Although the stream cameras for the players have a microphone, the cameras used for simple monitoring of the game do not, which is why at no point did either Charles Richards or Hollie Rees find out what was being said between Kaizen, Zylok and Fryft. They only saw Kaizen's massacre of vampires and then the return of the dialog. For this reason, when Kaizen appeared outside the capitol, walking normally, they were so confused.
Even Charles was surprised, so he started scratching his gray beard with his right hand and a smile appeared on his face.
"He's really done it..." Charles whispered.
Hollie frowned. "What are you talking about?"
Charles tried his table again and said:
"Hollie, do you remember when you first came to talk to me about Kaizen?"
The secretary with the round glasses and caramel-colored hair nodded immediately, because she remembered perfectly, after all it hadn't been that long since it happened.
"At the time, you underestimated Kaizen, presented his past to me as if it condemned him and even said that we should do something to try to reverse the fact that he had obtained the Psych Class." Charles made a point of recalling.
Hollie looked away, slightly embarrassed, as Kaizen had shown himself to be the perfect player for a Psych class. "Yeah, I got a bit ahead of myself that time..."
"Yes and no..."
"What do you mean?" Hollie asked in surprise.
"Your analysis that day was partially correct. The Psych Class wasn't exactly right for a player like Kaizen, who was used to playing Tank in Myth2, and theoretically the Psych Class was more for a mage than a front-line brute. Even so, I chose to go against your analysis and do you know why?"
Hollie took a moment to think about it. "I think it's because you saw potential in Kaizen. He had a winning and somewhat mysterious past and because he had so many debts you knew he would try harder than most people."
"That's a good guess, a great one to tell the truth, but it's incorrect."
Hollie's eyebrows rose and she adjusted her glasses on her face. "So, I don't know what made you take such a risky decision."
"Honestly, Hollie Rees, I don't tend to make decisions as analytically as you do, which is why I studied AI engineering in college. Training a machine to think and make better decisions than me was something a slacker like me dreamed of and that's why Odin was created."
Hollie took a deep breath. "In the end, are you trying to tell me that you risked an unprepared class falling into the wrong hands because your super-smart computer made it happen?" She kept a serious expression. 'Seriously, what kind of lesson is he trying to teach me with this? That I should trust machines more than my own work?" she thought.
"No, what I mean is that that was one of the reasons." Charles replied.
So Hollie lifted her gaze again and looked into Charles' eyes. "That means there was another reason... What was it?"
"Look for yourself..." Charles pointed at the computer screen. "What do you think makes Kaizen stand out so much from the other players?"
She looked at Kaizen's walking avatar. "His speed of evolution, the way he thinks, the way he plays, his attitude and his class?"
"No, that's all just superficial analysis."
"Superficial?"
"Yes, superficial. Kaizen isn't the fastest evolving player, he's not the smartest player, he's nowhere near being an example of leadership and he's only just started using his Skill Tree again. So why, despite all this, is Kaizen still more famous than most of the Evolved we have?"
"Is it because he's always involved in big events?"
"And have you ever wondered why he's always the focus of everything important that happens in Midgard? Doesn't there seem to be something that sets him apart from the other players?"
Hollie Rees realized that Charles was trying to teach him something; there was something he saw in Kaizen that she couldn't see. Then, after staring at him for a few seconds, she finally realized it, and it was something that had been in her face for so long that she was indignant with herself for never realizing it.
"There's something around him, I feel different when I look at him like that and it's different from when I'm looking at his file." She declared, which made Charles let out a laugh.
"HAHAHAHA! Rest assured, this feeling isn't love, at least I hope not, because I see the same thing in him." Charles said and his broad smile lit up the room. "Hollie, some people have this strange kind of aura around them and when you first notice it in someone, you start to see it in people of different types and social classes wherever you go. This aura is something you only see in people who are doing what they were born to do, what they truly love, and when this type of person is in an environment, they can annoy some, cause envy or even happiness, making others around them more excited and determined."
"That means that all players and NPCs who meet Kaizen are marked in some way..." Hollie muttered, still a little stunned.
"Yes, it's natural that when there's someone making an effort in a work group, the others either get annoyed by that effort or try even harder. Because Kaizen is a simple person, he often manages to have the second effect on the others and it seems that I'm not the only one who has noticed this." Said Charles, looking at the camera that was filming the main chamber of the capitol, where Zylok was sitting on his throne, with a happy smile like that of a child who has just found a new friend.
…
Edited by: DrHitsuji
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