Warcraft: When NPCs Have Player Panels

"Bang!"

The oak shield slammed heavily into the priest's face, the crisp cracking sound accompanied by a -85 critical damage indicator appearing above her head. The undead priestess fell straight down again into the rotting leaves of Tirisfal Glades. A pale blue soul flame quickly rose beside her corpse, slowly creeping into William's chest.

William stood still, letting his body be surrounded by intense golden holy light. The level number on the panel quietly jumped up and down—level 6, and then jumped to level 680 in the blink of an eye.

He looked down at his slightly warm hands, and at the virtual system panel in front of him, his basic attributes had increased once again due to the upgrade.

This time, he understood why some strangers could kill him with a single arrow.

Leveling up, with the blessing of the gods, will improve various physical attributes. When physical attributes are improved, you can kill bad guys even with your bare hands.

Even with the awakened buffs still active, the increased parry chance and counterattack damage allow him to barely hold his own against these strangers whose strength is increasingly comparable to his own. However, he still needs the parrying and predictive experience he has subconsciously accumulated to find opportunities to counterattack.

If you make even the slightest mistake, you will face death.

If he were to die again, would he still be himself...? William couldn't understand. But he knew he had no room for error.

------

Squidward and Mu Defang, in their spirit form, hovered beside the corpse, their faces extremely grim, even their complaints tinged with grievance.

"I give up! I'm truly defeated!" Octopus's ethereal spirit flickered, his voice filled with despair. "What kind of monster is this? I'm a level 9 warrior, and you're a level 9 priest. The two of us were fighting a level 6 monster, and we were getting completely crushed?"

"What's even more infuriating is that I watched him level up from level 1 to level 6! He was consuming all the experience points I dropped!!!!"

Squidward was so angry he almost cried.

Mu was so angry he stomped his feet. The female stranger's soul form kicked wildly through the decaying leaves. "Who knows! I put on a shield and activated my healing, and then he charged at me, shattering the shield instantly. Shield Bash followed by a fatal blow, and I didn't even have a chance to heal! This damage is completely inconsistent with his level! The developers definitely secretly changed the stats!"

"Secretly changed my ass!" Squidward roared. "I just checked his stats. Level 6, Strength 18, Stamina 16, so he should only have 280 HP. I could easily take half his HP with a single hit. But what happened? I hit him ten times, eight were blocked, two missed, and his counterattack took away 8-10 HP from me. Is that reasonable? I'm a level 9 warrior with a two-handed greatsword; my normal attack should deal 35 damage!"

"Huh? Where did this thing go? I can't find it. Did it leave?"

The two were arguing when they realized the NPC was gone.

"I'll go check it out first. If they've left, we'll run too. We've already recorded a video anyway. Later, I'll log off and post it on the forum, asking the official team what's going on! How can there be such a perverted NPC in the newbie area?!"

As soon as Squidward's resurrection cooldown was over, he couldn't wait to revive. He had just staggered to his feet and hadn't even had time to knead bread to recover health when William's figure rushed over, his charge skill leaving a dazzling silver trail, and the oak shield slammed hard into his chest.

"Holy crap! Not again?!" Squidward was terrified, frantically raising his greatsword to block, but only heard a crisp clang, the greatsword tingling slightly from the impact. William's short blade pierced his throat, -18 damage appearing on the screen, Squidward's health dropping by nearly a third. Staggering backward, he hadn't taken more than a few steps when William's shield bash followed, -22 damage appearing on his back, and Squidward finally collapsed.

Just as Mu Defang revived, he saw Squidward lying flat again, and angrily cursed, "Squidward?! Neil Dorron?! Can't you even last two seconds? What's the rush?!"

"Fuck my ass! He predicted my moves!" Squidward's phantom wailed. "I just wanted to create some distance and counter-charge. He was already right in front of me! This isn't an NPC, this is a player using cheats!"

Just then, William's body shone with golden light once again, and his level steadily rose to level 7.

On the attribute panel, Strength, Stamina, and Agility each increased by 2 points, and Health increased to 300 points. Base damage increased to 14-17, and Shield Block value increased by 5 points. The already maxed-out Shield Bash and Block skills have seen a further increase in damage and blocking efficiency.

William rubbed his wrists to loosen them up. The increased strength gave him a feeling of power he had never experienced before. His stamina made his weapon easier to handle, and his agility gave him more ideas about the attack route he had just taken.

Yes! This is the blessing of the gods.

As long as we keep doing this, we'll never have to die again.

------

"We're doomed! He's leveled up again!" Mu Defang stared at the holy light emanating from William, his voice trembling. "If this keeps up, we'll both be killed down to level 5, or even lower! Octopus Bro, let's not fight him head-on, and let's not worry about losing face, let's call for help!"

When Squidward called the priest, he knew he was no match for William. But even with the priest there, they were still no match for each other.

Forget it, since I've already lost my face, I might as well not go all the way.

This whole thing is definitely not normal!

So I opened the general chat and asked for help: "I'm being camped by a level 7 Scarlet Monastery recruit at coordinates XXX in Tirisfal Glades! Are there any experienced players nearby who can lend a hand? Urgent! Waiting online!"

The general channel responded quickly, with the first one to pop up being a familiar ID—Fifty Stalkers.

Fifty rogues: "??? Bro, are you kidding me? You were a level 5 camping your corpse just now, and now you're a level 7 Scarlet Monastery recruit camping it? What are your levels?"

Squidward: "I'm an 8th-level warrior, and my teammate is a 9th-level priest. This guy is really weird; his damage is high, and his block rate is outrageous. The two of us can't beat him!"

Immediately after, another thief, 'Steal Your Backpack Without Question,' jumped out: 'Hahaha, I can't laugh anymore! An 8-level warrior and a 9-level priest, being camped by a 7-level mob? Are you two just bad at the game? I'm doing quests near Brill, so I'll just drop by and check it out.'

Fifty rogues: "What a coincidence, I'm nearby too. Let's go check it out. Two rogues can't even handle a level 7 mob?"

There was much discussion on the general channel, with most people believing that they were just creating a show for entertainment purposes.

...

Octopus and Shepherd quickly replied, "Thanks, boss! Come on, join the team! We're by the lake near Scarlet Monastery, hurry, he's killing us like crazy!"

Less than two minutes later, fifty dwarf rogues and undead rogues rushed over to steal your backpack without a second thought. When they saw the corpse on the ground, they couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Stealing your backpack without hesitation, he crouched down and poked Squidward's corpse, his tone mocking: "Hey bro, are you two kidding me? A level 7 Bloodstained recruit, and you can keep getting pinned down and killed? Haven't played in decades? Your hands are like this?"

"It's not that we're inexperienced!" Squidward exclaimed, jumping up and down in frustration. "His block rate is almost 100%, his attacks simply don't hit. The priest's shield is like paper in front of him, and he can even predict his movements!"

"Keep bragging!" The fifty rogues rolled their eyes, their tone dismissive. "A level 7 NPC has a maximum block rate of 30%. You guys are just weaklings, making excuses for not being able to beat them!"

"No questions asked, I'll steal your backpack!" He stood up and patted the shoulders of fifty stalkers: "Stop talking nonsense, let's go meet him and show them what a thief can do."

William had already spotted the two foreign thieves, but they didn't attack. Instead, they pointed and whispered among themselves. William didn't pay them any mind and continued to circle around, waiting for them to resurrect.

But as the two stealthily approached him, William instantly placed his shield in front of him, assuming a defensive stance.

The two thieves began to stealthily approach William, agreeing to attack from both sides. When they were a meter apart, the thief, eager to steal William's backpack, launched the ambush first, but William suddenly turned around and blocked with his oak shield, with a large "Block" sign floating above his head.

"What?!" William's face was full of disbelief as he stole his backpack. Before he could react, William's shield bash slammed down, dealing -25 damage. The level 8 player staggered back, losing nearly a tenth of his health.

On the other side, fifty rogues rushed over to backstab him, but William deftly dodged to the side. The oak shield shoved him back, and the broken blade dealt -16 damage, leaving the level 8 gnome rogue with a small chunk of health.

"Holy crap! That reaction speed?!" Fifty rogues tried to run away and ambush, but William charged and caught up with them. He used Shield Bash followed by Heroic Strike, dealing -26 and -19 damage in quick succession. His health was depleted and he fell to the ground.

He was terrified when William charged at him, stealing his backpack without hesitation. He turned and ran, but William caught up with him with another charge! The broken blade pierced his back, triggering a fatal blow. The -32 damage brought him to the ground instantly.

"Holy crap! Level 7 and he already has double charge! What kind of monster is this?!"

In a mere ten seconds, the two thieves were slain, their soul flames engulfing William's chest. Completely stunned in their spiritual states, Squidward and Mu Defang couldn't help but exclaim, "What did I tell you? This guy is just weird!"

The fifty stealth fighters snapped out of their daze, their faces filled with shock: "Impossible! I've never been detected by NPCs while stealthily moving; this is clearly AI cheating!"

"Damn it, his block rate is outrageous! Even with his Broken Blade counterattack, he can take 16-25 damage from me. My level 8 leather armor isn't bad, I can't fight him at all!"

"Weren't you two supposed to be really good?" Mu Defa laughed gleefully. "Now you believe we're not pushovers, right?"

Fifty stalkers were unconvinced: "We were careless just now and didn't dodge. This time we'll definitely succeed." Stealing your backpack without hesitation also nodded in agreement. The two revived, went into stealth mode, ran far away, sat down and kneaded bread to recover health, preparing for another battle.

This time they were much more cautious, stealing your backpack without hesitation and sneaking around to the rear, with fifty rogues drawing aggro from the front. But William still easily parried the attacks of all fifty rogues, his shield bash dealing -27 damage.

He'd steal your backpack without hesitation and then backstab you. But in his vision, the blood-red recruit seemed to have eyes in the back of his head; he swung his shield backward, twisted his body, and blocked the backstab. He completely broke down: "Is this guy even human? Can he block attacks from two people at the same time?"

William turned and slammed his shield down, dealing -26 damage. Then, he followed up with a series of stabs with his broken blade, dealing -15, -18, and -21 damage in quick succession. At this point, the thief who had dropped to level 7 fell to the ground without hesitation.

The fifty rogues, who had also dropped to level 7, chose to confront William head-on this time! They used Shadowstrike to fight him head-on. However, to his dismay, he activated the Slice skill, which increased his attack speed by 25%, and it was precisely this action that led to the Blood Recruits behind him unleashing a frenzied barrage of attacks!

Parry, dodge, miss, parry...

-22, -30, -26, 15...

After several missed attacks, the Blood Recruit's Windfury Strike was triggered, and a single combo felled fifty rogues to the ground, dead.

...

The air seemed to freeze for a moment, with only the rustling of the surrounding trees.

The respawn point was not far away. The four souls looked at each other, wanting to say something but unable to speak.

Squidward was completely numb: "What did I tell you? You guys are no match for him. We've been killed more than ten times, and we've even dropped a level. Give up."

Undeterred, the two continued to revive and fight, resulting in a cycle of death for all four. William steadily rose to level 8, while Octopus, Mu Defang, and the two thieves all dropped to level 7. William's attack power stabilized at 16-22 points, which was just enough to counter players with low defense in leather and cloth armor.

When he was knocked down for the eighth time after being robbed of his backpack without any hesitation, he completely broke down: "I can't take it anymore! What the hell is this game?! If he's not human, I'll fucking kill him!"

The fifty rogues were also exhausted: "Damn it, I've never felt so frustrated in all my years of playing World of Warcraft! We're being killed repeatedly by level 7 mobs, without any chance to fight back. This game is unplayable!"

Squidward and Mu had no choice but to give up: "Let's admit defeat, leave now, and never mess with him again!"

Just then, a cold system notification suddenly rang out, interrupting the four people's despair.

[System Notification]: Attention all players, due to optimization and upgrades to Elune's super-intelligent AI, the game will undergo temporary server maintenance, which is expected to last 4 hours. The server will be unavailable during maintenance; please log off in time to avoid data loss. Maintenance may end earlier or later; please pay attention to subsequent system notifications.

The system notification sound repeated three times, and the screens of the four players gradually blurred, with a pop-up message saying "Please log off in time".

Squidward was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed: "Holy crap! Maintenance downtime? I'm saved! I'm finally saved!"

Mu Defang jumped up excitedly, "Great! Finally, I don't have to be killed by him anymore. I was going crazy if we kept fighting like this!"

The fifty rogues breathed a sigh of relief, their voices filled with relief: "My god, this maintenance came just in time! If we had continued fighting, I would have uninstalled the game. I never want to see those mobs again!"

He sighed helplessly, "If anyone asks me to fight this mob again, I wouldn't come even for 100 gold!"

"Did you record it all? Go offline and post this on the forum later, let them see it. Get an official explanation! What exactly happened?!"

"good!"

"must!"

The four figures gradually became blurry and eventually disappeared into the jungle.

The lakeside in Tirisfal Glades returned to silence, and William stood still, his level remaining at 8.

He waited in the same spot for a while longer, but no one came back to life.

Not long after, when he saw that the corpses on the ground had all disappeared, he suddenly realized something.

That is, these strangers may very well have returned to the nearest main city cathedral and been resurrected.

He had seen strangers contact their unknown friends in front of him more than once before. They possessed godlike abilities, capable of transmitting messages over vast distances.

Those two strangers who came later must have been the ones they called, right?

Will killing them like this attract more people? Will it make me more dangerous?

this....

Thinking about this, William felt a little confused again. What should he do?