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nWaking up in the game, Eldrian found himself on a rocking carriage. Vivian lying next to him, two strangers in light armor driving the carriage. Stirring he slowly sat up, causing some noise as he bumped into the disassembled armor pieces filling the carriage.

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"Don't get up. Just get some more rest.

" One of the drivers spoke upon hearing the noise.

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"Thanks, but...

"

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"We are both your drivers and guards. So please don't make a fuss. You were both so tired that it was decided to allow you to come in, yet keep you under watch until we can confirm your story. Once night comes, we will actually deal with things.

"

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"Alright,

" Eldrian replied, not knowing what else to say. He did not feel like anything would go bad, having already determined that they were in the correct division. Hence clearing things up should be quick. He was also not at all tired, though according to all logic he should be dead tired. He found it strange that his mind was still working after so much time of awakeness, curious about how this was possible.

nFinding himself with a clear mind, Eldrian decided to not try and come up with an answer, instead he would meditate to pass time. Focusing first on following his mana and trying to figure out what had changed. He could feel that it was extremely active, moving through him at a constant, fast pace.

nTrying to move it, Eldrian quickly found himself unable. This caused him some confusion as he knew he could easily cast spells. To verify this, he quickly cast Nidia to prove this to himself. Focusing for the first time since his breakthrough on how his mana worked while casting spells.

nHe found that much like when at the Magic Crystal, his mana would feed into the spell. As Itireae had explained, as well as Zamia before. This also held up with what he had experimented with before, leading to him not understanding why he could not bend the mana's pathways. He could use his mana with much greater ease, and controlling spells seemed to also be easier. Yet trying to meditate as he used to was now seemingly impossible.

nFrom the information he had gained, he knew the next step for High Elves was typically to purify their mana. The way to do this he was not sure of, seemingly everyone having a different method. Along with this, they would also slowly expand their pathways to extend to further parts of their bodies. Which Eldrian had thought to try first. Currently having four large pathways going to his limbs and one slightly smaller one going to his head.

nStuck, Eldrian decided to study his mana. Trying to figure out what it had become, why Itireae had said it was pure and intense. He could not feel any of these classifications. Trying to, he lost himself in a meditative state where his mind was emptied as he followed the flow of mana.

nHe stayed in this state until a booming voice woke him.

nThis happened not until Vivian woke up. She had first looked at Eldrian and his focused face. After which she had asked the guards what was going on, telling the guards who she was and that they simply needed to inform her dad that she was here.

nAfter that, she again only looked at Eldrian as she waited for her dad to come.

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"Vivian! You are here!

" Old Sword shouted amidst merry laughter. He jumped into the carriage and hugged her, leaving the driver who had stayed completely shocked. The noise and massive shaking of the carriage brought Eldrian out of his meditate state.

nVivian hugged her dad back and they shared their feelings through the hug. Eldrian took some time to recover from the rough awakening, shocked by the amount of time that had passed.

nAs his mind recovered and became used to the normal state of things, Old Sword let Vivian go and turned to Eldrian.

"You actually did it!

" Old Sword took Eldrian into an embrace as he shouted this, pushing all the air in Eldrian's body out.

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"I... I... ca-n't... Breathe!

" Eldrian tapped on Old Sword's shoulder in panic, freed as he thought he would pass out.

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"Let's go get something to eat! We should be out of these accursed lands in a day or two. Oh, I can't wait until we can see green again!

" Old Sword said merrily, pulling them both out of the carriage and into the sunlight. Which by now was already becoming weaker as night arrived.

nEldrian did not know how to react to the situation, but his stomach sure did. Hearing the invitation for food it growled with a passion, reminding Eldrian of the first time Old Sword took him to his house. A smile growing on his face as he thought back to those days.

nAs they climbed off of the carriage, Eldrian saw that he had gotten a notification.

nHidden Quest: Bring Vivian home; Completed

nReward: 4 levels

nEldrian did not mind the notification all that much, the boost of four levels certainly was nice. However, it could not compare to seeing the joy on Old Sword and relief on Vivian. He felt that that was more than worth the trouble, though not the loss.

nFollowing Old Sword, they were quickly offered a feast in the command tent. Old Sword never asking what happened to the others.

nSimply looking at Eldrian's and Vivian's clothes informed him that the journey certainly was not easy. They had both forgotten completely about appearance. While Vivian had gotten some new clothes at the other division, thanks to the Night Terror they already had several cuts all over.

nNaturally, all the unhealed scars and her missing eye also told a story. Another telling tale was the fact that they both had no armor. Only clothes. It meant that either the armor became too damaged, or that they had discarded it for some reason. He knew Eldrian had that dimensional storage thing, hence he doubted that it could actually be the latter.

nWhile they were eating, Old Sword had needed to go and sort some things out. Leaving Vivian and Eldrian alone in the tent.

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"What now?

" Eldrian asked, not sure what was going to happen now.

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"We just rest and recover. I don't want to be on the frontlines for quite some time.

" Vivian replied through portions of food.

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"But we can't just laze around.

"

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"Certainly. Starting tomorrow, we will start training again.

" Vivian quickly agreed.

nWith this settled, they refocused on the food. Eldrian spending the rest of the night meditating, while Vivian headed to some healers who would finally try and fully heal her. This quickly made a top priority by Old Sword. Normally the healers would be tired and wish to rest, but being asked by the commander, they dared not say no.

nThe next few days were quite peaceful. Eldrian was given a horse, who he would mostly let navigate itself, trying to spend all his time learning what his new Tier meant for him through meditation.

nHe found that his mana was slowly increasing. After two days it had increased by one point, too small a value for him to feel, but the system allowed him to actually notice this increase. He tried his best to feel the difference, to ingrain his current mana so much in his mind that he would be able to feel even a difference of less than a percent. Hoping become so accustomed to it would allow him to create new pathways to reach the next Tier.

nAt nights, he would train with his spear and sometimes with the swords. Focusing on the basics again. Eldrian had found that while skills were nice, they were hard to use. He had never even used the skill Double Strike which he had learned. Mostly because he was not used enough to it, but also partly because it was rigid.

nIn a fight he needed his weapon in certain places to not die, he could not just get it into position for the skill. He might have a chance every few attacks, but remembering it and being in the correct position was certainly not easy. Spells instead did not require his weapon to be someplace, rather they worked more like an extended limb.

nWith his training, he would also spar against Vivian from time to time. Many scars remaining from the journey. They had clearly been healed, remaining mostly as white lines over her skin. The wave-like patterns she had gained when binding with the sword was actually far clearer than the scars now.

nWhen they sparred she had to keep her strength under control, as she was still stronger than Eldrian. However, she was not much faster than Eldrian. Eldrian found that if he used Accelerate then their speed was almost exactly the same. If he boosted this with his hidden class bonus, then he would actually be slightly faster than her.

nHe did not do this though, as it defeated the point of sparring against her. He also saved his free attribute points again, having 25 thanks to the four levels he had gained. He had been slightly shocked when he saw that reaching level 18 required over a million XP. Though he had quickly let this go as he focused on his training.

nHe would even often use a sword when sparring against her, instead of a spear. The extra reach of the spear simply causing him to gain too much of an advantage. Or rather, from an outside perspective, the fights would quickly slip to one side in these cases.

nEither he managed a good hit as Vivian tried to close the distance, or she managed to close the distance and disarm him. If she was actually willing to take a shallow wound, then the latter would happen nine out of ten times.

nEldrian also tried to not rely on his inventory while fighting, wishing to learn how to use a single weapon to the best of his abilities. This limited him in reacting quickly to strange attacks, leading to him getting a good deal of beatings.

nThis routine did not change much as they finally left the barren lands and entered the kingdom of Taurus. After the first few hours, seeing green was no longer such a great thing, quickly becoming normal again.

nAs the army entered the kingdom, they also started speeding up their marches. Instead of stopping before sunset, they would now walk until sunset was almost passed. Trying to cover as much ground as possible.

nDue to the relative stability of the area, Old Sword had more free time. He would often come and give them tips, even sparring against them both from time to time. Though even together and with all their tricks, they could not manage to land a single blow against Old Sword.

nAnother week passed, and they finally reached the first city since they had set out. Unlike the cities in Phallos, it did not have massive walls surrounding it. Instead, it had multiple smaller walls of only ten meters or so in height.

nThe wall was dotted with gatehouses and towers. Unlike normal gatehouses, these ones were built atop the walls, with ramps leading up to them. There would be a gatehouse every kilometer or so, and a much larger one every five or so. The entire city, at least the side they came from, spanning past both horizons.

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