Players, I decided, had too many questions. But with the corruption temporarily held at bay—testing our defenses rather than overwhelming them—I finally had time to worry about answers.

  The fading daylight cast long shadows through Eldermark's hastily-constructed barricades. We had a couple of hours at most before nightfall, and whatever the corruption was planning would likely come with the darkness. Where market stalls had stood just this morning, watchtowers and defensive walls now rose against the purple-tinged horizon.

  We needed more than wooden walls and basic weaponry. We needed players who could adapt when the corruption finally decided to show us what it had been learning.

  At least the system's error messages had stopped screaming about unauthorized modifications. Either it was getting tired, or I was getting better at ignoring them.

  "Hey, quest-giver!" A tall figure in veteran raid gear approached the quest board where I'd been posting new defense missions. His username—MarkedBlade—floated above him, along with an impressive list of server-first achievements. "These quests look... unusual."

  I tried to maintain standard NPC protocols, but after hours of organizing village defenses, my dialogue options felt strained. "The corruption threatens us all, brave adventurer. Will you—"

  "Yeah, about that." He crossed his arms, studying me with the careful attention of someone used to spotting raid mechanics. "I've done this quest chain three times already, and you keep adjusting the objectives based on my performance. NPCs don't do that."

  Warning: Player suspicion detected

  Warning: NPC behavior exceeding parameters

  Recommendation: Reset dialogue tree

  I ignored the warnings. We needed every capable player we could get. "The situation is evolving. The quests need to evolve too."

  "NPCs don't say things like that either." But he was smiling now, more curious than suspicious. "I'm Marcus. And you're... interesting."

  Before I could respond, another voice cut through the morning air: "The readings make no sense!"

  A younger player in researcher's robes paced nearby, waving some kind of scanner that definitely wasn't standard game equipment. His username—DevNull—blazed with achievement badges from technical challenges and puzzle-solving competitions.

  Fantastic. A player with actual debugging tools. Because my day wasn't complicated enough already.

  "Excuse me," he called out, approaching with his scanner held high. "But your code signature is absolutely fascinating! The complexity matrices are orders of magnitude beyond normal NPC parameters, and the corruption integration patterns suggest—" He caught Marcus's raised eyebrow. "Oh, right. Human words. Hi! I'm Dev. Your existence is impossible. Want to help me figure out why?"

  "Maybe don't scan the NPCs without warning," Marcus said, stepping between us with the patient tone of someone used to managing chaotic situations. "They tend to have... specific responses to that kind of thing."

  "But this is incredible data!" Dev barely lowered his scanner before raising it again. "Look at these readings! The base code is standard NPC architecture, but there are layers of corruption modification that shouldn't be stable, much less functional, and—"

  "Um, excuse me?" A new voice, hesitant but determined. "Is this where I turn in the corruption sample quest?"

  I turned to find a player in starter leather armor, her username—SwiftStrike—marked with the "New Player" icon. She held a carefully wrapped package that pulsed with faint purple light.

  "Over here," Marcus waved to the newcomer. "I'm Marcus. This is Dev, our resident scanner enthusiast."

  "Sarah," she offered, adjusting her grip on the sample. "Are you two with this quest-giver? He's... different from the others in town." She approached cautiously, her years of gaming experience clashing with natural curiosity. Her eyes narrowed. "He looks like a normal NPC to me. Except..." She tilted her head. "Are you glowing slightly purple?"

  "Residual corruption effects," Dev supplied helpfully, his scanner whirring. "Probably from enhanced environmental manipulation protocols, though the integration patterns are unlike anything in the current build. I've been tracking similar anomalies across the—"

  "Dev," Marcus said, as Sarah added, "Maybe simplify it for us?"

  "Right, right. Normal words." Dev grinned sheepishly. "Basically, he's an NPC who doesn't NPC like other NPCs. And yes, I'm aware that's not proper grammar."

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  I accepted Sarah's corruption sample, careful to maintain appropriate quest-giver protocols. But as I reached for the standard reward interface, my new powers flickered. The sample's corruption resonated with my own, sending ripples through my perception of reality.

  Warning: Critical anomaly detected

  Warning: Quest parameters corrupted

  Recommendation: Terminate reward generation

  Note to self: Add "May cause reality distortion" to the quest reward tooltips.

  The reward window glitched, standard items transforming into corrupted variants. Before I could stop it, Sarah's reward options included things that definitely weren't in the standard loot tables.

  "Whoa," she breathed, staring at the selection. "Is that... are those corruption-infused throwing knives? Those aren't in any of the new player guides!"

  "Impossible." Dev's scanner sparked slightly. "The item generation algorithms shouldn't be able to produce hybrid equipment like that. The corruption integration would destabilize the entire... huh." He tapped his scanner. "The readings suggest stable mutation patterns, but that would require..."

  "Basic words, Dev," Marcus reminded him, but he was studying the corrupted weapons with professional interest. "Though I have to admit, in fifteen years of MMOs, I've never seen anything quite like this."

  I struggled to maintain the quest interface as more corruption bled through. Standard rewards twisted into new forms, each one bearing traces of what I'd become. The system fought against it, trying to force everything back to proper parameters, but the corruption had its own ideas.

  "I've heard rumors," Sarah said slowly, selecting the throwing knives, "about weird things happening in Eldermark. NPCs acting strange. Quests that don't follow the rules. But I thought it was just forum talk."

  "The corruption's effects are accelerating." Dev had finally lowered his scanner, his expression thoughtful. "The standard game mechanics are becoming unstable. Which means..."

  "We need to hurry." Marcus's raid leader experience showed in his tone. "If the corruption can affect quest rewards like this, what happens when it attacks?"

  The question hung in the air as more players gathered near the quest board. I could feel their uncertainty, their mix of excitement and fear at something new entering their carefully structured world. To them, this was still a game—a strange one, perhaps, but just a game.

  At least nobody had tried to submit a bug report yet. Though I suppose "Quest-giver achieved sentience" might be a bit outside standard customer service protocols.

  "I have more quests," I offered, letting my usual NPC dialogue patterns slip slightly. "If you're willing to help reinforce our defenses. Though I should warn you..." I gestured at the corrupted rewards. "The usual rules may not apply."

  Marcus frowned. "And how exactly do you know where the corruption will spread next?"

  I hesitated. The knowledge wasn’t something I had learned—it was just there, like a system overlay only I could see. "Because the terrain is coded for expansion," I said finally. "See those cracks in the ground? They're weak points in the map's geometry. The corruption follows them."

  Dev blinked. "That... actually makes sense. If the corruption’s adapting like that, it’s basically an evolving AI. That’s—damn, that’s next-level."

  Marcus exhaled, rolling his shoulders. "Alright. You just went from ‘weird NPC’ to ‘probably the only guy here who knows what the hell’s going on.’ So... what’s next?"

  He studied me for a long moment, then nodded. "Well, my algebra students can grade themselves today. This is officially more interesting than their popup quiz."

  "You're a teacher?" Sarah asked, testing her new throwing knives on a practice dummy. Where the blades struck, faint purple corruption spread like frost.

  "High school math." He shrugged. "Raid leading helps with classroom management, believe it or not."

  "The statistical probability of finding three players with complementary skill sets at this exact moment..." Dev's scanner whirred again. "The random encounter algorithms must be evolving too!"

  "Dev," Marcus began, while Sarah smiled and shook her head.

  He blushed. "Sorry! First day actually talking to people in-game. Usually I just data mine from safe distances." He brightened. "Though I have to say, this is way better than staring at combat logs!"

  More players approached the quest board, drawn by the unusual rewards and growing rumors. I created new quests, each one designed to prepare the village for the attack. The corruption in my code influenced every mission, every reward, but now... now that felt like an advantage.

  "So," Marcus said casually, accepting a quest to reinforce the eastern wall, "does our unusual quest-giver have a name? Or should we just call you 'That Weird NPC' in raid chat?"

  I hesitated. NPCs didn't usually introduce themselves unless it was part of a quest. But then again, NPCs didn't usually remember conversations or create corrupted throwing knives either.

  "I'm Kael," I said finally. "And I think we have a lot of work to do in a short amount of time."

  "Well then, Kael." He grinned. "Let's see what other impossible things you can create. Because something tells me we're going to need every bug in the system to survive this."

  Sarah spun her corrupted knives with growing confidence. "As long as these keep working, I'm in. Better than my economics homework anyway."

  "The data patterns suggest a 98.7% chance of imminent crisis," Dev added cheerfully. "Want me to track corruption spread vectors while they handle the physical stuff?"

  For the first time since waking up in this world, I felt something beyond the basic NPC drives and corruption-enhanced abilities. Something the system had never intended us to experience.

  I felt hope.

  And maybe that was the most corrupted thing of all—an NPC with hope. The system was going to love that bug report.

  Warning: Entity "Kael" exceeding design parameters

  Warning: Unauthorized emotional connections detected Final

  Warning: Return to standard protocols or face deletion

  The warning flickered and faded, lost in the growing activity around the quest board. Players organized into their groups, comparing corrupted rewards and replanning defense strategies. Dev's scanner tracked corruption patterns while Sarah taught other new players how to handle their enhanced gear. And through it all, Marcus watched with a teacher's eye, offering guidance where needed.

  The corruption might be here, but I didn’t feel so alone anymore.

  Sometimes the best bugs became features.

  And sometimes broken things worked better together.

  To be continued...

  —

  *Thanks for reading Chapter 4 of The Broken NPC!*

  What do you think about our new team? And what will happen when the corruption finally attacks Eldermark? Let me know your theories in the comments!

  Next Chapter: The corruption arrives in force, bringing horrors that defy the laws of reality itself. But with new allies by his side, Kael must find a way to turn his glitches into advantages before Eldermark falls to the encroaching chaos...

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