The NPCs Have Started Studying the Players

Two years after Far Horizons launched, players had pretty much figured out the world.

The forums had answers to everything: where to pick up quests, what was worth buying, and which NPC lines hid a story.

Lin Xu had read plenty of guides himself.

But he had never imagined that NPCs kept track of players, too.

There was an empty wooden crate outside the general store in Bluestone Town. It held nothing of value, but every few days the shopkeeper, Xu De’an, moved it to a different spot and noted in his ledger how many players had stopped to search it.

Following this small clue, Lin Xu discovered that quest-givers were recording players’ quest-picking habits, the innkeeper remembered who often waited by the door for their teammates, and even the blacksmith was trying to figure out why so many people had suddenly started asking about gear no one wanted the day before.

These NPCs had lives of their own to lead.

They watched players simply to avoid trouble, make business run more smoothly, and find someone willing to take the quests they posted.

But as they kept taking notes, the Record of Returned Ones’ Behavior grew thicker, and Bluestone Town began to change along with it.

Players used to wonder how to make NPCs act as they wanted.

Now the NPCs were beginning to wonder the same thing about them.