A New World, an immersive game experience

It took Eldrian a little while to figure out how to request access to a friend's virtual home, though it wasn't really complicated at all. He struggled simply due to how little he used the friend and guild parts of the system, which most normal players were far more used to. It being less intuitive through the forum had caused him to not know where to go.

Arriving in Elizabeth's virtual home, Eldrian was quite surprised by the decor. Nestled between neatly separated patterns of flowers was a pure white three-story stone house. At the front entrance, there was a small square inviting people in. Seeing how well everything flowed and worked together Eldrian became curious what Elizabeth did IRL.

"It's you! Awesome!" Came a shout from behind Eldrian, turning around he saw a small practice area. The fences covered in flowers, but the field itself clean. It was not large, only around ten meters or so, but it would allow them to actually practice as a group. Seeing this Eldrian smiled as he realized how much Elizabeth had thought things out.

Only after this did he look at the dwarf who called out to him, "Ah sorry, I seem to have forgotten your name."

"Really now, well I can't blame you. It has been over a month and we only met for a day." The dwarf replied. "Therdul, remember we sparred against each other. Though you managed to come out on top back then, I don't think you'll manage so well now."

"Ah right, yeah, I just forgot your name. Sorry, never been good at them. Is everyone here?" Eldrian asked next.

"Elizabeth and Ilmadia are inside the house. Zyviss, Nikki, and Judith still need to come online. Right, I hear you and a friend became our last two."

"Yeah, I hope we didn't take someone's place."

"No, Elizabeth was going to fill the last two roles with some of the other players in the guild. I just hope you are still as good as back then." Therdul replied.

"I believe so," Eldrian replied back, curious what they were going to do here. While it was nice that Elizabeth had added a training field, they didn't have access to their normal stats. Magic was also completely missing, Eldrian having tried before to cast Tier 0 spells to no avail.

Talking with Therdul Eldrian caught up on what the other players had been up to. Their journey had also not been easy, though compared to all that Eldrian had gone through, it could be considered a stroll in the park. The thing which shocked Eldrian was that Ilmadia and Judith had both reached Tier 3.

"Seriously?" Eldrian asked in exasperation, only to feel someone clasping his shoulders from behind.

"Wanna have a go?" Judith asked, grinning widely as she hoped to kick Eldrian's ass. She was not happy with how he had won last time, and now she was confident she had improved enough to grind him into the ground.

Unlike last time her attire was much more 'normal', due to the game and this virtual home not being connected. Players were not given their in-game clothing and armor, but rather casual clothing they could choose from. Hence she was not in what even a barbarian would consider scantily dressed.

"I would, but this isn't the game," Eldrian replied as he tried to escape from her grasp. He found it a little strange that their avatars were that of the game, but they lacked the stats and magic of the game. He could not quite understand why this was, it felt like something was missing or perhaps being planned.

"In any case, we are here to strategize. Not to fight each other." Elizabeth said, having come out as she had received the last request to enter. Not much longer Erik also arrived.

"Right, so let's start with introducing ourselves, make sure to explain what you think you can handle and whatnot," Elizabeth said after giving Erik some time to get used to the sight in front of him. He was absolutely in love with the garden, it looked like something out of a fantasy movie.

"I'll go first, seeing as I brought it up, and will be the leader of our little group. I am Elizabeth, it is both my real name and in-game name. I believe I am good at strategizing and understanding what my friends need help with, as this is often what I have done in the guild. My weakness is fighting, I will probably not be able to hold my own if I should get into a direct fight with anyone."

"Right, I'm Therdul though my real name is Laserian. I have focused on defensive skills, I also wear heavy armor and as such, I believe I will be the tank of the party. Though this game really threw me for a curveball as there are no taunt skills or really any way for me to fulfill the normal role of a tank. I'll try to go out in front and take the brunt of the attacks."

"Right I'll go next. I'm Zyviss, a ranger. I believe I have grown quite good at actually hitting things, though I still struggle with fast-moving targets and when the targets are over thirty meters from me. Since we have no idea what the arena is going to be like, I hope I won't end up as a liability."

After his explanation no one spoke for a few seconds, so Eldrian decided he should chip in. "I'm Haru in the game and Eldrian in real life. High Elf race and I don't really know what my specialty is, I have focused basically all of my free attributes on agility and intelligence. I use a spear, but I also use magic, so I guess I can fill in where needed."

After him Erik decided to chip in, "I am a dryad, as is clear to see. Game handle is Faust but my real name is Erik. I don't really have much fighting experience, but I have worked in a medical center for over two months in-game. I can tell you, the injuries are real and not simple to treat. I can also make some basic potions and salves, so I will be sure to share some with everyone."

"Awesome, thanks, man!" Judith said, jumping forward and throwing her arm over Erik's shoulder, "I'm Judith, like Elizabeth it is my real name and game name. I'm a barbarian." Everyone waited for her to say more but it quickly became clear that she was not going to say anything else.

"I'm Nikki, also my real name. I also don't really know where I fit, I know a few spells and I think I am decent with a sword. I normally try to heal the others, but magic sucks." She complained, causing Erik to quickly chirp in.

"It isn't that, the spells we can cast are just really weak. In the arena, I think if we are injured we should focus on cauterizing the wounds and then casting a rejuvenation spell. You don't want to directly use a healing spell after cauterizing as it can reopen the wound, so using rejuvenation is better. It will slightly increase their HP but also give them a boost of energy."

Hearing this Nikki looked at Erik in shock, "How did you learn that?" She had always been stumped at how useless her healing spells were. While she could heal little cuts, if someone got pierced through by something, she could do little to help. At most she could continue to heal them until the wound finally closed, though that normally took hours.

"If lives are on the line, you tend to try anything to simply save them. I learned quickly what worked and what didn't." Erik replied, his words carrying a great deal of weight as everyone understood what it implied. He did not consider the game a game, something which they still struggled with.

Breaking this mood Ilmadia introduced herself and brought up a topic she hoped would steer them back into prepping for the fights. "I'm Ilmadia, fully focused on the mage profession. Like Judith, I have managed to reach Tier 3, so in the fight protect me and we should have a massive advantage."

Hearing this Erik stared at her in disbelief, he knew what was required to reach Tier 3 in magic. It was not easy. Though he had to admit that he had spent a large part of his time healing others and taking care of Akarui. Hence he didn't grind the levels as many other players could.

He would certainly not change that though, he had found a purpose in what he had done. He was only slightly shocked that anyone had managed to memorize the Tier 3 spells, and have managed to do all the training necessary for the system to allow them to reach Tier 3.

He had no idea how the system allowed them to cast magic, but he knew it wasn't the same as with Eldrian. While they too needed to envision the spell module, they didn't need to have it precise. Though they needed to be at least 80% correct, and say the words of power at the right time. The system took things from there.