"You think I'd trust you just because you say NPCs drop loot?" Blank shot back, clearly skeptical.
Orson paused, momentarily stumped. She had a point. Sure, some players had tried attacking NPCs out of curiosity, but it usually ended with them getting insta-killed. Take Hazel, for example: she might look like a frail, sickly young girl, but with a full set of legendary gear and an S-tier "Heavenly Judgment" spell at her disposal, she was no one to mess with.
But this was still the early days of the game. Soon enough, players would discover that certain NPCs could be defeated, and that the loot they dropped was often more rewarding than what you'd get from elite bosses. In fact, some large guilds would later form alliances specifically to ambush high-level NPCs.
"Because I understand this game's mechanics better than you do—how's that for an answer?" Orson replied smoothly.
Blank hesitated. She knew Orson was a former pro, and his confidence suggested he knew what he was talking about.
"If it weren't for the healer NPC constantly patching up her teammates, I wouldn't need your help at all," Orson added, drawing Blank into his party.
Seeing him so confident, Blank decided to set her doubts aside and dashed toward the NPCs' position. At the end of the mist-shrouded path outside the city, an eerie castle loomed—the Butcher's lair.
Blank asked, "Got a plan? Those NPCs seem to be waiting for us to make the first move."
Orson grimaced. "Yeah, that's the tricky part. I was hoping they'd be useful in taking down the boss so we could just swoop in at the end."
The four NPCs eyed Blank suspiciously, clearly expecting her to lead the charge.
This was no ordinary MMO. In Infinite Dimensions, NPCs were practically indistinguishable from real people. They had distinct personalities, behaviors, and levels of intelligence that made them feel like genuine characters, not mindless automatons.
"Let's go for it," Orson said. "I'll take the two warriors; you handle the healer and the mage. We don't need to kill them, just keep them occupied."
"What if we take too long? Someone else might swoop in and grab the boss," Blank countered.
"Let them try. They won't outlast me," Orson replied with a grin.
Blank was convinced. Without a word, she darted forward and, with a swift motion, drove her dagger into the healer's side.
Critical Hit -736!
Bleed -120!
Bleed -120!
…
"True damage bleed?"
Orson's eyes widened as he watched Blank's dagger hit an artery, causing the healer NPC to bleed profusely, with not one but four instances of true damage ticking away.
The earth mage beside the healer retaliated with a stone spike, but Blank sidestepped and landed another slash across the healer's throat. True damage bleed was a rare rogue passive that typically required a critical strike on a vital point to trigger.
More impressively, Blank's bleed effect appeared to scale, increasing with each successive hit. There was no question in Orson's mind now: she must have a Divine-tier soul seal enhancing her damage over time.
Orson could already envision how a rogue like Blank could dominate one-on-one duels. With a bit of prep time, she could stack enough bleed effects on a training dummy to make any opponent drop dead in seconds during a PvP match.
"What are you waiting for? Attack!" Blank snarled.
Snapping out of it, Orson forced a chuckle. "Sorry, your moves were mesmerizing. I was… distracted."
He said it as he turned tail and sprinted in the opposite direction.
"You jerk! Trying to leave me here and take the boss for yourself?" Blank cursed.
"Patience, dear. I'm, uh… getting into position!" Orson replied, realizing how his words sounded only after he'd said them.
"Position? Three hundred meters away? Who are you kidding?" Blank shouted back, realizing she had no choice but to handle the NPCs herself.
With the four NPCs now flagged as hostile, their health bars were visible. The heavily armored Luka had an imposing 300,000 HP, while even the frailest mage had 100,000 HP.
"Betrayers of the lord will perish!" Luka roared, charging forward with his sword drawn.
Blank sprang into the air, her movement as precise as a dancer's, landing a pinpoint strike at Luka's nape. Another critical hit—her damage was off the charts!
"What in the world… Is this even rogue gameplay?" Orson thought, watching in awe. Blank wasn't using any special skills, yet she was pulling off moves that would be impossible for most players. It could only mean one thing: she could perform these moves in real life too.
Infinite Dimensions synchronized the player's physical abilities and skills with their neural input, which meant that players were limited by their real-world capabilities as well. A player who couldn't swim in real life, for instance, would also need a skill to swim in the game.
"Could she be… a martial artist?" Orson wondered, recalling the ancient martial artists who had fought on the front lines during the apocalypse in his previous life. Many of these masters came from influential clans, possessing fighting techniques that ordinary people couldn't even dream of. Without their resistance on the US front lines, guilds like Dragon's Kiss wouldn't have been able to flaunt their strength in the rear.
But even for Blank, four against one was a losing battle. The two warrior NPCs were especially problematic; with high attack and defense, they were a rogue's worst nightmare. Without a clean hit on a weak spot, they could counter her attacks easily.
With a dull thud, one of the warriors struck her with the flat of his blade, sending her flying and leaving her at critical HP.
As she stumbled back, rage flared in Blank's eyes as she glared in Orson's direction, vowing to hunt him down and kill him a hundred—no, a thousand times for this betrayal!
But before she could voice her frustration, Blank looked up, stunned. A brilliant light streaked across the night sky.
"A… meteor?" she whispered in disbelief.
No, it was something much more terrifying.
Big Daddy had arrived.
With a thunderous roar, an enormous fiery serpent descended from above, weaving through the air before crashing directly into the NPCs.
-830!
-830!
-1600!
The Touch of the Flame Serpent scorched everything in its path. The NPCs, shocked by the sudden assault, scattered, each one set ablaze.
"Orson, what the—how did you—?!" Blank stammered.
"Never underestimate the power of distance," Orson called out, stepping from the shadows. His face was a picture of smug satisfaction.
Orson continued casting, the flames raging wildly as he let out one laugh after another.