HC: Pacifist | Ch. 293 - BlueFire's Advice (Patreon)

BlueFire looked Roth in the eye and decided to give him the best advice possible. They were now on the same side, after all. “The first thing I’d do is to contact the top guilds. Offer them a package in which they pay you a monthly fee, and you ensure a good discount for their members in return. Then, make a special price for Pegasus,” he said, pointing up.

“Shouldn’t I just ban them from using the gate?” Roth asked.

“No, no, no. Open the gate to everyone.” Seeing he was unconvinced, BlueFire explained. “Who has the most assets in the Dark Abyss?”

“Pegasus.”

“So, who will be the most willing to pay to use your teleportation gate?”

“Oh! I see.”

“Never drive a beast into a corner. They will fight viciously. If you freeze Pegasus out of the Dark Abyss, they will be motivated to come after you. That is the opposite of what you want. If I were you, I’d let them use the gate. With this one move, you’ll hit their morale, end their monopoly of the Dark Abyss, and take their money.”

Roth nodded and considered BlueFire’s advice for a moment. “Tell you what… our guild probably has the resources to negotiate all these packages and stuff with other guilds, right?”

“We do.”

“Why don’t I leave this with you then? In return, the Ogres can use the teleportation gate for free.”

“We’re talking about a lot of gold here, Roth. This would be a great resource for the guild, too.” BlueFire tried.

“Anything other than what I’ve just offered you must be negotiated. Put an offer together if you’d like.”

BlueFire tapped his foot in thought. He wasn’t running the numbers. He had done so the moment he looked at the screenshots. What he was thinking was how could this one young man find so much good stuff? He was a treasure magnet! How did he do this? BlueFire pulled up the ranks discreetly and found that he was already in 39th place. He was catching up.

“What if we extend your contract by another two years, and you let us keep 10% of the gold this gate generates.”

“What if I let you handle the negotiation of the teleportation gate’s name? I’m sure you have the connections to fetch me the best price. That should be more than enough credits to extend a contract to Drake and my brothers and make them paid employees of the Ogres.”

“The guild takes no deadweight, Roth. And we wouldn’t offer them an elder’s position. Can you vouch for your brothers?”

“I can.”

BlueFire considered the values, and knowing what his guild leader would say, he nodded. “So be it. Deal.”

“Alright! Gotta go now. I have an appointment with Galatheel and Godfsfried in a few hours.”

BlueFire got off the call and contacted the team that handled dealings with guilds and big companies, forwarding them the specifics of his agreement with Roth. He would pay top dollar to see Loki’s face once he found out that despite all his hard work in the Dark Abyss, Roth was the one managing the only teleportation gate in the entire region. BlueFire burst out laughing. Today was a bad day for Loki and, therefore, an excellent day for him.

*

“What do you mean they melted? Diamonds can’t melt, Yillian.”

“I don’t know what you want me to tell you, boss. The diamonds just all melted into a puddle. I don’t know why or how it happened.”

Loki was quick to point the finger at Yillian. “Either the items have an expiry date, or someone else has beaten you to the punch, Yillian!” 

Yillian patted the side of his elephant, ignoring Loki’s disapproving look. “How, sir? The diamonds were all the first drops of wild bosses in the Dark Abyss. I don’t see any other guilds running around the Dark Abyss.”

“Are you telling me everything, Yillian? Are you sure other parties aren’t running around the Dark Abyss?”

Yillian’s heart raced. The Slayer. Loki knew. How? He thought he could trust everyone in the crew. Who was reporting to Loki behind his back? Was it Stan? Was it Joleen? It was too late to admit it, though. He would just ride out his lie to the bitter end now. “Of course, sir. Why would I ever lie to you?”

“What about the sighting of the Slayer at the beaches of the Abyssal Sea?”

Yillian forced a laugh. “That wasn’t the Slayer, sir. I know the Slayer from my time on the New Earth. I would have known if it was him.”

Loki stared at him intently, but Yillian held his ground, not flinching.

“Uh? Why am I getting all these messages?” Loki said, scowling. “WHAT?!”

In all his time working under Loki, Yillian had never seen him so shocked. “What seems to be the matter, sir?”

“It wasn’t the Slayer?” Then how do you explain this?!”

Yillian got a message from Loki, and he opened it immediately. There were two screenshots, side by side. On the top, it read ‘Zika’s Portal to Crownia, Dark Abyss.’

“A portal to the Dark Abyss?” he gasped. That wasn’t all. The two screenshots showed the same screen from the perspective of two different players. One belonged to a Pegasus player and listed the price of teleportation at 15k gold. The other had the logo for the Rats, one of Pegasus’ secret subsidiaries, and the price was 6k gold. “What a huge difference in pricing.”

“If it wasn’t the Slayer, who else would go out their way to jack up the price for only my guild like this?! That’s it, Yillian. I invoke clause 5c of your contract. No bonus for you. And may this be the last time you lie to me, or that’s not the only clause I’ll invoke next time.”

Yillian gulped. He was paid an obscene amount of money. But he had signed a deal with the Devil for it. “Yes, sir. I understand.”

The call disconnected. As Loki fumed in the capital, AstroTerra players worldwide celebrated. The gates to the Dark Abyss had finally opened!

Limecreek was situated at the base of the Jade Mountains. While much smaller than the main cities, it was a sizable town with a robust economy. The mines in the Jade Mountains were rich in their namesake stone and home to the Giant Rockworms. The mutant insects dealt serious damage and could one-shot a weaker medic; however, they were easy to hunt with proper planning, the right party configuration, and equipment with poison resistance. The equipment their dungeon’s final boss dropped was one of the best for level 30 espers. Many parties ground for XP and gold here up to level 40.

To the south of the city was the Ulysses River, an excellent fishing site and a favored watering hole for the herds of wild horses roaming the plains of Rock Canyon. Slavers and tamers could always find prey in its vicinity and hunt to their heart’s content.

Walter, Will, and Wesley had been running quests and dungeons here for two weeks. They drank their ciders silently while waiting for the XP buff to trigger. All they needed was a few more minutes at the local inn, and they would gain a buff to make the next run of the Giant Rockworm’s Den smoother. 

Walter was having trouble keeping his cool and kept throwing nervous glances at the group of soldiers eating a few tables away. Limecreek had no garrison, but the occasional soldiers still visited. The combination of evil alignment and dark affinity drew soldiers like blood in the water drew sharks. Players who had taken the side of the hivies during the Rise of the Hive King event especially had difficulty escaping the soldiers’ notice.

“Be cool, Walter. Just two more minutes,” Will hissed.

“I know. I know,” Walter said, swatting at the comment as if it were an annoying fly.

“Argh! We shouldn’t have chosen the hivies,” Will complained, this time addressing Wesley.

Wesley sighed and shook his head. He kept his peace and sipped his cider. Will had been complaining about this daily and wasn’t in the mood to explain it all to him again. 

Unsatisfied with Wesley’s reaction, Will pressed, “You forgot how much we’d miss out on when we joined the bad guys. Even a trip to the auction house is stressful! Look at us!”

Seeing that Will wouldn’t stop bickering and complaining until he said something and that one of the soldiers was looking their way, Wesley put the cider down and looked into Will’s eyes, trying to convey calm and confidence.

“Would you be level 37 if it weren’t for the event, Will? What about your special skills? What about all those juicy quests from working with the mountain bandits and the slavers? True, we must tread carefully when we visit the auction house but isn’t the black market just as good? Maybe even better? And besides, you seemed more than happy to join the hivies. Take responsibility, dude.”

Will looked down. “You’re right, Wes. Sorry. I just got frustrated.”

“Guys?” From a skittish, restless mood, Walter had a happy smile and twinkling eyes. 

Seeing the shift in his friend, Wesley raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“Haha. The answer to our problems! Check this out.”

Wesley skimmed through the message sent by his friend. “The Dark Abyss?”

“I thought Pegasus was blocking everyone from adventuring in the region,” said Will, visibly excited by the news. “But if we can just teleport there…”

“The price is very reasonable too. How come it’s so cheap?” Wesley asked suspiciously as he properly read the news item.

An Exciting New Region!

#announcement #teleportation #newfrontier #darkabyss #evilalignment #darknessaffinity

Poster: OgresBlueFire

Do you have darkness affinity? Do you have an evil alignment and trouble finding your home in a human city? Have you hit a slump after siding with the hivies? Are you tired of being limited to the slums of mid-grade towns?

Then look no further! You can now teleport into one of the forbidden regions: the Dark Abyss! The new teleportation gate is situated in the Dark Abyss's central location, Crownia, the city of the Crow Emperor.

Crownia is a unique city inhabited by corvids, anthropomorphized crows, and ravens. While this city isn’t managed by human NPCs, it still has an auction house, storage units, shops that sell unique supplies, and many new things to discover. 

The Dark Abyss is a land rife with opportunity. Who knows if there aren’t other cities to discover? There are many dungeons and wild bosses which have never been hunted yet. Attached to this post is a list of some of the treasures you can harvest from the Dark Abyss! 

The portal will be available to everyone for the first month at a discounted price. Consider joining the Union or the Ogres to benefit from even greater discounts. Come quick! Before others beat you to the punch! Select ProcessCore Crownia Portal, sponsored by Process Core, and come brave a new frontier.

Comments

HerculesLabors: First to comment! Ha! I’ve already traveled to Crownia. It’s awesome. Something between one of the Sky Islands and the lizardmen’s spires in the swamp.

PegasusGulliver: The Dark Abyss is Pegasus’ territory. Be advised that Pegasus will hunt trespassers who dare teleport to the Dark Abyss.

Re:PegasusGulliver:StrongGuy: You big guilds sicken me. Who are you to take over a WHOLE REGION? I was on the fence, but after reading your obnoxious comment, I’m running to the teleportation gate. I’m going to HUNT YOU DOWN, Pegasus jerks!

Re:PegasusGulliver:TurtleTank: Weren’t you the ones who lobbied for the hivies? Now, let us come into the Dark Abyss to share some of the spoils, baby!

….

“So, Wes? What do you think?” Will asked hopefully.

“I don’t know. I’ve heard that the Dark Abyss is high-risk, high-reward.”

“Isn’t it a bummer to go to the Dark Abyss?” Walter asked, scratching his head. “Last I read online, they didn’t recommend it.”

“It didn’t use to be worth it. No. Largely because there was nowhere to dump loot, you had to go through Pegasus to get there. But it’s worth it now. Just one black crystal shard sells for 1k. If we can get some stacks, we can travel there and back and still make a profit.”

“And there are no stinky soldiers there!” Will added.

Wesley nodded. Even though he didn’t mind role-playing as a bad guy in the game, making a living in a region designed for players with their characteristics was probably much more comfortable.

“It’s settled then. We’re heading toward Rubia’s teleportation gate and then to Crownia.”

The three friends finished their cider in one gulp, pulled their cowls over their heads, and left the inn.

Ch. 292

INDEX

Ch. 294