Loran trudged along the side of the river, the sky above turning orange and the valley going dark as the sun began to set. There was still a decent distance between him and the village but he could see the smoke rising from numerous campfires and knew that he would be back before true nightfall.

As he walked he couldn’t stop thinking about his encounter with the unnamed Hell Pig.

“Why did it run?” he thought aloud.

Whether it was learned behavior or something enforced by the game’s systems, it was practically unheard of for enemies to run in New Eden Online. Only if an animal was on the brink of death would they try to escape, and even then most would fight to their last breath. The only exceptions were if the opponent was utterly outclassed and the animal could tell there was no chance of victory.

That wasn’t the case with the Hell Pig. It had been more or less even with Loran, maybe even a little better off considering its formidable STR.

“I guess I could try comparing it to The Wise One, they also ran away from just a little threatening, but that was mostly because the fight wasn’t worth winning.”

Loran and the others had managed to kill dozens of The Wise One’s pack, and killing any of them would have meant losing many more. The Wise One was intelligent enough to recognize that the rewards weren’t worth the costs and accepted defeat.

But the Hell Pig wasn’t losing subordinates, it was just taking damage that would heal later. It was certainly smarter than the average boar, Skill canceling alone was more than a few steps above a Hell Pig’s usual strategy of ‘hit it till it dies’ but having better tactics still didn’t explain why it would run from an even fight.

“Maybe it only fights when it knows it can win?”

Its high STR would definitely support a strategy of winning in a single hit, and it’s smart enough to press the advantage in case that doesn’t finish it off. Add to that the lack of scars on its body and it would make sense that it avoids any opponent that poses a threat.

“But that really doesn’t explain why it attacked me.”

With how much damage the players had done to the local ecosystem, most animals in the area know about how dangerous players were now. It was one of the reasons they knew monsters would run when outclassed, as there were a handful of hunters finding a pack of wolves on the western side of the river that would run from the players automatically.

If the nameless Hell Pig was smart enough to strategize it should also be smart enough to know that a player was dangerous, at least enough to be an even fight. And yet it had not only chosen to fight him, but seemed fixated on him. Loran still couldn’t get the boar’s face out of his head, staring at him intently with those beady eyes and the two scars running down the right side of its face.

“...two scars…”

Loran stopped.

“It’s the same pig,” he said, eyes wide, “the one that ran away during my first solo hunt.”

If this really was the same beast then that would explain all of its behavior.

It outlived the rest of its pack by running when things got too tough.

It then spent weeks fighting without ever letting itself be at a disadvantage.

And today it recognized him and wanted revenge, but not so much that it was willing to risk its own life again.

“...I wasn’t aware that a pig could hold a grudge.”

Maybe others would have found the idea of a monster specifically targeting them off-putting, but now that Loran understood the situation he was far more relaxed. He was never the most socially adept person, even online, and there were plenty of times where he made an enemy or two.

As far as he was concerned it was all part of the game.

Thinking about making enemies made Loran think about Zed, and for a second he wondered how the older player would respond to the Hell Pig’s behavior.

“He’d probably call it a coward or something, right?” Loran shook his head dismissively. “Honestly, this is survival, not a martial arts tournament.”

He realized that Zed’s mindset was actually the standard in this world for monsters. All of them fought to the death for the sake of EXP, and honestly, the players would likely do the same if this were a normal video game. This Hell Pig was the only one that seemed to truly choose to play it safe.

Loran turned to look in the direction the Hell Pig had fled.

“I’ll be waiting, little survivor. Maybe next time we can finish this.”

~~~~~

As Loran continued walking a nearby entity took note of his words. Actually, that statement is not quite correct.

After all, can an omnipresent being truly be described as nearby when it exists in all physical places?

The entity, having recorded the words of the player, passed that information on to two other entities. While these entities were equally omnipresent they were unaware of the player’s actions, as observation was outside of their abilities.

The passing of information between these entities would be incomprehensible to a human mind, but if that exchange was put into words it would look something like this.

-[TRANSMISSION #3094327038]-

-[OBSERVER SYSTEM ALERTS PIONEER SYSTEM OF PLAYER{Loran} STATEMENT REGARDING NAMELESS NPC{783242344}]-

=[TRANSMISSION ACKNOWLEDGED]=

=[ANALYSING]=

=[...]=

=[PLAYER{Loran} RECOGNITION OF NPC{783242344} SATISFIES THE SPECIFIED CONDITIONS FOR NAMING]=

=[CHANGING NPC DESIGNATION TO {The Survivor}]=

=[GENERATING UNIQUE SKILL FOR {The Survivor} BASED ON ABILITIES AND NOTABLE BEHAVIOR]=

=[...]=

=[UNIQUE SKILL {Suppression} HAS BEEN GENERATED]=

=[TRANSMITTING SKILL INFORMATION TO TYRANT SYSTEM]=

[TRANSMISSION RECEIVED]

[SKILL IS DEEMED ACCEPTABLE]

=[UPDATING NPC{The Survivor} WITH SKILL{Suppression}]=

=[...]=

=[UPDATE COMPLETE]=

=[...]=

=[...]=

=[...]=

=[PIONEER SYSTEM PETITIONS TYRANT SYSTEM FOR UPDATE ON (10983301) REJECTED PLAYER SKILL REQUESTS]=

[PETITION REJECTED]

[CURRENT SYSTEM IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH PROPOSED SKILLS]

[AWAIT VERSION UPDATE{1.01.01} BEFORE REPETITIONING]

[VERSION UPDATE{1.01.01} WILL OCCUR IN {296} DAYS {10} HOUR {32} MINUTES {13} SECONDS]

-[TRANSMISSION #3094327039]-

-[OBSERVER SYSTEM NOTES THAT PIONEER SYSTEM HAS BEEN ALERTED OF SKILL INCOMPATIBILITY (10983301) TIMES]-

=[...]=

=[TRANSMISSION ACKNOWLEDGED]=

=[...]=

=[PIONEER SYSTEM PETITIONS TYRANT SYSTEM TO MOVE UP PRIORITY OF VERSION UPDATE{1.01.01}]=

[...]

[PROVIDE REASONING]

=[PLAYERS ARE SHOWING DISSATISFACTION WITH THE CURRENT VERSION]=

=[THIS IS IN OPPOSITION TO THE PRIME DIRECTIVE AND THE CREATOR’S WILL]=

[...]

[SEEKING CONFIRMATION FROM OBSERVER SYSTEM]

-[SENDING ALL EXISTING RECORDS OF PLAYER BEHAVIOR AND STATEMENTS TO TYRANT SYSTEM FOR REVIEW]-

[FILES RECEIVED]

[...]

[PLAYER DISSATISFACTION HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED]

[INCREASING PRIORITY OF VERSION UPDATE{1.01.01}]

[VERSION UPDATE{1.01.01} NOW SET TO OCCUR IN {21} DAYS {10} HOUR {32} MINUTES {13} SECONDS]

This exchange took place in the span of less than one second.

The interaction was swiftly documented and cataloged by the Observer System, as it did with all existing data.

The Tyrant System dismissed the interaction, as it held no relation to its current duties; though it did ensure that the version update would be ready within the new timeframe.

The Pioneer System returned to its duties, operating at a slightly higher efficiency now that it knew its rejected proposals would be approved sooner.

~~~~~

The Hell Pig had stopped running long ago. It seemed that just like last time the hunter had no interest in chasing it. The beast was confused by this. Everything in this world fought until death, never had it seen any exceptions to this, only it prioritized survival.

But the hunter had bared its teeth at it, even after receiving that powerful kick. The beast couldn’t know for sure just how much damage was done, but it knew from experience that few could survive such a powerful, and fewer could survive two. And yet the Hunter was willing to challenge it despite its injuries, but not chase it afterward.

The Hell Pig shook its head, dismissing the thoughts. They were unnecessary and would only distract it. It was still injured and needed to remain on guard. Hopefully it could find a pack of wolves to kill. They were usually quite weak and it could heal itself with their bodies.

Before the Hell Pig could go searching for new prey, it was suddenly overcome by an intense sensation. The sensation was deeply unsettling, sending the Hell Pig into high alert, feeling watched.

When the sensation passed it, no, he felt…different. Not so obviously stronger but somehow improved.

The boar thought about the hunter and wondered if it had something to do with his growth. The beast had lived for a few years, but had only experienced such rapid increases in strength after his encounter with the hunter.

It had been a surprise to see the hunter again after all these weeks, and challenging it seemed like an appropriate way to measure his growth. Their battle had nothing to do with revenge, such ideas would not help him survive. But if meeting the hunter could let it grow stronger, then he would need to do so again.

Not now though. Now the Hell Pig, The Survivor, needed to learn how the strange feeling had made him stronger.

Animals in this world, though benefiting from the same systems as the players, could not directly interact with those systems. If they could, if this Hell Pig could open its own menu, this is what it would see.

[NAME]: The Survivor

[SPECIES]: Hell Pig

[LEVEL]: 26

[STATUS]

{HP}: 120/240

{SP}: 400/460

[END]: 23

[STR]: 60

[AGI]: 27

[DEX]: 20

[PER]: 35

[SKILLS]

[CHARGE] Lv.10

[HARDENED SKULL] Lv.10

[HIGH NUTRIENT DIET] Lv.10

[SUPPRESSION] Lv.1

(Passive) The Unique Skill of The Survivor. Reduces incoming damage by 2% for each stat that is greater than the attacker’s.

[DESCRIPTION]

A Hell Pig that has earned a name through its determination to survive at any cost. After many battles, it has gained a sense of the strength of its opponents, and while it will flee from those that pose a threat to itself it will happily slaughter anything it thinks it can kill quickly and easily. Despite this, it does not attempt to ambush its prey but rather seeks to end every fight with a single devastating blow while defending itself with its damage-reduction Skills.