Chapter 4  : Red Mountain Town

Following the old man, Roland walked out of the temple. The sun was not so dazzling in the morning, but he subconsciously closed his eyes when he was faced with it.

 A few moments later, Roland grew accustomed to the luminescence and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the pure and clean sky, which was not half as polluted as in modern society.

 Below the blue sky was a glistening lake on which there were several black leaf-like spots. Upon closer look, Roland discovered that they were tiny boats.

 Many buildings of different heights and colors were around the lake. Among the buildings were lines of villagers, marching along like ants.

 A huge bridge connected the two ends of the lake and divided it into two parts.

 Roland breathed the fresh air and listened to the whistle of the wind on the mountaintop, feeling tranquilized. After a long time, he said to the old man, “This is Red Mountain Town? I think it should be called Lake Town.”

Falken’s eyebrows lowered, as if he were not in a good mood. “It’s not a good name… Mr. Roland, what’s your plan?”

Not a good name? Because it does not sound good, or for other reasons? Roland was curious, but noticing that Falken was not happy, he did not pursue further. Roland was truly impressed by the producer of this game who had made both the scenes and the NPCs so vivid.

 More importantly, the game accurately reproduced human senses, except for the sense of pain that was reduced to one-tenth as a protective measure. After all, if the pain of being hurt or killed was perfectly simulated, only masochistic players could have endured it.

Roland considered the question for a while and then said uncertainly, “Travel and play, probably.”

 Falken looked at Roland in surprise, his narrowed eyes slightly widened. “Simple as that? Shouldn’t you have lofty ideals such as saving the world, defeating demons, or slaying a dragon?”

 Roland smiled at Falken’s surprise and amusement. He said slowly, “I’m just an ordinary person. I don’t know how you view the Golden Sons… That’s what you call us, right? But most of us have come to this world for fun. Maybe our dreams will change later, but that is our purpose for now…”

 Roland meant it. At first, he thought that he was to be given a quest. However, he found it impossible to regard Falken, who felt so real, as a pure NPC.

 Roland was not an idiot. Talking to an NPC and talking to a real person were different. However, though Falken was obviously an NPC, Roland had the feeling that he was talking to a real person.

 He didn’t have to be serious in a conversation with such a gentle old man, but he should be at least sincere.

 Falken looked at Roland, feeling strange. He had never seen a human being like Roland before, who had an undying body but whose biggest dream was to go sightseeing for fun.

 Other people who had such abilities would probably have great ambitions, not just fulfilling themselves but even conquering the world.

 The Golden Son before him, however, only wanted to have fun? Nobody else would’ve believed it, because it didn’t make sense, but Falken did. He had seen a lot of people who were highly aggressive, but the person before him was as innocent as a baby.

 “The dimension you’re from must be free of war and carnage.” Falken looked at the young man and sighed. “Isn’t it marvelous?”

 “Actually, it isn’t.” Roland shook his head helplessly. “But the country I’m from is rather safe. It’s peaceful and prosperous. Occasionally, unbelievable things happen, but they’re all far away from me.”

For Roland, it was a plain explanation, but for Falken, it was pure bragging. His white robe moving under the cool morning breeze, Falken heaved a long sigh and said, “If only I could live in your world.”

 Roland looked at the old reverend with great interest.

 Thanks to his major in college, he had been in touch with the famous AI. Although he had no chance to get to know AlphaGo, he was quite familiar with Siri.

Siri did quite well in daily conversations and acted like a regular person. However, in the more in-depth conversations, including those about life, world events, or history, Siri was obviously not intelligent enough and would give rigid and mechanical replies.

 The old man before his eyes, however, was no different than a regular person when he was sad or envious in a conversation.

 Roland was not sure that Penguin Corporation could achieve that. Besides, according to the official website, there were more than fifteen billion intelligent people living in this game world, and every NPC could compare to a real person.

 What technology had Penguin Corporation, which was famous for its counterfeit products, developed?

Before he entered the game, Roland was never convinced of such propaganda, because every company tended to oversell their product. However, he believed it after meeting this old man named Falken. He could imagine how spectacular this world could be if all the NPCs had a unique personality and soul.

Real scenery and perfectly-simulated NPCs… Roland felt the passion for games that he hadn’t felt for a long time.

He slapped his thigh hard and asked, “Mr. Falken, how should I go to the nearest city from here?”

Falken was surprised. The young man, who had been calm so far, suddenly had strange enthusiasm. The guy’s eyes were still clear, but there was now new light in them.

 “Go down the road on the west side. You will see Delpon in four hours if you’re on foot.” Falken paused for a moment and continued, “You’d better not deviate from the main road on your way. There’s a maple forest next to the road outside of Red Mountain Town. Many enormous spiders live in the forest. Normally, they don’t come to our territory, but when they’re too hungry, they might go crazy and hunt human beings.”

“Thank you, mister.”

Roland waved at Falken and walked down the gray steps on the mountain road. The morning sun was as bright as an orange, and the breeze was as gentle as a veil. The noises of the town gradually found their way into Roland’s ears.

 Roland was of a mind to open his arms and embrace the blue sky and the white clouds, but he was afraid that he would seem too silly.

 He simply pursed his lips and murmured, “Falan, I’m here.”