HC: Pacifist | Ch. 246 - Eidetic Memory (Patreon)

Beveling (Profession)

Description: By working the edges of a leather design, you can make it sturdier and more aesthetically pleasing.

Effects: Grants half a grade on leather equipment.

Requirements: Tailors, lvl. 15.

The description of his new profession skill reminded him of [Stockinette Stitch]. Just as using different stitches improved the stats of knitted clothes, stamping patterns did the same with leather. He would read up more on what the library had to say about it later.

“So?” insisted Keith while Roth checked the details of his new skill.

Roth scratched his chin in thought. Keith seemed eager for him to start setting light traps on his sets right away, and Roth could feel the pressure. At the same time, wasn’t Keith's eagerness a good thing? It meant that he desperately needed his services. Maybe he shouldn’t change all his plans to accommodate this quest.

“Master Keith, if I may ask, what is more important to you in this order? Speed or quality?”

The tailor raised his brow. “I would say quality. That’s what will make my product stand out from the competition.”

Roth nodded as he thought. “Master Keith, I’m not experienced as a light trapper. Look. See how my traps are a little rough.”

The master inspected Roth’s work with an uneasy frown. “That seems to be true.”

“Tell you what. I’m going first to hone my technique, and once I feel it’s at a point worthy of your equipment, I’ll get started. What do you say?”

Keith pursed his lip while tapping his foot. After a few moments, he let out an impatient sigh. “I guess that would be best. Take your time. Just do the best work you can do. Keep me posted.” Keith issued a few commands to the boys carrying the armor into Roth’s workshop, and he headed out.

Roth sighed in relief. From his previous experience in quests, he had learned that timing was an important factor in determining a quest’s success or failure. This quest, however, required him to work on level 60 sets. How lame would it be if he ruined the fancy equipment with sloppy work or, after grinding for a day, unlocked a new light-trapping skill that enabled him to do a much better job?

If this quest’s rewards were based on how good his light traps were, it made sense to at least reach novice rank before starting it. Furthermore, it seemed dangerous to draw too much attention to him at this point. Light traps seemed to be extremely valuable. As far as he knew, he was the only player in the game who could make them. He should take his time and, perhaps, even take a few more orders from different places to muddy the waters and hide his location. His endgame in Sapphira was to end slavery. He was bound to make enemies. This was no time to rush or call attention to himself.

Roth grabbed the pair of greaves he had just beveled and went back to his previous goal. He would first use up the rock lizard leather he’d bought and put the 50 pieces of equipment up for sale in the auction house. He would also assess how the market responded to light traps. But for that, he needed to finish crafting the equipment. He grabbed the needle and put a waxed thread through it. It was time to grind.

*

Compared to the unwalled, basic space of the Union tent, the Golden Anvil Inn wasn’t much of a downgrade. It was also much more tasteful and in much better repair than the other inn in the slums where they used to meet. The walls were decorated with paintings and portraits instead of mold, and instead of the smell of rotten humidity was the perfume of freshly baked apple pies and frothing ale. Of course, they had to pay much more to this innkeeper to hang out there.

Even though this inn looked nice, moving here didn’t bode well with the Union’s situation. They had been kicked out of their base of operations and were forced to move here with their tails between their legs. 

After Charlie was also ambushed when commuting between the north gate and the city, SergeantSarg decided to relocate their operations. Pegasus’ minions had started a post on the forums where they posted the kill count for union members and linked the videos of Maggie and Charlie’s ambushes. 

Drake agreed with the sergeant’s strategic retreat. They didn’t need to provide Loki with more videos of union-management members getting killed. That would be worse for morale than temporarily coming to this nice inn. 

Used to the layout of the inns in the game, Drake quickly located the doors leading to the conference room where the team was meeting. As he entered, he was taken aback by how frenzied the 14th looked. SergeantSarg was hunched over a table, having a serious discussion with H. Benny didn’t have his usual playful attitude, and Pete wasn’t keeping to himself; instead, both debated with Charlie.

The 14th was in battle mode. This looked like a campaign tent where the top brass decided the troops' strategy on the battlefield. As if to reinforce the heavy martial atmosphere, as soon as Drake entered, Emily called out in a loud voice.

“Officer on deck! Attention!”

Immediately, the entire squad stopped what they were doing and turned toward Drake. “Captain!”

Drake had never imagined that he would come out of prison to join these veterans in a war in a game. Every time he assumed he had seen everything, life surprised him. “At ease, soldiers. Sorry, I was missing. I was in the middle of a quest that hopefully will help us escape this mess. What’s the status?”

The sergeant stepped forward. “The kill count on the side of Pegasus has reached 600. Thanks to the support of the guilds and the customers, we have only managed to get 100 of them in return. But things aren’t looking so good right now.”

Drake nodded gravely. “How is morale?”

“The requests to join the union have somewhat decreased, and some people have asked to leave the Union. However, our member count is still slowly rising. We’ve just reached 7000 members yesterday.”

Hearing the number, Drake smiled from ear to ear. “That’s fantastic! Don’t worry. I have something that will help the Union.”

He grabbed a scroll from his inventory and unfurled it, setting it on the table.

“Did you make it?” asked H, hopefully, as he started reading through it.

“You’re looking at the new captain of the Raviolis and the foreman of the Renewal Project.”

*

Roth wiped the sweat off his forehead. He was finally done. It had been almost 20 hours of non-stop crafting since he started, and he had finally used up the leather he’d purchased from the auction house.

Thanks to the crafting spree, he had reached level 17 in ecotailor and unlocked the upgraded version of [Tailor Bag].

Tailor Supply Bag (Profession)

Skill description: As a tailor, you learn how to make your supplies fit more nicely into your bag, allowing you to carry more weight.

Skill effects: Tailor materials and supplies weigh 40% less.

Restrictions: Tailors, lvl. 17.

The weight reduction had gone from 25% to 40%. He welcomed the upgrade. He had also managed to level up light trapping to level 9 and got a new skill in that profession, too.

Beaming Eyes (Profession)

Skill description: Human vision depends on light. As a light trapper, you become more sensitive to different wavelengths and can discern important information about materials relevant to your profession.

Skill effects: 

You can read additional descriptions of crystals and sand materials;

+5 insight;

+5 perception.

Requirements: Light trappers, lvl. 8.

It looked like light trapping was a valuable profession. Its skills provided bonuses related to the craft but also granted stats and other benefits to help him when adventuring. Gaining ten stats like this was incredible!

Additionally, thanks to this skill, he could better decide what crystal to add to his laser and what sand to use when making traps, which would help him make even better traps.

Light trapping was very different from ecotailoring. There wasn’t a trap grade. The trap either worked or didn’t. Maybe because he was stuck with the most basic traps available, he had only failed to install one light trap. When he did that, the greaves he’d been mounting it on crumpled to dust. 

It was a good decision to tell Keith that he would first perfect the craft. He didn’t know if he could refund Keith if he destroyed one of these priceless leather sets.

It was time to put these babies up for sale at the auction house. Before that, though, he wanted to check in on the Leafies. It had been 24 hours since he had left them in the garden, and the system text had mentioned that he should visit them every day. 

He canceled [Badger Form] to avoid drawing too much attention to himself and ran out of the shop, carefully ensuring he didn’t leave any leather helmets or greaves behind. He took the elevator up to the city’s gardens.

While the wooden platform was climbing up, Roth took a moment to check his character sheet.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

Name: Pax

Class: Pacifist

Race: Zoomorph (Human Form)

Profession(s): Broker, lvl. 23 | Ecotailor, lvl. 17 | Light Trapper, lvl. 9

Level: 39

Guild: Union Collective Guild

Guild Museum: 

[Boar’s Great Tusk] | +2 strength; +5hp

[White Wolf Fang] | +2 dexterity; +1% speed

[Owl Duke’s Lens] | +2 wisdom; +5ep

[Alpaca Talisman] | 2 intelligence; +1% damage reduction

[Empty]

Pets: Leafies, Lin, Lua

Affinity: Light (479/1000); Nature (247/300)

Alignment: Meek (554/1000)

Positive relationships:

Badgers (1923/2000); Boars (1892/2000); Corvids (1900/2000); Cyborg Union (1231/2000); Dogs (223/300); Dwarf Exiles (254/300); Flock (242/300); Foxes (1898/2000); Snakes (3293/8000); Golden Mountain Inc. (1444/2000); Greenleaf Inc. (912/1000); Hilsford Garrison Soldiers (103/300); Moles (535/1000); Moon Garrison of Sapphira (85/100); Moonlight Herd (132/300); Oli, the Cat Burglar (126/300); Peace Corps (100/300); Ratans (4195/8000); Silkworms (10/100); The Table (60/100); Treeants (1631/2000); White Onyx Inc (300/1000)

Negative Relationships:

Bears (-10/-100); Blue Caterpillars (-100/-300); Gazpachos (-1400/-3000); Grassland Wolves (-45/-100); Thadeus (-10/-100); Timberwolves (-90/-100);

Titles: [Adored]; [Alpinist]; [Art Enthusiast]; [All-Nighter]; [Beast Master]; [Creature of the Night]; [Darksbane]; [Discoverer of Species]; [Energy Tycoon]; [Entitled]; [Friend of Moles]; [Grand Explorer]; [Hero of Ages]; [First of a Kind]; [Jumper]; [Marathonist]; [Martyr]; [Microman]; [Mindfulness]; [Novice]; [Overachiever]; [Pioneer]; [Polyglot]; [Richling]; [Single Minded Craftsman]; [Speedster]; [Stat Prodigy]; [Sweatshop Worker]; [Swimmer]; [Triathlete]

STATS

Hp: 502

Energy: 1032

Damage Reduction: 50.9%

Status Resistance: 17.2%

Cooldown Reduction: 17%

Running Speed: 174.4%

Weight: [Light] - (146.7/196.5 Kg)

STATS

Strength: 77

Dexterity: 116

Intelligence: 240 (+11%)

Wisdom: 183

Endurance: 245 (+10%)

Charisma: 188 (+5%)

Resilience: 31

Insight: 39

Subterfuge: 62

Perception: 29

EQUIPMENT

Right Hand: [Plumber's Torch] | +5 intelligence

Left Hand: [Flag of the Rat Cave] | +10 wisdom; +6 dexterity; +10% speed; [Ratan Stride]; [Ratan Dash]

Shoes: [Forest Lambswool Runner Shoes] | +15% running speed; +5 dexterity

Bottom: [Forest Lambswool Slacks] | +10 intelligence; +4 wisdom; +1% damage reduction

Top: [Forest Lambswool Robes] | +1% cooldown reduction; +11 intelligence; +100 hp; +6% damage reduction; +4% status resistance

Gloves: [Forest Lambswool Mittens] | +1% cooldown reduction; +4 intelligence; +3 wisdom; +4% status resistance

Head: [Forest Lambswool Cap] | +1% cooldown reduction; +8 intelligence; +2 wisdom; +5 hp regeneration; +5 ep regeneration

Cape: [Forest Lambswool Cape] | +1% cooldown reduction; +10 intelligence; +5 charisma; +3% running speed

ACCESSORIES

[Iron Wood Earring] | +8 intelligence; +2% cooldown reduction

[Blue Caterpillar Earring] | +5 subterfuge; +10 wisdom

[Witness Protection Mask]

[Time Berlock Necklace] | +1 to all stats; +5% cooldown reduction; +5% status resistance; +50 hp

[Iron Wood Belt] | +4 intelligence; +4 wisdom; +4% damage reduction; +2% cooldown reduction

[Blue Caterpillar Ring] | +8 subterfuge; 5 intelligence

[Iron Wood Globe Ring] | +8 intelligence; +2% cooldown reduction

SKILLS:

Stat Bonuses: [Call of the Wild]; [Charm]; [Copper Skin]; [Eidetic Memory]; [Eloquent]; [Fast Hands]; [Good Character]; [Healthy Bones]; [Horse’s Gallop]; [Inner Light]; [Quick Feet]; [Quick Hands]; [Punctual]; [Sharp Mind]; [Slower Heart Rate]; [Speed of Light]; [Strategic Thinking].

Profession Related: [Beaming Eyes]; [Beveling]; [Cart Pulling]; [Convex Alignment]; [Energy Efficiency]; [Increased Discount]; [Exasperate]; [Linen’s Will]; [Novice Hiring]; [Plenty of Fiber]; [Quadrangular Trap]; [Rib Stitch]; [Saddle Stitch]; [Stockinette Stitch]; [Supplier's Loyalty]; [Triangular Trap]; [Tailors Supply Bag]

Passive: [Blessing of the Lion King]; [Cobra Slither]; [Farsight]; [Flag Bearer]; [Forest Lambswool Set II]; [Horrific Glow]; [Ratan Sprint]; [Taunting Bellow]

Active: [Blink Blink]; [Camouflage]; [Inspiration]; [Mouseketeer Dash]; [Miniaturize]; [Peace Decree]; [Peace Treaty]; [Screeching Terror]; [Search]

His character sheet had grown immensely. He had so many skills, stat bonuses, and attributes that it was difficult to keep track of all the bonuses they provided. 

He had used all free stats to level up his intelligence. Not only did he permanently unlock [Eidetic Memory], the 250+ intelligence stat bonus, but he was very close to making intelligence his largest stat. Once he did so, the 10% bonus of [Stat Prodigy] would shift from endurance to intelligence, allowing him to gain a massive bonus.

His other stats were also coming along nicely. He had 500hp and 1000ep, an almost 20% cooldown reduction, and several stat bonuses, even in human form. He had permanently unlocked [Eloquent] because of the passive bonus of his [Blessing of the Lion King] legendary skill. He had also raised his dexterity high enough to have a permanent 10% running speed.

Bucky was also keeping busy and kept running his trade route for him. He had climbed from level 21 to 23 as a broker, and his reputation points with the ratans, badgers, foxes, corvids, boars, treeants, snakes, Mario, the dwarves, Green Leaf Inc., and Golden Mountain Inc. kept passively climbing as a result. A little more, maybe one or two trade runs, and he would accumulate enough reputation with several of them to unlock their next relationship status. 

He was also very close to finishing learning Horsian and Felinian, and all his pets were progressing well and were highly affectionate toward him.

Finally, he reached his destination, climbed out of the platform, and ran toward the garden. It was early morning outside, and now he could see how the light chimney shone, like the sun, inside the indoor garden. The chimney must be an arrangement of mirrors to get the light down here. The garden was crowded, with players resting, laughing, and chatting.

He ignored all of them and headed toward the greenhouses. It wasn’t difficult to locate the greenhouse where his pets were. It was the largest and had a giant golden acorn tree in it. As he arrived, his heart skipped a beat. There were people inside.

Ch. 245 - Leather Helmet Production Line

INDEX

Ch. 247 - Almost!