A New World, an immersive game experience

Waking up after a few hours of sleeping, Eldrian's thoughts were a mess. Relaxing on the comfortable bed he was on, Eldrian suddenly recalled what had happened. Jumping up he found to his utter relief that his legs were back to normal. He would have most certainly fallen face-first if this was not the case. 

Letting out a long breath of relief, Eldrian sat back down as he rubbed his legs. Enjoying the fact that they could actually feel his touch. Never having known that something so simple could bring him such joy and relief. 

"That was truly unpleasant. I assume it is part of the delayed response. My brain probably thought I was paralyzed due to the injuries from the game." Eldrian mumbled, finding this thought absolutely horrifying. 

He had no idea how it could have happen so easily. Luckily it was evidently not permanent. After a few minutes of relaxing, Eldrian stood up, finding the simple task quite difficult. 

"Whoa there." Gengxin ducked under Eldrian's shoulder, stopping him from falling. "You aren't really cured. I just gave you some drugs to loosen your inhibitors."

"What? Why?" Eldrian was grateful for the save, not understanding why it was so hard to keep his balance. Though he knew this feeling as that of delayed response.

"Because your mind believed you were injured. The drugs circumvent this, allowing you to realize that you aren't injured. It will take some time before you can walk normally though. Your subconscious has yet to accept it." Gengxin said, getting Eldrian to sit in a wheelchair. 

"I warned you repeatedly." He sighed as he started taking Eldrian back to his room, "I assume you want to go back into the game to check if everyone is alright?"

Eldrian nodded, embarrassed that it seemed like he cared little for his own health. While he had been truly shocked by what had happened, it did not change his plans. More than anything it reinforced them. 

He had to find out what else Miracle was hiding. For he had not thought that such a short fight would result in any problems. It was not as intense as those before either, it lasted not even a minute. 

Climbing onto his immersion chair with difficulty, Eldrian went back into the game. Finding himself on another hospital bed. This one was far less comfortable and instead of a modern ceiling welcoming him, a linen tent roof welcomed him.

His entire body ached, as well as his mind. Rolling to the side, Eldrian saw Kydone lying on the next bed over. Her chest area covered in bandages. Luckily it seemed that she was breathing normally. 

'We did it.' Eldrian thought, trying to sit up and ending up on the ground. Coughing out the mouthful of dirt he had eaten, Eldrian stopped and cast Anthisma on himself. Finding the spell did nothing. 

'Great. Why do I always rush to get up?' Eldrian moaned, giving up on standing up and instead turning over onto his back. In this position, he started to meditate again. It was the only thing he could do to pass the time. 

But more than anything, he felt it was something he had to do now. While the feeling he had grasped before falling unconscious got hidden in his memeroies. 

Like before, Eldrian managed to move the first pathways with ease, however, even with his tired state, the following ones did not become much harder. Instead, the mana from outside started moving towards him. Supplementing the difficulty of maintaining those he had finished, half stabilizing them. 

[Ability Unlocked: Mana Sense]

[Through a simply thought you can choose to witness the world of magic. A sight incorporating both Magic Inspection, Mana Examination, Observe, and Inspect. Allowing you to see the world in its most basic forms.]

Eldrian did not read nor even see the notification, instead, he felt that something changed. Opening his eyes, he managed to keep his meditative state while looking at all the mists gathering towards him. Forming a spiraling rainbow of colorful mists, his eyes reflecting this unbeknownst to him. 

Eldrian enjoyed the sight for a while, the pressure on his mind decreasing more with each passing moment. A minute later he could continue with ease, managing to finish all five pathways. 

'Now what?' Eldrian wondered as he observed his mana through moving his focus in his meditative state. After a while, he found that he was not done, not quite. Focusing on the nodes(traffic circles) he realized that he had forgotten to give a smooth transfer between the spinning wheels connecting the pathways. 

Making a few bridge-like strings between the two, Eldrin gave a path for the mana in a fixed direction. Keeping the chaotic center as is. Allowing it to grow and absorb all the mana moving towards him. 

Minutes passed and Eldrian kept staying still. Enjoying the sights until suddenly pain started growing where the nodes were. Looking in, he found that the chaotic centers were filled and nearly bursting. 

Hurriedly, Eldrian tried to figure out how to stop the flow. The pain growing and soon his skin bursting open. Unable to stop it. 

Cursing, Eldrian rolled to his side and coughed out blood from the node in his neck. The pain lasting for a few minutes before turning into a truly strange experience. He could feel his limbs being reconstructed after the skin was torn off and the bones were broken. 

While painful, it was not unbearable. In fact, the system seemed to be blocking most of the pain. Finally...

A few minutes later Eldrian got a new message from the system congratulating him. 

[Legacy path started, congratulations to player Eldrian]

[Server Announcement: Legacies have been discovered. Players should pay attention to the myths of Gaia to find clues on how to find a legacy.]

[Player has made a unique mana system, laying the foundation of a legacy. Current legacy rank: B]

[Legacies are the key of hidden classes, and the creation of a new one is extremely rare. While this means the path ahead will be far more difficult, it also means the rank is not predetermined. You can continue to improve upon it.]

[Unique mana pathway bonuses at current rank and development:]

[Stat growth: 250MP]

[Atrribute growth: 20 Consitution, 5 Strength, 5 Agility, 15 Spirit, 10 Inteligence]

[Please name the legacy.]

Eldrian had no idea what to call it, so he continued to read through the messages. Two more waiting for his attention.

[Title Rewarded: Legacy Creation(unique)]

[Proof of ingenuity and discipline. Hard work does pay off. This title proves your right to stand on equal footing to the legends of myths]

[Rewarded 4 levels for accomplishment]

Finally came the message Eldrian had been expecting. 

[Protector Tier 3 reached:]

[Atrribute growth: All Attributes increased by a further 20, to a total bonus of 35 from hidden class attribute growth]

[Bonus stat growth: 25%]

[Skill and Spell enhancement: 20% boost to Tier 3, 40% to Tier 2, 75% to Tier 1, 200% to Tier 0]

[Due to a mana system being created, the increased mana cost no longer applies. All spells will have the bonus.]

This was not even all, Eldrian found that the ghoul kill had gotten him 10million XP. This was by far an insane amount, however, it had shot him up only  one level. Which he had promptly lost due to dying.

Luckily he was resurrected and did not revive in a temple, reducing the penalty from 3 levels to 1(plus all his XP between the two). In the end, he had gained just the four levels from the title reward.

Bringing him to level 25 and increasing his free attributes massively. To a point where he felt it was time to spend them again. Even though he still did not know what to max. 

[Haru's Statistics:]

[Level: 25 (0/20.7M)]

[Hidden Class: Protector Tier 3]

[Avatar Affinity: 100%]

[Attributes:]

[Constitution: 171] <was 131> {Healthier in general than the average person, faster stamina regen and in general more stamina. Also more resistant to poisons, venoms, sickness, etc.}

[Strength: 166] <was 141> {Slightly stronger than one and a half normal persons. Awareness of strength hinges on affinity. The closer to 100%, the closer to perfect syncronization}

[Agility: 201] <was 176> {Twice as fasts as the average person and far more flexible, with perception similarly increased. Perception increased hinges on affinity...} 

[Spirit: 172] <was 137> {Far more resistant to mind manipulation spells, auras, abilities. Also increases mana stores and affinity to nature and spiritual things. Affinity to things hinges on affinity...}

[Intelligence: 205] <was 175> {Helps in understanding of concepts and visualization, however, the effect hinges on affinity... Also, the attribute determining the effectiveness of magic in general.}

[40 free attributes]

'Wow, isn't that some helpful information?' Eldrian commented, finding the description addition to attributes quite nice. Especially the part about how affinity comes into play. Making the reason for his ease with visualizing spells finally click. 

'Wait, is that why?' Eldrian suddenly paused and pondered. Recalling that Constantin had mentioned that most game testers had to stop playing due to reaching 99% affinity. None of them had reached 100%, but even at 99% the system started failing in protecting them. 

'That makes perfect sense, why didn't they warn or stop me?' Eldrian asked, questioning why for once they shared no information with them. 'Did they want to see if it would affect me too? Or... No, likely they wanted to see if it would affect me while using the immersion chair.'

Eldrian didn't know how to feel about this part. He had agreed to the risks when he used the chair, heck he had to go through a bit of hell to activate it. 'No... They needed to warn me of the increased danger.'

Eldrian felt they had dropped the ball. For once they had not managed to stay on a perfect gray path. They had made a mistake in not informing him. Resolving his determination to also hide his findings from them even more than before. For this was a blatant ignoring of his safety. Eldrian was fine ignoring it himself, but not if they ignored it.

'Still... This means injuries will always follow me to reality as phantom injuries. I will need to take a few minutes to hours each time to let my mind cope.'

Eldrian didn't like this one bit, however, he had no other course. He was not willing to give up, he was far too invested. 'I should also make sure that I consciously know I am dying. I have to set myself a point at which I no longer struggle.'

This was far easier said than done. But Eldrian felt this was a must. 

[Stats:]

[HP: 231] <was 160> {Indications of a person's health. Decreased by any type of physical damage, be it an injury, disease, malnutrition, or anything else. The value is only an indication, not 100% absolute.}

[Mana: 573] <was 253> {The amount of mana a person has inside of them. Mana at the ready for use upon but a single command.}

[Stamina: 308] <was 147> {An indication of a person's stamina. However, running out of stamina does not mean no movement. Rather it means much slower movement and inability to use skills which are extremely taxing movements.}

[Armor: 1.5] <was 1> {Protection against physical damage. Damage is basically calculated as follows: The weapon raw damage minus armor, timed by determining attribute.}

[Magic Armor: 1.5] <was 1> {Protection against magical damage. Damage is basically calculated as follows: The spell damage minus armor, timed by determining attribute.}

[Attack (With Aoidos): 59] <was 51> {Raw damage times strength.}

Whistling in happiness, a smile spread over Eldrian's face as he looked at the massive boost this breakthrough had brought him. His fatigue had even started leaving, allowing him to sit up without as much of a struggle. His old skin shedding as he moved. 

'Most of my stats nearly doubled. My attributes shot up massively too. I should be comparable to Tier 4's at this point.' The smile grew even more as Eldrian thought of this. 

*AN: If you are not reading on NovelFull, then you are reading a stolen work.*