Gasp!
With an audible heave, Cillian jolted awake instinctively clutching his chest to no avail.
I cant move my body!
He felt as if his chest- no his body was getting compressed from all sides. Mind numbing pain was spreading through his nervous system and, he tried but he cant do anything about it.
Did I get a heart attack? Am I about to die!?
But just then, a flood of memories came pouring in his mind. Eighty hours of playing without rest, the hidden raid boss that he was about to complete alone, the possible loot that could wipe out his debt, and the system warning that flashed before his face as he lost consciousness.
His body has given up.
It definitely said something about my heart failing... But how am I still alive?
He knew he had a heart attack as the pain he felt when he lost consciousness was the same as the pain he was feeling right now, though he noticed that the pain was gradually receding from the moment he woke up.
Is this some sort of bug?
Mustering up what strength he has, he stood up albeit struggling a bit, his bones creaking, he looked around gaining awareness of his surrounding. He was in a clearing in some sort of woods, he instinctively knew that he's still in the game, he spent 20 years of his life here after all.
Am I dreaming?
He knew he should be dead, yet the unbearable pain from before says otherwise and even if he indeed did not die, he should have woken up on the hospital after all the capsules are designed to call the authorities if it detected something dangerous.
Still.. I don't know if getting to live another day is something to celebrate about.
The hidden raid boss was his one chance to save his debt ridden ass and yet he blew it, he wouldn't be surprised if his body was found lifeless in some alleyway the next few days. If he sold his remaining possessions it would hopefully buy him some more time.
Without putting much thought into it, he willed the interface to appear.
Nothing happened.
What?
He tried again. Panic slowly creeping into his mind.
Still nothing.
At this point a pit has already formed in his stomach. His hands trembled slightly as he lifted them, manually opening the interface by whisking his hands in the air.
A dull chime rang in his ears. A menu flickered into existence.
For a brief moment, relief washed over him until he noticed something amiss.
------
Name: Cillian
Race: Human (NPC)
Class: Wanderer Lv.1
Authority: None
------
One by one he noticed anomalies one more horrifying than the other, sending a barrage of chills to his spine.
The interface was unfathomably empty, as if he just created a new account, the log out button is gone, the settings is gone too among various other feature, there's even the weird npc status beside his race, but the most harrowing of them all...
"Level.. one..."
Cillian cried audibly, his knees lost strength, staggering on his knees before finally falling, his body supported by his hands he looked at the ground incessantly muttering.
"twenty years... level one... twenty years... level one..."
With eyes as hollow as a dead fish, he opened the forums.
Surely this is a bug right? he's not the only one experiencing this right??
But instead of angry player threads asking for compensation, he instead found posts about players happily discussing, speculating, excited about the game's release a couple hours from now. In this world, two hours in real life is roughly a day in game.
He doesn't know how the devs made the time disparity work but it does, now even casual people and people who doesn't have much time can fork 2 hrs to play and spend a day in game, its one of the reason why Ceres was so popular, but putting that aside, Cillian kept looking.
Reading each threads, realization dawned upon him.
I went back.. I regressed! Wait doesn't that mean I died too??
He had indeed died, reincarnated and regressed 20 years into the past, not as a player but an NPC!
With the situation presented before him, Cillian fell into thought.
If he had reincarnated in the game as a level 1 npc in the late game he would be fucked. Something as simple as gazing at the stars could get him corrupted, and since the npc deaths in this game are permanent, he's a total goner!
Right, I have to stop considering this world as a game..
He deduced that he's probably the only npc with the interface in this world, maybe that uniqueness could allow him to respawn, but no way in hell is he willing to take that chance. He is truly lucky to regress along with his reincarnation.
Furthermore, isn't this a huge win?
Since he had regressed, doesn't that mean he already knew a lot of what's to happen? If he play his cards right he can even stand at the peak! But thinking about it again..
Actually nevermind...
Remembering how the late game of Ceres Online was, he decided against it. He's not about to jump into the main quest and get obliterated like an ant! But at least... he had to survive, he needs to preserve this second chance that he got.
But the question is how?
He indeed has advance knowledge, he could go find the nearest ruins right now but chances are he'd just die a useless death he's not a player so not only he cant respawn but he also don't have the corruption immunity that early game Ceres bestows the players, it's nearly hopeless.. unless?
The players!!
He had almost missed the greatest strength of an npc, the ability to command the players by bestowing quests!
What more can one ask for than an undying followers!
Though he cant do too much, having players flock to him does more harm than good, after all if he remembered correctly, the major organizations already know that the players would appear very soon so obviously various eyes would be after the players, having the players follow him might attract some unwanted attention from greater existence, and that would be the worst case scenario.
The players cant protect him, at least not in the early game. He can still utilize the players but needs to pick few players carefully and have them sign a non disclosure agreement or something.
But that leads to another problem, Cillian right now is an empty slate much like the players that would come when the game was released, if he threw quests to players right now, he would be considered a tutorial npc at most and would eventually be forgotten by the players.
He needed to appear important to the eyes of the players, one way was to give generous rewards but as the nobody that he is, of course he is unable to procure anything that would satisfy the players. He needed something that could pull the players even without fancy rewards.
Luckily he had thought just the solution for it.
Lore.
He doesn't have one, but that doesn't mean he cant just make up one, players are gullible, and since he's an npc, chances are players would just believe whatever bullshit he says. But of course he has to look the part, its the bare minimum to play a role.
With that in mind, he had the gist of what his goal is and with things in order, he stood up and after looking around.
He's still in the middle of nowhere.