NPC or Guardian

"You can call us by the party channel, right? It's unusual for you to become not calm. What happened?" Cloud asked with concern.

Ace, who still couldn't calm himself, then said, "Not here ma'am. Let's go to the cave where Sofia is doing her stuff. I need everyone's opinion. It's so unbelievable, so I need everyone's opinion."

***

"So, everyone is here. Explain! what has happened?" Cloud said to her son in law. Besides her, Sofia also was looking at him with a questioning gaze.

Ace took a deep breath, trying to arrange his words. He then asked, "We, the players, are considered as guardians of the human race right?" 

"Yea, wasn't the prologue already explained like that?" Sampson said in an 'It's obvious, right?' tone.

"So, how could other races also have guardians like us. Is it possible that we are not the only players that are playing this game?"

"!?" Everyone looked surprised at his sudden revelation.

"Hahaha, Isn't it obvious? Millions of people are playing this game. You said something dumb, you know," Sampson said while laughing hard.

*Tud*

"Ouch! What is it, Mrs? Did I say something wrong?" Sampson complained after being hit by Cloud.

"Think to yourself, what was your mistake," Cloud said sternly to her bodyguard. He then looked at Ace, "Honestly, I don't quite understand what you meant. Can you elaborate it more clearly?"

Ace realized that he explained it too ambiguously. He then told them his experience from watching the battle between the dozens of Earth Dragons with thousands of ants. 

Geo was listening full of interest, the others were also fascinated by Ace's description of the battle. Sampson looked pretty envious for couldn't be there to watch the battle.

When Ace explained his decision to kill the remaining ants and have been level 10 at the moment, the others looked so shocked. They then examined Ace and knew what he had said was true. 

"That is not fair. I should also be there," Sampson said.

"Yeah, Dad. I also want to watch the battle," Geo said.

Ace felt bad for couldn't bringing Geo. Just as he wanted to promise him, he will take him next time. He saw Sofia trying to calm his son by saying, "Next time sweety. We will come together."

Geo then stared at Ace. Ace could only nod, "Yeah, if the circumstance allows."

Ace then talked about his interaction with Gon, the earth dragon. How he helped him, their conversation, his departure to go back to his home, and Ace's smooth journey to the hill.

"So, the dragon really said that his clan has some guardians. Or maybe it was the same word with different meanings? I mean their guardians are some strong protectors, not game players," Cloud said in an unsure tone.

"Then he wouldn't say that they are immortal. Whoever they are, they could resurrect after death. So they have a similarity with us. It is already a problem. And if they are really players like us. I don't know what to do anymore," Ace signed.

Everyone was silent. They seemed to think about the future problems that could happen if the information that Ace brought was true. Then a small voice woke them up.

"Um… Dad, could we just become friends with them? After all, maybe they are good people," Geo said while looking at the troubled Ace.

"!" Everyone was startled by Geo's opinion. 

"You are right!" Ace said while patting his son's head. Everyone's mood increased considerably. Geo seemed happy to get everyone's agreement.

Sofia smiled and said, "Geo is right. Whoever they are, it is not sure whether they are friendly or hostile. And surely we can talk to them when we meet them one day. I also will look some information about guardians in the books. By the way, I succeeded in making 3 shining sphere summoning scrolls."

"That's cool. Let's test it," Sampson said. Geo seemed to like the idea, as he nodded vigorously. 

"Maybe later. It will be dawn soon. It will waste the scroll. As a shining sphere was pretty bright in the night but will look like an ordinary bubble in the day time," Sofia said with a smile.

"That's true. We also need to discuss what to do next. Just like Ace said, we seem to need to go from here soon, as the dragons will come in the next few days. 

Also about our destination. I think we should reconsider it once more. It's true that the West human settlement is more certain as the system has pointed it out. But it could be a trap. Our journey will be stuck at the foot of the mountain range if what the dragon said is true," Cloud said.

"If we have more clues, it will be good," Ace sighed.

"I think we can try to go to the East. And if we get a new clue, we can change our direction. Remember the compasses. They will help us," Cloud said.

All of them nodded. They agreed to Cloud's opinion.

"As for the dragons' campaign. Don't worry too much. We could leave when they come. The important thing is to level up as fast as possible," Ace said.

After that, Everyone opened the white crystals one by one and got 3,390 dirac coins, 113 ant's cores, 11 scrolls, and 7 various colors of pearls.

"Whoa, so rich. It seemed hunting monsters could be a promising job. You know, if we sell all of them, we can get more than 500 credits. We can be rich in a few years if we continue to do it," Sampson said gleefully.

"Yeah, it seems many white citizens will get stable jobs in this game. They can become monster hunters, merchants or many production jobs like blacksmiths and tailors. As most equipment can only be produced by those production jobs," Ace said.

"Yeah, this game, no! It deserved to be called as a world. This new world will become the second home of people," Sofia said.

"By the way, what are the scrolls? Are they consumables?" Sampson asked.

"I am also curious about them, let's check them out!" Ace said while checking one of them.

"This is a blueprint. It's a blueprint to build a building. It's called a guard post. It also mentions some ingredients for making it. And the function of the building is pretty good. It gives the territory 1 security point and 5 development points for each post that is built. I don't know what the others, but they seem good," Ace said.

After checking all of the blueprints, they got 4 more building blueprints, they are house #15, salt farm, doves' house, and outdoor kitchen #3.

They also got 3 weapon blueprints. They are frost iron sword, flash spear, and scarlet short bow.

The rest were a cake recipe, 2 potion formulas, and a chair design.

"So, it seems we finally know how other players will get blueprints. By the way, you said, Gon collected the crystals just like us and how did he store them? Are you sure he is just an NPC and not a guardian?" Cloud stared at Ace.

Ace felt as if struck by lightning, "That! I never thought of it. I…. But he gave me a quest. If we assume that he was a player like us, it is impossible for him to give a quest, right?"

"But, if he is merely an NPC, isn't the NPC in this game too skillful?" Cloud said in wonder.

"If you, as a member of the developer, didn't know it, so how can I know about it? By the way, were you really the ones who created this game?" Ace retorted and looked at her suspiciously.

***