I'm Not an NPC

Two weeks had passed since I became a cultivator.

I'd become a homeless person.

Well, of course I had — I couldn't even hold down a part-time job. My money had completely run dry, and without enough for rent, I'd been kicked out of my basement studio. Sure, I could live here just fine, but still…

No, no! More than anything, the real reason I'd ended up homeless was the viewers' spartan training policy.

"Um… I tried going into the Tower today as a test, and it actually let me in. Is it okay if I go hunt some monsters?"

I'd only asked out of curiosity, fully expecting them to cheer me on.

The mood shifted in an instant. They talked among themselves, completely ignored my opinion, and reached a conclusion on their own.

Permission? Would they scold me if I didn't?

Had I already been claimed as their disciple?

It suddenly felt like a whole faculty of teachers had materialized out of nowhere. I just wanted to do things my own way. It had only been a casual announcement — why were they deliberating over it so seriously?

Still, when a bunch of people who looked ancient were answering me with such earnest gravity, it was hard to brush them off. Maybe I should listen for now.

"How do I raise my realm?"

"And…?"

"How am I supposed to know where the spiritual energy is densest?"

And so the place I settled on was right here — the 1st Floor Safety Zone near the Tower's entrance. You could call it the safest location a hunter could find. It was the best option available to me.

I hadn't adapted well the first time I entered the Tower. From the outside, it looked like nothing more than a high-rise of a few dozen floors. But once you stepped inside, the land stretched out dozens — hundreds — of times wider than what the exterior suggested.

For reference, the first floor was a vast plain with no end in sight. Each floor was divided into a Safety Zone near the entrance, a public field, and a boss room. In the field, you could run into other hunters; the boss rooms were structured like instanced dungeons, so only members of the same party could enter. You had to clear the boss room to advance to the next floor.

Which was why I — still incapable of fighting — had camped out in the 1st Floor Safety Zone. Sleeping inside the Tower was free, so I could scrape by somehow. The temperature here was a warm spring all year round, so the nights weren't even cold.

Every single day, I climbed onto a large rock near the entrance, settled into a lotus position, and recited the Mind Method.

And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just like that, two weeks had gone by.

Before I knew it, I'd become a first-floor celebrity — or rather, a famous NPC.

Whenever I walked past, hunters would murmur among themselves with open curiosity.

"That's an ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠NPC, right? Not a real person?"

"It was here last time I came at night too. Gotta be an NPC."

"It's not a monster, is it?"

"Monsters can't enter here."

"Um… could I take a picture with you?"

"Kyaaaaah~ So cuuute—!"

"Hello, AllOutHunter viewers! I'm currently standing in front of the first-floor NPC."

At first I considered explaining myself, but I just kept my mouth shut. Thinking about it, it made perfect sense. I was an unregistered hunter with a Delusional Awakening. Only hunters were supposed to be able to enter this place, and I'd snuck in because the Tower happened to let me through. If I started blabbing about this and that and got myself caught, what then?

People said I seemed like an NPC, so I started moving like one — and somehow the treatment got better. If I quietly posed for photos, they'd even give me food. And from that, a strange culture was born.

Starting one day, people began coming to the base of the large rock where I sat in lotus position and offering tributes.

"Lord Goat. Please help me make a lot of money today too."

Some female hunter set down bread and milk at the foot of the rock and pressed her palms together lightly. I waited until she was far away, then climbed down from the rock.

"Ahem. Today's offering is chocolate cream bread and banana milk."

I gathered the tributes into my arms and climbed back up.

Suddenly I'm remembering when I first got here.

It had been pure hell. I'd scraped together every last coin I had to bring emergency rations, and then—

"I've run out of food! What do I do?!"

"How is a person supposed to live without food?!"

No matter how I looked at it, that Ok Hanbinghu definitely hated me. I had no idea why she shot down everything with a hard no.

Anyway, thanks to her, I spent several days starving while reciting the Mind Method. Still, from some point on, hunters started bringing tributes one by one, so at least I didn't starve to death.

By now, the food the hunters had left behind was piled up in a fairly impressive heap.

"Heheh. Just looking at it fills my belly."

Hot! No! Spending ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all day around method actors was contaminating my speech patterns.

Anyway, that was how two weeks had passed. And at last, I'd reached the condition Ok Hanbinghu had set: the fifth layer of the Qi Condensation Stage.

Come to think of it, being a cultivator doesn't seem all that strong?

Apparently this Qi Condensation Stage was the lowest, most noob-tier rank in their world. Which meant it was basically level one. And it wasn't even going from level one to level two — just climbing five steps within that level-one bracket had taken a full two weeks.

Hunters could hit level five after just two runs through the Tower. No matter how I looked at it, leveling up as a cultivator seemed ridiculously brutal compared to hunters.

Still, I'd hit the goal, so I fired up the stream in high spirits.

"I reached the fifth layer of Qi Condensation! I can go hunting now, right?"

But the chat's reaction was ice-cold. I'd expected congratulations — instead, the atmosphere was like I'd committed some grave sin.

I was genuinely outraged. Why would no one believe me?

"It's true! I really am at the fifth layer of Qi Condensation!"

"……."

For a moment, the chat froze solid. I thought the connection had dropped and the stream had stalled.

"Huh? Did it freeze?"

Then the chat exploded.

"……."

The chat froze solid all over again. I was sure the stream had crashed a second time.

"Um, hello?"

And once more, the chat went berserk.

I sat there blankly listening to them talk among themselves for a long while. Then a question suddenly occurred to me.

Mixed Spiritual Root this, Mixed Spiritual Root that — what even was a Mixed Spiritual Root?

"Um. What's a Mixed Spiritual Root? Is it a bad thing?"

Whatever Hyeolha Nojo was saying did not sound good at all.

"Is it a good thing? Or a bad thing?"

Ok Hanbinghu explained.

"Ah! So I need fourteen times more EXP than everyone else."

Wasn't that a trash character build, then?

"Then how did I manage it?"

I roughly understood what she meant. In that case…

"So I can really go hunting now, right?"

These people kept making a huge fuss and gushing with admiration, but honestly, I barely felt any of it. Mage hunters could use every attribute under the sun as long as they got their hands on a skill book — so what was the big deal? If anything, having to fill fourteen separate attributes one by one just to level up sounded like a trash build to me. A Mixed Spiritual Root with all these conditions attached looked worse, not better.

No, no! I still became a hunter! That's something, right?

No — more importantly! Permission had been granted, so it was fine, wasn't it? These people weren't trying to mess with me out of malice. The same people who'd been fretting over me had given the green light.

I climbed down from the rock and walked out toward the public field of the Tower's first floor.