Chapter 2 Searching for Hidden Peace (1)


    Virtual reality.


    A virtual world in which all senses can be digitally implemented to provide a realistic experience as the machine is directly connected to the brain and exchanges all information in real time. To say that it was embodied in reality was no mere bluff.


    “What is this...”


    Jaeyoung eximed involuntarily at the unbelievable sense of reality that it was a game. The warm sun beating down on you and the gentle breeze on your face. Looking at the crowd of people busily moving around the square, Jaeyoung muttered nkly.


    “Selling health recovery potions!”


    “Who wants to go hunting? It''s a daily quest party to collect 100 Slime Cores!”


    “I buy iron ore: I buy all of it. 50 Bronze each!”


    Among the crowded users, there were people like Jaeyoung who seemed to have logged in for the first time, but there were also quite a few who had already adapted to the game and moved quickly.


    “Interfaces... are not asplicated as I thought.”


    In addition to people andndscapes, Jaeyoung''s field of vision showed foreign things. Familiar status windows that have been seen in the RPG game Leaf Story, which was popr until recently. Looking at them, Jaeyoung was able to adapt to the game by opening various windows without anyone telling him.


    “First of all, I''ll have to deal with the beginner''s quest.”


    As in any other game, only a worn-out sword and a few health potions were thrown into the inventory as basic equipment, and a quest was shining in the quest window as if asking for a quick solution.


    [Beginner Adaptation Quest - 1]


    - Defeat the slime. 0/1


    “....more unfriendly than expected.”


    Jaeyoung muttered to himself as if he was a bit annoyed when he saw that the quest developer was bothered a lot, and there was no reward or location written, just a rough description of the mission. Then he started wandering around looking for an exit out of town. After starting the game, it was the duty and right of a beginner to finish and watch the tutorial.


    * * *


    Arcadia.


    A virtual reality game servicepany established by Ajin Electronics, Argos, and Silicoff with a 33.3% stake. Although thepany was created less than half a year ago, its financial power, reputation, and influence on the industry as a whole were growing so powerfully that no one could ignore it.


    “How are the users essing the Korean side?”


    “The number of real-time visitors exceeded 900,000! The number of subscribers has exceeded 1.5 million.”


    As soon as the service started, the number of subscribers and visitors exploded as if they had waited. Because of that, the entirepany, which had just been established in Korea, was running around without a break to eat and couldn''t wake up. Except for Kang Hyuk-soo, the head of the customer center team, who is responsible for the smooth operation of Arcadia andmunication with customers. He asked as he took a sip of coffee and nced at the numbers on the screen.


    “Is there any particr problem?”


    “There are many inquiries from customers, but most of them are simple inquiries rted to connector operation or use. We have not yet received any inquiries about problems with the game.”


    Hearing that, Kang Hyuk-soo nodded his head as if he was d.


    “The management and development team leaders said at the meeting today that if there are any bugs or system-rted inquiries in the game, please report them immediately.


    Manager Kang Hyuk-soo muttered to himself in amazement as he nodded at his words and looked at his subordinates who were busily working again.


    “It was like that before, and it still is, it’s really amazing. Does it make sense that so many people are ying at the same time and there is no problem...”


    Having worked for arge gamepany for over ten years before being scouted by Arcadia, he has been eating on this floor for over ten years. I was in awe of the potential of the Arcadia-operated server to handle the number of visitors and traffic.


    In the US alone, the number of concurrent users has already exceeded 10 million, so it is gaining immense poprity. In such a situation, millions of users were flooding in again, but the n of the upper line had no time to rest.


    “They say they are nning to open the service in China and India in a little while, but I wonder how the heck they are going to amodate that many users...” It’s okay to wait until it stabilizes to a certain extent, but in a system operated with one global server, back and


    forth It waspletely iprehensible to themon sense of Kang Hyuk-soo and the servers and systems that handled all the traffic without any problems even with those who did not cover and only nned expansion, or those ridiculous ns.


    “Well... It''s not a problem for me to worry about anyway, but what.”


    The more he thought about it, the more he became suspicious, so Hyuk-soo shook his head and let go of his thoughts. His job is simply to listen to theints of game users and respond appropriately. He didn''t have to worry about anything more than that, so he enjoyed a cup of coffee on this peaceful afternoon.


    Considering the scale of the game, it is safe to say that there are noints and inquiries. Hyuk-soo smiled pleasantly as he thought of his leisurely situation, unlike the managers of other departments who were crazy busy. But he didn''t know the huge typhoon that wasing at him.


    * * *


    Arcadia is not a very friendly game.


    It is another world where numerous continents and various city-states exist, and countless life forms transcending races prospered and died.


    That''s why there are interesting stories and quests everywhere, there are a lot of things to explore, and there is the possibility of finding great treasures and important quests in unexpected ces, so the ability of yers to excavate them is important.


    “Hmm...”


    Jaeyoung sat in the library and frowned as he stared at the book.


    “With this, ten books areplete...”


    As soon as he turned thest page and closed the book, a message appeared in front of Jaeyoung’s eyes.


    [Read 10 bookspleted quest.]


    [Intelligence has increased by 1 as a reward.]


    Read 10 books, one of the beginner quests. Just reading all the books the librarian gives you increases your intelligence by 1, so it''s popr because you can raise your stats with a butt.


    In fact, it is not that easy to read ten books, but since it is possible toplete just a cursory nce without reading the contents properly, most peopleplete the quest in less than 30 minutes and leave the library.


    However, Jaeyoung sat down and carefully read the book the librarian handed her. He read the books slowly and carefully, as if he were memorizing them, and in thest tenth book, Jaeyoung was able to find a strange passage.


    [The oldest traces of darkness that brought about the Dark Age of the Arcadia continent were ironically foundst in Adelin, where everyone announces a new beginning. So...]


    “If it''s Edelin, it''s right here...”


    A beginner''s vige that everyone goes through. Learning through this book that this ce where Jaeyoung is now was called Adelin in the past, Jaeyoung suddenly looked down at the cover of the book he was reading.


    [History of Arcadia - 1]


    It was a clue that only an ignorant reader could find in this book that describes the overall history of Arcadia, and anyone would just yawn and cover it up. And unfortunately, the book ended just at that part, so I couldn''t find any more information.


    However, Jaeyoung couldn''t ovee his curious curiosity and approached the librarian who was dozing off while enjoying the warm sunlight.


    “hey.”


    “Uh... Huh? why?”


    Jaeyoung put down the thick book he had just read in front of the librarian who woke up in amazement.


    “Where are these two books by any chance?”


    “What what? Volume 2? Why is that all of a sudden?”


    “No, there was something interesting in Volume 1, but I think there will be additional information about it in Volume 2.”


    “Interesting content?”


    “The oldest vestige of Edelin.”


    The librarian opened his hazy eyes wide in surprise at Jaeyoung''s answer, and looked at the book and Jaeyoung''s face alternately as if in amazement. Then he muttered with admiring exmations.


    “Wow... there are people who really read that book.”


    “yes?”


    Jaeyoung tilted his head at the strange situation where the librarian at the library said that it was strange for visitors to read books, but he didn''t mind and continued talking.


    “Among the people whoe here to read books in the first ce, I have never seen anyone who reads them properly. Everyone swayed and looked at the bookshelves and left. I have never seen a guy like you who has finished reading a book and is looking for the next one because he is curious about the next one.”


    Then, the librarian opened the desk drawer, pulled out a thick book, and pushed it in front of Jaeyoung.


    “There are two volumes here, so just read them to your heart’s content and bring them back.”


    “Ah... yes. thank you.”


    Jaeyoung hesitated and picked up the book when the librarian took out two books from the drawer as if he had been waiting for them.


    Then, as he returned to his seat, he suddenly stopped and turned his head to ask the librarian.


    “Hey, but why did you keep 2 books in the drawer?”


    Unlike the other books that were openly ced on the bookshelf as if to take out and read at will, the two books that were kept in his drawer. The librarian smiled and muttered to Jaeyoung at the question asked out of a strange sense of heterogeneity, as if it were a nned situation.


    “It''s a special book that onlyes out on request.”


    * * *


    While Jaeyoung was flipping through books in Arcadia for a long time, Alice, an artificial intelligence program that contemtes everything in Arcadia, was watching and analyzing the y of countless users.


    Watching without missing any trivial things to see what consequences their actions will bring, and granting quests and rewards ordingly when a certain causal rtionship is established in their actions.


    In order to turn the vast world of Arcadia into a game, she was constantly processing huge amounts of information in real time, and a special variable was detected.


    [Edelin, a beginner vige. Unusual matter detected.]


    [Hidden Quest granted condition fulfilled.]


    [Specify the target yer as the target of analysis first.]


    The oldest trace of darkness that brought about the Dark Age of the Arcadia Continent. And from the moment Alice recognized the keywords rted to Adelin and received Book 2 from the librarian, Alice began to keep an eye on Jae-Young.


    [The oldest trace of darkness is said to have been hidden by Ezul, a legendary adventurer at the time, in a nearbyke. Of course, no one actually found traces of darkness there, and since then it has been forgotten and no one has been able to find anyone talking about it. Also.....]


    “If it''s by thekeside around here...”


    Jaeyoung, who was diligently digging through the book, eventually found the information he wanted, and opened the map of the continent drawn in volume 1 to see what was mentioned in volume 2. I went out to find thekeside where it was. Then he pointed to a ce on the map with his finger and murmured.


    “There is only Lake Erun...?”


    Theke is notrge and is often visited by locals to enjoy peace while fishing. It was not very popr with yers because it was just a ce to take a break where you couldn''t find a single monster.


    It''s not easy to think that clues exist in such a ce, but as soon as Jaeyoung mentioned Lake Erun, Alice calcted numerous variables and possibilities and made a final decision.


    [Satisfying the final conditions for creating a quest.]


    [Creates a quest rted to rted clues.]


    Ellis, who determined that all the requirements for creating a quest were met, began to analyze the difficulty and impact of the quest to be created ordingly.


    [Quest Difficulty B. Influence A.]


    A quest with an A-level ripple effectpared to the difficulty of solving it. If it were a normal developer, she would have forced the creation of quests, but she, an artificial intelligence, did not. Whatever the oue of this quest, the story of Arcadia is a world created and written by yers. And because she is an artificial intelligence who is fair to anyone and a thorough principled person.


    [Quest grade B+.]


    [Trigger activation of the main scenario.]


    [yer dex. Analysis priority level 1.]


    After the quest was granted, Alice''s calction ability began to operate at a high level. To predict and analyze all the events and scenarios that will ur and be created by a single user''s action without thinking.


    * * *


    [The quest has been created.]


    “Eh?”


    Jaeyoung, who was lost in thought while reading a book, made a stupid expression at the message that suddenly popped up in front of him. Then, he moved his hand to check the message.


    [Quest Finding the Traces of Darkness]


    - Found a document that says that Lake Erun has the oldest traces of darkness. Check if this literature is true and look for traces of it. 0/1


    Short, unfriendly quest description. However, Jaeyoung smiled while reading the contents of the quest. And he spat out a heartfelt exmation.


    “Wow... that’s really cool.”


    The history of Arcadia, which was written incredibly extensively. And he was looking for the next volume with a clue hidden in it and a trivial curiosity. The perverted level of detail and meticulousness of the Arcadia developers who anticipated his actions and hid the quest gave me goosebumps.


    “Is this a level that can be called a real game...?”


    I wanted to pay homage to Argos and Ajin Electronics Silicorp, who developed these games, in that they didn''t miss even the smallest details, while being filled with a world view and settings that were too vast to be considered a game of a general scale.


    “It’s getting funnier.”


    The moment Jae-young, who is intrigued, gets up from her seat and moves with her eyes twinkling.


    The Korean branch, which was in charge of Arcadia''s Korean service, was shocked by the sudden notification.


    [Main scenario creation.]


    [Act. 1 The Forgotten Darkness Begins.]


    This is because the main scenario, which could not be created even in the US, where the service started a few months ago, first started in Korea, less than a week after the service started.