A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

"Hehehe..." Erik chuckled after reading the Eldrian's message. 'Sounds like he had his hands full thanks to a certain somebody deciding to crash into his life.'

"What's so funny, Faust?" A customer asked, and Erik waved it off. Handing the boxes of potions to the customer, he completed the last transaction for the day and closed the store.

"Are we going to go to Kynigo again?" Akarui asked, helping tidy things up after a long day.

"If Eldrian realizes that idea of his." Erik replied.

Akarui nodded, entering serious thinking mode as she tried to figure out what that was. After a few seconds, she caved in and asked, "What's that?"

"A way to protect you." Erik replied.

"I'm stronger than you think!" Akarui argued, trying to show off her muscles.

"Sure you are." Erik smiled and ruffled her hair, causing the little girl to pout. And she forgot everything a few seconds later.

"Are we going to the gardens today?" She asked, throwing some wonderful puppy dog eyes at Erik.

"Yeah, I think it is about time for a harvest." Erik nodded, taking Akarui's hand and moving through the darkening city with practiced ease. They rented a cart at the edge of the building district and, after a brief conversation with the horses, the two jumped on and enjoyed the ride.

"What did they say today?" Erik asked, still trying to wrap his head around how she could talk to animals. Thanks to this ability of her awakening, they now had almost every animal that could be kept as a pet on the farm Erik owned.

Too often, far too often, Erik was forced to treat an injured animal and then begged that they keep them.

"They wanted some asimi." Akarui replied with a bright smile.

"Asimi?" Erik tried recalling the type of plant that was.

"It's the one that helps your energy flow." Akarui's words helped Erik recall the peculiar herb. It was one of those non-magical plants that acted as a catalyst in alchemy. Increasing the strength of stamina recovery potions, in particular.

Also often used as a medicine to increase a person's vitality and heal fatigue. Brewing it into a tea and drinking it during sickness or while recovery from injury was quite common. The plant's effects were similar to a rejuvenation spell from the Anthos line.

Unlike the spells, its use had less after effects if used for a prolonged time. Though, players rarely needed to be concerned about the aftereffects. Thier avatars were stronger and more resilient compared to the NPCs'.

"Ah, right...do you know why they wanted some asimi?"

Akarui nodded, a long and proud nod. "Triana's ready."

"That's the one with the chestnut coat?"

"Mmm, mmm" Akarui nods.

"What's she ready for?"

"Baby!" Akarui replied, nearly causing Erik to fall from the cart.

"Ah, I see... she's pregnant."

Akarui simply smiled, making Erik worry about what else the animals told her. 'I guess she isn't that young, but... wait! I am not ready for The talk!'

Erik suddenly got a massive headache. 'Ahh! I forgot that she is actually becoming older. She's ten now... I guess that time isn't far off...'

The thought was frightening, truly frightening. 'Right, I'll ask Elizabeth or Ilmadia, or. No, not Judith. Maybe Silver? Yeah, I'll leave it to them.' Erik nodded, glad to have sorted this out.

Arriving at the garden/farm, Akarui jumped off and rushed to where the rescued animals grazed. They were all left free in a large fenced field. There was even a small dam, so water was no problem.

The field had placed Erik in the red. Luckily, business was going well. Especially with how chaotic things were becoming. He was starting to make deals with other merchants, up-scaling from a local trader to one mass producing products.

Though, that often left him exhausted. He would prefer if things returned to normal.

Watching Akarui playing and talking with the animals, Erik smiled. 'It's like I became a father...what a strange thought... I'd prefer to think of it as being her older brother.'

Moving on to the plants, Erik collected what was ready and ensured that all the arrays were properly powered. Using his strange power of being able to feel what the plants were feeling or wanted to improve things best he can.

'Right, Eldrian probably wants a report on everything. I heard he suddenly threw a fort at Elizabeth.' For some strange reason, this made Erik smile. 'I'm not the only one suffering. Let's all suffer and preserver together.'

***

"Did you hear?"

"Who hasn't?"

"We're finally been given a true quest! Took long enough."

"But it sucks that we have to be part of a guild."

"Yeah, truly sucks. But did you hear?"

"Mmm?"

"We're being sent to Taurus!"

"What? Really? Lucky bastards. We're being sent to Lekya..."

"Really? I heard they haven't even really been pressured?"

"It's true, but the kingdom acting as their wall is on their last legs. We're going to reinforce them from behind."

"Dang, we're being sent to Suvakar..."

"Condolences."

"Are you going?"

"I already signed up. If I drop out now, well... This isn't your normal game. Floria took us in, taught us, geared us, and even gave us quests and experience... I even paid my bills doing those quests."

"Yeah, I feel you."

The players had truly been cared for, given what they wanted and allowed to experience the full vastness of the empire. There were many areas where monsters lived, created to allow the training of soldiers and adventurers.

Most of their quests had been limited to these areas. These quests were controlled and things were ensured. That was why they called moving to support the kingdoms a true quest.

Nothing would be certain once they left. And that, naturally, excited the players.

"Have you guys heard about the Lover's guild?"

"Don't bring them up. It makes me sick thinking of them."

"Why? It isn't like this is a normal game. You just said that."

"But that doesn't mean this is an eroge!"

"And why not? I mean, everything works." This got a round of laughs, bringing a pause to the insane topic as many players thought of their own experiences in that area.

Most of them had controlled themselves, but those of the Lover's guild. Well, let's just say the lack of risk of disease, at least to their real body, made them indulge a bit too much in fantasy.

The girls didn't need to worry about pregnancy. There was magic to ensure it wouldn't happen. Which made some of them also go a bit wild. And the guys could use this too, to prevent unwanted babies. So, of course, some had truly gone wild.

And if you did pick up a STD, a simple suicide would fix the problem.

Not wishing to continue this subject, someone changed the subject to the tourney. "Who do you guys think is going to take first place this year?"

"My bet is on Zinopia again. They're unmatched."

""Agreed.""

"It's sad that Phoenix didn't enter. They would have certainly ruffled things up."

""Yeah."" The group of players sighed as a collective. Recalling Eldrian and all his shocking abilities, they all wondered just what had happened with the guy.

He had been so active on the forum, and then, one day, he disappeared.

They knew he still played. There were many videos of him coming from Phoenix. And it didn't look like his abilities had weakened.

Why he wouldn't participate, not even in the individual matched. No one understood.

The prize pool was even far larger than before. It would be easy money.

"Do you guys think that the rumors are true?" Someone asked, naturally referring to the noise that Phoenix had made a month or so ago.

"No idea, can't think the game got through..." The player lost his voice halfway through. So much in ANW should not have made it through the inspections. "Yeah, no idea."

"Well, whatever. With these expedition missions, we're finally going to be able to make some big cash!"

""Yeah!""

Sadly, none of the players realized just how big the difference was between war and training.

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