[Welcome to New Leaf Village!]
The sky was so damn blue!
It was a blue that couldn’t be seen in the city. It was as pure as Jack remembered it! This blue somehow brought him happiness, as it had done for her.
As he breathed deeply, he felt at ease. This was his world, one that he knew better than the real one.
He was at a village plaza, his naked feet in the dirt. Around him were many players spawning relentlessly, all wearing the same basic rags as him, barely covering their privates.
On the side were curious villagers, but one that especially stood out. There was an old man that was slyly grinning while observing them. This one had to be the village chief, the legendary creature that had more quests than wrinkles! The NPC called out to them:
“Braves! Braves! Heed my call and gather around. The gods have sent me an oracle about your arrival!” — An oracle? This was obviously bullshit. The guy headed a beginner village!
“I know our world is unknown to you, but you can be sure that I will guide you every step of the way!” — He would work them to the bone! Then again, who would refuse free labor?
“From now on, you can consider this New Leaf Village as your new home!” — These NPCs had orders to welcome them from their higher-ups, not like they had a choice in the first place.
“Grow strong, and you will be able to head to the nearest Town!” — Aka, reach level 10.
“Now, all of you. Come and see me, and I will assign every one of you a task!” — Quests galore incoming.
Instantly, all the players in the surroundings charged toward the old man until they were forced to queue. They looked like children waiting to sit on Santa’s lap, half-naked children.
But, inevitably, some would act naughty. A group of tough-looking men pushed their way toward the front, glaring at anyone that dared to protest. Jack could only sigh: why look tough when one can look heroic? These guys had screwed up big time at character creation!
“Tch! Out of the way, losers! The Mighty Wolves are coming through! Get out of our way if you don’t want to be spawned killed to level one!” — Said one bully to the level 0 players.
“Braves, braves! What is happening?” The village chief cried out.
“Chief, stop wasting your time with these idiots! My crew has 20 people in this Village, just say the word, and we’ll follow your orders!”
“Oh, really?” Alright, anyone in a group of 10 or more can cut the queue. It will be faster this way!” The Chief sagely added. — How to reduce the workload 101, individually assigning quests was apparently hard.
That’s how many players began heading outside, where they would face deadly level 2 creatures. They would struggle so damn much, and for what? Some shitty quest reward. This wasn’t efficient enough for him!
Jack instead navigated the village until he found his destination. There was a small brick building with a very simple anvil metallic sign by the door but on the floor. This meant that the forge was facing some kind of trouble: blacksmiths would usually proudly display their signs.
But, Jack wasn’t dressed well enough to meet anyone. He focused his mind in a very particular manner, akin to meditating, until a blue and glowing interface appeared in front of his eyes.
This overlay was always available, but there was a trick to opening it, one that a specific NPC would teach players after they reached level 10.
“System, use purple as default UI color and disable any assistance module,” Jack said to the air.
[Are you sure? Disabling the modules may render the game unplayable without sufficient expertise and—]
“Yes, absolutely certain!” He had more expertise than all the current players combined! In the top right corner, there was now a purple message icon flashing.
“Let’s open this, shall we.”
[Wow! You’ve found the super-secret mailbox! Gratz! Anyway, welcome to Infinite. You look pretty shabby right now…ah! I know what you’re missing! It’s something that every great hero possesses! Here’s an Infinite Cloak! Ta-da!]
Out of thin air appeared a dull old Cloak that nevertheless was a godsend for the current him. That’s when he heard a gasp. “What?!” Raising his eyes, Jack could see a delicate head poking from the roof of the forge.
The girl was looking at him, but especially at the cloak, with astonishment. She had pink hair, pink eyes, pink lips, and a pink complexion. Yet, even with that overload of pink, it all felt natural and graceful.
“What are you doing up there?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I’ll tell you if you tell me how you obtained this item!” She decisively tried to bargain.
“Oh, I see.” Jack wore his new equipment in silence.
There was a very neat “?” symbol on it that meant pioneer. He was so damn glad to have it! The Infinite Cloak was a collector’s wet dream. Completing specific events would add rare symbols to this cosmetic item. In the past, he had always missed this one.
It was time to face the blacksmith NPC that he was sure to find inside. But as soon as he had taken a step.
“Hey, where are you going? Let’s share information. We can help each other!” The girl enthusiastically proposed. She felt that this mysterious man had to be an expert. He was the only one that had clothes. She was so jealous!
“Oh, I’ve just realized that I really don’t care what you’re doing up there. It’s not like the rooftop chests contain anything valuable anyway, later.” Jack nonchalantly uttered, stepping into the building.
The pink-haired girl was left frozen. He had just revealed the info she thought highly confidential that easily?! Seriously, who was this man?!
As soon as he pushed the door, Jack was welcomed by the cold. Yes, this blacksmithing building had no warmth inside. On the floor, there was a middle-aged man just sprawled there with empty bottles nearby. He barely raised his head before shouting:
“Hey, who the fuck are you?! This is my goddamn house! Trespassing is a fucking crime, you bastard! If you don’t get out, I’ll beat your ass up!”
“Oh yeah, trespassing is definitely a crime, but there is an even bigger crime here. Why is your place so cold?! This isn’t how a blacksmith should live! Plus, looking at you, I doubt you have enough motivation to kick my ass.” Jack teased.
“ARRG….Yeah, you’re right. Screw you, kid! I’ll just remain here and drink. If I keep going long enough, perhaps the old crook will kick the bucket. Naw, who am I kidding? The bastard is immortal.” — NPCs having an archnemesis usually meant a juicy quest.
“You won’t forget your problems anytime soon if you’re drinking water….” Jack commented.
“I’m not rich enough to drown my sorrow in alcohol, bite me!”
“Who’s the old bastard? Is it the village chief by any chance? Why don’t you tell me what happened?” Jack requested.
“I came here because every village needs a blacksmith by law. But New Leaf Village is a cradle for the elderly! They barely do anything all day long, so no one needed my services.” — Ironic!
“Now there are plenty of brave around. That should be enough, right?” Jack remarked.
“Nope! The bastard imported weapons from Sprigfield Town directly, saying he wanted the best quality for the braves. Why the fuck am I still here then?!” He angrily shouted.
“I want you to forge something for me. What will it take?” Jack calmly asked.
“What?! Seriously?!” Instantly the man jumped to his feet, even doing a flip. There was no trace whatsoever of the listless bum from a few seconds ago. “Alright, let’s do this! We’ll need some ores and fuel!”
“Aight, I got it. See you soon.” Jack waved.
“Wait! For the metal, you can head to—”
“Skip! No worries, I know. Just wait for my glorious return!” Jack reassured.
The blacksmith could only stand there as happy as perplexed. How did this strange brave know so much? Wait! How wasn’t he naked?! Hadn’t the braves literally just spawned?! What kind of monster was he?!
Said monster was already scheming for his next step…
Creator’s Thought
This blacksmith was pretty cool. At least, he was extremely passionate. There is something about passionate people that draws one to them, this wonderful ability to care about somehting. I will never understand people that try and extinguish such a flame.
