A New World, an immersive game experience

'I might be able to get a few nice weapons with the money I have, but magical items are expensive.' Eldrian wasn't too worried about this, for now. He would much rather experiment with his own designs. If he had the time.

'Wait! The reaver parts, that might be far more ideal.' Eldrian noted, he already planned to make a trip to the city. Now he simply felt it would be smart to do so a bit earlier. He had to take a few to test if they could deal more damage.

"Still, we should formulate a plan," Myropsis said, understanding that Eldrian was not going to move earlier than planned.

Nodding, Eldrian asked, "What type of spell are you planning to use?"

"Thunder cage followed with a flame spear," Myropsis replied, giving the translated names of the spells. Their original was Divronti Cage and Fotiry Spear.

"Cast time?"

"Around twenty seconds, but it should be able to keep the ghoul in place for a few minutes. If it tries to escape it will be burned to a crisp. So I will be able to finish it off without a problem." Myropsis said, quite confident.

'Twenty seconds, that's long.', "Can you pre-cast and hold the spell?"

"That is the plan, but I won't be able to hold for too long. A few minutes at most, and I will need the ghoul to stand still for a second."

'Can't do that in melee, I'll be in the way of the spell.' Eldrian noted, "Right, what of the flaming reanimate and if the two are together?"

"Ocean current followed with Ice rain should kill its flames."

'Which will severely weaken but not kill it.' Eldrian noted, asking again for the cast time. After getting a rough idea of what Myropsis had in mind he started developing his own plan with runic magic. With Two, he could probably lay around ten runic mines.

'That would be my best bet still, it would be best if I can handle it with the traps. The last one should be something to capture and keep it still.'

'Ether surge?' Two mumbled.

'Won't work, too little force behind it.' Eldrian replied, but Two begged to differ.

'It will be hard to target the ghoul while in combat, however, if we hit it with enough force it should be stunned, if for only a split second. We can then use that to lock it down for a full second.'

'Maybe, but it is an undead. It might not be stunned.' Eldrian replied. 'But this is all assuming her spells will work.'

'Are you doubting her skills?'

'I simply can't be confident... Maybe I should ask her to show me.', "Myropsis, would you mind showing me the spells?"

"Sure." She replied with a firm nod, turning to the ground where Eldrian had been training. The grass beaten down and nearly torn from its roots. Slowly turning into a grassless area.

Focusing on this area, Myropsis called forth the spell. Eldrian watched intriguingly as her mana collected and formed the lighting cage. Rippling with energy as she started her second cast.

Eldrian wanted to test its power, but he was keenly aware that the lighting would burn him to a crisp. This was the feeling he got from staring at it.

'This should do, if a ghoul fears lightning... It should, it is still humanoid and lightning is quite hot-' Eldrian frowned, the latter seemed not to be quite right. While it was indeed a cage of lighting, it did not fill the surroundings with heat as thunder would.

'It's restricted, mana taking the form only. And unlike fire, it does not ignite the surroundings to become real.'

"I don't feel any heat from the lightning," Eldrian said, his comment was so unexpected that it caused Myropsis to lose focus and her next spell to backlash. Giving her a massive headache. 'Hope she will focus better on the day.' Eldrian felt even less confident now.

"What do you mean you don't feel any heat?" She asked after taking a second to calm her mana and stabilize her thoughts.

"Lightning should be... Never mind, it appears to be artificial. Which makes me worry that its effect is only electrifying, and not burning what it touches." Clarifying that the former would appear to cause the latter, Eldrian added, "This might mean it would be incapable of stopping the ghoul."

"There's no way, if it dares to try and escape it will die."

'I'll make preparations anyway.' Eldrian thought, certain that if Myropsis knew of his thoughts she would bully him again while she still had a slight upper hand in raw strength. Though at this point it was only a few points difference. Eldrian would be able to fight back.

After talking a bit more with Myropsis, Eldrian dived back into practice. This time he was determined to reach Tier 4 in melee. However, for that, he needed a skill. Making a quick return trip to the city via his and Ceph's teleportation ability, he smiled seeing that his friend no longer sported any wounds.

"How are things?" Eldrian asked, taking a pause to talk with Ceph. Taking the time to make sure that there was no lingering anger, Eldrian apologized again.

"Please stop, I already told you that I understand that you weren't in your right mind. Besides you were-"

"It's still on me. The curse didn't do much other than increase my pride and arrogance." Pausing, Eldrian did not want to continue on this path. "Where's your mom?"

"She's currently helping Erik and Akarui with the vertical farms." Ceph replied, "Aren't you on a mission?"

"We're delayed, there's a ghoul in the mines."

"But you're not coming to call for help?" Ceph asked but already understood this.

"My mana is about to stabilize, at which point I should be able to reach Tier 5 finally. I should thus be able to lure the ghoul into a trap."

Ceph frowned, "You know how dangerous a ghoul is."

"Indeed, that is why I came. I need a Tier 4 skill that I can quickly master to increase in that area too. I'm hoping to finally reach the requirements to use Crystoi."

Ceph nodded, not offering to join. He understood that he was not a ghoul's match while still stuck at Tier 4. Thanks to his mother's treatments his scar had healed but recalling that desperate fight, where it once was burned as he recalled his struggle. If a ghoul did not have that deadly venom he would have stood a better chance. But as it is, one scratch and it only went downhill from there.

Before leaving Eldrian turned, curious what Ceph was doing. Asking thus, he got a confusing answer.

"I'm reflecting."

"On what?"

"You said that you were prideful and arrogant, but I wasn't any better. I had thought nothing of you wanting to test your limits against an unknown enemy, knowing that you would be outnumbered."

"Did the curse affect you too?" Eldrian asked, worried that it might be possible to share such burdens through the soul bond.

That topic was a strange one to Eldrian. As time passed and with all the events that had happened, he felt like he and Ceph were not close enough to have such a connection. Yet, there was no backing out of it now.

"According to mom it affected the entire city to an extent, I wasn't cursed directly but it is quite likely. Regardless, it is as you say. I allowed myself to be overconfident, to not consider the dangers. It nearly cost me my life, yours, and..."

Eldrian nodded, he would not argue or try to cheer Ceph up. For there was no dodging the burden of responsibility that they both felt for the events that had followed. The destruction of the entire city had come from their arrogance.

This was their belief, yet there was no way to truly know if it was Eldrian's rage that had formed a bridge for Kilen or if it just happened to appear as such. The two however had not considered that at all. Both were instead determined to not let hubris blind them ever again.

As they talked, Eldrian mentioned that maybe Ceph should find himself some armor. While it might feel restrictive at first, it was indeed valuable. Ceph nodded, he would normally not consider it since in his Alicorn form most normal weapons would be incapable of hurting him. However, in his elven form the story was different.

As Eldrian left, he muddled over their conversation. 'Even with traps and Myropsis, it is still dangerous to attempt this...' Eldrian nodded, when he reached the adventurer's guild the first thing he did was ask for a letter.

Explaining the situation, he asked one of the guild workers to take this to the mayor. The person paused in uncertainty, upon Eldrian stating his house name the man moved quickly.

'Ideally, we won't require saving. But I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.'

Next, he perused the skills that the guild had in stock, their selection certainly the best in the entire city.

'Previously skills were quite basic, but at Tier 4 and onward it should be possible to get something more advanced that is flashy not just to be flashy. And I believe I am practiced enough to add magic to my movements without much thought.'

Luckily, with things how they are and Eldrian as renowned as he was, the guild did not ask him to pay for the skill. Instead, they were very supportive and helped him find something suited to him and effective against the undead in a short manner quickly.

AN: A big thanks to everyone who continues to support the story by simply reading on Web, voting for the story, or sharing comments. It is all greatly appreciated.