A New World, an immersive game experience

Deciding that it was best to gloss over the details of what had happened outside, Eldrian ignored that he had made a single use artifact out of a stick while constraining Judith to the ground half-subconsciously.

Instead, he asked Elizabeth how the Pediades mission was going. "I am sorry to have pulled you from that so suddenly." He apologized.

Elizabeth sighed and forced a smile. "No, you were right. We can't leave anyplace undefended. If Kynigo falls, then the entire southeastern border will basically fall. I heard Trigora has experienced more undead recently, too."

"Yeah, I noticed it a bit late. Northernian fell so long ago I forgot it used to be part of the kingdom. Seems it is a nest of undead and they are slowly organizing themselves. Unfortunately, an army is forming..." Eldrian joined Elizabeth with a sigh.

It was impossible to be everywhere at once. This was a common saying, and it was frustratingly true.

The kingdom's forces were already spread thin. Two divisions had been spared to help Trigora and Tripeak. Sadly, they existed mostly of new recruits. The experienced soldiers were required to retake Livadi.

The two divisions sent to the southeastern border were tasked with ensuring the wandering dead would not cause any damage to the villages around the cities. But they wouldn't be able to stand against an undead army should one move.

A total of ten thousands soldiers, that was all the kingdom had spared Trigora and the southeastern most part of the kingdom.

By the way, no division or even battalion was sent to Kynigo. Granted, Pelaros had only just sent the request for reinforcements earlier in the day. But he had no hopes of the kingdom offering them any more support.

As for the mayors of Trigora and Tripeak, they were no fools. Mass evacuations were already underway.

The divisions had quickly turned into a security force to prevent any mishaps during the evacuation. Only enough citizens were kept in Trigora and Tripeak to support the soldiers. No more, no less.

They couldn't give up the city without a fight, after all.

Of course, those who remained had done so voluntarily. Some simply couldn't leave their home, where they had been born and lived their entire lives. Others because they had lost loves ones and wished to go out fighting.

Whatever their reasons, there had been enough to relieve the mayor from needing to force some to stay.

Eldrian had, of course, kept Pelaros up to date with all these happenings. Though he knew no inner happenings, he easily noted the massive movement of over half a city's population, however.

He had also scouted the divisions out of curiosity a while back. Their state was a sad one.

Led by a single Tier 6 Captain, one soldier and the other a greatmage. Each division only had around a hundred Tier 5 soldiers. Their numbers were higher towards mages overall, which was good when facing the undead. But their strength was still sad.

They couldn't even be called an effective force, which, according to Pelaros, required one in twenty soldiers being Tier 5. The divisions were clearly an enlisted force sent to the far regions of the kingdom in the hopes that they could give the kingdom more time.

"Is that where you are going next?" Elizabeth asked after taking a moment to accept that the kingdom was now facing threats from two sides.

This, in itself, was a sad fact. If not for the massive losses because of the orcs, they would be facing threats from three sides. An extremely clear indication of just how much land had been lost.

Now, the Vol Mountains protected the west and Phallos was to their North. Reducing the chances of an enemy assault from there. However, between Taurus and Phallos stretched the hundred kilometer wide chaos lands.

A land filled with all kinds of monsters and demons. Luckily, these monsters had no central force and often fought one another. But it would not be long before they joined the assault, driven by instinct; or the gods.

They had already focused on attacking anyone who tried to move between Phallos and Taurus. Or rather, it was better to say that the aggressiveness of the natives of the chaos lands has been heightened.

The forts that had been built when Eldrian and the rest had come over were still standing, but they wouldn't last much longer. Phallos, it seems, was going to give up on Taurus. Taurus certainly didn't have the manpower to spare to keep the forts protected.

Of course, this wasn't because Phallos was shameless. But rather, their neighboring kingdoms have received great losses and enemies have been moving into Phallos from the sides.

The kingdom prioritized their own safety over maintaining the connection with Taurus, which it deemed a lost cause at this point. Sad, but no one could fault them.

"No, I am going to stay around Kynigo." Eldrian finally answered Elizabeth's question after some contemplation of current events. He was slowly getting used to looking at the large picture.

For now, his focus was on Kynigo and the surrounding region. He couldn't spread his focus even more, not before having dealt with Miracle and mastering his bloodline powers. Whatever else they might contain.

"But won't that lead to those cities falling?" Elizabeth asked.

Hearing the question, Eldrian laughed. "I'm not that strong nor important. I am just going to do what I can."

'He says, meanwhile he literally changed the course of the war in Kynigo...' Elizabeth decided to keep those words to herself.  "Then what are your plans going forward?" She asked instead.

"I actually want to help the guild a bit." Eldrian said, his reply causing Elizabeth to doubt her ears.

"Really?" she asked, totally unconvinced.

"Yeah, we're level 5 now, right?"

"Y-yeah?" Elizabeth froze, expecting something terrible to come next.

"Have you looked at the benefits?" Eldrian asked, another thing he had realized from his talk with GAIA. This world was real. It mirrored Earth. But they altered it to conform to a game.

Thus, certain game like features were added, and forced to work through the AI's tampering. Ignoring those benefits was another limitation he had placed on himself. Some of it Eldrian didn't care for, but the system of a guild and the doors it opened. He was planning to abuse that.

"Of course!" Elizabeth answered matter-of-factly. It was a matter of course to confirm all the benefits that leveling up the guild had brought them.

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