Reincarnated Jester: Taming Players

Five players braced between the trees. They intended to observe the famous Balatro. An NPC who popped up out of nowhere and acted like a total nutcase.

Some of them had a hard time believing that he was a character from the game.

The way he talked, the way he held himself—everything indicated he knew about players and the system they had.

What if he was an important character in World Of Archetypes and the main storyline started with him?

To uncover the truth about these speculations, they resolved to find out more about this character and his strength. Unfortunately for them, he sprinted out of sight and they lost him.

As this group was exploring the surrounding territory, one of them dropped to the ground, dying instantly. There were no signs of what caused this. Consequently, a panicked frenzy started.

"What happened?" asked a girl with a Lover archetype.

"I have no idea! He died, and I couldn't even see what happened!" responded the other, this time a boy with an Artist archetype.

In the meantime, a black cat spawned on top of them. Light green eyes peered out from her fluffy fur. A glimpse was all they could catch.

Getting their attention, the cat faded out of the world, and one of their comrades fell again.

"We are under attack!" A Caregiver yelled in dread.

"And it's a cute cat!" Added to that, this party included one Jester.

The ruthless creature was nowhere to be found. Vanishing like she never existed, there was no way for those players to find her.

Using threads from Shadow Star, Nero moved through them and emerged one more time. Changing her position or the path she occupied was as easy as breathing for her.

She was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Nero could arise from any place she desired and smack players with no danger whatsoever.

And that was precisely what she was doing. Taking her time, she wanted to play around more as Jung didn't meddle in her affair.

Ecstatic, Nero teleported from one place to another. Not slaying players until she was content with this new authority.

Genuinely enjoying herself, Nero liked what she was doing, especially bullying these helpless players.

After about three to four minutes, when all the players gave up and accepted their relentless death, Nero finally offered them peace. She appeared from their blind spot and one-shotted them.

[Beast in your possession slayed players.] 

[You are still getting the same loot.] 

'Great.' Jung was waiting for it, and getting confirmation was all he needed. 

Five lifeless players dropped to the ground. Before silence fell and Nero appeared in reality, Jung left his hiding spot and laughed once more.

"After seeing you in action, I like you more." He declared and went for the hug.

The emotions Nero experienced were still present. Sitting still, letting Jung caress her head, she was truly satisfied. "I don't know how you get it, but I am in love with it. Shadow Star is our treasure, and I thought that hateful god destroyed it."

One could see her playful side in her voice and the way she meowed. "My ancestors guarded it for generations. I had no hope that one day we would get it back."

Soon, the kitten mewed again, expressing how grateful she felt. "Thank you. If I had any doubts, all of them are now gone."

Shaking his hands, Jung said, "Don't worry about that." He took a breather and collected all the pills the players had dropped. "You are truly my Pookie, with sadistic tendencies."

"What do you mean?" Nero asked in confusion. "Don't compare me to someone like you."

"Ohh, you don't know how wrong you are." Correcting the cute animal, Jung sighed. "You enjoy harassing players. JUST LIKE ME!" And he snickered after that.

No word could reach his ears. The sound of his laughter was so loud. Nero's telepathic voice couldn't overcome it.

"I am nothing like you!" The cat was adorable, trying to argue with him, but to no avail.

Bored Jung couldn't care less about her complaints. He went deeper into the forest, hopeful of finding something rewarding.

His adventure included climbing up to the mountain. Nothing was amusing and thrilling in that, but he wanted to reach uncharted territories to find stronger monsters. His goal was to reach tier III as soon as possible and get more powerful.

His intrinsic motivation, of course, was Elara. A precious sister he missed greatly. 'I will find you! Please hang on!'

Patience was all he could do, but there was no time for that. Lisa and Baki had mentioned the academy, and he despised the very idea of going there. 'Me and a bunch of brats together in the same class? That's asking for disaster to happen.'

So he wanted to improve and show his parents his potential. All this just to ease their worries about him. And maybe they wouldn't pester him to study in the academy.

Head full of thought, Jung reached a new area. A zone Baki never allowed him to venture into. It was far from the city, and coming here was even riskier.

The expectations he carried quickly crumbled. Hearing chitchatting wasn't something he was ready to encounter. "What is happening? Don't tell me…" Jung had a prediction, which turned out to be spot on.

Pure chaos—these two words could describe the scene he saw after hiking up to the mountains. Players were everywhere. They looked idle and inactive, with nothing to do.

"Wait, is that Balatro?" Someone shouted, and suddenly all eyes darted to Jung.

"That's him, but what is he doing here?" They all wanted to know what the infamous NPC was doing there.

However, some players had no clue about him. "Who is this? Why are you guys freaking out?"

However, some considerate players shushed them and explained the manners they needed to employ before him.

As for Jung, he stood in front of this sea of players, batted no eye and asked in his usual tone. "What are you guys doing here?"

The silence was brief, and answers were quick, while too many of them were heard, Jung raised his hand and chose one player.

"There is a dungeon here. We've been trying to clear it, but no one has managed to." The potato-looking player explained with fear for his life.

"Dungeon, you say. Wonderful, I am going to clear it." He was set on the objective, and because of his smile, his facial expression was so creepy that no player could bear to look at him.