A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

A few weeks passed. Eldrian spending most of his time training, though he would occasionally go help fights somewhere in the kingdom. Relieving the pressure and testing the results of his experimental spells.

As a matter of course, Eldrian started mastering a more destructive element than ice. While he had a great affinity with it, likely due to the aura of Tranquility, it did not work well against the undead. Fire worked better, naturally. But that was also not what Eldrian aimed for.

No, the element he was training to master was lightning. Eldrian had already learned a dozen different spell variations, though lightning is limited to Tier 5 and above spells. There were plenty of applications for it.

In any case, as he was once again spending time in his new lab training, he received an unexpected visitor.

"Woof! Woof woof!" Virski, the Orthrus, barked. Naturally, Eldrian had to name it since it was staying with him. The name was a play on the viridescent green and sky blue stripes in his coat. "Grrr." It growled next.

'What's up?' Eldrian asked, forming a telepathic connection so they could communicate. Unlike Ceph, who had been able to form one with ease while Tier 3, Virski couldn't create the connection.

'Someone. Outside.' Virski replied. Thanking it for warning him, Eldrian canceled his current spell. A branch of lightning he was using as a whip, and moved the floating artificial crystal to a corner—so as no one would see it when he opened the door.

"Boran?!" Eldrian exclaimed in shock at who he found waiting for him outside. Compared to the last time, Boran seemed even more gruff. The mithril scales growing in his right arm made a beautiful, entrancing pattern and seemed to cover part of his shoulder, perhaps even his chest.

Boran's beard and hair had also started to change color. A mix of fiery red and ice blue vying for control. It gave him a truly strange appearance. Especially as a dwarf. Eldrian had never expected to see a dwarf with blue-ish hair.

"Yo. How have you been?" Boran asked, raising said right arm in greeting. Seeing the scaled all the way to his fingers, Eldrian felt it looked comically similar to his prosthetic. Yes, he still had it.

Eldrian probably could have regrown his right arm by now, especially since most of the damage to his soul had been healed. But much like how he did not wish to replace Two with a new 'identity', he did not wish to heal the scar from his loss.

Besides, the prosthetic worked like a normal arm by now. It had taken some time to master it fully, but in doing so Eldrian had improved by leaps and bounds in regard to mana control through metals.

Boran, for his part, was naturally drawn to the prosthetic. It wasn't the only blemish on Eldrian. He had a ton of scars, too. They were the cost from Wrath. Eldrian could have healed them, too, but he had no reason to. It wasn't like he was staring in a mirror every day. Heck, he never did.

"...Seems you've had it rough." Boran commented. Honestly, he was shocked. Getting the words out had been a struggle.

It was common knowledge that the Chosen could revive. All their scars and damage done to them healing in the process (unless they were added in character creation—or how the Chosen explained it, they wished for the scars). Thus, seeing Eldrian in this condition was shocking, to say the least.

Naturally, Boran realized it was possible Eldrian wished for the cars to remain. But they weren't the type of scars normal to the Chosen. These weren't sword scars, but ugly burnt marks covering his entire body. Like he had been thrown into a forge.

Not to mention, missing an arm went beyond all that.

"You can say that." Eldrian replied and silence settled.

The last time the two had met, things hadn't gone quite as Eldrian had hoped. He had hoped for Boran to abolish their apprentice master relationship, but the dwarf had refused.

It hadn't really been a problem, Eldrian and Solvi had found a way to work together that profited them both. And at this stage, she wouldn't be capable of taking on the title of master. Eldrian was too competent. Sure, she was still a better smith, but Eldrian's magical control often made up for the gap between experience.

Sad as this was for Solvi, who had spent years to master her craft, it was the inevitable truth of the talented. They really could crush your dreams.

"What are you doing here?" Eldrian finally asked. The two still standing in the door. While he had once been quite close to Boran, time had created a chasm between the two. Eldrian hardly knew the current Boran, and the same could be said for Boran knowing the current Eldrian.

Realizing this, Boran wasn't angry at the awkward welcome. "I reached out to Solvi. I need to fulfil my duty as your master."

This was not what Eldrian had expected. "Why now?" He asked, more than a little miffed.

"Honestly, I wanted to reach out sooner. But things had been quite hectic until now."

"Until now?"

"We've finally reclaimed our borders and fortified. Things aren't totally back to normal, but the Ganalin kingdom is safe. For now."

The first thing Eldrian thought of after hearing this was, 'can we expect more reinforcements?'. He did not ask this, knowing it was wrong to do so. The dwarves had their own troubles. However, if they were stabilized, then reinforcements weren't out of the question. The supply of magical items from them would also increase. Ultimately, this was wonderful news.

"What does fulfilling your duty entail?" Eldrian asked, unable to think of anything else to say.

"I want to teach you, but I don't think you have the time to spend learning." Boran answered. As much as Eldrian wanted to argue, he had to agree. He could spend a few days, perhaps a few weeks, at most a month of training. More than that, and the kingdom would start to feel his loss.

Sure, Eldrian wasn't a powerhouse capable of stopping armies. But he was a powerhouse capable of destabilizing their flow. And he was agile. Capable of appearing anywhere in the kingdom in a day or less.

With flight, powered by Tier 6, he could now match Ceph's speed when he was Tier 3. Perhaps not too impressive, but it meant he could cross the kingdom without teleportation in a day, two at most. And that was without pulling out all the stops.

"I talked it over with Solvi, and we agreed. We want to forge you a weapon that will stay with you until you reach Tier 10. And we want to welcome you into the process." Boran paused. "More than anything, we want to make it so the weapon will be usable right away."

"Is that even possible?" Eldrian asked. What Boran was saying was he would great a Tier 9 weapon for him. Which meant Boran had reached Tier 9. But more than that, Tier 9 weapons had steep requirements to be attuned.

"I also want to give you some advice regarding the aura of berserk." Boran said, instead of answering the question.