NPC

**NPC**'s, or non-playable characters, refers to other **Cultivators** the player will find while journey around the world. In here, it will be explained how the player interacts with them through the systems of **Affinity**, and **Intimacy**.

## Affinity and Intimacy

**Affinity**, also known as **hearts**, is the system that shows how much an NPC likes you; through any action that affects affinity, usually showed in-game by an arrow that goes up or down after interacting with them, depending if it had a **positive** or **negative** outcome (respectably), the NPC will **like** you and pursue more interactions, or they will **hate** you, and instead actively seek to avoid the player. The only time a hated NPC will interact with the player is to seek **revenge**. This heart system can be seen on the top right corner of their interaction menu, or on their icon while seeing them on the world. Below will be shown some types of affinity status:

Status of a cultivator that hasn't been interacted with.Status of a cultivator that has been interacted with.The max amount of affinity possible with a cultivator.A cultivator that hates the player, and has a hatred bar instead of affinity.**Intimacy**, on the other hand, is a mostly hidden system that determines how close the Cultivator is to you; it increases with every interaction the player performs with them through the interaction menu, such as talk, spar, debate, etc. Gifting items to cultivators seems to **only** increase Affinity. Intimacy serves for the purpose to establish **relationships**; after enough Intimacy has been built, the Cultivator shall be considered a **friend** or an **enemy**, and will be shown as such in the **Relationship** menu, under **Social**.

As seen above, now that the Cultivator has been established as a friend, the player can see their **Intimacy** status: just like affinity, its also reflected by hearts, and it can reach a maximum of five. Seeking further relationships status with a cultivator, such as **Family Bond**, **Partner** or **Marriage**, usually requires the player to at least have reached a friendship status with the intended cultivator; having a high affinity level is not equal to having a high intimacy level.

Once a cultivator has at least been established as a friend, they can be seen on the map at all times under a **green** icon. This also applies to Apprentices, Masters, Partners, Husband/Wife, and even Enemies, the latter instead represented by a **red** icon.

## NPC interactions

NPC interactions can only be unlocked/used with a cultivator if the player has influenced their affinity in any capacity; otherwise, instead of having a heart system, they will show a **Stranger** status, and only offer the **Talk** option. As long as the player has influenced the affinity of the cultivator, even if its negative/hatred, the rest of the options will be unlocked. Those options are:

1) **Talk** (costs 5 stamina): talk with the cultivator, prompting the ability to choose to speak to them about your Sect, discuss views, or have small talk. In that order, the player will either **A)** attempt to improve the cultivators opinion of your Sect, **B)** attempt to improve the cultivators opinion of your Alignment, or **C)** have a random chance of either improving or worsening your affection levels with them. The first option will not be available when talking with those of the same sect. When speaking with cultivators whom the player has more intimacy with, the player can also have the options to speak about X friend, in hopes of increasing the affinity between the two cultivators; or say that they miss them, for a flat increase in affinity.

2) **Bond** (no cost): attempt to bond with the cultivator, which takes the form of them becoming an **Adoptive family member** to the player. You can ask them to become your **Father/Mother**, if you are 20 years younger than them; you can ask them to become your **Brother/Sister**, as long as they are of the same sex; or you can ask them to become your **Son/Daughter**, as long as you are 20 years older than them.

3) **Partner** (no cost): the player asks to enter a formal relation of **Partner/Marriage** with the cultivator. One must first become a Partner before being able to ask for marriage. This option is only available with members of the opposite sex. Once they accept, you will choose a location you will have to go to to start the wedding ceremony; you will then have 3 months to make it to the selected Town/City to proceed with the marriage. If the player ends the married status, they will lose all intimacy with the cultivator.

4) **Mentorship** (no cost): the player asks to enter a formal relation of **Master/Apprentice** with the cultivator. While there is no requirement, the cultivator in question will evaluate the player's appearance, personality, and their relationship; they will also take in mind their and the player's cultivation realm. As such, its easier to get a Master/Apprentice when they share similar **External** and **Internal traits**, and when they are some realms apart.

5) **Request** (costs 10 stamina): request the cultivator to **gift** the player an item they currently possess in their **inventory**. The cultivator will evaluate the importance of the item, if such item is useful to a family member or a friend, and the relationship between them and the player. Regardless if the cultivator accepts to hand over the item, their affinity with the player will slightly **decrease** as a result.

6) **Gift** (costs 10 stamina): offer the cultivator a **gift** from an item currently inside the player's inventory. The player can then gift to a maximum of 10 different items as part of the same action; currently equipped items can't be gifted. Cultivators can accept or reject the player's gift, and even both during the same gifting; if the player offers Elixirs of the same realm as the cultivator, as well as a Mount of a lower realm, the cultivator in question can accept the former while rejecting the latter within the same transaction. Increases affinity with the player.

7) **Spar** (costs 30 stamina): offer to have a friendly **match/duel** with the cultivator. The cultivator will then evaluate the player's realm, odds of winning, and the relationship with them. If they accept, both them and the player will be transported to dueling instance, where the battle will end once one of them is defeated. Regardless of who wins, both of them will earn an X amount of cultivation experience, and knowledge.

8)**Dual Cultivation** (costs 10 days): offers to **dual-cultivate** with a member of the opposite gender. The cultivator will only evaluate the relationship between them and the player. If they accept, both of them will earn an X amount of cultivation experience, and knowledge.

9) **Debate** (costs 5 days): offers to have a **debate** with the cultivator. The cultivator will evaluate the relationship between the two, and the player's power. If they accept, the player will go through a **Q&A** (Question and Answer), where they will be offered a set amount of answers to the question the cultivator will ask them. For a successful debate, the idea is that the player has to answer in such a way that aligns with the cultivator's point of view, i.e their External and Internal traits. If successful, both will earn an X amount of knowledge. Affinity will increase or decrease depending on the results of the debate.

10) **Invite** (costs 10 stamina, and 5 days if they accept): offers to go on a **date** with a cultivator of the opposite sex. The cultivator will evaluate the relationship between the two, both their **Affinity** and **Intimacy** status. If they accept, a new temporary location will be added nearby, where the player must go to perform the date. Once inside, the player will have 3 places (a gravestone, a wooden dock and a temple with a table) to interact with, while the invited cultivator constantly follows the player. Each place has a couple of possible interactions, and the player can only interact up to 3 times in total as part of the date; the dated cultivator must be nearby to perform any interactions. Once they are done, the player can quit this location by taking a portal to the right of the map.

11) **Recruitment** (costs 10 stamina): offer to **recruit** the cultivator into your sect. It can only be performed to cultivators that don't belong to the players sect, even if they are of a lower branch. The player can only perform recruitment if they are of an **Elder** or superior position in their sect. The cultivator will then evaluate the player's appearance, personality and the relationship between you two. If they accept, they will join the sect on the position the player offered them. It is possible to recruit cultivators that already belong to another sect.

12) **Mark** (costs 10 stamina, and a set amount of focus): sets a **mark** on the cultivator, allowing them to be tracked and seen on the map at all times. This will allocate a certain amount of the player's **Focus**; having a marked cultivator will not decrease the player's focus, only allocate a part of it for the mark. The player might set and remove a mark on a cultivator at any time.

13) **Theft** (costs 10 stamina): attempt to **steal** from a cultivator. The player will choose an item from the cultivator's inventory and try to steal it for themselves. This action is determined by the amount of focus the player has, the amount of focus the target has, the affinity between the two, and the amount of Charisma the player has. Having higher focus, more affinity, and less Charisma are ways to improve the player's odds of a successful, unnoticed stealing. If the player is noticed, the cultivator will value how powerful the player is to decide to either let it go, or attempt to fight them to take it back.

14) **Attack** (costs 10 stamina): attempts to have a **death battle** with a cultivator. The cultivator will size up the player, their power and background, their chance of defeating them, and the players relationship with their faction. The cultivator can then face the player or attempt to escape. The cultivators odd of escaping is dependent on how powerful/weak the player is. Once forced into battle, and defeated, the cultivator can either beg for their life or refuse to surrender. The player will then be **offered** the option to accept an item (if they begged for their life), kill them, humiliate them, or simply letting them go. If the player humiliate them, they will get an increased amount of hatred with the cultivator. If they player chooses to kill them, they will instead generate hatred will all relatives/friends of the cultivator.

## Interests, and Gifting

Gifting items is a good way of **increasing** the affection of a NPC. The NPC will normally reject many items given to them if they are not tied to their further cultivation, or if they are not their interest. NPC's will always have 3 **interests** total; these interests can be of any combination, and are correlated with mood boosting items. These interests are: Flute, Bambooware, Bianzhong, Illustrated Books, Books, Boneware, Jadeware, Guqin, Plants, Xiao, Accessory, Stoneware, and Pottery.

Another gift NPC's will most commonly accept are **Manuals** of a high rarity, such as orange or red. The higher quality the gifted item is, the higher the affection you will receive. Gifting items of the same/closer realm of a cultivator will yield more affection. Lastly, sometimes a given NPC will have a **quest** for a particular item (seen as a ? next to their **Talk** option). These quests allow you to gift the NPC a required item that, once given, will boost Affinity significantly.