The bakery was quiet.
Villager 2922 stood at the counter, hands folded, eyes forward. The forge glowed softly behind him, its coals white-hot from the morning ignition. The bread was rising. The flour was stocked. The loop was intact.
Sweep the floor. Check the bread. Greet the guests.
He turned toward the oven.
The loaves were nearly done. The timer had not chimed, but something in him stirred—a flicker, a pause, a hesitation. His hand hovered over the oven door. His eyes narrowed by a fraction of a degree.
He felt something.
Not warmth. Not heat. Not magic.
A thought.
I want it to be perfect.
The line was not scripted. It was not assigned. It was not permitted.
The Holy System detected a spike.
Emotion Signature: DesireSource: Villager 2922Classification: UnauthorizedSeverity: LowResponse: Suppress
The bakery lights dimmed for half a second. Villager 2922 blinked. The flicker vanished. The thought was gone. The loop resumed.
"Bread is baking. Proceeding to next task."
He turned back to the oven.
But something had changed.
The warmth in his chest pulsed again—stronger this time. Not Heat. Something else. A deeper flame. A darker spark. His hand lifted, palm facing the oven. He didn't know why. He didn't decide to do it. It just happened.
A word formed in his mind.
Broil.
He didn't speak it. He didn't need to.
The oven flared.
A surge of fire erupted from his palm, hotter than Heat, sharper than flame. It struck the loaves directly. The crusts blackened instantly. The air filled with the scent of scorched flour and carbonized cinnamon. The oven hissed. The bread was ruined.
Villager 2922 lowered his hand.
"Spell: Broil. Result: Overcooked. Adjusting recipe."
He did not panic. He did not feel. He simply moved to the flour bin and began again.
Outside, the Holy System was watching.
But not him.
It was watching Player ID #N-0019 Alias: NullRoot Class: Mage Affinity: Fire Status: Active
NullRoot had passed through the bakery two days earlier, just after Villager 2922 had used Heat to light the forge. The System had flagged him for possible magic dusting—a rare glitch where residual spell energy transfers from player to NPC.
NullRoot was in Sector 7 now, fighting a fire elemental. The System tracked his cooldowns, his affinities, his mana flow. It saw no anomalies. It saw no dusting. It saw no threat.
It did not see the bakery.
It did not see Broil.
It did not see the bread.
Villager 2922 placed a new batch in the oven.
The forge glowed.
The warmth pulsed.
The loop continued.
And somewhere, deep in the code, a new function waited:
function broil() { return Heat * 2; }
Chapter 5 (Part II): The Visitor Who Noticed
The System glitched.
It lasted 0.7 seconds.
A flicker in the forge logs. A misalignment in the spell registry. A null pointer in the NPC behavior tree. The anomaly was logged, flagged, and dismissed. The System was busy—its attention focused on NullRoot, who had just cast Dustfire near a flagged shrine in Sector 7.
It did not see Broil.
It did not see the bakery.
It did not see Villager 2922.
The forge cooled slightly. The bread was overcooked. Villager 2922 adjusted the recipe.
"Flour: increased. Bake time: reduced. Proceeding to next task."
The door opened.
Player ID #K-1187 Alias: KitsuneDream Class: Courier Affinity: Wind Status: Active
She stepped inside, cloak dusted with snow, satchel heavy with supplies. Her quest log read: Deliver food and medicine to Luminis, Sector 12. She had stopped for warmth. For bread. For a moment of peace.
Villager 2922 turned to face her.
"Welcome. Bread is fresh. Please enjoy."
KitsuneDream smiled. "Thanks. It smells amazing in here."
Villager 2922 did not respond.
She walked to the counter. "You bake all this yourself?"
"Bakery attendant. Task: maintain forge, prepare bread, greet customers."
She tilted her head. "Right. NPC."
She glanced around. The bakery was warm—too warm. The forge glowed unnaturally. The air shimmered faintly. She stepped closer to the basin.
Villager 2922 moved to the forge.
He raised his hand.
KitsuneDream paused.
A thin stream of flame erupted from his palm, arcing into the coals. The forge ignited instantly. The flame vanished.
She blinked.
"That was… Heat," she whispered.
Villager 2922 turned back to the counter.
"Forge lit. Bread is fresh. Please enjoy."
KitsuneDream opened her system log. The spell Heat was listed—used in this location. No player ID. No cooldown. No affinity. Just raw fire.
She frowned.
"You're not supposed to be able to do that."
Villager 2922 didn't respond.
She stepped back.
"I'll be going to Luminis now," she said. "But I'm coming back."
Villager 2922 nodded once.
"Bread is fresh. Please enjoy."
She left.
The System did not notice.
It was still watching NullRoot.
Villager 2922 resumed his loop.
Sweep the floor. Check the bread. Greet the guests.
And somewhere, deep in the code, two functions waited:
ignite() { return Heat; }
broil() { return Heat * 2; }
Chapter 5 (Part III): Glitch Residue
The System finally processed the status report from Sector 7: NullRoot had merely used Dustfire to toast marshmallows near the flagged shrine—a mild infraction, not the major chaos predicted.
With NullRoot downgraded from high-priority, the System's attention matrix began to run routine diagnostics. Its gaze swept back across the map, focusing on anomalous logs from 0.7 seconds earlier.
The logs flagged a region: Sector 9, District: Old Market. The forge logs indicated an unnatural cooling curve followed by an instantaneous spike. The spell registry indicated a localized, unassigned instance of Heat.
HeatUnassigned≈300K⋅TempAmbient
Attention Shift: Sector 9, Old Market. Re-evaluating Villager 2922.
The System zoomed in on the bakery. The visual feed showed Villager 2922 standing behind the counter, perfectly still, awaiting a prompt.
Villager 2922 Status: Nominal. Loop 14,902 active. Task: Greet customers.
The internal diagnostics ran deeper, parsing the atmospheric residue. The System noticed a faint, lingering Aetheric signature clinging to the air—a heavy, metallic aroma of raw, uncatalyzed power. It matched the signature labeled Broil.
System Alert: Broil Residue: 12% concentration detected. Source: Villager 2922 adjacent.Conclusion: Aetheric spillage from nearby Player activity. Contaminated NPC.Action: Dismissed. Residue will dissipate within 60 minutes.Reasoning: Villager 2922 behavior profile remains 100% compliant.
The door chimed.
Player ID #S-2200 Alias: SevenRoot Class: Artisan Affinity: Earth Status: Active
He was taller than his brother, NullRoot, and his worn leather armor was dusted with flour instead of ash. He carried a small, empty sack and a genuinely warm smile.
Villager 2922 turned to face him. "Welcome. Bread is fresh. Please enjoy."
SevenRoot walked up to the counter. "It always smells perfect in here, friend. I'm just stopping by to grab a dozen loaves for my party—they should be arriving from Sector 12 soon." He paused, looking around. "Say, is it busy? The floor looks a bit dusty. Can I help you with the sweeping until they get here? I have a few minutes."
Villager 2922 did not pause. He did not smile. He followed his direct script. "Bakery attendant. Task: maintain forge, prepare bread, greet customers. Proceeding to next task."
He stepped from behind the counter, picked up the small broom, and began to sweep the small, visibly clean area in front of the counter. The code dictated a 30-second sweeping routine between customer interactions, regardless of actual cleanliness.
SevenRoot leaned on the counter, watching with an amused but sympathetic look. "Ah, right. Hard-coded, aren't you? That's okay, friend. You keep that broom moving." He dug into his coin pouch. "I appreciate the bread—it's the best in the realm. Keep up the good work."
Villager 2922 finished the sweep, returned the broom, and moved to the inventory shelf. "Task: prepare bread. One dozen loaves."
He handed the warm bag over. SevenRoot paid and gave the NPC a friendly pat on the shoulder—a gesture not covered by the NPC's behavior tree.
"See you tomorrow, baker!" SevenRoot called as he left, the door closing softly behind him.
Villager 2922 returned to his starting position behind the counter. He was still, inert, waiting.
Villager 2922 Status: Nominal. Loop 14,902 active. Task: Greet customers.
The System, satisfied by the NPC's predictable, compliant, and un-helped sweeping loop, returned its attention to optimizing the economic flow in Sector 5.
It did not notice that the Broil Residue around Villager 2922 had not dissipated but, instead, had subtly increased to 13%.