Chapter 22: Chapter 22 - System Upgrade

Chapter 22 – System Upgrade

Keith and Ceylon sat on the grass cross-legged and Adrian stood behind them. Adrian put his palm on their back and used Energy Control and Manipulation on them. The duo felt the Energy flowing through their body.

"Remember this feeling. This is the feeling when you use Energy. For Energy Control, it is a skill for you to be able to use your Energy actively. For Energy Manipulation, it is a skill for you to control your energy in your body once you activate your Energy," Adrian explained.

The duo nodded while they focused on feeling the Energy.

"Energy can be used to create skill but you can also use it raw to strengthen your body, increasing your speed, heightened senses, and many more. However, using Energy that way without the skill is costly."

After that, Adrian kept lecturing them about all of his findings regarding energy. How much the raw energy lasted, how much it increased the stats, and many more.

'He is usually quiet but why does he suddenly become this talkative?' Keith thought.

'If he becomes a teacher, he will be the nagging one. I feel bad for his students… maybe his future children and wife too,' thought Ceylon.

Half an hour later, Adrian finished his 'lecture' and let them train by themselves. As for him, he had a more important thing to do. He had accepted the mission to solve the problem with the water supply and he needed to survey the area first before he made any decision.

Adrian decided to meet Kevin, the west gate guard to help him. As usual, Kevin was at the gate guarding the settlement. Since no players had started doing the mission, no changes were happening to the NPCs.

It was not easy to learn the skills and Adrian took three days to learn them but he was without guidance so the players would possibly learn faster than him. Moreover, Adrian did not spend all of his time learning the skill because he needed to continue his travel.

"Kevin!" Adrian went to Kevin.

"Huh? You are back," Kevin spoke.

"…" Adrian was silent and he remembered that they left the game to tend to their farm and had their dinner. 'I wonder what is the setup for our disappearance?' Adrian thought.

"We just found out that Lost Human is more than just losing their memory," Kevin spoke as he saw Adrian's face. "You guys will suddenly disappear and appear many times, right? The system told us that at that time, you guys are swept into a chaotic space and time area. You guys have it hard," Kevin frowned.

"…" Adrian did not say anything but he knew that that was the setup when the Players logged out of the game.

Seeing that Adrian did not say anything, Kevin spoke, "Is there anything I can help you with? Ah! Have you learned the skills and took the guarding mission?"

'The NPC knew about the monthly missions. This will be helpful,' thought Adrian.

"I have learned the skill but I take the water supply mission," Adrian replied.

"Oh…" Kevin was a bit disappointed. He thought that he could have a rest but it looked like he needed to continue with his job. "So, what do you need to know?" Kevin smiled.

"From the mission's description, you guys get the water from quite far away from here. I want to know the location of your water supply," Adrian replied.

"I cannot leave my job to show you the location but if you head south of this settlement, you can find a river there. It will take about an hour to go back and forth," Kevin replied.

"Ah, thank you for that," Adrian thanked Kevin and decided to see the river but Kevin stopped him.

"Adrian, you should meet the leader first and register yourself officially as this settlement's resident," Kevin spoke.

"Huh? Aren't I already the resident of this settlement?" Adrian was confused.

"You are but you cannot see the status of this settlement, right?" Kevin asked.

"…" Adrian was more confused. 'Status of this settlement? I can see that everyone here is living a hard life. What other status can I see?'

"As the leader of this settlement, Sir Valiant can upgrade our system. However, everyone needs to learn Energy Control and Energy Manipulation first. The upgrade will show you the status of this settlement and through that status, you can help the settlement to grow stronger," Kevin explained to him. Adrian was surprised.

"You should upgrade your system fast and you will see how many problems this settlement has," Kevin looked solemn. Adrian nodded and he went to meet Valiant to upgrade his system.

Adrian arrived at Valiant's house and saw him fixing something outside. "Sir Valiant," Adrian called him. Since Kevin used 'sir' when talking about Valiant, Adrian did the same.

"Hmm?" Valiant looked at Adrian and he did not recognize him. "Ah, are you here to learn Energy Control and Manipulation?" Valiant smiled.

"No, I already learned the skill and I am here because Kevin said I can upgrade my system," Adrian replied politely and Valiant was surprised.

"You already learn the skills?" Valiant asked. Adrian nodded embarrassingly.

"I got lucky and learned them while traveling to this settlement. I just got back from the chaotic space and time, so, I am a bit late in meeting you," Adrian spoke. 'I should let Keith and Ceylon meet with Valiant too to establish a bit of connection.'

"…" Valiant was silent for a bit as he was surprised that Adrian had already learned the skill. He had been wondering why there were only 77 Lost Humans that needed to learn the skill when there were 78 of them.

'So, one of them learns the skill ahead of time… Is he a genius then? I should keep an eye on him,' Valiant thought. Since he felt that Adrian was talented, he decided to give more focus on Adrian. The settlement needed talents and Adrian showed signs of being a talent.

"Come here, I will upgrade your system. It is not a complicated method at all but the process will consume 50 points of Energy. Also, the Energy Control and Manipulation is needed because without the skill, the upgrade will fail," Valiant explained.

"I will put the upgrade in your body but you need to use 50 points of Energy and control the upgrade and spread it around your body with Manipulation. It will not be hard but if someone without the two skills attempts to upgrade the system, it will be detrimental to their body."

"They will receive a negative skill where their stats will always be lower all the time until they pass away," Valiant added and Adrian nodded.

"Let's start now," Valiant spoke and he showed his palm at Adrian's chest. A blue diamond-shaped crystal appeared and it slowly entered Adrian's body. "Use 50 points Energy on the crystal and spread the crystal's energy with Manipulation," Valiant instructed.

Adrian did everything that Valiant had said. He channeled 50 points of Energy on the crystal and then, the Energy was transformed into a different kind of energy. Adrian used manipulation and channeled the new energy around his body.

A few minutes later, he got a notification from the system.

[Upgrade successful. Settlement's Status is added to the system]