HC: Pacifist | Ch. 262 - Constructs (Patreon)

Roth read the contract from the Ogres for the hundredth time and thought about it as he watched the sun rise over the canopy of Green Country. Drake’s advice echoed in his mind. There was no rush to decide. He could sleep on it. Looking at his friend’s list, Roth sighed. He wasn’t sure if he should ask her opinion about this. 

Roth had finished visiting every single world region in AstroTerra except for the capital. This whirlwind trip taught him something about himself: Green Country was his favorite world region. There was something peaceful and soothing about being surrounded by green and the sounds of the forest. What were the odds that his old squad had dragged him to torture him in the very place he ended up loving the most?

That wasn’t the only benefit he gained from visiting all the different world regions. He also received a title.

Worldly Drifter (Epic)

Description: You’ve been to places. You’ve seen things.

Effects: +1 to all stats.

Conditions to unlock [Wordly Drifter]:

Visit nine different world regions.

Yet another epic title. He’d visited the starting world regions, Antioch, and the Dark Abyss. How many players in AstroTerra could say the same? 

Roth checked the cooldown on his racial forms and yawned. Over the last week, much of his time had been spent looking at these cooldowns. He would first activate [Ant Form] to travel to a new city with enough cargo to offset the traveling expenses. He then would stay in the auction house crafting while he waited for [Snake Form] to come off cooldown. 

This time around, he hadn’t had the patience to linger in the auction house and had decided to start heading toward the entrance to [Tree Lizard Lair] as he waited for [Snake Form] to be useable again. He had purposefully chosen the dungeon close to Treesburg, a city he had never been to. He reasoned Loki would have increased security around Hilsford, and he couldn’t be too careful.

Seeing the cooldowns finally reset, Roth smirked.

Snake Form!

Your subterfuge has surpassed 1000.

[Undetectable] and [Deadliness] have upgraded into [The Night’s Whisper]

The Night’s Whisper (Stat Bonus)

Stat bonus description: You can only be seen and heard if you wish. Your enemies fall before they ever see you coming.

Bonus effects:

It’s almost impossible to detect you;

Lockpicking skills’ effectiveness is doubled;

NPCs with the rogue class look up to you;

Critical attacks used when you break [Camouflage] deal three times as much damage;

It is now possible to befriend special factions;

Damage dealt by poisons is tripled;

Debuffs are twice as strong.

Requirements: 1000+ subterfuge.

This wasn’t his first time using [Snake Form], but it always felt incredible. If Roth stepped on a twig or spoke, this stat bonus smothered any signs of his presence, and all sounds around him became muffled. Roth had stood before a player over level 50, waving his hand in front of his face, and he still hadn’t been able to spot him.

Hopefully, [Human Form] would be enough to move things along. If the tree lizards had no prior business agreements or relationships with other players, it would. But if he wanted to poach contracts from other brokers, as had happened at Lava Lizard Lair, he had no choice but to wait for [Fox Form]. Only with its powerful charisma could he overturn previous contracts and guarantee exclusivity.

Roth hopped from branch to branch, passing by the many other players who had climbed the trees to get into the Tree Lizard Lair. As he traveled through the trees, not a single branch shook, nor a single leaf was perturbed. If there were any spies or assassins here for him, he was positive that they wouldn’t be able to see him. He approached the tablet and was transported into Tree Lizard Lair. 

The Tree Lizard Lair didn’t have the usual arrangement of twin cliffs he’d grown used to. It was more similar to the Raven’s Nest back in Green Woods. Lizards made nests in the trees and soaked the sunlight atop the canopies. Their scales were copper-green. Their color reminded him of the Leafies. 

It had been several days since he had left Sapphira. Unfortunately, that meant he’d been losing a point of affection with the Leafies daily. Even so, thanks to his previous efforts to nurture them, they were still at 15. He wondered how they were doing. Hopefully, they had managed to stay hidden from the predators introduced into the greenhouse by the gardeners working for the Lindstors.

Turning toward the green lizards basking in the sunlight, Roth cracked his neck. It was time to befriend one last lizard faction.

*

The Lord of the Acorn checked the status of the three ongoing skirmishes. Underground, as the new excavation team dug an armory for the chitinsmiths, they had run into a worm. The treeants would never say no to free food like this despite their full larders. Besides, this prey was child’s play. The colony had successfully hunted bigger ones with fewer resources. 

Even though worms were clumsy and slow when above ground, they were in their natural habitat here. They swam through the loose soil like fish in the water. Additionally, the surrounding dirt and cramped tunnels protected its flanks. The treeants couldn't surround it as they did above ground. The tactics required for this kind of underground hunt involved chasing and patience. They had to keep biting the worm's tail, making it run, tiring it out. Eventually, it would lose its strength. The tunnel dug by the worm could always be utilized as a path to link future chambers. As the excavation team tired the worm, the Lord of the Acorn turned his attention to the two other battles. 

An armored beetle had been drawn to the castle by the smell of butchered prey, and the mandibladers worked in tandem with the shield division to fend it off. The armored beetles were sturdy and had considerable defenses, but they were relatively sluggish and much easier to hunt without heavy casualties. The scythes of the two juvenile praying mantises the colony had hunted so far had been fashioned into sharp blades that enhanced the mandiblader division’s cutting power.

These soldiers used the sharp blades to pry holes and cracks into the predatory beetle's hard shell. As the ants fought to pierce its defenses, the beetle stretched its legs and coiled its abdomen, storing energy for an attack. The Lord of the Acorn had the mandibladers retreat at once and commanded the shield division to step up. 

The shield division wore hard chitin harvested from beetle shells strapped around their abdomens. He had the first line dig the shields onto the ground, and the second line linked the shields to form a tall shield wall. At the same time, the Lord commanded the mandibladers to take cover behind them. 

As the beetle sprayed the army with acid, it hit the shield wall, sizzling but failing to deal any real damage to the troops. Only two workers were hit by a splash. The beetle’s legs trembled. This was its third spray throughout the battle, and it needed a few minutes before it could muster another salvo of acid. 

The treeants repositioned around the battlefield, taking advantage of the window of opportunity. Finally, one of the soldiers managed to pierce through the thick shell. Other brave soldiers jumped and pried open the gap in its armor, expanding it and linking it with other fractures they had worked into the beetle’s defenses.

A piece of armor fell, and a soft piece of flesh was revealed. Finally, they could start dealing some real damage. 

Poison Bite!

Poison Bite!

Poison Bite!

For the first time since the start of the battle, the beetle felt real pain, and it jerked violently. Since the attack skill had been upgraded, with each bite, ants left a cumulative poison that dealt damage per second. Sensing its impending doom, the beetle tried to get away. Even though pieces of its heavy armor were falling off, allowing it to run faster, it was still not enough to outrun the ants. 

A similar battle was happening in the southeast. What had started as a dispute over a fly carcass culminated in another beetle hunt. Even as the beetle put up the last of its futile resistance, the workers were already bringing the cut pieces of armor back into the colony. These would be used by the chitinsmiths to make shields and bolster the shield division. 

By the time the three battles were over, the colony had become stronger and gained two levels. Within its genes a memory awakened. The Lord of the Acorn had a vision. Red ancestors, joining their legs together, constructing wonderful, gigantic things. 

This was a new skill that would serve the colony well. Coupled with the increasing number of chitin to work with, the military was about to receive yet another upgrade. It was a good thing, too. Even though the prey around the castle had become manageable, the Lord felt a storm coming. 

They would quickly outgrow this area and need to move out of their turf and locate fresh prey. The Lord of the Acorn had to discover what lay beyond this field of fallen castles. There were many wonderful scents in the air, but there was a siren call that sang louder than any other. The castle tree.

Treeants were inseparable from trees. Their acorn castle had served them well, but it was just a seed, a tiny piece of a much larger entity, one with which they could do many greater things. However, such a tree, especially one as powerful as this one, which could breed castles in its branches, was bound to have occupants. The Lord wanted to find out who they were. 

As most of the colony worked toward dragging the prey to be butchered and fed to the brood, the Lord selected ten scouts. They were among the first workers to be bred and wouldn't live much longer. It was time for their last mission. He sent them toward the tree. 

As they disappeared into the field of fallen castles, the Lord of the Acorn tried to feel what way the wind was blowing. Hopefully, soon, that tree would become the heart of an empire that would conquer all of this land their benefactor had gifted them. 

*

Roth kept [Solar Warmth] on as the reputation point count climbed with the lizards. Thankfully, there had been no brokers here before. He didn’t have to wait for [Fox Form] in order to finish the quest and could get started as soon as he arrived.

As the tree lizards basked in his light, he received a series of notifications.

The Leafies have hunted [Bombardier Beetle].

+2000XP

The Leafies have hunted [Bombardier Beetle].

+2000XP

The Leafies have hunted [Earthworm]

+300XP

Level up!

+3 strength;

+2 intelligence.

The [Fire Ant] genes within the Leafies have awakened.

Leafies have learned [Ant Constructs].

Ant Constructs (Pet Skill)

Description: By holding their legs together, your pets can form structures of moderate complexity.

Effects:

Your pet colony can build basic ant constructs. Variety scales with intelligence and construct durability scales with strength.

Roth’s eyes widened. The treeants had learned yet another skill. It hadn’t even been 48 hours since they had unlocked [Poison Bite], and here they were, leveling up again. Their growth was starting to scare Roth. Just a few days ago, they were under a hundred, and in a matter of days, they had quintupled their numbers.

This new inherent skill didn’t surprise Roth, though. It was one of the benefits of the fire ant genome. When he saw this ant specialization in the [Myrmecologist Handbook], he knew his pet colony had to have it. He had seen the cinematics of the fire ants making cool constructs, such as rafters and towers, and he couldn’t wait to see the Leafies use this skill in person.

As the [Discoverer of Species] bonus wore off after the thirty minutes since first meeting the lizards, Roth figured out it was time to wrap up this quest. He addressed the leader of the tree lizards, Tilia.

“Tilia, there’s something I wish to discuss with you,” Roth started, even as he kept [Solar Warmth] on to keep increasing his reputation with the lizards.

“What seems to be the matter, friend?”

“The tree lizards are in danger,” Roth said ominously. The tree lizards around him became restless, their tails waving back and forth, nostrils flaring.

“Danger? What’s wrong?” Tilia asked while maintaining a calm demeanor for her people.

“All the other lizards, the rock lizards, cloud lizards, desert lizards, sea lizards, lava lizards, and lightning lizards have entered an alliance. The only ones not in the treaty are you, the tree lizards.”

“An alliance?!” Tilia couldn’t keep the facade anymore. Her tail was also rocking back and forth.

“If there’s a war, they will all come after you,” Roth threatened. “There’s only one solution. You have to enter the alliance too, or risk being destroyed.”

“An alliance?”

“Yes. A peace treaty.”

Roth wasn’t concerned about whether this would work or not. From the moment he had tricked more than half of the lizards into signing the peace treaty, he had used this argument to strong-arm all the other stubborn lizards into joining, too.

Seeing that the tree lizards were the only ones left, he was confident he had this in the bag. Tilia seemed to struggle for a moment but finally lowered her head. “We’ll sign the treaty.”

Roth got the document out for Tilia to sign. He was looking forward to obtaining the rewards for this epic quest.

Ch. 261 - Job Offer

INDEX

Ch. 263 - Lacertia