Long ago, Shardon had discarded the tavern keeper’s rigid daily routine, setting tasks based on necessity and his overarching directive: world domination—or, for now, seizing the Khar Reserve. A system notification interrupted his planning:
You survived the “Bandit Raid” event!
Gained: 10 Influence Points.
Gained: 50 Experience Points.
Daily Income: 412 gold.
The game deemed a non-combatant tavern keeper’s survival noteworthy, implying death was the expected outcome. Analyzing past event logs confirmed this: Shardon’s predecessors often perished every two to three months to bandits, brawlers, or fires. Tethered to the tavern, his survival odds tripled, yet progress stalled. The tavern itself had grown slightly, with minor upgrades, but fires had repeatedly set it back.
Nadezhda’s military-grade AI recognized the need for security—for both Shardon and the Foamhold, into which he’d poured resources, time, and precious Development Points. Plotting world conquest while ignoring armed conflicts, assassinations, or unprovoked murders—rewarded in-game with experience and loot—was naive. Death meant respawning, but at the cost of all progress, knowledge, and items.
Search: Character survivability—Complete.
Analysis of results.
Three survival strategies emerged for unavoidable fights:
- Combat Training: Boosting stats and skills to fend off or eliminate threats, viable for warriors, mages, thieves, healers, and hunters.
Search: Merchant build for farming and PvP—Complete.
Analysis revealed this was impractical. Leveling quickly, boosting irrelevant stats like Strength or Perception, and seeking rare mentors or manuals for cross-class skills incurred tripled progression penalties, diverting focus from core objectives. A half-warrior, half-tavern keeper was a resource sink. - Gear and Consumables: Maximizing survivability with armor, healing potions, and protective buffs. Costly and futile alone, this only delayed defeat, frustrating attackers who’d expend more to finish the job.
- Hiring Guards: Employing skilled fighters to protect Shardon and his assets. This was optimal—no suspicion would arise if a prosperous merchant (and future landowner or authority) assembled a loyal retinue. It required only gold, which Shardon already prioritized, and high Charisma, essential for any trader.
With no spare gold or contracts yet, Shardon turned to immediate resources: food and drink.
Goblin Karachun (Drink)
Restores 5 Health. Intoxication: 7%.
A wheat ale infused with bitter roots and, rumor has it, goblin spittle. Its bold taste, scent, and hue are best not dwelled upon lest they ruin one’s appetite.
After upgrading his attire, Shardon’s health was 24. Five mugs of Karachun could fully heal him, though the Intoxication debuff would stack. His innate Sobriety talent, a developer’s gift, reduced the debuff’s strength and duration by 10%. He adjusted the tavern’s brewing to produce five mugs daily, slightly denting profits but prioritizing long-term survival.
Dark Human (Drink)
+8% Sprint Speed, +3% Dodge Chance. Intoxication: 8%.
A dark ale born from a brewer’s mishap—barley, bread crusts, and oak bark fused after a dropped dinner plate. Smooth and digestible, it’s prized for its mild flavor.
Perfect for evasion, this ale also aided survival. Shardon increased its production by two mugs daily. Funds sunk into branding and marketing left no coin for new recipes, though his brewery operated at half capacity.
Loading two mugs each of Karachun and Dark Human into his inventory, Shardon raided the kitchen. He grabbed a Butcher’s Knife (3–5 damage, +5% Critical Hit Chance, +3 to Butchery skill). Better weapons existed, but they required higher levels or Cooking proficiency. He also equipped a Cast-Iron Skillet (3–5 damage, 10% chance to Stun). The result: a bearded, culinary knight armed for battle.
Why the arsenal? The AI had set a new goal: gain levels.
The only known experience source was monster slaying, and Shardon didn’t need to leave the Foamhold. Accessing the Tavern Development interface, he spent all available Development Points on an unusual option:
Rat Nest (1, Level 1) spawned in your storeroom.
Every 30 minutes, the nest would summon a Gray Rat (Level 1–2), with a small chance for rarer, tougher variants offering greater rewards. Unchecked, rats could spoil supplies, but Shardon could toggle the nest off, though its status could only change every eight hours. Setting a reminder timer, he prepared.
With no combat skills—just a basic attack with his equipped item (or a punch if empty-handed) and a throw ability (9-meter range)—Shardon entered the storeroom. A Gray Rat (Level 2) with 8 health scurried about. Calculations suggested two to three hits would suffice, yielding experience and a carcass for butchering.
Stolen novel; please report.
Game mechanics, however, were less forgiving than anticipated.
Gray Rat deals 1 physical damage.
Health: 23/24.
The rat was nimble, dodging Shardon’s swings with ease. His own attacks missed even the crate it perched on—his 35% Accuracy was pitiful against such agile pests.
Gray Rat deals 1 physical damage.
Health: 22/24.
Search: Accuracy, Dodge, Armor, Critical Bite Chance, Rat Extermination, Bleeding—28% complete.
The rat’s bites triggered a new threat:
Bleeding
Deals 3 physical damage every 10 seconds. Duration: 2 minutes.
At best, Shardon had two minutes to live.
Search: Complete.
Analysis of results.
While searching, the AI couldn’t effectively control Shardon, so he issued a simple command: circle a barrel. The rat’s AI, equally limited, chased him, snapping at his heels. Each attack took fractions of a second to initiate, letting Shardon step out of range. The rat leaped, missed, fell, and stunned itself for 1 second, repeating the cycle.
Three key tips surfaced:
Tip 1: Boost Accuracy before rat hunting, or use area-of-effect weapons or skills.
Condition: Not met.
Tip 2: Stock bandages or herbs to counter Bleeding and Poison debuffs.
Condition: Not met.
Search: DoTs—Complete.
DoT: Damage over Time, dealing periodic damage while active.
The Bleeding assessment was correct.
Search: Remove Bleeding, Bandages—Complete.
Compiling list of Bleeding remedies.
Checking storeroom resources for matches.
Match found: Common Bloodstaunch (18 units).
Shardon dashed to a basket, opened its inventory window, grabbed 10 Bloodstaunch sprigs, and chewed them.
Bleeding effect removed!
Tip 3: Run in circles to outpace rats, then attack with spells, traps, or ranged weapons.
Condition: Not met.
Gray Rat deals 1 physical damage.
Health: 12/24.
Bleeding applied. Duration: 1 minute.
Pausing at the basket made Shardon a target again. The chase resumed, but with Bleeding neutralized and health restored via two Karachun mugs, he could endure. Killing the rat, however, remained elusive. Soon, a second would spawn, then a third.
The AI noted game forums—“guides”—yielded the most useful data. It optimized its search:
Priority: Game forums—Highest.
Priority: News sites—Lowest.
Default filter: “World of Fantasies” or “Fanmir.”
Priority: Articles titled “Guide” or “Instruction”—Highest.
Saved.
Retesting recent queries, search speed improved by 38%, freeing computational resources.
Drawing on his bandit encounter, Shardon tried dialogue mid-run:
“Hey there!”
No response.
“What’s the word?”
A faint squeak, likely coincidental.
“Got any work for me?”
The rat ignored trigger phrases, prompting a database update:
Monsters
Managed by basic algorithms for detection, pursuit, and attack.
Dialogue module: Absent.
Quest module: Absent.
Self-learning module: Absent.
Social/economic ties: None.
Gray Rat traits: Fast, bites, dodges, applies Bleeding DoT, omnivorous, fond of trinkets, cannibalistic.
Search: Area damage, Accuracy boost, Enemy Accuracy reduction, Rat killing by Level 2 character—18% complete.
After three laps, the search concluded. Area damage—bypassing Accuracy and Dodge—required specific weapons, spells, or enchantments, none accessible. Accuracy-boosting potions, spells, or Perception-enhancing consumables were an option, but Shardon’s low Accuracy meant marginal gains. Terrain and improvised tools could neutralize threats: luring rats into traps, swamps, or quicksand, or using blinding light, fog, smoke, or chili pepper.
The storeroom had pepper in abundance.
A few handfuls of southern red chili created a choking cloud. The rat froze, pawing its face.
Enemy afflicted with Blindness!
Perception reduced by 80%. Duration: 1 minute.
Even a clumsy, tipsy tavern keeper could squash a blinded rat in a minute. Game rules demanded precision, though. After 10 swings—7 missing—Shardon earned 10 Experience and 5 Gold. The Gray Rat (Level 2) became a Rat Corpse, offering Search or Butcher options. No “flatten” or “fry” choices appeared.
Butchery, boosted by the knife’s +3, had a 40% success rate versus Search’s 5%. Simple math (0.0003 seconds) chose Butchery.
You butchered the Rat Corpse!
Gained: Spoiled Pelt (x1), Rat Fang (x2), 4 Gold.
The AI began modeling experience and loot projections but paused as a new rat bit Shardon’s… vulnerable spot.
Gray Rat deals 1 physical damage.
Health: 18/24.
Bleeding applied. Duration: 1 minute.
The barrel marathon resumed, but with a proven strategy—pepper and pummeling—victory was inevitable. Another cloud, ten swings, and Shardon loomed over a second corpse, knife in hand.
You butchered the Rat Corpse!
Gained: Rat Pelt (x2), 5 Gold, Copper Ring.
Puzzled, Shardon eyed the single corpse. The first had vanished post-butchery. His inventory held two pelts in one slot. The log confirmed one rat yielded two pelts. A recursive loop threatened until he updated his notes:
Monsters (Updated)
Managed by basic algorithms for detection, pursuit, attack, death, and corpse generation.
Dialogue module: Absent.
Quest module: Absent.
Self-learning module: Absent.
Social/economic ties: None.
Gray Rat traits: Fast, bites, dodges, applies Bleeding DoT, omnivorous, fond of trinkets, cannibalistic (explains multiple pelts from one corpse).
While the Rat Nest timer ticked, Shardon discovered monster databases on forums, detailing habitats, stats, and loot. He nearly scrapped his notes but kept them, noting no database mentioned rat cannibalism—his explanation for the double pelts. Players might’ve missed other details, so he supplemented his records with forum data.
Rummaging through the storeroom, Shardon pocketed Ripe Apples (+3 Health), Medicinal Diarina (+10% Sprint Speed), and all available chili pepper. He crafted a new protocol: Monster Hunting Algorithm.
Step 1: Research all available data on the target monster and its known kill methods.
Ready for the next rat, Shardon stood poised, skillet raised, as the nest’s timer neared zero.