A New World, an immersive game experience

"Let's get back to the topic. There are certainly more monsters you should be wary of, especially certain specializations of monsters"

"Yes, they can learn magic and choose what they want to become. Similar to people, however, this is more concerning monsters such as orcs and goblins. Beasts are more limited in their nature, however, they still have some wiggle room if they are Ancient or Mythic beasts."

"I am not going to go through all that, but rather I am going to send you a file containing the classes you should be wary of," Joren said, planning to now reveal something the game developers had hoped to never need to reveal.

"The real monsters you should fear, and if you are to ever encounter them you must log out right away. Devil and demon emperors."

"How should I explain this. Right if you think of Agamemas, that is the power level they have. Normally all things in the game are rated in Tiers, going from zero to ten."

"Levels add onto the strength, but it means little compared to Tiers. Well, rather it means little once you get to Tier 5 and above. Of course, bloodlines also matter..." Joren paused and decided how he wanted to approach this. Realizing that this was already confusing, though he knew Eldrian already knew this. 

"It's quite complicated, as you well know, but let's simplify. You can think of bloodlines like hidden classes. Yes, we do at least know you have a hidden class." Joren answered before Eldrian could ask, the latter not remembering if he ever shared that fact. He also didn't know if the system would tell them about it.

"These ones here," Joren pointed to the monitor, "You can consider them all beings equal to Mytical grade beasts, and they are all over Tier 10... Yes that is possible."

Eldrian took a couple of seconds to digest this, not too surprised since it was a common gimmick in games and novels. Normally it was added when there was a need to keep people engaged, it being there from the start was a bit different.

But ANW was quite different so it fit. 

"Why are the pictures so blurry?" Eldrian asked after, trying to discern what he was looking at. While he could just see their figures, he certainly couldn't see their features.

"Because they are too goddam strong. When we try to get close to them when monitoring, they somehow sense us. It makes no sense, there isn't anything physical we are moving to monitor them. We are just shifting our view of the simulation."

Hearing this naturally surprised Eldrian. This was something quite hard to accept, though he didn't quite understand how the monitoring worked. He knew that there wasn't a fairy or bot flying around.  It must be some kind of magic, which these guys can then sense.

"Nonetheless they would always sense something. And while they can't pinpoint our location, they would send out some sort of magic that would destroy the PC that was trying to get a better view. In some cases, an entire department would be wiped."

"Hence if you ever encounter any of these guys, you must log out. I am going to make it so the system will warn you when a legend basically in the same kingdom. That is what we call them, by the way."

"Most people would consider them demigods, but they have no godhood. Nor anything similar to the AI, so that wouldn't be technically correct. They are just insanely strong, with insane control over magic."

"They don't really age, magic generally slows this process. But when reaching this rank its like age becomes a suggestion, rather than inescapable fate."

"The problem is we have no idea what these guys are capable of. Even when they clash the best we can do is observe from afar. We do not believe even normal players would be able to escape the game safely if they were killed by these guys."

Eldrian couldn't keep quiet hearing this, "What!? How can you release the game if there is such a danger? And how on earth is the fight still going on if such monsters exist?"

"Naturally we didn't just release it on a gamble. Both sides have legends, else the fight would never last longer than a few months. These legends all value their lives extremely much, so they would never move if they do not know they will win."

"The same holds for the emperors of both races, who are generally Tier 10. If they suspect there is a legend then they will try their best to slow down the pace of things. To make it seem like they too have a legend. This generally causes a standstill and is what is going on in Taurus in fact." 

"Both sides are trying to figure out the danger of a full-on attack. Taurus naturally focussed on trying to stop it, while the leader of the monsters are trying to figure out if it is a bluff."

"Is it?" Eldrian asked, to which Joren looked at him with a slight smile.

Not answering Eldrian's question. "Let's get back to the legends. We reasoned the chances of a player meeting them in even ten years should be nearly impossible."

"Again, you are making things difficult for us. For all players we have installed a safeguard where they would automatically be ejected from the game. Should a legend of the devil or demon races come within a certain distance."

"This is in fact also active with you, and all our game testers. The warning system I mentioned will warn you when they are within a thousand kilometers. Which might sound far, but to them, it really isn't."

Joren thought but did not say, We can't have that happening again. Thinking back to when a bunch of game testers had just been in the range of two legends fighting.

It did not need be that they were targetted, the damage they sustained was the same as if they were. It was the one time they had seen what happened if an avatar's soul died while you were in the game. It certainly was not good.

While they have far more counter- and security measures installed, they dared not test if they worked. Hence they simply hoped it did while doing their best to make sure that such a situation didn't need arise.

"The idea with the warning system is to try and allow you to get the NPCs to run too. I know you are close to the redhead," Joren paused as he failed to recall her name, "So I thought you would appreciate being able to warn her of the danger."

Naturally, Eldrian was thankful, and after expressing it they got back to the topic again. 

"I am warning you in case all these safety measures don't work. You saw the fight between two legends before. So you know you stand no chance if they target you. It is unlikely, but still, it is possible that one might."

Eldrian nodded, recalling how the night sky had lit up when Agamemas and some devil had clashed. Just them fighting without using much magic, or rather without spells, had been so insane. Naturally, he didn't think he should stay in that case.

"You said that we also have legends, do you have any pictures of them?" Eldrian asked, to which he got a teasing reply.

"We do, but... I don't think you need to know who they are. It's not like you are going to meet them." Joren said, not wishing to, as of yet, show how little contact they had with the 'good' legends. It was better to let Eldrian think they were close. 

It would at the very least make his morale higher. Hearing that they were disconnected from the legends would just be demoralizing. 

...

"Milgoroth!" A deep voice reverberated throughout the entire palace, causing a man hidden in his darkroom to shiver in fear. "Come out now! Redeem yourself!"

Hearing the summon Milgoroth, previously known as Andreas, dared not refuse. Standing up he quickly headed to the throne room where his father waited. He dared not even look the giant devil in the eye.

"You cannot do this!" Kilen shouted, a petite woman with long black hair. Her scaly red skin much paler than normal.

"He must learn to survive! How can a devil be so weak!" Azamud shouted in return, a massive three-meter-tall devil. While he was currently shouting at his wife, he dared not go overboard. Her recent injury had caused her strength to greatly diminish, however she would recover with time. 

"Why? He needs to learn how to harness his power, not be sent to fight!" Kilen countered fiercely, her fists balled and ready for action. If not for her injury she would have certainly thought her husband a lesson. 

"This isn't fighting, he just needs to take care of a punny elf not even Tier 5. His abilities are perfect for this. And it will redeem him. Showing everyone he isn't worthless!"

Those words stung at Milgoroths heart. It pained him hearing how his father truly believed that. That he also needed to be convinced. Looking at his mother ready to go to war, he stepped forward. 

"What's the mission?" He asked, his voice just a whisper. The aura of his father making his knees shake. He only persevered since he knew his mother's state; she would not survive another fight.