Chapter 61-2: NPC Favorability (2) |
During their ensuing conversation, Broken Star asked about the origin of the player race.
Though he had asked Zhou Xiao this before, he intended to dig deeper this time.
Li Zheng’s response was completely different from Zhou Xiao’s.
Zhou Xiao simply said whatever came to mind, without hiding anything or considering possible consequences.
Li Zheng, however, was different.
As a veteran player, he understood that the NPCs in the game world were actually intelligent AIs created by the Lunar Eclipse race. From their inception, they were implanted with memories matching the game world’s background. They didn’t know they were NPCs, believing themselves to be living beings, completely unaware that their existence was designed to generate content for players.
Thus, explaining directly that they were players was essentially breaking the game’s rules, introducing concepts that NPCs couldn’t comprehend.
In Li Zheng’s view, such behavior was shameful. In severe cases, NPCs who learned the truth might be reclaimed and reset by the Lunar Eclipse race to prevent them from questioning their identity and developing thoughts outside of their intended role.
As a player, Li Zheng believed he should approach NPCs in a manner consistent with his designated background within the game world.
So, when introducing the player race, he used Guide’s backstory as reference.
He stated that he was once a member of the player race who had worshipped the Emperor’s Sign. After the Black Tide descended, the player race fell into slumber and only recently awakened, seeking to rekindle the Emperor’s Sign’s flame and reclaim the territories devoured by the Black Tide.
During the conversation, Li Zheng also introduced the land beneath their feet.
He explained that this was the Emperor’s Mound Mountain Range, where the Emperor’s Sign was once buried, and a remote border region of Monster World.
Unlike Zhou Xiao, however, Li Zheng made no mention of Emperor’s Mound Village.
Since the starter village was the player respawn point, Li Zheng felt that it would be impossible for an NPC to comprehend.
The conversation went smoothly, with no forbidden content being censored or blocked.
After gathering this information, Broken Star grew increasingly eager to recruit the player race.
The problem was that the player race was an ancient race whose faith remained in the old creator god, the Emperor. Their thinking was rigid, and they seemed unwilling to join the Anti-Tide Legion.
After talking for a while and seeing that Broken Star still hadn’t offered any gifts, Li Zheng grew a little impatient.
As a gold-farming player, to him, time was money, and he couldn’t waste any more of it.
“God of Wealth, in our player race, we have a saying: courtesy demands reciprocity. It means that when a friend gives you a gift, you should return the favor. It’s a very polite practice.”
Hearing this, Broken Star was briefly stunned, then looked down at the now-empty can in his hand.
Li Zheng’s meaning was clear, he hoped to receive a return gift.
Thinking of the player race’s life-saving help, Broken Star didn’t overly concern himself with the value of the food. After a brief moment of thought, he took out a purple crystal from his bracer and handed it to Li Zheng.
“This is a Purple Soul Crystal, my return gift.”
Accepting the Purple Soul Crystal, Li Zheng beamed with joy upon seeing that it was identified as a level 7 spiritual ore.
After so much small talk, he had finally earned a reward, proving once again that raising favorability was the key to unlocking future gifts.
However, after receiving the crystal, he couldn’t help but ask.
“God of Wealth, do you have any more Body Tempering Combat Techniques to gift?”
At these words, a vein bulged on Broken Star’s forehead. He realized that news of him gifting a Body Tempering Combat Technique to the player race had clearly spread within their ranks.
The main reason for their approach this time was to request Body Tempering Combat Techniques.
“No, I only carried one Body Tempering Combat Technique,” Broken Star firmly shook his head and refused.
His answer left Li Zheng and the others somewhat disappointed. In the squad voice channel, they analyzed.
“Brother Li, maybe our favorability isn’t high enough, or the God of Wealth’s inventory hasn’t refreshed with new Body Tempering Combat Techniques. We’ll have to try again next time.”
“Such a shame. After all the trouble of finding the God of Wealth, who knew his stock was already emptied. We can only wait for the next refresh.”
“Trading a 1 sacrificial power canned food for a level 7 ore, we’ve already made a huge profit. Don’t be greedy, brothers. Time to withdraw.”
—
With that, the discussion ended, and Li Zheng’s group stood up and took their leave.
But what Broken Star didn’t know was that his friendly attitude toward the player race was about to bring him nonstop harassment.
Not long after leaving, Li Zheng posted a new guide thread on the forum.
[The Correct Way to Approach the God of Wealth: Hidden Attribute in the Game, NPC Favorability]
Posted by: Game Gold-Farmer
Content:
I’ve learned a lot from the Guides shared by everyone on the forum. Today, I finally have something useful to give back.
Straight to the point: everyone’s been looking for the God of Wealth, thinking that finding him guarantees gifts. This idea is actually wrong, because I’ve discovered there’s a hidden attribute in the game: Favorability.
I don’t need to explain what favorability means, any gamer knows it.
In other games, NPC favorability is often displayed directly in the stat panel. Reaching certain levels unlocks better services, discounts, or access to special items.
But in this game, favorability is a hidden attribute. It doesn’t show up in your stat panel, but it absolutely exists…
—
In Guide, Li Zheng described how he earned a return gift from the God of Wealth by offering him food.
A level 7 quality spiritual ore.
The post’s popularity on the forum soared, with many players replying to thank him, saying they had finally learned the correct way to approach the God of Wealth.
Li Zheng’s success further solidified players’ impression of Broken Star.
They now believed that the God of Wealth was a special mechanic in the game: encountering him meant a chance to make a small fortune, and if luck was good and his inventory had refreshed with a Body Tempering Combat Technique, they could strike it rich.
This sparked a frenzy of trading cheap items for treasures.
Every player wanted to exchange cheap store-bought goods for high-value Body Tempering Combat Techniques or high-quality spiritual ores from the God of Wealth.
At this very moment, completely unaware, Broken Star was still considering whether to investigate the player race more deeply.
For example, finding their homeland, secretly observing and gathering intelligence.
Once he had the chance to return to his homeland, he would report this intelligence on the player race, and attempt to recruit them into the Anti-Tide Legion as one of its subordinate racial forces.
Little did he know that a wave of favorability-grinding ‘harassment missions’ was about to descend upon him.
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