There are several ways I want to try in this forest. Even if this forest has a lot of monsters, I still have to try some ways that I want to know beforehand. The first way I want to try is: when in a dangerous situation, what can be used as an escape? When you are in danger and being chased by a monster, whether a tree can protect you or not.
"Alice, try cutting this tree down!"
Before I told her to cut down the apple tree, I had prepared the apple seeds in my Bag Menu. That way, I don't destroy this forest.
I put a small piece of wood where the apple tree would fall. I've also told Alice to drop the tree in the right direction, the one with the small wood. After that, she chopped down the tree with her water magic which looked like a blade.
PWOUF! BADBOMB!
The tree fell right on top of the small wood.
"Alice, help me!"
We pushed the tree. Then, I could see the small piece of wood shattered.
"Um..."
This has shown that it works. If I put a person or an item in the direction the tree falls, it will break. I can imagine if a monster that was there was crushed by the tree and became flattened.
"The tree didn't respawn."
As I expected, the tree that Alice cut down didn't respawn. So, this apple seed item that I brought can be used there.
I planted the apple seeds there.
The second: I want to know the structure of this earth, whether it affects something new or not. I mean, if I make the soil in this forest dry, will it affect the surroundings of this place or not?
Honestly, this forest is very humid, and the ground is wet. If I cut down some trees so that the sunlight can shine on the ground around here, will it affect the condition of this forest or not?
"Alice, you can cut it down! Cut it down! Cut again! Cut it down!"
Alice cut down nearly 20 trees in her vicinity, making them bare like a circle. I quickly picked up some loot that came from the trees Alice cut down. Even if they aren't much, I can get items to sell or turn into another item. I loot them, and they disappear from there.
"You know the place, don't you?"
"Umm, yes, I memorized it and knew how to get here. So what?"
"We will return here after some time. I wanted to see what the soil in this place would be like. Also, will this affect the other ground surrounding the place or not? I'm very curious to know that."
Of course, when I come back here, I will plant new trees. I don't want to destroy this forest. I did this because I only wanted to know that this world's system was working, so it wasn't to destroy the ecosystem of this world.
And the last reason I'm here is...
I left her party without her knowing.
Seeing the shocked reaction on her face, I realized she realized that.
She turned to me quickly and asked, "Why did you leave the party?"
"Really?"
"Yes, you left the party. Why?"
"Before I answer, I want to ask you a few questions."
"What's that?"
"Do you remember what we did before?"
"Of course, I remember. You told me to chop down some trees. You employ me like I am your laborer."
"Um..."
I don't know if she's even honest like that. She didn't seem happy with it. She even considers herself to be my laborer.
"So what?" She asked in a high tone.
"Okay, next question: Do you remember what we did before we got here?"
"You're weird. Of course, I remember it."
"What's that?"
"We saved the king and his family from the fire in the palace. We saved them from getting out of the basement."
"I see. You can remember about that."
"Why do you ask that? I'm not as senile as you might think. Also, I won't lose my memory like that time."
"Sorry for making you think badly. You can invite me to your party again."
I finally know that the memory of an NPC is the same as that of a player. Even if I leave her, her memories of me will remain in her mind. Her memory wasn't erased. She could still remember what had happened before. I could conclude that the other NPCs were like that, too. Their memories weren't erased. King Eric, Queen Stella, Prince Ted, Princess Veronica, and the rest of the NPCs could still remember what happened in the palace. It's like a story that has me in it.
This is not the Main Quest for this world, but the interaction between players and NPCs in carrying out a quest or after completing a quest. Like you work in a company or hang out with your neighbors, they will remember you. The NPCs in this world are like normal humans and have memories. However, what sets them apart is that they are simply a system developed by the game's developers. Humans have created them.
I can conclude from what I'm seeing right now about Alice's answer.
"Um..."
She invited me to her party, but her face showed she didn't want me there. She seemed to be forced to do it. Maybe because I hurt her feelings, she was like that. Well, it can't be helped. I have to make her a guinea pig to determine how the game system works, especially for the NPC systems.
***
I decided to hunt for a while with her there. There are several items that I need, such as items to make weapons, armor, and other equipment.
Alice showed her prowess in front of me. She killed several monsters that were level 20-30, and I had a hunch that she had a higher level than them.
I only killed a few low-level monsters, level 5-15, because I only had low-level ones. I don't want to die, respawn, and return to the capital because that sucks a lot. I choose things that are safe for me. Even so, I still learned what I needed in this game, especially when the monsters became weak and aggressive.
There is AoE (Area of Effect) on some ground when monsters want to attack me. It helped me to avoid it. There's help on how to attack on my screen, and it's very useful when I'm confused about whether to attack with my right or left. Even so, it wasn't always on my screen; lost several times.
Above their heads, I can see their HP, MP, and Stamina bars. It is calculated using a percentage. They have the same bar as us, players or NPCs. Also, above their heads are their names which have a red color. My screen's upper left corner is the same as theirs, having HP, MP, and Stamina bars.
When I looked at Alice, I could see her bar. She still chose a lot of HP and MP, and only her Stamina was slowly decreasing; it's probably because she hasn't had a break yet.
"Waterone..."
Okay, her stamina is getting less because she is too busy using her water magic and keeps moving here and there. Also, since she had a large amount of MP, she forgot that it depended on her stamina. If she runs out of stamina, she won't be able to move for a while until her stamina is filled to 10%.
"We're done for today. You can stop now!"
Well, I don't want her to be unable to move. After all, if she is in danger, I can't help her.
"Oh... Already done?"
"Yeah, it's done."
While saying that, I loot the monsters that Alice and I managed to kill. I got some items I need and some that I don't need.
While I was looting them, I suddenly thought of something I never thought about the NPCs. What I thought was...
"Are we coming back here later?"
I was just speechless when Alice asked me that. I was petrified at that, something I shouldn't have thought about.
"Alice..."
I wanted to ask her that, but when I saw her face looking at me, I hesitated to ask. Somehow I'm not sure what I want to ask her. It felt like my mind and heart weren't ready to get that answer from her yet.
"Nope, it's nothing. We'll come back here later. Let's go back. You must be hungry, right? Today, I will treat you."
"You want to treat me? What for?"
"Because you helped me."
"Is that all?"
"Yeah, that's all."
She was happy, but her face looked hesitant to believe me. I wanted to be nice to her, but she didn't believe me. She was insane, according to my first meeting with her.
"Anyway, let's go back!"
"O-Okay..."
The question I suddenly thought of was whether the NPCs would also respawn if they died like a player or not.