A New World, an immersive game experience

'But it looks good. No! Don't!' Eldrian struggled to keep his thoughts from wandering.

"Hey! Anyone there?" Marcy asked as she patted Eldrian's head, making sure that her shirt was hanging low as she did.

Seeing this Eldrian felt more strength leave him, barely managing to say, "Sorry I was spacing out."

"Oh? Why do you always do that?" She teased him, giving him a suggestive wink. Causing Eldrian to feel his cheeks burn up even more.

"Because I don't understand girls!" Eldrian replied, swiftly walking towards the house. Trying to run from her attempts at teasing him. Giggling she followed after him.

The house the girls were staying in was quite a distance from the university, making its rent much cheaper. The distance didn't bother them too much as two of the girls had cars, which they would use when going out or when the weather was bad. On normal days they would all cycle, needing around half an hour to reach the university. They saw these cycle sessions as a nice way of exercising.

Eldrian on the other hand only needed to cycle around 15 minutes to reach the university.

The house was really nice. It was a two-story building with five standard bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a nice communal area. The communal areas consisted of a kitchen, dining room, and a TV room. Other than this there was also a swimming pool at the back, with a nice green garden.

Walking into the kitchen Eldrian saw his sister busy stirring a pot, from which a spicy aroma was being created. Eldrian immediately smelling it as he entered.

'I guess she's making a curry.' Eldrian thought to himself as he looked at the kitchen again. Still a bit dumb about everything inside of it. The kitchen was modern, with an induction stove and many fancy-looking cooking utensils or tools.

He never really paid attention to all of them, not bothering to learn their purpose. Simply because he didn't like making food, finding two-minute noodles to be easy and tasty enough. Yet after a hard day or a terrible test, he always needed a homecooked meal. Luckily his sister was here, willing to help him in that department.

"Jenny your bro is here!" Marcy said as she entered the kitchen after Eldrian, giving him a flirtatious wink as she passed him.

"Thank you Marce, the food will be ready in twenty or so more minutes." Eldrian's sister, Jennifer, replied. Her tone indicating that Marcy should leave them alone for a bit.

"Ah... Are you trying to get rid of me?" Marcy asked, hugging Jen from behind.

"Come on, you know Eldrian doesn't like it when you get handsy." Replied Jen.

Pouting Marcy placed her head on Jen's shoulder and whispered, "Oh come on, we can invite him too..."

"Marcy!"

"Alright, I'll give you two lovebirds some time alone." She said, making sure to give Eldrian another wink as she left for her room.

"How do you stand her?" Eldrian asked, finding her to be really scary and uncaring about personal space. The last being the major problem he had, not really being someone who liked it when someone just suddenly invaded his space.

"You get used to it, even a little reliant," Jen replied, sighing as she did.

After a short break of struggling to believe his sister Eldrian said, "I guess you are making a group meal."

"Yup, sorry but when the girls heard I was making food they all begged me to make enough for them too."

"What are you making?"

"Oh, just some curried chicken. There is also some rice cooking over there." She answered, pointing towards a rice cooker sitting on the countertop at the other side of the kitchen.

"Smells nice," Eldrian said as he took a wif over the pot, "How many are going to be here today?"

"Everyone is here except for Sarah. She went to visit her boyfriend. So we will be five with you."

"Is she still going out with the same guy?" Eldrian asked, making small talk while not really caring what Sarah was doing. He just wanted to let his sister feel like he did.

"Yeah, his name is Daniel. Why do you never remember?"

"I guess I don't really care." Eldrian confessed while shrugging, causing his sister to laugh while she stirring the pot.

Eldrian made a point of not really caring, since if he did then he would soon want to date one of them. While none of them were drop-down gorgeous, they were all fit and good-looking. The only thing making it easy for Eldrian was that most of them had some or other quirk he could focus on to put himself off.

Well, each person had such a quirk, he just knew about each of theirs' since his sister had told him about them. Either as a warning or when she was telling him stories about them going out or partying.

The reason he promised himself to never date one of his sister's friends was that he didn't want to put her in a weird position. Especially if they happened to break up later, he didn't want Jen to be in the middle of that.

Even though these were his intentions he often failed in daydreaming. Mainly because he hadn't dated a girl before, making him much more inexperienced and easier to tease. Luckily he felt this also helped him be less appealing to her friends, with them opting to tease him rather than take him seriously.

Marcy was the one who loved doing it the most. Her day often made when she could tease Eldrian and make him uncomfortable. She loved how he would start squirming, trying to escape while not wanting to simply run away.

"Why did you ask for a homecooked meal?" Jen asked, knowing that Eldrian only felt a craving for homecooked meals when something bad had happened. Yet she couldn't think of what had happened.

"Ah, remember that game I told you about?" Eldrian asked, fetching himself a chair so that he could also sit while talking and waiting for the food to finish.

"Yeah, I remember you said it was simply amazing. What happened?"

"Well it still is amazing, I just think it might be a bit too amazing."

"I don't understand."

"Did I tell you about the event I was going on Friday night?"

"You said something about a quest, I don't really remember."

"I guess you can say that it was due to that event. We went..." Eldrian started explaining what happened during this event. Glancing over the more painful or sad parts, yet Jen quickly caught all these things he was trying to hide. Often trying to weasel the information out of him, yet he tried to keep it hidden. Still hoping that his sister would join the game, just definitely not as a High Elf.

At the start she was surprised that her brother had made a female friend, something which he never managed before. She couldn't understand how he could talk about it so normally, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Vivian was a female as he talked. Except when he had talked about how they met.

Her brother had told her about how he had been completely dazed when first meeting her, yet now he was talking about Vivian as if she was just a friend. Seemingly having completely forgotten about that.

'What is going on?' She asked herself while listening to him, not wanting to interrupt him about this. Feeling that if she did then he might feel really weird when he met her in the game again.

"So, you're saying that it was just like a real war?" She asked when he started to talk about the battle.

"Umm, yeah I guess. But one with magic and all that stuff." Eldrian answered, trying to hype the fight up.

"Do you really want to play such a game? And do you still want me to play it?"

"Um, I feel like I have to play at this stage. The NPCs in the game feel too real for me and I don't want to just abandon them."

'Is he in love? No can't be, he won't fall in love with a virtual character. Right?' She asked herself as Eldrian continued to defend his stance.

"The rest of the game is still wonderful, it is just the fighting which feels too real. I think you should still join, just don't join as a High Elf. It is too difficult, very troublesome and I think there are some bugs with this race."

"Do you think I can't handle that?"

"Ah, no! It is just that, it makes it feel even less like a game. As many of the normal game functions aren't available to High Elves."

"If I do decide to play, then I will first look at all the races. I can't believe you just jumped in after looking at the elves' section."

Hearing this Eldrian quieted down and lowered his head. Finding that his haste had indeed been un-gamer-like. But he didn't dwell on this for too long, knowing that he couldn't go back and change anything even if he wanted. Sure he could restart his character, but he didn't feel that would fix anything.

Continuing on he told her about the fight, trying to skip the parts where he got really hurt.

Yet his sister caught onto this and asked, "So you felt the pain. Like for real?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't that much." He lied, not wanting to put her off from the game.

"Why on earth would you still want to play then? Why play when you can get hurt?" She almost screamed these questions at him.

"Because I find the world extremely interesting. I also feel like I might be able to do something to change what is going to happen."

"Why don't you just focus on your real life?"

"I-I-don't know. It is just something I feel I have to do!"

'Is it love?' Jen asked herself, finding his stubbornness and clueless answer very strange. It made her a little worried about her little bro, making her promise herself to hang out with him every week. No matter what!

"Also I think I might be able to make some money from the game." Eldrian added after seeing his sister's concerned look.

"Do you really think that will happen?"

"Well, not to the point where I won't have to work. But I feel that if I streamed then I might make enough to cover some of my costs. Maybe a little more. If I get an audience that is..."

"I am glad you realize you still have to study!" Jen answered, feeling relieved that Eldrian was still going to continue studying. "You better get good marks, if you don't I will tell mom and dad about this game."

"What, no don't do that!" Eldrian said, grabbing her hands and looking her straight in the eyes. "Please... I am begging you."

"Then don't get below 60 for anything, or I am telling." She replied, looking right back into his eyes.

Defeated Eldrian conceded in defeat, "Fine... I won't slack off..."

"Good," Jen said with a nod, somehow having become the one holding Eldrian's hands. Which she only released at this time.

Trying to cheer himself up Eldrian thought about it like having two jobs. People in such a situation normally hated both, he could at least love one when he started hating studying. Which he felt was normal as most students enter that phase.

Having learned his lesson that he couldn't really hide something from his sister, Eldrian decided to simply skip the rest. Not wanting to tell her how he died in-game and the fright he had from it. He didn't want to ruin his own future in the game.

After all this, they sat in silence while waiting for the food to finish. Eldrian too scared to talk anymore. Jen too upset with the fact that Eldrian was clearly still hiding something from her.