A New World, an immersive game experience

Eldrian's heart pounded as his ride jumped from the cave. The cave exit was at the side of the mountain, where there were only steep slopes. Slopes that no one would be comfortable climbing,  and here Dixi had jumped.

Her leap sent them far from the steep ground, and as the seconds ticked on, Eldrian envisioned the poor bear falling to her death.

As gravity started pulling them down from their maximum height, Eldrian's mind raced. He immediately turned to ether. He knew he couldn't exert enough force to support his own weight, not to mention the weight of the spilio. Hoping that it would be enough to allow them to survive, he started sending out heaps of mana.

However, as soon as he did, Dixi suddenly seemed to land on something and jumped. Eldrian lost all focus as he suddenly slammed against Dixi's back. Confused at what had just happened and falling to the side. He quickly grabbed onto Dixi's fur as the wind suddenly returned and roared in his ears.

Each jump stopped their falling momentum and brought them that bit closer to the ground. Dixi was moving diagonally through the air like some wind-walking acrobat. Eldrian was so confused, and he was sure that anyone seeing them would be stunned.

It was only after the fifth jump that his mind started working again. Turning to mana sense, Eldrian finally managed to see what was happening. Somehow Dixi was summoning invisible fields; perhaps the best way to describe them would be wind shields.

They weren't simple wind shields, however. The core of these fields was a collection of ether. Forming a type of condensed barrier around which wind collected and funneled—increasing the size of the 'shield' and causing a counterflow in the surrounding area.

Eldrian let out a relieved breath, realizing that he had lost control of his wind barrier thanks to his panic. It would have certainly made things difficult for Dixi.

As they continued down, Dixi started alternating the direction of her jumps. Soon they reached an area filled with trees which she used as her perch for jumping. Eldrian was still flabbergasted that a creature as big as a bear was jumping from tree to tree, but at least now it made a little more sense since he could at least see the trees without mana sense.

Dixi was still combining ether and wind to make the journey smooth, and Eldrian marveled at how naturally the spilio could control these aspects. He saw no complexity in the mana; it was pure control based on instinct and reminded him of the core of dynamic casting.

To reach such a level, your mana should be like an extra arm. To use it should be as easy as breathing, something you aren't even aware you are doing most of the time.

This comes naturally to creatures with magical bloodlines. In fact, it came naturally to everything, even people, with magical bloodlines. 'My bloodline must certainly play a role, I just haven't figured out what it does.'

Of course, Eldrian was scared of figuring it out. Past experiences had proven that it could be dangerous.

He pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind and continued to enjoy the ride as they sped through the forest. Eldrian tried to take in everything that Dixi was doing, trying his best to understand how she naturally used it to help her essentially fly from tree to tree.

The journey lasted only a few minutes, and then they were at the mountain's base, on the furthest side from Kynigo. A journey of more than 50 kilometers was completed in what felt like a handful of minutes.

Eldrian was amazed, this type of speed was comparable to Ceph. Yet he hadn't even realized how fast they were moving. He had been too awed by how superbly Dixi used ether and wind in combination.

He felt great inspiration for ether manipulation, for how he might one day be able to surround himself with an arsenal of weapons. Perhaps he could even soar through the air on a sword like some sword cultivator.

'I bet standing on a sword is hard though . . . perhaps it would be better if I used a shield? At least for the start.'

As these thoughts went through his mind, Dixi stopped and turned her head towards Eldrian. Her stop was so sudden that Eldrian would have been sent flying without her magical support. This support, however, was only external and Eldrian felt like he had hit a brick wall at the speed of the wind.

This was supported by the fact that he had lost over a hundred HP.

"You're not an easy ride," Eldrian commented as he wiped the blood from his mouth, an average person would have likely died from the sudden shock.

Seeing Dixi continuing to stare at him, Eldrian quickly understood that she was asking where to. Pointing to the northwest, Eldrian said, "That way."

Turning to where he had pointed, Dixi prepared herself for a sprint. Eldrian could feel the local mana becoming excited, which made him extremely anxious. He grabbed Dixi's fur and prepared himself.

Dixi suddenly grew even larger, her height now reaching five meters. And then she took off at a shocking speed.

Yet, despite her size, there was no sound as she rushed forward. Once Eldrian got used to everything flashing by him, he turned back and saw that there weren't any claw marks. It was as if Dixi weighed nothing despite being so massive. Yet, from how solid she felt beneath him, he was certain she weighed probably about a ton or more at this moment.

'How is this possible?' Eldrian wasn't shocked by the lack of footprints but rather by how her size could change so drastically. He wasn't sure if her weight always stayed the same, but he had this feeling that it changed with her size. Else it wouldn't make sense that her size would determine how much she needed to eat.

'There sure are some interesting creatures in this world. I guess I really haven't seen much of Gaia. If things calm down I really should explore a bit. It would do me good to expand my horizons.'

Enjoying the ride, Eldrian arrived before a stunned group of players in a little over two hours. Guiding Dixi wasn't the easiest thing and she often became curious about things. She was also highly aggressive against certain types of monsters that the two had passed.

If not for these sidetracks, they would have likely arrived before an hour had even passed.

Swallowing with difficulty, Elizabeth took a step forward while eying the massive bear. "Umm, Eldrian . . . what's—is it safe?"

"Dixi, down," Eldrian said as Ingvar had done and upon his command, the massive bear taller than two adults shrank until not even as tall as a dwarf. The imposing beast suddenly appeared rather cute but none of the players dared take a step closer.

Jumping off, Eldrian looked at his friends with an awkward smile. "Ingvar, the captain of the gate to the dwarven kingdom in the Ganalin mountains . . ." Realizing that his explanation was already too long, he decided to cut the details.

"A friend lent me this spilio. She's . . ." Again, he paused. He couldn't say she was friendly, for he had seen just how ferocious the spilio was to certain types of monsters.

Seeing the city on the horizon, Eldrian patted Dixi's head. Hoping that she wouldn't suddenly decide to rush into the city to kill some orcs. Just to be safe, he said, "Dixi, stay."

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