Warcraft: When NPCs Have Player Panels

The main street of the Scarlet Crusade New City was bustling with people, the sounds of hawkers' cries, footsteps, and horses' hooves mingling together, making it several times more lively than usual.

William, clad in dark red armor, stood in the middle of the street corner, his battle robe fluttering gently in the wind.

Since his promotion, William has become accustomed to being the center of attention.

But today is different.

He was surrounded almost entirely by strangers.

They were marked by their brightly colored gear—some wore cloaks but only underwear underneath. Some were clearly dwarfs yet carried greatswords. Others appeared to be normal elves, dressed as hunters, but their hands were constantly fidgeting with themselves...

These people who can't even tell the genders are behaving terribly.

These strangers are always like this... Yesterday, several groups of strangers stormed into the cathedral's secret chamber and beheaded Lord Durand and the Grand Attorney, who were meditating there.

The resurrected Commander Durand and the High Inquisitor were furious, and orders had already been issued from the secret realm. Any outsider who deliberately caused trouble in the city or intentionally attacked members of the Crusade could be executed in the street without trial.

"It really is William himself!"

"I traveled back and forth between different dimensions for several days to finally find this place. It wasn't easy!"

"Hello, hello, I really like you, can I take a picture with you?"

The strangers crowded around William, chattering amongst themselves, and the soldiers quickly stepped forward to push them away.

Unlike the other indigenous people who coldly avoided him, William waved to them with a smile on his face.

"Hello, strangers."

His voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.

The surroundings were quiet for a moment, then erupted into an even greater commotion.

"He responded to me! He really spoke to me!"

"It's not a repeating machine! It's not a pre-programmed script!"

"Quick, quick, keep the recording on, don't miss a single line!"

Looking at the excited faces before him, William felt a surge of warmth in his heart. In fact, it wasn't just him; almost all the indigenous people enjoyed talking to strangers.

The strangers, carrying the air of distant lands, spoke words that were incomprehensible yet intriguing to the locals, telling stories of the outside world. Even in just a few casual words, they had the opportunity to boast to the locals that they were friends with the strangers and knew the secrets of their world.

But most of the indigenous people had long since lost their affection for outsiders.

These outsiders are too driven by self-interest.

They deliberately approached and struck up conversations, all for the rewards they mentioned, such as quests, equipment, hidden storylines, and so on. Once they realized they couldn't get anything out of the natives, they immediately turned and left.

Over time, the indigenous people also learned to respond indifferently.

You want a mission, but I won't give it to you.

You want to talk, but I'm ignoring you.

You want stories, but I won't listen.

If we absolutely must get to know each other?

That's easy, just give gifts to increase our favorability... that way, we'll be good friends.

But William is different.

He never expected the stranger to bring any benefits; he simply...liked the feeling of being treated seriously.

Therefore, he was willing to say a few more words to this group of strangers who were clearly well-intentioned.

"Did you come from a very far place?" William asked softly.

"Yes, yes, we came all the way from Stormwind!"

"I gave up running dungeons just to find you!"

"William, where do you usually patrol? We can come and visit you more often."

William nodded slightly, about to reply, when his expression suddenly darkened.

At the end of the street, a group of strangers with a chilling aura rushed towards them.

There were about a dozen of them, dressed in uniform dark-colored gear, and they walked quickly.

The first few people had already placed their hands on their sword hilts.

The bustling streets around them seemed completely out of place.

William frowned slightly.

His intuition told him that the visitor was up to no good.

The next second, the other party confirmed his premonition with their actions.

"Get out of here, all of you!"

The leader of the strangers shouted in a harsh, grating voice.

"We've booked the whole place!"

Before anyone could react, he suddenly drew his longsword from his waist and slashed straight at a professional player in plain clothes who was closest to William.

The player was completely caught off guard by the sudden attack. He cried out in surprise and hurriedly retreated, but was still struck in the shoulder by the longsword, causing his health to drop by a large amount.

"Holy crap! What are you doing?!"

"Are they crazy? Making a move in the main city?!"

The attacked player was both shocked and furious, and immediately retaliated.

However, the other side was prepared. A dozen players instantly scattered, forming an encirclement, and swords flashed and shadows danced on the spot.

Flames, frost, arrows, shadows—all sorts of skill lights flew wildly through the streets.

In just a few seconds, the once bustling and peaceful street corner was transformed into a battlefield.

William's pupils contracted slightly.

He understood it instantly.

This group of strangers who suddenly barged in wanted to monopolize the channels of communication with him.

They wouldn't allow other strangers to approach them or speak to them. For this purpose, they wouldn't hesitate to draw their knives in the bustling city and attack other strangers.

This was the first time William had witnessed strangers fighting amongst themselves right before his eyes.

The sounds of skills colliding, explosions, roars, screams, and items hitting the ground mingled together, and chaos spread instantly.

The local people who had set up stalls around the area turned pale with fright, clutching their children and desperately trying to back away. The surrounding stalls were overturned, and fruits, cloth, and pottery jars were scattered all over the ground.

An old merchant, unable to dodge in time, was struck by the aftershock of the magic, screamed, and fell to the ground, immediately falling silent.

A surge of anger rose in William's heart. This kind of person who didn't treat himself as a human being and didn't treat other people's lives properly reminded him of those who had killed him casually in the past.

"Stop it, all of you!"

William shouted and instinctively took a step forward.

According to the rules of the Crimson City, grudges between strangers are not their concern.

But this is the city center, the area he's responsible for patrolling. Fighting within the city limits, disturbing civilians, and disrupting order has crossed the line.

Moreover, the fighting has already affected innocent civilians.

He was a patrolling soldier; it was his duty.

William took a deep breath and ordered his recruits to disperse the crowd of civilians. He walked among the strangers and said in a deep voice, "Stop fighting immediately! No fighting here!"

The strangers who were fighting each other paid him no attention.

In their eyes, no matter how special William is, he's just a game NPC. Would you obey an NPC's demands and not stop fighting with the other players attacking you?

Besides, based on the data we had before, William was only level nine. He couldn't even withstand a single hit from a player who was over level forty.

"Get out of my way!" A spellcaster from out of town irritably flung his hand, casually hurling an ice arrow at William. He didn't intend to kill William, he just wanted to force him away.

A chilling aura instantly enveloped William.

William's heart tightened, and he instinctively raised his shield to block, subconsciously using the techniques he had learned in the secret realm to deal with this attack.

A hazy white light enveloped the Scarlet Crusade's emblem shield. The next second, when the frost arrow, trailing a white flame, struck the shield, it inexplicably swung its head back and reflected back the way it came.

"Spell reflection?!"

What happened?

The stranger who was taking action was also dumbfounded.

"Huh? Isn't he only level nine? How can he cast spells?" The foreigner who was casting the spell was stunned to take a hit from his own ice arrow, frowning. "Is it a bug?"

He refused to believe it and raised his hand to launch another arcane missile.

"Jump! Jump! Jump! Jump!"

This time, a bright light enveloped the shield, and four missiles with multicolored lights were launched in succession, striking the magical shield that the stranger had cast on himself.

The fighting around them stopped for a moment.

Everyone stared at William, their eyes filled with disbelief.

Suppressing his shock, William took a step forward without hesitation, seizing the moment when the other party was distracted: "I'll say it again, stop the fighting immediately, or I will send you to jail for disturbing the peace of the city."

"Prison?" The leading stranger sneered as if he'd heard a joke. "You think you can take it?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he picked up his longsword and charged straight at William.

Hmph, he doesn't care about awakened or unawakened NPCs. I'm here to play a game, and if you can't let me have fun, I don't care what you say. If he dies, he deserves it!

A phantom of rolling holy light appeared on the longsword, emitting a blazing glow. The longsword in the stranger's hand emitted a dazzling light.

This is the "Crusader Strike".

William's eyes narrowed. Instead of retreating, he advanced, sharply raising his shield to meet the longsword. At the same time, the sharp point of the shield's tail slammed into the stranger's armpit.

clang--

A deafening metallic clang.

He steadily blocked the full-force attack from the stranger, whose level was displayed as 45.

The stranger's arm suddenly went numb, his longsword almost slipped from his hand, and the contempt on his face froze instantly.

"Impossible..." he muttered to himself.

William did not give him a chance to continue thinking.

The shield suddenly exerted its force and thrust forward.

boom!

The stranger was so forcefully pushed that he staggered backward, lost his balance, and fell to the ground with a thud.

The entire room fell silent.

Just then, a dark figure sprinted along the ground at breakneck speed, rushing towards them as if flying.

William instinctively raised his one-handed sword. Just as the shadowy figure was about to collide with him, the figure braked suddenly and hurled two daggers glowing green at William. As the figure expertly rolled backward, preparing to escape, William's sword also landed in the shadowy figure's path.

The shadowy figure was instantly pierced through by the one-handed sword and pinned to the ground. The leather armor was like paper, torn apart with a single stab.

From the perspective of the surrounding strangers, the shadowy figure who launched the sneak attack was practically pinned to the ground by William, like playing whack-a-mole. He instantly transformed into light and shadow, vanishing into thin air.

As for the poisoned dagger he threw, William dodged it by tilting his head.

...

All the strangers stopped what they were doing and stared blankly at William, who stood in the center of the battlefield.

A level 9 NPC, capable of instantly killing a level 45 player?

What kind of outrageous setting is this?

"His stats are visible!" a stranger exclaimed in surprise. "Holy crap! How is he level 40?!"

William himself was somewhat surprised to hear the stranger's exclamation.

He could feel an unprecedented power surging within him, full of explosive force.

He subconsciously looked down and found that he could open his attribute panel.

At first glance, William's breath caught in his throat.

Name: William

Faction: Scarlet Crusade (Sergeant)

Race: human

Level: 40 (Faction bonus +30. Your training in the Scarlet Crusade greatly increases the faction's power over you.)

Rank: Elite (Faction Bonus +1. Your training in the secret realm has granted you the support of your faction's power.)

Occupation: Warrior

Reputation: Scarlet Crusade (Revered)

Faith: Holy Light

Power: 180

Stamina: 220

Agility: 90

Intelligence: 60

Spirit: 110

Health: 4400

Rage value: 100

Equipment: Crusader Sergeant Armor (Set - Green), Sergeant's Robe, Scarlet Crusade Shield (Green), Military One-Handed Sword (Green)

skill:

Shield Block (MAX)

Shield Bash (MAX)

Shield Slam (MAX)

Charge (MAX)

Lethal Strike (MAX) (In melee combat, a stab or slash to a vital point causes fatal bleeding and triggers an instant death effect.)

...

William recalled the battle; the one-handed sword he had thrown had indeed pierced the shadowy figure's back and exited through his chest. It was indeed a fatal blow.

……

The faction buff... silently and without warning, leveled me up to forty. All my attributes increased more than tenfold.

No wonder the captain warned me to be cautious about the opportunity to venture into the secret realm. No wonder strangers like to run 'dungeons'; it turns out they really do gain experience and level up.

But, in this secret realm, I'm only training my martial arts... Is it because I'm different from the strangers, that I can improve myself simply through hard training? Do I not need to kill those monsters?

Moreover, the "Fatal Strike" has been completely transformed into the "Deadly Strike".

...

William clenched his fist slightly.

No wonder he didn't feel any of those attacks earlier.

"You... damn it! The official team is cheating!" The leader of the foreigners, who had fallen to the ground, was furious. "This is so unfair!"

"When you killed us ordinary people before, did you ever think about fairness?" William raised his eyes, his gaze calmly sweeping over all the foreigners present who had participated in the attack. No one answered his question; they didn't know how to respond to it.

"This is my final warning." His voice was low, but firm. "Private fighting within the city, affecting civilians, violates the laws of our Crusaders. Now, lay down your weapons and come with me to the town hall to truthfully confess your crimes."

"otherwise--"

William's foot stomped on the ground, and the stone slab trembled slightly.

...

How could a player from out of town possibly accept William's request?

The leader of the players gave a signal, and immediately one of the strangers threw a smoke bomb on the ground, instantly filling the scene with thick, pungent smoke.

When the smoke and smell dissipated, the troublemaking strangers had long since disappeared from the city.