[Game World: Ebonvale]Region: Ravencross Training GroundsTutorial Code: 7-T.N.P.C.
The tent was moldy. The sword was dull. The trousers were... historically traumatizing.
Taro Kuronuma woke up to the smell of boiled cabbage and unwashed hero boots.
"Ugh," he muttered. "So this is hell."
A pop-up appeared above his head:
WELCOME TO YOUR NEW LIFE!Role: Tutorial NPC – Sword Instructor Tier IGoal: Teach Hero how to swing swordRestrictions: Cannot leave tent. Cannot level up. Must die in scripted goblin attack.Pay: 1 crust of bread per week.Expression settings: Default Grunt
Taro read the fine print. Then looked at his reflection in a rusty breastplate.
"I look like a knockoff Skyrim extra," he said. "...I love it."
A teenage hero-in-training stumbled into the tent, dragging a sword too big for his arms.
Taro stood straight. The code tried to override his voice with "Standard Greeting Line #4," but he forced a smile and said:
"Welcome, traveler. Today you learn how to cut people emotionally and physically."
The player blinked. "Uh... what?"
Taro handed him the sword. "Step one: Aim for the legacy."
"Is that in the controls?"
"No," Taro whispered. "It's in your soul."
On day three, the code triggered the scripted tutorial finale: a goblin bursts in, kills the NPC, and the player gets revenge.
Taro sat sharpening a butter knife.
SYSTEM WARNING:Death event triggering.Please assume correct posture for dramatic NPC expiration.
He rolled his eyes.
"I'm not dying in a moldy tent to a goblin with three frames of animation."
When the goblin kicked the tent open, Taro lunged.
He didn't dodge. He danced.He didn't swing, he improvised, flipping a nearby bench into the goblin's face and disarming it with flair.
The young hero screamed.Taro flipped his hair. "You're welcome."
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED:"Script Breaker – Survived your own tutorial death."
Word spread fast:
"The NPC punched a goblin to death with a cooking pan.""He gave me relationship advice while teaching swordplay.""He wears eyeliner under his helmet.""He said my destiny arc lacked tension!"
Other tutorial NPCs began whispering.
Players kept returning to his tent, not to train, but to hang out. They left flowers. Fan art. One bard wrote a ballad called "The Man in the Moldy Tent."
Back at the Bureau, alarms blared.
Riku opened Taro's soul file.
"HE SURVIVED THE DEATH SCRIPT?"
"He's running side quests," Ginger Snap added. "He's leading motivational sword workshops!"
Macaron hurled a clipboard. "This was supposed to HUMBLE him!"
"Instead," Éclair said grimly, "he's become a local deity."
Riku groaned. "We gave him one punishment arc, and he turned it into a motivational podcast in armor."
Taro stood before a crowd of new players.
"Life is like a weapon," he told them. "You can follow the script. Or... you can set it on fire and monologue while it burns."
The crowd applauded.Someone threw a rose.He caught it. Smelled it.Threw it back harder.
He turned toward the sunset.
"NPC?" he said. "No. I'm T.A.R.O. – Tutorial Advisor Rewriting Outcomes."