A New World, an immersive game experience

Of course, Eldrian again gave Ceph quite the allowance. He had slowly started decreasing it as the days grew on, and today Ceph only got 20 silver. That, however, was still more than enough. Or should be, at least. 

This time Eldrian had also tried his best to hand it to Ceph away from the eyes of the girls, he didn't quite know what they would do knowing how much money Eldrian was just giving out. For sure, he didn't want to appear like someone who flaunted his cash. 

After making sure that the girls seemed settled and that Maia understood her duties, Eldrian left for Solvi's. 

... 

"Finally here?" She asked as she heard the door of her forge being opened, with no one else being allowed inside it was obvious who was entering. 

"Yes, sorry, I needed to handle a few things with my home," Eldrian replied, quickly starting the recording and watching as she was busy installing the crystals she had inscribed over the last two days. 

As she added them, she would also hold a flame under the wing. The combination of heat and mana slowly allowed the crystal to embed itself into the metal. After around two hours she moved on to the voidstone. 

Here, her approach was completely different. No flame was used, instead, she just placed the crystal in its place and then started casting a few spells while slowly adding the magic crystal dust around it.

Eldrian watched as the spells slowly morphed both the adamantine and Exousia wood and the dust sparkled with a sort of life. The adamantine and Exousia wood slowly absorbed the dust and grew around the stone, forming a beautiful network of sparkling purple and gold over a pitch-black stone.

"Alright, that is all the preparation's completed. I must warn you, the forging from here on is going to be extremely violent. You might even die."

Her mentioning this made Eldrian recall when he had entered Boris's forging room unannounced and nearly been killed as a result. However, Eldrian wasn't afraid. 

"I would still like to stay." Eldrian said, his tone serious. 

"Alright, let us hope things go as planned." With that, she took up the spear and held it while diving into deep concentration. 

She now had to slowly activate all the runes and monitor if the abilities of the spear turned out as was planned. Slowly, she started letting the spear feed on her mana. 

As the spear gained more mana, the Exousia's golden glow increased in intensity. Lighting up every corner of the room. Following that, the crystals lit up one by one, until suddenly the voidstone sucked in all the light of the room. 

Finding himself in pitch-black darkness, Eldrian couldn't see a thing. However, he was certain that he was still in the room, and that Solvi was still busy finishing the blade. 

This darkness only lasted for a couple of seconds, after which the golden glow again filled the room, and at the same time massive winds and flames sprang up around the spear. Followed by water and ice, and even some rocks. 

Eldrian watched all this in absolute amazement until he suddenly realized that he was being assaulted by all of them. Pulling out his armor, which luckily he could summon directly on him (worn), he activated Shield.

This gave him an AR and MR rating of 31 as a thin shield formed just over his skin. This massively reduced the damage he was receiving. However, the assault was constant and wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Eldrian's mana was also quickly being consumed from blocking the damage. 

Just twenty seconds passed and he came to realize that the shield was no longer strong enough to block the majority of the damage. His HP quickly started draining. 

While Eldrian wanted to continue and watch, he also didn't want to lose 3 levels again. Jumping back, he rushed through the door and fought to close it before the raging elements could escape into the store. 

The store clerks all looked at him in confusion. They had come to know who he was over the past few days, however, seeing him bloodied, bruised, and burned was not something they had expected would happen. 

"This sucks," Eldrian mumbled as he slumped down against the door, leaving a bloody trail on it.

Finally, one of the clerks managed to break through his stupor and rushed to Eldrian's side. 

"Are you alright?" He asked while casting Anthizo (Tier 1 rejuvenation), only Tier 1 himself and not someone who had focused on learning spells. Anthizo was the only one he knew since it was quite effective as a sleep deterrent. Kind of like coffee, but a magic version. 

"Yes, don't worry..." Eldrian smiled and cast Therapeia (Tier 3 heal) on himself, "Sorry about the mess, I will clean it up." 

Smiling embarrassedly, Eldrian looked at the small pool of blood that had appeared where he had leaned against the door. 

"No no, go get some proper treatment. We will take care of this."

"No, really, I am fine." Eldrian said, of course, his words made no sense to those surrounding him. He was still bleeding, still brushed, and a large part of his body was even burned. How he wasn't crying out in pain was a mystery. 

"We insist!" One of the lady clerks said, rushing to pull him up and trying to guide him to the closest temple.

"You can't die on us!" She shouted in desperation as she felt Eldrian not following her. 

"I really am fine," Eldrian said, touched by their concern but unable to understand it. That was until he finally saw his appearance in the reflection of one of the armor stands. "Oh, now I see why you all are so worried."

Casting Therapeia 10 times, just 3 casts would have him at full health, but he needed much more to deal with the wounds. Finally, he appeared like a new man, shocking everyone in the shop even more. 

Naturally, Eldrian had silently cast the spells without any cooldown. The former was extremely rare, the latter was impossible. To them, it appeared like he just suddenly healed from nothing. 

Letting go of his arm, the lady looked at the elf before her struggling to find the words. Eldrian's apology caused her to just nod absentmindedly. 

"Sorry for the mess, here, take this as an apology." Handing her 5 silvers, Eldrian turned around and waited for Solvi to finish the forging process. Unable to contain his curiosity and more than once wanting to rush back inside the room. 

Finally, four hours later, the door slowly creaked open. From which an extremely tired but happy dwarf appeared. 

Rushing forward, Eldrian first asked if she was alright, not if the crafting was successful. 

"I'm fine, just tired..." She replied, nearly stumbling over her feet. "That was the hardest thing I had ever done." She said upon slumping down against one of the counters. 

"Then?"

Nodding, she smiled, "It was a success. The spear is in the middle of the room."

Thanking her, Eldrian rushed into the room, stunned by what he saw. 

In the center of the room, the spear stood, struck into the ground. Cracks spewed from it, growing even into the walls. It looked like the entire room might fall in at any time. 

"This?" Eldrian stared at the spear in utter awe, even from so far he could feel that it contained an insane amount of mana. That it was insanely strong. 

AN: Check the author's notes regarding the second chapter's release.