HC: Pacifist | Ch. 263 - Lacertia (Patreon)

You’ve convinced all the fighting factions of the lizards to forget their differences and come together as one race.

+3 subterfuge;

+3 charisma;

+20 nature affinity;

+10 righteousness.

Roth nodded approvingly at the rewards for convincing the stubborn lizards to forget their petty squabbles and come together as one race. He had used every tool at his disposal and lost a few righteousness points along the way. It felt good to be given some of those back.

You’ve completed [Unify the Lizards].

Completion rate: Legendary

Rewards: +2,000,000XP; 20x[Mother Scales]; [Swamp Orb].

Bonus rewards: +3,000,000XP; 40x[Mother Scales].

Level up!

Perhaps it was because Roth had teleported all over AstroTerra to complete this quest in record time or because he managed to gather all the lizards under one banner without harming any of them. Still, the system generously attributed him a legendary completion rate.

Roth studied the different rewards. The XP was generous, allowing him to gain a level. It was the second time he leveled up this week. Adding all these different lizard factions to his peace treaty boosted his daily XP significantly, allowing him to reach level 40 two days prior. With the XP awarded to him by the quest, he had reached level 41. He was one step closer to catching up with the top players in the game.

There were fewer rewards than he was expecting, but he was sure that the items had to make up for it with quality. He studied them one at a time.

Mother Scale (Consumable)

Description: The first scale a lizard mother grows after becoming pregnant. It is highly valued among the lizards. Can be traded for rewards from the lizardmen.

Roth smirked. It was similar to Antioch's vault tickets. He wondered what items lizardmen could give him. He went on to study the other reward.

Swamp Orb (Legendary)

Description: A powerful biomachine that absorbs power from the surrounding lifeforms and can create wormholes.

Effects: 

You can teleport between lizard dungeons and Lacertia;

Lizardmen respect you.

Cooldown: 24 hours.

Roth felt his mouth go dry. What? He could teleport—for free!! And he could go straight toward the lizardmen’s city? The item had a 24-hour cooldown, but that wasn’t a problem! Roth had been making a lot of money from trading items between cities by exploring the discount he got for teleporting. Using the [Swamp Orb] instead, he could shave 1k off his traveling expenses, dramatically increasing his profit margin.

Additionally, he’d experienced firsthand how useful it was to have access to teleportation gates other than those in human cities. The teleportation gate in Antioch had been vital to escape the siege around the Palatial Clearing. Even now, assassins were probably outside this dungeon, itching to catch sight of Roth and attack him.

Roth turned toward the tree lizards who faced him squarely. He had already signed a peace treaty with them and added them to his list of customers. Rather than waiting here for [Snake Form] to come off cooldown, he had a new place to explore.

Roth grabbed the [Swamp Orb] from his inventory. It was the size of a bowling ball and had a glassy surface. Within was a cloud of green and black gasses that shifted, never mixing. It was the first time he was taking a look at lizardman technology, making him all the more curious to check their city out.

He focused his attention on the orb. It began glowing brilliantly, and a window appeared before him. It listed all the different lizard dungeons scattered throughout AstroTerra. He recognized a few of the names in the listings as places he’d visited earlier this week.

Lacertia, the lizardmen’s city, was at the top of the list. The first alternative race Roth had landed his eyes on when he visited Greensburg was a lizardman. Back then, he’d read about Lacertia in the forums and the rough details of a quest done by warriors all over AstroTerra to unlock the lizardman race.

“Tilia, I must go now. I’m going to visit Lacertia.”

Hearing the name of the destination of their pilgrimage, Tilia’s eyes shone. “The tales we’ve heard of that beautiful place, Martyr. Its brilliant spires tower over the dark swamps. Everywhere you look, there’s food. They say that there are flies everywhere,” she said dreamily.

Flies everywhere? Is that a good thing? thought Roth to himself.

“Lacertia… the dream of any honorable lizard,” Tilia said with a twinge of envy. “Who knows? Now that we have signed a treaty with our competitors, it may become easier to make a pilgrimage to the glorious city.”

“I hope so.” Roth nodded sincerely. “I’ll also do what I can to bring you consumables that boost stats. Hopefully, that will help you, too.”

The tree lizard leader bowed her head slightly as a show of gratitude. Roth bowed in return.

“Thank you for everything!” he said, waving his goodbyes to his reptile friends.

Roth selected Lacertia, and his figure disappeared from the Tree Lizard Lair.

In the blink of an eye, Roth's landscape changed dramatically. From the clear morning of sunshine and the wet scent of woodlands, Roth was knee-deep in muddy water that smelled stale. Were it not for its fluid consistency, Roth would have assumed it was clay or mud, but the lack of resistance to his movements told him otherwise.

Congratulations on visiting the Great Swamp.

+200,000XP.

You’ve been hit with the [Trench Foot] debuff.

-20% movement speed for an hour.

You’ve been hit with the [Malaria] debuff.

-10 strength;

-10 dexterity.

You’ve been hit with the [Swamp Gloom] debuff.

-20 intelligence.

Your body’s immune system manages to fend off some debuffs.

+1 resilience.

The collection of debuffs brought back memories of his time in the sewers. However, this swamp, despite its strong smell, couldn’t rival the stench of the waste of Hilsford. Another improvement over the sewers he’d spent many hours in, here he was in the open air—patches of tall grass and the occasional tree sprung up from the mysterious, murky waters. Dark mist emerged from the mud, and birds and critters buzzed around him. Tilia wasn’t lying. There were flies everywhere.

Lin had already emerged from Roth’s robes and curiously sniffed the air around him. Even though he seemed eager to explore, the sight of the smelly, dirty water threw him off. The kitten moved around Roth’s shoulders and head, looking for somewhere clean to jump off to. He tried swatting a few flies away but quickly got bored and settled into sightseeing in the swamp from the clean comfort of his human. Roth chuckled and gently patted Lin’s head.

Roth inspected the [Swamp Orb]. It had dimmed, having used all its stored energy. He’d be stuck here for the next 24 hours. He saved it in his inventory and checked his map to find his bearings. Even though the Dark Abyss was mostly surrounded by mountains, a small stretch of marshland connected it to Green Country. The mix of the clean waters of Silver River with the decayed ones of the Dark Abyss formed the greatest swamp in AstroTerra, home to the lizardmen.

Ahead of him, he could see their city: Lacertia. It was a collection of pale spires that emerged from the marshland, twisted within themselves. Roth tried to discern what kind of stone they were made of and, after a few moments, realized it wasn’t stone but bones. It reminded him of New Earth. Dinosaur bones were a popular building material in the game’s cities. Just what creatures these large bones belonged to was beyond Roth.

Roth dragged himself through the waters until he got to the first spire. He used the gaps between the bones to help him climb out of the foul marsh, allowing him to look at one of the platforms that made up Lacertia. The rumored lizardman city looked more like a small village. 

Each spire was roughly 40 meters across, much taller than it was long. The only buildings built atop the bone constructs were huts made of straw and wood. Around him, he saw different lizardmen with their characteristic muscular tails and tall, bulky bodies. There were also some players, but this place was deserted compared to what he was used to seeing in mid-tiered cities. 

His human appearance didn’t draw much attention. Anyone with access to the forums could figure out how to get here, and onlookers would just assume that he was yet another warrior who had come to change races.

Roth couldn’t help but notice that on this spire, all the lizardmen were purple, reminding him of lightning lizards. He approached one of them at random. It was rare for Roth to meet someone taller than him; however, his head was only as tall as the purple lizardman’s chest. He had leather armor and a few javelins on a large quiver on his back. Roth inspected him.

Ray, the Lizardman

Lvl. 40.

Hp: 10,000.

Ep: 500.

Skills: [Javelin Toss]; [Brute Strength]; [Hulking Titan]; [Bloodlust]; [Tail Swipe]; [Purple Mist]; [Lightning Strike].

The creature’s level was significantly higher than he’d seen in the lizard dungeons. “Excuse me,” Roth greeted in Lizardspeak.

The lizardman whirled toward him. “You speak our language!”

+4 reputation with the lizardmen.

“Uh. Yeah. I was given mother scales and told I could trade it here.”

“Head to the Swamp Spire.”

He hadn’t realized that each spire had a name. “Which one is it?” Roth asked. 

“The one in the middle,” Ray answered. “Welcome to the city.”

“Thanks.”

Roth jumped back onto the water, moving toward the spire that Ray had indicated. Why hadn’t the charisma bonus been activated? Was it because he had met MountainTop before? Even so, the lizardman was helpful enough even without Roth’s high charisma. And why did Ray  make such a big fuss over him knowing lizardspeak? Didn’t all lizardmen players know it, too? Was it such a big deal?

Roth reached the Swamp Spire. Now that the purple lizardman had pointed it out, the spires were laid out like a circle, with one at the center. Roth hauled himself out of the murky water and took in his surroundings. Here, the lizardmen were dark as night, a skin color Roth hadn’t seen in any lizards.

Whereas Ray had worn simple crude equipment, every lizardman in this spire seemed fully clad in high-end gear. Each piece of armor was a work of art with beautiful ornaments, gemstones, and decorations, and their weapons made Ray’s javelins look like toothpicks. Roth inspected the nearest lizardman.

Obsidia, the Lizardwoman (Elite)

Lvl. 50.

Hp: 30,000.

Ep: 4000.

Skills: [Kinetic Toss], [Brute Strength], [Hulking Titan], [Bloodlust], [Tail Swipe], [Black Mist], and [Royal Bloodline].

Oops. Lizardwoman. Black lizardmen were stronger than purple ones. He wondered what this meant.

“Excuse me?” Roth said, approaching the woman in lizardspeak.

“Martyr, welcome to Lacertia,” she welcomed kindly. “We’ve heard about you.”

“Y-you have?”

“Oh yes. You’re the one who has ended the fighting between the four-legged ones.”

Did she mean the normal lizards? “It’s true.”

“We’ve been expecting you. Please come.”

Roth followed after Obsidia. Roth watched intently as a group of black lizardmen hauled a giant catfish from the swamp waters and dragged it onto the platform. It was as large as a bear. He also spotted with interest a lizardman smith hammering on an anvil, shaping a long piece of metal into what he guessed was a sword. With each swing of the hammer, the whole bony tower shook. 

Lizardmen were strong, but they didn’t seem to be very numerous. Roth counted no more than twenty huts on this spire, and he hadn’t seen more than thirty lizardmen. 

“I have to ask, why are lizards separated by color?” Roth asked.

Obsidia hissed a greeting to a passing tall lizardman in beautifully carved leather armor, which made gear made by Roth look like toys. “Each spire hosts a different line of lizards.” Her nostrils flared briefly, and her tongue tasted the air around them. She continued. “You seem to have visited the Lightning Spire. Lightning Lizards who complete the pilgrimage and make it here live with their kin in the Lightning Spire.”

“So I guess there’s a spire with tree lizardmen, another with sea lizardmen, etcetera?”

“That’s correct.”

“And what about this spire?”

“What do you mean?”

“Where do you come from? The black lizardmen?”

“Some of us have always been here. Talented pilgrims can also accumulate enough toxins and nutrients in their scales before joining us at the center,” she declared majestically. “Only the most worthy and dignified of our race earn black scales. Fly!”

Her tongue grabbed a passing bug and swallowed it hole. Roth resisted the urge to gag. Yes. Yes. Very dignified, he thought to himself.

Despite the black lizardmen’s greater strength, they seemed to have spent no less than a few moments putting their buildings together. Lizardmen were warriors, not architects. All huts were made of the same uneven wooden boards, with straw over their roofs. They passed a few smaller houses until they reached a slightly larger building. 

“Welcome to Lacertia’s Assembly Hall. After you, Martyr.”

Ch. 262 - Constructs

INDEX

Ch. 264 - Nari's Axe