A New World, an immersive game experience

Thinking that this certainly couldn't be good, Eldrian waited for a second to see if anything else was about to happen. At the same time, Nihon was watching him. Waiting to see if <nulli>he would do anything.

A short stalemate ensued, broken when Eldrian realized they weren't planning to attack him—likely fearing that their own attacks would disrupt the trap. Suspecting that he would be safe for the time being, he turned his full attention to analyzing the formation.

'They're really something. How the hell do they know how to make an array like this?' Eldrian asked himself, several minutes passed. He now found himself almost abandoned in the forest. The gang of players who had pursued him was gone.

All but the ghosts, that is. They were still there, floating, watching. Waiting.

'Do they not have a time limit?' Eldrian wondered, taking a moment to look at the ghosts. Or rather, the outline of mana surrounding their ghostly formed. 'Nah, they have to have a time limit. Probably simply haven't reached it yet.'

While it felt to him like dozens of minutes had passed, only a few had gone by. The entire fight and chase had taken but a few seconds to be concluded. And Eldrian's flight and capture just slightly longer.

'Still, I have no idea how long they can stay like that. Nor if they are the only players capable of becoming ghosts...' The danger to his guildmates was also quite great. If any other players could turn into ghosts. Invisible, intangible; almost invincible.

It would be a slaughter.

'I am curious what their class actually is, and what its rules are. Really interested.'

'Mine, Protector, gave me access to my auras. Or, rather, my auras gave me my class. Or so I have been told. Vivian's is similar, but gave her the power to directly interact with lifeforce. Especially that of the deceased.'

If she was here now, things would have been simple. Sadly, NPCs couldn't enter the tournament. Though, perhaps in the future that would be possible. Considering that Miracle had provisions for players commanding NPCs and building personal retinues. Though few players have gotten the promotions to gain access to the facet of the game.

'Their ability... it seems more normal.' And by that, Eldrian didn't mean that it wasn't strange, or weak, or anything of the like. He simply meant that their ability looked more in line with what one would expect from a game's special class ability.

It wasn't some ability they had to learn how to control, and spend weeks, months, or even years to master. It was a classic ability that they could access and use almost immediately.

However, that was only Eldrian's perception of things. He could be wrong. But he doubted there would be seven players in one guild able to achieve what he had done. What Vivian had learned, and what Ilmadia and the others were struggling to understand.

'This is much more what players would expect from a hidden class. Mmm...' Looking past the ghosts towards the trebuchets, something clicked in the back of Eldrian's mind.

'So that's how.' It was a simple conclusion, but he had never thought of any players but himself trying to learn teleportation magic. It was simply too difficult. Most players couldn't even control mana. Mastering teleportation should be far beyond them.

Or so he had thought. So all his friends had thought. So everyone had thought. And they were all wrong. The trap sealing Eldrian from warping out was a clear indication of just how wrong they were.

'They didn't just make a barrier that kept mana fixed. They actually targeted teleportation magic in particular.'

Teleportation could be accomplished in a number of ways. Eldrian, however, only understood two methods. The first was the classic bending of space. Forming a 'gate' connecting two points. This, however, was not the type of teleportation he had learned. Nor was it a type he had ever seen.

From his lessons, Eldrian vaguely understood why. The principle might be simpler, but the application was far more energy-demanding. After all, it required two locations to be connected, constantly. All fluctuations to be taken into account, at all times. 𝑏𝑒𝑑𝑛𝘰𝑣𝑒𝘭.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Perhaps you could activate it only when needed. But the energy required to connect two points in space was immense. Requiring to reconnect each time one wanted to teleport would be too energy-expensive. Perhaps, depending on the frequency of use, cheaper than keeping the connection active. But still immense. Mov Crystal levels, not normal mana crystals.

Regardless, this was not the type of teleportation common in the world of Gaia. No, the teleportation common in this world of magic was that of warping an object from one place to another. Covering it in a barrier, and moving it someplace different in space, instantly.

No easy task. This Eldrian knew from experience. His first attempts had cost him plenty of limbs. A lacking barrier would lose its contents. Setting them adrift into space. If his luck had been terrible, he could have died. Losing his head in his attempt.

Regardless, this was the type of teleportation Eldrian used. And, indeed, this was what everyone used. And to prevent someone from teleporting, you needn't seal space itself. You simply had to prevent someone from forming a 'space' barrier.

All that Nihon had done was create a formation that would recognize a teleportation spell, and prevent the barrier—meant to protect the teleported—from forming. As long as it did this, anyone who attempted to teleport out of the formation would die.

And, of course, to prevent the captured target from simply walking out of the formation, it had a more physical barrier. A barrier of ether formed an invisible wall that prevented Eldrian from leaving.

'I can try to overpower the barrier, but it is unlikely I will succeed.' Eldrian's conclusions came from the fact that several large mana crystals were supporting this trap. He did not have the mana to brute force his way out.

'Hacking and corrupting it won't be easy either. Not with the ghosts keeping watch.' Letting his thoughts run their course, Eldrian hoped for a solution to his dilemma. Sadly, he failed to grasp one.

He <nulli>could attempt to teleport while creating the space barrier under his skin. The formation would be unlikely to succeed in preventing this. However, Eldrian didn't like the idea of arriving somewhere <nulli>skinned.

There was also the problem of never having tried it before. The closer to the surface he could create the barrier, the safer he would be. But too close to the outside, and the formation would notice and attack his barrier.

Eldrian did not want to find out what would happen if space magic went haywire inside his body.

On top of all that, he wasn't even sure if it was possible to form a space barrier inside his body. If it was, it would open quite a few avenues for using space magic offensively. Though, Eldrian was sure that anything living would have resistance to such an attempt.

'Wonder if my own resistance will get in the way.' As much as Eldrian wanted to test this, he didn't have the time to waste. Nihon were sieging their castle. And while, for now, his friends were holding out. Something needed to change if they wanted to win.

'I can probably escape if I use Wrath... For that matter, if I slowed time. Like actually slowed it. Could I escape before the formation detects my spell? Wait, wouldn't Tranquility be my safest bet then.'

Realizing that he needn't overpower the barrier, but simply destroy a part of the formation preventing teleportation, Eldrian's thoughts shifted. However, he was hesitant to use his auras in a competition against other players.

'What are my other options?' Eldrian asked himself. Glimpsing the ring of Avyssos he always wore on his right hand. 'That would do, wouldn't it?' He was confident that it would be able to overpower the trap he found himself in. But its cooldown made him reluctant to use it.

Especially not when escaping wouldn't solve all his problems. Eldrian still had no idea how to deal with the ghosts.

'No, I should be able to deal with them if I have some magical backup. I just can't beat seven of them alone.' If he could have attacked them physically, things might have been different. Alas.