Chapter 269: The Blacksmith Shop Has an NPC, But

"A reversed pocket watch. Looking at the description, it's quite a powerful piece of equipment."

Yun Mu picked up the pocket watch from where the Mayor had vanished, pressed it lightly, and opened the watch's cover.

With a silver-gray metallic coating and matte brass hands, this pocket watch was quite good-looking just by appearance alone.

It's just that its hands were constantly in a state of moving backward; if one wanted to rely on this to tell time, it would likely be rather unrealistic.

However, in contrast, from the moment she held the pocket watch, the precise digits of the current time appeared in Yun Mu's mind—down to the microsecond! It is currently 20:36 at night. Of course, this is the time within the Painted World, not the time of the Dungeon or the real world.

But then again, does the concept of time even exist within a Dungeon?

Harboring this question, Yun Mu stuffed the pocket watch into the inner lining of her coat.

Ever since she obtained the spatial item gifted to her by the Lady of Dark Night, the coat that was originally occupied by all sorts of small trinkets had finally become spacious.

For a pocket watch only the size of a palm like this, she was still able to tuck it away.

"After I return to the real world, I'll experiment with the effect of 【Stop】," Yun Mu thought to herself.

No matter what happens, it can be restored to the state it was in when the watch was pressed... right? She didn't know if this effect would trigger if her body were dismembered or if she died.

Ah, although she was very curious about this point, she would absolutely never try it herself, absolutely not! Important things must be said three times: absolutely, absolutely, absolutely not! "That said, after defeating the Mayor, how can one leave this Painted World?"

Yun Mu looked at the little Knight, namely Asa, and asked.

Previously, she had been dragged by him all the way here, and as a result, she was caught up to by the Mayor, and only under 'compulsion' did she choose to fight him. "I'm a bit curious, if the Mayor hadn't caught up, where were you planning to take me?"

"Of course, to leave this place." Asa looked at the spot where the Mayor died with a somewhat complex expression.

He hadn't expected that outsider to be so strong; if he had known from the start, he wouldn't have taken Yun Mu and run away.

"The edge of the small town has always been shrouded in fog; without someone to lead the way, it's very easy to get lost in the mist." He explained to Yun Mu:

"However, I know a path to leave the small town; even without defeating the Mayor, one can still get out."

"But now, there is no longer any need for that."

The boy shook his head, then pointed his Wooden Sword toward a road sign not far away: "After the Mayor died, those mists will no longer obstruct one's vision."

"Follow the directions on the wooden sign, and you will be able to leave this small town very soon."

"Then what about you all?" Yun Mu asked with some concern: "After we leave, what will happen to this small town?"

"It should return to its original appearance."

Asa scratched his head: "The residents in the small town, including myself, are just Spirituality within the painting."

"Time will forever remain at the moment the painting was completed; for us, this is not a painful thing."

"I don't know how to explain that feeling to humans... when no one enters the Painted World, the painting is merely a painting."

"The Mayor, and us, the reason we evolved into our current state... the cause is actually that Tangjiked stayed in this painting for too long, which led to the abnormality."

"I see... Then why don't you send him out?" Yun Mu appeared somewhat puzzled: "Didn't you just say that you don't need to defeat the Mayor, and as long as you follow the correct path, you can leave the small town?"

"... It can't be done." Asa shook his head: "Whenever the Ghost Festival celebration ends, the time within the small town is reset once."

"Whether it is Asa, or Nina, or other small town residents, everyone will have their 'memories reset'."

"Actually, everyone is played by Spirituality, according to the rules of this Painted World."

"And Tangjiked stayed in this painting for too long; although the world inside the painting is reset every day, the Spirituality cannot rest. After a long time, abnormal situations will occur."

"For example, during a certain reset, the Mayor's memory did not completely disappear, causing the Spirituality playing the Mayor to lose control... After that, even if Tangjiked wanted to leave the small town, he would be obstructed by the Mayor."

"Wait, you aren't Asa, who are you?" Yun Mu interrupted his words and retreated two steps with some vigilance.

The way the other party spoke was like a third party, and much of the information was not something the previous Asa could have known.

"Don't be nervous, I am indeed Asa... it's just that at the core of the painting, after the Mayor died, the Spirituality within the painting rioted completely, and many errors appeared, causing me to suddenly know many things."

"Of course, you can also treat me as a polymer of Spirituality; it's actually about the same, think of it however you like."

"The reason I helped you before was also because there were too many errors in the Painted World, causing the settings of the Painted World to be modified from some point on."

"It's probably that the Mayor of the small town is actually a powerful monster, and although the townspeople know this, they dare not resist and can only pretend not to know..."

"According to this setting, townspeople with different personalities will take completely different actions, and as a boy who has wanted to be a Knight and protect others since he was small, Asa would naturally choose to help you, an outsider targeted by the Mayor."

"Oh, I understand now."

Having said this much, Yun Mu had already understood most of it.

Describing it according to her understanding, the Painted World is a game, and the outsiders who enter the Painted World are the game's players.

When the player has not logged into the game, the game is always in a closed state.

And when the player logs into the game, because the game's playtime is too high, it will cause the game to have bugs.

Generally speaking, as long as the player restarts the game, the bug will disappear.

However, this player Tangjiked has been staying inside the game world, causing the impact caused by the bug to become larger and larger... and finally evolving into its current appearance.

Even servers need regular maintenance, let alone a Painted World that is much more complex than that?

It would be a miracle if this didn't have problems.

"Boom—"

At this moment, rumbling sounds came from the sky in the distance. Watching the boundary at the edge of the sky gradually disintegrating, Asa hurriedly waved his hand:

"Once your curiosity is satisfied, leave quickly; this painting is about to reset to its initial state."

"I know."

Seeing that the world in the painting was about to collapse, Yun Mu did not dare to delay any longer.

After hurriedly saying goodbye to Asa, she took Lucy and ran in the direction indicated by the road sign.

Not long after, before the collapsing void could spread to her side, Yun Mu left the Painted World a step ahead.

"Phew, finally out."

Stepping back onto the hard brick floor inside the Dungeon, Yun Mu exhaled slowly.

At the same time, the Game Panel's message notification refreshed in her mind.

【Congratulations to the player for passing the area 【Elite Challenge lv25 (Elite)】, you have obtained the special item 【Tangjiked's Soul Fragment (???)】】 【A soul fragment attached to a painting, using the power of memory essence to repair itself; if you continue to collect them, perhaps you can resurrect the owner of the soul fragment?】

【Content from a certain unknown notebook: "The attempt to ascend to ■■ failed, my soul suffered ■■, and is heading toward destruction in an ■■ way." "For this, I specifically created this ■■."】

【"Dividing my soul into fragments, then using Spirituality to nourish them, and casting them into various ■■ worlds."】

【"When all the soul ■■ together"】

【"I will ascend to ■■."】

With this, the background story of the Dungeon 【Painting Spirit】, as well as the main quest, were all laid out before Yun Mu.

It turned out this gallery was truly created by that Legendary painter, Tangjiked, with the purpose of protecting his own paintings and the soul fragments hiding within them to recuperate.

Because they were fragments, they lacked the memories of the original body.

Because he himself was the master of the paintings, the mutated Leader did not have the ability to kill Tangjiked.

As for the reason he called him a fake, it was probably just out of shame and anger.

"This should be back to normal now."

Yun Mu walked to the front of 【Painting: Banquet】, only to see the originally somewhat eerie painting suddenly become festive.

The old Knight Tangjiked had disappeared, and the Leader's expression also looked much kinder.

It had probably been reset.

I will mention in passing here that the NPCs in the Painted World are actually a concept similar to AI.

They are all impersonations created by the Spirituality within the paintings based on their character settings; the reason for the errors can likely be understood this way.

Because the Leader's memory was not cleared completely during the last reset, the Spirituality playing the role of the Leader used these memories, and based on the Leader's character setting, determined that the Leader would harbor thoughts of wanting to avoid being reset.

Thus, a series of behaviors consistent with the character setting unfolded.

Then, because the Leader's behavior contained errors, the Painted World's judgment of the Leader also became erroneous.

From an ordinary Leader, it turned into a monster disguised as a Leader, or perhaps a setting where the town's Leader possessed very powerful strength.

This made Yun Mu recall a bizarre incident from a game called Dwarf Fortress on Earth before she transmigrated, where cats, which were set to never touch alcohol, died mysteriously from suffocation due to alcohol Poisoning or fainting.

Simply put, in the game, when a cat's body became stained, it would Lick its body to clean it.

And the Dwarfs' act of drinking would cause alcohol to spill onto the cats, thereby triggering the cats' behavior of licking their bodies.

And it ultimately led to the cats in the game dying from alcohol Poisoning or suffocating on their own vomit.

The world of code is quite magical, isn't it?

"It's about time to keep moving forward."

After resting for a moment in the Elite Challenge area, Yun Mu stood up and continued to explore toward the depths of the corridor.

After the Elite Challenge, it shouldn't take long to reach the area where the Leader BOSS is located.

Yun Mu planned to use an item she had forgotten for a long time before that.

That is... the invitation to the Bloody Training Ground!

As mentioned before, she recently felt that the strength of the Scarlet Knight was having trouble keeping up with the new Dungeon.

Since that was the case, why not go and strengthen it?

Anyway, she had quite a lot of Gold Coins now—Yun Mu glanced at her current Gold Coin count.

14,657... That should be more than enough to strengthen the Scarlet Knight; besides that, she also wanted to raise Lucy's level to lv25.

"It takes 3,200 Gold Coins to go from lv21 to lv22..." Yun Mu sighed silently.

She had thought she was already a rich person, but when she actually calculated it, she found that her Gold Coins were still not quite enough.

"No choice, let's see what the area ahead is before making plans."

The invitation to the Bloody Training Ground could be used at any time, so she didn't need to be particularly anxious.

Soon, a familiar fork in the road appeared before her, and two lines of text floated slowly in the air.

【Suiji Shijian】

【Blacksmith Shop】

"Huh, I could go to the Blacksmith Shop and take a look."

It felt like it had been a while since she had encountered a Blacksmith Shop, and the equipment on her was still waiting for her to strengthen it.

It was just that, because of this... "Sob sob, my Gold Coins..."

Yun Mu walked toward the Blacksmith Shop with a pained expression, already mentally prepared to be fleeced.

Passing through the Darkness of the corridor, a crisp sound of hammering iron came from afar; Yun Mu quickened her pace and saw a square building made entirely of gray-black stone bricks, embedded into the wall.

And beside the furnace outside the building, a female with short black hair was holding a forging hammer, striking the anvil in front of her blow by blow.

"The Blacksmith Shop has an NPC?" Yun Mu's expression was somewhat surprised: "Wasn't it supposed to be a muscular Dwarf warrior? Speaking of which, why does this person feel a bit familiar?"

【You have arrived at the familiar Blacksmith Shop; although it looks very different from your memory, its function is the same, so you do not feel anything strange.

Until you see a human female with black hair sitting at the anvil, hammering a metal ingot.

For some reason, you find her somewhat familiar, and you decide—】【1. Greet her! (All friendships start with a greeting!)】【2. Ignore her. (Even without talking to the NPC, the Blacksmith Shop can still be used)】【3. You, become my Partner! (I won't miss out on any beautiful young girl!)】【4. Slash her with your sword. (For some reason, you always feel that back is somewhat familiar)】 "Hello, are you the owner of the Blacksmith Shop?" Ignoring the options on the Game Panel in her mind, Yun Mu walked straight up to the woman and asked softly.

"Ah, a customer!" Hearing Yun Mu's words, the other party was clearly startled.

Temporarily putting away the things in her hands, the girl raised her face and waved at Yun Mu with a smile: "Hello there~"

"I am the temporary owner of this shop, Guleiya."

"Guleiya?" Yun Mu muttered the other party's name to herself: "That's a very cute name!"

She smiled and folded her hands together, then looked at the other party's face.

"Hmm!?"

Yun Mu's pupils trembled violently twice, and her legs retreated several steps uncontrollably.

"You, you are..."

(End of chapter)