<h4>Chapter 17: NPC Bully VS yer Bullies</h4>
At New Leaf in, there was currently a showdown happening: madman expert versus numerous bullies.
While the former bullied monsters, thetter group specialized in oppressing their brethren. There was one spot of the in where many level 2 Chickens spawned near one another at a rtively decent rate: they had monopolized it.
Honestly, if the monsters weren’t so hard to kill, chances were the guys that called themselves the Mighty Wolves Guild would have driven theirpetition away already.
Had this been the goal behind the super-strong creeps near the Vige? After all, often beginner mobs would get instantly deleted upon new MMO releases, and people would fight to tag mobs and steal the XP away. Here, there hadn’t been much fighting.
“Hey there! I’m Dom, one of the executives of the Mighty Wolves Guild. Would you be interested in joining our family?” A naked burly man offered Jack warmly.
“No thanks. I’m more of a solo yer, you see.” He politely declined, ready to bypass them. But, they didn’t bulge in the least as they blocked him.
“I don’t think you understand. Anyone that isn’t part of the family is considered an enemy. You do not want to make an enemy of us, for there is nothing stronger than family. Think it over carefully.”
“Hm, I see. I maybe have a suggestion to make then.” Jack pondered a few seconds.
“Go on. We will give you great working conditions.” The man grinned as he understood that the mysterious yer was only making a show of refusing to raise his own value.
“Alright, I can join you guys if I be the guild leader. As long as you all obey my orders, then I might just consider keeping you guys around.” Jack proposed what seemed like a fair trade to him.
Of course, this was knowing all that he knew. How was he supposed to exining back to the past? It was a known concept in fiction, but chances were they would either refuse to believe him or, on the contrary, try to exploit him.
“Tch— Crazy guy! There are some things one shouldn’t joke about. This is one, and you just screwed up big time. If you want to join, then you’ll only have a grunt position. Otherwise, you’ll go on our cklist.” The man frowned as he spat out.
Of course, the gallery had a ton to say about this exchange.
“Wait, how can they be a guild already? How?!”
“Idiot, they are obviously an IRL guild at the moment.”
“Figures, how strong are these guys anyway? They seem tyrannical.”
“They’re a Deste Desert Online Guild, I believe. They mostly PVP and own a few castles on one of the most popr servers. They’re branching out to Infinite.”
“So, any solo yer going against them is fucked, right? Infinite only has one server, so changing server is not an option….”
“This guy’s joke was really a bad idea with their temperament. I’m surprised that they’re not beating him up already.”
“What are you talking about? The in is a safe zone. They can’t use violence even if they want. Still, they can screw him up as soon as he enters the forest.”
“How do you know all this?!”
“Didn’t you listen to the Vige Chief?!”
For them all, the altercation was bing less interesting. In their minds, he was bound to ept the ultimatum. The only other option was for him to find another guild as powerful as the Mighty Wolves as backing. There were none in the New Leaf Vige so far…
Jack very calmly replied to the man he had dubbed a power-hungry idiot.
“I wasn’t kidding at all. Anyway, I’ll have to pass on your crappy offer. By the way, here is a friendly tip: you guys should stop ganging up on the chickens. Otherwise, they’ll fight back with numbers too, and you won’t like it.” Jack kindly advised.
“Tch— Dumbass. You better not leave the safe zone if you know what’s good for you. You’ll be begging us to serve the Mighty Wolves. Brothers, let’s go. No need to waste any more time on this crazy guy.” The idiot scoffed as he left.
The crowd began talking in hushed voices. On the one hand, the expert was bound to be defeated by the mighty power of a zerg! On the other hand, drama! People loved drama so much! They would have posted about it on the official forum if it was avable.
Bubblegum came closer, frowning her pink brows with worry. “Are you sure about this? Holding a few castles in Deste Desert Online is no easy task. For now, they probably only have a few people in Infinite, butter….”
“You mean to say they’ll all transfer over once the game bes bigger, right? I probably won’t have to face more than a few hundred of them in the short term. It should be fine,” Jack assured. It wasn’t that he had failed to assess the danger. He simply didn’t give a fuck!
“I see. How about you add me as a friend? Then if you require assistance, you can message me. I know a few yers from a strong guild that could help.” She kindly offered.
Jack hesitated for a second. How many friends had he parted ways with over the years? How many had been in trouble because they knew him? The old him would have never added a random girl for helping him, not even a whole day.
She probably had ulterior motives. What if she was trying to get as much information as possible out of him before betraying him? What if— he forcefully stopped his train of thought. This was a new life, a new beginning.
Why should he worry about the potential ramifications of his actions? He would just have fun. As long as the people he loved weren’t endangered, it wasn’t the end of the world.
“Sure.” Jack finally epted. He could see Bubblegum struggling to open her menu. He quickly manipted his UI, sending her a friend request. She was seeing something like this:
[yer Jack’ O Wants to be your friend, do you wish to ept?]
She shed a small smile as her lips silently repeated Jack’O. She felt a slight sense of satisfaction at being the first one to know the mysterious expert’s name. Perhaps it was childish, but she didn’t care. But then she heard Jack’s next sentence.
“System, change the disy name of this new friend to Bubblegum Girl. Thanks.” He nonchntly rebaptized her.
“What?! This is bullying! I have a name. I object! I am vetoing this change!” She eximed in mock anger. Still, he could detect a hint of yfulness in her voice.
He silently went toward the Vige, reaching the Unknown cksmith’s forge. “Guess who’s back with fuel!” Jack shouted victoriously as he kicked the door open.
The middle-aged NPC had left the floor and was exercising with heavy hammers, using them as weight. “How about we bet some alcohol? I’m gonna bet you’re the one that grabbed it.” He chuckled.
“Wow. No bet then! Here you go, take care of it properly!” Jack instructed while handing over the three hardwood logs.
As long as one’s familiarity with an NPC was sufficient, they could serve as banks. There was a certain risk to it, but it wasn’t like people came here much in the first ce. They would leave as soon as the cksmith asked them to go into the forest to get materials.
“With this, we’re just missing the ores, right? Where are we going now?” Bubblegum asked curiously.
“Right now, I’m logging off, and you can do the same.” Jack proposed.
“Whaaat?! No way! This is the first day. We can’t take a break yet!” She vehemently objected.
Jack only shook his head in refusal before exining himself:
“You can wander around the Vige and do random quests. I reckon you can do stuff like farming, cleaning, watering nts, etc. You could get a bit of XP, silvers, and even learn the basics of a profession. I’m waiting for an event to happen. I’ll be back then.”
“An event?” She murmured, intrigued.
“Actually, you could watch over the in and record it all if you want. It should be pretty entertaining. See you in about 30 minutes,ter.” Jack waved her goodbye before login out in a purple light…why was it purple and not blue?!
Seraphine hurriedly headed to the in. What kind of event was he waiting for? Also, what kind of man was this Jack’O? Obviously a prophet, but what else? So mysterious…
<strong>Creator’s Thought</strong>
One thing that many misunderstand is that effort automatically means better results. Sure, effort is always needed and oftentimes the most decisive factor, but efficient effort is the key to sess. The first hours Infinite were the most troublesome as people were left to their own devices. Afterward, it would be way easier to progress.