A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

[Title: Iroas]

[A title bestowed upon those who have proven themselves not just willing to be a hero, but capable....]

Reading the title description, Eldrian struggled to accept its words at their face value. He did not consider himself a hero, and while having a hand in the lich's death had been a great release for his pent up frustration, hatred, and other emotions. It did not change his current situation.

Heck, Eldrian even had some evil-ish titles. Manipulator of Chaos certainly didn't sound heroic. Nor did Sharer of Wrath.

While Eldrian didn't agree with its description, that didn't mean he didn't appreciate the handy ability that came with it. Normally, title rewarded abilities were vague in use and mostly useless. Scour of undeath had been the only one Eldrian had really used.

Then again, they were all passive abilities. 'I wonder how this works, and how the AI agreed to let this one through?' Eldrian mumbled as he re-read the ability explanation.

Somehow finding the answer to his question, despite it not being explained anywhere. He simply had to look for an answer, and if it was within his capabilities to fathom, he would. 'So strange.'

[Recognized by the gods and heroes past, you have been gifted The Gift of Iroas]

'What is with the name Iroas? Why is it the upgraded name for the hero title?' While Eldrian was curious, he did not let his thoughts wander.

[Gift of Iroas]

[Grants greater insight into the mysteries of the world.]

Considering that the gods have always been so adamant to keep the truth of magic from Miracle, that this ability could reveal those mysteries seemed strange to Eldrian. 'Is this a trap? Or is this an olive branch?' Eldrian pondered.

Sadly, this, and why hero title upgraded into Iroas seemed to be past the ability to fathom. Almost certainly because he lacked information on both.

'Already seemingly a bit lacking... Let's test it out with something easier.'

To test the ability out was quite simple. All he had to do was think. 'It is perhaps too late to think about this... but why can just thinking accomplish so much? The entire player system is attached to it, even.'

'Nah, the answer's simple, isn't it?' Came an immediate answer in Eldrian's mind. 'Magic is done through thoughts. Our thoughts influence our lifeforce, and that can probably be detected, and the thoughts analyzed. Besides, the headsets monitored brainwaves, didn't they? Mix the two, and bingo.'

"Huh." Eldrian mumbled, stunned by the clarity of the answer. While there were some doubts about how the AI detected thoughts, especially how lifeforce was mixed into everything, the answer seemed clear enough.

That was, until he thought some more. It seemed to become even simpler and clearer as he did. The obtuse complexity Eldrian had been staring at disappearing as if he had never been stuck pondering it.

'Actually, it shouldn't even be that hard,' his thoughts continued. 'The question is how thoughts can be detected and used to bring up the interface. Then it is simple. Just like magic, an image needs to be created to accomplish this task.'

'I do remember that I struggled a bit back at the start. But after a few tries, I succeeded. The same held for our inventory. Then... the answer is simple. We had to learn how to let our thoughts be clear enough for the system to recognize.'

This seemed totally obvious thinking back, but Eldrian had never really considered how the interface worked. He always assumed it had to be some high-level magic.

'But no, it is simply our thoughts being given magical form. Just like how we—well, I form a spell... Most players don't go far enough.' Suddenly realizing why everyone struggles so much with magic, Eldrian felt like laughing.

Elizabeth, who had finally recovered enough to stand without hunching over her knees, looked at Eldrian quizzically. He appeared to be having an epiphany, but it was a rather long one. 'He normally only gets like that for a few seconds, but it's been half a minute already.'

'Feeling mana is one of the problems, but visualization is the other. The higher your Tier, the harder it is. That is why Zamia warned me of advancing too fast. Why I needed to make a stable foundation.' It was all so clear now.

'Huh... It isn't that I didn't understand all this, I just never realized. I never quite connected all the dots like this. Then?' Wishing to test this 'Gift' on a more troublesome question, Eldrian pondered why he was struggling so much with mastering his auras.

'My problem is the same. And I am lacking in both areas. I have a feel, but not a good enough one for what it feels like to channel lifeforce. Wrath is heated, rageful. The emotions are clear to me, but what they conceal isn't.'

Stunned, Eldrian couldn't believe his problem was that he was stuck only feeling the emotions. 'No, but I have recently felt lifeforce itself. I have!' He argued against himself. His training with Brazen and Jade was still clear in his mind.

'And, at the city... Right, I lost myself to rage because that was what I associate it with. But it is not the true core of wrath. What of tranquility then?'

Diving deeper into the subject, Eldrian continued frozen like that for nearly five minutes. When he finally came out of his thoughts, he smiled at the worried Elizabeth. "You know, I just realized I can split my consciousness into multiple threads."

"Huh? Oh you mean like make more Two's?" Elizabeth asked, a second too late to stop the question. Grimacing, she looked worriedly at Eldrian.

"Yes, and no. The difference would be actually giving them life. As long as I don't split off a part of my soul, it won't become a second consciousness." Eldrian replied.

While the loneliness without Two was unbearable at times, he didn't want to simply replace Two with a clone or copy. It would in all likelihood be the better approach, but Eldrian felt he had overly relied on his second consciousness. He now understood exactly why Skepsi had called Two an 'identity'.

"But first, we should go help them, shouldn't we?" Eldrian asked, pointing to the chaotic scene past the walls. With the lich dead, the undead were scattering. Well, those capable of thought were.

The lower undead were continuing their attack like nothing happened. Which made hunting the more dangerous and stronger undead all the harder for the poor soldiers on the front.