A New World, an immersive game experience

Seeing that they were waiting for him to elaborate, Gengxin happily did. "This will naturally depend on if the AI will agree."

"But, what if we added a virtual fight. To access it they would go to a temple and pay a certain amount, and then the specific temple would have a test..." Gengxin paused as he thought of something

"Mmm, it doesn't even need to be a fight, just a test based on the god of the temple's godhood."

"Unfortunately, I doubt the AI would be willing to indulge us that much." Joren sighed as he said this, "First of all, a virtual test would need to be something wrapped up with souls. Which is an area they really do not like us poking into."

"Even if they somehow accepted that, we would then need to come up with appropriate tests.. And we have no idea what types of tests would work. I doubt the AI would just hand us the keys to hidden classes and most likely the key to magic."

Regardless, the three kept throwing out ideas to try and figure out if there might be something they could do. Even going so far as to have their departments join in.

...

"Thank goodness he didn't pressure me." Eldrian mumbled as he entered his room, climbed into the cabin, and logged in. 

By now, the sun was almost setting. However, that didn't matter too much to Eldrian. Looking around, he saw Cephaphyr playing with Akarui near the spring and Erik practicing some spells not far away. 

"How's it going?" Eldrian asked, causing Erik to lose focus and the grass he had been controlling to return to normal. 

"Good, but I am still stuck at Tier 1. How the hell do you manage to control your mana so completely?" Erik asked for nearly the hundredth time. This time, Eldrian had a slightly different answer. 

"Practice is key. None of us remember how we learned to walk, but I am certain it took a massive amount of concentration to keep our balance and move our legs."

"What does-"

"Let me finish, please. What I did, and how I always answered your question before was to put all your focus into feeling your mana and attempting to move it. Slowly, you will come to learn how you can actually accomplish this."

Naturally, Eldrian was aware that all that he said was being recorded by Miracle. That didn't matter though, as this wasn't really new news. Just a bit more polished. 

"But, this lacks a key part of it. It takes more than just practice to get the leg to move. It takes getting used to."

"The difference, or what I am trying to say, is this. You shouldn't consider mana something that is foreign. You should see it as something that is part of you, just like how your legs are part of you."

"Honestly, even I have yet to succeed in this last part. But I am slowly getting used to thinking of mana as an extension of myself, and as I improve in this, my control also massively improves."

Erik looked at his friend in deep reflection. He had been pushing himself to get his mana to move, to learn new spells and abilities that Zamia had thought him over the past months. Yet, he hadn't made much progress. 

It didn't take him long to realize why. He truly felt that mana was something foreign, not part of him. 

How could he think that it was part of him?

Unlike his avatar with an entire body reflective of his real one, mana was ethereal and not something that could be found on Earth. 

How could something, that he could only feel in the game, be part of him? How was he to manage to change his perception? 

Turning to the playing kids, Erik smiled as he realized a key part of it. 'No wonder Eldrian is so much better than me. I am not even sure what I see Akarui as. Do I truly consider her a person, or just an AI who I care for deeply?'

The difference between the two options was truly massive, but it wasn't easy to know on which side he was. Honestly, Erik felt that he was in between. He truly considered her a little sister by this point, but outside of her, he didn't see other NPCs as real. 

And this, this meant that some part of him also didn't consider her to be a real person. 

"How do you do it?" Erik asked, knowing full well that Eldrian considered each and every NPC a person. Even the alicorns, who were an entirely different species. He didn't discriminate, his only criteria were whether they were intelligent and capable of communicating. 

Heck, Erik even remembered how Eldrian had shared his distraught at killing a devil. A race acknowledged as evil by everyone, yet Eldrian had felt bad for killing him. 

Of course, Eldrian had only shared that after coming to grasps with everything. However, the fact remained. Erik felt certain he would feel nothing when killing devils and demons.

"What do you mean?" Eldrian asked, and instead of elaborating Erik just sighed. Knowing that the answer to his question was not something that could be explained in words. 

"Forget it..."

Eldrian shrugged, and after a few minutes he asked, "Do you want to come with me?"

"To the frontlines?" Erik asked and Eldrian nodded. 

Thinking on it for a moment, Erik found he didn't like that idea one bit. He wanted to stay to make sure Akarui was safe, but that wasn't all. He also wanted to grow stronger and learn more about this world. 

He had bought his headset with the aim of enjoying a game. He had yet to play it as such, and he felt he might never be able to. But, he still wanted to at least enjoy it.

However, did enjoying it mean going to war? Erik felt that that wasn't for him. 

ANW wasn't like other games where war was romanticized and pretty. It was brutal, cruel, and uncaring. 

He remembered his time in Vuetvale. Where he had healed person after person, where he had fought on just to make sure Akarui was safe. 

"No, I don't think I will." Erik finally replied. 

Instead of pushing, Eldrian simply nodded. "Are you going to stay here then?"

"For now, I can still learn a great deal from Zamia. In fact, without her, I doubt I will ever be able to reach higher Tiers in my hidden class."

Eldrian nodded in agreement, unlike him, Erik had a much different road to walk. 

"However, once I have reached Tier 3 or 4, and if Akarui is finally safe and healthy... I would like to tour the kingdom of Taurus. I never planned to join the game to fight a war, and I hope I can manage to stay out of it. But, I do want to see the world and explore magic."

"Of course, there is nothing wrong with that." Eldrian smiled as he said this, wondering what he would do if there was no pressure to stay and fight. If Vivian... 'No, even if she had stayed in Phallos, I would still have come. I would still be trying to fight.'

{AN: A big thanks to everyone who continues to support this novel on WN.}