A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

'Wait, what now?' Eldrian said yes before he even realize what the system prompt meant. As soon as he did, a small wisp of whitish light escaped from the magic crystal and floated before him and Vitko—who looked as pale as a ghost when he saw it.

"Greetings, I'm Ziraili and will help you with your fort's construction. Please be aware that this is my first time offering this service, so it might take some time for us to reach the final product."

'Wait, she can form a wisp in the world? Why did we always talk in my soul?'

As if reading his mind, Ziraili sent him a silent system message. [This is a hidden feature that will be introduced when the first guild reaches level 6. However, I thought to unlock it a bit earlier for you.]

[Luckily, I'm able to use a few loopholes to implement this ahead of time. Seeing as your guild already has command of a fort, and in this case, you have more or less claimed ownership of the fort in your capacity as a noble. Even if it isn't official.]

[Thus, no one can argue with me helping you here... hehe.]

Still confused, Eldrian nodded absentmindedly to the information. Speechless at her chuckle at the end.

Only half listening as the wisp continued to explain the situation to Vitko. It more or less went that this was the gods' next step to aid the kingdoms against the invasion.

"Unfortunately, we can only offer this support when a Chosen is nearby—and thus we had to wait for them to grow strong enough to properly use this aid. However, I am sure you will be pleased with the results." So she finished off, leaving Vitko confused and just as pale as before.

The poor centaur seemed to struggle with meeting a god—or perhaps he saw Ziraili as an aid of the gods, like an angel? Regardless, he was shaking in his hooves. Eldrian had at this point just decided that Vitko must be a frail soul.

"Please select the options you would like to use," the wisp said next in an extremely cheery voice. Seemingly looking at Eldrian, even though it had no eye or discernible 'front'.

'So, this is like the private homes?' Eldrian pondered as he scrolled through the new option in his interface. Realizing that it must have been a way to iron out the chinks of the system, and make some extra cash for Miracle.

Shockingly, this interface was not just visible to him, but also Vitko. Seeing the opaque blue screen appearing in the room, the centaur quivered even more.

'I really don't get why he's so afraid. But let's see here,'  scrolling through the options, Eldrian found that most were unavailable. Unlike the virtual homes, this 'city-building' required in world funds and materials.

Naturally, they had prepared nothing of the sort. However, there were still a few options Eldrian could pick from. And they all had to do with the type of barrier that would permanently surround the fort.

This was something unheard of. Keeping such a larger area covered by a barrier 24/7 was simply not feasible. The drain on the ambient mana was simply too much. While a Magic Crystal had an astounding amount of mana, it would slowly be drained if attempted.

Sadly, the options did not explain how this barrier would be different. Eldrian assumed Ziraili would do something to fix this problem. If he had to guess, she would create a mana vein to supply the tower with more mana.

'That or her barrier is simply far more effective? I guess that is just as plausible. After all, something a god makes has to be miles ahead of anything the NPCs can accomplish.'

Moving on, Eldrian picked the type he felt most suitable. Luckily, it appeared he was able to alter the barrier at a later date, at a cost. A few hundred coins. Certainly not cheap, but also not inexplicably expensive.

[Before selecting any of the options, please choose a name for the fort]

This system prompt stopped Eldrian as he was about to choose the barrier. Terrible with names and just wanting to move to the barrier, Eldrian dedicated the name to his little familiar.

—

Pelaros was waiting outside with Myropsis and Ceph. Catching up on what had happened in the north as they waited for Vitko and Eldrian to finish inside the tower. After a few hours, as they ran out of conversation material, a blue screen appear before each of them.

"What's this now?" Pelaros asked curiously as the screen suddenly blocked his vision. "Please confirm your stance regarding Phoenix fort... When did the fort get a name?"

"I guess Eldrian gave it that?" Ceph mumbled, also reading through the information on the blue screen. It was quite simple. Asking for the visitor of the fort Phoenix to refrain from any illegal activities, subterfuge, or outright killing.

"Should you violate these rules, you will be punished... Anyone know what this punishment means?" Myropsis asked. The blue screen gave her contract vibes, but she couldn't confirm if it was as binding as one.

"We'll have to ask Eldrian when he comes out." Ceph replied, also clueless.

—

"W-what's t-this?" Vitko managed these few words after an age of silent shivering.

"It's the simplest way to ensure no one inside the fort can act against the vision we have for it." Eldrian replied, looking curiously at the prompt. He had wondered how everyone else would be asked to obey the rules he set forth, seemed it was simple enough.

'That's likely why the interface is visible.' Naturally, Eldrian had realized that it was the same translucent interface he was working with as his normal interface.

"Please do accept the conditions, or you will have to leave the fort." The wisp declared, causing Vitko to fluster as he pushed his hand towards the accept button without reading.

Once the centaur had accepted the condition, he was covered in a light blue light for a few seconds. And then nothing. 'Well, I guess I shouldn't expect much more from this.'

The barrier would ultimately be useless in a defending position. Not quite, it would highlight enemies with a red pillar of light visible even from a distance. But that was the only aid it would give. However, as a way to keep the peace and ensure none of their visitors -who were to be vampires- would do anything untoward, this barrier seemed like the best fit.

It would also prevent any of the natives from Taurus, who harbor ill intent towards the vampires to act on it. Which could lead to their diplomacy falling through the cracks. And it would prevent any spies from infiltrating the fort. All in all, Eldrian was happy with it.

"Next..." Grimacing as he saw the cost associated with the tower spells, Eldrian fell silent. Nodding to himself after a few seconds, "Let's go Vitko," he said, intending to go claim all his unclaimed bounties so he could afford to give the tower some offensive and defensive spells.

"H-uh... a-alright..." Nervous, the centaur nodded and made to prepare their departure, only to frown as he realised something was wrong.

"Only the owner of the fort can enter or exit the control room." Ziraili informed them, following which Eldrian followed her instructions and teleported the two of them back to the first floor of the tower.

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:)