Glitching Guard

The Hunter player stood there, quiet as could be. Then, just like that, they were gone. But their words hung in the air. "You're… learning." Barnaby couldn't shake it off. Those words echoed in his mind, louder than any script, any guard order ever given. Learning. Yeah, he was learning. Players could see it.

Maybe learning was the answer. Maybe it was the way to live in this crazy world. Not just live, but be something more.

He looked around Oakhaven. Same muddy village he always guarded. But now, his eyes saw it different. He wasn't just a guard looking anymore. He was someone who needed to figure things out.

He knew Oakhaven. Really knew it. Every stone, every broken fence, every puddle of mud. He knew where every NPC stood, what lines they'd say, when the chickens pecked for food, where stray dogs slept. He knew player paths, shortcut corners, chat spots, trading spots. He knew the normal guard stuff about Oakhaven. Code in his system. Programming. Just… things he was supposed to know to be a guard.

But maybe that "stuff" wasn't just stuff. Maybe it was useful. Maybe it was stuff players missed, didn't even think about. He was an NPC. He saw the game from a different angle. Maybe that different angle… had its own perks.

Monsters. Gnarlspine Boars. He knew them too. Every guard in Oakhaven did. Low-level monsters, starter zone grunts. His code knew their moves, their weak points, their levels, their… spawn points.

Spawn points. The word hit him. Spawn points were… monster birthplaces. Spots where they just showed up, boom, outta nowhere, because the game said so. Players knew monsters were around, sure. But did they know the exact spots? Did they know those hidden corners where boars liked to appear? Doubt it. They just fought boars when they saw 'em wandering around.

But he knew. His NPC code knew it all. Village knowledge, part of him. He started pulling up code snippets, data he'd never cared about before. Monster zones, patrol routes, spawn triggers. All mixed up with his guard duty code.

He locked onto Gnarlspine Boars. Data streams flooded him about "Boar Den West." Small cave outside Oakhaven walls, marked on his map. Players mostly skipped it, no good loot there. Boar spawn point. Key one, his code said. More boars popped up there, more often, than anywhere near Oakhaven.

Players probably just bumped into boars anywhere in the fields. But he knew where they should be. Where they were likely to be. That was knowledge. Useful knowledge, maybe.

Hidden paths. Other stuff started coming back to him. NPC patrol paths through places players ignored. Shortcuts, back routes around town. Were those paths safer? Less monster traffic? Players always took the main roads, the easy ways. But NPCs… NPCs went different routes.

Lore fragments. NPC chatter came back to him. Not just his lines, but lines from other NPCs in Oakhaven. Bits of story, village history, danger warnings, hidden place hints. NPC talk. Players usually clicked right through that stuff, just wanting quests or to sell stuff. But he had all that talk in his head. All the stories, warnings, hints… even if he'd never really gotten them before.

Maybe those stories, warnings, hints… weren't just fluff. Maybe they were information. Maybe they pointed to real things in the game world. Hidden stuff. Secret places. Dangers to watch out for. Stuff players skipped, but NPCs… NPCs were telling them, in their own code way.

He stared at the West Gate. His usual guard spot. Safe enough here. Players came and went, didn't usually mess with guards here. But it was also… boring. And he wasn't just a guard now. He was Barnaby. And Barnaby… needed to learn. Needed to live. Needed to be more.

Time to test his knowledge. Time for something new. Time to step outside his guard routine. Just a little. Just to see. Just to learn.

Okay, test time. Boar Den West. He had to see it. He had to see if his code-knowledge about spawn points was real, if it was useful. And he had to do it… without getting in trouble. Without breaking his guard orders too much.

He looked around, making sure no players were watching too closely right now. A few were still milling around the West Gate, but most were busy fighting boars or doing other player stuff. The higher-up guard was gone. For now.

He took a slow, deep breath (just pretending to breathe, really, but it helped him focus his thoughts). Okay, just a little walk. Guards patrolled, right? Guards moved around a bit. He didn't have to stand glued to the exact same spot, all the time. He could… expand his patrol area. Just a little. Just to check something out. Then come right back. Nobody would notice. Nobody would care.

He started to move. Slowly. Carefully. Not a run, not even a fast walk. Just a slow, steady walk, like a guard doing a… very relaxed patrol. He kept his spear held loosely, just like always. He kept his face blank, his eyes looking straight ahead, like he was just doing his normal guard thing.

He walked away from the West Gate, away from his usual spot, heading in the direction of Boar Den West. It was a little path he knew, a dirt track that wound around the edge of Oakhaven's walls, heading towards the fields beyond. Normally, he only walked this path for like… ten steps in either direction, then turned back. Patrol loop, that's what his code called it.

But this time, he didn't turn back. He kept walking. Past his usual turning point. Further and further away from the gate. Each step felt… strange. Like he was breaking a rule, doing something he wasn't supposed to do. Like walking off the edge of his code-world.

He could feel the game world changing around him as he walked. The village sounds started to fade a little. The player chatter got quieter. The sounds of the wind and the monster roars got louder. He was moving away from the safe zone of Oakhaven, out into the more wild, more dangerous areas of Grimshark.

He kept watching for players, checking left and right, trying to look casual, like he was just… patrolling and looking out for trouble. If he saw players coming, he'd just stop, stand still, and pretend to be a normal guard again. Just in case. Just to be safe.

The path started to get a little rougher, the ground uneven, with rocks and roots sticking out. He had to be careful not to trip with his clumsy NPC feet. The trees got thicker on either side, blocking out some of the light, making shadows on the path. It felt… different out here. More real, somehow. Less like the neat, controlled village, more like… actual wilderness.

Then, he smelled it. That boar smell. That musky, dirty, kinda rotten smell that always went with Gnarlspine Boars. It was faint at first, carried on the wind, but it was there. And it was getting stronger as he walked.

He slowed down even more, walking even more carefully now, spear held a little tighter. He was getting close to Boar Den West. He could feel it in the air, in the smells, in the way his code-sense was picking up… something. Monster presence. Boar energy. Spawn… potential.

He rounded a bend in the path, and there it was. Boar Den West. Just like his code-map showed it. A small cave entrance in the side of a rocky hill, hidden a little behind some bushes and trees. Nothing special to look at. Most players would probably just walk right past it, heading for the more obvious monster areas.

But as Barnaby got closer, he saw them. Gnarlspine Boars. Not just one or two. A bunch of them. Three, four… five, maybe? Rooting around near the cave entrance, snorting and grunting, tusks gleaming in the dim light. More boars than he'd seen anywhere else near Oakhaven, all in one place. Just like his code-knowledge said. Spawn point confirmed.

His mind buzzed. It was real. His NPC knowledge, his code-map, it was real information. Players probably didn't know this. They probably just wandered around and fought boars wherever they found them. But he knew where to find them easily. He knew a secret. A small secret, maybe. But still… a secret. And maybe… a useful one.

He stood there for a moment, just watching the boars, feeling a strange mix of… something like excitement and something like fear. He was right. His knowledge was real. But now… what did he do with it?

Boars. He knew where they were. So what? He was a guard. Guards just guarded. What good was that info to him? Tell someone? Warn players? His code didn't have lines for "boar spots." Guards just did their guard thing.

But maybe… maybe he could use it. For himself. Not for the village, not for players. For Barnaby.

First thought: run. He knew where boars hung out. Simple. Smart. Stay away. Be safe. Made sense. Survival sense.

Tell other guards? Warn 'em about Boar Den West? Nah, guards didn't do that. Guards walked their paths, fought what showed up, died, came back. Guard life. He wasn't just a guard anymore, was he?

Players… could he warn players? "Hey, Boar Den West, lots of boars, go fight 'em!" Say something like that? His lines were set. Couldn't make up new stuff. Even if he could, would players listen to some guard NPC giving hunting tips? Doubtful. Players ignored guards.

But he knew where boars were thick. Maybe… maybe he could fight them. Crazy thought, bam! Fight Gnarlspine Boars? Him? Village Guard? Ridiculous. Weak guy with a busted spear. Boars were monsters. Players fought monsters. Guards didn't.

Still… he dodged that player's sword, right? Even fought that boar at the gate, used tricks, beat it. Not totally useless. Learning. And he knew where boars were packed together.

Maybe, just maybe, he could practice fighting there. Learn more. Get tougher. Boar Den West, his training spot? Sounded nuts, dangerous as hell, but maybe also smart? Crazy smart?

He looked at the boars again, near the cave. Big. Sharp teeth. Stinky. Dangerous for sure. Fighting one boar was tough, pure luck. Five boars? Suicide for a guard like him.

But what if he didn't fight them all? Just pick one. Weakest looking one. Fight it slow. See what happened. Little test fight. Just to see. Just to learn something.

He stopped for a second. His guard code screamed at him. Guards stay put. Guards don't fight monsters. Monsters kill guards. Be safe. Stay in town. Stay in your code box.

But that new feeling, that "be more" feeling, pushed back hard now. Knowledge is power. Learn to live. Can't just stand at the gate forever. Gotta try stuff.

He gripped his busted spear tighter. Looked at the boars. Looked back at Oakhaven, West Gate in the distance. Looked at his own hands, holding that weak spear. Hunter player's words came back: "You're learning."

Okay, one boar maybe. Just a small test. See what he could do. Start learning for real. He breathed in. This time, he moved towards Boar Den West. No more slow walking. He walked like he meant it. Towards the boars. Towards something new, dangerous, maybe more.