A New World, an immersive game experience

Chapter 141: Does it work?

"But..." Sabrea wanted to say that she was faster and stronger than Eldrian. But she realized that this did not mean much. Any of them could simply be overwhelmed if they went out, it did not really matter how strong they were.

"It has to be me," Eldrian said, making this final. As he said this he looked at his avatar statistics. Gazing at the free attributes.

Agility... Again? He wondered, feeling that this was his current best use of them. Nothing else would make this plan work better and this plan had to work. He had to save Vivian and as such Eldrian was willing to use them simply for this one reason.

As he was pondering this, Terlas asked an important question, "How are we going to make those platforms. More importantly, how are we going to get up on them while stopping the goblins from doing the same?"

To this Eldrian turned to Cephaphyr explaining what he wanted to do and asking, 'Can we cut some trees to build these platforms?'

Cephaphyr shook his head, causing his blackmane to wave in the air, 'No need! I can make them!' Cephaphyr happily walked to one of the trees at the edge of the forest. Standing under it for a few seconds with his head against the tree's trunk.

Slowly the tree seemed to come alive, its branches moving and folding. Forming a platform of around 3 meters in diameter at 10 meters high.

Eldrian stared at this in wonder, wondering what Tier of nature spell that was. Or if that even was a spell, maybe it was simply an ability of Alicorns. Whatever it was, Eldrian felt it was really useful and he started wondering how else he could use this.

'How are we supposed to climb that?' Eldrian asked Cephaphyr instead of praising him, causing the latter to shake his head in embarrassment. He had completely forgotten that only he could fly.

Going back to the tree, Cephaphyr again placed his head against its trunk. A few seconds later vines started growing on the platform.

In total five vines grew around the platform, each falling down to the ground. Perfect height for everyone to easily climb them and enough that no one had to wait.

Seeing the vines Eldrian smiled widely and rubbed Cephaphyrs back, 'Good job, this is perfect.' Cephaphyr neighed pridefully, feeling like a part of the group. He only wished he knew what the noises everyone made meant. Not knowing was stopping him from truly being part of the group.

"This should work right?" Eldrian asked with his stupid smile, all the others simply nodded. They had been shocked to see the magic. While it might not be out of their imagination, the ease and little time the little Alicorn had done it with. That left them astonished.

After overcoming their shock they all climbed onto the tree, finding that there was more than enough space atop for everyone. The tree also had a clear view of the area ahead. Being one of the border trees, it allowed anyone a clear shot at the goblins should they come too close.

"This is perfect," Eldrian said happy for a moment until he remembered that he had already dropped all the arrows on the ground. Grumbling he told the others to wait as he went down to bring them all up. Being the only one who could do this in one go.

As he was going down Cephaphyr flew up, 'Why are you going down?' He asked, keeping himself at Eldrian's level.

'Forgot something, go up. I'll be there in a few.' Eldrian replied, envious as he looked at Cephaphyr easily reaching the top with just a few flaps of his wings.

A few minutes later back atop the tree Eldrian asked everyone, "Shall we try?"

None of them had anything against trying. They quickly pulled up their own vines, leaving only Eldrian's for him to climb down off.

Taking a deep breath Eldrian started climbing down again. As he did Sabrea shouted from atop, "Don't die! Even if... Just don't die!"

Eldrian sighed as he heard this, a smile forming on his face a few seconds later. He was glad that someone cared for him, even if this was completely unnecessary. It still felt nice.

On the ground, Eldrian stood at the edge of the forest and called his avatar panel again. Adding all his free attributes to agility and making it a total of 150. Then he rushed out, quickly reaching the 50-meter mark. It taking him only 5 seconds. He stopped at this distance and looked at the caves, spear in hand.

Eldrian planned to lead them close to him, allowing him to hopefully also gain a few kills. He felt more and more that he needed to level, especially now that going up in Tiers was out of the question.

He had also realized just how amazing the free attributes were at the start. Eldrian understood that their effectiveness would diminish after a set amount of upgrading. The extra strength or speed becoming smaller and smaller compared to the total he would already have.

But for now, it was a great way to fit better into the situation's needs.

The goblins soon spotted Eldrian and while less enthusiastic than last time, they still rushed out of their caves towards him. Once they saw him not rushing back to the forest, they all let out a blood-curling sound of excitement.

Eldrian felt his skin crawl as he heard this, goosebumps growing all over. Even knowing this was a game, he could not help but feel threatened. The sheer number of goblins was staggering.

Calm down. Simply keep a few meters between you and them.Eldrian told himself, knowing full well that if he did no he would die. No doubts about it.

Holding his ground, Eldrian waited until they were ten meters from him. He started moving once they passed this point.

He did not run directly for the forest, instead, he ran in an arc. Allowing Terlas and Margit more time to shoot from their position. They did not even need to aim, simply launching their attacks into the mass of goblins. Easily claiming the lives of many goblins.

As Eldrian ran he adjusted his speed until he was slightly slower than the goblins. Seeing their prey come nearer the goblins shrieked in anticipation.

Okay... One step forward and then strike.Eldrian told himself trying to figure out how he was supposed to attack while running. He had never tried kiting anything before, at least not in person.

Just before acting he quickly used Drive to boost his strength, after which he took one big step forward. Twisting on this leg, Eldrian performed a large wide swing. He almost fumbled and tripped, having added too much into that swing. Luckily the attack claimed the lives of three goblins while almost killing another.

The goblins right behind these quickly tripped over these four. Giving Eldrian enough time to recover and gain some distance again. Eldrian grinned as he sped up to keep his normal distance again. Looking at the 400 XP he had just gained he felt this was truly a great opportunity.

He continued to do this a few more times, claiming a total of 30 goblins' lives before he re-entered the forest. Having exhausted his mana and nearly his stamina too. Eldrian had switched between boosting his strength and giving himself some regen bonuses with Anthizo. This had allowed him to continue for far longer than if he simply fought and ran.

The goblins shouted and shrieked as they looked at him standing just a few meters from them. Yet they did not enter.

After a minute or two they started leaving, ignoring all those who had died in this crazy charge of theirs.

The first one went well. Seems like they are simple-minded, like mobs of older games. This might be an insanely good strategy for leveling. Eldrian thought as he started heading to the others. Looking at his XP which had soared, having gained 3000 XP from this one attempt. He could not help but grind like an idiot, now only needing 5000 more for his next level.

Each goblin might not give much, but there was more than enough to make up for this. They were also easy to kill. Truly the best combination for the early game.

"That was great, but I already shot a fourth of my arrows," Terlas said as soon as Eldrian reached the top of the tree.

Eldrian wanted to ask if that number was a little low, but before he could Margit also spoke, "And I will need at least 15 minutes to recover my mana."

"Well that isn't an issue, I also need to recover my mana and stamina. The arrows though..." Eldrian did not know what to do. A part of him felt that Terlas could have easily used over half of them in that attempt. Yet he had not.

This did not really matter though, since they had no way to recover the arrows. Or rather most of the arrows were past the 50-meter distance and would likely cause the goblins to charge. Going and picking them up would also take far too much time.

As he pondered he saw Cephaphyr who was lying with his front legs on the edge of the platform.

'Hey, Ceph. Would you be able to make arrows? And spears or javelins?' Eldrian asked, sending images of his plans to Cephaphyr.

'What do you mean?' Cephaphyr asked, failing to understand even after Eldrian shared them images of arrows and javelins with him.

'We need something we can hit them with from range, we can't fight them all at once.' Eldrians started explaining, not minding too much since he needed at least 20 minutes to recover enough to not gain fatigue.

'So I wonder if you can make those things Terlas, the guy with blond hair, is shooting. If you are able then it would really help us out.'

'I don't know, but I'll try my best!' Cephaphyr replied happy to be of help. He took a few minutes, gazing at the arrows on the platform, before turning to Eldrian.

'I can make the wooden part, but... I can't add the metal or feathers.'

'That isn't a problem.' Eldrian replied full of excitement, rushing to explain how Cephaphyr could cover for not adding metal or feathers.

'You can simply make it all wood, just try and make it look the same. Alright.'

Cephaphyr nodded and walked to the trunk of the tree which was in the middle of their platform. Placing his head against it again.