Warcraft: When NPCs Have Player Panels

When the dust settled, only the stranger who had spoken to William at the beginning remained in the scene. And beside the deceased old merchant, an old woman appeared out of nowhere, embracing him and weeping.

When the world is blessed by the gods, the bodies of the slain civilians will no longer turn into light and slowly disappear as they did in the past.

The world is becoming more and more real in the eyes of strangers.

The old woman's crying made the players around her feel somewhat uncomfortable.

If they truly consider this place as a world, then they are not much different from murderers. This old man died indirectly because of them, because they were gradually integrating into this world without realizing it.

William sighed, his gaze falling on the stranger who had begun to speak with him. His voice tinged with barely concealed resentment, he asked, "Are all you strangers like this? You say you want to be my friend, but then you send people to kill me?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the surroundings fell silent instantly, followed by the stranger's urgent explanation.

"No! Don't misunderstand!" A player dressed in a mage's robe quickly pushed forward, his voice urgent. "That bastard is a scoundrel! Not all of us outsiders are like that!"

"We never intended to hurt you!" another player shouted angrily, pointing to the spot where the assassin's body had disappeared. "In our world, there are many such wicked people. They just love to destroy all beautiful things."

"His actions do not represent me at all! I cannot be held responsible for what he did."

"William, trust us. The vast majority of strangers are kind; it's just that a few have been blinded by greed!"

The strangers offered various explanations. But the assassination attempt remained like a thorn in his heart, one he couldn't shake off.

It's true that he enjoys being close to strangers, but that doesn't mean he enjoys being killed by strangers as he has in the past.

At this moment, a group of elite guards, fully armed and dressed in dark red armor, with blood-red cloaks behind them and carrying large shields and steel spears, finally arrived at the scene.

The equipment of these individuals constantly radiated arcane light, instantly attracting the attention of all the outsiders. This was a newly formed Spellbreaker squad by the Scarlet Crusade's high command to address the recurring disturbances caused by outsiders in the main city.

William's scan revealed that these individuals were generally over level 65. All their equipment was enchanted by an archmage, providing high magic resistance. They were a team specifically tasked with dealing with outcast professionals.

William had witnessed their methods elsewhere; they were incredibly efficient. They could quickly break any spellcaster's magic, interrupting their spellcasting. They used anti-magic chains to control offenders, ultimately imprisoning them to await trial.

William briefed the commander of the Spellbreakers on the situation at the scene and reassured the frightened civilians and merchants... He then stood before the dead old merchant.

"I'm so sorry, I couldn't control the situation and your family lost their lives." William knelt down in front of the old woman, rummaged around on his clothes for a while, and then took out a handful of silver coins and handed them to her.

"It's not your fault, child. Elune guided us here, warning us of the risks." The old woman wiped away tears from her eyes. "It was his unfortunate fate, it has nothing to do with you. I saw it all, you did your best."

William bowed his head and offered a few words of prayer for the deceased old woman. He then forced the silver coins into the old woman's hand, stood up, and strode away.

He had to continue patrolling; there were many strangers in the city now, and he wanted to prevent more similar incidents from happening.

What he didn't know was that the entire assassination attempt had already been recorded by the players present and quickly uploaded to the Azeroth subtitle website, instantly going viral across the internet.

Xia Yige's live stream was currently packed with viewers. The screen was playing footage of William's assassination attempt and subsequent counterattack on a loop, with the chat filled with a dense barrage of heated debate.

Xia Yige sat in front of the camera, her face serious and her tone heavy: "Everyone saw it clearly. William disappeared for a month, and his level jumped directly to level 40, becoming an elite NPC. I can guarantee that this was definitely Elune's doing."

She paused, her tone growing increasingly stern: "Elune has been constantly enhancing the realism of this world and monitoring William's growth. To put it bluntly, she's increasing William's combat strength to prevent something like what happened today—to prevent certain people from harming this only NPC with awakened self-awareness for their own selfish gain!"

"Those who assassinated William, don't you have any conscience? Do you really want to destroy this world? Do you really want to go back to that mundane, whirlwind world of the past?" Xia Yige's voice was firm and resolute. "William has never wronged anyone."

"He treats civilians kindly and respects us players. He's the only NPC who actively interacts with us and even teams up with us. Do you know what that means? He's dedicated to protecting the city's order. But what about you? For a little bit of profit, you ruthlessly kill, turning this place into a playground where you can do whatever you want!"

She raised her hand, her tone softening slightly, and said in a pleading tone, "I solemnly advise all players here: if you treat Azeroth as your other world, then Azeroth will treat you as a member of that world; if you treat this place as a tool for venting, then Azeroth will treat you as trash and expel you."

"Azeroth is not a place for you to vent your frustrations from real life! Now, there is vibrant life here. Please visit with humility, respect every NPC, respect the rules, and don't act like bandits, burning, killing, and looting at will!"

Xia Yige's words instantly resonated with a large number of players.

"That's right! But how many people can actually listen to that?"

"Support Xia Yige! Now, the question is, where's Sal next?"

"Azeroth is transforming into a real world, so what about us? Shouldn't we respect everything here, instead of acting like we're God and doing whatever we want?"

At the same time, another group of players voiced their opposition, and the barrage of comments instantly split into two camps, arguing fiercely.

"Why can't I vent? I play games to relax and release the stress from real life!"

"Exactly! It's just a game, you'll lose if you take it seriously! It's just an NPC, so what if you kill it?"

"Xia Yige, stop with your moral blackmail! I can do whatever I want, it's none of your business!"

"No matter how realistic it is, it's still a game. No matter how intelligent the NPCs are, they're just a string of data. Is it really worth making such a big deal out of it?"

The two sides stuck to their own arguments and refused to back down, with some even hurling insults at each other in the live chat, causing the situation to spiral out of control at one point.

As the debate intensified and time went by, another, more intractable problem gradually emerged.

As Elune continues to update, the virtuality of Azeroth increases, and the in-game gold becomes more and more valuable.

While the official channels wouldn't offer a direct currency exchange feature, such transactions continue to occur privately despite repeated bans.

There's really no other way, because the cost of dying is too high now. Dying not only results in a loss of experience, but also causes equipment durability to decrease at an extremely high rate. Furthermore, depending on the type of combat, equipment can suffer excessive damage in certain areas.

This is especially noticeable for melee players. This is because sword and blade damage directly affects equipment, while magic damage indirectly influences the quality of armor.

To repair equipment, you either need to find an NPC blacksmith or a player who has learned the blacksmith profession (a crafting skill) to do it. However, from the very beginning, the servers for this virtual game have always had a shortage of minerals and herbs.

Many career-oriented players stay online as much as possible every day to ensure the trading of ores and herbs. This makes it difficult for ordinary players to cover equipment costs through dual gathering.

You still need to grind monsters and collect loot, or rely on daily tasks to obtain fixed rewards.

However, due to the continuous rise in gold prices, the temptation of huge profits has led more and more players to have ulterior motives.

...

Theft began to spread across Azeroth.