A New World, an immersive game experience

Ilmadia had even, at least up to Tier 3, mastered her spells to Rank 1. A classification which has become mostly obsolete for Eldrian since he rarely depended on learnt (static) spells and when he did, he could almost immediately cast it at Rank 2.

At Rank 1, a person had gained control over the spell to the degree of being able to alter its flight path slightly, or at most make one 90-degree turn.

Ilmadia had even brought her Tier 0 spells to rank 2. Able to have them dance around her, as Eldrian often showed. Though, it took all her focus and she could only maintain the dance for a few seconds before ending up mentally exhausted.

It is thanks to this that she realizing how taxing it was to take full control of a spell. That she understood just how massive the gap between her and Eldrian was. Not only could he maintain the dance indefinitely, she had seen him do it with three spells—with ease.

As for the rank that Eldrian currently used magic at, he had mastered Rank 3 and was touching upon Rank 4. Though he hadn't spent much time practicing and he didn't care much for increasing his spell ranks. He no longer saw a point in it.

Rank 3 meant being able to alter the form of the spell after being cast, training Eldrian had done under Zamia. Learning to change the form of spells, he had focused on ice and altered it between needle, ball, sphere, and even words.

However, he had not mastered all spells to Rank 3. There was little point to spend the effort. He could, for example, master it with healing and regulate the spell between giving energy, repairing the damage, and reducing the pain. But he might as well do all three at once.

After all, he had more than enough mana and if it required too much focus, he could just pull Two out of their soul for a bit to help.

Currently, Two's job was making sure the mana flowing through them into their soul did not cause problems, and to continue to go through the absorbed lich's soul.

As for the Flaming Heart's journey to the fort, it was not an easy one. They had stumbled upon smaller wandering undead hordes, four times.

They had not been caught off guard and, thanks to past experiences, they had dealt with the undead with no casualties. Though Therdul and Judith ended up quite hurt. And to conserve mana, Elizabeth only applied the bare minimum treatment as they advanced.

Elizabeth was, after all, the biggest damage dealer and only healer. Ilmadia knew the basic healing spells, but their effectiveness were incomparable to Elizabeth's and could be considered a waste of mana.

As a result, Elizabeth truly couldn't afford to waste her mana and neither could Ilmadia. Since after Elizabeth, she was the best at dealing with the undead.

Sadly, it took time for them both to form their spells. While it might just be a handful of seconds, this handful placed a great strain on Therdul and Judith, who were the only frontline they had.

Their coordination, however, was impeccable. Altering between each other, they gave support to Theas and Judith almost continuously. Weaving in lower Tiered spells from time to time to reduce the lull between casts and secure any weaknesses or openings that the two frontline showed.

Thus, their journey to the meeting point was a great struggle, but no one died. The group, however, were shocked themselves at how rough it was. It reminded them just how terrible the undead were.

No vitals, and near immunity to physical damage and most elements.

Sure, you could still damage the skeletons by chopping off their limbs, but the HP loss was nothing unless you could pinpoint the collection of mana that kept the bones reanimated. This, however, was something only Eldrian could do. And why the undead were little more than target practice for him, even without magic.

When the group finally arrived at the designated location, they froze. Before them was a miniature tower, only three stories tall by so out of place in the middle of the forest. Eldrian had created it to act as their resting point while Vivian and Theas were clearing the undead near the fort.

Vivian and Theas had each picked a side of the fort, and each was halfway around already. They should return within the hour and, thanks to their hard work, random undead shouldn't stumble upon their fight for the fort.

Eldrian had considered clearing the fort alone, but he had already called for help. It would be quite the slap in the face if he didn't allow his friends to complete their quests. Tough, them actually getting quests was a slap in his own face. Eldrian missed those days.

He was waiting outside for his friends and his smile crumbled upon seeing the state they were in. He had followed their progress with his map, so he knew they had only faced small hordes of around 20-30 undead.

"Ah, seems I should have maybe gone to escort you..." Eldrian rubbed his head in embarrassment. He was shocked. He felt he shouldn't have ever asked them to come. However, he needed their help outside the fight more than in. And for that, meeting in person was best.

Sending some healing and rejuvenation their way, Eldrian noted that he was going to have to babysit them.

Feeling their energy return and seeing their HP instantly fill, the group froze. They all realized that it had only taken Eldrian a single spell to heal them, and another to return their energy. Which he had cast simultaneously on all four of them.

Or rather, he had gone down the more wasteful path and cast the spells in an area. It increased the cost to around 600 mana, but that wasn't much for Eldrian who had 3k flowing through his body and about 8k currently stored in his soul.

The recovery rates of the two mana storages were different. By using the mana in his body, Eldrian would regain the spent mana in just a few minutes. Sadly, what he could absorb into his body in a minute took an hour to be absorbed into his soul.

Truly, the only effective way to charge his mana soul was via mana crystals. But that was insane.

Back to the healing spell. Elizabeth could technically accomplish this if she used her strongest healing spell, but it would come at too great a cost. She could only cast that spell three times before running out of mana, and the cooldown between casts was problematic.

The fact that Eldrian had healed them as if it was a simple wave of the hand struck them the deepest. Clearly, it wasn't even a slight challenge for him. And actually, what Eldrian had thrown at the group could heal over a thousand HP for up to six targets.

As for the repair limits of the Tier 5 healing spell, healing broken bones was no problem. Eldrian suspected that if he tried, he might even be able to touch upon the regeneration of lost limbs.

Normally, that was only in the hands of Tier 6 masters of healing, such as priests or people with a great affinity with the water and nature elements.

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