Chapter 15: Troublemaker Player
The weight of the human skeleton accounts for about 35-40% of the total body weight. For the player, the body they control suddenly becomes more than 60% lighter, but the ability to move is not affected. Even a person with poor motor nerves can become agile, lively and light as a swallow.
Hal was still nervously thinking about what punishment Yang stipulated for leaving his post during work hours, when this group of undead players surrounded him...
"Holy crap! This NPC model is so realistic!"
"Oh my god, I can even see my pores so clearly, how did you do that?"
"Hey, look, he's actually sweating?"
"Are there any missions? How do I take them?"
"How did Vanilla Boss accept the quest from the NPC?"
Hal was completely stunned: "..."
"Stop arguing. We need to talk to each other to accept quests. How will the NPC know who to answer if so many of you are yelling at the same time?" Tang Jia, who first spotted the high-level NPC and ran to Hal first, was annoyed. "Everyone, line up and follow the order!"
The players who were lucky enough to grab the land in the inner circle just looked at her quietly, and no one took the initiative to step back and queue up...
"Forget it, let's just talk to them one by one. Don't forget that high-level NPCs will be angered by players' inappropriate words and deeds. It's not a bad thing for the people behind to see how the people in front talk." Tang Jia's childhood friend spoke up quickly.
The girl with the ID "Entropy is not increasing" spoke much more rationally, at least more pleasing to the ear than Tang Jia's words, so the players all agreed: "Yeah, then those who are closer should talk first, and the others should be quiet."
Tang Jia took the lead, regardless of whether others agreed or not. She glanced at the green words above Hal's head and took the initiative to attack: "Hello, 'Razor' Hal Maxwell, do you have any tasks to be issued?"
Hal, who was surrounded by a large circle of undead and unable to move, glanced at the skeleton that spoke.
This skeleton looked like a person who had died on the ancient battlefield of Tarantan countless years ago. Its eye sockets, teeth and bone joints were filled with black mud, and there was a fist-sized hole on its chest ribs. Yet, the voice it emitted was that of a youthful and cheerful woman... The sense of incongruity was so strong that it gave Hal goose bumps.
However, they had work regulations. Although it felt extremely absurd and awkward, Hal had to bite the bullet and respond. He nodded, tried his best to make a kind expression, and recited the lines stiffly according to the regulations: "Hey, dead friends, it seems that you have just woken up from eternal sleep. Would you like to help me do something? I can give you my friendship as a thank you."
Tang Jia was excited and nodded quickly: "Yes, yes!"
Perhaps because he hadn't heard the young woman's voice for a long time, Hal found the skeleton much more pleasing to the eye and quickly assigned the task to the undead according to the regulations: "Lord Yang asked us to rebuild this exile town, but we are short of manpower and cannot carry out the work. I also don't know how to build a hall for travelers to learn skills in this ruin..."
"Hmm?" The skeleton in front of him ignored him and looked down at something, then turned around and said to his friend, "This NPC's reputation reward only provides a career path for walkers and special equipment and weapons for this career path. I think this walker system seems to be the leather armor profession in World of Warcraft. Qingyue, do you want to play a walker?"
"Hmm... I'd rather play a spellcasting profession." said my childhood friend.
"I don't want to play the leather armor system either. Let's go find some high-level NPCs who can teach spellcasting and warrior professions." Tang Jia said to herself, pulling her childhood friend to squeeze out of the crowd.
"Player Gummy has rejected the mission you posted."
Hearing the prompt from the Imprint Matrix, Hal was confused: "???"
"Hey, can I see the NPC's reputation reward after accepting the quest?" The player next to him shouted to Tang Jia who was about to leave.
"Yes, after receiving the quest, the reputation bar of the high-level NPC will be refreshed in the panel." Tang Jia turned around and said, "When the reputation of this NPC reaches Friendly, you can choose to change your job to Apprentice Walker, and you will also be given a dagger. Later, you can also be given leather armor and change your job to Advanced Assassin, etc."
"I don't want to play melee combat." After hearing this, the player who asked the question turned around and left...
"Me too. Which NPC should I look for if I want to play remotely?"
"It seems to be... a ranger named Joe something?"
"I'm also looking for a warrior NPC, wait for me!"
"It seems that the one who teaches magic is our Undead Resurrection Master, right? Where is this NPC?"
With a whoosh, most of the dozens of undead surrounding Hal dispersed.
Hal: “?!”
The remaining dozen or so undeads didn't understand the psychological gap between Hal and the stars in an instant. Another equally dirty skeleton covered with age came close to Hal's face and repeated what Tang Jia had just done: "Hello, 'Razor' Hal Maxwell, do you have any missions to issue?"
Hal's face twitched violently...
Thinking about the evil black magician who was monitoring their words and actions through the branding matrix, Hal had to suppress his anger and said aggrievedly: "Hey, undead friend..."
Hal has the authority to issue tasks to players, which is to provide simple tools, such as shovels, pickaxes, etc., and ask players to help him clean up the ruins of several hundred square meters in front of the tent to make room for building a formal Traveler's Guild.
Like Hal, the ranger Tuttle and the treasure expert, who will be working in the Travelers' Guild in the future , are two companions squatting nearby. One of them is to transport the cleaned up garbage away, and the other is to collect building materials.
In short, they use the reputation points provided by high-level NPCs, as well as the job changes and weapons and equipment that come with the NPC reputation points, as carrots to use these players who come to play games as cheap labor...
There is a limit to the number of tasks that each high-level NPC can issue at the same time, mainly because the number of "task props" such as shovels and pickaxes is limited... For example, Hal only has thirty sets of tools in his tent.
Several players who were very interested in changing their professions to Walkers accepted the task and received the tools. While discussing and guessing how to play the Walker class in this game, they enthusiastically began to clean up the neighborhood that looked like a ruin.
The other players did not come forward to accept the task.
These people watched the process of others accepting tasks. After the people who accepted the tasks started to "work", they discussed something with their heads together... One of them left the team and walked towards Hal.
Hal, who was holding back his anger, stared at the skeleton expressionlessly, preparing to recite his lines again...
As a result, the skeleton completely ignored him and passed right past him.
And then... with its master standing next to it, the skeleton walked into his tent openly.
Hal: “?!”
"Oh my god, there are so many things in here! They are all interactive and can be picked up, they are not textures!" The skeleton happily took the enchanted dagger that Hal was still sharpening, which was shining with a special red light, and poked his head out of the tent to greet his companions, "Look, this is obviously a magic weapon! You can take it away directly--"
"You dirty thief—!"
In a rage, Hal drew out his long knife and chopped off the skeleton's skull.
"Oh shit!" The skeleton whose head was chopped off let out a scream. The damage exceeded the current load and it was declared dead. The flying skull and the skeleton left in place disappeared in the white light, and the enchanted dagger fell to the ground with a clang.
"Damn!" The friends of the deceased player were shocked.
"The third brother was kicked off the line!"
"This high-level NPC really knows how to chop people. His attack power is so high that he killed them instantly!"
"He is also very intelligent and can recognize that someone is trying to steal his things."
Finding that high-level NPCs were indeed dangerous, this group of players squatted less than ten meters away from Hal and muttered for a while... Another player stood up and walked towards the people who were diligently completing the task.
Then... this guy picked up the pickaxe that one of them had left nearby, picked it up and ran away...
The player whose quest item was taken away was stunned: "What the hell?!"
"Ohhhh! You dirty thief!"
The players who were doing their quests honestly and the players who were breaking the law out of boredom and testing the limits of game interaction, both groups stared blankly at NPC Hal who was only standing in front of the tent, and chased him out furiously...
The player whose weight was reduced by 60% could indeed run very fast, but Hal, a professional strongman with the rage buff, was even faster. The player was caught up by Hal before he ran out of the ruins block, stabbed through, and was teleported back to the resurrection point with a scream and kicked off the line.
After killing two undeads in a row, Hal found that he was suddenly in a much better mood, and he felt refreshed...
After picking up the pickaxe and returning it to the confused quest player, Hal returned to his "post" in front of the tent and stood still, looking intently at the few people who were clearly looking to cause trouble.
The three troublemakers left nervously discussed for a while in front of others, and one of them stood up and walked over to Hal to take the task.
Under pressure from being watched by a certain black magician, Hal didn't dare to draw his sword or strike. He just quietly issued tasks and gave out task props.
Then... the players who received the mission props carried pickaxes and dragged shovels and ran away.
Hal, with veins popping out on his forehead, followed the rules and stood still.
When the skeleton who wanted to cheat him of his tools and cause him to have his salary deducted ran out of the ruined block, Hal suddenly drew out his long knife: "Stop right there! You dirty thief--!"
"If you take the quest item out of range, you will be chased and hacked by the NPC? This game is too much, right?!" The two remaining players were stunned as they watched their friend who had pulled out a distance of more than a hundred meters get chased and hacked to death in the blink of an eye...
The players who were tasked with the mission were also shocked: "If you accept a mission but don't complete it, can't you log off with the mission items?"
"I'm too hardcore!"
"It's so real, I like it!"
The trouble-making players and the task players all looked at the player who made the discordant noise.
"What the hell! What if something urgent happens in the middle of a mission?"
"That's right, the original underground line will also lose data, this is ridiculous!"
"What a crap game!"
A player who had been concentrating on completing the quest couldn't stand it anymore and looked up and said, "Don't you guys read the quest description before accepting the quest? It's clearly stated that quest items can only be used within the quest scope. Also, during the quest, you can return the quest items to the NPC, save the quest progress, and then log off. When you log on again, you can just get them back from the NPC."
The player who was very serious about the mission waved his hands in disdain at the two troublemakers: "If you don't want to complete the mission, then stop messing around here. The high-level NPCs in this game are too detailed. What if you harass them too frequently and our friendliness level is reduced?"
When the other players heard this, they followed suit and said, "Hurry up and leave! Stop making trouble here!"
There were only two players left who were causing trouble. They were all alone and powerless. In addition, the high-level NPC Hal, who had been angered several times in a row, was indeed eyeing them covetously... They had no choice but to leave in shame.
Coming out of the ruins block and onto the street, the two players who were causing trouble were discussing whether to wait for their three dead friends to come online before continuing their troubles... Then they saw a few players on the other side of the street pushing a metal cart like the ones used on construction sites, rushing towards them.
"Fuck! You guys have done something big!" The two players who were causing the trouble shouted out in surprise and envy.
"Get out of the way, get out of the way!" The player who didn't know where he got this metal cart was very nervous.
Before the two troublemakers could open their mouths to ask what was going on, they heard a few "whoosh, whoosh" sounds breaking through the air, and several people who were pushing the metal cart wildly shouted "Fuck" and "Grass" one after another, and turned into white light and disappeared.
A high-level NPC with a longbow on his back and the words "Tuttle Joe" and "Ranger Mentor" floating above his head, with veins visible on his forehead, silently came over, grabbed the handrail of the cart, and pulled the cart away...
Watching the murderous remote NPC disappear around the corner of the street, troublemaker player A shuddered: "...Or, should we go do the quest? It's the first day of the closed beta..."
Player B nodded silently: "Yeah, that's right... I want to play a warrior, what about you?"
"Me too."
"So where is our warrior mentor?"
"Let's finish the task of giving clothes to the zombie NPC first..."
