9 Onion Knight

Ignatius pushed away the darker memories from the years that followed his first auction house paycheck, the memories of people with far more money than him dominating every area of the game.

He hadn't known as much about Path of the Immortal back then. Weak and ignorant, he'd wasted entire years of gameplay and fallen behind on the leaderboards until the only content he could beat was meaningless. No guild wanted him to join them, and he hadn't wanted their sympathy, anyway.

The top players and guilds hoarded all the game's best rewards, creating a larger and larger gap between the rich and poor, between the top percentage of players and the casuals.

And as the game evolved to cater to the top percentage of players, it became a world where only a tiny, elite playerbase had any chance of beating new content and earning real-world money from new items.

Ignatius's eyes narrowed in fury as he thought back to these events in his first life.

This time around, Path of the Immortal would be different. It would be better. It would be a place where even pathetic fools like he'd once been could earn a living and make a better life for themselves than the real world offered.

If they put in the hard work, of course.

But before he could change this game for the better, Ignatius had to empower himself with all the knowledge he'd gained too late in his first life.

He ignored all the skins and loot boxes in the premium shop, turning immediately to the "Companions & Pets" tab.

Companions and pets were NPCs who could follow along and assist gameplay in various ways. In dungeons and raids, companions could fill the slots of missing players to allow a full party to enter, but couldn't be taken along in these situations if the maximum number of players had already been reached. Pets, though, could always come along.

However, companions had a few other incredibly useful functions, especially when playing in the Eternal Tower…

…And in this particular instance, they had one more function that no other player would be aware of yet.

Some weak companions could be recruited for free in Path of the Immortal, but the Crystal Coin companions were much, much stronger. If he had enough Crystal Coins, Ignatius could buy a dragon-blooded sorceress or even an exiled witch-king as his companion, and they would make the early game very easy.

However, they also each cost 3,999 Crystal Coins each—a stupidly high price, and one that Ignatius couldn't afford.

Instead, he looked at the second-cheapest companion in the premium shop, after the Hireling who simply served as a giant inventory bag with no other capabilities.

GAME: Would you like to buy the "Onion Knight" companion for 899 Crystal Coins?

Ignatius selected "Yes."

A moment later, an [✵Onion Knight Whistle] appeared in Ignatius's inventory.

Whistles were items used to summon companions. As with all premium shop items, this whistle had the "✵" symbol which indicated Legendary rarity.

Ignatius pulled out the whistle and blew it, creating a pleasant sound like a chirping sparrow.

A moment later, a man wearing a set of bulky, round armor that looked very much like a bunch of onions appeared in front of Ignatius, wielding a huge claymore that he rested on one shoulder.

"Hullo!" he said. "I'm the Onion Knight. My current learning mode is 'Standard.' Would you like to change my name or my learning mode?" He spoke in a friendly, meandering tone that made him sound like a kindly Italian grandfather.

Ignatius couldn't help but smile. He'd always had a soft spot for the Onion Knight, which had been one of his first companions in his original life as well. Though many classic RPGs had an "onion knight" class, this one was clearly inspired by the 'Dark Souls' series, one of Ignatius's favorites.

With that in mind, he said, "Your name is now Siegmund. Switch your learning mode to 'Natural.'"

"Standard" learning mode would maintain the companion's base personality, causing him to act the same no matter how he was treated.

Ignatius preferred "Natural" learning mode far better, which allowed a companion's personality to adapt and develop based on their adventures.

There were still some boundaries, and even "Natural" mode companions would still never disobey their leaders, but it was very interesting how unique personalities could arise from allowing a Natural companion to evolve over the course of hundreds or thousands of hours of play.

In fact, several years into Path of the Immortal's lifespan, companion whistles attached to NPCs with rich, complex personalities would become one of the most prestigious and expensive kinds of item in the auction house.

This was a fact that Ignatius found a bit disturbing.

It was easy to forget that companions with evolved personalities were, well, 'not' actual people. To buy and sell NPCs who seemed so close to humans felt uncomfortably like slavery, and Ignatius had never engaged in this practice.

No, he had put Siegmund into Natural learning mode simply because he would enjoy the companionship.

"Now," said Ignatius, "we're going on a very delicate mission. You'll need to do exactly as I say if we're going to catch the enemy by surprise."

"Of course!" said Siegmund happily. "Whatever you say, my friend!"

Ignatius nodded. "All right, then give me your armor."

Siegmund paused for a moment. In Standard learning mode, he wouldn't have given it a second thought, but in Natural learning mode, he'd apparently already gained some basic, human-like concepts of propriety.

"Right here?" the Onion Knight asked uncertainly. "In the middle of the road?"

"Oh, we'll wait until we get to the city," Ignatius said with a sigh. He hadn't really given the order of operations too much thought. He should've taken the armor 'before' giving Siegmund the illusion of free will. "There's a little abandoned building near the inside gate. You can take your armor off there."

Siegmund gave a salute that was very awkward with all the bulbous armor. "As you say, my friend! You've never let me down thus far. As I swore many years ago, I'll follow you to the ends of the earth."

Ah, yes, that was the backstory attached to the companion. He was a noble knight whom the player character had rescued from starvation and bandits in the desert wilderness.

This had, quite dramatically, prompted an oath from the Onion Knight to fight alongside the player character so long as they both lived.

A bit cheesy, as with most of the writing in Path of the Immortal, but there was a kind of charm to it which Ignatius appreciated.

"Don't worry," said Ignatius as they pushed past the other NPCs on the road and moved toward the nearby city gate. "You can keep your sword. I'll do just fine with my fists."

"As you say," Siegmund replied happily.