Chapter 66: NPC Ranks
"First Place: Aurelius Sol. Suspected Rank: Epic."
"Second Place: Assira. Suspected Rank: Rare."
"Third Place: Sauron. Suspected Rank: Rare."
"Fourth Place: Cassidra. Suspected Rank: Rare."
"Fifth Place: ..."
"Eighth Place: Anna. Suspected Rank: Rare."
"..."
The list went on for a while, totaling more than twenty members.
But Aurelius failed to recognize any of them after the first few.
Surprisingly, Professor Anna had been included, having been briefly mentioned in World_Builder’s latest post.
As for the other names, they were the Protagonists who had appeared during the game’s first trailer.
Aside from the list itself, there was also an additional comment.
"In fact, I originally wanted to place Aurelius as a Rare rank NPC."
"However, it’s been confirmed that he is different from ordinary NPCs. The chances of being Rare or Epic are fifty-fifty."
It was obvious the author had put genuine thought into this list.
They had studied a lot before creating it, and it had not been an impulsive comment.
Unfortunately, it failed to attract any attention.
Aurelius might well have been the only one who read it.
Regardless of its popularity, however, he was able to gain a lot.
Above all, he learned something new.
NPC ranks!
This was a term that made perfect sense in hindsight, but Aurelius had never encountered it before.
He recalled his own Templates.
[Template: NPC (Common), Player]
In the past, he couldn’t understand what the word inside the parentheses meant.
Now, he finally did.
Aurelius felt somewhat embarrassed.
Seeing himself ranked first, he couldn’t help feeling a little proud.
It was natural.
After all, he had been the central point of the forum for the past few days, from the trailer’s release to the posts themselves.
Yet... he was merely a Common NPC.
The gap between reality and the Players’ opinion nearly made him choke.
At the same time, though, it made him excited for the future.
Everything suggested he might be able to upgrade his rank, just like everything else in the panel.
What kind of changes would an upgrade bring?
Would it directly increase his strength?
Or could it help him play the role of an NPC better?
It took several seconds for Aurelius to organize his thoughts.
After engraving the name "ListRanker" in his memories and noting that he should look for this Player’s posts in the future, Aurelius finally closed the forum.
Glancing toward the hanging clock, he realized he had spent quite some time immersed in doomscrolling.
’No! This is intelligence gathering! I’m collecting information for my future!’ he tried to convince himself as he rose from the bed and sat on the nearby chair.
Facing his desk, he focused on the System Inventory and retrieved the corpse of a monster from inside.
The moment it landed before him, a white glow emerged from his palms and slowly transformed it into a crimson liquid.
Moonlight Potion!
After quite a while, Aurelius had decided to refine this Potion again.
It was not for himself.
Moonlight Potion was only effective for Rank 1 Awakeners.
Aurelius was refining it for the Players.
’Before, every Player I met lacked EXP. They had neither the time to complete Missions nor the power to hunt monsters. Trading with them was impossible.’
’Only once they have accumulated enough EXP can I truly benefit from their existence.’
In a matter of hours, Aurelius had already slightly adjusted his plans.
The NPC Template played an even greater role than he originally thought.
By using it, he could issue Missions to the Players, rewarding them with ample Experience.
Then he could take it back through trading.
’The Moonlight Potion is the perfect item for this.’
’Given the Players’ nature, there’s no way they’ll be able to refuse if it’s presented correctly,’ Aurelius thought, smiling to himself while imagining the Players’ excitement.
--
Time slowly passed.
The Players who had received the Beta invitation—and were fortunate to survive till now—continued their exploration of the game and its mechanics.
Soon, most of them made a decision: to farm EXP, waiting till they obtained a Class and were able to Level Up.
Unfortunately, no one had succeeded in the latter.
Even so, this didn’t diminish the Players’ enthusiasm at all.
World_Builder stumbled out of the Ernst Academy. His body twitched with every step.
Compared to just a few hours ago, he was completely different.
His face was filled with exhaustion while countless tiny wounds riddled his body.
A large portion of his hair had been burned away, making it seem as though he was balding.
Running his fingers across his scorched scalp with tears, and looking at his steadily decreasing health, World_Builder was full of complaints.
He looked one step away from a complete mental breakdown.
Yet the instant he stepped out of the Academy and discovered a familiar figure not far away, all signs of exhaustion disappeared.
His figure rushed forward, almost rolling over due to his plump figure.
He frantically waved his hands.
"Aurelius! Aurelius! I succeeded!"
His overly enthusiastic voice made Aurelius flinch. But when he turned to look at him, a look of realization flashed across his face.
His second meeting with World_Builder had not been an accident. He had been searching for this man all over the city.
After failing to find him for so long, Aurelius almost believed he had logged off.
It was only now he understood why he had gone missing.
’Did Professor Anna ask him to participate in her experiments?’ Aurelius concluded, glancing at the faint black mist lingering around his body.
Inwardly, he praised his luck for having survived Anna’s torture unscathed. Had he been any less capable, he might have needed to start wearing a hat.
’But this is good...’
’This fatty must have accumulated a lot of Experience...’ Aurelius thought as he stepped aside to dodge World_Builder’s charging figure.
The latter didn’t mind.
Gasping for breath, he rubbed his hands with excitement.
"Brother Aurelius, I completed your mission! I don’t know if you have anything else you need help with? If so, you can always trust me," World_Builder patted his chest, as though declaring himself Aurelius’ loyal little brother.
At ordinary times, such blatant flattery would have made Aurelius turn around and leave.
But now, his eyes lit up. This was exactly the opportunity he had been waiting for!