Chapter 572: Brave Path 5

How many NPCs were in the Kailan server?

The exact number has to be checked by looking into the database system, but from research, it has been stated that there were around 8 billion NPCs in the human world.

And there were 800 million who could speak, which was a tremendous number, well over 10% of the world's population.

In addition, there was no NPC that was repeated in Kailan.

There were no NPCs made with Copy (paste+paste).

Then how did I, no Kailans planning team designed so many of these NPCs one after the other?

Did we really make the settings and do one after the other?

The answer is 'No'.

Though not known externally, only a few thousand NPCs have been compiled by Kailan's planning team to cover all the stories and specific settings.

(I am not a practitioner, so I don't know the exact number.)

Of course, the number of thousands wasn't small but was less than 0.1 percent of the total number of 800 million.

Then how was Kailan able to give birth to so many?

The secret lies in the fundamental system of Kailan.

The basic source was provided by the planning team, but the results of the intertwining sources were determined by the system.

Starting with the appearance, personality, stats and etc.

If numerous cases feature those the NPCs have, the system randomly mixes it.

Something as small as the eyes or the eye color was also made to not repeat for the NPCs, and the relationship with each other was formed naturally like a 'society' was born.

The different stories between the NPCs ad the numerous Sub-quests that arise from them, weren't even the stuff that the planning team had to take care of.

So, if you have read till here, a question probably is going through your mind.

The thousands of NPCs mentioned earlier were designed from A-Z all by the planning team.

Why were they even needed?

A very simple reason.

Their role was to give a direction to the Kailan, and these were all named NPCs.

I and the Kailan's development team controls them.

Why was there a need for making such a long and complicated story...?

In Kailan, there were so many variables that even I and the planners weren't able to guess.

Yeah, I wanted to make that excuse.

The reason why we didn't have full control over the Kailan's control system.

Ian, Mark Oliver, and Lichao.

These three people, to be in the Warrior's Village at the same time...

It was a very clear 'accident'.

-Expert planner 'Kim Incheon's report'.

* * *

Ian, who extended his hands to the unknown NPC had arrived at the Decision Room.

Ian surprisingly met a familiar NPC.

And he was...

'The dragon cavalry commander Camires!'

The best bus driver (?), who had helped Ian in the war against the Undead army, and gave a huge ride for Ian and Elcarix, was the one waiting for Ian.

However, the surprise didn't last long.

No matter how one saw, it wasn't surprising to see Camires in there.

'The Mark of Courage which was given to me was a clue to enter the Warrior's Village.'

Ian, who had head to head competition with Camires, greeted him with a very happy face.

"Oh, Camires, it has been really long!"

And Camires too was the same.

"Haha, who could this be? Isn't he the Cintamani's master who was recognized worthy by the Dragon God?!"

"How have you been?"

"I am fine. I knew that I'd see you someday, but I just didn't expect to see you this soon."

Looking at Camires, Ian's head began to work again.

'Camires... the content that he could share about the Warrior's Village surely wouldn't be so small.'

There had been no kind of information as to what kind of a village the Warrior's village was.

Even in the notes, no information about the content had been made public.

Only two things were clear.

Camires gave Ian the Mark of Courage, and it had given a free pass to Ian on the Brave Path.

In addition, he was sitting in the 'Decision Room' that would decide his position in the Warrior's Village.

Therefore, Ian decided to try for Camires.

"Haha, isn't it all because of Camires? I would have been able to come till here without the help of Camires and the Mark of Courage."

"Huhu, you are too humble my friend! I've confirmed your courage and valor with my own two eyes."

"It is a compliment. If Camires hadn't been diverted in that situation, maybe you would have been the one who won."

And the sweet-talking skill of Ian.

Commander Camires began to favor Ian rapidly.

"Huhu, this friend, I like you so much."

[Affinity with the White Dragon Cavalry Captain 'Camires' increased by 3.]

And as he checked the system message, Ian stopped his praising for a while.

He found something in the system messages which had come up.

'White dragon cavalry captain? What? Did your position change?'

Just a few months ago, the Camires he met had the title of Courageous Commander.

However, the change in the position during the meantime meant that the position of the NPCs could change as the story progressed.

Ian went back to asking Camires.

"By the way, you're not the courageous commander anymore?"

Camires smiled and replied,

"After the competition with you was done, I was appointed as the guardian captain."

"Aha."

"The Courageous department that I was in-charge was under the White dragon Guard. The Courage division was the most powerful unit in the White Dragon Guard."

"That so."

And the thoughts of Ian's mind didn't end there.

'So, in the meantime, he got promoted ... nice. And the guy who brought me till here was someone in the white dragon cavalry.'

The heaven's army, the exact name was 'Army of the King of Rings'.

And the commander of the Heaven's army was Beak Whe-su.

'The dragon cavalry and the army of the King of Rings. And the Courage division from the Dragon God, Seikaito too.'

The King of Rings who had sent the Heaven's Army wasn't the King Ashoka who ruled the Empire of Maurya.

King Ashoka was just the name of the forefathers of the castle king, and somewhere in the new world, there could be a real king.

An army of gods sent by the 'real' King of Rings.

That army was the Heaven's Army.

'And Seikaito is the one who sent the courageous division cavalry is surely one of the gods from the new world...'

Ian's eyes were shining bright.

'The Heaven's army and the White Dragon Guard... there is some connection between the King of Rings and Seikaito.'

They both had dragon cavalry of sky dragons and had a similar meaning to them, they could be seen as brothers.

Ian was forced to ask Camires.

"Then, Camires."

"Go on."

"Do you know what kind of a person the King of Rings is?"

At the question from Ian, Camires looked at Ian foolishly.

"How can I not know?"

"Huh?"

"He is the lord that is above me."

Ian's eyes which didn't understand what Camires was saying went wide.

* * *

The concept of 'Heaven' was the name of the dimension that had been mentioned in the dimensional against Devildom.

But no one had ever known about the reality of the term Heaven.

That applied to Ian too.

'When I heard of the word Heaven, I thought that it was simply the enemy of the Devils.'

In the last battle of the dimensional war, the celestial dragon cavalry from the Heaven had confronted the Devils.

Defender, Commander Beak Whe-su, had clearly stated that too.

"If this was Heaven, I would have wiped them all off."

That was the first time that Ian had heard of the word Heaven.

And Ian, who had heard it, unconsciously thought that the Heaven system was a dimensional system similar to the Devildom.

Like the human world, which was in the terrestrial system, just like the Devildom, a new dimension was thought to open.

And it was regarded as another force created for the purpose of confrontation against the Devildom and the Asmodians.

But when he heard of the dimension being mentioned in the conversation with Lugarix, Ian was forced to rethink his opinion.

According to what Lugarix had stated, among the dimensions in the Middle-Earth, there was a dimension called as the 'Heaven'.

But, after hearing the story from Camires, Ian had to think once again about all the stuff.

"Heaven doesn't just seem to be a dimension. There seem to be around five, including the Dragon Haven. And all of them are considered as Heaven."

The new worldview he learned from Camires, shocked Ian.

Never before had he ever thought of associating with the Dragon Haven.

"And in that, the King of Rings is the one who reigns over the holy heavens, he could be called as the master of the skies. Even Sekaito whom I serve is like his son."

The army of Sekaito is headed by the White Dragon Guard, which is led by Camires.

But as Sekaito is the son of the King of Rings, and the King of Rings was known to have a higher position, so there was no way he wouldn't be the Lord of Camires.

And listening to the story, another question had popped into the mind of Ian.

"Then, Camires."

"Hmm...?"

"The Brave Path. No, what does the Brave Canyon have to do with the Heaven?"

It was natural for that question to be asked.

On the Brave Path, which had been vaguely known to be 'a place through which one had to pass to be declared as an Intermediate-being', had men dressed in similar costumes to Camires.

At the question from Ian, Camires smiled and responded,

"Huhu, the relationship of Heaven to this..."

Taking a pause, Camires continued,

"That isn't so difficult."

"...?"

"To simply put it, this place exists to select the 'Heaven's Army'."

"You are selecting the Heaven's Army from the Earthly beings?"

Camires nodded and responded,

"Obviously that would be. Excluding the 'God' and 'Spirit', almost all of the Intermediate beings are from the earth. It is very rare for one to be born as Intermediate beings."

"Ah...!"

Listening to Camires, Ian nodded reflexively.

Almost like he had found the pieces of the puzzle which had been lying around for quite some time.

But that feeling was just for a while.

'Then, the Devildom users? Didn't they said that the Warrior's Village and the path would be opened for the Devildom?'

Ian who thought of the Asmodian users whom he forgot about, once again got confused.

And asked immediately,

"If this is the place where the Heaven's forces are selected, then the Asmodians won't be able to become the Intermediate beings?"

Camires shook his head and answered,

"That's not it."

"...?"

"Why do you think that the Warrior's Village is just one place?"

"Sorry?"

"If this Warrior's Village has been made by the Gods, then there is a Warrior's Village made by the Devil Gods on the other side of the Canyon."

With those words from Camires, Ian felt his head be clean from all the doubts.

It was because of the new content and its flow had been understood.

In particular, the content of 'War of Heroes', which was stated to be held in the Brave Canyon every half year.

'I thought that it would be like a nation's war, but eventually, it will flow out to be a fight between the Asmodians and the Humans.'

After a while, Camires opened his mouth again,

"Kay, I spoke a lot since we met after a long time."

"I learned a lot because of that, Camires."

"Haha, nothing at all. If you entered the Brave Canyon, you would have come across all these in a matter of moments."

"Even then, thank you."

Ian sincerely thanked Camires.

He still wasn't able to figure out what kind of contents would be available when he entered the Warrior's Village, but it was clear that it was a place which existed for the sole reason of preparing for the War in the Canyon.

And if he could make good use of the information that he got from Camires, he'll surely be able to get many benefits.

"Kay, now let's go."

As Camires reached out his hand, a mysterious energy started to emanate from the white gate that was behind him.

"The Hero who stepped on the path of transcendence, will you walk down the path?"

Ian was grinning as he saw Camires asked the question.

And the answer...

"YES."

Obviously it was 'YES'.