A New World, an immersive game experience

Eldrian had no idea of the problem he generated, which the department heads were now trying to resolve. After talking to Gengxin he decided to go down for breakfast, Flavia joining him as soon as he sat down.

"Are your friends also joining us?" Eldrian asked, not understand why she was trying to get close to him.

"No, I'm sorry if they irritated you last time."

"It's fine, I just had a headache. When you all started talking I couldn't really stand it, as it just caused it to worsen."

"Sorry..." Flavia apologized again, wondering if Meggan's boyfriend, Connor, had been right then. That it was simply something else that had led to Eldrian rushing off.

"So, why did you join me again today?" Eldrian asked as he enjoyed a simple meal of cereal and yoghurt.

"I heard about the tournament, and was curious if you knew anything about it."

"No, I just know what they shared," Eldrian replied, catching Flavia a little bit off guard.

"Wait, didn't they give you extra work to make it happen within the time they stated?"

"No," Eldrian replied, not really understanding what she was getting at.

"What do you do here then? I mean the game testers are all busy trying to help create either the virtual home space or tournament arenas. The developers are busy actually coding and designing them, and us interns are so busy that meals are the only time we can relax."

"Interns?" Eldrian questions, causing Flavia even more confusion.

"So your not an intern?"

"No, I am not," Eldrian replied, realizing that he had no idea how the departments working on ANW even looked or were structured. He only knew the heads, and while he had met some of the game testers, they were the only other people he had met. Outside of casually greeting people when walking around, that is.

"But... You really live up to your nickname, you know." Flavia sighed as she said this, not able to read Eldrian at all.

"Oh, what's that?"

"Don't you remember what Connor called you, the mysterious newbie... You arrived a few months after we started working, and you didn't mingle at all. You only leave your room to eat or train, never to just meet people."

Eldrian did not know how to respond so he just looked at her in confusion while finishing his meal. "Why did you approach me?" Eldrian asked, unable to keep himself from asking this simple question.

"Because I was curious what you did here. Many of us are in fact. Most people working here don't know you, nor have any idea why you are here. Yet you have direct contact with the department heads."

"Right, well..." Eldrian paused, not sure if he should try to explain things or just go on his way. "What do you do here?" He asked instead, not wishing to do the former or end the conversation already.

"Me?" Flavia repeated in confusion, "I'm part of the development team, though I mostly just run around making copies, bringing coffee, and other menial tasks for the real artists."

Did she approach me hoping I could help her get over doing that? Eldrian questioned, finding that this was the most likely explanation. "Right, but you also do get to actually be part of the team right?"

"Yes, but not nearly as much as I had thought I would," Flavia replied, realizing that while most of the time she was just helping out, the developers would always take some time to explain what they were doing. That is, if they were working on something simple enough for her to follow, and were allowed to share what they were working on.

After that Eldrian talked a bit more with her about what the developers actually did. Realizing that that term was actually a very broad category. He had assumed it was just a bunch of coders, but there were actually graphical designers, digital artists, story writers, and much more also in the same team. 

He didn't go into depth in asking what each group did, their name often enough for him to guess at that. Still, he learned a bit more about how Miracle's ANW department worked, as well as that Flavia was part of the digital artists' team.

After a few minutes, with Flavia also having finished her meal, Eldrian felt it was time to go. Excusing himself he headed to the gym, feeling like he needed to keep his body fit to try and make it keep up with his avatar.

...

Logging into the game Eldrian found himself in the same spot alone. Standing up quietly, he looked around the house for the first time. It wasn't much, but it had everything one would need. He was currently in the living room, a simple room with a small bookcase, a few couches, and a hearth fire for atmosphere. Naturally, the fire was not currently lit, though it was evident it was often used when looking at the blackness of the chimney.

Now what? Eldrian wondered, opening his stats to confirm what has changed. While the difference wasn't astonishingly massive, it was clear. This was the largest increase he had yet gained in one go, outside of gaining a better weapon.

[Haru's Statistics:]

[Level: 18 (518K / 1440K)]

[Hidden Class: Protector Tier 2]

[Sub-class: Magic(T1), Melee(T1)]

[Avatar Affinity: 98.24%] (Was 98.11%)

[Attributes:]

[Constitution: 131] (was 121)

[Strength: 141] (was 131)

[Agility: 171] (was 161)

[Spirit: 127] (was 117)

[Intelligence: 165] (was 155)

[{5 free attributes}]

[Stats:]

[HP: 160] (was 139)

[Mana: 225] (was 204)

[Stamina: 143] (was 123)

[Armor: 1] (was 0.5)

[Magic Armor: 1.5] (was 0.75)

[Attack (With Aoidos): 51] (was 47)

I need to keep practicing, I wonder if I would be able to look into myself without entering that soul-state? Eldrian quickly thought as he saw the growth. It wasn't something that would completely change the situation, but the growth itself gave him a great deal of hope for becoming stronger.

With this thought, Eldrian quickly sat back down against one of the open walls in the room. Relaxing he started focusing in on himself, trying to instead of 'feeling, to 'look' inside him. Time passed quickly and soon he felt a tap on his shoulder, looking up he saw Vivian crouching before him.

"You should take it easy." She said as soon as Eldrian's eyes opened and regained their focus, the latter not happening for a few seconds after them opening.

"I can't, I am just too weak," Eldrian replied, having been reminded time and time again that he was weak. But a bystander in the grand scheme of this invasion. He most certainly wouldn't be able to save those he wanted, reaching Tier 2 had not changed that. This was what bothered him the most.

"Don't burn yourself trying to accomplish something too farfetched. Trust me, I know how terrible that can be." Vivian said, thinking back to how frustrated she often becomes for the exact same reason. While she was stronger than Eldrain, without Nidia's Flame she wasn't all that much stronger.

Even with it, she might only be able to sway the situation in one area of a battle, not the battle itself. This feeling was never nice to feel, even worse when you realized and focused on it.

Seeing someone else push themselves so hard for the same reason, Vivian realized how scary it could be for those who cared about that person. Sorry, mom... Vivian mumbled in her heart, only now understanding all the pain she had caused her mother, even her dad, though he hid it far better. Replacing the pain with pride, so as to not make Vivian feel bad for never really being a child.

"Let's go get something to eat. Luckily the undead had become much quieter after the incident, so we believe this attack had been a last ditched effort. Why is still a mystery." Vivian said after a few seconds.

"Indeed, it doesn't make sense that they would use so much in one attack. Though if Pelaros didn't arrive we would have certainly lost the fort. So that might be precisely the reason, either they had a spy informing them of the reinforcements coming, a scout found this and reported it, or something completely else and this is all just a coincident." Ayden said, having heard Vivian talking about it and decided to add his thoughts.

"What do you mean? Do you really think they have spies in the city or fort?" Eldrian asked, standing up and following Ayden who was going to make something for everyone to eat. He couldn't quite grasp how someone could betray their friends and families for the undead.

"Of course, a great deal of people wish for the power of a lich. To be undying and immortal at the same time. Most of the time they just end up as skeletons, but the undead would just say their souls were too weak. Who knows, it might really be the reason."

"Aren't you bothered by that?" Vivian questioned, unable to accept that something like that can be the norm.

"Of course, and luckily it doesn't happen all that often. It is normally someone in my position who gets swayed." He replied without any shame.

"What do you mean?" Eldrian asked.

"A young noble with a promising future, who simply has no worries other than that they might die someday. They are normally the ones who wish for immortality and are swayed the easiest. Older nobles are generally too loyal, those without a promising future of no use to the undead."

"Right, Vivian, how did you find me?" Eldrian asked suddenly, only now realizing how strange it was that she just appeared with Ayden. His question catching both by surprise as it was completely a different topic.