938 The Cockatrice

After showcasing the death of the Weasel and Raccoon, there wasn't anything else worthwhile for the spectators to see. Hence Bear Cub One switched the cinema screens to another group attempting Nian's dungeon instance.

The Cockatrice ended up as the only survivor of their particular group and a screen popped up in front of him. He was asked whether he wished to use the 'Emergency Mercenary System'. Jin had inserted that feature for this limited time event since he was aware of how hard the special dungeon was. At the time, it had been designed for those cases where only one person survived a hard fight and not exactly this kind of situation.

Of course, as the name implied, the mercenaries that were sent through this emergency deployment required even more Panda Medals than the ones on the ship, and there were no free Panda Mercenaries to choose from here. 

Alternatively, the Cockatrice had the option of soloing whatever side quest he wanted to or even the boss if he thought he would be to handle it. Any kill he managed to make would subsequently be collated as part of his score. Of course, the final option would be to voluntarily abandon the current run and start over with a clean slate. (or run with the same group with the current save state.)

The Cockatrice hesitated whether he should just call it quits for the day. Super NPC Captain Hei had given him quite the scare. Still, he ultimately decided to just spend the Panda Medals as part of his guilt trip, and he ended up hiring the maximum amount of four Panda Mercenaries to protect him.

However, the System never forgets, and the expression on the Mercenaries were not very pleasing either. Nevertheless, since they had been paid the coin for his deployment, the Panda Mercs followed the Cockatrice's orders and continued the dungeon while making their dissatisfaction of working for someone like him audibly known. As for the employer, he could only hope he would earn back some panda medals to cover the extensive amount of medals he spent (and to some extent, money.)

Since the "special" scene had died down and the audience's attention shifting to the new group, Kong Rong finally had some time to think consider the consequences that Jin might have prepared for the two offending cultivators. He even questioned Kraft, but that crafty old Fox merely told him to ask Jin directly. 

"You have access to the System Channel now, don't you? You're already working with him, might as well ask, you stupid Senior Associate. Here, let me open it up for you." Kraft said as he instantly opened a telepathic System channel between the trio again.

"Yo, Jin, Mr Walkthrough wants to know what happens to the two dipshits you just punished. Nice one by the way, though you could have made them suffer a bit more for my taste." 

"All the more reason to hear it from the source. That way you can write something better." Kraft grumbled.

"Sometimes, just knowing a little is enough to spark my inquiring mind. Getting told the answer without reaching the conclusion yourself has its perks and cons." Kong Rong answered Kraft's unspoken question about why he didn't go to Jin directly, yet Kraft merely rolled his eyes at the 'inquiring' portion.

"So, do you want me to tell you? Or shall I continue to keep quiet and let the offenders experience it firsthand?" Jin asked as he was a little amused by the two old men interacting with each other.

"Since this Fox already opened the channel, I shall take the opportunity to learn about it. Like I said, knowing has its perks and I personally think it would be best for this new punishing matter to be addressed clearly." The State Agent took his hobby about writing walkthroughs for Jin's dungeon quite seriously.

"You are right. I guess you're the perfect person to inform the masses, even better than me at times. It's actually annoying that some think that I am purposely being cryptic because of the way I write things or even suggest that my words had some underlying meaning in them." Jin rolled his eyes in the Dungeon Maker instance and sipped some water to clear his throat.

"Well, you are the developer of these dungeons. Most people can't take things at face value with the creators, and besides, you always leave a small trail of tidbit to keep the people excited. Not to mention there are times where you just surprise people without any prior warning like with the new raids, especially the emergency ones. I'm already taken aback that quite a number of people do actually come back for those emergency raids. Hmmm, with the revelation of the System, it makes me wonder… have you put us under some unknown ancient suggestion spell so that we always come back for more?"

"Can't you just say that my dungeons are awesome?" Jin moaned a little, hoping for better compliments, especially from someone of such high status in society.

"Your dungeons can be better." Kong Rong chortled with some laughter. Eventually, the talk returned to the new punishment system Jin had placed (in a rather impromptu manner).

For any Pandarens who had been targeted by the Super NPC Captain Hei, the villagers would treat them differently, ranging from slight distrust to mild disgust.

The attitude wasn't the only thing affected, but they would give them fewer tips or guidance and things sold by the NPCs would have their cost increased by 10% for first time offenders. Repeat offenders would get more and more severe penalties. Mercenaries would at times actively ignore their commands, and this could potentially discourage gameplay. They would even have a red skull on their status, to indicate to other players that the person had intentionally killed an NPC in the dungeon instance.

Initially, Kong Rong wondered if these cultivators would even return given the harsh treatment that awaits them, but Jin believed his reasoning was fair and square. He did not need to earn money from anyone who disrespected his NPCs because he was there to create cohesive and conducive gameplay for everyone. Some rules had to be placed with strict adherence, otherwise, when the time came for Jin to create the Virtual Reality Network, there would be chaos.

Naturally, Jin was looking into other features that could liven the NPCs too and perhaps tweak the NPC punishment system by introducing something like a redemption system. However, for now, Jin prefered being too strict over too lax in regards to the NPC killers. 

"Then what about Player killers? I remember there was some form of friendly fire? Like in the Pandapolis Defence Raids, some of the Pandarens were killed accidentally because they could not recognise friend or foe." Kong Rong questioned whether some of the Pandarens were intentionally killed from stray fire.

"Obviously, now you know that they were being situated in another world, you will understand why that was unavoidable. The System did review the friendly fire incidents with its exceptional data collecting and found that most if not all of them were accidental. For my dungeon instances, I put a limit in. Even if a teammate hits you, you only suffer 10% of the actual damage. This is just to give them the reality of being in their teammate's line of fire."

"Hmm, yeah. That might make for some great training, although the military might have a better use for. If Hou Fei comes back, then I would suggest resetting the limit back to 100% because they have handled more serious situations than cultivators." Kong Rong remarked as he closed his notebook and coincidentally the featured dungeon on the cinema screens ended as well. (They died from the ambush in the caves)

"Alright, I have enough information for now, so I shall call it a day. Need to do some visiting the next day too. Dragon Clan duties. Goodbye Jin, have a good new year holiday." Kong Rong sighed a little as he teleported out of the Panda Street Instance. There were too many things to consider on his way back home.

Separately, to Jin's dismay, both the Elder Pandarens and Pandawans had similarly failed to fight against the Nian limited dungeon event. Nevertheless, it was to be expected as a dungeon completion on the night when it launched would put Jin to shame. Aside from that, Jin requested the System to inform him if there were any other significant developments.

Otherwise, Jin was intending to do some hotpot hopping to mingle around with his minions before the sunrise. Now that a few key people already knew that he was alive and kicking, others would also be coming around to kick his 'door' down to find him.