Tina stepped out of the inn after a good night’s sleep. It was 4 am according to the system and she was shocked there were so many players in the starting village still logged in. She didn’t think there would be this many night owls or those people who slept during the day but stayed up all night. Or maybe it was people from other countries who decided to play in this zone instead of their own recommended zones. Although the world and landmass were different this game was made to be the same size as earth. Each country had its own recommended starting zones but that didn’t mean others couldn’t start off in another countries zone or provided they are high enough level travel to another area in the game world. The downside of this would be the language barrier. The AI system can translate but it’s still a program and not perfect nor its main function.
Tina went out to farm some exp to get the last few levels she would need to get out of this starting village that she shouldn’t have even been in the first place. Her NPC was supposed to have started out in a low to mid-level town.
To her disappointment, she was only able to kill three goblins before her two-hour exp boost from her meal ran out. She cursed as she wished she had more time to prepare instead of waking up only a few hours before the opening of the game. All the new players were already overcrowding and fighting over monster spawns in the highest level area near starting village before being able to move on to the next town and start really getting into the game.
***
While all that was happening the top devs of the game were having a meeting. Many topics were brought up but two, in particular, were worrisome. First was a player complaining about getting a cursed sword as a reward. Cursed items weren’t supposed to even show up to players till about mid-level and definitely not in a starting zone. The second was a player that had posted a screenshot asking why it said a secret quest and not a hidden quest on the forums and what the difference is between them if there was any.
The secret quests were an idea someone had but after adding it to the game the idea was scrapped but never taken out. They were identical in the sense of hidden quests. But secret quests, while the quest was active at the time, couldn’t be shown, shared, or talked about in the game till it was completed or it would be an automatic failure. It was to have an added challenge of not being able to ask other players for help or tell why people were doing weird things as Tina had FlamingKitten do. Luckily for that player, no one ever asked her, or she would have failed the quest without knowing it. The reason why it was scrapped was that there were too many workarounds like all the people who saw the quest during her stream when it was given to her.
But even with all that, that wasn’t the main issue. The issue was that neither of the quests nor a lot of the other quests they noticed being handed out by Tina was ever programmed into her to give out in the first place. But in the end, they decided to keep a watch over her actions and would only intervene if something serious happened. One reason was to study her as ever since they noticed that glitch and now this she was acting beyond her programming. If they could learn why it happened or even better how to reproduce the results they could have all the AIs in their game act as if they are actually alive and more realistic.
***
Just as Tina came back out of her room from the inn and had changed back into her poor flower girl clothes. She got swarmed by the players who noticed her just as she got onto the street. She was very confused as to why so many players were wanting to buy her flowers.
A random player asked, “Are you sure she will give out a secret quest?” The player next to him, “Of course I’m sure. I saw it on FlamingKitten’s live stream yesterday. You just need to buy ten flowers in one go.”
Tina’s ears twitched as she heard the question. Sure she didn’t mind handing out quests every so often. Especially if it suited her own needs. But she didn’t like being used or swarmed like this. Till now she had never thought about how NPCs would feel when greedy players wanted to use them. Well unlike her those NPCs were just following their programming and most likely wouldn’t have minded.
Hiding her evil grin Tina decided to teach these players a lesson. With the best smile, she could give she kept thanking all the players who bought her flowers and handed them all the same secret quest she had given to FlamingKitten. 90% of those players failed their quest right off the bat as all the players got the quest about the same time. The first thing they did was, of course, talk about the quest which resulted in an automatic failure. All the players stood there stunned as a simple bluescreen popped up in front of them only seconds after they got the quest.
Secret Quest: Bunny sHopping (Failed)
You have failed the secret quest Bunny sHopping. (Forced Quest)
It’s called a secret quest for a reason yet you bragged about it, asked for help, or maybe it was a slip of the tongue. Whatever the case you had told another player about this quest that was to remain a secret.
Quest Failure:
You have angered the cute bunny god for failing such a simple quest.
All stats have been reduced by -10.
Stats will not be lowered to less than 5.
For those players just starting out and who had just logged in for the first time, the loss wasn’t all that big of a deal. But for the ones who were nearing level 10 it was the worst thing ever as it ruined their characters. Imagine spending hours having to fight for exp in a new game and once you were close enough to move out of the overcrowded new player area your character becomes as weak as a level 1 character. Having lost levels would have even been better as you can regain them. But a loss of stats, especially -10 to each and every stat is a worst-case scenario.
After the initial wave of players, Tina no longer handed out that quest or any other quests for a few hours. Especially to those players who were forced to re-create their accounts and start over. Some players suspected there must be other factors or conditions to activate the quest other than just buying a bundle of 10 flowers at once. Other players thought it was just a limited-time quest given to those who were lucky enough to get the quest first. It became a hot topic on the forums.
Before logging in and starting her stream after getting over what happened the other day. FlamingKitten saw the current hot topic and she couldn’t help but thank the gods’ no one asked her why she was hopping around like an idiot while she shopped. Otherwise, she would have been in the same situation of having to restart her account. The good news for those players was the fact that it happened early enough in the game it wouldn’t affect them too badly from falling behind.
***
While Tina was earning copper selling flowers, EagerPaladin had logged in and decided to take the advice from some players. He didn’t like PKing other players just for the sake of it. He was going to search around and kill a red named player.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
With so many players trying to fight over the limited resources it didn’t take him all that long to find another red player. In fact, he came across three of them that were already in the middle of attacking a couple of other players a couple of levels below them.
Although sneaking wasn’t in any of his skill sets he was able to land a sneak attack on the enemy archer. The archer’s health got taken down by three quarters. Just before he died he was able to warn his other two teammates. A quick but still grueling battle and with the help of the two friendly players they were able to kill the last two PKers.
EagerPaladin took a look at his sword after picking up the loot they had dropped. He cursed at the sword as it didn’t give him any buffs and the countdown timer before its debuff activated was still there and hadn’t reset. He still had most of the day to figure out the problem before he was forced to kill another player as he sent a support ticket off asking why the timer didn’t reset and it didn’t give him his buff.
***
“How much for your flowers?” A guy asked while standing behind Tina. Without paying much attention and answering for the thousandth time, “1 copper per flower…” Just as she turned around a bag of copper coins was handed to her as the guy said, “I’ll buy five dozen since you’re so cute.”
Her NPC counterpart didn’t even need to count the coins or the flowers she grabbed from her basket. After taking the coins, she handed him the flowers but soon found her arm was grabbed and he started dragging her off. She was so confused as to what was happening before she found herself sitting on some guy’s lap as he was patting her head and playing with her ears.
Tina’s face paled when she noticed the name above the player’s head. FlatIsJustice had a content face as if he were in heaven all while ignoring her struggles to get away while he was petting her. She was confused about how a player that was four levels below her was stronger than her. Well, she was a mage but she had even split her 15 points attribute points into her strength, con, and dex stats. The reason being is that her magic hasn’t even been unlocked yet and also she figured her NPC counterpart could raise her magic skills up while her player counterpart could make her able to be stronger for close-up fights.
Although FlatIsJustice was only level four. Both during his player creation and attribute points were all added to both his strength and Dexterity with only a couple in his constitution. This way he could hit hard and move fast and dodge attacks.
In a panic, Tina quickly gave him a quest to try and get out of this situation. She sighed in relief as the guy quickly put her down and ran off to complete the quest mostly hoping he would fail it somehow. But even if he did succeed then she wouldn’t mind using him. She shuddered and threw away that dangerous thought right away.
Hidden Quest: Escape the starting village
Help the flower girl get to the next town (Chain quest)
The flower girl wants to escape this village to the next town. But she is too weak to go on her own and too poor to hire escorts. The god of lolis decided you should be the one to help this flower girl escape. But first, you must become strong enough to protect her to help her to the next town.
Quest completion:
Part 1
Normally one can go to the next town once they reach level 10. But in this case, you also have to protect someone so you must reach level 12
Reward:
+10 bonus attribute points.
Quest Failure:
You only have one day to reach the required level or the flower girl will find someone else to take her to the next town.
Failing the quest means angering the god of lolis and will result in a curse.
Tina frowned as she wanted to make it a secret quest hoping he’d slip up somehow and talk about it. But in her dire situation and rushing to create the quest she selected hidden quest by mistake. But with so many new players and it being even more crowded today she wasn’t too worried about it. There’s no way he could reach level 12 and shuddered to think what might happen if he did manage it.
***
A few hours had passed and EagerPaladin finally got to talk to a GM about his cursed sword. He felt dumb for not realizing it sooner but it asks for innocent blood not souls from players or NPCs who are corrupted. He could only blame himself for also not properly reading the quest as it didn’t specifically tell him to kill the other player.
Despite his disappointment, he decided to just roll with it and use it as part of his roleplay in the game. A paladin who got cursed to kill at least once a day and to find a solution to get rid of his curse. He did try asking the flower girl and even bought a few flowers off of her trying to get an answer on how to get rid of his cursed sword. But between being unable to level up herself currently and the player FlatIsJustice annoying her she was in a bad mood so acted like an NPC who didn’t understand what he was talking about.
FlamingKitten had just got back into town after hours of hunting. Not only did she have more than enough to buy that broadsword she was eyeing the other day but she was half a level away from reaching level 10. While she was heading towards the blacksmith shop her viewers and fans noticed the flower girl walking down the street.
Despite all the trouble that the secret quest had caused her, she did have to admit the rewards were worth it. So she reluctantly gave in to her viewers’ demands to see if she couldn’t get another quest to pop up. So she started buying flowers in bundles of ten at a time.
Tina had planned to never give FlammingKitten a quest again considering it was her fault all those players had swarmed her earlier. So she just kept robbing her of her money and handing out bundles of flowers ten at a time. But on the 11th purchase, Tina froze for a second as FlamingKitten had suddenly purchased 100 instead of just ten.
Tina needed to buy a little time so she could create the quest while she asked, “You are buying so many flowers from me. You sure do like my flowers don’t you miss?” FlamingKitten couldn’t help but reply with a smile as she hoped for a quest, “Yes I love these flowers you are selling.” Items can only stack in stacks of 100 and she had bought 200 flowers taking two slots of her already limited and now full inventory. While Tina was acting all happy about her buying so many flowers, FlamingKitten had a few veins on her head threatening to pop and the smile on her mouth was twitching at one corner. The reason for this is of course the blue box that popped up.
Secret Quest: One With Nature
You have caught the goddess of nature’s eye. Will you accept this quest?
Your love for all the flowers you had bought from the flower girl or maybe it’s because you are trying to find your elven roots in the half-elf side that you have. Either way, you have caught the goddess of nature’s attention. Most people will only buy a few flowers but you had bought a few hundred. The goddess of nature has decided to offer you this special quest to become one with nature.
WARNING: This mission will only be offered once and can not be offered again.
Quest completion:
Kill at a minimum of 100 monsters or more in the nearby forest while fully naked in one single session.
Reward:
+2 levels, +5 bonus attributes, +1 bonus attributes for each additional 20 monsters killed limited to 100 additional killed monsters. Possible Additional reward depending on results.
Quest Failure:
If you fail to complete this quest within three days or wear any clothes for any reason before the quest ends the goddess of nature will be disappointed in you. But she is also not unforgiving so will only take one level away from you for every 20 monsters you failed to kill towards your goal.
Tina hid her evil grin while FlamingKitten was shocked and confused. The rewards were enticing but the requirements to fulfill the quest weren’t so easy to accept. She was glad and also lucky that this quest wasn’t forced upon her like the last one was. Normally a player wouldn’t even think twice about stripping their avatar in a game. Even an online game. But this wasn’t just any game but the very first full dive VR MMORPG. If it weren’t for her actual body being scanned and used as her avatar she might have agreed without a second thought. Even if she cut her screen off she was sure she’d be seen, have screenshots taken, and even possibly be caught by other live streamers. It was hard for her to refuse the quest outright as well as it is being offered only this one time.
Sure she wore clothes that would tease her fans and used her ‘assets’ to help draw them in. But she never revealed herself, at least on purpose. She was tempted as a lot of her current viewers even put enough donations up on hold and would only be released to her if she accepted this quest. The current donations on hold were what she would normally make in a half a year of normal donations. She finally made her choice…