5 System!
Gerard turned around and saw the person who told him to get any food he wants.
A player! A Normal Player at that!
Gerard was stunned for a second and observed the Player in front of him.
He saw a man dressed in a familiar garb and a weapon hanging on his waist!
Without a doubt, this is a Tier 0 Swordsman Player!
But why is he trying to help me? Is he rich?
As long as he can remember, every player will start with a little money enough to last them a couple of days.
Since the exchange system is yet to take effect, every Player can't be a spendthrift and waste money for nothing because players are only given 2 Silver Coins at the beginning!
Players must kill monsters or find a basic quest to earn rewards. A Tier 0 Level 1 Player must find a location where the monster resided to grind. But the map is in the beginning stage and there is no way they can find the location of monsters using the Map Menu.
Additionally, killing a monster is hard, although it is hard to kill a monster, the odds are still 60% of being a triumph to kill a monster and 40% to be defeated by a monster.
Even so, to survive this harsh game, players must take the risk, or else they will be left behind by other players in terms of level and wealth. And if they do, their future will become bleak and they will have a hard time earning money in this game to exchange for real currency.
There is another option as well. To do the quest and earn rewards.
Quests are usually issued by NPCs wandering about in the street or any other locations. But finding a quest is hard because to get a quest from an NPC that is not affiliated with city hall or town hall, one must trigger something to get a quest from them. So the quest from normal NPC is hard.
But if a player wants to get a quest as soon as possible, they must go to the City Hall or Town Hall and look for the Mayor or Town Chief or any official affiliated with them to get the quest.
Although getting quests from normal NPCs is hard but the rewards can make everyone drool. There's a big difference in rewards received from normal NPCs to official NPCs.
Take for example, if the company didn't change the quest system he saw when he was still a Senior Developer, the rewards received from normal NPC in starting area is several silver coins and if the players get lucky, equipment will be included in rewards after the completion of the quest.
While the reward received from the official NPC is a fixed 10 copper coins only.
But Gerard's train of thought was cut off by the Swordsman Player.
"Mister Payne, are you not hungry? If you want, I can buy you drinks as well!"
The Swordsman Player enthusiastically offered him while breaming with a smile.
Could it be this player interacted with him hoping to trigger a quest from him?
Gerard wryly smiles.
Seeing his smiles, the player becomes more delighted thinking that if he persuades more, the NPC name Payne Blanc will trigger a quest!
"Is this my luck? It's only been fifteen minutes since I first log in and yet I found an NPC candidate for triggering a quest!" The Swordsman mumbles about oblivious the NPC in front of him is not just any NPC but a special NPC. A real player provided if he is still alive. Unfortunately, he is convinced that he is only a consciousness wandering inside the game.
Meanwhile, the Swordsman had a fair share of playing virtual games, and sometimes to trigger a quest, a Player must be attentive. During those time, out of boredom, he helps an NPC that is begging for food, and suddenly, he received a quest and the reward is bountiful! Since then, whenever he plays a new virtual game, he always helps NPC that begs for food in the street.
Gerard shook his head softly and contained himself from laughing.
This is it! I might be able to get by hereby acting as an NPC, not a player NPC. With this kind of thought, Gerard quickly took an action.
"Young adventurer. It seems you are a kind-hearted man. It is indeed I needed food but I currently do not have any money from me." Gerard responds to the young man and shakes his head softly while sounding like a person who just lost the big jackpot!
The Level 0 Swordsman taps his chest in a magnanimous way "Don't worry Good Sir Payne, I will treat you with food and drink to your liking. Please don't hold back and just take anything you want within the price of 1 Silver Coin!"
Gerard is trying very hard to contain his laughter from seeing the reaction of the Player. He wonders if he will act this way if he is a player and found a candidate NPC that can trigger the quest.
No. This won't do! Contain yourself, Gerard!
After staring at the player "Very well then, I will trouble the brave adventurer."
Gerard then heads back again to the previous stall together with the player.
"Good Sir. I want to buy the Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki in two sets and two 500 ML glasses of water as well."
The stall owner furrowed his brows upon seeing Gerard and smirk "You sure are a persistent beggar. Let's see what happens if the guards come---"
But before the stall owner finish his speaking, the Swordsman interjected and respectfully buy the food.
"Good Sir, I'll pay for the food so there's no need to call the guards."
The stall owner was thunderstruck and repeatedly shift his gaze between Gerard and the Swordsman.
But a business owner is a business owner. One would naturally prioritize money if presented to them and this Swordsman did!
The stall owner arranges the food and packs it for Gerard.
"Here, one set of Takoyaki is 15 Copper Coins while the Okonomiyaki is 25 Copper Coins. For water, 5 Copper Coins each. And a total of 90 Copper Coins!"
The Swordsman quickly activated his Menu Interface and process the payment.
From Gerard's perspective, the Swordsman stood dazed and looked thoroughly into the air. But he knows the Swordsman is currently processing the payment through an interface. Players don't need to wave a hand or click a button or a tab or a bar to process things in Menu Interface. One can process what's inside the Menu Interface with thoughts alone.
This gives an advantage to players if they conduct or process things on their Interface Menu while in combat. Such as opening the inventory and getting the Health Potions or Mana Potions.
After a couple of seconds, the Swordsman smiled and handed the food he ordered to Gerard.
In this part, this is going to get tricky. He needs to send away the Swordsman so he can escape from his grasp. Because if he can't and if the Swordsman finds out that he cannot issue a basic quest, then what would happen? In his theory, with the intelligence of the NPCs, every action of NPCs will have some corresponding consequences. He had a hunch the NPC can be reported to guards and be thrown into jail.
This theory of his is supported by the stall owner when he grumbles about calling the guards and him being thrown in jail or what.
So if this Swordsman finds out, he's dead.
But Gerard he is not a hundred percent sure of his own theory so he needed to try it some other way.
After receiving the food, the Swordsman starts talking to him again. "Good Sir Payne, there's still 10 Copper Coins left. Is there anything you want?"
This is it! This is my chance!
Gerard intentionally orders food worth 90 coppers so he can send the Swordsman away!
"Indeed. Please, if you don't mind, look for the stall at the end of the plaza in the third district that sells apples with 10 Copper Coins a piece."
The Swordsman magnanimously smiles "No, I don't mind at all Good Sir Payne! It will only take a moment!"
Gerard smiles and responded "Thank you, young Adventurer. I'll be waiting here for your return and in exchange, I'll give you a quest!"
Hearing the word quest, the Swordsman becomes exhilarated and quickly left him to buy the apple fruit.
Seeing the Swordsman run further away, Gerard quickly runs away from the scene and looks for places he can hide!
After turning left and right from who knows where. Gerard stops on the small creek and sits on the rock nearby.
Gerard collects his breathing first and studies the surrounding area.
After making sure the Swordsman didn't follow him, Gerard start eating the food and drinking his water!
Ugh! This is heaven.
Oblivious to him, the Swordsman is currently on the way to his location. When the Swordsman arrived at the previous location, he was dumbfounded when he didn't find the NPC named Payne Blanc.
So he tries asking around and the stall owner that sells Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki told him the NPC he was looking for ran away when he left to buy the fruit. The store owner also told the Swordsman not to expect anything but rather to call the guards while looking for him, because the NPC he was looking for is actually a scam and took advantage of him for being kind.
Hearing this, the Swordsman cannot help but curse inwardly but in the end, he didn't heed the stall owner's advice. He is still hoping that looking for Payne Blanc is needed to trigger the quest.
But after good five minutes of looking for him, the Swordsman grew anxious. And slowly rage built up in his chest.
If that NPC is really a scam, then he spent his 1 Silver Coin for nothing! Every Player knows that the starting money in this game is only 2 Silver Coins and since the exchange system is yet to take effect, no one should spend their money on nonsense things!
He was about to call the guard when his peripheral view found a familiar-looking man in his late twenties. The Swordsman sighed in relief seeing that the NPC is not a scam. Because if the NPC is a scam then, he won't show his face in the open.
He then resumes his pace and greets the NPC again.
"Hello Good Sir, I thought you hide from me. Here, please take the apple you requested!"
Hearing the familiar voice, Gerard becomes stiff!
Oh crap! How did he find me?! I avoided the obvious places but he still found me!
Apparently, they are in a narrow location but people are still around doing their own business.
Oblivious to him, the player has map visibility on the town they are in. That is why the Swordsman knows the places he might hide in compared to what he thought earlier about Map in Interface Menu.
Gerard didn't know the Supreme System introduction to actual players is different from what he experienced upon logging in to the game.
"Sir?" The Swordsman asked him again in a worried tone.
Gerard took a deep breath and contemplated his choices. He can run, for about what? 10 meters and then the Swordsman will surely catch up to him.
When he logged in and tried to choose his character job, the attributes of each job are all displayed even the special NPC. And there is a big difference in starting attributes between the special NPC to the rest of the jobs!
Gerard has no choice but to turn around while smiling nervously.
"Here Good Sir, please take it!"
Gerard reaches out for the apple while praying for a miracle. But he knows nothing will happen and he will surely be imprisoned for fraudulent action.
But upon receiving the apple, his prayer was answered!
An Onomatopoeia was heard by Gerard followed by the familiar gentle voice he heard upon logging in to the game!
Ding!
[Supreme System Interface is loading]
Ding!
[Supreme System Interface is trying to Synchronize to Host!]
Ding!
[Synchronization failed. Trying the Synchronization again!]
Ding!
[Synchronization Success!]
Ding!
[Actual Synchronization Rate is loading]
[10%...20%...30%...70%...80%...90%]
[95%]
Ding!
[Actual Synchronization Rate reached 95%. The Host can now use the Supreme System Interface. By using the Supreme System Interface, the Host can now issue different quests depending on the Host's desired quest provided the Host meets the condition laid upon]
