Rainbow was diligently helping Scarlett regain her lost skills and stats.
Nobody wanted to get along with Scarlett anymore other than Rainbow, Lily, and Stardust. Even if Scarlett wanted to talk with the others, they would avoid her. The tension in the party grew higher due to the fear of Scarlett secretly murdering them. Everyone was keeping a close eye on Scarlett to make sure she doesn’t do anything dirty. It wasn’t good for the party to have a higher stress level for long periods. Something has to be done, so Stardust decided to create a new NPC.
He wasn’t going to let all the desert ape corpses go to waste either. It was simply too much food for them to finish in time. The desert heat accelerated the rotting process and they didn’t have a way to preserve meat for longer. Unfinished meat was tossed far away from the camp so the scavengers don’t dare attack the camp.
There was enough desert ape biomass to create one more NPC. Everyone gathered around and hoped that their newest ally wouldn’t be like Scarlett.
<< Please give me a good NPC. Let the stress level of my party be gone!>>(Stardust)
Stardust placed his hand on the biomass pile with female clothes added, “ create NPC!”
***** NPC 9 Monica *****
Base Attribute: Desert Ape ( Slightly higher than average base stat given)
Stats:
- Physical Power: 180
- Physical Speed: 180
- Physical Defense: 180
- Magical Power: 0
- Magical Speed: 0
- Magical Defense: 21
Resistances:
- Heat Resistance LVL 5
Skills: none
Karma: -52 (Evil)
Loyalty: -45%
***** End *****
<< @#$@#$ another NPC with negative loyalty and negative karma!... But we have to welcome her to the party. I will make sure she doesn’t betray us.>>(Stardust)
Everyone saw Stardust’s expressions and realized that another problem girl like Scarlett was created. He wasn’t going to get rid of her either and she will probably wreak havoc like Scarlett. The mood of the party gotten gloomier. What should have been a joyous celebration became another nightmare.
Lily instantly grabbed onto Monica’s hands with a smiling face, “ welcome to the party! Let’s be gooooooood friends okay?”
Rainbow also joined in the hand-holding, “I will help teach you anything you need!”
Monica upon realizing her creation and quickly becoming self-aware of herself, “ yes! Let’s become gooooooood friends! Please teach me Rainbow!”
“ Welcome to the party,” said Stardust with a happy face. “ Let’s survive the desert together and become good allies.”
“ Of course!”
Lily and Rainbow were full of sparkly eyes while the rest of the party had a face of indifference. Scarlett was giggling at another chaotic element to play with. The other girls barely gave Monica their acknowledgment before turning away.
(Monica) << Why is everyone else not happy at my creation? Don’t they know that I only want what is best for the party! I will work hard to prove myself to them.>>
Lily placed her hands onto the unsuspecting Monica’s face. “ My husband, what is her loyalty percentage?”
“ It’s negative and confidential,” answered Stardust.
“ Oh is there something wrong with me?” wondered Monica. “ You can tell everyone my loyalty percentage. I am quite curious myself.”
“... it’s -45%”
“ Is that the lowest amongst all the NPC here?
Remi interjected, “Scarlett should be the lowest here.”
“ What’s Scarlett's percentage my husband?” asked Lily as her hands were still on Monica’s face, wondering if she should use her [Evil God’s Happiness LVL 1] skill on her.
“It’s confidential unless Scarlett is okay with revealing it.”
“ No way I’m lower than Monica!” denied Scarlett. “ Don’t reveal it Stardust. I’m getting more loyal towards Stardust ever since he spared me.”
Everyone doubted her. Lily took her hands off Monica’s face. She was going to use it on Scarlett after all.
The party now consisted of 9 total NPCs and Stardust.
***** NPCs *****
Evil
> Lily ???
> Scarlett -75 (very evil)
> Monica - 52 (evil)
Neutral
- Queen -10 (neutral evil)
- Remi 0 (neutral)
- Violet 12 (neutral good)
Good
- Rainbow 98 (extreme good)
- Luna 77 (very good)
- Marla 63 (good)
***** End *****
Despite the randomization of NPC creation. The karma was balanced out to 3 evils, 3 neutrals, and 3 goods.
Over the next few days, Rainbow, Lily, and Stardust were all helping to train Monica. Even though Monica had negative loyalty and karma, she was a hard worker. She wasn’t rude or mean and quickly established good relations with everyone else in the party. Everyone was liking Monica more than Scarlett. It was hard for them to believe that Monica was another evil NPC like Scarlett and Lily.
Monica slept in the tent with Rainbow and Scarlett.
Monica didn’t mind the party keeping a watch on her at all times just like Scarlett. Those two were the only ones under strict supervision and never left alone with anyone else. She believed that the party would eventually trust her completely once she had proven herself.
The party’s current goal was to spend some time training Monica before exploring the unknowns of the desert, in hopes of finding civilization or other precious resources. Since the creation of Monica, Stardust didn’t want to add any more NPCs at the moment. He wanted to fully tame Scarlett and Monica first and find a much better area to live in.
Lately, Lily’s health has been getting better and she no longer required Stardust and Rainbow to take care of her. She walked over to Monica and invited her to a private walk just outside the camp. Everyone can see them but not hear them.
“ Monica my gooooooood friend. I need your help in holding down Scarlett,” beamed Lily.
“ Hehehehe what’s this? Since you’re asking me, does that mean nobody else wants to help you hold her down? Not even your husband?” wondered Monica.
“ That’s right! You catch on quick,” admired Lily. “ Hehehehe since we are both negative karma NPC. We can do dirty things for the benefit of the group!”
“ Very well! I will help you!” beamed Monica.
(Lily) << Monica is such a good girl! Doing what I tell her to do without questioning why. Hehehehe she will be a very useful tool for me.>>
Lily and Monica made their way towards Scarlett. She was alone while practicing her twin dagger skills. They were still near the camp so Scarlett could scream for help.
The three girls stared at each other for a few silent breaths. Then, Monica charged at Scarlett to wrestle her down. Scarlett knew what they wanted to do and ran away from Monica. Those two were at nearly the same running speed, so it was unlikely that Monica would be able to catch up to her. Even if Monica did catch up to Scarlett, she wasn’t afraid to slash her with her non-poisonous daggers.
Scarlett was grinning in the excitement that her life was on the line. Monica shot some non-poisonous needles at Scarlett’s legs. They were a minor hindrance to Scarlett but with more needles being attacked into her legs, it was going to become a problem. So instead of letting Monica whittle her down until her legs go completely numb. Scarlett turned around and slashed at Monica. Monica was anticipating for Scarlett to attack so she took a few steps back and dodges it.
Monica and Scarlett were staring at each other with only a 1 meter between them. Scarlet took the initiative and attacked the weaponless Monica. The needles were useless at close range against her bone daggers. Monica was at a disadvantage but she too was grinning in excitement.
The daggers slashed deep into Monica’s chest and arms, blood splashing out from Scarlett’s violent attack. Monica laughed as her arms managed to reach Scarlett and take her down to the ground with her. They were now wrestling on the ground, both were also stealing the daggers to stab each other. Stab wounds were appearing on both of their body as they rolled together. Monica wasn’t giving any chances for Scarlett to escape her entanglement. Scarlet was amazed that this craze Monica would fight like this and started laughing as well.
Meanwhile Lily had a smiling face while watching the two girls fight each other to the death. Everyone else at the party ignored the three evil NPCs attacking each other. They didn’t want to get involved with them. The two of them were getting bloodier but remained quiet as to not alarm the party. If Stardust and Rainbow saw them fighting, they would immediately put an end to it.
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Eventually, Monica finally had a good hold on Scarlett. Lily was extremely close by and ran over as best as she could. It was finally time to invert Scarlett. But before Lily could place her hand on her face. Rainbow ran over just in time to remove Monica off of Scarlett. Scarlett quickly got up and escaped Lily’s attempt at trying to touch her.
“ PLEASE DON’T FIGHT EACH OTHER LIKE THIS!” screamed Rainbow. She put herself between them to stop the fighting.
Stardust heard Rainbow’s scream and quickly ran over. He saw the two bloody girls and went to grab some spare biomass to heal the both of them. He didn’t expect Monica and Scarlett would go for a bloody spar like this. He was used to seeing Scarlett getting beaten up by Marla all the time but it was nothing this bloody before.
<< These evil NPCs are @#$%@#$ hardcore! They are willing to fight this dangerously with each other just to train!? Good thing I can heal them but normally Marla would at least use practice weapons to not hurt each other too badly>> (Stardust)
“ I don’t mind you girls wanting to fight like this if it’s consensual but at least let me know so I can heal you in time. We don’t want any of you girls accidentally dying and losing all your skills,” said Stardust.
Monica and Scarlett glared at each other before leaving. Rainbow wanted to comfort the both of them but Scarlett refused. Monica happily accepted Rainbow comforting her. Scarlett was now going to sleep outside than share a tent with Monica. At least Remi can make sure Lily doesn’t do anything to her as she sleeps beside the campfire.
Lily was teary eyes at her failure,” my husband!” she hugged Stardust deeply.
----------------------------------------
The bloody fight between Monica and Scarlett created more gloom in the party. They became even more cautious than ever against both of them. Even though Monica was trying to convince them that she was doing it for the best of the party. Lily supported Monica’s claims but since those two were evil NPCs, it was hard to trust them. The earlier betrayals from Lily and Scarlett were still fresh in their mind. It was a matter of time before Monica does something devious.
To quell the stress and gloom of the party. Stardust and Luna were both working on making hair accessories for all the girls. Suddenly everyone was beaming at the idea of becoming more beautiful. Even Scarlett and Monica wanted to be more beautiful! In Lily’s dark mind, she was feeling the most anguish.
(Lily) << All of those @#$%@#$ cockroaches should not be allowed to have hair accessories! I can’t have them becoming more beautiful and enticing my husband. They will all pay miserably for this in the future!>>
“ Lily I know this would make you upset. So I promise to put a ring on you in the future,” said Stardust.
All the hidden hatred in her heart vanished. Lily was now beaming in extreme happiness and hugged Stardust deeply, “ hehehehe.”
Everyone began working on their hair accessory with the help of Stardust and Luna. One hour later, everyone created their unique bone hair accessory. Thanks to the hair accessory, they could give more style and flair to their hair. The mood and morale of the party were improving. All the girls were boasting to each other on who became the most beautiful and the rivalries were fierce. There was no clear winner so they had no choice but to force Stardust to rate all of them from first to last. The 9 girls were awaiting Stardust’s clear judgment and ranking. Stardust wanted to run away from this sacred duty but the NPCs were much stronger than him and can force him to comply. So much for being their master…
Stardust was currently looking at the lineup of his 9 NPCs. They were arranged in the order of creation. << This is going to be such a huge headache! They all cared about beauty to the extreme and having good skin as well! Even if I give Lily the 1st place ranking, she will be extremely angry at the other girls for forcing me to rank all of them. But if I don’t give an honest ranking, they won’t let me leave until I do…>>
Marla - Luna - Remi - Lily - Queen - Rainbow - Violet - Scarlett - Monica
Stardust looked at them, “ everyone, please understand that even if you were ranked last, you are all still very beautiful.”
Scarlett declared, “ last place will be the ugliest girl in the party. The number one beauty will be me.”
“ No way! Last place will be extremely beautiful!” argued Lily. “ But I will be the number one beauty.” << These @#$@#$ cockroaches are all ugly.>>
“ Haha Stardust. We can handle your brutal honesty,” smiled Marla. “ You are not allowed to rate Lily’s beauty as the number one beauty just because she’s your wife. You must give number one to the true beauty, which is me!”
“ You girls have no chance against me,” stated Queen. “ I have been taking care of my delicate beauty since I was created. Always taking shelter in the tent from the hot scorching sun and the wind blowing sands. I will be the number one beauty.” Queen puffed up with pride but all the girls despised her and saw her as lazy.
Luna bragged, “ I’m sorry everyone but the true winner will be me. Since I am the best beauty at creating hair accessories, so naturally, I will be the number one beauty.”
“ It’s okay to give me the last-place ranking,” prayed Rainbow. “ I don’t want anyone to feel disheartened at being last-place.” << Master Stardust will give the first place ranking since I am so selfless!>>
Monica asked, “ surely you won’t give me the last place ranking since I was only created a few days ago, right master Stardust? Maybe you should give me the number one beauty ranking since I am the newest NPC.”
“ If master Stardust is truly wise, he will pick me as the number one beauty,” affirmed Remi.
Violet chided, “ everyone let’s not pressure master Stardust into giving you first place. He has to rank us without any bias. However, I would be extremely ecstatic if do you give me first place. Please decide our beauty ranking within five minutes, master Stardust.”
More sweat was pouring down the face of Stardust. They all wanted to be the number one beauty! Five minutes of silence passed by as Stardust kept thinking about the best possible outcome. Unfortunately, there weren’t any good outcomes at all. All possible rankings were bad outcomes and he decided it was best to just give out his honest opinion and hope for the best. If he gave everyone first-place ranking, they would force him to re-do the ranking until a proper ranking was established.
“ Alright, I have decided on your beauty rankings...”
***** NPC beauty ranking *****
1 - Lily
2 - Monica
3 - Luna
4 - Rainbow
5 - Queen
6 - Violet
7 - Scarlett
8 - Remi
9 - Marla
***** End *****
The top three all had faces of extreme happiness.
The middle three were happy and sad.
The last three had faces of pure terror. Especially last place Marla.
Stardust immediately prostrated before them. “ Please don’t take any offense. You are all breath-taking beauties!”
Despite the initial turmoil and shock of the ranking results. All the girls congratulated Lily and each other. Everyone ranked lower than Lily was going to try even harder to become even more beautiful. None of the girls were discouraged and gave appreciation to Stardust for his honest rankings. They knew what they were getting into when they forced Stardust to do this for them. It would be shameless of them if they started fighting each other over this or demand Stardust to change the rankings. Scarlett wanted them to fight but instead, they became more unified. The party’s morale was increasing, from the terror of the evil NPCs to the happiness of being beautiful.
( Author’s Note: Yeah a beauty contest doesn’t translate well in texts. I’m sorry for no illustrations.)
After the mini-beauty contest. Everyone returned to their usual tasks.
Another few days passed by as they trained their stats and skills before another departure. Marla had scouted far ahead and found a new place with many more different desert plants and different desert animals. Desert cats, armadillos, and snakes were seen in this area. Marla can easily kill them so they weren’t a threat. However, they would have to leave the berry bushland. All the girls were in tears that they will have to leave the land of good skin, but they had to do it if they wanted to obtain a better life. Berries were stockpiled to the maximum before they left the current area.
“ Don’t worry everyone, we can always come back to this place since I have it on my map,” assured Queen.
Only with Queen’s assurance did the girls reluctantly chose to leave the berry bushland. Unfortunately, none of the girls wanted to share their berries. They all hoarded as many as they could in their bags. Since Lily wasn’t able to carry anything heavy, she had her husband Stardust carry as many berries as he could for her while carrying her at the same time. Lily’s body was also becoming healthier and gained more muscle mass. She only gets sick once per week now. Her body was getting heavier too but it would be a death sentence for Stardust if he mentioned her getting heavier. Even then, Lily was still one of the lightest girls in the party.
They set up tents in their new areas.
Some of the girls went to forage the new plants. Some went hunting the new animals as they were simply outclassed by the raw stats and skill powers of the NPCs. The animals were also out-witted by the NPCs. The groups of rabbits were easily baited by the berries although only Violet gave up her berries to trap them. The once intelligent group of rabbits using their teamwork and kicking up a dust storm fell prey to the delicious berries. The party was able to hunt them extremely effectively. The solitary cats and armadillo were easy to hunt as they relied on hiding inside their burrow. They simply collapse their burrows where they would suffocate to death before digging up their corpse. Bone tools were used to help dig out the sandy rocky ground.
The fiercer carnivores that fought back were simply crushed by their overwhelming power. They do use some basic tactics like surrounding the enemies, pincher attacks, ambushes, decoys, and baits to hunt as many of them as they could. The fighting NPCs would study the various attack patterns and techniques that the animals use before coming up with a counter-strategy. It was mostly done by Violet as she was the one using her brain the most.
During the nights, all the poisonous insects that were crawling about were simply put to death by Remi as she shoots out hundreds of needles with astonishing speed and accuracy. She then would use a make-shift broom to sweep the area clean. The lizards and small cats would often come by to eat up the rest of the insects. However, she was getting quite lazy in exterminating the vermins so Remi adopted two desert cats.
When Luna woke up and discovered the wild cats, she expressed great joy! It was the cutest animal she had ever seen in the desert and alive! She only saw mostly dead animals as they weren’t allowed to get close to the camp. Luna tried to pet the desert cats but it snarled and hissed at her before running away. Remi had constructed a mini-tent for the cats to sleep in. Just like Remi, the cats also sleep during the daytime. Nobody was to disturb them while they slept.
Everyone welcomed the newest pets to the party. Remi had already named them Emi and Mi. Emi was a girl and Mi was a boy. They were probably going to see a litter of kittens in the future. Luna saw this as an opportunity to indoctrinate the kittens into loving her and hopes that she would be able to adopt one if Remi allows it.
Desert Area 2 was no longer a danger to the party anymore and they can survive indefinitely.
On the 4th day in this new area… the sky was blotted out by the clouds. A fast miracle of rain descended upon them. The plants were all greedily sucking up as much water as they could with their roots. The animals too rejoiced in this rare treat of water.
All the NPCs went apeshit over the rain. They had finally obtained the sacred fluid that is water! It could be used to clean their body to obtain nice smooth skin! Unfortunately, they didn’t have any large containers and any bags that could store the water. It was effectively going to be wasted all over the ground. But this rare chance of rain didn’t discourage them. They all strip off their clothes and allowed the rain to wash their bodies clean. The desire to be clean was powerful. A nice smooth skin will be achieved with this!
Stardust was not allowed to witness them as he and Lily were looking away from everyone else. He wasn’t bothered by it. He and Lily both enjoyed their shower elsewhere from the main party.
The rain lasted for a short 15 minutes before the sky cleared up again. Everyone was deeply saddened as they wanted the rain to last longer. The water on the grounds was being soaked up by all the plants and was getting evaporated at a fast pace. Soon, all the water that used to all over, would be gone.