Chapter 193:

When Heaven’s Chosen Grayman first entered the game, he was discovered to have “talent” by Dump Truck Iaido, who served as the manager in the Survivor’s Camp. Although this humble graduate student kept saying he was only superficially talented, he undoubtedly contributed a complete set of plans for the camp’s construction. Including but not limited to the specific division of residential and work areas, he helped Sister Jules formulate the camp’s health and safety manual, improved the tools used by the lumberjacks, and introduced a new and more convenient method of basket weaving for the women. He even presented a simplified tutorial on constructing simple Arabian-style tents using wood and cloth. These were pieces of knowledge that Heaven’s Chosen Grayman found online, but after teaching them to the NPCs at the outpost, they received quite a positive response. All these efforts paid off. Although in the current player community, Heaven’s Chosen Grayman was just an inconspicuous small fry, in the world of the Survivor’s Camp, this “knowledgeable, kind-hearted young scholar” enjoyed a certain level of renown. He was not only the camp’s architect but was also appointed to other positions by Baroness Miriam, such as teaching the children basket weaving, tool usage, and even wood polishing techniques for making a living in his spare time. Such experiences made him highly respected by the people of the Survivor’s Camp. This could be seen from the increasing intimacy of his two young female assistants towards him, going from being initially fearful to now actively helping him massaging his back and serving him tea, indicating a significant increase in “favorability.” Heaven’s Chosen Grayman’s gaming experience was also quite different from other players. Since entering the game, aside from visiting the Blood Vulture Halls, he had hardly actively fought any monsters. Yet surprisingly, his character’s level had not dropped much. He was currently level 9. Of course, it couldn’t compare to the first wave who had completed the Black Iron trial, but he was still considered a mid-game player. So the question was, how did Heaven’s Chosen Grayman’s character level rise when he didn’t fight monsters or practice combat skills? Ummm, this was probably due to his unique profession. After guiding the survivors in completing the camp’s planning and renovations in the game, Heaven’s Chosen Grayman transitioned to a very special profession, “Architect.” This was a typical “administrative profession” that the developers had always promoted. It gave Heaven’s Chosen Grayman skills such as “Terrain Exploration,” “Environmental Survey,” and “Rapid Drafting,” while the actions required to raise the profession’s level were for him to complete the planning, design, and construction of larger and more complex buildings himself. At first, Heaven’s Chosen Grayman thought this was absurd. But after careful consideration, he realized the rationale was not difficult to understand. In the real world, for an architect to accumulate experience and obtain better certifications, they also needed to continually learn and precipitate knowledge through work. After understanding this point, he considered it merely the developer’s “attempt” at incorporating real-life professions and entered a state of justifiable “slacking off.” However, no matter how he rationalized slacking off, what was meant to come would still come. After being brought into the Blood Vulture Halls by Lady Adele, Heaven’s Chosen Grayman’s mood grew heavier with each step forward. Lord Murphy had previously told him to produce a city planning map, which was when version 2.0 had just launched about a week ago. After accepting the task, he had been drawing diagrams ever since. Of course, he also “borrowed” some ready-made materials from the internet, but even with this miraculous tool, Heaven’s Chosen Grayman’s work progress was still slow. This was a city! Even for a medieval city, the complexity of its planning and design was far beyond what an undergraduate design student could handle. The more he attempted to plan it himself, the more he realized his inadequacies in this professional field. The only silver lining was that he didn’t need to consider designing a complex sewer system that would drive one to despair for this new city. The sewer system left behind by Kadman City could be used directly. But even so, by now, he had barely completed even a third of the overall planning map, and Heaven’s Chosen Grayman, clutching a pile of diagrams, sighed deeply, feeling the same sense of misery and despair as taking his design to show his tutor, as if he were walking to his grave. Yet, he had no choice but to face this task. “This is just a game!” Heaven’s Chosen Grayman encouraged himself in his heart: “Don’t be afraid! The worst outcome is just a failed quest, lowered favorability, it’s not like Lord Murphy would kick me out of Transia to fend for myself. After all, I’m just a casual player, intensity doesn’t matter.” He said this to himself. His tense attitude gradually relaxed, but after rounding a corner, Heaven’s Chosen Grayman didn’t see Lord Murphy. Instead, he heard the laughter of children. He peeked out curiously from behind Lady Adele and saw that Grandma Jules from the camp and another unfamiliar elderly nun in religious attire were leading a group of about thirty children walking down the corridor towards the Descendant Hall. “Huh? What are they doing?” Heaven’s Chosen Grayman had a mind microphone plugin, so he no longer needed to translate his voice into text and could now speak directly. He asked in a low voice, “Why are there human children in the corridor? Isn’t this the sacred ground of the vampire clan?” “This was a suggestion Baroness Miriam made to Lord Murphy.” Lady Adele answered calmly: Murphy immediately realized the underlying reason why Heaven’s Chosen Grayman could not complete the design plan. He gave the guilty-looking little player a strange look and asked in an odd tone: “Then, my warrior, allow me to ask you a question that concerns me the most right now. If I need you to design six residential areas for my subjects within two months, how would you plan to execute it?” This question left Heaven’s Chosen Grayman silent for a moment, after which he pondered and said: “The simplest solution I can think of is the Khrushchyovka. Uh, it’s an architectural style from our side that sacrifices some functionality in exchange for maximum utilization rate. You can understand it as a seven-story stacked tower, with 10 to 20 rooms on each floor, and a single building can accommodate thousands of residents. But I can hardly make it a reality in your city because we don’t have concrete. It’s a material that can rapidly solidify and is exceptionally durable against corrosion, allowing buildings to be constructed in a very short time.” “Of course I know what Khrushchyovkas are! I even lived in one for a while when I was young! Don’t underestimate me, you little fool.” Murphy rolled his eyes hard in his heart, but outwardly he still feigned astonishment and said: “It’s hard to imagine such a building. The one you’re describing seems to be a ‘commoner’s castle’ that I can hardly describe. However, I’ve realized the error in your approach, my dear architect.” Murphy put away the diagrams and returned them to Heaven’s Chosen Grayman. Patting the college student’s shoulder, he pointed at the children below who kept cheering as they toured the Blood Vulture exhibits, and asked: “Do you think my subjects need those ‘high-end dwellings’ you mentioned? No! They don’t need them. Even in the previous Kadman City, all they had were small apartments that could barely shelter them from the wind and rain. The so-called functionality, aesthetics, and comfort are things they can only pursue after being granted basic safety and living assurance. As the Transia proverb goes, even the most delicious relief food is hard to swallow in a peaceful era. You misunderstood my intention, my warrior. Perhaps it was because I didn’t explain it clearly to you. I’m not asking you to design a super metropolis that can accommodate the entire population of the Transia region, like the city you planned on the diagrams, which didn’t even appear in my most arrogant dreams. You know that the entire Transia region’s population at its peak never exceeded 2.5 million, and that was before the Fourth Black Disaster. Therefore, what I need you to plan and design is only a city capable of housing 200,000 people or even less. I’ve had conversations with you people during this time, and I know that your world is prosperous beyond my imagination. From your perspective, what I need might just be a prosperous large town. Ah, the gap between our two worlds is so vast, this fact is truly hurtful.” “Ah this!” Heaven’s Chosen Grayman immediately realized his own cognitive bias. After all, if you ask a modern professional college student to build a city, their first reaction would definitely be to create a design rivaling the super city clusters of New York or Shanghai. Who would have thought that the NPCs in the game only needed the planning for a small county town? Now looking at the seven whole streets he had planned for the administrative district alone, divided into thirteen different buildings for various departments, Heaven’s Chosen Grayman himself felt ridiculous. It seemed he had made this task too complicated? His confidence suddenly rose. But then he realized that even if the NPCs only needed the design of a large town, it was still not something a college student like himself could handle. However, with the requirements scaled down by several levels, if he consulted with a few brothers and scraped some professional materials from the internet for modifications, perhaps this task could be accomplished? “As for the ‘concrete’ you mentioned, well, I’ve never heard of such a building material before, but we have alternatives.” Murphy extended his hand and manipulated his spirit energy. Under Heaven’s Chosen Grayman’s gaze, some floating dust in his hand was shaped into different forms, and Murphy said to him: “Although Tris and the young lady are not professional earth priests, they still know the spirit skill ‘stone to mud’ from the spirit arts. This is the spirit skill used for city-building on this continent. We can’t be as extravagant as you and use alchemy to construct buildings. But fortunately, we have spirit energy to assist us. I think houses built from moldable stone should be strong enough to withstand the winter snowfall, right? You see, my warrior.” The lord pointed at the carefree children below, placed his hand on Heaven’s Chosen Grayman’s shoulder, and said softly: “Whether these children can have a pleasant and comfortable winter depends entirely on the protection of your wisdom. But even if something goes wrong, I don’t think they’ll blame you. Just as I won’t blame you either. Because your contributions and sacrifices for this land have already been seen by me. Therefore, don’t feel any psychological pressure, and do your best.”