And so, began the series of questions and answers which will likely cement my place in the kill list of every PKer, petty thief and various other types of players who think that tormenting others is fun.

Now player killing is something nearly everyone has done at some point, but the people I’m actually referring to are the ones who actively hunt other players, there are plenty of games where player killing is a part of certain events within the game but griefing is another thing entirely and should be stopped.

“The main thing that you have to understand about outsiders is that while we do indeed come back from the dead, it weakens us significantly,” I said deciding to start with the most obvious issue first. Thankfully Katy had told me that NPCs used the same Levelling system that we did which would make things easier to explain. “If an outsider dies, they lose a third of their total experience.”

The old man started rubbing his chin at my words, this probably meant more to them as it did to me as I didn’t know how much experience was needed to level up at high levels, but from the looks on their faces it was a considerable amount.

“That’s useful information to have,” the captain rumbled. “But it doesn’t change the fact that killing them won’t solve the problem.”

“No,” I admitted. “Unfortunately, in reality this isn’t really a solvable problem, so all that you can really do is make things as difficult for them as possible.”

“By killing them multiple times?” the old man asked curiously his words causing me to cringe as I remembered the level of pain that the game was set to.

“That’s an option,” I admitted, it wasn’t one that I was happy about them using but sadly for some people it might be the only thing that would stop them from committing crimes and it might not even stop some of the real psychopaths. “But for most people simply imprisoning them for a long time will make it so that they either don’t return from our world or they stop committing crimes.”

“Or at least stop committing them where the guards can see them,” the old man noted glancing sideways at the captain who still had a frown on his face.

“So, you want us to treat murderers and rapists like thieves?” he growled making me cringe, I had known that this would be a hard thing to sell but I hadn’t been able to come up with something better without involving Gransoft itself and judging by the fact that this was an issue in the first place that probably wasn’t an option.

“No!” I replied. “If the crime they commit is bad enough that you would execute them normally then execute them, but when they come back put them in prison.”

I couldn’t believe that I was basically suggesting that they kill my fellow players, but game developers make this decision as well, so I guess it wasn’t as bad as I thought.

“And how long do you think we should keep them in prison?” the captain asked raising his eyebrows at my words. It looked like he thought I was trying to protect the criminal players but now understood that I was trying to help as best as I could.

“Well, I’ll leave that up to you, but the maximum length of time you’ll be able to keep them is 2 weeks,” I replied, this was the length of time that Katy had told me was written into the games code which was pushing the limits of what she was able to tell me. If someone was stuck in the same spot for longer than that they would automatically be sent to the nearest teleport stone when they logged in. They could, of course send a complaint to the admins before then but I doubted that they would allow criminal players to get out of jail that easily.

“That’s not very long,” noted Jameson who had been quiet for the past few minutes, for reasons that were made immediately obvious when his two superiors turned to glare at him causing the big man to shrink in on himself as much as he was able.

“Jameson may be speaking out of turn, but he is right,” sighed the old man as he turned back towards me.

I shrugged, sadly there wasn’t much I could do about that even if I wanted to, it was simply how this world worked but I did have one final suggestion that might work.

“You could try picking them up at the nearest Teleport Stone when they come back to this world, but I don’t know if you’ll be able to keep them then or for how long,” I told him. “You could try it out, put up pictures of the criminals who served their two weeks, but you believe should be jailed for longer at the Teleport Stones, but I honestly don’t know what will happen if you do that.”

There was a chance that doing so would just mean that they would be able to log into the game in a completely different place, but Katy hadn’t been able to tell me what would happen which meant there was only one way to find out. If it became an issue the developers would do something about it in a patch but until then there was no harm in trying. Although I was interested in finding out how these NPC’s would treat the patches or if they would even be aware of them. Personally, as a player I found that things just made more sense if NPC’s didn’t suddenly remember things differently as their world changed around them, but I wasn’t sure what Gransoft had decided to do on that front.

“Is that really the best we can do?” the captain groaned running his hand over his face. He looked extremely tired which may or may not explain his grouchiness but judging from how jumpy Jameson was around him and the quiet amusement of the old man I was betting that grouchy was his normal state.

“I’m sorry I can’t help more,” I told him honestly. It was very hard not to feel for these NPC’s, the way they acted was almost too lifelike making me feel like they were real people trying to understand how to deal with immortal criminals, which in a way I guess they were. When AI’s were this complex the line between person and programme blurred significantly which was why there were laws about military AI’s in place. I was finding it increasingly hard to think of Katy as anything other than a person just like I was, and in all honesty, I was okay with that.

“That’s alright lad, you’ve told us more than we actually expected you to,” the old man reassured me he too had a worried look on his face. “Now, I’m told that you want to do some training with us?”

“If that’s alright.”

“Hmm, well I don’t see why we can’t at least give you a chance, you held up your end of the arrangement,” the old man said glancing sideways at the captain who had his grouchy face on again.

“Harmon are you sure?” he rumbled at the old man whose name was apparently Harmon.

“He interests me,” Harmon replied with a shrug. “He seems to hold us at the same level as that of other outsiders.”

“That’s not a reason to say you’ll let him train with the recruits,” the captain snapped.

“Hmm, maybe you’re right, a test first perhaps?” Harmon chuckled evilly as he said this, sending chills down my back especially when I saw the captain’s face pale at his words. Suddenly the previously pleasant seeming old man seemed to look like something far more sinister.

“If you say so.”

Wait, did I just detect a tremor in the captain’s voice? I glanced sideways at Jameson hoping that he would shed some light on what was happening only to find him crouching down and slowly rocking back and forth.

Yeah, this isn’t going to be fun is it?

Shortly after this I found myself standing in the training yard facing Harmon. We were both wearing padded armour that the guard’s used when sparring to prevent injuries.

“What sort of weapon do you use… Zeke was it?” Harmon asked casually.

“A spear sir,” I replied immediately, there was no way I was going to be casual with a man who could traumatise the two mountains of muscle I knew as the captain and Sergeant Jameson.

“An interesting choice,” Harmon remarked picking up two long lengths of wood and tossing one to me. “Most of you outsiders seem obsessed with swords though I’m not sure why I expected anything different from you. You act like an outsider even among outsiders”

Harmon paused to chuckle at his unfunny joke, little did he know that it was the truth, or did he?

Some of the other guards noticed us and a small crowd started to gather causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end, I was really bad with groups of people watching me.

“Well then young Zeke, are you ready?” Harmon asked slowly spinning the length of wood in his hands with a large grin on his face, it seemed he was looking forward to this. “Don’t worry I’m not wearing anything with a Soul Core in it so we’re on fairly even ground here.”

Somehow, I didn’t find that at all reassuring, especially since I now knew that you could increase your stats via training.

The man facing me was clearly a master with the spear, even just swinging the quarterstaff that we were going to be using as training spears was enough to tell me that. I was, at best a mid-level spearman but this old man was the trainer for the guards in this town so there was no way that he was going to be anything other than a master.

Slowly I nodded in reply and Harmon’s grin seemed to widen even further, which should have been impossible considering how wide it already was.

“Then let us begin.”

As soon as these four words left his mouth Harmon shot towards me faster than even the Adolescent Terror Bird had and I barely managed to raise my training spear in time to push the vicious thrust he was leading with aside but to my horror this didn’t stop the monstrous old man who simply barrelled into me with his shoulder. It was a dirty trick, but I couldn’t deny that it was effective as I was knocked to the ground by the force of his charge.

This was the difference between someone who relied on a weapon and someone who actually fought with everything that they had. I tried to do this myself but it was clear that Harmon understood this much better than me and possibly anyone that I had fought before.

I didn’t even have time to think and just rolled to the left barely avoiding the downwards thrust that I knew would be coming. The end of the training spear slammed into the ground next to me raising a small cloud of dust as I scrambled to my feet. Even if I was wearing padded training armour if I had taken that blow head on, I would’ve ended up with cracked, if not outright broken ribs.

Now that I was back on my feet Harmon and I started trading thrusts, looking like two fencers as we moved backwards and forwards, neither of us were able to truly take advantage of the openings the other left in their defence. I did take a couple of glancing blows from the occasional thrust I didn’t quite manage to defend against but against someone as skilled as Harmon I personally thought I was doing quite well, though I was sure that he was doing his best to keep himself at my level of skill.

The crowd of guards continued to grow and soon even the captain himself came out to watch as I really started to push the limits of what I was capable of as a grin matching Harmon’s pulled my own lips upwards, it had been a long time since I had felt this way when fighting an opponent, even my own doppelganger hadn’t evoked this emotion in me. Growing became more and more difficult as one practiced and no matter how hard one tried it was impossible to be perfect at anything, that being said when a chance to improve your skills came along you would have to be a fool to ignore it and I was determined to learn as much as possible from this sparring match as possible.

Money started changing hands as Harmon and I continued to fight, the staves in our hands becoming blurs as we moved around the training area. Unfortunately, it was at this point that one of my bad habits started coming out, when I got too into things, I used more sweeps and cutting attacks instead of the thrusts and lunges that a spear is really built for.

Harmon frowned as he deflected one such attack stepping in powerfully and slamming the haft of his spear into my chest knocking me off balance before slamming the end into the side of my head sending me to my knees as the world spun sickeningly around me.

“That’s enough,” he stated holding out a hand to help me up which, due to the fact that my vision was still swimming from the blow to my head I gratefully accepted. “Not bad, not bad at all.”

Hearing this, whispers broke out among the crowd of watching guards, before they started to realise that they had to retrieve their money from the people they had made bets with and the whole crowd started squabbling.

Ignoring the guards who soon found themselves being yelled at by their captain Harmon told me to follow him, this sparring match wasn’t actually the test, but something of a consolation prize for the help I’d given them so far, he had offered to test my skills at fighting and give me some advice before giving me the test he had in mind and seeing no way to refuse without undoing everything I’d already done today I had accepted despite the misgivings I’d had because of the captain’s and Jameson’s reactions to the idea.

Following Harmon into a medium-sized building I looked around with a confused look on my face, the building was an armoury.

“Excuse me Harmon, sir, but why have you brought me here?” I asked warily.

“Because I want to show you a weapon that I think your better suited to than that spear of yours,” he replied. “Don’t get me wrong, you’re fairly skilled for someone of your age but I think that you use too many cutting attacks when you fight, so I want you to have a look at a weapon that I think might suit you better.”

Stopping by a rack of weapons he pulled out a weapon that I had seen a few times in other games but had never tried for myself because of how rare they usually were. The weapon was a type of glaive, a weapon that combined the cutting edge of a sword and the reach of a spear called a naginata.

“Oh?” Harmon grunted as he saw the look of understanding on my face. “So, you recognise it do you?”

“Yes, but I’ve never had the chance to use one.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll pick it up quickly enough I’m sure,” he chuckled handing the weapon over to me. As weapons in video games went it was pretty plain, but the handle was in good condition and the blade didn’t have any noticeable damage even though it was plain to see that it was old and hadn’t been used in a while.

Spinning it in my hands I nodded, the weight was also quite good, different from what I was used to but manageable.

“Do you mind if I check the stats?” I asked, and Harmon nodded with an amused look on his face.

Old Iron Naginata

Item Tier (Rarity): Journeyman (Uncommon)

Required Level:1

Damage:

1-Handed-6 to 9

2-Handed-8 to 12

Damage Types: Piercing and Slashing

Core Slots:

1 Skill Core Sockets

3 Support Core Sockets

This old glaive has been sitting in an old storehouse for years, but its blade is still sharp.

The stats were way better than my starting spear and it had an extra support slot as well which would massively increase my stats when I got all of them slotted.

“Not bad huh?” Harmon chuckled, and I nodded in reply, there was just one thing that bothered me.

“Why is it still in the armoury?” I asked looking at the weapon with an impressed look on my face, as far as low-levelled weapons went this was pretty good. Noticing the difference in the Item Tier and Rarity I made a note to check with Katy what these different terms meant.

“Not many people like using them,” he replied with a shrug. “And besides, compared to the other weapons that we can supply our men, it’s not that good.”

I raised an eyebrow at this, it seemed that this weapon type suffered from a lack of people who wanted to use it, on the other hand I was very interested in it. Actually one might even say that I was interested in it because it was different from most of the weapons that I had used before with just enough similarity that I was confident that I would be able to get used to it fairly quickly while giving me a weapon that most people hadn’t had to defend themselves against.

“So why are you showing me this anyway?” I finally asked. It wasn’t making a lot of sense that he had brought me here to just show me the weapon.

“What are you talking about?” he sighed. “That’s your reward for the help you gave us earlier.”

Justice for all (Part 1) Complete!

Rewards

Access to the next part of this quest has been put on hold until you reach level 5, +300 reputation with the village of Ponson, Old Iron Naginata, Basic Naginata Core.

“Whoa,” I breathed, this was the most impressive reward I had received from a quest so far in this game and by a considerable margin at that. “Are you sure?”

Harmon gave me a stern look. “Kid, you just painted a big target on your back if any of your fellow outsiders find out that you’re the one responsible for telling us what you did. If we let you go without making sure you can defend yourself that would hardly be fair now would it?”

That… was an excellent point, the other players will have been spending the time that I just used to complete this quest to hunt more mobs and get more powerful, so I guess that giving me this weapon was the guard’s way of trying to keep me safe.

“Well thank you,” I said. “But there’s just one thing, where’s the Skill Core?”

“Ah, yes sorry about that,” Harmon said looking slightly embarrassed as he realised, he was forgetting something important. “Follow me.”

He walked over towards a large trunk and opened it to reveal row upon row of Soul Cores.

“Now where is it,” he muttered peering at the small crystalline orbs. “Ahah! Here it is!”

Having found his prize, he handed it over to me, “Now I believe I mentioned something about a test, yes?”

I nodded, wondering what he was going to ask me to do.

“Well, I’ve thought about what will convince that blockhead of a captain that you’re trustworthy and the best thing I can come up with is you helping us to find outsiders who are committing crimes.”

Oh dear, I should have known that this was coming. I just wanted to stay low and make money getting involved in things like this wasn’t part of my plan.

“Is that a no?” Harmon asked, but he didn’t seem angry. “If you refuse that’s fine, I’ll try my best to think of something else, but this way will be the fastest and probably the easiest.”

“Actually, you know what, that’s fine,” I replied thinking about the other thing that I had come to try and get sorted out, if I was going to do something about this, I should do it right. “I’ve actually already got a lead on something already. There’s a girl at the inn I’m staying at who’s acting weird, I think that one of the outsiders staying there may have done something.”

“Hmm, alright, we’ll send a guard around later” Harmon said as his eyes flashed angrily at my words. “Don’t get involved any more than you need to though, dealing with crime is our job.”

“I hope we can catch the culprit before things get worse.”

“So do I Zeke, so do I.”

Quest Updated!

Guard Training

(Uncommon Ranked Chain Quest)

Due to you earning the respect of Sergeant Jameson and your Reputation in Ponson you have been offered the chance to train with the Ponson Guards.

Success Conditions

Trainer Harmon has asked you to prove yourself by helping the guards catch a criminal player.

Rewards

Access to the next part of the Quest. Increased Reputation with Ponson’s guards.

Watching Harmon storm out of the warehouse made me feel sorry for whoever was harassing the poor girl at the inn.

“Well then,” I muttered hefting my new weapon. “Guess I’d better get some training in.”