A New World, an immersive game experience

Of course, ever since Eldrian broke through Tier 5 Vivian could no longer match him in a normal fight. He would always restrain himself -to only push her to her limits- the gap in attributes, specifically agility, too large for her talent to overcome.

Eldrian smiled, "Perhaps I could, but you need to be ready to act at any moment on the battlefield. Now, prepare!" He had naturally not been so crass as to tell her how much he had been holding back. But only now might she realize how large the gap had grown.

From Eldrian being completely incapable to withstand her assault, to her now being in his old situation. It certainly came as a shock, but she recovered quickly.

Vivian quickly pulled out her sword, blocking the red dagger with a heavy grunt. She was shocked at how strong the hit had been.

"Force is less than I would have liked," Eldrian clicked his tongue in annoyance as he activated the crystal, covering the dagger in flames as it circled around Vivian's sword like a snake.

Her eyes flew wide seeing this, naturally since there was no one holding the dagger it could move without fear. No rational person would move their weapon like this, she would have been able to cut them in half before their blade could make it to her. But before her stood only air.

Vivian froze as the flaming dagger stopped just a few inches from her head. "That isn't fair!"

"There is no fair in war." Eldrian snorted in reply, sending out the blue dagger while recalling the red. Seeing it fly at her, Vivian dared not block it with her sword again. She focused on dodging and managed to avoid the dagger for a few minutes.

"Mmm, water is quite lacking." Recalling it, Eldrian sent out the white dagger.

"What does this one do?!" Vivian asked as she prepared.

"It's just faster," Eldrian replied, the dagger disappearing from her sight. The next second she felt a prick at the back of her neck.

"Wha- How?" Her eyes were wide as she froze. A cold sweat covered her head and back.

"Mana crystal, means more mana. It only gives me a burst of speed, unlike the wind enhanced which gave a continuous speed boost. But seems quite effective to make a decisive difference..."

"Speaking of enhancements, have you looked into them for forging?" Myropsis interrupted while Vivian was busy recovering from her unexpected workout.

"A little, but it doesn't make much sense."

"What do you mean it doesn't make sense?!" Myropsis's eyes flew wide as she stared at Eldrian in disbelief.

"I mean, just think of what you want and feed mana into the material while maintaining this visual. Doesn't that sound too vague?"

Hearing his reply Myropsis wondered if her ears might be failing her. When Eldrian repeated himself she felt like he was the blindest idiot on the planet.

"Are you dumb?! Isn't that exactly what you've been doing this entire time?!"

Her outburst stunned him, but not as much as the words she had shouted did. 'Did I truly overthink it that much?' Eldrian mumbled, 'Did I think I'm special, or did I want to be? No, enhancements require spells... Idiot! When did I need spells to accomplish something?!'

"Hey! Don't go into contemplation! Speak up!" Myropsis shouted, forcing Eldrian to voice his thoughts which rewarded him with a flick on the forehead.

"No one else can do what you do, don't be daft! It's special but it isn't entirely new!"

"Then what's different?"

"The difference is most people can't force so much into an item. Enhancements are divided into three categories: preparation enhancement, material enhancement, and charm enhancement."

"You're doing the third, but normally it is the last step to unify the item after laying the groundword. Connecting all the runes and inscriptions, to form the abilities with them as a base. But you either make a 'circuit' that completes the entire thing without your interference, or you have no base and just force the issue."

"What makes you special is that this would normally destroy the item. Forcing so much mana into it should make it explode. Especially since what we are using is lower grade materials, but somehow you can do it without ever having the material explode."

"What are the other two?" Eldrian asked, confused why there could even be any other type of enhancement then. Wasn't the last one then just the most perfect thing for crafting?

Why would anyone even try doing more, he just needed to master it and he would be able to make whatever he wanted. Or so he thought, but only for a second before discarding these thoughts. Without a base, it would all rely on his vision for the item, and anything he didn't consider would become a massive flaw. It was fine for these artifacts that he hoped would help others to have such flaws, but for a weapon, such a thing would mean one's death.

"Preparation enhancement is done before forging," Myropsis continued, "fixing flaws in the material to allow as much mana to flow in it as possible. Normally in this phase, the enchanter would follow the instructions of the smith to make the material more malleable for a certain crafting process."

"We've never done that."

"Do you think I don't know?! That was partly why I was so stunned when you started morphing the materials without much thought."

"Oh? But I just used ether and the spell required, shaping it from the inside and out. It's really quite simple."

Myropsis blinked in utter confusion, pausing to take a few deep breaths. "I get that's normal for you, but at least try to stay up to date with what's normal for me."

"Right, right. What's the other again?"

"In one ear out the other?" Myropsis grumbled with a sigh.

"Not at all, I'm sure Two noted it down." Eldrian's reply caused the two ladies to become even more astounded.

"I'm sure you didn't leave all the memorizing to him?" Vivian's words and tone spoke different things, but Eldrian took them at face value.

"Of course not, but it sounded like I didn't really need to know."

Flick!

"What was that for?!" Eldrian asked, turning to the guilty party, Myropsis.

"Aren't you trying to create crystals capable of storing mana in your world?! The act of enhancing a material to increase its mana capacity and the study to attempt to increase its grade is the very definition of material enhancement!"

"Oh..."

"Don't 'oh' me! How the hell did you miss this?!"

"We've been totally focused on runes and teleportation magic. Both of which aren't easy topics. Plus the ether manipulations and theories on..." Eldrian paused as he received a collective sigh from the two girls.

They both looked at him with uncertainty, like he was some sort of anomaly. Which he was for sure, but this was for a less appealing reason. He seemed so capable, he made these daggers and the memorial artifacts, he even just dominated Vivian in a quick one sided bout.

Yet, here he was being absolutely clueless about the most basic of topics.

"You're going through the basics of forging!" Myropsis declared.

"Sure, just give-"

"No! You're not putting this off onto Two. You need to make this basic knowledge your own! Goodness, I can't believe you totally skipped the basics."

"I-" Eldrian wanted to say he hadn't needed them, but the looks he got quickly made him shut his trap and nod like an good boy.