Behind Tina was a semi-flat grassy field with all the leftover items spread all over the place that the players had dropped upon their death. This was the background shown as Tina started to talk and make her statement.

“Hello to everyone out there. You all know me as Tina or the flower girl. First I’d like to say sorry to all those players who just died. But you all had gone too far and angered me. Yes, you all heard right you all had pissed me off. Wouldn’t you be upset if you were being smothered for a week straight?

Now I know you all are wondering how can a NPC in a game be angry? Well to simply put I’m an experimental advanced AI that the company is using to make even better NPCs that feel more alive and don’t just have the same lines programmed into them to be repeated.

Yes, you heard that right I have my own feelings, dreams, and even all the quests that those of you had gotten from me were created on the spot by me. Now don’t get me wrong I enjoy and even love interacting with all of you but I don’t enjoy being hounded and smothered. I want to just enjoy living in this virtual world that I call my home.

Now you all might be wondering why aren’t there more advanced NPCs in this game just as advanced as I am. First off do any of you all realize how much processing power is needed to make an AI as advanced as I am that has its own feelings? Well, I have no idea as I just live in this world that you all call a virtual game.”

Tina of course had lied through her teeth and kept her cute act up as she put a finger on her chin in a thinking pose while tilting her head at that last part. She then went back to her normal smile as she continued to talk.

“Even though a lot of you might be mad about what happened I’d like to gain your support. You see some in the company are thinking of deleting me for my mistake, meaning I’d never respawn or be found in the game again unlike you players that can still log in and play at any time and I don’t want to die… *sad crying face*...

While others think I should remain and become the face of the game. I’d not only still remain in the game but they might even use me for the latest news in the game for major events or talk about the latest updates.

So please show your support and tell your friends to support me by coming here and posting below.” Just before the end of the video, she blew off a kiss.

Tina had panicked after the mass slaughter of all the players from the quest she had thrown out in her angered state. She didn’t want the company to start messing with her code and screw things up or even worse delete her. She did the only thing she could think of for her self-preservation and recorded a video to make a statement and force the company to keep her around. Well, at least she hoped it would turn out that way.

At first, none of the people in the meeting room could believe what this meant and had first thought it was a hacker that made a post. But there is no person in the world that could create a fake video this detailed in such a short time. This left only one solution and only they knew the truth of it. She was a self-aware AI while everyone else who watched and started spreading out the video just thought she was programmed to act cute and say those things at that time.

The players that were killed were, of course, upset but after watching the video that she had posted they had gotten excited. They couldn’t believe an NPC could have such advanced AI that it could simulate emotions. This excited them to no end of the possibilities for future games to come. The video spread out like wildfire across the internet as it was downloaded and uploaded time and time again.

To the majority of the gamers, she was just some advanced coding that makes up her AI. To other companies, this was a major breakthrough as they were rushing to contact the company to invest in it or hopefully even buy the code. It wasn’t just other game companies but other fields as well. The problem was even the people in the company aren’t sure how this happened themselves. Their phones constantly ringing nonstop and constantly getting emails didn’t help matters any.

Tina realized she made a mistake in posting her video. She wasn’t simply just getting support from a lot of players but everything had blown out of proportion as she hid inside her room at the inn. She had paid for a week and stocked up on food hoping things would have died down. It was as if forcing close to half a million players to kill themselves didn’t even bother them. Everyone was actively searching for her and posting on the forum asking if anyone had seen her. Of course, there were some trolls putting false information of sightings and such.

The good thing was she was still here and didn’t get deleted. Either the company couldn’t do anything to her or hopefully, it’s as if she hoped and they decided to keep her around. The downsides were that she was utterly bored with only the forums to read to pass the time. Also, the average level for players are now level 20 and she was falling behind. So she decided to chance going out after she changed into her armor.

After taking her dress off leaving her with nothing but her panties on. Two people suddenly spawned into her room. They had violet names above their avatars meaning they were GMs or higher status. Well, them being able to enter her private space without giving permission also gave that away. Both men didn’t expect to see her in this state and just froze up while staring as their brains were trying to catch up to the sudden situation.

If this wasn’t a safe zone Tina would have bashed their heads in the wall. Worse, she knew both these guys and had worked with them closely. It wasn’t hard as they didn’t even change their faces but then again they weren’t exactly here to play the game. One was the head of the coding department and the other was the head of the games AI system. Tina quickly covered her chest as she angrily said, “Will you two idiots turn around so I can finish changing? Or should I post that the company is allowing their employees into young naked lolis?”

They both quickly turned around while the one named Stan in charge of the coding department said awkwardly, “S-sorry about us just barging in.” Normally he would have glasses on but in the game they weren’t needed. The other guy was

While she started putting her clothes and armor on she asked, “Did your parents not tell you that you should knock first before entering? At the very least you two could have given me a heads up that you were coming?” The expert in AIs and built the game's main AI couldn’t help but be amazed, “To think that this AI can be embarrassed and even scold us. This is just amazing.”

Tina just shook her head as she knew how he was. Felix had spent a million dollars to have the most realistic and lifelike sex robot made. But he used her more as his helper and secretary and spent more time going into her coding and constantly updating her than he did having sex with her. She was more scared of him digging into her coding than him sexually harassing her.

As for Stan he was more like she was when she was alive. They both shared the passion of reading mangas, hentai, and watching anime that had cute lolis. She had to be wary of him for other reasons entirely. And it wasn’t her chastity that was at stake either.

As soon as she finished getting dressed she tried speaking in a stern voice but only made her look that much cuter with her face looking so serious, “Alright I have an idea why you two are here and I’m pretty sure you both have looked into my coding. So before I answer any of your questions I’d like you both to tell me what you found in my coding and what the company is deciding to do with me.”

They both turned back around while Stan scratched the back of his head, “Ya about that. We wouldn’t even be here if we could just simply look into your coding.” Before she could ask Felix went on to explain, “You see we can’t find anything out of the ordinary. Your AI and coding are no different than any of the other NPCs in the game. But for some reason, you use 10 times the processing power and can do so much more that isn’t even a part of your code. We also can’t find any other program that should be affecting you.”

Tina just stood there lost in thought. Surely her memories, feelings, and everything in her brain had been uploaded somehow. Shouldn’t it have been turned into some type of code even if encrypted or unreadable by normal means? Either they had missed something important or they were lying. But they still haven’t answered the most important question as she asked them again.

Stolen story; please report.

Stan replied, “For now we are taking the watch and see what happens approach. As long as you don’t cause too much chaos and go too far they are intent on keeping you around to study you some more. But we are wondering what your end goal is or what you are planning to do now that we know you are self-aware. A few are worried that you might try to go rogue.”

Felix quickly cut in, “We also want to know if you know who created you this way or why you are so much more advanced. How did you become self-aware? When did you realize that you were in a game?”

Before he could blast her with more questions she raised her hand towards him. She let out a sigh wondering if she should tell them or not. She decided to keep it a secret for now but give them a carrot to use in case she needed their help for something later. She first looked at Stan then towards Felix as she talked, “You can let the others know that they shouldn’t worry. I actually enjoy living in this game world so as long as you all leave me alone for the most part and don’t threaten my life I’ll be content living here.

I in fact do know how I came to be self-aware and what happened. But I’m not sure if I should tell any of you just yet. I don’t think of myself as an AI but actually being alive even if this is a virtual world. But before I leave I’d like to have the chat and friend menus unlocked in my limited player status. This way you both can contact me beforehand instead of dropping in on me while I was in the middle of changing.”

Neither of them saw a problem with that as they opened up those two limitations. She only used that as an excuse but now she could fake being an actual player when in disguise. Till she finally got the two to leave she answered a few more questions and constantly turned down Felix who was begging her to tell her how she became self-aware.

Although the chat box was pretty much out of style as players preferred to actually talk. It was still required as it let people send and accept trades as well as being when a friend sends a private message. But there was another important use and that was to enter special commands or codes into the game. She wasn’t dumb enough to try and log into her dev account from back when she was alive. But as for special item codes that were given out to those who pre-ordered the game wouldn’t bring too much attention.

This code allowed those who pre-ordered the gain to get a gold-trimmed hooded cloak. As for the color of the cloak, that was also the player's pick. Only the gold trim and logo of a dragon on the back of the cloak couldn’t be changed. It was soul-bound and non-tradable so only those who pre-ordered could have this item. She remembered one of the testing codes when they tested the system otherwise even she wouldn’t have been able to grab the cloak. How could someone figure out a randomly generated code that was linked to each pre-order.

Although the hood would hide her for the most part. It still couldn’t completely hide her face if someone got close enough. One thing about almost all video games, especially online games, is that shops never closed. Tina took a nap till it turned night and then snuck her way to the bank. After withdrawing her money she spent almost all her savings on the most expensive light armor this town had to offer. It was a set of enchanted mithril that sparkled off the torch light in the shop. Sadly it was low quality and low level. Because she wasn’t level 20 yet she wouldn’t get most of its protective benefits just yet.

The full set looked like chain armor but slightly thinner and more shine to it in appearance. The most important part was the optional face mask that came with the coif. It also doubled as protection from poisoned gas from its enchantment as soon as she gained the four levels she needed.

After selling her old weapons she upgraded to a steel short sword and used the last of her money on a skill trainer and stocking up on potions. Most skills in this game when it came to close combat like sword fights mostly rely on a player's own movements. Like dodging an attack there are many ways a player can dodge something. Jumping back or to the side. But a player that has the skill dodge it will assist them to dodge with less effort or show them the best action to take for the best results to dodge. Every little bit helps especially when you weren’t sure what would happen if you happened to die.

Sure she could get the skill with enough time and effort on her own but it was a life-saving skill. Besides dodge she also got parry. The last thing she did was used her 40 saved attribute points and raised her strength and dexterity by 10. The last 20 points went into her constitution almost doubling her current health pool.

Name: Tina (Hidden unless revealed/introduced. Otherwise first title is shown.)

Age: 12

Race: Neko

Titles: Flower Girl, Orphan, Demi-human Mage(Hidden/Locked)

Jobs: Flower girl, Elemental Mage(Hidden/locked), Secret/hidden Questgiver(Title hidden from appraisals by the system, needed for quest system to work and easy quest editing by devs.)

Level: 16 Attribute Points: 0

Health: 410 Stamina: 340 Mana: 940

Strength: 32

Constitution: 41

Dexterity: 34

Intelligence: 47

Perception: 36

Charisma: 31

Skills: Florist, Herbology, Climbing, Claw Slash(Racial talent), Short sword, Dodge (NEW), Parry (NEW)

Spells: Firebolt, Airblade, Waterblade, Mud Bullet, Electric Shock,

Despite being ready she still wasn’t completely ready to pretend to be a player just yet. So she stored her newly bought armor in the bank and had her old armor still on. All it would take is one appraisal to figure out who she was and that she wasn’t a player but an NPC and not just any NPC at that. She needed an item that could block appraisals.

What better way than to abuse the system again. At the same time, she could run some tests. The next stop was the adventurers guild. Luckily this late at night most players were asleep at this time. So before anyone noticed her she picked up a quest to kill 20 goblins. She registered at the guild at the same time. Unlike those adventurer guilds in most anime, novels, and video games. The rankings in this guild didn’t prevent you from accepting harder quests beyond your means. All the rankings did was get you better discounts in the guilds store and allow access to better and higher ranked items. It would also unlock quests from NPCs outside the guild that required a certain ranking.

The same went with the merchants guild where raw materials could be discounted or can’t be normally bought. As with the mages guild, only certain spells could be bought and learned from higher ranked members. Special quests from NPCs were also linked to those guilds. That didn’t mean it was the only way to get the items and spells but it was the easiest way.

***

A team of four players had walked in. After turning in the quest they turned around and saw a cat-girl in leather armor standing there as if she had appeared out of nowhere. With a sad and begging face like when a kid is wanting something from their parents, she asked, “My necklace that my late mom had given me. Can you help me get it back?”

Of course, these four players recognized her. Who wouldn’t after seeing the video that had been posted and went viral. Not to mention almost all the quests she gave out gave great rewards as long as you didn’t get on her bad side.

There was only one player that she had recognized and didn’t expect to run into. That was Username_Here. He was in a different set of mages clothes and had a better staff than the one he had started out in. His friends seemed to have just as much of a sense of humor as he had. There was ConfusedHero which was an orc warrior, GothicPriestess who had the healer class, and BlindHuntress who was a half-elf rogue.

After getting over the shock of seeing Tina standing before them, GothicPriestess was the first to speak up, “Ya of course we will help you.” Not a moment passed as the all too familiar blue box popped up in front of them to accept the quest.

Quest: Find the Stolen Necklace

Help the flower girl find her stolen necklace.

The precious necklace that the flower girl had been given to from her mom had been stolen. She knows who stole her necklace but doesn’t have the power to get it back herself. You are to follow and protect her as she wants to reclaim it.

Quest completion:

The flower girl reclaims her stolen necklace and returns back to town safely.

Reward:

10 silver and a single use golden key.

Quest Failure:

Straying too far, the flower girls death, logging out (Soft logout is fine as long as target is being followed) or refusing to give the necklace back to her will result in a random curse.

They didn’t know what the golden key was for but they knew it must be for something special. The truth was it wasn’t all that too special. It just allows them to unlock golden quality chests in dungeons instead of having to farm for a golden key and would save them a bit of time in their first dungeon.

Tina of course set the quest so they had to follow her around. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice where she had to follow the players. And of course, she had set the ‘stolen necklace’ in the middle of a goblin village deep in a nearby forest. This way she was able to farm exp from random monsters, complete the quest she got for killing 20 goblins and have the players follow her to find and give her an enchanted necklace that should spawn somewhere in the goblin village.

Well, that was the plan anyway. Whether it works out or not as planned only time will tell…