I Became the Blacksmith NPC

There were many ways to build a dungeon. If speed was the only concern, throwing something together in 22 hours would be more than doable — assuming there was no review process, of course. Liu Kongkong had no idea what the review criteria were, but since it was written into the rules and the rewards were so generous, something too simple almost certainly wouldn't pass.

"It's a death trap, plain and simple." Warrior class trainer Ding Dazhuang came home after the meeting and poured himself a drink. "Who knows what that kid was thinking, taking on a job like that."

"Someone had to do it. Were you and I going to go instead?" Assassin class trainer Ning Wei smiled. "Besides, it's better for those friends of his that he went. If it had been you or me, they'd probably be stuck grinding in there for half a month."

Nobody knew who had set the rules this way, but the "Void Space" dungeon seemed designed from the very beginning to ensure no NPC could complete its construction within the allotted time. Once an NPC's lifespan points were fully depleted inside, they would remain there permanently, replacing the Void Lord as the dungeon's fixed boss. And since Liu Kongkong was a blacksmith — even with the dungeon's stat boost — he would obviously be a far easier boss for players to deal with.

"That old man made such a grand show of promising all those rewards, but you've got to be alive to collect them. Sly old fox." Ding Dazhuang grumbled bitterly.

"Old fox or young fox, it's got nothing to do with us. If you feel bad about it, once everything settles tomorrow, we can build him a cenotaph and burn some incense — that's about as much as we can do." Ning Wei drained his cup in one go, clapped Ding Dazhuang on the shoulder, and told him to get his head straight. "People sometimes have to be a little selfish. Don't worry too much about other people's lives and deaths."

With that, he turned and left, leaving Ding Dazhuang standing there with a wry smile.

The night passed. Eight o'clock the next morning.

"Holy shit, the new dungeon opens today. I spent all night putting a party together, and now they're telling me the blacksmith shop isn't open?" A player who had arrived early at the blacksmith shop found a "Temporarily Closed" sign blocking the door.

Night's Gentle Chill and Big Dumb Duck were also complaining. They had spent the whole night grinding the Path of Samsara to gain some levels, and had come hoping to see if the blacksmith had any new powerful weapons in stock.

"Did the blacksmith oversleep or something?"

"He's an NPC — how could he possibly oversleep?!"

Ye Weinuan was furious too. She had spent all night grinding the Path of Samsara and still had a few mystery boxes left to open. It felt exactly like buying a lottery ticket only to find the shop had vanished.

"Let's wait a bit longer. Maybe the blacksmith shop is getting a big update?"

Night's Gentle Chill laughed and tried to comfort her, but it clearly wasn't working.

The five Bear brothers stood off to the side, fanning the flames — joining Ye Weinuan in cursing the blacksmith for being unreliable — which left Night's Gentle Chill completely baffled.

"Guild Leader Night, your girlfriend seems like a lot of work. I bet she gives you grief all the time. Honestly, I think us guys are simpler — we don't overthink things." No. 4 Bear murmured from the side.

Why was this guy being so catty?!

Night's Gentle Chill instinctively sidestepped a couple of paces. These guys had been weird ever since they joined his team, especially No. 4 Bear — he was like a fly you just couldn't shoo away!

After another ten minutes with no sign of the blacksmith shop opening, everyone dispersed. Those who still had their quest weapons went back to leveling; those who had lost theirs went looking for other quests in the village that gave weapons, or tried to buy one from other players. In an instant, players with spare weapons in the Starter Village were asking sky-high prices — but with the new dungeon opening today, nobody wanted to fall behind, so they all paid up.

The one suffering most was Lonely as a Song. Liu Kongkong had given him another quest just before closing up yesterday, and now he had a whole backpack full of materials he couldn't hand in. Still, he felt a flicker of excitement. Every other NPC in the village was up and running normally, yet the blacksmith shop was shut tight. What did that mean? It meant Master Liu was a special existence! All his efforts to build a good relationship with Liu Kongkong — he had bet on the right horse!

Three hours later, the blacksmith shop was still closed. Some curious players logged off and went to check the forums for information about NPCs closing their shops. What they found was surprising — similar situations were happening in other Starter Villages too.

"In my Starter Village No. 0241, the Warrior class trainer disappeared for a whole day — almost exactly 24 hours. Did someone trigger a bug? Though if there was a problem, shouldn't they take the servers down for maintenance? Something feels off."

"Same here. I'm in Starter Village No. 1021. But ours isn't the Warrior class trainer — it's the general goods merchant. Still hasn't opened. Some of the gold-farming studio players are losing their minds; they've got a pile of materials they can't sell."

"Ha, our area is different. Except for a few essential NPCs, all the rest have been killed. Coordinates: Starter Village No. 1011. Star Expedition Corps is still recruiting…"

News like this quickly made its way back to Starter Village No. 0113. A lot of players had been complaining, but since other servers were experiencing the same thing, it was probably just a small design choice by the Hunt Heaven developers — maybe adding some lore to the NPCs, or some kind of hidden quest…

And so another five hours passed.

Word had spread that NPCs would disappear for 24 hours. Since Liu Kongkong's shop never had enough weapons to go around, many players planned to rush in the moment he reappeared and grab a batch of weapons and gear to resell. Night's Gentle Chill and Big Dumb Duck's groups were among them, listening to the players around them chat and gossip.

"Have you heard of the Star Expedition Corps?" With nothing better to do, Night's Gentle Chill struck up a conversation with Big Dumb Duck. After fighting side by side for a few days, the two had grown somewhat familiar.

Big Dumb Duck nodded. "I've heard of them. Lots of members, and the people at the top are ruthless — but not very bright." He had actually known about Starter Village No. 1011's NPC-killing spree for a while, and his assessment of that behavior came down to a single word: stupid.

Killing NPCs gave no rewards. It was purely a way to make life miserable for players who came later. According to complaints from players in Starter Village No. 1011, once an NPC was killed by a player, they never reappeared — and any quests tied to that NPC disappeared along with them.

"Hurting others without benefiting yourself, and on top of that making enemies of every player who comes after. The way things look now, there's no such thing as one person taking on hundreds or thousands in this game. Win the hearts of the people and you win the world — play like that and sooner or later you'll have everyone hunting you down."

Night's Gentle Chill gave a nod of agreement. Based on official data, Hunt Heaven had already attracted nearly two hundred million Huaxia players as of today. Once they left the Starter Village, the real competition between major guilds would begin.

"So what's your goal after you leave?" Big Dumb Duck looked at Night's Gentle Chill. Their relationship was decent right now, but what came later — nobody could say.

"I don't really have one. I didn't even want to recruit that many people in the first place. Wasn't that your doing?" Night's Gentle Chill answered with a smile, though whether he meant it was hard to tell.

"I suppose that's my contribution, then." Big Dumb Duck didn't seem to mind, a flicker of some unreadable light passing through his eyes.

Compared to the two of them, the players around them were growing anxious.

Sunny Sky had reached Level 18 yesterday at around four in the afternoon. Going by the 24-hour rule, that time had clearly already passed — yet the blacksmith shop hadn't opened, and the dungeon hadn't opened either. Hunt Heaven was always strict about timing.

"It's already a minute late. I'm not letting this go without compensation!"

"Great speech. Here's 5 copper coins — now get lost."

But even by five o'clock, when the shops closed for the day, Liu Kongkong still hadn't appeared…

At that moment, a group of NPCs had gathered at the Village Chief's home, their expressions grave. The 24-hour construction window for the Void Space had already elapsed, and Liu Kongkong had yet to show up — which clearly meant he had become the dungeon's boss. But even so, there should have been a system announcement by now.

Could something have gone wrong?

Liu Kongkong disappearing was one thing, but if something unexpected happened to the "Void Space," that would be a serious problem. After all, the Starter Village was a self-contained world, and the essential item needed to travel to the Xingye Continent was hidden within that dungeon…

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