Chapitre 126: Finding Moirai (2)
The ghost town was bustling ever so full of life as if nothing had ever happened here. Many strange scenes took place in it, which would leave any outsider more than speechless. Even if someone was capable of solving this mystery, understanding the implications behind it is not something that anyone could comprehend.
It would require a lot of elusive information which go against common sense to even have the faintest sliver of a chance to understand the reason for all of this. Not only was it rare that an NPC had been cloned numerous times, but also that those clones were showing different traits and behaviour.
The original on its own had been the cause for many truly thought-provoking events. Unleashing more of it onto the world of Primal Survival was bound to create a heap of trouble. The danger it posed was still in its infancy, as most clones seemed to be preoccupied with following a weird routine.
They were in a horizontal position and kept on moving their entire body up and down with the help of their arms. What had started on a whim by Moirai himself had turned into a group exercise in which nearly every Moirai still in town was participating in.
It was a simple movement, which every one had taken a liking to as they resumed to do it meticulous and full of care. The players had discarded their previous wariness and joined the NPC in their effort. Even Tom, who still could not make sense out of the situation, was currently trying his best to copy the movement of the NPCs.
Now it was the 2 Moirais, that had the previous secretive discussion, which stood out like a sore thumb, leaving them with no choice but to continue their talk, while following the current trend. Although they did so albeit with displeasure clearly visible on their faces. They even murmured something about being forced to follow in the footsteps of a human.
Any outsider stumbling on the scene witnessing something like this would seriously contemplate and doubt their own senses. A sight like this was not something which had ever taken place in or outside of this world.
Seeing a horde of NPCs in all shapes and forms doing the same exercise with their body over and over again would be a cause of concern even for the one who had started this kind of movement.
But while the activity in the town had changed that did not mean, that they had stopped trying to prove their superiority to the rest. Loud remarks and baseless claims were made trying to discredit others while flaunting their own strength.
Which prompted a strange competition in which Moirai tried to surpass others in the new exercise everyone was currently doing. They did not stop trying to taunt others while they kept on doing the repetitive movement over and over again.
Since those NPCs were based on the original Moirai, this kind of taunt had the reverse effect as they were even more motivated to surpass the others. Despite the fact, that that kind of training was useless for most Moirais they still did it without complaining.
All of them were possessed enough strength that it would not have any effect on them. The exercise was done by Moirai in the first place, to create a suitable body for his fighting. None of them did have the ability to heal and regenerate as Moirai, that is why such an exercise would not have any short term benefit.
Whether it was due to the social pressure exerted by everything one else doing it or the fact, that they had nothing else to do, they still continued to do push-ups.
While the Moirais on the outside of the city were causing fighting and disturbances wherever they went, the people on the inside continued to do this leisure activity. Upon their arrival in the city, they had quickly adapted and begun to mimic the behaviour of those who had arrived before them.
Which caused a chain reaction that ended up with hundreds of clones copying the movements shown in front of them. It did not stop at that as the stream of Moirai approaching the town had yet to stop.
Despite it being heavily restricted numerous players currently battling a version of Moirai trying to capture it. They were still some that arrived in the town and joined in on training. Those who did join the training went out of the city to hunt monsters or other materials in an attempt to prove their strength to others by different means.
Which resulted in the other strange sight which would leave anyone seeing it dumbfounded. in the outer perimeter of a town, there was a vast amount of materials, which should not have been there, especially not in such astronomical numbers.
Monster corpses, trees and rocks, everything which had not been rooted in the solid ground could be found strewn across the floor. These poor monsters did not know what they had done wrong before their lives had ended in cold blood and the corpse ended up in this abandoned town.
From small to big, from weak to strong every kind of monster could be found amid this mountain of materials. But the part that others would deem weird was not the display of monsters, it was rather the ungodly amount of wood that was now in this town.
Why a certain Moirai decided, that beating down defenceless trees over and over again was the distinctive proof for his strength was not something which anyone could fathom. The moment he had set his eyes on a tree its fate had been sealed.
The previous lush surroundings full of trees were now getting more and more barren, as this special version of Moirai was treating the path of vengeance against the flora and fauna. They were no signs of anyone or anything stopping this kind of behaviour any time soon.
This weird target was only surpassed by another set of Moirais which had decided to target rocks. Where they had managed to find rocks of this size was unclear in the first place. But looking at the destroyed soil in the near surroundings it was not hard to imagine, where they came from.
The surrounding nature was more and more altered as the plague of Moirai ravaged through it. There were no signs of this treatment stopping any time soon. The threat of the players was kept at bay by the Moirias which had ventured out even further to hunt monsters and the clones which were still walking to the town.
Enslaving an NPC of Moirais calibre was by no means an easy feat to achieve, the NPC was truly not interested in listening to any kind of proposition or desperate plea whatsoever. It also was strong enough to fight against multiple mages equally. It also did not help, that some players were hesitating to use their full strength to not destroy the chance to obtain it through other means.
It also certainly did not help their odds, that feelings of frustration started to build up inside of those Moirais since their plans had been disrupted over and over again by that pesky players.
Every attempt from players to hire Moirai was met with blatant refusal and the person who had made that decision drew all the ire of Moirai onto him. This left many players wondering what needs to be done until Moirai is willing to become their subject.
Every approach from their side ended in failure or with multiple profanities hurdled at them. This was another trait, which nearly every Moirai had taken over from the predecessor. But they did not merely copy the insults from the original. No, they had perfected their craft and used insults, that were deeply hurtful and fitting perfectly onto their target.
While the original Moirai still had not grasped the cultural norm with all of its associated values, the clones were able to take full advantage out of said knowledge to slander the enemy to their heart's content.
The provocations which formerly had been nothing more than child's play had been weaponized much to the dismay of the players which found themselves under the verbal wave of attacks. It was a first for them as well, seeing an NPC that treated them like that.
That is why it came as no surprise that emotions started to get involved the second their honour had been tarnished. Whether a peasant or a member of the Church, the importance placed on the upkeeping of honour was highly important.
Seeing the white in their eyes and the apparent loss of any rationality it was more than obvious that all of their words had successfully angered the players. Only the players who had come into contact with the cheap provocations already were just barely able to resist the improved version.
Even Samantha and Laura wondered whether it was still the same Moirai, the one who had taken the cowards way out in their last encounter. How can someone like that possess such a vile tongue? This question echoed in their minds as they tried to keep calm and force him to become theirs.
The seemingly impossible task of finding Moirai had been easily solved just like that. Some minor figure, of some soon to be forgotten noble lineage, requested some special treatment in the next selection process for the training their families provided and it was done.
It did not take long for them to find Moirai in all of his glory. Although judging by the expression on his face, he was entirely unaffected by their arrival. Instead of the usual taunting and strange acts, the NPC just walked past them and did not bat an eye to their presence.
The NPC did not react at all to their words and declined every one of their offers. It did not even react to the invitation of a fistfight. Every attempt at conversation was met with absolutely no reaction at all.
It was as if the Moirai in front them had no recollection of them and treated them as nothing more than air. There were many details, that did not add up given the behaviour of this Moirai. His mannerisms were the same without a doubt. But his body was a lot more muscular and his height had increased by quite a margin.
This caused Laura to doubt the intel from their source of information but the undoubted truth right in front of their eyes did not leave any room for doubt. The status of the NPC was the same.
Name: Moirai
Race: ???
Age: ???
Status: Can not be determined
Health: ???
Mana: ???
Strength: ???
Intelligence: ???
Dexterity: ???
Endurance: ???
Faith: ???
Samantha managed to dispel the last of her lingering doubts by reminding Laura about her first encounter with Moirai and his muscular frame back then.
Although this still could not explain the outward indifference shown to them. Reading the mind from Moirai left Laura even more dumbfounded as in it was only a constant stream of thoughts related to trying to surpass the others. Who the others referred to could not be determined as Moirai was not having any other thoughts in his head.
Which was just as weird as he normally would have made a snarky comment since he was aware of her ability. But the proof of him being the Moirai was right in front of her eyes, so she put every worry aside and focussed on obtaining Moirai.
The other stuff could be taken care off after Moirai was finally in their grasp. Although this matter was by no means achieved with ease given their history with that NPC they were painfully aware of exactly how hard it was to deal with this NPC.
Since it did not show any indication to react to anything they said, they resorted to magic to get its attention. The former minor annoyances were not enough to warrant a reaction but once magic had been involved Moirai had no other choice but to react.
Instead of a longwinded speech Moirai just ran towards them without any shred of hesitation. With fury in his eyes, he began to throw his attacks. It did not take much effort for Laura and Samantha to dodge these attacks due to them forcing Moirai to halt his attacks thanks to their magic.
But the clone was not interested in stopping at that as he launched his body forward once more to close in on the 2 girls. His movement was greeted by yet another wave of magic coming into his direction forcing him to dodge the attacks once more.
Seeing that his initial approach did not hit a mark, Moirai switched tactics and started talking to them using vicious remarks trying to rile them up and make them lose focus. That did not mean, that he stopped trying to attack them though.
Sooner or later they could not avoid taking it seriously and using all of their magic to the full extent as Moirai had continuously used more strength and speed in their battle. They did not remember Moirai to possess this level of ability.
The words it spoke were weighing heavy in their minds, as it taunted them about their inability to take care of one measly NPC. Which in itself was a true statement, since normally NPCs should never be superior to talented players but Moirai had been a big exception to this rule since its first appearance.
They were forced to spent a lot of magic and mana just to keep themselves alive and those attacks who did manage to land on Moirai were shrugged off, as they were not enough to leave any visible damage on his body.
He looked rather excited from the prospects of this current battle as a big smile was plastered on his face. His movements and tactics had not slowed down and it felt like that it used the pressure it faced as a tool for practice.
But Laura and Samantha did not reach their position due to their lack of talent and ability as they also adapted to Moirai and used their magic more efficiently. Despite the strength of Moirai, it was still unable to deal with his enemies.
It was challenging for him to find a flaw because of the versatility of magic, especially since those 2 know how Moirai operates and makes use of everything in order to win a fight. Yet, he still had a beaming smile on his face, as he fought on and on.
This persistence was another factor which caused the fight to turn into a war of attrition. Laura and Samantha were painfully aware of this fact but chose not to act rashly. Because even they were enjoying the challenge this NPC brought to them.
It was rare for them to fight a battle which required something different than just simply overpowering the enemy with magic. An opponent like Moirai was a refreshing experience that tested their entire skillset.
They had never expected the world of Primal Survival to be this realistic and challenging to them. The time to admire this simulated world was abruptly cut short by Moirai as he continued his vehement assault.
The fight continued once more with no side showing any signs of backing down any time soon. Fights like these took place all around far outside of the city. Strangely none of them had come into contact with another group fighting the NPC of their desire.
While all of this was taken place, more and more Moiras had come back with many monster corpses and presented them proudly to the rest. In the end, they were just thrown onto the pile and those Moirais joined the exercise.
Some displeased with the lack of response decided to hunt for even bigger prey and left the city once more to search for it. The activity from the versions obsessed with rocks and trees had yet to decline as more and more materials appeared in the city.
They appeared carrying the goods and made their way back out of the city to gather more of it. No one really saw them wasting any time in the city as they ran back to collect more and more. From all different versions of Moirai, they were the biggest outliers.
Although everything that had to do with Moirai was in itself an anomaly. It was hard for an outsider to discern what was weirder when everyone seemed insane on the outside.
Only the red circle was expanding ever so slowly on the ground covering more and more of the ground. Despite it being visible to the naked eye no one seemed to be aware of its existence as everyone continued to do what they have been doing.
Its purpose or function was entirely unknown. The only thing known about it was that it never stopped expanding.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone