Chapter 4
A woman was fighting ten horned rabbits.
A low-level hunter. Her nickname was Otokke.
Her viewers affectionately called her O-tto.
She was desperately fending off the horned rabbits' attacks with nothing but a shield.
The reason she'd ended up in danger was a mission she'd received on today's broadcast.
She'd thought she'd gotten an easy mission to gather herbs and coast through it, but...
Some idiot had herded ten horned rabbits into the herb patch.
Now she was surrounded by them, barely managing to block their attacks.
"Everyone, what should I do?!"
ㄴ It's been fun while it lasted.
ㄴ I'll never forget you.
ㄴ Is this your retirement stream?
ㄴ Ten of them? Isn't that insane? Someone gathered them just to get you killed!
ㄴ Seriously, how are you supposed to get out of that?
ㄴ Should you find another hunter nearby and send them a donation?
The horned rabbit raised its horns, then leaped at her.
ㅡ Clang!
"I'm really going to die! If I die, I'll come back as a ghost and haunt you!"
ㄴ Huge W.
ㄴ I'll be waiting.
ㄴ I'LL REMEMBER YOU!!!!
[Once a Marine]
TTTTTTTTTT
<1,000 won>
Her viewers were ordinary people, not hunters.
They were outsiders who thought even dangerous-looking things were just part of the act.
The clueless viewers cracked jokes, but O-tto was genuinely on the verge of death.
As she kept blocking the horned rabbits' attacks, the hand gripping her shield began to tremble.
She felt like one of those sharp horns was going to pierce her chest any second.
Just then, a tiny figure came into view at the edge of her vision, toddling along.
ㄴ O-tto! There's an NPC over there!
ㄴ Ask it for help! It might help you!
ㄴ Cry and beg it!
"Haaahㅡ Uh... Should I?"
O-tto shouted, feeling as if she were clutching at the last straw.
"Please save meㅡ!!!!!!"
The NPC walking in the distance must have heard her, because it whipped around to look at her.
Then, as if it had assessed the situation, it swung its arms around like it was warming up and stretched.
O-tto grew desperate.
"Please hurry and help me!!! I'm begging you!!!"
At that moment.
Fireballs suddenly formed in both of the NPC's hands, and it began firing them wildly.
ㅡ Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Kyaaaahㅡ!!!"
Bright red fireballs flew around them like crazy.
For a moment, she thought the NPC was about to kill everyone, friend and foe alike.
Fortunately, it only laid waste to the area where the horned rabbits were.
It definitely seemed like an NPC. Unlike mages, it had no homing ability, but there were an absurd number of fireballs.
The fireballs poured out like machine-gun fire, with power beyond anything she could have imagined.
Before long, every horned rabbit that had been harassing her had vanished without a trace.
The chat went quiet at the overwhelming display of firepower.
One of the viewers put forward a theory.
ㄴ Whoa, it really is an NPC.
"How can you tell?"
ㄴ The horned rabbits all disappeared without leaving behind corpses or magic stones, didn't they?
"Oh!!!"
Now that they mentioned it, that was true.
There should've been corpses to harvest materials from or magic stones to pry out.
The horned rabbits had disappeared without a trace, without leaving even a handful of ash behind.
ㄴ About the level of a level-30 hunter?
ㄴ Seems like the offerings you made earlier maxed out your affinity. Huge payoff.
It seemed the chocolate conch bread and banana milk she'd offered before setting out had saved her.
'Did I really survive that?'
As she talked with the viewers, the NPC approached.
"Are you okay?"
"Thank you! You saved me! Thank you so much!!"
O-tto's tension left her, and she sank to the ground.
While she let out a relieved sigh,
the NPC took an interest in the herbs sticking out of her bag.
"What do you use those for?"
"Oh! You don't know? They're used as potion ingredients. People buy them, too."
Just then, one of the viewers sent a donation.
[High-Risk Individual]
O-tto, give the NPC all the herbs you have.
<1,000 won>
"Huh? But my mission..."
[3+2=5tto]
Isn't it obvious? The NPC's interested. You need to build up more affinity!
<1,000 won>
"Oh!!!"
[O-tto-sa-tto-sam-tto]
Can't you read the room? This is perfect content! Forget the mission and get your head in the game.
<1,000 won>
O-tto took stock of the situation.
If she built up a good relationship with this NPC, maybe something good would happen someday.
She hurriedly took the herbs from her bag and offered them to the NPC.
Fortunately, the NPC seemed pleased. It accepted the herbs with a happy expression, tucked them away, and left.
1.
A little while later, in the first-floor boss room.
"Kieeeek!"
The first-floor boss was a giant horned rabbit.
It was screaming as it burned fiercely.
The thing was the size of a bear, but after a little while, it vanished without a trace.
That's strange.
Could something that big really disappear in an instant, like a piece of paper burning up?
"This skill is weird."
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: What is?
"When I kill monsters, they should drop items, but they all disappear."
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: Isn't that only natural?
"Huh? What is?"
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: Do you think what you're using is a campfire or something?
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: She might not know! Why are you scolding her?
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: You old coot! Anyone would think she was your own granddaughter!
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: She is my granddaughter! Got a problem with that?
ㄴHeavenly Secrets Pavilion Master: Both of you, please calm down.
"Come on, don't fight."
ㄴHeavenly Secrets Pavilion Master: The Fireball Technique burns away anything it touches without leaving a trace.
"It just makes things disappear completely?"
ㄴHeavenly Secrets Pavilion Master: Its power increases in proportion to the caster's spiritual power. And you have a trash spiritual root, don't you?
"Why does that matter?"
ㄴHeavenly Secrets Pavilion Master: Your spiritual power is far greater than that of others at the same realm, so naturally your spells are much more powerful.
"But I need to pick up the drops and make money. If this keeps up, I'm going to stay broke forever."
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: Wait a moment. I'll send you a defensive magical artifact right now.
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: If you raise the child like that, won't the child be unable to protect themself when they're actually in danger?
ㄴHeavenly Secrets Pavilion Master: That's right. That child is now a proper fellow Daoist of ours. We should make a fair trade.
"Then... should I sell this, at least?"
I took out the herbs I'd received as a gift earlier.
Jade-Cold Ice Empress reacted at the speed of light.
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: Where did you get that?
"Huh?"
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: That spirit herb! I asked where you got it!
"The woman I rescued earlier gave it to me as a gift."
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: No... There's no way that could grow in the Lower Realm.
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: What is it that has you so surprised?
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: That is... Well... It's an ingredient needed to make our sect's spirit medicine.
"Was it really that valuable?"
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: No need to drag this out. I'll buy all of it.
"Huh? This? It's just a low-level monster drop."
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: L-low-level? I don't know what that means, but I'll buy all of it anyway.
I wasn't too fond of that idea.
I needed money, and all they offered was spirit stones or whatever. What was I supposed to do with those?
Then Blood River Patriarch, who'd been quiet until now, chimed in.
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: Kid, I'll buy it from you.
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: You! Do you even know what that is before offering to buy it?
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: No idea. But if the proud Ice Empress is panting over it, it must be incredibly valuable.
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: It's an ingredient used in spirit medicine for immortals! Besides, without knowing the formula, this spirit herb is completely useless!
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: That's not my problem. I'll buy it all up and sell it for a fortune, won't I?
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: Heh heh, as expected of a demonic sect leader.
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: Don't act like you're any different, old man. The people staying quiet now are going to start sticking their heads in later, aren't they?
Everyone fell silent.
Had he hit the nail on the head?
It really did seem like everyone wanted it.
Even so, Jade-Cold Ice Empress earnestly tried to persuade the others.
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: That is called Anhon Grass. It's merely a spirit herb that nourishes yin energy! It must never be used in spirit medicine for cultivators! For my sake...
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: Then I'll feed it to my furnace cauldron.
"What's a furnace cauldron?"
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: Tsk, tsk. Child, you're too young to know about that.
ㄴTaebaek Sword Lord: You'll understand naturally when you grow up, so don't worry about it.
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: Child! Please, sell it to me!
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: No, kid! Sell it to me!
At this rate, it felt like the chat was about to explode.
I should probably settle things quickly.
"Please don't fight. I'll just give you each one."
As it happened, I had six herbs from that hunter named O-tto.
Items I'd obtained by deliberately pretending to be an NPC.
I'd originally planned to go outside and sell them.
This could've been my chance to buy beef.
No, no! I shouldn't get sidetracked!
There were six of them, so would one each be just right?
Still, I became a hunter thanks to these people. I should give them something in return.
"I'll give one to each of you here, so please don't fight."
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: Oh, yeah? Then there's one left over, so sell that last one to me.
"No. This one belongs to the Five Azure Demon King, who was the first to donate."
ㄴTaehyun Zhenren: Heh heh heh. This child is my disciple, but how can the child be so kindhearted?
ㄴTaebaek Sword Lord: Indeed. That's a rare trait among cultivators.
ㄴJade-Cold Ice Empress: That's right. The child is truly kind at heart.
ㄴBlood River Patriarch: Tsk. You'll get stabbed in the back one day if you keep that up.
ㄴHeavenly Secrets Pavilion Master: I think this spirit herb is worth researching.
"Then how should I send them to you?"
ㄴHeavenly Secrets Pavilion Master: Go to the Heavenly Dao Network, enter a name, and request a trade.
Following Heavenly Secrets Pavilion Master's instructions, I went to the place that looked like a secondhand marketplace.
It said Heavenly Dao Network.
'This is exactly like the mail system in an online game.'
And so, I sent each of them one of the six herbs.
The message read...
[Enjoy!]
When I pressed the send button, the herbs disappeared.
2.
Nebula, one of the top hunter guilds in the country.
The guild was led by Yoo Se-ah, an S-rank mage hunter.
There were a few male guild members, but perhaps because of the guild leader's gender, the guild was overwhelmingly made up of women.
In the guild lounge, two members squealed as they watched a tablet screen.
"Aahㅡ Look at that little kid toddling around and using magic. Isn't that adorable?"
"That's scary, though. Look at how many fireballs they're firing. Judging by firepower alone, they seem way stronger than us."
"Well, if you hit them by mistake, they'll hit back."
"Yeah. If a newbie doesn't know what they're doing and hits them, they'll burn up without a bone left, right?"
Just then, Yoo Se-ah, the guild leader, stopped as she passed through the lounge while reading some documents.
"What are you all watching so intently?"
"Oh, Guild Leader! This video showed up in our recommendations. An NPC from the first floor of the tower appeared out in the field."
"An NPC?"
Yoo Se-ah tilted her head.
Since she was already tackling the upper floors, the first-floor field was of no interest to her.
'An NPC on the first floor...'
NPCs did sometimes pop up unexpectedly inside the tower.
But usually, they either got swept up by monsters and killed, or were only needed to trigger a specific event.
"People in the community are arguing over whether it's a real person or not. Some say it's a hunter playing a character! Others say it's a real NPC! What do you think, Guild Leader?"
The guild members held the tablet out to her.
On the screen, a tiny child was firing a barrage of fireballs with little hands like ferns.
ㅡ Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Yoo Se-ah watched the little figure on the screen carefully as it cast its magic.
Then she came to a conclusion as if it were nothing special.
"It's an NPC."
"Huh? Really? Not a person?"
"It's firing off magic that recklessly, but there's no recoil at all."
Yoo Se-ah pointed to the child's stance on the screen with a slender white finger.
"If that were a person, the casting process would inevitably leave them momentarily rigid."
"Oh!"
"And if it fired that many in a row, the impact would push it back. It can fire them with no delay because it's an NPC."
"That's true!"
"As expected of an S-rank's analytical skills! It doesn't get pushed back at all after firing."
The two guild members nodded, impressed by Yoo Se-ah's explanation.
"Still, it's pretty unusual to see something with such a high level disparity in the first-floor plains. You normally don't see those in low-level areas."
Yoo Se-ah murmured with interest, and the guild member holding the tablet added something.
"But apparently, this NPC has disappeared from the first floor now."
"Disappeared?"
"Yeah. People are saying it hasn't been seen in the safety zone for days, and it's vanished from the field, too."
Yoo Se-ah furrowed her brow.
"A stationary NPC disappearing of its own accord? That's an unusual pattern."
On the screen, a tiny figure fired a barrage of fireballs.
'Cute for an NPC.'
Yoo Se-ah felt just a little intrigued.