Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The soldier’s body disintegrated into fine specks and vanished, and in that moment, a series of three notifications sounded all at once—
System Notification: You have slain Qingmu Town – Regular Soldier (Level Five). For this high level mob kill, experience rewarded has been increased by 400%. You have received 40 points of experience.
System Notification: You have successfully slain the target for Story Event – The Hidden Traitor (1/3).
System Notification: Congratulations, you are the first player to achieve an NPC kill. The system will now broadcast this announcement to the entire realm. Does the player wish to remain anonymous?
“I choose to remain anonymous!”
Ye Kong didn’t even have to stop and think about it. He made his decision right away.
Announcing his name to the world?
You must be kidding!
It was important to remember that Ye Kong was playing the role of a “traitor” in Qingmu Town. If his name was announced by the system, all the players in the town would know he had killed an NPC inside Qingmu Town…
How would he be able to complete the story event quest if that happened?
Hence, it would be the first time all the players of the Yggdmillennia Server heard such an “exotic” announcement—
System Announcement: Congratulations to an Anonymous Player for achieving the first NPC kill. The player has received a system reward!
…….
Yggdmillennia – Lunar Empire
Bright Sun Mountains
A handsome, dignified young man stood at the mouth of a canyon-like opening, as though he were waiting for something…
If Ye Kong were there, he would surely have recognized who this man was.
This was because the man was his “old friend”— the Guild Leader of the Ethereal Mirage Guild, coldwind!
coldwind stood stock-still, as though he were a wooden mannequin. His expression was composed and somewhat cold.
He was like a deity examining the mortal realm.
Suddenly, there was a chain of notification sounds in his ear—
System Announcement: Congratulations to an Anonymous Player for achieving the first NPC kill. The player has received a system reward!
“The first NPC kill?!”
coldwind couldn’t maintain his composure. The icy expression he wore cracked, and it was replaced by a look of astonishment.
“That’s impossible!”
coldwind shook his head. “The first NPC kill should only happen during the ‘Stygian Night Invasion’ story event. The ‘Stygian Night Event’ occurs in every location at a slightly different time—the first location should be the Gorse Federation’s Pingxi Town! Next should be the Starry Duchy’s Qingmu Town!”
The “Stygian Night Invasion” was an important story event that occurred throughout the entire Yggdmillennia Server region.
Because the Stygian Night Kingdom infiltrated the region through many different locations, the time the event started in one area would be different from when it started in the next. The time difference between the earliest and latest starting time of the event was close to half hour.
“Pingxi Town has the earliest invasion time, but roughly a quarter of an hour has passed since the start of the game. Even in Pingxi Town, the ‘Stygian Night Invasion’ story event should only start 20 minutes later!
“Who on earth was it? Who stole away the first NPC kill…”
coldwind’s eyes grew serious. A moment later, he whipped out his Friends List and scrolled down to a certain name—
“redleafhunter, cease your operations at once!”
“Guild Leader, sir, we’ve already made it through about 70% of the quest. We’ll soon be able to…”
“You heard the system announcement too. Someone got ahead of us and snatched away the reward for the first NPC kill. There’s no point in you continuing the quest.”
As he said this, coldwind took a deep breath, and his eyes flashed with determination.
“The situation has changed. Abandon your positions at Pingxi Town at once. We shouldn’t be spending so much of our resources on completing the NPC kill when there’s no longer any system reward!”
“Yes sir!” redleafhunter replied succinctly, then hung up the call straight away. It seemed that he was going to organize the men.
The functions available for social interaction in “Demon Realm” were extremely powerful. Through the Friends List, players could not only send messages, but also participate in video calls. It was more convenient than modern-day smartphones in the real world.
“I can’t believe our plans were interrupted…”
coldwind raised his head to look into the distance, and softly muttered to himself. “Star Palace Guild? Soul Temple Guild? Or maybe Glory Guild?”
The names that coldwind listed were the names of the strongest top-class guilds in the Yggdmillennia Server, both in the present and in the foreseeable future. Each guild was backed by large real-world financial groups or tycoons!
This group of top-class guilds (including the Ethereal Mirage Guild) represented the most powerful forces in the GMT +8 time zone, whether in the game world or in the real world!
“I don’t know who made the move to snatch the NPC first skill reward… hehe, but this person is making some big moves!”
Clearly, coldwind was under the assumption that his competitors (other top-class guilds) were to blame for this incident.
“Even so, I still have other plans prepared.”
coldwind looked up in front of him, and a moment later, he saw a shadowy figure appear in the valley before him. At the same time, a large pack of serpentine mobs was chasing the figure!
“Guild Leader, I’m pulling all of the ‘Venomous Fire Snakes’ in the valley to your position!” the shadowy figure yelled out to coldwind. This person was one of coldwind’s underlings, and his character class was a Ranger. With its fast movement speed and ability to attack from a distance, this class was the most suited for “pulling mobs.”
After all, the other Dexterity-type Professions—the Assassin and the Swordsman—were melee classes, which weren’t as efficient as ranged classes in “pulling mobs.” The Magician and Sorcerer were the other classes that specialized in ranged attacks, but they were Intelligence-type Professions with very slow movement speeds, so pulling mobs with them wasn’t as safe as it was with rangers.
It’s important to know that the Venomous Fire Snake was a level three mob. If a huge pack of them was coming for you, even a level two Sentinel couldn’t hold them off. Only the Ranger was the most suited for pulling them!
“Very good work!”
coldwind opened up his system menu and loudly relayed his orders to the members in the “Magician Team” group chat (players would create group chats and invite their friends in order to send out instructions).
“Attack!”
At once, from the cliffs on both sides of the valley, the Magicians who were ready and waiting started conjuring all kinds of magical orbs. One by one, they hurled them down into the valley!
Boom boom boom!!!
The large volley of magical orbs smashed into the mobs. In a surprising show of coordination, as though the Magicians had practiced this before, each area was hit by roughly the same amount of orbs, and all the mobs in the valley were left with slivers of health!
“I guess it’s my turn now…”
coldwind drew out a long blade, which shimmered with a special brilliance. It was the Weapon Specialist’s Innate Skill, Soul Weapon!
Swish!
coldwind rushed headlong into the valley, and came head-to-head with the large pack of Venomous Fire Snakes, which were on the brink of death.
He did this alone, not in a party—
He…
He was going to take all the experience from this huge wave for himself!
…….
At the same time…
Gorse Federation, Clock Town
“An actual ‘NPC First Kill’! Who’s the guy who accomplished such a thing?!”
The Guild Leader of the Glory Guild, heavensglory, was stunned into inaction. “Could it be starbringer? Or maybe the guy from the Ethereal Mirage Guild? It’s only been around 15 minutes since the game started, and he’s already killed an NPC—
“Tsk tsk tsk. That’s a really bold move!”
Potter Federation, Great Blue Lake.
“Someone completed the First NPC Kill?!” starbringer almost dropped the potion in his hand, and felt a wave of inner turmoil in his heart. “Who was the one who did it? He actually managed to kill an NPC before the ‘Stygian Night Invasion’? Hmph, he’s really kept this ace hidden!
“heavensglory, soulspear… No, maybe it was coldwind. I’ve really underestimated you guys!”
Ishtar Federation, Tark Desert.
When soulspear heard the sound of the system announcement, he paused mid-strike in his attack against a “Sand Lizard.” Then, he tightened his grip on the long spear in his hand and resumed his piercing attack—
Swish swish swish!!!
The frequency of his attacks increased to such an extent that the core guild members around him could faintly detect from his spear techniques… a hint of anxiety!
Starry Duchy, Yanan Town.
“First NPC Kill?!”
rosegardencat stopped what she was doing, looked up at the sun hanging in the sky, and sighed. “The game has only been going on for 15 minutes, and someone has gotten the first NPC Kill. This is too much. Is this the true strength of the ‘1st Test Players’?
“Ethereal Mirage Guild, Soul Temple Guild, Glory Guild…
“As I thought, there’s too large of a gap between me and them. I can only watch them from a distance—
As she dwelled on these thoughts, rosegardencat pursed her red lips, an almost pained expression at the corners of her mouth.
“Just like watching the ‘sun’ high up in the sky.”
Nearby, a large crowd of regular players was in an uproar—
“WTF, you can even kill NPCs in ‘Demon Realm’?!”
“That’s unbelievable. It honestly never occurred to me that you can hurt NPCs. I think I want to go and try this…”
“No no no, don’t you value your life? Haven’t you seen that all the guards in the city are level five mobs?”
The player who wanted to “try this” quickly dismissed the idea out of fright. He thought this was all some kind of joke. A mob with level five strength wasn’t something even the current top-class players could take on!
During this time, the regular players were still reeling from the shock of finding out that players could kill NPCs. However, none of them realized that even the most experienced game testers in the test player groups—guild leaders of the large guilds—and real top-class players…
None of them knew how horrified this group of professionals were when they heard the news!
From their point of view, the repercussions of this “First NPC Kill” overshadowed all of the previous system announcements!
……
Qingmu Town – a certain small alleyway
System Notification: Congratulations, you have received the system announcement reward – the Emblem of Potential.
Immediately after the announcement concluded, Ye Kong received the system reward. Right away, he looked into his bag to check out the new piece of equipment he had received:
Emblem of Potential (Artifact – Unique)
Equipment Attributes: Sense +3
Special Effect – Essence Recovery: Time taken to regenerate Soul Essence is reduced by 10% (Unique Effect)
“This equipment attribute?!”
Ye Kong was shocked, and he almost shouted in excitement!
He had actually received an Artifact equipment that provided “Sense” and “Essence Recovery”!!!