...
"Hey big bro.. I don't think that's a ghoul.."
The smaller girl with blonde hair and blue eyes was correct. What was supposed to be a ghoul was an agonizing Hisgard.
"Yeah... Doesn't look like it.. Looks like he's dying."
"Let's search him a bit then give him a potion, don't want to have someone having to recreate a character for no reason."
"Yeah, you're right, big bro."
After quite literally violating Hisgard's personal space, nothing of value could be found, well, besides one thing.
"The only thing interesting on him was this 'Butcher's Knife'. 'Well Crafted' ,apparently it does have some alright stats on it, aswell as the scaling with the user which is really nice.. There's some weird 'ERROR' text on the bottom of the description though.."
"Eh. Probably nothing, let's just take it big bro."
"Yeah.. it's just payment for our help."
...
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SYSTEM ALERT: This item cannot be unequipped by its user or by anyone else. Attempting to unequip this item forcefully will result in consequences.
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"What the hell?"
"What is it big bro?"
"I can't take it from him. It says that its bound to its user basically, and if i try to take it it'll have consequences.?"
"Let me try big bro."
"Sure I guess.."
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SYSTEM ALERT: This item cannot be unequipped by its user or by anyone else. If you attempt to unequip this item again you will be punished.
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"Woah.. Okay. Don't try to take it again or I'll get smitten to death basically? Ha."
While that could be the case, not one or the other wanted to find out if that was the case.
"Damn.. Hm. Well. Let's just give him a Health Potion and go on our ways. We'll have time before he wakes up. Do we take him with us?"
"Hm... I think the closest city from here is Soyo. Poverty-ridden, hungry, filled with crime, but he probably spawned there considering where we're at. Right? Big bro."
"Soyo? Spawning there is rough. Basically everybody just spawns at Etien."
"Yeah. Bad luck for him. Let's just bring him back to Soyo and get this over with big bro."
Considering Hisgard's state, that statement would be correct. After all, Soyo was known as the beginner killer amongst the community.
...
"Fed him the potion. His HP seems to be recovering a bit."
"Okay, now you should carry him until Soyo now, big bro."
The taller knight bent down and looked at the shorter archer from a few centimeters away.
"Why me? Huh?"
"Weeeeeeeelll youre bigger than me first big bro!
"That's no excuse and you know it! Our strength in this is much larger than in the real world!
"But it would look weird though big bro?
The knight exhaled a rough sigh.
"Fine. You lazy sloth."
"Teehee! Thank you big bro!"
...
As the pair arrived at Soyo, they were stopped by the same guard that searched Hisgard.
"HALT! Who goes there!"
"We're wanderers bringing back an unfortunate citizen from your town."
As of the current situation, unfortunate would be the right word, after all, Hisgard had been badly injured and currently knocked out.
"Hm.. I indeed recognize him. He seems to be that butcher guy from an hour or two ago."
The guard appeared pensive, as if considering the pair.
"..Hmph. Very well. I'll allow you to take him to a resting place. Don't overstep your boundaries foreigners."
"Yeah, obviously. See you."
The knight was evidently annoyed at the guard's remark.
...
"There, that should do it. Cozy little bench." The knight exhaled as he lowered Hisgard.
'Urgh..... What the.. Where am I..? Oh.. Yeah. I got knocked out while fighting some stupid slimes.'
Hisgard thought as he gradually woke up, with a terrible migraine hitting his brain.
"Alright. Time to go big bro."
'Hm..? Oh.. People! They must have brung me back here.. Urgh.. What's with that headache..'
"Hey.. Uhm. Thank you!"
"Oh? He woke up big bro!"
"Sigh. Yeah no problem. Don't bleed out on the road next time."
The knight appeared a little embarassed by his good deed.
Hisgard's eyes were slowly adapting to the sunlight, he could now perceive something unprecendented. Above the pair's head, appeared usernames and levels.
Balkye LVL.20 and Aida LVL.19
"Wait! You're both players? Really? I'm finally seeing players!"
"Shut the hell up! Talk quietly you idiot!"
Balkye looked ready to knock out Hisgard yet again.
"What? Why?"
Hisgard asked innocently.
"Never. Ever. Throw the word player around. You know why?! Cause NPCs turn hostile as soon as they identify someone as a player!"
"Huh?! Why would they do that?!"
Sigh... Okay look. What happened is that deranged people playing this decided it was fun committing heinous crimes against the NPCs- no, the people of this game.
As Balkye said, when Viadium first came out, the first people who bought it weren't actual players, who wanted to enjoy the fantasy of this world, but the deranged, grueling humans, if they could be called such, who wanted to free their desire to their heart's content. Such as stealing, violence, killing, torture, or even worse.
This led to Viadium getting enormous backlash for allowing such freedom inside a game, however, the argument for it was that it permitted those terrible people to not act out in the real world. Nevertheless, it couldn't be confirmed via case study.
"And the AI being incredibly intricate rendered them hostile to any entity identified as a player."
"What?! Is that why those old men at the guild said something about being close to killing me?!"
"Yes. Precisely."
'Damn. Lore dump. What kind of twisted minds would do that to such.. real.. 'NPCs'. I mean they feel real atleast. Speech.. Emotions.. Gestures.. Thoughts.. They're basically people.'
Hisgard thought, he was probably right, in fact. Maybe they were real people, just artificially created.
"Okay, no one seems to have heard us thankfully. Look. Meet us here tomorrow first hour precisely. Don't be late. I'll guide you in a few things. And then we go our separate ways."
"Big bro we have a deadline. Our work must be finished quick you know? We can't just help a newbie out whenever!"
"Aida, we can finish that commission quickly, and you know that, a 1 day delay isn't catastrophic."
"Sigh.. You'll be the one explaining that to boss then. Big bro."
"Yeah, fine."
"Okay, 'Hisgard'. First hour tomorrow in game. See you there."
"Big bro! You forgot something!"
Balkye face palmed.
"Sigh... The time in here. The game. Time passes at the same rate as outside of it but with a 12 hour differential. So just be here tomorrow morning first hour."
"Uh okay. Thankfully it's saturday tomorrow.."
"Yes. Yes it is... Okay. Me and Aida are logging off now. We have some stuff to do. Add us to your friend list and we'll be done."
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SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Aida and Balkye have sent you a friend request.
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...
"I've accepted you both."
"Good. See ya."
"See you later weird bro."
'And... They logged off. Okay.. Well what to do now? Oh! Right. Quest rewards. Forgot to take them earlier.'
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QUEST COMPLETED!
Eliminate the slimes roaming on the forest outskirts!
10/10 slimes killed
Reward: 1000 EXP, 150 Gold, slime essence, slime goo, Small health potion.
Would you like to claim you rewards?
YES | NO
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"Obviously yes."
Hisgard exclaimed, without any hesitation.
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SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Rewards have been transferred to your inventory.
EXP has been awarded.
You have leveled up!
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'Well. That's good. Let me check my stats now.'
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Hisgard
Butcher's Apprentice
LVL 2 --------> 3 : 260/3000 EXP
Gold : 250
Skills:
Butchering: LVL 2
Abilities:
Chop: LVL 1 | 90/100 MASTERY
Available Stat Points: 3
STR: 7 INT: 3 VIT: 6
AGI: 6 SEN: 4 LCK : -inf
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'Hm..... It seems like slimes give me less mastery on 'Chop' when killed than those burglars I killed. No matter, I have 3 stat points to distribute..'
Hisgard guessed that depending on the strength of the opponent, their level, his growth of skills and EXP would change depending on it. As the common of MMORPGs.
'Oh! I know. I had some trouble with withstanding attacks and overall speed in my movements, I guess vitality and agility is the way to go.'
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Hisgard
Butcher's Apprentice
LVL 3 : 260/3000 EXP
Gold : 250
Skills:
Butchering: LVL 2
Abilities:
Chop: LVL 1 | 90/100 MASTERY
Available Stat Points: 3 -------> 0
STR: 7 INT: 3 VIT: 6 -----> 7
AGI: 6 -----> 8 SEN: 4 LCK : -inf
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'Here. Much better. I should be able to dodge and survive attacks more efficently now.. Damn slime tendrils.'
'Well.I guess I'll log off now. Leo must be squirming in his seat waiting to play this. He's not wrong. This feels exhilarating.
Even with the grueling pain experienced by Hisgard, he's never had this much fun in a game before, fighting himself not thru the intermediary of a mouse or a controller but by his body, hands and feet was something he never experienced.
'The sensations and feel incroporated in this game isn't like anything I've ever seen.. Oh wait. How do I log off again?'
...
"System.. Log off?"
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SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Voice recognized, Intent recognized.
Are you sure wish to log off?
YES | NO
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'Can't believe that worked.'
Hisgard felt a slight sense of achievement, brushing his nose.
"Well, Yes, I want to log off."
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SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Voice recognized, Intent recognized.
Logging off now... .... .... ... ... ... ... ... ..
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...
Isn't this taking a bit.. Too long..?
His little achievement was for naught as the realisation dawned upon him.
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SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: There seems to be an issue with user software. Please try again later.
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"Oh no."
He couldn't log off.