A New World, an immersive game experience

Cephaphyr had no complaint in changing form, while it still felt weird, he understood that he was likely going to have to spend most of his time in it. His dad had clearly explained how important it was to fit in. 

Cephaphyr also had an entire childhood of standing out, as such the weird feeling of an elven body was a small price for him to pay to fit in. 

Thanks to that, the two didn't attract too much attention. However, two elves, one with silver hair and another with pitch black and green highlights. That was still quite the sight and caused nearly everyone in the guild to stare for at least a few seconds before realizing how rude they were being. 

Cephaphyr picked up on this very clearly, making him shrink into himself. Eldrian immediately realized what was going on. Stopping, he bent down to look Ceph in the eyes. 

"Ignore them, they are just curious. Did I ever tell you how much of an attraction I was when I first arrived in this world?"

Shaking his little head no, Cephaphyr looked at Eldrian with curiosity. "You see, I didn't always work as hard as I did. So when I first arrived, I was quite overweight. Now here is the kicker, no one had ever seen an elf who was overweight."

"Everywhere I had gone, people had stared at me in disbelief."

"What did you do?" Cephaphyr asked, hoping for a way to get rid of this feeling of insecurity. 

"What did I do? I ignored them and continued with my own life. You shouldn't let their stares bother you, instead, you should take pride in them."

"But... What... Why?"

"Naturally, they are staring at us because we are such an awesome pair! They must be jealous that they can't be as awesome as us!" Eldrian felt weird talking like this, but seeing Cephaphyr's smile start to appear he didn't relent. 

"So, let's walk with pride and let them see what two best friends really look like!"

"Right!" Cephaphyr shouted, held his head high, and followed Eldrian to the counter. 

Behind the counter was a beastkin with golden brown fur. This was the first time that Cephaphyr saw someone like this and he stared in wonder, causing Eldrian to smile as he ruffled his hair. 

Naturally, the beastkin didn't even realize that he was being stared at as he stared back at the two before him in shock. Only coming out of it once Eldrian spoke. 

"Do you have a map of the kingdom?" Eldrian asked. 

"A map? Of course, but we only have one of the surrounding areas."

"How far does it go, are the nearest cities at least included?" Eldrian asked.

"Yes, the map extends all the way to Valan and Eastarian." The beastkin replied, and after confirming that Eldrian was still interested he headed to go get one of the maps.

When he returned Eldrian had piled a bunch of copper emblems on the desk. "Right, I also just remembered that I never turned these in for my reward."

This was naturally the accumulation of the rewards for the areas he had cleared. Counting the pile, the beastkin stared at Eldrian in disbelief. "Hold on, I will have to get my superior."

Nodding, Eldrian waited patiently. The entire process took another 20 minutes to get it all sorted out, after which Eldrian and Cephaphyr left. During the process, Ceph had started looking around the place in curiosity. 

Eldrian had also taken a look at his stats in human form, realizing that Cephaphyr was far more fragile in it. While his HP was unchanged, his armor and magic armor had been reduced to 9 and 15 respectively. Which was still quite impressive, but a far cry from his alicorn form. 

"Thank you, enjoy your day." Eldrian said with a wide smile as he made the pile of gold disappear before many greedy looks. This, along with his reward for being part of the team that ended up 4th, brought his total gold count to 110.

Looking at the nice round number, he couldn't help but smile while being happy that money was operated separately from items in his inventory. Giving him an actual number and not just being a pile of gold. 

'Oh right, I also have the Tier 2 reward still waiting for me to claim.' Eldrian smiled, having completely forgotten about it. Unlike everyone else, he hadn't rushed to claim them nor did he rush to spend his gold. 

Turning around, he headed back to the desk confusing not just the beastkin but also Cephaphyr.

"Do you maybe have a map of the city too? I am looking for a particular temple. The temple of the goddess of magic, does Duran have one?"

"I am afraid not," The beastkin replied, "However, Valan does."

Eldrian smiled and thanked the man again, as they headed out Cephaphyr just had to ask. "Why are you looking for a temple?"

"I can get a special item there," Eldrian replied and didn't elaborate until the two were in the air again. To not cause a ruckus they had first exited the city proper and took of outside in the fields (the same area where they had landed).

...

Two hours later the two landed before the second wall of the city of Valan, scaring these guards just as much as those from Duran. Only, the captain of the guards here was Tier 5 and not as timid.

However, Eldrian quickly explained their purpose, and with him telling them to confirm things with Observe helped things go smoothly. 

This time they didn't rush straight for their target. Instead, they enjoyed the sights the city had to offer. When a particular food stall or restaurant pique Cephaphyr's interest the two would make a stop and enjoy the food. 

Eldrian didn't even bat an eye when the sweets cost an entire silver, quickly Cephaphyr became spoiled and fell in love with the wonders of city life. 

"Here it is," Eldrian said with a smile as they finally found the temple. It wasn't large, in fact it was only twice the size of the surrounding houses. Compared to the temple of Asteria, it was tiny.

But that was to be expected, the goddess of magic had far fewer followers and her followers were normally only mages. Yet, Asteria didn't have such a limit, anyone and everyone who was looking to have a family would pray to her. 

"Welcome, how may I help you?" A young cleric of Skepsi asked as soon as the two entered the temple. Cephaphyr looked at the statues and decorations in awe while Eldrian explained that he was a Chosen and wanted to pray at one of the altars. 

"Of course, this way."

Finding himself before a statue of a meditating woman, Eldrian touched it to activate the interface.  After searching around a bit, he finally found an item that he liked. 

[Neckless of Calming: Tier 2]

[While wearing the neckless, the wearer will have their mind calmed allowing them to think more rationally and not become lost to their emotions.]

[Increases Status Resistance: 15%]

[Increases Mana Regenarion: 3MP/5s]

'Nice,' Eldrian smiled and decided to take it. While the status resistance wasn't of much interest as he didn't really know how it worked, the mana regeneration was what he was after. 

Currently, if he had to wait for his mana to regenerate without meditating it would take 10 minutes. If he meditated he could cut that down to half, but he couldn't meditate during a fight. Aoidos's ability was also becoming very lackluster, though his spells weren't that expensive. 

Eldrian had a feeling that Tier 4 and especially Tier 5 were going to start showing just how mana draining spells can be. 

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