The Dragon Slayer was originally a holographic online game that focused on intense battles and leveling up. Moreover, ever since the news of the Dual Emperors switching to play as Dragon Slayers spread, almost the entire holographic esports community was drawn to it.
During a normal server opening period, players should be in a frenzy of leveling up. After all, there isn’t much to do in the beginner phase, and many features are yet to be unlocked.
However, ever since the NPC mutation incident—#The Most Handsome NPC, Uncle Pipilu, privately confiscating players’ items and reselling them, causing financial harm to players, was exposed in a video.
A large group of players who were curious to see just how extraordinary the game’s NPCs were flocked to Dragon Slayer. These players weren’t in a hurry to level up; some even started exploring in the beginner’s village.
So, many players were eager to strike up conversations with Jing Nian and Gordon, who were clearly intrigued by the game.
Some even asked them where they had bought their outfits.
Gordon, who wasn’t used to being in the spotlight, could only cross his arms pitifully to shield himself from the gazes directed at his unadorned chest. He asked in confusion, “Outfits?”
The player who asked was a man, and his interest naturally wasn’t in the dress Gordon was wearing but in the cape Jing Nian had on, which had been modified by a skilled artisan in Mini Street. From a distance, it looked ordinary, but up close, intricate patterns were embroidered on it.
Upon hearing Gordon’s voice, the player who had asked turned pale and took a step back, his face darkening. “You’re a guy!?”
Being slender and slim was an essential requirement for thieves; otherwise, what would you do if you got stuck while trying to escape? As an excellent thief, Gordon had an advantage in terms of physique. So, when he put on women’s clothing, covered his clearly youthful face, and tied his hair into a high ponytail, he indeed looked no different from a flat-chested woman at first glance.
Thus, being mistaken was quite normal.
At this moment, three players who didn’t want to go look for the devilish man, Uncle Pipilu, to pick up a quest slowly returned to the village from the riverbank. They saw Jing Nian and the thief, who were being surrounded by onlookers in the crowd.
The three of them, in unspoken agreement to avoid being the last to confront that devil and potentially suffer, turned their steps toward the lively center.
Just a mere main quest, nothing to boast about; it’s better to check out the excitement first!
As the three approached the bustling center, the chubby one turned to his companions and joked, “Haha, could this kid be sneaking into the game without their parents knowing? They’re not even showing their face. Maybe their parents are playing this darn game too!”
The burly man cast a glance at the tall and short figures in the center of the crowd and said, “The guy in women’s clothing over there is probably the parent…”
The skinny one, with a glint in his eye, suggested, “How about we go watch the kid do quests?”
Thinking about the torment awaiting them at Uncle Pipilu’s, the other two companions readily agreed with the skinny one’s proposal.
Watching others suffer is naturally more entertaining than suffering oneself!
–
When these three players said they wanted to team up with him, Jing Nian paused for a moment. However, he happened to want to inquire about some information from players, so he thought it over and didn’t refuse.
After forming a team, the three teammates curiously looked at Gordon, who hadn’t joined their party yet.
“Is he not joining us?” one of them asked.
Jing Nian turned to look at Gordon, who had reluctantly mixed in with the outsiders, going from shocked to utterly confused. After a moment’s contemplation, he decided to explain, “He’s not a player; he’s an NPC named Gordon.”
Upon his explanation, the player system finally displayed a purple name above Gordon’s head, indicating that he was an NPC.
At this stage, players in the beginner village and low-level cities were still unaware of what the colors of NPC names—white, green, blue, purple, gold—represented, so they didn’t express any surprise about this.
Instead, all three of them looked at Jing Nian with shock on their faces.
“Wow! Little brother, you’re something else. Honestly, how high did you raise this NPC’s favorability for them to be willing to follow you?”
“You must have spent quite a bit on gifts, right? Does your parent know?”
Jing Nian: “…”
These three teammates didn’t seem very intelligent, but teaming up with them was the right choice.
At least from their words, it could be inferred that in this game, NPCs could be charmed by giving them gifts to increase their favorability.
Jing Nian’s system interface only had a gold coin shop, and there was no favorability gift item category. So, the normal player system interface not only had a recharge channel but apparently also had another cash shop for microtransactions.
However, when the three found out that Jing Nian lived in the central district of the Imperial Capital, a place where even “ordinary folks” like them couldn’t afford a single square meter of floor space, they fell silent.
This kid probably had more pocket money than their entire net worth. No need to worry about him.
Seeing that the three were well-intentioned and he couldn’t easily explain, Jing Nian could only pretend to be a rich kid. It seemed to work.
Their names were also quite interesting.
The chubby one was called “Full from Eating, Now Losing Weight.”
The skinny one was called “Lightning Man.”
The burly man was called “I’m Done with Working Out.”
Jing Nian understood the first two names, but he was curious about the burly man.
Seeing his confusion, Lightning Man chuckled and explained, “Little bro, have you ever heard this saying? ‘Moderate workouts attract the opposite sex, excessive workouts attract the same sex, hahaha, burp…'”
Lightning Man chuckled, and Full from Eating, Now Losing Weight continued with a smirk, “Our workout buddy here not only attracted countless little zeros but also some big ones, just not any ladies!!!”
Jing Nian: “…”
The workout buddy, I’m Done with Working Out, gave each of them a smack on the back of their heads in annoyance and said, “Stop corrupting the kids!”
“Hahaha, what era are we in? Same-sex marriage has been around for centuries; you can’t be discriminatory!”
“I’m not discriminatory, but I like ladies!!!”
The group burst into laughter and playful banter, and even Jing Nian couldn’t help but join in the laughter.
Off to the side, Gordon felt nothing but boundless loneliness and fear.
Why did these outsiders start speaking in a way that he could understand but couldn’t comprehend at all!
Weren’t they here to invade the Grans Continent?
What were they up to now!?
Embarrassing situations really were the best way to bring people together. After the jokes, the three of them accepted Jing Nian as one of their own.
Relationships among boys meant there was no holding back, even if the kid was younger.
So, when they heard that Jing Nian was going to do beginner and mainline quests, the three quickly exchanged glances. The chubby one, with a mischievous look, suddenly asked Jing Nian, “Did you start playing this game because you saw it trending?”
Jing Nian was puzzled, trending? What trending?
Although his face was hidden behind a mask, his confusion was evident in his eyes. Seeing this, the three of them got excited and exchanged glances again.
Could it be that he really didn’t know anything about the game? Interesting!
“So how did you start playing?” one of them asked.
Jing Nian thought for a moment and chose the most conservative answer, “A friend recommended it. I hadn’t heard of this game before.”
Hearing this answer, the three of them’s eyes lit up with the prospect of playing a prank. They had heard that some “nobles’ (rich folks from the Imperial Star)” children were subjected to high-pressure educational policies. Besides regular school courses, they had many other classes during holidays and weekends, leaving them with little time for online entertainment.
Maybe logging into the game was their way of taking a break?
Poor kid, the three of them looked at Jing Nian’s innocent big eyes and couldn’t bear to prank him too hard…
Yeah right!
One by one, the three enthusiastically recommended that Jing Nian complete the beginner quests first. They explained that they had started on the mainline quests without finishing the beginner ones, and now they were stuck. To continue the mainline, they needed to go back and complete the beginner quests first.
“So, we strongly recommend you finish the beginner quests first!”
“Now that we’re teammates, we’ll accompany you on the beginner quests, and then we can move on to the mainline.”
As they said this, a righteous glow seemed to emanate from their eyes.
But Jing Nian couldn’t shake the feeling that the three of them had a strange tone, like creepy uncles trying to kidnap a child.
On the sidelines, Gordon had his [Task-Related] speech automatically blocked, so he couldn’t hear what the three were saying. He could only see their expressions.
Without the filter of language, the ill intentions on their faces were about to spill over.
So, with a look of curiosity and suspicion, he scanned them back and forth, thinking, even though his young master was an outsider too, these guys better not be trying to trick him!
For the sake of his own life and well-being, Gordon immediately fixed his gaze on the three.
Seeing Gordon’s expression, Jing Nian became even more certain of his suspicions.
Right, they really are like weird uncles.
However, he wasn’t a real child, and despite the conspiratorial undertones in their gazes, it didn’t seem like they had any ill intentions.
So, Jing Nian didn’t refuse them.
On the way to Uncle Pipilu’s house, the three chatterboxes brought up the incident when the injured but determined warrior insisted on guiding them during his mainline quest. It was something they had witnessed and couldn’t bear to watch.
As they chatted, they arrived at Uncle Pipilu’s doorstep.
At this moment, the three’s eyes sparkled even brighter, and they said, “Let’s get the quest now!”
Jing Nian squinted his eyes.
He finally understood what those gleaming eyes meant to the three of them. It was all for a prank, to see him get scared by the Greenhorn Beetle!
These three little rascals…
Jing Nian rolled his eyes at them and then walked toward Uncle Pipilu, who was surrounded by players. He had no intention of telling these three that he had already completed the Greenhorn Beetle quest.
He went straight to Uncle Pipilu to accept the beginner quest he hadn’t done before.
At this point, the three of them still thought their prank had succeeded and had already started secretly anticipating the sight of the young kid trembling in fear.
I’m Done with Working Out, who still had some conscience left, recalled those scenes he had seen in the trending topics. He had been prepared, but now that he was actually faced with the giant Greenhorn Beetle, he couldn’t help but shiver slightly. “Maybe we should reconsider this. He’s such a young kid; scaring him to tears wouldn’t be good…”
Little did he know that right after saying this, he would be met with a disdainful eye-roll from the young kid.
I’m Done with Working Out: “…” Yeah, let’s just make him cry.
Full from Eating, Now Losing Weight chimed in, “Hey, see that? The little guy needs a good scare.”
The consciousness that Huo Yi had left on Uncle Pipilu, who was being AI-controlled, noticed Jing Nian the moment he appeared.
Both of Huo Yi’s avatars were still lost in the Enchanted Forest. “…”
Author’s Note:
These days, I’m having some eye problems and can’t stare at the screen for long periods. I’m avoiding electronic screens except for writing.
So, I won’t be writing the short scenes for now~
I’ll also catch any typos later when my eyes are better. Sending love~ 💖
