A New World, an immersive game experience

'Do I lack discipline, or was realizing that I didn't need to perfect crafting make me lazy?' Eldrian questioned. He didn't actually believe it was either, but seeing Vivian working so hard towards her goal made him feel lacking nonetheless.

"I'm curious, why are you training in your human form?" Eldrian asked Myropsis once she took a break. Her technique was actually shockingly polished, Eldrian was confident her base for swordsmanship was higher than his in spearmanship. Yet, she had only reached Tier 3 in melee.

Eldrian understood that below Tier 5 it was all about learning and executing spells and skills, and seeing Myropsis's training he felt confident she should be able to master the required skills to reach Tier 4 with ease. Heck, he felt she could even reach Tier 5 without much trouble.

Myropsis smiled, slightly embarrassed by the answer. "Our centaur form... It's just a big target in a battle. Sure, we're fast when galloping and a charge from a squadron of centaurian knights is devastating, but in a fight where we aren't constantly moving the rest of us just becomes massive targets."

"Then why not constantly move?"

"It isn't that easy, there are many situations where it isn't possible to make use of our speed. Such as when space is limited like in the mining caves where it isn't realistic to constantly be galloping about. Or perhaps I need to stay with a group, perhaps the enemy has the range advantage and a smaller form will just be more beneficial. My dad always told me that unless my size gave me a distinct advantage, I shouldn't make myself a bigger target."

Eldrian nodded, he could understand that. Unless you actively made use of the extra strength that a horse half gave, it would indeed be only more areas for an enemy to target.

Just imagining his own methods, Eldrian felt certain he could devastate most centaurs unless they were covered in armor.

After all, it would be near impossible for them to protect their rear. If he simply used one of his daggers and slipped it up there, he could eviscerate them from inside. Even if he couldn't, he could easily slip a spell past their guard. It would be hard for them to protect against such spells if he was fighting them and keeping their focus on him.

"Why haven't you mastered more skills?" Eldrian asked after the moment of silence was ruined by a loud grunt as Vivian was tossed to the side by her opponent's shield. She recovered quickly -almost instantly- giving her opponent no chance to use the opportunity he had made.

For safety, the two were facing each other with training weapons, yet the sounds produced when their weapons clashed sounded as real as any. Their fight was truly intense, Vivian's resolve could be felt in the air as she fought tooth and nail to defeat the captain she was facing.

This man was part of the ducal family, and while not of the direct line his blood was still close enough to allow him to shapeshift. In fact, this was the case for over half the centaurs in the Duke's personal guard. Most were from distant families, sons and daughters of the less talented who hadn't inherited the title.

In fact, some were from an entirely different branch of the family. For if a ducal family failed to produce an heir who reached Tier 9 before the current duke's passing, then someone from the royal family would replace them. Since the royals need to aim for Tier 10 to claim the position of king there were often many who were struggling.

They were always eager to become a duke at the least and remain someone with some power. After all, if they failed to become the king then they would lose all power otherwise. They might still be posted as a mayor but such was seen as a great dishonor. A sign that your father or uncle -depending on where you sat in the family tree-  had given up on you.

This was in fact one of the things that made Pelaros such an odd case in the royal family. For he had asked to be given the post of mayor, of a distant city even, despite clearly having the talent to become the next king if he had worked at it.

He was young enough to be considered Talastos's heir and their father was the same centaur. Only their mother differed, but even then Pelaros's mother was a duke's daughter. He had all the qualities required, except ambition.

Repeating his question, Eldrian drew Myropsis's attention from the match. "Why are you still stuck at Tier 3?"

"I find it hard becoming one with my weapon."

Before learning Fotias Eldrian wouldn't have understood, but he did now. "Are you also focusing more on the magical aspect of the skill?"

"Indeed, especially after all the training I have been doing to control my mana. It is starting to feel more natural to control than to let it flow. And for skills, that is terrible a bad habit. The technique is supposed to pull out my mana, I should let it flow as I execute the skill. But I find myself constantly trying to take control."

"Want my advice?"

"Do you think our situation is the same?"

"Not entirely, but it might help since it is similar."

Nodding, Myropsis told him to go ahead.

"I'm not sure how you are visualizing things, but I found it helpful to play out what should happen in my head. I then instructed my mana to follow according to this visual image in my head and shifted my focus to my spear. Placing my entire focus onto it and trying to visualize it as an extension of myself..."

Eldrian paused as he tried to find an analogy, "Think of when you connected with the memorial artifacts, or when you use your dimensional storage. To do so you need to link a part of yourself with it. This is a connection not involving mana, but it is still a magic connection. Try doing the same but with your sword, you won't succeed but it might help you feel more entuned with it. Then just let your training guide you."

Silence settled between the two as Myropsis digested Eldrian's words. "You know, that is perhaps the best you have ever explained something. You're normally all over the place and have no reasonable examples to help someone like me understand. But this, it's surprisingly actually helpful."

"I would simply be happy if it does." Eldrian smiled, understanding that he wasn't the best at explaining his understanding of things to others.

'Perhaps that is something true for everyone? It is why we rely so much on labels, but for me all the labels are causing me to miss the core information...' Eldrian felt enlightened as her recalled his talk with Ashliel.

'XP, lifeforce, souls, mageia. All labels different people gave different but similar concepts. What if I ignore them for now and simply consider things anew?'

AN: A big thanks to everyone who continues to support the on Web.