NOVEL NEXT Ch. 2
Chapter 2: The Forum Exploded, Is This NPC the Devs’ Beloved Daughter?
Mophis, lying on the ground, was so nervous she could die.
She buried her face in the crook of her arm, sneaking glances at the players’ reactions from the corner of her eye.
It had to work! This was her last lifeline!
Second by second, time passed, yet the anticipated blades never came.
The surroundings were deathly silent—only the rough breathing of the players could be heard.
“Uh, boss Mad Blade… do we keep fighting?” a mage with the ID 【ILoveTomatoes】 whispered.
Mad Blade’s mouth twitched as he stared at his raised longsword and that glaring 【Help the Injured Librarian】 in his quest log.
For a moment, he was torn between two sides.
Fight? How could he fight? Swing at a beautiful girl NPC who had just fallen and triggered a help quest? If word got out, what would happen to his reputation as 【Mad Blade】? How would his guild recruit members in the future? He would probably drown in the spit of the entire server.
“Fight my ass!” Mad Blade cursed irritably, sheathing his longsword.
“Can’t you see the quest? What are you standing around for? Who has a healing spell? Or at least a beginner’s healing potion?”
The players snapped out of their daze.
“I do, I do! I’m a priest!” A girl with the ID 【HealsTheEntireServer】 raised her hand, jogging forward.
“I’ve got bandages!”
“I brought wound medicine from the newbie village!”
The raid group that had been brimming with murderous intent just moments ago instantly changed tone, turning into a large-scale charity rescue scene.
Under Mophis, a system prompt only she could see flashed past.
【System Judgement: Target ‘Mophis’ has undergone ‘irreversible negative state change’ (injured).
Quest logic of ‘Defeat the Lonely Keeper of Books’ interrupted… rejudging… judgement failed.】
【World Quest: Subjugate the Lonely Keeper of Books has expired.】
Success!
Mophis was ecstatic inside, but on the outside she still kept up her frail and pitiful act.
With 【HealsTheEntireServer】’s support, she “struggled” to her feet, lowered her head, and whispered weakly, “Th-thank you…”
Her silver eyes lifted slightly, a faint mist in them, making 【HealsTheEntireServer】’s heart melt.
“N-no problem! Are you okay? Should I cast a healing spell?”
“No… I’m fine. I just… haven’t seen so many people in a long time. I got a little nervous.” Mophis spoke softly before limping back into the library’s reading area, leaving the players staring at one another.
“So that’s… it?” 【ILoveTomatoes】 scratched his head.
“What about our first kill?”
“First kill my ass!” Mad Blade glared at him.
“Didn’t you hear what she said? She was just nervous! We barged in with all these people and scared the poor girl half to death!”
“Boss is right! Look at her—skinny and weak, obviously hasn’t been eating well. The devs must be heartless to design such a pitiful boss.”
“Yeah, exactly! When she looked at me just now, my heart shattered. From this day on, Mophis is my wife!”
“Get lost! She’s my wife!”
Seeing the group about to start infighting over “wife ownership,” Mad Blade coughed loudly to silence them.
“Enough. Stop arguing. Something about this whole situation feels off. Everyone, save your combat logs and screenshots. We’re heading back to town and posting on the forum to see if anyone else has encountered something similar.”
With that, he cast a deep glance toward the hazy silhouette deeper in the library, his mind full of doubts, before leading the team away.
…
After confirming the players had all gone, Mophis let out a long sigh of relief and plopped onto the ground.
That performance had nearly drained all her strength.
She rested a while before remembering she still had a special ability—the player interface.
Because she had been a programmer in her past life, her soul data seemed to resonate strangely with the system, allowing her, an NPC, to access a player panel and even browse the forum anonymously.
She opened the forum skillfully, and sure enough, the entire 《Aincrad Era》 board was already set ablaze by her.
【Breaking! Epic Plot Twist! Chapter One Final Boss Turns Out to Be a Master of Playing Victim!】
【Video Proof! The Most Absurd Boss Fight in History—Knocks Herself Down Before Battle Even Starts!】
【Screenshot Feast! Mophis the Wife, 360 Degrees of Peerless Beauty With No Dead Angles!】
【Rational Analysis: Exploring the Trigger Mechanism of Hidden Quest ‘Help the Injured Librarian’.】
Mophis clicked into the most popular post, authored by none other than 【Mad Blade】.
He had shared the entire ordeal, including videos and screenshots, exactly as it happened.
The replies had already soared past ten thousand.
“1st floor: First comment! Mad Blade you’re awesome! So what did the boss drop?”
“2nd floor: Replying above, she dropped nothing but loneliness. But we gained a wife!”
“10th floor: I watched the video. I declare—I’m playing this game for sure! Not for anything else, just to see my wife again!”
“55th floor: You bunch of pervs! Doesn’t anyone care about the story? She said, ‘I haven’t seen so many people in a long time, I’m a little nervous.’ That says a lot! It means she’s been guarding the library all alone. So tragic!”
“108th floor: Theory expert here! I suspect this isn’t a bug at all, but an intentional Easter egg by the devs! The real strategy isn’t combat—it’s ‘empathy’! Mophis’s setting is the ‘Lonely Keeper of Books.’ The keyword is ‘lonely’! We need to warm her heart with love!”
Reading the players’ wild imaginations, Mophis didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Empathy? Warm her heart with love? They were overthinking.
She just wanted to survive.
Still, these replies gave her new inspiration.
Players were an incredibly powerful force.
If she could turn them from “enemies” into “allies,” her chances of survival in this world would greatly improve.
As she scrolled further, she saw one player lament: “Too bad there are so many monsters around the library, otherwise I’d visit my wife every day.”
Another replied: “Yeah, the noise from fighting monsters feels like it would disturb Miss Mophis’s rest.”
Mophis’s eyes lit up.
She immediately focused her mind, digging through the library’s environmental code.
Before long, she found a bug related to “ambient sound effects.”
By exploiting this bug, she could tweak the system’s judgement slightly.
After finishing her adjustments, she logged into the forum anonymously with a new account.
In a thread discussing “How to See Mophis Again,” she casually left a reply:
“I guess a graceful, intellectual noblewoman like Miss Mophis would definitely love a quiet environment, don’t you think?”
After posting, she instantly logged off, hiding her identity and merit.
The moment she was done, a wave of weakness hit her.
This frail body was still far too limiting.
Leaning against a bookshelf, she gazed out the window, silently planning her next move.
What she didn’t know was that this seemingly casual reply of hers would soon stir up a storm among the player community.