asked, bending down to meet Ceph at his eye height.

"I'm Ceph! But, who are you?"

Eldrian chuckled as he realized he forgot to fill Ceph in on the details. "She is Vivian's mom, come, let's go inside."

...

"I see, it must have been hard." Diane sighed as she placed some warmed bread and butter on the table. Not having expected guests and not having her family around to cook for, she didn't have much more to offer.

"It was, it has been especially hard on Vivian."

"That girl," Diane sighed again and wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes. "She made sure to not worry me in her letters. Making it seem like everything was going splendidly. Of course, I knew it wasn't true due to Arthur's letters."

"I'm sorry that she had you worried." Eldrian didn't know what more to do, so he just sat awkwardly and waited for Diane to recompose herself.

"Nonsense, it isn't your fault. Right, you must have come here for a reason. Goodness, how did you even manage to return?"

Rubbing Ceph's head, Eldrian praised him while making the feat seem more magnificent than it was. Of course, crossing the chaos lands in less than half a day was amazing.

"He's really an Alicorn? A Mythical Creature?"

"Yup, and you are correct. I came to find Boran."

"I'm afraid you are going to be disappointed then."

"Why?"

"He rushed home after receiving some news. No one really knows what happened, just that he left the blacksmithing shop to one of his apprentices and then teleported home. Not even Dave knows where he teleported to."

"Really?" Eldrian sighed and wondered just how he was ever going to meet Boran then, or how he would ever take on another master. Shaking his head, he factored that as long as they didn't require an oath it should be fine.

'Which means they won't teach me trade secrets. But that is fine, I have been doing well enough on my own thus far. How different can blacksmithing be?'

With that thought, Eldrian decided to stay here a bit longer.  With sunrise, he finally decided it was time to go.

"Ceph, do you want to tour the city with Diane?" Eldrian asked, and upon receiving the all too enthusiastic nod he took out a few gold coins and handed them to Diane.

"Get him whatever he wants." Bending down, Eldrian made sure Ceph was listening. "When you want to return home, call to me. When I feel the pull I will then call to you and then you can teleport like you did earlier today. Alright?"

Waiting for the nod, Eldrian smiled and headed to the nearest temple. Quickly added it to his list of teleporting points and then directly returned to Kynigo.

As soon as he appeared in the temple, Eldrian rushed out to Solvi's smithy. Ignoring the shocked gazes of the priests and clerics.

Entering the forging room, Eldrian smiled as he saw the tables with all the materials already sorted. The small piece of voidstone rock and small bag of magic crystal dust were included.

"You are just in time." Solvi smiled, she was busy climbing into her protective gear.

"You said at sunrise, but sunrise isn't that specific a time," Eldrian replied, adding the shaft to the table.

Seeing the wood, Solvi frowned and looked at Eldrian again. 'Just ignore it, considering everything the wood isn't that amazing... But, that might be because he knew I am just Tier 7...'

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