HC:Pacifist | Ch. 85 - Tremors (Patreon)

Roth kept reading the forums as the platform slowly descended to Mario's lab.

Explosion in the Sewers of Hilsford

#news #explosion #breakingnews #hilsford #commercialdistrict

Poster: MineralSwift149

Post: Did anyone else see the light coming from the sewers under Chemists' Street? There's also some smoke coming out from the drains and manhole covers.

Comments

CheapLobster943: Oh yeah! I was walking on the street and even felt a slight tremor.

StoneLiver19231: There must be some event going on down there.

It seems that blowing up that grenade in the sewers hadn't been the smartest of moves. It drew the public eye toward the underground. He hoped this wouldn't bring him any trouble. After all, he could leisurely walk below the city because no one came down here. If the sewers were suddenly flooded with curious players, it was only a matter of time before the IronIre squad came here and sought him out.

For the moment, he had to keep a low profile and avoid the sewers under the commercial district like the plague. He had completed the [Down the Drain] quest, and it was time to wrap it up with the Gazpachos. Hopefully, he could secure a way to disguise himself and return to the upworld life.

The platform docked, and the lights of the lab turned on. At least, for now, he could enjoy the safety of the unknown location of Mario's lab. No one was here. Drake and the guys must have gone out to go about their business. Now that the Gazpachos' quest was near its end, Roth was curious about how Drake's attempts to build a relationship with the Raviolis were going.

It smelled like burnt meat, and he could see light flashes behind the machines. Roth also heard the sizzles of someone welding. Mario was probably in his recovery cycle, in between trips to the surface.

Sure enough, after turning around the corner from the machines, he found Mario lying on the table, being repaired by his faithful robotic arms, grooming him up so that he could go back out there and be hunted again.

What a sad life this alligator cyborg had. The mob paid it to make other people's lives miserable at their bidding, and in his free time, he couldn't even get his job done because of the relentless chase from players. Roth felt his heart tighten and closed his fists with all his strength.

It was harder and harder for Roth to see these NPCs and mobs as zeros and ones. They were so well programmed and intelligent, and Roth spent so much time in the game that the line between reality and fiction was blurring.

"Martyr, is that you?"

"Mario, I figured out what was wrong with the drones and have fixed it."

"Yes?" Even as Roth prepared to explain what happened, he took off his scanner and plugged it into one of the nearby computers so Mario could access the information he had collected.

"Some bad guys trapped your gatorbots using a [Frying Scrambler]." Roth pulled one out of his inventory and held it up so the lab's cameras could spot and analyze the item.

"Really? That makes sense. They can emit EMP and static pulses that mess up with electronics. But I'm surprised to hear that you found those here. After all, they are costly. To access one, I would have to fill a never-ending amount of paperwork."

Roth looked at the many shelves lined up with electronic components. If Mario was saying these devices were valuable, that meant they were expensive items. He looked at the five scramblers he collected and smirked.

He made a mental note to check how much they went for at the auction house. He would probably not sell them all. After all, these scramblers seemed very versatile and useful and could potentially get him out of sticky situations.

Roth heard a little beep behind him. It was from the computer where he'd plugged the cybernetic scanner in. The upload was complete. Roth got no notification after completing this.

Since [Call for Backup] and [Down the Drain] had been initially issued by two separate NPCs, perhaps he had to see both to mark this quest as finished. That reminded him, where was Athos? Oh! Shoot! Athos! He was still probably patrolling the commercial district! What if other players saw him? Should he go back there to pick him up?

After all, the most suspicious thing would have been for players to swarm the sewers and find him standing alone among the wreckage of the grenade explosion. If he ran there coming from the slums, that wouldn't be too suspicious, right?

"Human, that was quite the surprise!" Roth heard the little squeaking voice of Athos speaking to him from atop one of the work tables.

"Athos? When did you get here?"

"I've been here the whole time. The darkness has receded. I wasn't expecting you to be able to pull this off on your own. You surprised me there."

"Does this mean that..."

"Yes, our work here is done."

[The Sewer Monsters] completed.

Completion rate: Legendary.

Quest rewards:

500,000 XP(+50,000XP); +300 reputation points with the Cyborg Union; +300 reputation with snakes; +300 reputation with ratans; [Mouseketeer Cape].

Bonus rewards:

750,000 XP(+75,000XP); +500 reputation points with the Cyborg Union; +500 reputation with snakes; +500 reputation with ratans; 2 random pieces of plumber set; [Athos] item.

[Level up!]

Congratulations! The Cyborg Union now reveres you.

Congratulations! Snakes now revere you.

Congratulations! Ratans now adore you.

[Revered] has been upgraded to [Adored].

Roth stared wide-eyed at the completion rate of the quest and the many rewards he had received from completing it. He had noticed that the game's system had congratulated him on finishing the quest unconventionally earlier. That was the first time he got such a compliment from the system. It seemed that the notification was already hinting at his high completion rate.

He had thought that S++ was the best rank he could get on a quest. He had only gotten that high of a grade once when he finished the [Ratan Trade] quest. It was also mentioned in the conditions to unlock his [Overachiever] title.

How had he unlocked such a high grade? Could it be because he had jumped the quest's steps and single-handedly defeated all the monsters? Roth scratched his head. These were fantastic rewards, but at the same time, they resulted from his accidental grenade throw.

Due to the unprecedented completion rate, the rewards were incredibly generous. In one single bout, he was now revered by the snakes and the Cyborg Union and was also adored by ratans. Roth was smiling from ear to ear. It was hard to believe that he already had 3000+ points in his relationship with his little furry friends.

Roth started going through the rewards of the quest. He started with the equipment. He'd been given two pieces of the plumber set! With this, he was only one short of completing it.

Utility Belt (Rare)

Item description: It's a simple but sturdy belt allowing you to carry more tools conveniently.

Item effects: +10kg weight-carry capacity.

Restrictions: Lvl. 14.

Plumbing gloves (Rare)

Item description: Work safety is essential. These gloves offer protection and help you to do your job better, even when something is wet and slippery.

Item effects: +5% damage resistance.

Restrictions: Lvl. 10.

The belt was by far the best of the bunch. Amazingly, these were the first gloves that Roth got in the game! Even though they gave him no stats, the damage resistance was better than nothing.

Because he was a zoomorph, he preferred items that granted stats and enhanced how much he got from his transformation. He could probably get better gloves at the auction house later. Roth equipped the utility belt and the gloves and looked for a mirror in Mario's lab. There was no mirror, but he settled with some polished metal sheets.

He looked like Robin Hood's plumber right now. And the best part was that he finally could get relief from the stench of the sewers outside. He couldn't wait to leave the lab and breathe clean, odorless air.

Mouseketeer Cape (Rare)

Item description: Part of the mouseketeer uniform, this cape is worn proudly by the guards of King Ratatouille. It's also gifted to those who do a special service for the ratan people.

Item effects:

+10% Debuff Resistance;

+10 Jump.

Restrictions: Revered by ratans.

It was a great cape, but at the same time, Roth didn't want to lose the movement speed effects of his [Errand Cloak]. He didn't equip it just yet. He then moved on to read about his new title.

Adored (Epic)

Title description: By facing many hardships alongside your friends, you've earned their unconditional respect. Some people keep you in their hearts, and that shows in your gallant demeanor.

Title effect:

Grants +10 charisma;

Unlocks Reputation Store.

Conditions to unlock [Adored]:

Achieve adored relationship status with any faction inside the game {complete}.

Reputation store? What was this? He went to his menu and tried to look for a window similar to the auction house. There was nothing here. What was this reputation store? Was it an actual place?

While looking for the shop, Roth found something else. It was an icon for a skill. It said [Hire]. Roth was unsure of what this meant. Did this have anything to do with the reputation store? Or did it have to do with the skill he had unlocked when he became a novice merchant? He tried to click it.

Novice NPC detected:

Mario, the Alligator Cyborg Plumber

5000/5000

NPCs Professions: [Programmer]; [Robotics Engineer]; [Tinkerer]

Conditions to hire Mario: revered status with the Cyborg Union.

Would you like to issue a quest to Mario?

It turned out it had to do with a mix of factors. His new broker skill was enabled when he reached a revered level in his relationship with the Cyborg Union. He looked at Athos. He had a higher relationship status with the ratans, but Athos was probably well beyond being considered a novice NPC.

He hadn't realized that NPCs had grades similar to the ones players had. Mario was considered to be a novice NPC. It made sense. After all, Mario was a wild boss that was below level 20. His level matched the 'novice' grade.

Roth pulled out the broken machine he had taken from Oli's lair. After today, he dared not underestimate the garbage he had taken from that NPC's hideout. Just thinking of the powerful explosion that the grenade had caused made Roth shudder at the power or effect this broken piece of machinery might have.

On the upside of things, this particular machine didn't look to be anything dangerous or weaponized. When he had asked for Mario's assistance with it a few days ago, he refused. Could he perhaps….

"Hey, Mario? I want to hire you to do a job for me."

"Really? What's that?" Roth raised his brows and felt the excitement build up in his chest. That was a positive response.

"Remember that machine I showed you last time? Could you fix it for me?"

"Bring it over to the table." Roth crossed the lab and set the machine next to Mario's body. A robot arm turned it over and over, and a beam of light ran horizontally and then vertically, scanning the machinery.

"This is a fantastic piece of machinery. I think I can. But it's going to take a while."

New Quest:

Mysterious Machine (Uncommon)

Pax, the martyr, has found a mysterious piece of machinery. Red, the dwarf, has been able to replace all the burnt components, but the machine needs to be reprogrammed.

Quest objectives:

Reprogram the machine and make it operational.

Rewards:

Pax will reward Mario with 300,000 XP and pay him 50 gold.

Would you like to hire Mario and issue this quest? [Y/N]

Roth stared dumbfounded at the window in front of him. Was he giving quests to others now? He looked at the rewards. The 300,000XP would probably come from his experience bar and the 50 gold from his pocket. It was a funny experience to be on the other side of the quest-giving process.

Players kept relentlessly pestering NPCs, trying to get rewards off of them, and now that Roth was on the other end of the stick, he could see that issuing quests wasn't so simple. He tried to adjust the amount of XP and gold he was willing to offer, but the system had already calculated a fair price and didn't allow changes.

50 gold to program a machine seemed to be a lot of money. What did this machine do anyway? Roth looked at his inventory and thought of everything he wanted to buy. There was only one way of finding out what the machine did.

"I accept the conditions." Mario took the machine from him, throwing it into a pile of machines and circuit boards in the corner of the lab. Roth controlled himself not to let out a gasp and hoped that Mario hadn't broken anything. Was this how NPCs felt as they saw players taking their quests? He checked his inventory. From the 220 gold he had saved up for use, 50 was immediately locked, leaving him with about 170 gold in his pockets.

Roth still had to see the [Athos] item he'd received and learn more about the reputation store. He took out the [Athos] item and inspected it.

Ch. 84 - Oops!

INDEX

Ch. 86 - Inner Light