A New World, an immersive game experience

"What does he want?" Eldrian mumbled, turning off his PC and heading over. This time his appearance caused barely any disturbance, only a few looking at him in passing.

Knocking and waiting for the go-ahead, Eldrian took a seat in one of the chairs. 

"Here you are," Joren said, sliding his tablet over. 

"What is this for?" Eldrian asked after taking a look and seeing that it was a contract. 

"For your sister's headset. We will be sending it over in a few hours, however, you need to sign for liabilities."

Eldrian nodded and was just about to place his finger onto the indicated place to 'sign', then he realized what that meant. "Do you think she might also experience the troubles I have?" 

Joren smiled and shrugged, "We have no idea. It is possible that there is something special in you, something we have failed to find. This can also be present in your family, so we need you to agree to the possible risks."

"What do you mean?" Eldrian frowned and started reading through the contract while listening to Joren explain. 

"So let me get this straight. If she exhibits the same... You call them symptom-causing abilities? Really?" Joren shrugged, saying that it wasn't his first choice. 

"So... If she has a similar experience to me, this contract basically means I have to bring her into Miracle? I am pretty sure that is her choice." Eldrian said, sliding the tablet back at Joren. 

"It is, of course it is," Joren said, sliding the tablet back. "It will be her choice, you just have to keep her from spilling the beans, so to say. You also have to do your best to bring her in."

"If I refuse?"

"No deal, we will simply not send a headset."

"And if she buys one herself?" Eldrian pressed, Joren sighing hearing this. He had brought just that up to Micaela, however, she had stood by her point. So much so that she had threatened to share some of the details he had thought he had kept well hidden. 

"Then she simply needs to agree to the updated contract for players." 

"Updated? What now?"

"Take a look," Joren said, taking the tablet back and sliding it over again once he pulled the new contract. 

"Are you allowed to even do this?" Eldrian asked after giving it a quick look. He didn't understand a large part of the contract. Still, the modified part stood out clearly. He was unsure if this was legal tough.

Could they truly force people to come to them for treatment, if it was their game that caused their problem? Be it injury, trauma, or something else. The contract clearly stated that if someone went somewhere else, then they would waive their right to complain about the outcome.

"Do you even have a hospital?" Eldrian asked, recalling the place where he had been taken after nearly killing himself. 

"Not yet, but it won't be hard to make one." Joren said, "And we explain why it is needed, no other hospital will be able to deal with such neurological damage."

"You can't either!" Eldrian shouted, outraged. 

"Can't we?" Joren slid back into his chair, "We stabilized you, didn't we. You might not know this, but your mind was truly busy while you were unconscious. The amount, and strength, of the signals it was sending was like nothing we had ever seen."

Fucking hell, he's right. Not to mention that people will need to be connected to the game world to allow their consciousness to return; if that is the problem. Eldrian calmed himself, which took quite some effort. 

It had been quite some time since he last felt like Miracle was bad, and now it was here again. However, he had to accept that while their approach was unfair, they were not crossing any lines. At least not legal lines he knew of. 

To those outside this would seem totally acceptable. Who else would know how to find what was wrong? But Eldrian knew that the damage would come from things the company knew of, things they could do more to prevent. However, doing so might ruin their experiment. 

I wonder, are these Joren's true feelings and thoughts. Or is he just obeying orders?  Eldrian stared at Joren for a minute. Trying to answer that very question, It must be a mix of both. What about Gengxin? Was his advice and care honest, or motive-driven? 

Eldrian did not like that he needed to question this, and had hoped he could just forget what the system had told him. However, it was clear that Miracle was not kind. While they were not inhumane, they were certainly not the perfect company either. 

Just considering all the NPCs they are willing to kill. They may not be physical, but they are certainly real. This company certainly does not care much for these people. This thought nearly broke Eldrian's facade, his still a work in progress. Having never needed to hide his intentions so much.

Clenching his fists, recalling that this was a massive axe hanging over his head. If the players failed to help the empires resist the invasion, all would be killed and it would be reset. They will likely play it off as a sequel. 

Getting a bit nervous, Joren faked a cough and tapped the tablet. "What will it be?"

"I'll sign," Eldrian said, doing his best to hide his thoughts. His sister had made it clear that she did not really want to play the game, just use the virtual cabin. Which meant there should be zero danger to her, and him signing this basically meant nothing. 

"Great, you can tell her that the delivery will be in four hours."

Eldrian nodded and stood up, stopping just as he was about to exit the room. "Joren... Tell me the truth." Eldrian turned to face the sitting man, "Is ANW still just a simulation?"

Taken aback by the question, Joren paused for a moment. After which he replied with utmost certainty, "Yes."

"I see," Eldrian sighed as he left the room, starting to plan how he was going to get information past his clearance. And more importantly, how he was going to do anything with that. 

He had no spy skills, no tech skills. He was not even good at getting people to like him. As such his only avenue was the game itself. They still only care about magic, so I will make sure I master it. 

Eldrian did not know what this would do, but it would give him leverage. At the very least, he might be able to negotiate for ANW's continuation. 

Letting out a long deep sigh, Eldrian messaged his sister about the development. After which he headed back to his room for the day's matches. 

...

"He made it today," Zyviss remarked, most of them gathered in the training grounds inside Elizabeth's virtual home. 

"Sorry," Eldrian apologized as he joined the group, "What happened yesterday?"

"We lost four out of five matches," Elizabeth replied, "You make a massive difference you know."

Embarrassed by the praise and being the cause for ten points lost in total, Eldrian apologized again. 

"It's fine, you did tell us about it. Next time we won't do more than a single match. Just to keep from being labeled inactive."

Eldrian nodded, feeling slightly bad about dragging them down. To change the subject he asked, "Are we going to queue?"

"No, not yet," Nikki replied, pointing towards Erik. "He also reached Tier 3 yesterday."

"Oh. Congrats!" Eldrian a genuine smile forming, along with a drive to not be left behind.

"Thanks," Erik replied, for the moment not sharing what had happened earlier today. He was still quite shocked about how his first meeting with the treants had ended. 

It was certainly a massive boon for him and hopefully a way to help Akarui reach her potential as a Fysi. While it was all good news, he wanted to make sure that it actually happened before celebrating and sharing it with others. 

"Right, Erik continue with what you were saying," Elizabeth said after giving Eldrian a few seconds to take in the news. 

"Right. I was saying that Tier 3 potions are truly effective. While I am no longer on the front lines, I can often see and hear the effects on those to whom I sold it."

"It is less effective than getting healed by an intelligence-focused mage, even less effective compared to priests. Still, the potion does wonders, each healing up to 50HP. The healing is also spread throughout the body and can help close a moderate wound."

"Moderate wound?" Therdul asked, only knowing the difference between a scratch and a cut to the bone. 

"Right, each variant of Thera can only recover a certain amount of damage. Repeated casting can possibly heal those above its stated severity. However, this requires far more effort than just using a higher Tier."

"Tier 1 actually just heals superficial wounds. For lacerations, this would mean that it only cut through the skin. Not through the underlying muscle and tissue."

"Minor lacerations means that the muscle and tissue have, to a degree, been cut through. Moderate that they were nearly completely cut through, and sever is when the bone is visible."

Those hearing his explanation shuddered at the thought of the latter. It was always a crazy thing to see wounds that severe. 

"What about after that?" Judith asked, to which Erik replied. 

"There is no after that. The next would be amputations, and that can only be healed by Tier 5 or higher magic in general. Tier 4 can also heal it, but only if you get treatment within minutes."