A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

"Ilmadia, what's on your mind?" Therdul asked, outside of the Flaming Hearts, most other players were walking. Their group however all had their own Agimae. There were a few other players who had rented an Agimae, but since the quest they were on was a dangerous one the security deposit wasn't something most were willing to play.

Ilmadia quickly hid her frown and gave Therdul a smile. "It's nothing, I'm just thinking of when I should attempt to reach Tier 5."

"Wait, you can do that?!" Therdul's exclamation brought the focus of the others to their little conversation.

"For about a week now, but things have been too hectic for me to take a day or two to attempt it," she replied with a half-smile. A beautiful half-smile of a moon elf, one that stole the hearts of half the players looking at her.

"Why didn't you?!" Nikki asked, stunned. "Don't you want the prestige of being the first player to reach Tier 5?" Adding under her breath, "Besides Eldrian..."

"No, I don't want the spotlight," Ilmadia replied shortly, most of the players not understanding. But her friends did, after all, they had been making a ruckus on the forums for a specific reason. Most players just thought they were dissatisfied but there was so much more to it.

Of course, months had passed between the event and the original post had long since been buried by the thousands of new ones. Only to recently gain some new focus thanks to their success.

The group understood that being the first player outside of Eldrian to reach Tier 5 might place a target on her back. While their recent fame acted as a shield, no one wanted to test if it was strong enough to stop Miracle from working in the shadows.

[<Flaming Hearts chat> [Ilmadia]  - Drop it, I don't want to talk with so many ears on us.]

[<Flaming Hearts chat> [Elizabeth] - You heard her everyone, drop it. But Ilmadia, we will be talking about this.]

[<Flaming Hearts chat> [Ilmadia] - Fine, but then we should keep Eldrian up to date.]

[<Flaming Hearts chat> [Zyviss] - Why?]

[<Flaming Hearts chat> [Ilmadia] - Because it is thanks to him...] Not wishing to explain more right now, Ilmadia sent a personal message to Elizabeth and Eldrian only.

[[Ilmadia] - I got a hidden class quest, Elizabeth, let's wait for Eldrian's advice.]

[[Ilmadia] - Eldrian, I need your advice. I finally managed to master what you taught me about runic casting and got a hidden class quest. When can we meet?]

[[Eldrian] - Say no more, I am currently in Kynigo heading for Ganalin. Where is your quest?]

[[Ilmadia] - Elizabeth chose Pediades since there will be less competition, hope that doesn't mean too many enemies. It is going to be rough regardless.]

[[Eldrian] - All the captured cities have a lot of reds and blues, going to be chaos no matter where. Amrough and Herglem are being evacuated though, I have asked Myropsis to confirm that the king received my message. Hope the king didn't ignore Elizabeth... Sadly, I see no movement.]

[[Ilmadia] - Do you think they decided to abandon them?]

[[Eldrian] - Would be a shitty thing to do if they did, but I get that the army is weak and going into the chaos lands isn't an option. It is likely that they cut their losses.]

Ilmadia sighed, gripping her reigns with all her might. She hated the idea that people were being abandoned just like that. After nearly two years in this 'game' she could no longer think of the NPCs as non-humans. Even if they were completely different races that didn't even exist on Earth, she still felt that they were people. They might not be humans, but they were people.

Most players shared this view, there were still a few who believed the NPCs were just that. Or perhaps they considered them semi-humans. Below them but still 'humans'. Luckily, they were the minority. At least, this seemed to be the case at the moment.

Thinking of what awaited the people being taken from their homeland, Ilmadia subconsciously turned to her suicide option. Having never needed it but always glad that it was there. This world was far too realistic, if she were to ever be captured by the enemy she would certainly be grateful for it.

The fact that the NPCs did not have this option saddened her. She did not even need to imagine what they would go through, just the fact that they had no escape was already terrible enough.

Hearing another player complain, she snapped. "If you are in such a hurry then let's hurry!" With that she started galloping, leaving the players in the dust.

Elizabeth and the others weren't sure what had set her off but they were all irritated by the constant complaining. "You heard her, keep up!" Elizabeth shouted, galloping after her.

Sadly for these players, an agima wasn't a normal horse. They were fast and had vast amounts of stamina. As a result, they completed the entire rest of the journey in less than an hour at gallop. A journey that at a walking pace would have taken two to four days.

It was only normal that everyone without an Agimae was left far behind in the dust. Despite sprinting as fast as their enhanced Tier 4 avatars could carry them, it would take them at least until night to make it over.

They weren't like Eldrian who focused most of his free attributes on agility and had an abundance of extra stats from so many different sources. A Tier 4 ranger was only about twice as fast and study as a normal human. Even the best of the best who mastered all the classes would only reach a bit above three times the normal human ability.

"Well, we're alone now, care to expand on what is going on?" Elizabeth asked, Judith having moved with the other players who had Agimae to scout the situation surrounding the city so they could talk in private. They would send Zyviss and a few others into the city later to confirm the situation inside.

"You guys remember that Eldrian explained how I might be able to use runic magic to learn how to control mana? Well, I finally succeeded, but with everything going on I'm not sure if I should actually try and follow through with it."

Hearing this everyone was happy that Ilmadia's patience had finally paid off. When she was off fighting duty and had any spare time she would spend it trying to master what Eldrian had taught her. It was heartening to see her efforts pay off.

"Are you afraid of the chaos this would cause if learned?" Nikki asked, the first to move past her feelings of happiness for a friend, and to consider the consequences should people learn that their guild had a method to allow one to learn how to control mana.

They already had so much focus placed on their guild from completing an epic-ranked quest and reaching level 5 as a guild. Having the information that they could nurture Tier 5 players leak would surely cause even bigger waves. Waves that they might not be able to survive.

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