Chapter 15 - His Analysis

Chapter 15 – His Analysis

Adrian arrived in front of the Green Orchid Settlement and he saw how the settlement looked like. He looked left and right at the settlement and it looked like the settlement was not big.

The houses were not a house. They were shacks and what he saw now looked exactly like a poverty area in a picture he saw while learning history in elementary school.

The fence covering the settlement was poorly made and they did not look like they would give protection to the residence.

Adrian saw a few NPCs in the settlement walking around and they wore tattered clothes and seemed to suffer from malnutrition too.

Adrian walked through the fence to search for the settlement's gate. A simple kick could easily destroy the fence but he would not do that.

After a minute of walking, Adrian found the gate. In front of the gate stood a young man who seemed to be in his teen years holding a wooden spear. The young man wore better clothes. Even so, he was not that much different compared to the NPCs in the settlement.

The young man noticed Adrian and he stood up excitedly. "Another Lost Human!" the young man shouted excitedly.

'Lost Human?' Adrian questioned in his mind.

"Welcome! Welcome! You are the 70th Lost Human who arrived in our poor settlement," the young man spoke excitedly and he ran towards Adrian.

"I am Kevin, Green Orchid Settlement's West Gate Guard," Kevin introduced himself excitedly. "I am not a real guard but someone needs to take this job," Kevin smiled.

Adrian could see it. Kevin did not have the physique of a guard. He was skinny and did not look like someone who could fight too.

"I am Adrian," Adrian introduced himself too since Kevin told his name too.

"Hehe, I know," Kevin looked above Adrian's head.

"!" Adrian was surprised. "You-you can see my name above my head?" Adrian was shocked. NPC in fantasy games could not view Player's basic info such as name and level but Kevin could do that.

"Why not? I just need to appraise you and I can see your name and level above your head. You can do that too, right?" Kevin spoke cheerfully.

"All of you Lost Humans all have this reaction. What is so surprising about it? Maybe you guys forgot about it? You guys can do that too. You have the system too, right?" Kevin spoke excitedly.

"!!!" Adrian was shocked once again. 'The NPC in Progress have access to the game menu?' Again, NPC in fantasy games could not access the game menu.

Adrian calmed himself. From Kevin's reaction and statement, Adrian knew that all the Players who had arrived at the settlement were shocked too.

"So, Lost Humans…" Adrian spoke and pointed at himself, "Is it me?"

"Yes. You don't remember where you come from, right?" Kevin asked.

"…" Adrian was silent. 'Ah, this is the setup for Players in Progress,' Adrian understood.

"Lost Humans are humans who have no memories about this world and the only thing they remember are their names and how to use the system. If you want to know about the system, it is the ability all humans in this world will gain once they are 10 years of age," Kevin explained.

"Is that so?" Adrian nodded.

"We receive a mission from the system that 78 Lost Humans will arrive at this settlement and we need to receive them unconditionally," Kevin spoke.

'So, only 78 Players choose this settlement. Well, it is understandable because this is the lowest grade settlement,' Adrian nodded.

"Let's go. The Leader will tell you what happens after all 78 Lost Humans arrived," Kevin led the way to the settlement. Adrian followed silently behind him and when they passed other NPCs, they all looked excited when they saw Adrian.

'I wonder what the mission describes us?' Adrian thought because all of them looked super happy with his arrival. At the same time, Adrian received a notification for mission completion but he did not check it as he arrived in the middle of the settlement and Adrian could see the other Players waiting there.

Adrian recognized a few of them. He had seen them at Orchid City College. They did not take the same course but he did saw them a few times.

As for the others, he did not recognize any of them. A few of them were older than him and most of them were younger than him. Adrian could see that there were more high schoolers than middle schoolers. Ceylon and Keith were not present in the group.

Since Adrian did not know any of them, he decided to sit by himself. Suddenly getting all familiar with the other Players would look weird.

"Then, I will excuse myself," Kevin spoke and left Adrian there alone. Adrian glanced at the other Players again and he could see that some of them knew each other. Possibly, they were the same as Adrian, Ceylon, and Keith.

'Adeline is not here. I guess, she chooses the higher-grade settlement,' Adrian thought.

Adeline was Adrian's younger sister who got scammed by an entertainment agency to become an idol. One of the people in Adrian's family who caused a lot of trouble.

'I guess she will not choose her hometown,' Adrian thought.

"Adrian~" Suddenly, Adrian heard a familiar voice and when he looked in that direction, Ceylon was walking towards him.

"You are here," Adrian smiled.

"Did you wait long?" Ceylon asked and he sat on the ground beside Adrian.

"I just got here. Not even for five minutes," Adrian replied.

"Then, Keith is the latest or maybe he got knocked out by some monster and was forced to log out," Ceylon spoke while snickering.

"I can hear you," Suddenly Keith appeared behind them shocking both Adrian and Ceylon. "Hmph! I have been here much earlier than Adrian and I walk around the settlement to see if I can find anything interesting," Keith spoke.

"Then, you must have been running away from monsters and arrived earlier than us," Ceylon talked back.

"…" Keith wanted to fight back but they were in public and there were many other Players around. He did not want his image to be someone stupid or brute. Keith sat on the ground beside Adrian too.

"So, have you guys figure out the setting of Progress?" Keith asked.

"Uh-huh," Ceylon nodded before he said, "It is shocking. They can use the game menu like us and all of them have the same function as us."

"Will they be suspicious when they see us talking to each other like this?" Adrian suddenly spoke. "We are Lost Humans after all," Adrian added.

"If they ask, we will just say we can remember being friends and we are indeed friends, so, we are not lying," Ceylon replied. While the trio was talking, a few more Players or Lost Humans arrived.

"Nah, no need to worry about anything. They are NPCs after all. There is a limit to what they can do," Keith brushed that issue aside.

"I don't think so," Ceylon spoke while looking in a direction. Keith and Adrian looked too and saw a few NPCs whispering something to each other while pointing in the direction of a group of Players.

"…This game must have cost the World Government a lot," Keith spoke and he started to practice in his mind if the NPC asked about Adrian and Ceylon.

"Not only the NPC but the creatures are also intelligent too. The slime and Sharp Teeth White Rabbit I fought all exhibit high intelligence. They did not have a specific habit or set of moves. They act in a way suitable in that situation," Adrian spoke.

The slime he lost to at the beginning learned something and moved differently when the same moves failed. The Sharp Teeth White Rabbit that Adrian defeated was similar too. It bit and broke the sickle because it knew the sickle was Adrian's weapon.

"Future is really the Super AI. He creates this game and everything is on a different level compared to other fantasy games," Keith was impressed.

"I wonder what this game will actually be?" Ceylon spoke. He had been playing this game for a while but still had no idea how it would be. It looked like it would be the same Fantasy RPG but his opinion changed when he arrived at the Green Orchid Settlement.

If it was the same as the usual Fantasy RPG, this settlement would be a beginner city or town but the state of the settlement said otherwise. Green Orchid Settlement was far from being a beginner city, town, or village.

The settlement did not have the necessary things that Players in normal Fantasy RPG needed. This settlement was barren and poor. There was nothing useful at all.

"The state of this place and the name of the game tells everything about the game," Adrian spoke and he continued, "This is a town-building game."

"…" Ceylon and Keith went silent.

"The World Government wants to help the younger generation to walk the right path again and this game will be able to do that. Maybe not everything but this is a good start," Adrian spoke.

"So, they want us to develop our talent through a town-building game… D***, I screw up," Ceylon had a headache. Keith did not say anything because he screwed up big time.

"They mix town-building game and Fantasy RPG to make it interesting. A normal town building will be boring and with Fantasy RPG elements added to the game, it will not be that boring," Adrian added.

"More so, when we need to gain the stats in real-life by reading and exercising, All of that is to help us get on track again. The mandatory rule is to force middle schooler and high schooler to study well."

"They need to start early. Elementary school is too early and may give bad results instead. College students and above are too late at this point because the mold is hardened now. To soften the mold and shape it in the right shape, it will need a lot of determination and thus, the 1:1 exchange rate," Adrian smiled.

"The exchange rate is the softener to force older people to try and work hard to change. Their determination for money will help them to change while playing the game. Either this will work or not, we just need to wait," Adrian gave his analysis.

"You see all of that?" Keith was shocked.

"That is from what I have observed. I may be wrong," Adrian replied. While the trio was talking a few more Players arrived and at this time, an NPC arrived and stood in front of everyone.