Vivian knelt, snatching one of the bandits’ swords. I can still grab their weapons and sell them later. Assuming I can sell items. Though it’s better to have them and not be able to sell them than not have them and be able to sell them! I can always throw them away later.
“Hey,” a girl said from behind him.
Vivian turned, startled. The party he’d seen in the hunting ground stood behind him, all grouped together. One boy carried a staff, and the other held a spear. One of the girls gripped a sword, while the other slung a bow over her shoulder.
“Took your time,” Vivian grumbled, half to himself.
“We’re so sorry. We were busy. Can you forgive us?” the girl asked, tilting her head.
What a lazy explanation! Though if I were an ordinary NPC, I’d probably accept it. Vivian considered for a moment, then shook his head. “Nope.”
No point pretending to be an ordinary NPC now. They watched me kill the bandits a minute ago. If they haven’t figured something’s up by now, they never will.
“See? It’s too late. Let’s go back, before we miss the black Pigbeast, too,” one of the boys argued.
“Shut up, Sam,” the other girl responded.
“Yeah, shut up, Sam,” Vivian said.
The first girl frowned at him. “He can say our names?”
“I can say anything I want,” Vivian informed her. He grinned. “Pretty sweet, huh?”
Sam rolled his eyes. “Wow, they put way too much effort into scripting this NPC.”
“It just proves Lily was right. He’s definitely an ultrarare,” the first girl retorted.
They think I’m an ultrarare? Well… it’s not completely wrong. It’s not like I remember ever encountering an NPC like me, and I think I was a Player for a while, Vivian thought, shrugging to himself.
I could reveal that I’m not exactly an NPC to them, but… there’s certain advantages to them thinking I’m an NPC. Besides, why bother? I’m on my way to the town anyways. If I’m going to reveal myself, might as well do it in town. Better chances of success when there’s more than four people around.
Though… it might be better not to reveal myself at all, ever. Aside from those assholes in the garden, most people leave NPCs alone. I’m relatively powerless, which is ordinary for an NPC, but if I’m known to be a Player with the strength of an NPC… The chances of getting bullied to death increase significantly.
Plus, I’ve got some… slightly hot goods, that people would definitely question in a Player’s hands. Vivian glanced at his inventory and licked his lips.
“What about him is ultrarare?” Sam said, casting a critical eye over Vivian.
“Want to buy? I’m sellin’,” Vivian said. Time to find out if I can sell to Players!
“Sure. [Shop],” the first girl declared, throwing her hand out toward Vivian.
A green, transparent screen materialized between them. For a moment, Vivian caught a glimpse of the girl’s stats, including her name, Katy, before the screen between them filled up. Items appeared in a grid pattern, with a little icon beside the item’s name.
Mage’s Robes (Female) [Bloodied] 150 G
Studded Leather Armor (Full Set) [Bloodied] 500 G
Chestplate [Bloodied] 200 G
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Tome [Ruined] 10 G
Throwing Daggers [4] 5 G/ea
Two-Handed Sword 100 G
One-Handed Bandit Sword 50 G
Quietly, Vivian breathed a sigh of relief. Good. I was wondering how the Tower would handle my clippers. Just like Players, it looks like equipped gear doesn’t show up in the Sale inventory.
“It’s all starter equipment. What part of this is ultrarare?” Sam asked, frowning.
“It’s all [Bloodied]. That’s kind of…” the other man murmured.
Katy twisted her lips. “That’s the status items get when they’re dropped from a Player Kill, right? Player-on-Player violence. But he’s an NPC, so… NPCs can’t kill. He’d be a monster if he could, like the bandits. Or a Boss. But look, he’s just an NPC. So… how?”
“We just saw him kill the bandits,” Sam pointed out.
“They’re different. That was some kind of weird Event,” Katy argued, shaking her head. “Besides, NPCs kill NPCs all the time. They don’t kill Players.”
“Are these the start of some kind of chain quest, maybe? I mean, the ruined tome, that could be an Event item,” Lily suggested.
“The [Bloodied] gear, though? Since when has quest equipment ever been [Bloodied]?” Sam asked skeptically.
Vivian smiled cryptically. Why don’t you buy some and find out? I could use some gold!
“Yeah… I can’t pass this up. If it’s an unknown ultrarare, the info alone is worth ten gold. I’ll buy the Tome,” Lily said decisively.
-Ruined Tome. +10 G! popped up in Vivian’s vision. His smile brightened.
The other man shrugged. “I mean, it’s cheap gear. All it takes is some soap to get rid of [Bloodied].”
“Andrew, you were just saying—” Sam shook his head. “You two are insane. I’m staying out of this.”
-Studded Leather Armor -4x Throwing Daggers -Two-Handed Sword +620 G! appeared in the corner of his vision.
“Cheap gear is cheap gear. I’ve got some friends who could use this starter gear. I mean, Gold is expensive, right? Costs about a hundred dollars per coin, outside of the Tower. Sure, it’s easy for us to generate it, but newbies get real fucked. You remember what it’s like,” Andrew said, shrugging. “Put your life on the line for Gold and gear, or spend your life’s savings buying starter gear only to throw it out in a few years.”
“Even so,” Sam grumbled, crossing his arms.
Katy leaned in to Lily. “He’s just butthurt because we temporarily abandoned the black Pigbeast quest.”
“I’m not—temporarily? What part of this is temporary? We’ve been out there all day, and we—” Sam shook his head, twisting his lips.
Vivian cleared his throat. Since they helped me out, why don’t I give them a hint? “Black Pigbeasts show up at two A.M. on Mondays.”
“I told you it wasn’t going to show up tonight,” Lily said smugly.
“Can we trust him? Some NPCs give bad advice,” Sam said.
“Sam, seriously. Are you jealous of an NPC? I’m going to quit this party,” Katy grumbled, shaking her head.
Sam scowled. “You’re quitting this party because I was wrong about one quest? You’re insane!”
Well, this party isn’t going to last long. Vivian walked on, ignoring the party now that they were done with him. The party ignored him in return, too busy arguing amongst themselves.
That is one nice part about being an NPC. No one gets upset if I walk out of the conversation when I’m no longer taking an active part in it. Hmm, I could get used to this life, Vivian thought, yawning as he walked.
Though… if that’s the case, I definitely need to learn more combat-usable skills. Trim is nice, but it’s only one skill. Compost… I haven’t figured out how to use it in combat, and I’m not sure it is usable in combat. It has a restriction to [Dead] material, right? Maybe undead count, but… it’s unlikely. To be fair, even Players have non-combat skills. It’s possible that Compost can only be used out of combat.
Too bad about the bandits’ gear, but… Out of the corner of his eye, Vivian watched the bandit corpses melt away into the ground, swords and armor included. Monster corpses despawn pretty quickly, unlike Players, who don’t despawn, and NPCs, which take hours to days to despawn.
A moment later, he shrugged. Not like it was high-end gear, anyways. Barely worth enough gold to buy a night at the inn.
Vivian’s stomach rumbled. He put a hand to it. So NPCs still get hungry, huh? The oldest, simplest trap of them all… you have to eat to live, and to eat, you must pay gold!
Of course, the smart thing is to leave the Tower and go eat outside, where food costs a more reasonable amount of money. Which I plan to do, as soon as I get to that Starter Town!
He walked on, sticking to the edge of the hunting ground. Keeping a wary eye to the beasts, he edged along in the shadows. Most monsters should ignore me, but at the same time, NPCs don’t usually leave safe zones. I’m not one hundred percent sure I’m safe. Besides, like what happened with the bandits, sometimes NPCs get caught up in Rare quests, and monsters can proc a Rare quest as easily as bandits. I’m so close to the Starter Town. I’ll get there, get to the exit warp, and this can all be over.
Vivian touched his neck, remembering a cold tongue, and shivered. And there’s always weird monsters like the Lost Ones that attack whatever they see, regardless of classification, as long as some condition is met. I’m lucky I never pricked my hand on a rosebush.
A vague memory of spectral fingers tearing him apart flashed through his head, and Vivian winced. Or maybe I did. Luckily, NPCs respawn!