18 017| Kevin: I am concern

They took a while before they reached the entrance of the king's tomb. It was tied shut, like those in old legends and stories depicting them. Only through special methods do they get to get inside the said place.

As one of the 'academe' in the group, Kevin was pulled over by his fellow men in the field. Which by the way is a little useless thing to do as perhaps only the NPCs can actually open the entrance. Players don't have the necessary study to have answers over whatever mechanisms are at work. Only those with relevant knowledge or skills are able to actually help in this matter.

Don't assume that referring things blindly on televisions and novels will do good. Even the most based on true stories has some alterations during the filming process, so those seen on the final products are not helpful at all in reality. Though they are in a game world, this thing still applies. Like what happened to one of their severe cases of 'second-grade syndrome' players. He did not end well.

The guy was a newbie who has watched too many things online or on his TV. He blindly followed a certain scene from a doomsday movie. Moving some slates of stones in the corner of the blockage. Hoping that this will make a miracle. But it fell short and he died as a small insect with the size of a baby's finger nail flew out and entered his nose. Although he is currently still alive and well, Kevin knows he is already good as dead.

He clearly remembered the details of what happens to those invaded by those insects. Numbing of their nerves resulting in paralysis, their mouth, nose and eyes will excrete blood, their skin will darken like dead people, and finally they will be a hollow shell without internal organs, blood and flesh. All of this starts happening between one to three days as they are still underground. But the moment they are exposed to the sun, the insect will kill their victims so quickly that they only need an hour to do so.

So instead of being a useless bum with a group of intellectuals, Kevin tried to absorb as much as he could. Who knows if it will be useful later? He better take this chance to gain more weapons for the future.

Thankfully his reward from the first world is very helpful to him. He does not need to actively activate his brain cells to do all the comprehending. He just needs to listen for a while to learn it without much problem.

While Kevin was doing his best to learn what he could learn, the other players were not like him at all. Unlike the relatively 'friendly' players he met in the first world, they are clearly more guarded. They did not introduce themselves nor did they say how many worlds they had survived. Doing their best to keep their silence other than doing the necessary.

Kevin did not blame them. As long as one has lived for so long in this kind of high thrill life, one is bound to end up with some problems in them. It could either be in personality or in their mindset. In all cases, most of them are clearly dangerous individuals who can do crimes in a blink of an eye when stimulated enough.

Perhaps some of them are more used to this kind of life than in their original life. In here they are free to let loose of their darker sides. Normal society does not welcome these kinds of characters, staying there for long will only make them more paranoid than restoring who they used to be.

"Hey system, what will happen to them if they end up clearing the necessary game worlds? Their moods are really not the most calm. They will end up being mad at some point." Kevin asked as he began to think what will happen to him if he can no longer take in all sorts of madness the game worlds will throw at him.

[They will not turn crazy]

[The main system likes those who survived for so long]

[It will regulate their minds each time they leave a world, enough to let them resume their normal lives]

[Sometimes the main system even grants them some items and skills to compensate them, which were either useful or not in their lives]

[So there is no need to worry about them at all]

"But that does not solve the problem in the long run." Kevin frowned as he observed that most of the old players whom he identified were showing common signs of PTSD. One wrong trigger and they will set off like missiles in a war.

He had a relative who was a soldier. Sent in a conflicting state, there was active war in that place. Everyday he was subjected to various dangers and has even almost lost his life a couple of times. And his long exposure of such danger has made him develop some responses towards certain sounds or events.

This almost killed his family at some point when he was reminded of the torrent of bullets during his active time as a soldier. He took out his gun and assumed that there were enemies in his house, injuring his son during the process. Prompting him to have rounds of therapy to become controllable he is today.

But still he still has episodes despite all those efforts.

He is afraid that this will be the future of the failed hosts or even hosts in the future. Most especially to him who he definitely is quite weak mentally. When their mental states are at their most extreme, they can do something unimaginable as they have experienced things that normal people do not.

"Do they have something like welfare for them? A rehabilitation or anything to make them better?" Kevin asked after he ran his mind in circles.

[I don't know]

[It is no problem of mine]

[They are not my host nor I am obliged to help them]

[My responsibilities only falls on you]

[So let the main system continue do the worrying itself]

[It is enough to take care of oneself]

Kevin cannot retort the argument represented to him. He could only take a step back and do his best to return to his reality. There is still plenty of study materials he has yet to start reading. The system is right to say that taking care of oneself is already enough. How can one help if they themselves are subject to die? He is not yet that dumb to do something so thankless.

"Speaking of which, can you open the store? I should browse some things to keep myself safe." Kevin told his system.

[Can]

[Opening shop….]

After a while a brochure-like thing appeared before Kevin's eyes. There were category tabs for the items available like those of some games, filling his eyes with various objects he is both familiar and not familiar with.

He was particularly curious about the skill books. Remembering that he still has one unused one, he checked out this category first before he will use it.

There were three available books he could purchase. It was Cooking, Martial Arts and Programming. Quite a redundant choice as he already has some knowledge about it.

"Why are there only three options for me to choose from?" Kevin asked quite displeased with the skills available. "Furthermore each of them are actually priced at 3000 each. Are you trying to rob me?"

[I don't know]

[The things on the shop is random, the skills section were the most controlled merchandise available that might be the reason of the pitiful number of goods]

[If you're not satisfied you can wait next week for new skills, other categories changes daily]

[I recommend you to check the other first rather than complaining about the skills]

Kevin did not say anything else and continued to browse over the goods available. He saw some reasonably priced merchandise that may come handy to him. So he purchases them with a light heart, there are mostly medicines as he knows that there are plenty of poisonous traps somewhere in this tomb. Effectively ignoring the skills category as there is no use for them to him.

Satisfied of his purchases, Kevin began exploring the walls like the other academes with them. Over their time of searching for a way to get inside, they found a mural that told the history of this tomb. Although faded due to time and some other reasons, there are important clues scattered all over that they used to open the entrance of the tomb.

In his search he found a delicate ornament. It was pearly white and almost like ivory in texture. Shiny and incredibly smooth to touch.

He liked it so much that he asked if he could take this with him as a souvenir. His father will like this as a gift. He remembered there was something similar to it in his collection, though he does not know if this is similar to it.

The system allowed him to take it with him. It was just that he cannot take it back until the game world is done. Which was okay with Kevin, prompting him to keep the ornament in his pocket.

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