Artificial Fantasy

Chapter 37: The Plague of the Woods

In a room with several monitors mounted on the wall, a man in a black jacket, white shirt, and green necktie was sitting in his rotating chair as a man wearing a grey shirt entered the room and asked, "So, Mr. White, how are the two boys?"

"They have managed to defeat several [Mad Jackals] and [Wild Wolves] in the <Tested Wilds> as well a few other native monsters that ambushed them during their trek. I guess Mr. Palmer wasn't exaggerating about his boys' ability to grow and adapt to any situation," Mr. White commented as he wrote in his clipboard as he watched the two players fighting more monsters on one of the monitors.

"I agree. While other players had to spend some several weeks gaining experience on crafting and battling, these two have only had to rely on extra help for their armor and only trained in the beginning area for just two weeks. Not to mention they spent several more weeks in the city selling some of their hand-crafted items for a few hours."

"Well, you can't blame them. They're still students and their educations are their biggest priority. But despite that, the younger player, <Kazu> seems to be unique out of the two. Are you sure he's not one of your kids, Mr. Spears?"

"I wish he was. Not only did he manage to figure out how to craft [Magecrafting] items without the aid of the guide system, but he managed to get in contact with a special NPC and obtain one of the required special items for our planned event. From what we observed so far, most other players haven't managed to talk to the Seer in the library or even get a glance of him."

"Yeah. And I worked so hard to help our story writers and programmers with adding NPCs related to the game's lore and programming extra conditions within them," Mr. White muttered as he scratched the back of his head. "Although, I think that being Mr. Palmer's kid wasn't the only reason he got that book. The only way to increase the odds of obtaining that book would have to be that his avatar was a part of the [Insignis] race and that he needed to treat the NPCs as more than just their guides and shopkeepers in the virtual world. Just because young Kazu is the son of an AI developer doesn't mean he obtained it through nepotism, and that goes for his brother too."

"Speaking of his brother, he's been a daredevil himself lately as well. Using the winds from an offensive spell as a tailwind to land a finishing blow was a risky move, but he managed to succeed in killing those monsters with a few swipes and impressive skill. He doesn't have any martial arts training in real life, but I have to admit, he is very skilled with a sword."

Mr. White put his hands behind his back as he watched the boys walk through the forest while chatting with each other about their recent battles. "We did make this game accessible to all players who don't have any kind of training in real life. And these two are great examples as to what we're aiming for in this game."

Mr. Spears then sat down next to White as he picked up another clipboard on the table. "The real question here is regarding that area's boss. It is intended for players who have their combat [Mastery] level up to 10-15, but defeating them is another story. Creativity is the key to the players' victory. Otherwise, they could end up in similar fates as the other players who failed in the <Tested Wilds>."

Suddenly, White began to chuckle as Spears turned around and frowned at this sight. "You know, you may be a serious guy in the office, but you can be a bit over-dramatic when it comes to describing this stuff. It's like you're some kind of a mysterious mentor commentating on their journey like a narrator."

Spears responded with a small smile.

"I'm guessing that's the reason I'm all aboard for this project in the first place. Though I don't recommend mentioning that to the others. It's already embarrassing enough that they know about my love of fantasy novels."