A New World, an immersive game experience

Taking his stance again, Eldrian closed his eyes. Focusing entirely and completely on his spear.

He did not immediately summon the flames, instead, he only filled the spear with mana. Leaving it with a simple instruction, to only jump out on his feint.

He started slowly, bringing his spear up for the feint. A strike aimed at the opponent's eyes.

His spear struck out like a snake. But midway through it suddenly changed direction. And as it did flames sprang from the spear, blocking sight of the spear as the flames flew like a viper at the target. The spear instead bent and struck at the waist.

The two attacks collided with the tree at the same instant. Its bark turned to cinders above and splintering blow. The entire tree shook from the attack. Cracking and nearly splintering in half.

Eldrian jumped back in shock. Stunned by the prowess it had just shown him. Calming himself, he attempted to use the skill again. It took him eight more tries to get two more successes. Receiving the system message, Eldrian was stunned by the value of this skill.

[Skill learned - Fotias (Flaming snake strike)]

[Fire damage: 182 (38)]

[Strike damage: 420 (+22)]

[Cost: 45MP & 80SP]

'Wow...' Eldrian was momentarily stunned by these values, shocked by just how high they were. He understood clearly that the strike damage was so high thanks to Crystoi's 96 damage value. However, the skill added 22 more to that strike regardless. If a simple stick could survive, then with this skill it would be a formidable weapon.

And this increase was not just more damage, it also meant it would have more piercing power. Capable of breaking through harder armor with ease. To top it off the fire damage was even higher than all the spells that Eldrian knew besides Ice Rain, Incinerate, and runic spells. Strangely, it seemed to have a greater boost than spells.

'How does that work?' He wondered.

Eldrian was more than happy by these results and a bit sad he hadn't taken the other skills that the guild had offered. However, he indeed did not have time to master another. While it would not take him as long again, it was already night.

Of course, with this success, Eldrian finally reached Tier 4 in the melee class. He was relieved that there seemed to be no hiccup as with his hidden class and magic reaching Tier 5. Leaving him suspecting that it was Tier 5 that caused this and not necessarily his connection.

Of course, with him reaching the next Tier his abilities overall had been enhanced.  The attribute growth for reaching Tier 4 was as follows- Constitution: 40, Strength: 40, Agility: 20, Spirit: 10,  Intelligence: 5.

Looking again at the values, Eldrian tried to use the skill again. He managed on his second attempt. 'I still lack mastery, it is truly different from casting a spell. Filling the spear with mana is almost like flexing, getting ready to act. But I have to restrain myself until the last moment, else my technique is lacking and the skill won't execute correctly.'

When this happened, there would be no striking snake. Instead, just a burst of flames in all directions. Eldrian had lost all the hair on his arms thanks to this. And those poor hairs had just grown back.

Taking a break, Eldrian sent his nightly updates to Erik and Elizabeth. Noting again the movements of the two chieftains that were now hiding in two different supply lines.

[[Eldrain] - They are split, likely wanting to spread the chaos they can sow. The dangerous enemies I marked are also dispersed, and there might be some I do not know of.]

[[Elizabeth] - Thanks, I'll relay it to the captain.] Elizabeth understood that it was not that simple to keep track of thousands of individuals, it would be impossible for Eldrian to say confidently that he did not miss any. Thus, even with this knowledge, they had to stay careful.

Eldrian was a little confused about why Elizabeth was not in direct communication with the king. He was also unsure what had happened with Jannet who had gone to explain the situation to the king. He had heard that she had returned to Kynigo, but this distance between the players and the king Eldrian found confusing.

Elizabeth's ruckus on the forums had attached quite a number of curious players. Leading to them finding an ad that the guild had posted, explaining that they were looking for capable players and were willing to help pay for the teleportation costs to get people to join.

Time zones also did not matter as the guild needed active players at all times. And thanks to all this the guild had slowly grown in numbers. Each player cost between 1 and 10 gold to bring over, the group felt it was worth it since the players were all Tier 4.

They were still far from their 500 member limit, but they were now nearing the 200 mark.

Given this, the guild was growing stronger and stronger as each day passed. Soon it would be quite the significant force. Which made it even stranger that the king was keeping them at arm's length.

'It might be to make it harder for the enemy to learn where the information comes from? But adding a commander to be the messenger won't make a difference in that regard. No, a battle is chaotic and many would constantly move to update the king of the developing situation.'

'It would be near impossible to know which person gave the king what information. And Elizabeth wasn't the only player, there were over a hundred of them in Vlisia now. While she was the leader she would not be the only one in contact with the captains and commanders.'

'But is this necessary?' That was the only thing that confused Eldrian, even if the enemy learned that the ability was thanks to the players. They would have no way to know which, and even if they killed them they could revive.

There was no risk in this regard, thus this cloak and daggers felt unnecessary. If it was to not let it be known that it was Eldrian who was sending the information, that was even more unlikely to be found. After all, he was far removed from the field of battle and only talked with the others through the system messages.

'That is something else that I am curious of, does Miracle have a way to track and read our messages?' Eldrian was unsure, luckily his talk with the others wouldn't reveal anything too important if it was found and scrutinized.

'But I need to confirm what is and isn't a possible problem.' Eldrian frowned, looking at the counter that was nearing 100% he knew that he couldn't log out now. Who knows what would happen when it reached 100% and he wasn't there to take control of things.

'Two, can you check on the situation IRL. Also, do you know how we can contact Ziraili?'

'Sure, and not sure.'

'I want to try soon, maybe if we moved from our special room and entered the magic abyss without its protection?'

'Maybe, but for her to notice would be difficult.'

'True...' Eldrian felt they could cause a ruckus, but how to do it and how to do it so only Ziraili noticed. After all, Eldrian did not trust the other AI. He didn't even trust Ziraili but he needed to talk with her.

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.