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nLuckily while his mind wandered, it was mostly occupied with what he had read. For the sake of it, Eldrian had gone through the compendium on fire magic again, at least the bit before and on Volida. After having cast it, what was written about it made more sense.

nNot much, but he was starting to understand how it mentioned the mixing of elements. It didn't go much into detail, mostly having stated that most spells require more than just the focus element to properly work. Which Eldrian was only starting to realize.

nThis was the cause of all the difficulty when learning higher Tiered spells, and more importantly, the cause behind the difficulty in trying to make new spells.

nWhat Eldrian came to understand was that the mixture wasn't set. This was especially true for him since he needed to figure out the composition, other more normal mages had a far easier time. Though casting hybrid spells were still hard for them, Eldrian wasn't quite sure what they struggled with though. If it was just envisioning the spell module, then they really had it easy.

nFor most other mages it would also be the limit. Not for him though, now that he had a grip on it, he could continue to press on. Constantly changing the mana composition a little by little to see what would happen. This was his plan, instead of trying to learn more spells he wanted to get used to this one.

nMore importantly, he wanted to practice enough so that he could dynamically cast it. Which meant he had to be able to let his mana flow, with the right structure, in but a thought. Reaching this point simply meant practice, as he had yet to learn of a better way of converting static spells to dynamic ones. Other than letting it become near second nature.

nGoing into the inn Eldrian grabbed a table and ordered himself a jug of juice. It was much better than ale, which had quite a bitter taste in comparison, he also didn't want to risk losing his senses. After finishing his second jug Vivian finally arrived, looking down.

n

"What's wrong?

" Eldrian asked as soon as she took a seat.

n

"It's nothing.

" Vivian quickly replied, evidently not wanting to talk about it. So naturally Eldrian pressed on until she caved.

"Fine... I got into trouble because I was late for my shift.

"

n

"That's only natural,

" Eldrian replied without much thought, resulting in him getting the stink eye.

n

"Let's just move on, what did you find out?

" Vivian said after seeing Eldrian not bringing anything more up, as was the aim of her stare.

n

"Oh, Pelaros is going to set out in four days, and I have to go with,

" Eldrian replied, to which Vivian quickly chirped in.

n

"Then I'll also sign up.

"

n

"Hell no!

" Eldrian quickly countered,

"The entire point of me going with is if the entire group gets wiped!

"

n

"But...

"

n

"No buts! You can't.

" Eldrian pressed, the two ending up arguing about it until their meals arrived.

"Promise me you won't do anything dumb,

" Eldrian said before even touching his food, waiting for Vivian to reply first.

n

"Fine... It just, I feel so useless. I don't like sitting back and just waiting, it's the entire reason I took up the sword in the first place. So I don't have to be waiting for the end.

"

n

"I get that, but dying because you feel useless isn't a good reason. You have to know when to back down.

" To which Vivian sighed as she knew Eldrian was right. It still didn't mean she liked staying behind.

nAgain she was reminded that she was just not strong enough, though she quickly took solace in the fact that she was not alone in that feeling.

n

"How do you cope with this feeling?

" Vivian suddenly asked halfway through the meal.

n

"It's different for me and you. But you know... I just throw myself into training.

"

n

"It still sucks, training only temporarily keeps the feeling away.

"

n

"True, but it also motivates me to constantly try my best.

" Eldrian replied,

"Right, I learned three spells today, do you know Volida?

"

n

"Of course, though it is quite useless. Most spells below Tier 5, are in fact, useless.

" She replied, though inwardly she nearly choked hearing that he learned three spells. Especially with how casually he said it. For normal people, learning one spell in a week was considered good.

n

"I wouldn't say that, Frost Needle is very useful.

" Eldrian countered to which he got an incredulous stare.

n

"That's because you aren't using it normally. Being able to control it like that isn't something normal.

" Vivian complained, clearly upset about this little factor.

nThe reason behind it was simple, if Eldrian ever actually bothered to use spells, then she had a really hard time just holding out. It was why their spars were always limited to skills and technique. His being able to keep a flame in her eyes, or sending a spell around and into her back was just unfair.

n

"Then, do you think Volida would be useful if I can control it like that too?

" Eldrian asked.

n

"I don't know, it doesn't have the danger that Frost Needle has. Normally when people send it against others the flames would stick to the target, but not all that well. The damage would quickly fall off too. It is most often used to lock an area down, as it is the only way it really persists.

"

nHearing this Eldrian wondered if he might be capable of controlling the flames themselves after the explosion. Quickly adding that to the list of things he needed to test later. After that, he simply enjoyed the rest of the dinner with Vivian, his mind mostly on magic, and as such he acted much more normal around her.

nVivian keenly aware of it and wondering just what was going on in his mind. A part of her upset he was seemingly back to normal.

n...

nWaking up, Eldrian was much more careful to not fall off the chair this time. Though he could already feel his body complaining as he stretched. He was far more sore than usual, though he wasn't entirely sure if that was because he was basically sleeping in a chair. Or if it was due to the different method in which he entered the game.

nShaking his head left and right to get the stiffness out of his neck, he sat down in front of his PC and looked at the messages he got from Elizabeth. She was quite upset that he hadn't contacted her in-game, Eldrian having never even really interacted with the system the entire time he was online.

nHe was still quite cross at it, even though he knew it made no sense. He was simply being spiteful in trying to not use any of its functions. A thing that was actually totally possible for him.

nQuickly writing a reply Eldrian simply said that they were going to meet up in any case, so he saw no reason to message with her while in the game. A few hours later, after eating breakfast and a morning run, Eldrian joined everyone in Elizabeth's virtual home.

n

"So we're still going to fight every day?

" Eldrian asked as soon as he appeared.

n

"Of course, we have to fight at least once or we will lose ten points due to inactivity. We also still don't have enough points to be guaranteed entry, so we have to gather them.

" Nikki replied before anyone else.

n

"Alright, luckily we can organize it during the day IRL. But...

" Eldrian paused as he wondered how to put it.

n

"What is it?

" Elizabeth asked, her gut telling her that something was going to be wrong.

n

"Well I have a quest, starting in four days, and as such, I can't really guarantee my availability.

"

n

"What type of quest?

" Elizabeth pressed, understanding that this game was far too realistic. Though for the most part, the quests she and her guild took were always small.

nThey normally took garrisoning quests, which were extremely boring. But it paid decently and had nearly no risk, as long as an attack didn't happen. The XP reward was also good enough, considering the low risk. In fact, they actually ended up ahead from these quests because no one ever died during a garrisoning quest. Though this was only compared to the average players.

nOther than that they might take hunting and gathering quests, though both of these were far more dangerous. While the target they were after in many cases might be weak, or in the case of herbs common. They could run into anything while in the wild.

nHence they only took those quests when needed, and they could always finish their quests during their playtime. Naturally, the entire Taurus mission was in fact continuously ongoing. But they weren't that close to it. For them, it was more like it was a source of smaller quests, and not itself actually something they could do anything about.

n

"It's a scouting quest,

" Eldrian replied after a bit of thought, it being the best description he had for the quest.

"The thing is though, just reaching the place where I actually need to be will take at minimum a day's journeying. Not to mention actually getting past all the undead and whatnot.

"

n

"Undead?

" Almost everyone echoed, so far everyone had just encountered beasts. While there had been some posts on orcs and goblins, undead were still unheard of. Eldrian had to explain in more detail what his quest was, leaving everyone without any words. For the most part, they thought him insane.

nThe A-ranked quest at the start of the game nearly had them all dead. Yet here Eldrian took an SS-ranked quest. Heck the Taurus Relief Mission, which they thought of as a quest generator, was only an S-ranked quest. This was a double S, how much more difficult would it be?

nSure it sounded like he just needed to survive until the NPCs found the source of the problem, but the fact was there was no guarantee the NPCs would succeed.

nAnd this was their reaction without Eldrian actually sharing much of the details. He especially didn't mention that the quest had two goals, and that the second one was ranked at an Epic level. Whatever that meant.

nHe also hadn't mentioned that it was a storyline quest, more because he didn't know what it meant himself. So there was no reason to share that for now.

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