The moment when NPC could be hired marked the moment a fundamental change occurred in the world of Primal Survival. Every player could hire NPCs from now on. This opportunity was gladly welcomed and started a craze to hire NPCs. Whether as a personal slave or as a tool for the competition, they could be used in any way imaginable.
In their search for NPCs, they did stop at nothing and fell over every city like a swarm of locusts hiring everything that had not been picked up by another player. Everything was gobbled up and the players did not hesitate to even search the unexplored map to mixed results.
The NPCs found themselves in an unprecedented predicament, if they previously had been able to escape the murderous players by hiding in a city, then even this sanctuary was taken from them and they were helplessly exposed to the wave of players lusting after them.
This hype had the player base gripped tightly and was alluring to even the people from the Churches, as the NPCs were commonly used as slaves. These digital slaves were even traded as some had certain preferences. Others liked to boast about their collection of slaves and gladly showed it off.
" What do you want for that slave?" was a typical conversation starter that was spoken all over Primal Survival. The business was flourishing as more and more players found themselves subjected to this kind of trade. Amidst this scene, were some players who were looking for special NPCs, which are a lot scarcer. Once one has been located, they do their best to hire it, even offering objects from their Real-world as compensation.
While the young boy with flaming hair was certainly a big commotion, he was by far not the only one people were looking out for. A lot of strange NPCs had been located and were tried to be won at all cost. Certain NPCs had hidden requirements to be hired, so those players died everything that they could think off just so they can get the precious NPC.
From delivering 10 corpses of very rare monsters or finding the long lost toy of his son the tasks could not be any more different. Those players did not mind to spend so much effort, it was the opposite they were provided with a sense of pride and accomplishment.
Those players wanted to earn the rarest NPCs and they would stop at nothing to accomplish exactly that. Only a select few were relatively unaffected by the entire situation. Those people were trying to see the purpose behind this addition.
What was the idea behind granting them the right to enslave those NPCs and why were they chosen to be the troops for the tactical competition? What was their purpose? But all of their questions fell on deaf ears as they asked players and the developers about their intent.
In truth, not even the developers were knowing why the system had made this kind of decision but judging by its recent success they would be fools to give away that secret. The only thing those people received was a vague reply stating, that their worries are unfounded.
Amidst this development, many people relied on unusual strategies and method to get a headstart. One of these people was a young lady, who was currently surrounded by a group of NPCs.
This was not a strange sight, but upon closer inspection a glaring difference became visible. While normal NPCs did not even dare to make a noise without being told to do so, this group of NPCs was behaving unruly and laughed loudly.
This girl walked casually in front of them unaffected by their behaviour. Her appearance did not invoke any special interest as every player had better things to do. Their strange behaviour was not enough to let other players deem them as special.
Others judged the lack of manners as a fault from the young girl leading them and scoffed at her before continuing what they have been doing prior. Right by her side was another player, that looked displeased from the judgemental reactions by the crowd. Though he did not voice his opinion out loud and just walked beside the female player staring angrily at the everyone, who spoke ill about them.
The group of NPCs belonging to the girl could not care less about the opinion of others, they even mimicked their actions and mocked them quite loudly. Though their deeds were highly disrespectful, none of them was provoked by their cheap tricks. All they did, was lowering the reputation of their owner.
Since nobody was trying to put an end to their taunts, they continued to try and get a reaction from anyone in their proximity. But despite their best effort, none of it showed any signs of working in their favour.
The girl did not look dishearted by the lack of results as she spoke to the player right by her side.
" We were lucky enough to find enough people to fool, to begin with."
The young men nodded upon hearing her words. Fools like that could not be sought after but could only be stumbled on by chance. Only people who did not know much about this world could fall for something so obvious.
" But last time you went too far. To even expose yourself, to such an unworthy man, something like this should not be done ever again."
A smile hushed over her lips after hearing those words as she briefly thought about their last encounter.
" Relax, in the end, we got what we wanted. They got to eat and I got the information I had aimed for."
" But at what cost? We let someone with a special NPC slip through our fingers even after going this far." The young men rebutted after hearing the conclusion from the female player. Their expenses were not worth such a measly outcome.
" Whats some exposed flesh in comparison to the information how he had required an NPC like this? Although it can not compare to the ones I own, it still is a valuable existence."
In her mind, nothing could compare to the worth of her assets. While their targets NPC was special, it paled in comparison to her NPCs. Though this judgement would have changed if she had known more details about the NPC in question.
But this possibility was out of the question for her. It was unlikely to find something more valuable than this group of NPCs. All she had to do, was deliver them the necessary food to gain the best results possible.
Even if she had to lower her pride to gain the results she wanted, it was nothing in comparison to the goal she was trying to achieve and these NPCs were the key to her success. If given the chance she would have gone out and killed enough monsters for them by now, but the current situation did not allow her to do something so spectacular.
For the time being, all she could do was to exploit other goodwill and gain enough food. She could not wait till the crazy had finally died down and she could gather enough resources. A light sigh, escaped her lips, the circumstances surrounding her were certainly not in her favour.
This did not escape her colleague as he pondered on the cause for her sighing. Despite his criticism, he was still satisfied with the progress they had achieved. Seeing her initial conclusion made him wonder even more what lead to her sigh. Though he knew better than to voice his thoughts as this was neither the place nor the time to discuss something like this.
Even spilling the information about the special NPC was risky. Luckily the NPCs behind him were loud enough to draw away any attention from them and their conversation. At times he wished they would shut up, but he could not deny that they did not have their perks.
" You should not underestimate the man named Tom. Despite his foolish nature, he is still a member of the Church." While a warning might not be necessary, he still wanted to make sure to keep track of every person that might be a threat to their plans.
" Those people from the Churches are only interested in themselves. No need to worry about any of them." The voice stemming from the girl was full of confidence and came out without any hesitation. She did have any of them in her eyes because nothing would stop her at achieving what she strives for.
The people of the Churches were not enough to cause her to pay any concern, at least not someone of his calibre. He had been staring to attentively at her breasts to notice that he had been taken advantage off. A fool like him was bound to be forgotten.
Finding their next gullible target was easier said than done, as they had just barely managed to escape from the previous situation by a stroke of luck. Although the arrival of the group of players they had scammed just prior nearly spelt disaster for them, it was their actions that drew the attention of the special NPC away from them.
Afterwards, it was easy to slip away from the trouble as both sides were busy fighting against each other to notice their disappearance. He could not fathom why exactly a fight would break out between those 2 parties but it was not exactly to their disadvantage that they clashed against one another. Although the special NPC seemingly had enjoyed the situation a bit too much.
He had been all smiles while provoking the players into a fight. The strength he possessed was enough to incapacitate their NPCs in their current form to some extent. An NPC, so quick to anger was easy to manipulate but not someone they had to possess at all cost. In the end, it would be nothing more than a nuisance, a hindrance to their cause.
Even if it had come in handy, its interference was not necessarily needed. It had been nothing more than a convenient way to avoid the bothersome hassle.
Since this oppurturnity was delivered to them on a silver platter it would be foolish not to take it. Liabilities like these were nothing more than a waste of their precious time.
His train of thought had been broken by the arrival of 4 small children approaching them with a big grin plastered on their faces. While their main focus was on the successful development of the group of NPCs behind him, the usefulness of these small children should not be underestimated.
" Playing has been so much fun. Thank you Big Brother. Though these big meanies refused to play with us. Is killing monsters more important than us?" They pouted after just thinking about being ignored by the group of players they wanted to play with.
" Of course not, you are the most precious little children that anyone could have." The young woman was patting their heads as she was comforting the children from the blatant refusal. She had sent the children to keep an eye on the movement of the players she had scammed previously.
These players were too kindhearted and goodnatured to lie to children, they had exploited that exact weakness. Though she wondered why exactly their focus had switched to hunting monsters all of a sudden. Maybe it is a desperate attempt to vent their frustrations since they missed their chance, who knows?
As long as they were not an obstacle in their way, they could do whatever they wanted for all she could care.
" But Uncle was really nice to us. He let us ride on his back before we had to come back. He came after these meanies did not want to play with us."
Who was this "Uncle" the children were talking about? The only person, who know of these Children was the special NPC they had tried to provoke with a varying degree of success. But this NPC was clearly not the type to play with these children and call himself "Uncle"
" He told us to give you our Big Sister a little present" another happy voice chimed in proudly remembering such an important detail. These tiny hands delivered the object right into her hands expecting to be praised for it.
But the little "gift" the female player received forced her to reevaluate her opinion about the event, that had just taken place. The object in her hands was an eyeball from a monster, that had died not too long ago.
Though the person responsible for this little twisted joke did not think that he would have taken the eye for an eye that literally. As they had to think about the ramifications that came with such a threat, the chaos continued all around the world of Primal Survival.
Though others had to fight a different kind of battle after certain actions from a special NPC had caused them a headache. The only way to redeem themselves was to locate the one responsible for fate, but that was easier said than done in these chaotic times.
But they vowed to find him, even if they had to search the end of this world.