I Became the Blacksmith NPC

Two days later.

Liu Kongkong stared blankly ahead, his hands moving on autopilot. With a resounding clang, four brand-new staves appeared in his backpack. He mechanically listed them in the shop, then turned back and resumed hammering.

Over the past two days, he had lost count of how many pieces of equipment he had crafted. Since he figured he could level up his own skills in the process, he hadn't handed things off to the shop manager. His blacksmith level had already reached 12, with level 13 just one step away. He had put both skill points into [Time Is Money], yet supply still couldn't keep up with demand.

He had made good money, though — 82 gold deposited over the past two days, with today's exchange rate sitting at 1:0.5. He had already withdrawn over 400,000 yuan, and staring at the cold, hard 1.2 million sitting in his bank account gave him the motivation to keep on hammering.

He had miscalculated on one batch of materials. Based on how these players were fighting, Liu Kongkong had expected everyone's levels to take a nosedive, so he had prepared a batch of level-1 equipment in advance. That prediction turned out to be completely wrong.

It seemed like these groups were constantly rotating fresh players in? Even after two days of fighting, the players coming into the blacksmith shop were still all between levels 8 and 12. He had also spotted Night's Gentle Chill and Big Dumb Duck twice, though both of them looked haggard. These two days had been exhausting for them — as the two faction leaders, they couldn't log off to rest even when everyone else could.

As if to confirm Liu Kongkong's suspicions, on this very day, the level-10 boss Iron-Toothed Wild Boar was slain by a party of five players — IDs Liu Kongkong recognized as belonging to Big Dumb Duck's crew.

Everyone was busy. Everyone except Lonely as a Song.

This guy came to Liu Kongkong every day to pick up quests, gathering all kinds of wood, stone, and iron ore. He would periodically return to give Liu Kongkong updates on the situation outside. And just moments ago, Lonely as a Song had hit level 17.

He wasn't the highest-level player in Starter Village No. 0113, though. Even with the fighting going on outside, not everyone was interested in joining the chaos — some players had their own fixed parties and were still grinding dungeons to level up.

How did Liu Kongkong know? The attribute points told him.

He casually allocated his attribute points.

Name: Liu Dameng

Class: Apprentice Blacksmith (Level 12)

HP: 1861/1861

Mana: 421/421

Strength: 43

Constitution: 187

Agility: 43

Intelligence: 43

Spirit: 43

Available Points: 0

His HP still hadn't broken 2,000, and as players grew more familiar with the dungeon, fewer and fewer were dying in the Path of Samsara. If he wanted more attribute points, it seemed like opening a new dungeon was the only way. So over the past two days he had been furiously feeding EXP to Lonely as a Song. He had taken a break to log off and check the forums, where someone had already posted a guide: once any player in a Starter Village reached level 18, a 30-player dungeon would unlock!

Who would build this dungeon — would it be created by someone, or was it something Hunt Heaven's developers had already prepared? Liu Kongkong wasn't sure. Based on the guide, it seemed like there was only one 30-player dungeon, yet there were so many villagers in the village.

Still, it was something to look forward to. If NPCs were still responsible for building it, then once Lonely as a Song hit level 18 and triggered the unlock, he would at least be a trailblazer of sorts — even if he had only been issuing simple quests, that still counted for something, right?

"Master Liu, I'm back to turn in my quest again." Lonely as a Song arrived in his usual cheerful mood. He had been gathering every day for the past two days, and Liu Kongkong — using increased favorability as the excuse — had added 1 silver coin to the reward column to keep him motivated. True to form, Lonely as a Song was perfectly happy with the arrangement.

"Oh, by the way, Master Liu — I just passed by the Ten-Eyed Spider's area, and it looks like they're almost done with it." Lonely as a Song had gotten into the habit of sharing outside news every time he returned. "They seem to be discussing something right now."

Hearing this, Liu Kongkong frowned. After fighting tooth and nail for two or three days and then suddenly sitting down to talk things out, there was really only one explanation: one side had backed down. If it was Night's Gentle Chill's group that had conceded, that would be fine. But if the free players had caved, then Starter Village No. 0113 would likely end up under the thumb of Night's Gentle Chill and Big Dumb Duck.

That was not good news for him. Once the majority of the village's players were consolidated under one banner, bored players would start doing bored-player things — like messing with NPCs.

No good. He needed to get that dungeon open fast and give them something to do!

Liu Kongkong opened the quest interface, ready to give Lonely as a Song something big — but the very next second, a system announcement rang out.

"Player [Sunny Sky] has become the first to reach [LV.18], earning the special title: Pioneer, 10 attribute points, and a reward of 1 gold coin."

"As a player in Starter Village No. 0113 has reached Level 18, the 30-player dungeon 'Void Space' will open in one day."

Here it comes!

Liu Kongkong immediately pulled back the quest he had been about to give Lonely as a Song. Now that someone else had triggered it, there was no need to rush his leveling anymore.

He waited a good while, but no system message came his way.

"Does this 30-player dungeon not need an NPC to build it?" Liu Kongkong felt a pang of disappointment.

Night's Gentle Chill and the others were in the middle of negotiations when the announcement hit, and their brows furrowed. The fighting over the past few days had slowed their leveling considerably — they had planned to wrap up the conflict today and then grind levels like crazy. But someone had already hit level 18.

What concerned them even more was the level-18 dungeon. They had known about the new dungeon from the forums — Night's Gentle Chill had been checking them even more frequently than Liu Kongkong. That was why he had been rotating his members in shifts during the fighting, making sure no one fell too far behind in levels. He had even specifically told 60 of his members to skip the fighting entirely and focus on leveling — but those 60, having been held back at the start, were only at level 17 now.

Big Dumb Duck had made similar preparations. Hearing that the dungeon would open in one day, he felt a surge of urgency and called out loudly: "Brothers and sisters of Starter Village No. 0113 — after these past few days of sparring and getting to know each other, I think most of us have gotten it out of our systems. We're all in the same Starter Village, which makes us practically neighbors. Why don't we call it here? Dragging out our leveling isn't good for anyone!"

In truth, by the time he said this, the number of free players still standing in front of him had already dwindled. Some of the spectators had drifted away, the loot-hunters had lost interest once they realized the later drops were all garbage gear, and as for the fighters — a good portion had already been privately messaged and recruited by Night's Gentle Chill and Big Dumb Duck, leaving only the last stubborn holdouts still going at it.

After he finished speaking, Big Dumb Duck could clearly sense that many of the free players were wavering. After all, the new dungeon was about to open, and everyone present was far from the required level.

Seeing an opening, Night's Gentle Chill fanned the flames.

"Everyone, first of all, I want to apologize. The problems of the past few days were a management failure on my part and Duck Boss's part. Going forward, we'll strictly manage our guild members and make sure nothing like this happens again. Second, as a gesture of goodwill, Duck Boss and I are willing to step aside and let the free players have the Ten-Eyed Spider!"

After days of fighting, cooler heads had prevailed. Was the level-5 boss still worth anything? Of course — the attribute point rewards were precious. But if this situation wasn't resolved, they might be able to walk away today, only to get stabbed in the back later.

As for the level-10 boss first-kill, Big Dumb Duck had already given Night's Gentle Chill a heads-up, indicating he was willing to let them have the level-15 boss. Whether Night's Gentle Chill could actually claim it, of course, was up to his own ability.

"You and I both know that the two dominant forces in Starter Village No. 0113 right now are you and me. Our numbers are basically stable. There's no need for us to fight to the death over this. We've got dungeons for leveling now, and more dungeons coming at level 18 — equipment won't be in short supply. The gear that drops from bosses is only really useful inside the Starter Village anyway, and how much longer are we going to be here?"

Night's Gentle Chill was persuaded. Big Dumb Duck was right. Competing for boss kills and gear in the early game to show off and attract recruits made sense — but they were already past level 10, and both of them were well-known figures in this Starter Village. The only real benefit of boss first-kills at this point was the attribute points.

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