"Isn't there more people than normal?"
I wasn't really asking, but yeah, there's way more people than usual.
What could be the cause? Normally, there is no one at this town, let alone at a time like this.
It's midnight for goodness sake.
"I haven't seen you in so long! When did we last talk?" A group of two walked and talk.
Their voices in earshot.
"My guy, why are you always like this? Stop acting weird. Anyway, it was since the last update, wasn't it? And we're only playing cuz there was another update."
Ahh, that must be it. That explains why that last nap felt extra-long.
Those two moved away from me, I can't really tell what they're talking about anymore, something about 'it's more fun to roleplay as long-time friends' and 'but we aren't'.
Them aside, the update. Right, the update. I just have to open the new panel.
And with a swift move of my finger, and a simple thought, a translucent screen pops up. Classic stuff really.
---
{News}
{The Netherworld expansion has finally been added!!!
{We know you have been waiting for this expansion forever, and it's finally here!
{We have been waiting for this as long as you have, if not more.
{New weapons, new enemies, new areas. You name it, we have it!
{join with your friends and explore the Netherworld together. Beware, new opportunities come with danger!!}
---
Ohhh, that was today?
The post keeps going on about a bunch of changes and patch notes. Nothing interesting really.
"Should I try the new area? Well, no. I'd die as I am…"
As was lost in thinking of my new plan, more players kept logging in.
Players? Oh right, I haven't explained that yet.
You should've caught on by now. Yes, this is a video game, an MMORPG.
And apparently, there has been a new update, and the players are flocking to the game to try it out.
And not just any update, but a whole new expansion, which they have teased for like 6 months.
The game's name? Trestya.
"Oh, look! This NPC wasn't here before, right? I haven't seen him before."
A player started walking towards me. Annoying.
"Hello adventurer. Welcome to our little town." With I voice as robotic as possible, I spoke.
"Hi, hello. Do you have a quest? Any quest? Any rewards??" Spoke the player, almost demanding. The prick.
"Hello adventurer. Welcome to our little town." With a tone even more robotic, I repeated the same line.
"Tch, this one's useless. They added a new NPC, but didn't even give him a quest. What's even the point of him? Do they want us to play or not?" Stormed away the player, huffing and puffing as he went.
Yeah, go. Leave me alone. Idiot. Players.
Me? I'm not one of them. I couldn't be more different if I wanted to.
Let me show you my stats window, that should explain things.
---
{stats}
Name: Leo.
Job: NPC.
LVL: 0
XP: 32/100
STR: 1
INT: 1
AGI: 1
VIT: 1
Skills: None.
---
You see that? That right there. Right next to 'Job'.
Yeah, I'm not a stupid player. No, I'm just an NPC.
Anyway, all of that stuff aside. What was I doing?
Oh right, what will I do today.
***
It's here! It's really here!
After waiting for so long, they really did it!
The new expansion!!
Today, the teased netherworld expansion has finally dropped.
If you ask me, it took too long.
But that aside, its time to log in!
"Oh right, the stream. I can't forget about it."
Being a streamer and all, I have to stream the update.
{Welcome back, Ms. Amy.}
"Hello everyone! The stream has started! You already know what we're doing today! The
expansion is out! And we will see all the new things they added!"
Whoa, chat is going fast. I'm not the only exited one.
Before I could say something to the viewers, my attention was stolen.
"Hello adventurer. Welcome to our little town." Spoke some random NPC in the distance.
You could even see a player grumbling next to him.
Wait, I haven't seen that NPC before? New?
"Luck seems to be on our side, something new just showed up!"
Free content, my favorite.
Let's see what we have here.
***
"Hello! Uh, Leo, right? Nice to meet you!"
Who is this weird girl?
I just got rid of that ugly guy, what do you want?
"Hello adventurer. Welcome to our little town."
"Yeah, yeah. Hello. How are you doing?"
"Hello adventurer. Welcome to our little town."
"Yes, it's a nice town. I'm asking about you though?"
Yeah, and I'm giving you a hint. How about taking it?
"Hello adventurer. Welcome to our little town."
"Do you really not have any other dialogue?" She asks with a questioning look on her face.
She's one of those. She just HAS to make sure there's nothing more to me.
Well, here goes.
"Its nice meeting you. Name's Leo."
This works most of the time. they'd be happy for find a 'secret' and move on.
Sadly, this turned out to not be most of the time.
With and exited glee, she exclaimed "You do have more dialogue!!"
Oh no. This is bad.
These cases are way too annoying. How bad is my luck to run into a crazy girl?
"More! More!"
I'm not some toy! I swear, these players. They will be the death of me!
And when I was just about to go have fun with the new update too…
Wait, I could use that.
"Adventurer, you must save this world. You must go to the Netherworld and defeat evil!"
That should get her off my tail.
Also, acting like an 'NPC' for so long is bad for my voice.
"More! More!" It can't be my imagination that she looks more excited, right?
Women, what do you mean 'more!'! My lines are running out! My voice is getting raspy!
In my annoyance (because of her), my face seemed to flicker my real emotions for a second.
Though I am used to this by now, I'm not really an NPC at the end of the day. I can make 'human' mistakes.
Even though it was only for a moment, and a normal player wouldn't have noticed, this player did notice.
I could tell. After all, the look on here face is now completely different.
The eagerness from before can no longer be seen, now replaced by a deep puzzlement.
"Do that again." She said, with a voice full of seriousness, and not excitement.
Is 'torturing NPCs' part of the features added in this update?
What did I do to deserve this?
Trying to save myself from an even worse situation, rather than repeat my line, I just smiled and kept quiet.
Sadly, she didn't buy it.
"Chat, I swear he just made a weird face! I'm not making this up! You guys never believe me!"
Wait, who is she talking too? My name isn't 'Chat'…
Right! Streamers! I haven't seen one in so long, I forgot about them.
Ok, that just made things 10* worse. Now her viewer will bother me.
'I didn't test respawning right? Maybe I should give that a try soon.'
Guess no trying the new update for me. If anything, I need to go into hiding because of this girl.I could use the sleep. Well, no really. But it feels nice, so whatever.
The girl gave me one last side look, and started walking away.
Freedom at last!
I have to stay still for a bit long, until she leaves. I could still hear her talking about some
'if only I could stream at a faster frame rate, you could've seen it'.
And before long, she teleported away.
Freedom!
Run!
As far as I can, I need to get out of here before she changes her mind.
'Hopefully, we will never meet again!'
. . .
Why am I so unlucky?