HC:Pacifist | Ch. 105 - Food Subsidy (Patreon)

Quick update:

Book 1 of Hidden Class: Pacifist has been moved over to Kindle Unlimited.

AMBYSSUS has come out on Amazon! If you've been enjoying the book, leaving a review there would mean a lot.

Enjoy today's chapter, and have a nice weekend!

******************************************

“Sir, there are multiple complaints from new guild members about our database quest locations. They say they are too crowded. It seems someone is selling information from our database at very reasonable prices, and other players are flocking toward what should be our secret farming and questing spots.” Loki drummed his fingers. A spy. He knew it. He had done well to order a purge.

“Get our librarians to work on alternate sites. Redouble the security and safety measures so this doesn’t happen again.”

“Yes, sir.” She lingered and seemed even more nervous than earlier. Loki felt a tightness in his chest.

“What happened?”

“Sir, the new egg we arranged in Sky Island has been destroyed.”

“Who?!”

“The attackers seem to be a team from the Ogres, sir.” Had they found out his plan? Impossible.

“What is the news on the other sites?”

“It doesn’t look good. The other eggs remain hidden, but all infected minions are being butchered.” Loki felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He’d gone all in with this plan. No one should know about this. “Sir, it seems that what’s gotten the guilds involved is a guide someone is selling online. It’s a paid post about the light affinity that is for sale for 10,000 gold…”

“Did you buy it? Have you read it?”

“W-well no, sir. It’s 10,000 gold. I would never move that amount without…”

“Shut up, and wait while I figure out this mess. Quick. Send me the link.” The secretary paled but did a good job holding in her tears. Incompetent. Every last one of his secretaries. He looked at the guide and bought it without an afterthought.

“Light Affinity - An essential guide.

This guide aims to explain the basics of affinities and how to unlock them. There are two necessary things to gain an affinity: a catalyst and a method. Catalysts are titles, equipment, or classes that give you an added sensitivity toward an affinity, whereas methods are how you gain experience. These are unique to each affinity.

This guide only gives you the method, whereas the catalyst has to be found by you. The best way to grind experience in the light affinity is to find mysterious infected monsters lurking in some cities' sewers. They can drop an item that, when offered to a high-level righteous NPC, will destroy them and grant you light affinity points!”

“No! No! No!” roared Loki. There was someone out to get him. This was an underhanded attack on his schemes. The fact that they were selling this information for 10k gold, which was much lower than other guides on affinity, was proof of this. He tried messaging the author of the post.

The author of this guide has blocked all incoming messages.

Loki clenched his teeth and bit his lips until it drew blood. A formidable enemy dared stand in his way. He forced himself to calm down.

“Activate one egg in Nimbus City.”

“But, sir… that’s our turf. Didn’t you want the eggs to go to neutral ground? Or to cities controlled by other guilds?”

“Do as I say. Also, go get Zin.”

The secretary rushed off the call. It was too late to stop him now. At most, they could slightly delay him. He allowed himself a smile. In a week, he’d turn AstroTerra upside down.

*

Not wanting to cancel his badger form nor call undue attention to himself, Roth asked Soros to point him to the nearest toilet. This new building was something. The bathrooms were all made of beautiful stone, with all the fixtures and faucets of chromed metal. The bathroom was so luxurious and welcoming that Roth could imagine people wanting to live there.

He miniaturized and jumped in. This time, the old man even helped by flushing. Roth didn't know how to feel about this. As the water took him down the pipes, he could hear the echoes of the old man mumbling something like, 'I would rather starve than see one of my nearest business associates being flushed down my bathroom all the time.' Roth giggled at how Soros hadn't changed from when he'd first met him in that old building.

After zigzagging through the pipes, Roth was sent flying as he came out to the sewers below. Immediately, his badger's nose was hit by the decaying stench of the sewers. He'd forgotten that he didn't have the plumber set equipped.

At once, he went to his equipment window, selected the slot pre-configured with the plumber set pieces and put it on. A wave of relief hit him, and he relaxed. The racial transformation skill was still on cooldown. Since he wanted to be able to transform before visiting the snakes, he decided to visit Mario first.

As Roth walked, he didn't forget to activate [Search]. He was spamming this skill whenever he came to the sewers in hopes of finding the one hidden chamber preventing him from finishing his exploration of the map of the sewers under Hilsford.

Search!

After searching, you find no results.

Roth decided to look at how his stats looked in badger form.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

Name: Pax

Class: Pacifist

Race: Zoomorph

Profession(s): Broker, Lvl. 10

Level: 22

Affinity: Light (134/300); Nature (1/100)

Alignment: Good (294/300)

Positive relationships:

Badgers (1245/3000); Boars (1313/3000); Corvids (1311/1000); Cyborg Union (1100/3000); Dogs (102/300); Dwarf Exiles (105/300); Flock (125/300); Foxes (1310/3000); Golden Mountain Inc. (864/1000); Greenleaf Inc. (332/1000); Hilsford Garrison Soldiers (103/300); Peace Corps (100/300); Ratans (3251/10,000); Silkworms (10/100); Snakes (1013/3000); Treeants (400/1000)

Negative Relationships:

Gazpachos (-1400/-3000); Thadeus (-10/100)

Titles: [Adored]; [Alpinist]; [Art Enthusiast]; [Darksbane]; [Discoverer of Species]; [Explorer]; [First of a Kind]; [Jumper]; [Marathonist]; [Martyr]; [Micromanagement]; [Mindfulness]; [Novice]; [Overachiever]; [Pioneer]; [Polyglot]; [Richling]; [Triathlete]

STATS (64 Free Stat Points)

Hp: 199

Energy: 935

Damage Reduction: 34.6%

Status Resistance: 3.4%

Cooldown Reduction: 16%

Running Speed: 137.2%

Weight: [Light] - (21.4/85.5 kg)

Strength: 27

Dexterity: 26

Intelligence: 317 (+1%)

Wisdom: 32

Endurance: 118

Charisma: 36 (+5%)

Resilience: 9

Insight: 6

EQUIPMENT

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

Left Hand: [Empty]

Shoes: [Plumber Boots] | +20% speed

Bottom: [Black Toxicologist Leggings] | +5% poison dur.; +4 wisdom; +1 intelligence

Top: [Dark Toxicologist Jacket] | +1% poison dur.; +3% damage red.; +5 wisdom; +10ep

Gloves: [Plumbing Gloves] | +5% damage red.

Head: [Black Toxicologist Hood] | +2% poison pot.; +3 wisdom; +3 intelligence

Cape: [Errand Cloak] | +10% speed

ACCESSORIES

[Crow Feather Earring] | +1 intelligence; +1 energy regen.

[Cybernetic Scanner]

[Witness Protection Mask]

[Crow Feather Necklace] | +1 wisdom; +2 intelligence; +5ep

[Utility Belt] | +10 kg

[Ring of the Wanderer] | +2 wisdom; 5ep

[Ring of the Wanderer] | +2 wisdom; 5ep

SKILLS:

Stat Bonuses: [Bark Skin]; [Cat's Sprint]; [Eidetic Memory]; [Inner Light]; [Kind Hearted]; [Perfect Timing]

Profession Related: [Discount]; [Exasperate]; [Novice Hiring]; [Porter]; [Supplier's Fortune]

Passive: [Basic Toxicologist I]; [Boar's Might]; [Flagbearer]; [Plumber Set]; [Ratan Stride]

Active: [Camouflage]; [Miniaturize]; [Peace Decree]; [Peace Treaty]; [Screeching Terror]; [Search]; [Taunting Roar]; [30 Steps]

He had come a long way since he started the game. It was also a pleasant feeling to look at his stat window when he was in one of his zoomorph forms. Seeing the intelligence stat so high filled him with pride.

Thanks to the new passive skills he'd bought earlier, he didn't take long to reach Mario's Lab. Even with so many stats funneled into intelligence, he could keep a respectable movement speed by having the [30 Steps] skill and the [Ratan Stride] skill.

Additionally, inside the sewers, he had his [Plumber Boots], which gave him a 20% bonus speed down here. Coming closer to a secret entrance, he activated [Camouflage]. This added a layer of protection to his well-kept secret. He scrutinized his surroundings, as usual, to ensure he wasn't being followed. He activated the secret lever and was sent down into the lab.

It seemed that he was the only one here at the moment. Drake and Maggie must be off questing somewhere. As for the alligator cyborg, he was lying on the operation table. He was in the middle of a repair cycle. He had probably been hunted no more than 30 minutes ago by what Roth could surmise after looking at the damage.

"Hello, Mario," greeted Roth amicably.

"Hello, Lightbringer," he replied through the speakers of a nearby computer. He still hadn’t recovered enough to move or speak using his actual body.

"Mario, do you remember when I told you I would like to help you find tastier things to eat?"

"Affirmative. I'm tired of rat and snake meat."

"Well, my friend, I bring you a feast! Here. I'll show you everything I brought you. I'll bring each of the treats up to your nose so that you can see if it's to your liking. What do you say?"

"It's not like I can move, right?"

"Good for you, Mario. All this time with Drake and Maggie is giving you a sense of humor."

"Just a sense."

Soros had secured many different snacks for Roth to show Mario. At first, Soros presented him with different cuts of meat. Roth had become a vegetarian since he’d cared for that little chick in prison. He knew he was probably being a zealot here, but he couldn’t sell meat to his customers in good conscience.

Soros wouldn’t have it. They had a massive fight about Roth not wanting to sell the alligator or the snakes any meat. It had been a challenging discussion, but he finally managed to wear old Soros down and convinced him only to show vegetarian options.

Due to Roth's capsule having many features blocked, he couldn't check the internet as every other player easily could. But now, he wasn’t alone. He quickly sent a quick message to the group and asked them to research what alligators ate besides meat. One of them kindly sent an article written by an alligator farm.

It turned out that alligators ate wild grapes, elderberries, pears, apples, corn, and many citruses. Presuming that developers had kept some game features similar to reality, Roth had asked Soros to collect all the different vegetables and fruits that fit this description before coming here.

"Here, Mario. This is swamp corn. It's grown on the border between Green Country and the Dark Abyss. My supplier assures me that it is of excellent quality." Mario sniffed it.

"It smells yummy. Better than sewer snake."

"So, what do you say we make a deal?"

"What sort of deal?"

"I'm sure there's something you can trade me for these. What kind of items can you get me?" Roth spared a hopeful look at all the different racks of components.

"Take your eyes off my electronics, boy. Those are off-limits. Every single one of them is accounted for. They belong to the Cyborg Union.” Roth’s heart sank. He pulled a [Pond Apple] and let Mario sniff it. He didn’t miss how his mouth was beginning to water.

“But I guess there are some things I can still get you," the cyborg said reluctantly. What happened next left Roth completely lost as to what to do. Mario began weeping! It was a sudden change from a cyborg's impassiveness to a snotty snob.

"What's wrong, Mario? What's the problem?"

"Oh, how sad it is... to not have a food subsidy." Tears streamed down the alligator's face.

"But... don't cry, Mario. We'll find a way..."

He heard the speakers in the lab boom in a loud volume that shook the room. "Get a bottle, you idiot! Can't you see I'm getting you some [Alligator Tears] to trade with you? Quick!"

Roth blinked a few times. Was this the thing that Mario could trade him? Tears? He ran toward the racks and, finding an empty glass bottle, brought it to Mario’s eyes and started collecting the tears.

"My mamma... I haven't seen my mamma in such a long time."

Alligator Tears (Uncommon)

Item description: Crocodilians are known to have insincere tears. These, however, are genuine. Alligator tears are precious crafting materials with many exciting chemical properties.

You've been offered a trade agreement with Mario, the alligator.

Would you like to accept? [Y/N]

Ch. 104 - Telepathy

INDEX

Ch. 106 - Strategic Thinking