A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

When they arrived at the town, Vivian and Ceph were welcomed by the sweat aroma of a thick meaty stew. Along with a mug of whatever drink they preferred. These were served in makeshift food stands at the front of town, right at the gate.

To the left of the food stands were the training fields and to the right, the resting area. With plenty of tents covering the grounds. It would be impossible for the town to accommodate all the soldiers. In the end, the town itself was remodeled for relaxation and healing. Only captains and above were able to lay claim on the inns or find a room among the villagers.

After getting their preferred drink and a bowl of stew, the two moved to their usual spot. There, Erik was already enjoying his meal. Noticing their arrival, he smiled and waved in greeting.

"How many were killed last night?" Vivian asked before taking her seat, concerned for those who died in the battle.

"We'll talk after. Enjoy your breakfast first." Erik responded. Knowing that they needed to enjoy the small joys in life, or their minds would collapse from the stress.

With that, everyone sat down and enjoyed their meal first. Though the peace did not last long.

"Well, how many passed last night?" Vivian asked as soon as they returned their bowls.

While the question was morbid, she wasn't asking just to sour the mood. She was testing a few of her theories on her powers. It would be best if she couldn't find any wandering souls, but it was always best to be careful.

Sighing, Erik motioned for her to calm down first. "I don't know the details for the other fronts, but where I was, only four died. However, twenty were severely injured and won't be able to fight unless they find an unexhausted healer capable of regrowing limbs."

That was unlikely, and they all knew that. Everyone was focused on saving lives and no healers were given time to rest. Just like the soldiers fighting, healers were severely lacking in numbers.

"Right, that reminds me." Erik paused, knowing that this wouldn't sit well with these two. "Eldrian is coming today."

"Wha— he can't!" Vivian shouted, spinning around to find Erik shrugging. "He won't be on the front lines. We need more healers, and he can do that just fine."

Vivian had no argument against that. It made complete sense. But she was confident that as soon as Eldrian arrived, he would rush to the front.

"He's not... He won't... He isn't an idiot." Finally, finding the right phrase, Erik explained the plan that Eldrian had offered. It was by no means perfect, but Eldrian had found a use for even the injured.

"Eldrian thought of this while staying put. But he could only focus on his training for so long before becoming restless." This was to be expected. None of them would feel right sitting at home when there was a war just a couple dozen kilometers away.

"So he pondered what could he do? And the first is obviously supporting from behind. But he wanted to do something more. Long story short, he honed in on mana crystals and pondered their used as batteries for healers."

"Is that even possible?" Ceph asked. He could certainly use them as such, and so could Eldrian. Normal mages and priests, however...

Erik shrugged. "No idea. But doing something is better than nothing."

—

Arriving at Llyn, Eldrian made sure to avoid his friends. They were tired and needed rest, and he didn't want to get into an argument. Instead, of going to greet them, he headed towards the temple where the main healing camp had been created.

'Resourceful' He thought as he looked at the makeshift hospitals. With the number of injured, a single temple couldn't accommodate everyone, especially not a rural temple like this.

Instead, the surrounding houses had been changed into makeshift hospital rooms. While not ideal, they were certainly better than tents. Of course, you were kicked out as soon as you were well enough to fight. But that was just how bad the situation was.

"You there!" One of the medical division soldiers shouted upon seeing Eldrian loitering. He had a green staff painted on his armor, showcasing his deployment in the medical division.

The green staff showed not just the man's division, but also that he knew healing spells up to his current Tier—which was surprisingly rare. Most who knew healing spells also knew offensive spells and would thus be deployed as mages instead.

"State your business."

"I've been sent to lend my aid." Eldrian replied, showing the man a letter stating just as much. "Can I meet with the one in charge?"

Pausing, the soldier made sure to read the letter carefully. Only when he deemed it legit did he nod and guide Eldrian to a very busy temple.

However, he left Eldrian there to find someone else as a guide. Rushing back to his patients. The houses held the less critical patients, but they were still at risk of dying without careful care.

The open space hall of the temple was filled with beds, all of which were currently occupied by bloodied patients. Most of whom had an arm or leg missing, which had then been hastily treated with fire magic and then scrappily healed.

Thanks to this treatment, the soldiers had survived their journey to the village, but they weren't out of the woods yet. Their injuries were far from healed, the treatment done could only be considered a stopgap.

It wasn't even the ideal method. In fact, it was a method that most priests outright refused to use. The medical division, filled with soldiers, however, cared little for the craft of healing and only wanted to save the lives of their brothers and sisters in arms.

The scarred flesh would make regrowing an arm far more difficult. To regrow the limb, a healer would first need to remove the damaged flesh, heal the burnt nerves, and only then could they move on to regrowing the limb.

But it was indeed the easiest method of saving their patients' lives.

'Oh, is that music I hear? Right... I remember Ilmadia said something about using it to soothe the injured.' Recalling this, Eldrian also recalled why Ilmadia had deemed it impossible to support the front with her music. It was quite simple, really. A battle was simply too chaotic.

The temple wasn't a picture of tranquility by any means, but it was far calmer than the battlefield.

Other than the grounding of the patients and the bustle of those treating them, there was no other noise. Whereas on the battlefield, there would be the sounds of those fighting, those dying, those ordering, and so forth.

All of this caused the effect to weaken as people would struggle to hear the music. While it would still give a buff to the soldiers, it would be far weaker than here. Worse than standard enhancement spells.

'If there's music, then there's...' Following the sound, Eldrian found Ilmadia at the back of the temple. She wasn't playing, however. She was tuning the device, which was the source of the music.

"Oh, it's come a long way." Eldrian commented, causing Ilmadia to jump.

"So you're finally allowed to leave the city?" She teased, giving Eldrian a quick hug before getting down to business.

"I see. I might just have a solution to your problem. But first, replace the drained crystals before they crack." Giving Ilmadia a handful of small mana crystals, Eldrian asked her to give him a tour once she was done.

"I'll go around and cast Florere on those nearby. No need to rush."