A New World, an immersive game experience

Ilmadia's words brought Eldrian great inspiration, but as his mind was about to depart, he paused. Recalling Ilmadia's earlier scoldings, and especially her punch, helped him keep his thoughts at bay and not let them run wild, and then he realized that he always did this.

He jumped. He was a diver. Once he found inspiration, he ran with it. Becoming tunnel visioned and missing the bigger picture. Not doing due diligence and relying on random luck and his uncanny ability to almost always succeed with that.

That, however, could not last. And has already started to change.

So, instead of becoming absorbed in his own thoughts or taking the lead of the conversation, Eldrian smiled and asked Ilmadia to explain further and in more depth.

Wishing to better understand the path she took and compare it to his own thoughts, to see where they differed and what he might be able to learn. And, of course, he would share his own thoughts with her, but only after.

"I get what you mean. Music is written to either express something or evoke something. But still, how did you bridge that to, and call forth, magic through playing a simple song?" Eldrian asked, also noticing the attention on them.

He was used to such attention, but he could clearly see how Ilmadia was struggling to accept all the eyes on her. She quickly jumped into answering, and Eldrian smirked seeing her haste. It reminded him of himself. Of how he would distract himself by diving into magic.

To be on the safe side, Eldrian summoned a barrier of wind around them to keep their conversation private. He wasn't sure what Ilmadia was going to say and didn't want to let others reap benefits from her discovery. Especially not through eavesdropping.

"It took me a while and quite some time to finally manage that. What was most important was realizing just how like runes musical notes are." Ilmadia smiled, "First, it is a way of writing down the melody. A way of preserving and sharing it with others."

Needless to say, when the players realized the conversation had started again but they could not hear a thing, they were quite vexed.

"That is perhaps the only similarity between musical notes and runes. It is a record and, when used correctly, causes a known effect."

"But as I pondered the topic, in time I realized that it truly was like a mirror of magic. Runes. They are things we discover, memorize, and analyze. And through feeding a rune mana, we evoke its magical properties."

"With runic casting, it's possible to control the outcome outside of the original intent of the rune, sure. But even without enforcing your will upon it, it will evoke the magic it was meant for."

Eldrian nodded. This was precisely how he saw the connection between the two. The notes simply evoked a song when played, and not magic. However, he was still unsure how Ilmadia made the jump from having an analogy to making the two concepts one.

"This part was the foundation, but it was still lacking. Next, I had to realize how music and magic were connected."

"This is where you realized that music has intent?" Eldrian asked.

"Yes, but it is also so much more than that. What truly helped me finally connect the two was recalling how you used emotions to fuel some of your strongest spells. This gave me the idea that magic can be a thing of passion. It didn't need to be something rigid."

"And, music does quite a similar thing in us as humans. But in the reverse, instead of consuming our emotions, it fuels them."

Again, Eldrian nodded. He had also already considered that. However, he was starting to see where Ilmadia was going with this. And if what he was thinking was right, then it was truly brilliant.

While the buff her music had given everyone wasn't on the powerful side, its scale had been truly grand and it had been multi-propertied. In all likelihood, the buff itself had been weak simply because she was still mastering the technique.

"As you said earlier, music is used to evoke emotions in us. But more than that, it can help us shift our state of mind. Listen to calming music and you will become relaxed. Listen to a joyful song and you will experience comfort. Listen to a sad song and you will be disheartened."

"This sounded almost precisely like spirit magic to me. Only, instead of the music consuming your emotions, it amplified and awakened them. So, I thought: 'Can't I perhaps use this to fuel the magic?'"

Eldrian nodded while maintaining a neutral expression. However, his mind was in total chaos. What Ilmadia was saying was precisely what he had imagined, and the idea was insane.

It was a way to use spirit magic without the drain of having your emotions themselves used as fuel. A way to unlimit the magic and no longer feel empty and lost once having used it. After having given it your very being.

After a moment, used to calm himself, Eldrian asked, "Still... how did you finally close the gap between music and magic?"

"That part was actually surprisingly easy. I knew that music could affect our emotions, and I knew that emotions could affect mana. So I simply added one and two together." Ilmadia smiled. The simplicity of it was the best part of it all.

"I chose a song I was comfortable playing by muscle memory. Not even needing to think to play it. And then I chose a few simple effects I would like it to give everyone that hears it. The troublesome part was envisioning these effects, but it wasn't much more difficult than controlling the effects of a rune's output."

"So, I picked up my violin and played while guiding my mana through my fingers and across the strings. The mana I poured into the song formed a connection with the surroundings. Like a wave, it caused the surrounding mana to react similarly. And it brought forth the magic I willed for."

Ilmadia smiled as she finished her explanation. Eldrian clearly understood what she meant, but the simplicity still boggled his mind.

'Isn't this quite similar to how simple it is to have your emotions influence the surrounding mana?' Two asked, helping Eldrian realized that honestly it was simple. It just never felt so simple because of the cost accompanying it.

"That is... simple and truly brilliant." Eldrian praised the moon elf before him, his mind now running at a thousand miles per second. "Do you know whether the magic works because of the emotions it brings forth, or does it directly influence the surrounding mana?"

However, as soon as Eldrian asked, he recalled the scene of watching the surrounding mana shine and surround Ilmadia as she played. The answer was obvious.

"I'm not too sure." Ilmadia confessed, and Eldrian broke out laughing.

"Then let me enlighten you. When you played, it was truly right out of a fairy tale. The mana around you shined and danced as you played, enveloping you like a goddess."

Eldrian only realized how extravagant his words were as they filled the air between them and an awkward silence followed. Ilmadia turning beet red as she squirmed in apparent discomfort.