The party marched for several days into Desert Area 3. The air was getting hotter but everyone was used to it and they had magical skills to cool themselves. The mana density was rising with monsters becoming stronger. All of the low-tier monsters they had encountered attacked them without any thoughts of fleeing. All the monster loots gave them enough food supply to feed everyone and march forward into stronger areas of Desert Area 3. All the non-fighters were carrying their supplies while the fighters fought against the monsters. The poisonous needles from the cactus monsters that they got in Desert Area 2 were not effective against the monsters in Desert Area 3.

They stopped occasionally to rest and sleep before returning to the march. Sometimes the non-fighters had to join the battle as well when the party gets surrounded by too many monsters but with Stardust being able to heal or revive them, them having the special skill of sand life to self-revive, and other NPCs with healing or defensive capabilities, there were no casualties in the party. Simply put, StarLily was over-prepared for most situations unless something catastrophic happens.

Suddenly, something new and different had appeared from the countless sandy hills and obscure desert plants. There was a small green lush desert forest surrounding a small oasis. No other monsters could be spotted except for a gigantic sand turtle-looking monster. It was over 50-meters tall and its rough-looking shell had many spikes protruding from it. The monster was resting near the lush green forest and it would be hard to spot the giant turtle monster as it was well camouflaged with the desert background.

Violet received information from one of the scouts and ordered the entire party with her wind message, “Halt! Looks like there is a low-tier boss type of monster guarding that oasis. The battle party will deal with it, everyone stay here and prepare to retreat should the worse come.”

The footsteps of everyone halted at her order. The non-stop chatter amongst them stopped as trouble lay ahead of them. Supplies were dropped on the ground as they sat down to rest while waiting for the battle party to deal with it. Chatters would soon return to normal levels as they would eventually get bored waiting for the battle party to either kill the low-tier boss monster or retreat if needed.

Before the battle party embarked, they all consumed several potions created by NPC #37 Rel the herbalist. Her potions had temporarily increased their physical and magical power, speed, and defense by a small amount. Their energy and mana regeneration also increased by a small amount as well. All of these small buffs will add to their overall power to crush their foes. Unfortunately, the potions tasted terrible so everyone helped force each other to drink them.

NPC #26 Klaus, the strongest NPC, and several other strong fighters formed the main battle team. StarLily could send everyone to attack the turtle monster to try and beat it with overwhelming force but that will never happen since half of them would rather flee for their life. If Stardust were to ever make an order like this, he can kiss his leadership goodbye as all of the good and neutral NPCs would rally behind NPC#44 Ester to take control. The evil defectors may choose to flee StarLily because they do not trust #44 Ester.

Because skill privacy no longer exists, everyone knows what everyone can do. All the nefarious and dubious skills can no longer be kept hidden from everyone else. NPC #9 Scarlett’s [Mind Magic] could read or manipulate memories at a high enough level and if their magical defense were low enough. Scarlett could potentially brainwash NPCs if they were much weaker than her. StarLily also found out about Lily’s [Evil God’s Happiness] skills that can allow her to invert any NPC or use her 24-hour stasis on them. She was greatly feared by everyone but Stardust ensured everyone that Lily wouldn’t do anything rash as she would fully obey Stardust. Knowing everyone’s skills wasn’t all that bad as the party could fully utilize everyone’s skills to the fullest giving them the best possible outcome in every scenario. Lily’s 24-hour stasis was a trump card against the turtle boss monster if her skill was needed.

The battle party approached a fair distance away from the turtle boss monster that was resting still. They bombard the boss monster relentlessly with their strongest physical and magical range attacks. Arrows and elemental magics such as [Fire Magic], [Sand Magic], [Wind Magic], [Rock magic], [Arcane Magic] were being imbued onto the arrows or using the pure-form of the magic to attack the turtle boss monster. However, the power of the ranged attacks diminishes over great distances.

The turtle boss monster angrily erupted from his resting spot and saw the terrible blemishes on his shell that protected him. Then he quickly retreated into its shell and activated several skills to increase his defense. Shell hardening to physically harden his shell and a magical barrier as another layer to its defense. The openings to the shell were abruptly shut off from the outside with another shell-like door. It also cast a heavy sandstorm that ravaged over a great area obscuring vision and damaging anyone in the area. The heavy sandstorm over the area was useless against the NPCs since many of them had sand resistance and sand magic that would allow them to take zero damage from most sand-based attacks. But it was enough to stop the NPCs from using their ranged attacks as the sandstorm was partially deflecting it and the turtle’s defense was quite great.

The great sandstorm did reach Stardust and all the other NPCs waiting for the battle party to kill the boss monster. Due to the great distance away, it was weaker and everyone was able to fend off the great sandstorm with their abilities.

NPC #26 Klaus’s class was the ‘Sand Brawler’. A melee-fighting class that fights purely with fists and kicks. Unlike NPC #11 Talian’s ‘Sand BattleMage’ class could fight in both melee and ranged styles. He also has the highest level [Sand Magic] amongst everyone with it being [Strong Sand Magic LVL 8] that was an evolved form of [Sand Magic].

NPC #26 Klaus and several of the melee fighters charged directly to the turtle boss monster. The deeper they went into the sandstorm with the turtle boss monster at the core of it, the more fierce it was. The sand swirled around at great speed, enough to penetrate through your body if your defenses were too low. But these were all NPCs created with sand elemental monster cores, the sandy attacks were nil against them as they had [Sand Resistance]. They could also burrow underground to escape the sandstorm and travel underground then attack the turtle boss monster. But the underground traveling speed was much slower than if they were to run across the open sandy plains.

As the melee fighters got close to the turtle boss monster. He realized that these strange humanoid monsters were proving to be a hindrance. Countless hardened sand spikes formed in the air and shot against the NPCs. The sand spikes were fruitless against the NPCs as they smash his attacks to pieces or simply dodge them with ease. At the same time, the turtle boss monster was also creating a giant sandy whirlpool to suck the NPCs deep underground rendering them unable to move or breathe. But it was useless as the NPCs were also using [Sand Magic] to prevent the ground from shifting under their feet to freely move around the sandy ground.

Once NPC #26 Klaus got close enough to the turtle boss monster, he used his [Monster Appraisal LVL 4] to gather more information from this new type of monster.

***** Horrortaur (Turtle Boss monster)*****

Stats:

Physical Power: 792
Physical Speed: 504
Physical Defense: 1391

Magical Power: 601
Magical Speed: 403
Magical Defense: 1071

Resistances:
[Heat Resistance LVL 10]
[Sand Resistance LVL 10]
[Poison Resistance LVL 3]

Physical Skills:
???
???
???...

Magical Skills:
???
???
???...

Special Skills:
???
???
???...

***** Horrortaur (Turtle Boss monster) end *****

The information gained by NPC #26 Klaus would later be shared with everyone after the battle. The defensive stats were high and they would have to be careful about its attack but it wasn’t something that they couldn’t handle. They will eventually defeat Horrortaur as long as they attack it endlessly without giving it a chance to rest or recover.

Eventually, the NPCs were able to reach the Horrortaur and unleash devastating melee attacks against its defensive magical barrier and hardened shell. Horrortaur could feel its defenses starting to break and the pain was coming through to him. It was enraged that these small weaklings were strong enough to damage it. Good thing it still had its ultimate trump card to deal with these pesky humanoid creatures. It immediately exploded a dense deep green poisonous cloud surrounding its body to envelop all the melee NPCs attacking him. It happened so fast that the NPCs weren’t able to escape the poisonous gas in time as all the NPCs inhaled
it except for one. Even a small amount of it was deadly. Now all the turtle boss monster had to do was to sit in its shell and wait for the poison to kill them all.

The melee NPCs retreated as far as they could before succumbing to the poison and becoming an NPC core. All of them had a special skill [Sand Life] and were able to revive themselves in due time as long as nobody interfered with them. NPC #26 Klaus reacted extremely quickly and instantly buried himself underground to prevent him from inhaling any of the dangerous poisonous gas. He used his vibrational detection to keep track of everyone to make sure none of them would die. Even though Klaus was a sand brawler, he can still use his [Sand Magic] with great range and was able to bury all of the dead NPC’s core further underground so the turtle boss monster wouldn’t suspect that they all had self-revival.

(NPC 26 Klaus) << Looks like we have to train our fighters for unexpected poisonous attacks. We do have one poison mage in StarLily that could help out. She’s not in this battle right now but if she were, she would gratefully breathe in this poison. The turtle boss monster does have a great defense but without its poisonous gas clouds, our fighters should be able to kill it. We won’t be needing Lily’s [Evil God Happiness] skill to put it in a 24-hour stasis. >>

NPC 26 Klaus’s battle sense was extremely high. Because of the many different types of magic and skills that the other NPC’s possess, he was actively developing a counter for every single one of them.

Once the melee NPCs resurrected themselves underground, they retreated together as they created an underground tunnel with their abilities because the surface was still contaminated with the deadly poisonous gas. The range attacking NPCs also began their assault on Horrortaur making him fully unaware that he didn’t even kill a single NPC. The shell on the turtle boss monster was starting to break. The shell doors opened and Horrortaur’s heads and limbs went out. Its impenetrable defense was faltering under the assault and it resorted to its last resort to launch a final against the NPCs. The great sandstorm and poisonous gas were traveling along with the turtle boss monster as he was charging at them with incredible speed despite his enormous size. All the ranged attacking NPCs stopped and burrow deep into the ground to escape. The enraged turtle boss monster also began digging after them.

However, the turtle boss monster’s digging speed was becoming sluggish as the sands around him were being defiant. All the sand elemental NPCs have [Sand Magic], so all the range attacking NPCs alongside the melee attackers all used their [Sand Magic] to try to trap the turtle boss monster underground. The underground sand helped prevent the poisonous gas from reaching them as well.

NPC #26 Klaus covered himself from head to toe in a layer of sand armor. It was so he wouldn’t be exposed to any of the poisonous gas while also increasing his defense. He can hold his breath for 5 minutes as he fights before needing to breathe again. Alongside the other melee fighters that could do the same as him. They unleashed strong physical attacks directly against the ensnared turtle boss monster that was trying to dig itself out. NPC #26 Klaus empowered his fist with [Strong Sand Magic LVL 8] and attacked the turtle boss monster, a giant sand explosion was seen erupting from the contact point, further damaging the boss monster greatly. Even though the turtle boss monster had [Sand Resistance LVL 10], it still wasn’t able to withstand the power and deadliness of NPC #26 Klaus’s [Strong Sand Magic LVL 8].

Horrortaur’s shell shattered into pieces and everyone was able to deal high amounts of damage to the turtle boss monster. Horrortaur screamed in great pain as its death was imminent.

X1 Horrortaur monster core
X12 Horrortaur shell pieces
X9 Horrotaur meat
X6 Horrortaur spikes
X26 random desert flower seeds.
X18 random desert rocks

The battle party had a mini celebration over their victory. It would be difficult to defeat Horrortaur on their own but together with many members, they would be able to defeat stronger monsters.

[Wind Magic] was used to help blow away the poisonous gas elsewhere so the rest of the battle party can collect the loot. Stardust would need a minimum of 100 Horrortaur monster cores if he were to create an NPC with it. The Horrortaur shell pieces and spikes would be given to the craftsman to make weapons, armors, or other things that could be useful or not. The female NPCs wanted accessories to make themselves beautiful while the male NPCs wanted accessories to make themselves cooler. The X9 Horrortaur meat drop was about 12 Kg each for a total of 108kg of meat that would be used to feed everyone in StarLily.

The battle party walked together as they got back to the main group…

*****

Cheers of victory were erupting over everyone as they headed together towards the small oasis surrounded by lush green plants. The morale of StarLily was in high spirits as they were strong enough to defeat the monsters that terrorize Desert Area 3.

When StarLily reached the oasis, many more different types of colorful plants were growing around the oasis. It was also the greenest place in the entirety of the desert that they saw. The mana density was also the highest in the center of the water. Small fishes were seen swimming around in the water. The source of the water seems to be coming from deep underground while gushing out plentiful mana to allow life to survive here. No dangerous monsters were lurking around, it was probably due to the turtle boss monster monopolizing the oasis for himself.

NPC #8 vice leader Violet said, “good work everyone. We will be staying here temporarily as we get more familiar with our surroundings. Now let us work together on deciding our residential area, work area, leisure area, training areas, and other areas.”

“Hold it right there Violet,” said NPC #44 Ester. “ As a representative of all the good NPCs, we do not feel safe living together with the evil NPCs. So I will be splitting the entire oasis area into two halves.” She immediately ordered a good karma NPC with [Rock Magic] to construct a wall dividing the two halves.

There were looks of surprises at this development. Violet looked over to Stardust to see if he would intervene but he was completely silent meaning he was approving of NPC #44 Ester’s separation idea.

“Do all you good NPCs agree with this?” asked NPC #8 Violet.

They were all silent…

StarLily was unofficially split into 3 distinct groups of NPCs.

***** NPC Karma groups *****

Good +33 to +100 (The biggest group of NPCs)
Neutral -32 to +32 (The smallest group of NPCs)
Evil -100 to -33 (The 2nd biggest group of NPCs)

***** NPC Karma chart guide *****

The good NPCs were the biggest group and they were also the strongest. The strongest NPCs like #26 Klaus and NPC #2 Marla were a part of it. Even if the neutral and evil NPCs were to team up, they would still lose against the good NPCs. In other words, if all the good NPCs decided to follow NPC #44 Ester, she would be the new leader of StarLily. There wouldn’t be anyone able to oppose them and Stardust will have to step down. But currently many of the good NPCs like Stardust so his leadership position is still safe.

Although it is not officially stated. NPC #44 Ester was the unofficial leader of the good NPCs. NPC #8 Violet was the unofficial leader of the neutral NPCs. Lastly, #5 Lily was the self-declared leader of the evil NPCs.

The neutral NPCs group becomes even smaller when any NPC with a karma value of +1 is accepted into the good team. Likewise, any NPCs with a karma value of -1 are accepted into the evil team. Both #44 Ester and #5 Lily are doing this to increase the number of NPCs within their unofficial faction. #8 Violet doesn’t care about this and doesn’t want those two idiots to create 2 heavily opposed factions within StarLily. The unity of StarLily was breaking apart if Stardust were to allow Ester to further separate them with her wall idea.

As the wall was getting constructed and the good NPCs decided to settle into their areas. NPC #44 Ester warned, “if any NPC with a karma value of -1 or lower steps foot into our area, we will use deadly force to remove you!”

“Go ahead,” responded #5 Lily. “All NPCs will be able to freely move around on our side. My husband Stardust, let’s make an incredible house to live in together!”

“Master Stardust please make your home inside of the good NPC area,” urged #44 Ester. “We don’t want anything dangerous to happen to you. We will give a special exception to Lily.”

“It’s alright Ester,” replied Stardust. “I will make my house in the center between the good and evil sides.”

And so StarLily was establishing a temporary base at this oasis. Ironically, despite the unity of StarLily’s fighter that was composed of the 3 main karma groups of NPCs that fought together on the frontlines, they were now being forced to live separately as well. The separation could weaken their camaraderie and synergy between them that may weaken their teamwork to fight effectively.

The houses were being constructed with [Rock Magic] and the furniture such as tables and chairs as well. It took some time for the supporting NPCs to make them and everyone had a decent house for themselves. Many of the houses were small and had an area of 25 meters squared, containing a bed, a table, a chair, and a small shelf. There is also enough room to store all of their belongings. The bed was on the ground with an animal pelt blanket for soft padding, sometimes monster loot was used to create even softer padding or blanket. Once everyone’s basic houses were complete, the NPCs could decorate them even further. NPCs that contributed more to the party had higher priority on the better items and loot that the party finds.

[Clay Magic] was used to create potteries that can store liquids like water and even cups to drink from. Even plates were made from the [Clay Magic] with [Fire Magic] to harden them. The craftsman used animal bones or monster bones to create utensils like knives and forks to use.

NPC #7 Rainbow went over the NPC #44 Ester to have a private chat with her.

#7 Rainbow said, “Ester, I understand that you want the best for the good NPCs… but the rules of StarLily are heavily enforced so the evil NPCs won’t do anything harmful to anyone. We should do our best to help each other survive in this desert.”

“Oh Rainbow, I love your acceptance for everyone” praised Ester. “But even if the rules are heavily enforced and no evil NPCs are dumb enough to break them except for one. They still cannot be trusted as they will find ways to bend around the rules or do it sneakily. Rainbow… Master Stardust should have chosen you as his wife. Master Stardust made a heavy mistake in choosing Lily for his wife.”

#5 Lily and #7 Rainbow were the only two NPCs that had 100% loyalty towards Stardust.

“Please do not disrespect their love like this. Lily and Stardust love each other completely.” defended #7 Rainbow.

“But don’t you have any feelings for him?”

“Yes I do love Stardust with everything I have and I want to carry out his wishes to the fullest! That is why I am asking you to let the good NPCs interact with everyone again. The unity of StarLily is needed to have greater prosperity.”

“I wished for that as well Rainbow but…coexistence with the evil NPCs is impossible. Have you ever wondered what would happen to StarLily if evil NPCs were the majority and stronger than all of us? They certainly will not play nice with us and commit all sorts of heinous things against us.”

“ That’s….”

“It’s a good thing that master Stardust will not censor any of the past crimes that they had committed so far… (#5) Lily’s poison scheme that killed you and the three others, (#10) Monica’s willingness to commit crimes for the ‘greater good’, (#9) Scarlett’s assaulting the other NPCs with her [Mind Magic], (#11) Talian’s willingness to kill disloyal NPCs and torture them. Worst of all (#5) Lily inverted (#12) Kate to become an evil NPC. All evil acts were stopped when master Stardust gained the sanity to punish them all with permanent death.”

#7 Rainbow was deeply saddened as she couldn’t refute what #44 Ester was saying…

“Anyways we need to help master Stardust not make the wrong decisions anymore. We cannot allow the evil NPCs to become the dominant power or majority in StarLily. We should persuade him to not create any more evil NPCs and only good NPCs from now on.”

#7 Rainbow was hugging #44 Ester in her sadness. #7 Rainbow was at a deep loss in what she could do to achieve unity for StarLily. It would be something that would plague her mind for a long time as she pondered for a solution.

*****

The food situation at this oasis was doing good as there were plentiful monsters around and their meat could be used to feed everyone. The monsters were attracted to the oasis so the fighters didn’t have to venture too far out. All these new plants could potentially become food as well.

A handsome man and a beautiful woman were walking together as they examined the various plant life at the oasis.

NPC #23 Vincent
Class: Botanist (support)
Karma: 81 (very good)

NPC #37 Rel
Class: Herbalist (support)
Karma: 42 (good)

#23 Vincent and #37 Rel often worked together to study the desert plants that they had encountered. Unfortunately, Stardust’s general knowledge that was imparted onto them upon creation didn’t contain any in-depth knowledge about botany or herbology. So the two of them had to learn botany and herbology from scratch. They conducted countless experiments with the desert plants which enabled them to obtain [Plant Appraisal LVL 1], a generic skill for identifying any plant. #23 Vincent obtained [Botany Knowledge LVL 1] while #37 Rel obtained [Herbology knowledge LVL 1].

At this oasis, both of them were beaming in excitement at discovering many new plants. Almost everyone saw them as the plant couple although the two of them are not involved with each other romantically. They always told everyone they just happened to have overlapping interests.

“Hey Vincent, it's good that the two of us were created right? The barbarians only know how to use plants as food and nothing else… well (#6) Queen did make some sort of ink with her huge waste of plant materials. Good thing I created an even better ink formula for the party that wasted fewer materials,” said #37 Rel.

“You forgot how (#3) Luna figures that she can rub the repellis plant on herself to repel the insects,” reminded Vincent.

“Hmm, that was from before we were created. Luna has since then used her fire magic to incinerate any insects that get too close to her. I can’t believe she wasted such a valuable plant just to scare off the insects. When they are an important limited ingredient that can make potions to increase your physical power and speed for a duration.”

“You can’t really fault the earlier NPCs for being wasteful with the plants as they had to do many other things that were important to their survival. We can completely focus on our plant studies all thanks to the many other NPCs taking care of the other needed survival tasks,” said #23 Vincent.

“Fine, I get it,” pouted #37 Rel. “Let’s study up all these plants so I can make more improvement to my potions!”

“Indeed, perhaps if we stay at this oasis for the long-term, I can study up on desert agriculture and perhaps grow our own food,” stated #23 Vincent.

One more beautiful female NPC approached the two of them while they were busy studying up the new desert plants. She was the only NPC who had obtained [Poison Magic].

NPC #27 Zoe
Class: Poison Mage
Karma: -81 (very evil)

“Sorry I’m late Rel. Klaus was asking me to help train the fighters with my [Poison Magic] which I will later. Hehehe it's time for me to test out all the poisonous plants.”

#27 Zoe was the NPC responsible for testing out every single new food and plant that StarLily encounters. She was masochistic in testing out poisonous plants as she loved to boast that it could help her improve the deadliness of her poisonous magic. It was thanks to #27 Zoe that #37 Rel could improve her potion effectiveness quickly while minimizing the negative effects. It was a job that nobody wanted to do as you could suffer extreme pain. It was also a good thing that #27 Zoe had the [Sand Life] skill so she could revive herself without losing any stats or skills so she wouldn’t have to rely on Stardust’s revival skill.

“You came at a good time, Zoe! Please eat this plant for me and tell me how you feel afterward,” said #37 Rel as she handed her yellow-orange-looking flower.

#23 Vincent noticed that although the rock wall wasn’t completed yet. #27 Zoe was on the good side of the oasis. “Rel, Zoe, it's best if we move over to that area to avoid any troubles from the other good NPCs from seeing Zoe in our area.”

“Do you really want to obey Ester? Vincent?” questioned #27 Zoe. “I haven’t done anything wrong and I made a huge stride in helping Rel with her potion-making by being her guinea pig you know.”

“Zoe is right, we can’t let Ester break the unity of the barbarians... errr StarLily,” nodded #37 Rel. “I need Zoe and we should get Ester to make an exception for her. Vincent, please help us.”

“... I’m sorry I cannot,” stated #23 Vincent.

“Why not? Is it because her karma is at -81? Aren’t you being too shallow-minded? Tell me, when did Zoe ever do anything terrible to you or anyone else?”

…Vincent was not able to retort as #27 Zoe has done only good things for StarLily since her creation.

“It's fine Rel, I don’t care if the good NPCs look down on me. My only interest is in studying the art of poison and I won’t cause anyone trouble.”

The two of them continued on their plant study and poison testing while Vincent studied on his own. They were only to continue in peace for twenty more minutes before the other good NPCs came over to force Zoe off their area. #27 Zoe didn’t fight back against them as they physically had to push her out of the area. Rel was trying to persuade them to let Zoe into their area but they wouldn’t listen. #37 Rel wanted Vincent to help her but he didn’t want to get involved.

After a few minutes of struggling, Zoe accepted her fate and left the good area with Rel into the evil area to continue their tasks. #23 Vincent remained behind in the good area to study the plants on his own. This incident had damaged the friendship between #23 Vincent and #37 Rel. Everyone will soon realize that the two plant power couple wouldn’t be spending much time with each other anymore.