It was late afternoon by the time activity in the small workshop began to slow down.
Two men sat at a circular table facing each other.
"Do you really not remember anything?"
"...No, not really."
"What a mess…"
"Well, I at least know that my name is Fel Herron"
At this, the other man's solemn eyes turned expectant as he anticipatively looked at Fel.
"But that's all I remember."
It was the truth, Fel really did not know what had happened or where he was. The only thing he could do right now was to play the part of a confused amnesiac.
His name was his own, which he found unusual since he had used an alias when he played Ixam with his old account.
But even more strange was his body, or character, which proved that this was not his account.
Ixam's character creation started out with the player using their own body as the base model, which could only be altered up to 30% of the original. This basically meant that most players looked fairly similar to their real bodies.
But when Fel looked down at himself, he found that there was simply no way a 30% modification could lead to this.
Standing at about 185cm, Fel's current body had long, disheveled hair, an untrimmed beard, and a protruding stomach. His scrawny frame had remnants of muscle, but currently, he looked frail. He honestly looked like he had just gone through a midlife crisis.
He did not look even remotely similar to his old self.
Fel called up his status for the 5th time since waking up only a few minutes ago, but what he was looking for wasn't there.
The logout button.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Fell Herron - Lvl [53]
EXP [12,243 / 456,734]
< HP: [47,723 / 65,670]
< MP: [5,400 / 5,400]
< Total Defense: [12]
Class: Laborer
Subclasses: Apothocary (Intermediate) , Enhancer (Novice)
~Strength: [467]
~Agility: [234]
~Vitality: [398]
~Intelligence: [560]
~Dexterity: [1,157]
~Constitution: [46]
Status: Weakened, Severely Fatigued (All Stats decreased by 20%, Health cannot regen naturally)
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
The logout button was missing, the call feature was missing, and the option to browse the forums was not there. Along with those, a bunch of other options were also absent.
It was just a plain status, nothing more, nothing less.
Fel noticed an oddity, however.
His health was abnormally high. At level 50, A player should have at most 5,000 HP regardless of class. Only NPCs had health this high.
Only NPCs had health this high…
The thought repeated in Fel's head until a conclusion had been made.
The only possible explanation was that he had become an NPC, a permanent resident of the world of Ixam.
The NPCs of this game were a little special as they had a sense of self and true conscience.
There was no direct indicator to differentiate players from NPCs. At first glance, one would not be able to tell the two apart. There were, however, other ways of telling them apart such as advanced identification skills, but most players did not have such abilities.
Ixam's system managed all NPC as somewhat independent variables, and technically they were able to do as they pleased and go about their lives however they wanted.
The only laws the system enforced were that NPCs were not allowed to interfere with the main storyline too much
Any information about the outside world players often talked about was also forcefully blocked from the minds of NPCs, courtesy of Ixam's system.
NPC-based quests were generated in real-time and triggered when players interacted with them.
This Lead to a satisfactory gaming experience for the players as well as deepened the immersion players felt when interacting with NPCs.
All players did not see eye to eye on how to treat these highly intelligent NPCs, however. Many viewed them as just another part of the game, while some viewed them as actual people, but these players were in the minority.
Fel was previously mixed on his thoughts regarding NPCs, but now his view completely changed.
Now, it all felt so real.
The game itself didn't feel any different from real life, but now there was the real possibility of death in the game as well.
The thought made Fel feel anxious. It had just been a game before, a game where he could just respawn after death.
But not anymore.
When players died, they lost some EXP and dropped a couple of items and that was it. NPCs, however, suffered permanent deaths, only dropping their respective soul stone.
Fel shifted his position in his chair and glanced out the window next to him.
What he saw was a rustic town square.
Old fashioned houses and various shops lined the square.
Crowds of people walked in and out of view. Some stood still, chatting amongst each other while others moved with a purpose.
Horse-drawn carriages moved up and down the street, and even a few children could be seen playing in front of some of the shops.
This was not a game anymore.
Regardless of the fact that it was all just data, it was real.
The man sitting across from Fel scratched his head while looking at him.
"Uhh, well Im Gus, Gus Freid. I can give you a quick rundown of our situation here, but as we have a quota to meet I really need to get back to work. You, on the other hand, need to go rest after this."
"Thanks, that would be much appreciated, and I will."
"Where to start… First off, this country will probably go to war soon. The lord of the city commissioned a bunch of different shops to start mass-producing various supplies for the war. Here we produce different types of regenerative medicines and potions."
The man then put his hand to his forehead and sighed.
"But we will never meet our assigned quota. It's simply ridiculous! Even a large team would have trouble with the number of potions we need to make, let alone our small team."
"..."
"So for the last couple of weeks, everyone had been working themselves to the bone to meet this quota. You could see it in everyone, we were all tired and overworked. It's honestly no wonder why you collapsed."
"I overworked myself?"
The situation began to make itself a bit more clear for Fel. An NPC with the same name as him had drained himself working for the last few weeks and collapsed.
Although rare, it was possible to find an NPC with the same name as a player. The world of Ixam was massive, many times larger than that of the Earth.
Why the system put Fel in the NPC's place, he didn't know.
The game made no mistakes. There were never any errors or problems, and if there were, they were resolved instantly.
Was there some backup of his character in the game's servers?
But then why not send him into his old account but some random NPC instead?
There were still many unanswered questions, but Fel knew he would not get the answers to many of them.
If there was an error with the game, it would have been resolved a long time ago. Judging by the fact that he was still up and conscious, this was no mistake.
Right now Fel needed information about his current situation.
Gus answered affirmatively with a nod.
"Yeah, you were working probably the hardest out of anyone here. I guess that's normal for a new guy who just moved here not too long ago. Everyone wants to make a good impression at first."
"..."
"Anyway, with the amount of work you've put in, I'd suggest taking a day off. Get some rest, and we'll see what happens from there."
Subsequently, Fel asked a few more questions regarding the state of affairs in the Kingdom, whether or not he should come back the next day, and about some other miscellaneous topics.
He was currently in the city of Strenic, referred to as the "second capital" of the Efrel Kingdom.
According to Gus, the government of the Efrel Kingdom was unstable due to the internal struggle of the various noble factions, and the neighboring kingdom of Trarta had started to take advantage of the instability.
The economy was now in wartime, which meant all the businesses and shops within the kingdom had to contribute to the cause.
Apparently, it was only getting started.
Small skirmishes were taking place on the border of the two kingdoms. With an inevitable struggle ahead, both kingdoms had started to stockpile resources.
Although somewhat distressing, Fel was not concerned with this at the time.
After being reminded of where his place of residence was, Fel thanked Gus.
Gus gave a map of the city of Strenic to him and bid him farewell.
When Fel stepped outside the shop, he got a better look at the town square. Although the atmosphere seemed lively at first glance, there was tension in the air.
Fortunately, he had a few copper coins in his pocket, so he flagged down a carriage, which got him most of the way to his destination.
As he had to walk the remaining kilometer to the outskirts of the city, Fel realized how out of shape his body was. After walking for no more than 10 minutes, he was already out of breath.
Fatigue was a hidden stat that was not visible from the status window, but the more it built up, the more it affected the body.
This prevented players from always being out in the fields 24/7 as it forced them to take breaks and rest up.
'Damn this body is out of shape,' Fel cursed under his breath in between bated breaths.
After making his way up a small hill, atop it stood a modest cabin. After looking at the map he received from Gus, Fel confirmed that this was the place.
Getting to the door, he found it to be locked. Fortunately, along with the leftover copper coins in his pockets, there was also a key.
Fel opened the door, walked in, and immediately located the bedroom. His body could take no more, as he felt his fatigue through every centimeter of his body.
He wanted to think more about his situation, but his body and mind would not give him that luxury.
Fel laid down atop a straw mattress covered with thin bedding, and almost immediately fell asleep.