Warcraft: When NPCs Have Player Panels

When the upgraded golden light disappeared, William felt all the fatigue and soreness in his body disappear.

He blinked instinctively, completely stunned.

The Tirisfal Glades had always seemed shrouded in a gray mist to him. Everything looked unreal, as if seen through a veil.

But at this moment, the fog was completely blown away. The decaying leaves on the ground, the cracks in the tree trunks, and everything else were within reach.

All of this was caused by the system that appeared in my body.

The system changed everything.

He raised his hand to look at his palm, which was covered with tiny scars and calluses. As a new recruit in his early twenties, he was still quite inexperienced. However, he was quite tall, with a neat gray-white ponytail tied behind his head, making him look more energetic than the average person.

In the distance, the monks and shamans whispered among themselves.

"Look, he's spacing out again."

"Shh, keep your voice down. Maybe it just got upgraded and the AI ​​can't handle it? Is it currently upgrading?"

"Ah, this is great. This feels like a real world now. The authorities are finally making good use of AI."

William checked the invisible panel in front of him. His rank had been promoted from Common to Rare, and his attack, defense, and health stats had all increased significantly. A new 'Backpack' button, which had never appeared before, had also appeared below the panel and was flashing slightly.

"William? Are you alright?" The little shaman grinned, clutching the things he'd picked up, his face beaming. "You leveled up! How does it feel?"

The monk approached, a satisfied look on his face as he held the green leather armor he'd scavenged from the maggot's eye. He looked William up and down, his curiosity growing: "To be honest, I haven't quite recovered yet. Logically, you're a Scarlet Crusade NP... soldier, you should be hostile towards us outsiders. Because, in terms of faction, we're enemies."

"But you not only came to our rescue, you also blocked the sneak attack... Thank you."

Faced with this praise that wasn't a question, William scratched his head, his gray ponytail swaying back and forth, a shy smile on his face.

He didn't know how to explain it; sometimes, he would just do something on a whim.

"I...I just felt that you weren't bad people." William's voice was low but sincere. "The strangers from before either killed me or ignored me. Only you smiled at me, gave me weapons, and fought alongside me."

Little Sa's heart softened, and she gently patted his arm: "Okay! Then we're friends from now on!?"

"By the way! Can you add me as a friend?" The little shaman looked at William curiously. "Add me as a friend so we can play together."

William carefully scrolled through his system, only to find that the option wasn't there. He shook his head in disappointment.

He knew that by adding him as a friend, the stranger could use the power bestowed by the gods to instantly connect two people who were not on the same continent or even in the same plane.

"Okay... so what are you going to do next? Are you going back?" the monk asked curiously. "What do you do all day?"

"Me...on patrol?" William paused, shook his head, and looked completely bewildered. "I used to go on patrol, but now, I don't know."

Yes, he didn't know what to do.

As per usual practice, this new Scarlet Crusade recruit had to return to camp daily to report to his captain before receiving new patrol assignments...

...

Oops!

William suddenly remembered that he hadn't gone home last night, and because of Taylor, he hadn't been able to report to the captain this morning!

What should I do...?

Will the captain come looking for me?

Is there anyone to take over my patrol duties?

If I go back, will the captain punish me?

For a moment, countless questions popped into William's mind, but they all gradually subsided, leaving only one answer.

He remembered the rare elite gnoll he had just killed; its body parts were still in his backpack. Suddenly, an idea came to him, and he stopped panicking.

The monk noticed his panic and smiled, saying, "It's nothing, we don't have anything else to do. We just came to Tirisfal to grind and level up. It's just that this forest is so much bigger than before, even we veteran players can't find any monsters."

"However, if you want to go on patrol, we can help you."

The little shaman's eyes lit up at the monk's words. She quickly moved closer to William, her eyes sparkling, and suggested, "Yes! We can help you! Do you have a mission?"

Um... William scratched his head. If it were possible, he'd like to have a big yellow exclamation mark on his forehead, like the stranger had described, so the stranger wouldn't kill him. Unfortunately, he didn't have one, and since he didn't, he couldn't issue a mission.

William helplessly shrugged, a gesture so lifelike that it surprised the two men.

"I'm sorry, I can't."

"William, William! You're a local, you must know where the gnolls are, right? How about you help us grind monsters and level up? We won't let you do it for nothing, we'll share the loot with you!"

William felt a slight stirring in his heart as he looked at the expectant eyes of the two men.

He had nothing to do, but he craved the feeling of being needed. But just now he remembered his identity—he was a member of the Scarlet Crusade! His primary responsibility was to eliminate the Scourge's influence in Tirisfal Glades.

As for patrolling, it's just a small part of this larger objective.

If these strangers need help, then helping them deal with the Scourge's minions is fulfilling their duty as Scarlet Crusaders.

That way, the captain won't punish him for leaving the team without permission...

The more he thought about it, the more he realized it made sense...

That's great! How come I never thought of that before?

William pondered for a moment, then slowly nodded: "Alright, I'll help you."

"Great!" the little shaman exclaimed, conjuring a dozen sheets of linen out of thin air and shoving them at William. "Look, here you go! This is what I just picked up. It's all yours!"

"Holy crap! Thank you! Thank you! You've worked so hard, William! With you leading the way, we'll definitely level up faster. Same as always! Same division of labor: you tank the damage, I'll deal damage, and the shaman will handle healing and buffs. Efficiency will be at its maximum."

William held the rough linen, feeling a warmth in his heart. A sense of affirmation and acceptance made him nod vigorously.

"Follow me. There's a mass grave ahead where everyone from Milltown is buried. I heard from other patrol squads that there are a lot of rotten-skinned gnolls there. The route is easy to navigate and you're less likely to be ambushed."

With William, the native, as his guide, the stranger's monster-hunting speed increased dramatically. He had roamed Tirisfal for countless years and knew exactly where the monster lairs were, where the gnolls were, and where the terrain was suitable for combat.

All three are versatile characters, capable of dealing damage, tanking, healing, and outputting damage, and their teamwork is becoming increasingly seamless. With just a good weapon, they can suppress these AI-enhanced monsters of the same level.

"Great! Tonight, I'm going to level up to 12 and change maps!"

"One piece at a time! We'll level up in Silverpine Forest then!"

The great war began.

"William, there's another one on the left!" the monk shouted as he kicked away the gnoll in front of him.

William shifted his stance, raising his shield to parry the axe blow from behind. Simultaneously, he twisted his wrist, slamming his single-handed hammer into the gnoll's face. With a muffled thud, the monster collapsed, turning into gray mist.

At this moment, a faint surge of energy flowed into his body, and the experience bar on the system panel flickered slightly.

He paused for a moment, then looked down and saw a small piece of linen and a rusty dagger lying on the ground. He hesitated before picking them up.

A system notification immediately rang in his mind: [Obtained 1 linen cloth and 1 inferior short knife, which can be stored in the backpack].

William had a sudden thought. He opened his backpack interface, which had empty slots. He tried putting something in, and the next second, the item disappeared from his hand and appeared clearly in the backpack slot.

"Huh? William, you can pick things up too?" The little shaman noticed his movements and asked in surprise.

William nodded and pointed to the virtual panel in front of him: "After killing the maggots, I can pick up the monster drops, and I'll get an extra backpack. Also, killing them will give me a little experience, but it's very little, and we'll have to split it among the three of us."

"Could the system have secretly upgraded online again?" the monk muttered to himself, then stepped forward and patted William with a smile: "That's a good thing! Your current rank is rare. Back when you were in the normal rank, you couldn't pick up items, and you didn't get experience from killing monsters. You could only level up by killing elites or completing quests. Now you're almost like us outsiders, except you don't have system quest guidance."

William nodded, seemingly understanding, but since they had experience, they had to take it seriously.

As the monster-hunting progressed, the monk was surprised to find that William's efficiency was increasing. He was familiar with the attack patterns of each gnoll, and his parries, counterattacks, and dodges were executed flawlessly. He could even withstand attacks from three or four monsters on his own.

William is fundamentally different from these players. NPCs seem to have these skills ingrained in their instincts, and this efficient learning rate secretly surprised the monk.

William kept an eye on the stats while fighting monsters. He noticed that the experience dropped by ordinary Rotten Skin Gnolls was extremely low; after splitting the experience among the three of them, the experience bar only increased slightly with each kill. They also never dropped Soulfire like Maggot Eyes.

His one-handed hammer swing became more and more skillful, and his backpack accumulated more and more linen and cheap weapons. He didn't know what these things were for, but he carefully kept them—he wanted to take them back to show the captain and the others.

Otherwise, deserters... William knew the consequences.

William, along with the monks and shamans, spent the entire night in this mass grave killing Scourge minions, unaware that the sun in the game had risen high into the sky.

As the last gnoll fell and vanished, William sheathed his one-handed hammer, his smile impossible to hide. His experience bar was nearly halfway to level 9, and his inventory was full.

When I get back, I'll be able to give an explanation to the captain.

The monk leaned against a tree trunk, wiping his sweat and swaying slightly. "Finally, it's dawn. I killed more monsters tonight than I did in a whole day before. William, you were amazing! I... I'm okay, I can still... grind..."

Just then, the monk's body suddenly emitted a white light, and his figure gradually became transparent, turning into tiny bubbles like a jackal that had been killed.

"Alright, it's time." The little shaman rubbed his sore arms, a satisfied smile on his face. "William, how about we find you to grind monsters again next time we log on? We'll take you somewhere else; there are stronger monsters and better equipment there!"

"Okay, I'll wait for you here." William nodded vigorously; he was already used to this. Because outsiders weren't Azerothians, they would be forcibly removed if they stayed in Azeroth for too long.

They have their own world, and they always need to return to their own world to rest.

Not all strangers are bad people.