HC:Pacifist | Ch. 107 - Golden Acorn (Patreon)

What a surreal experience. He hadn’t expected that he’d be unlocking another [Adored] status so soon, but the truth was that he had 383 charisma right now! How could snakes resist his charm? He opened up the description of his new title.

Friend of Snakes (Uncommon)

Title description: Snakes are a race that doesn't trust others easily. Still, with your persistence, you've secured a solid relationship with them.

Title effects:

Unlocks subterfuge;

You can learn Snakish more easily.

Conditions to unlock [Friend of Snakes]:

Achieve 1000 reputation with snakes without ever hurting one;

Achieve 3000 reputation with snakes.

Cool! He had unlocked another new stat! Roth checked what subterfuge did.

There is great power in invisibility and deception.

You've unlocked a new stat: [Subterfuge].

Improves the effectiveness of stealth skills.

Makes poisons more powerful (0.2% poison potency per 1 subterfuge).

He was right. The reason why he hadn’t unlocked the title earlier was because the explosion he had caused had hurt snakes. Even though they were beyond saving, it still affected unlocking this title. It was all good now. After a long dance session, he’d managed to get [Friend of Snakes] anyway.

Roth liked the title! He already knew how to speak Snakish, but this stat was a good thing for him. [Camouflage] was a skill that he was using more and more, and that helped him with the quest in Thadeus' workshop. What he liked most about it was that, even if he sacrificed this title later for a new form, the stat was already unlocked, and there were no backsies. As for the poison bonus this stat granted, he didn’t care about it.

He had expected that he could perhaps be given a new zoomorph form after unlocking this title, but nothing extraordinary had happened. Did he have to go see the treeant in the Green Woods, before he could learn snake form? He didn't know.

But even if the title didn't give otherworldly effects, it was still very good, and more importantly, he now had a more generous cut on any trade agreements he made with snakes.

Now that the show was over, many snakes were climbing back into their pipes and disappearing from view. He moved toward one of the nearest snakes and beckoned her to climb his arm. It was a constrictor. Its thick body slowly climbed up Roth's arm and spiraled up until it reached Roth's neck, facing him squarely.

"I know life isn't easy for you guys down here. I hoped I could help you get better food and make life easier for you."

"Interesssting."

"Is there anyone of you who can negotiate a trade with me?"

"Yesss."

"Where?"

You've received a new quest [Audienssse].

Audienssse (Uncommon)

After building a good relationship with the snakes in the sewers, you learn that someone down here has the power to negotiate terms with you.

Quest objectives:

Discover the hidden NPC that will negotiate terms with you.

Roth felt his heart race. It turned out there was a reason why he couldn't complete the map. Somewhere down here, there was a chamber hiding a snake NPC leader. He had to find it. He looked at his stats and the [Search] skill.

Search (Epic)

Skill description: By focusing your senses to exhaustion, your subconscious is activated, and you can feel where a secret room is.

Skill effects:

Active. Locate hidden doors or passages in a 31-meter radius;

Radius scales with wisdom and insight;

Cooldown: 1 hour.

This skill was his ticket to find the hidden chamber. So far, he hadn't been able to spare a moment to utilize it in a form that boosted the radius, but that was precisely what he would do. As soon as he had the chance, he would come down here in raven form and try his luck.

“Can you just give me a hint of where your representative is hiding?”

“I shouldn’t.”

“Please, please, please!”

Your overwhelming charisma moves the constrictor to spill the beans.

+1 charisma.

“Fine, jussst a clue. The old sssenator likesss ssswimming.”

“Swimming?”

The constrictor climbed down from Roth’s arms and disappeared into the pipes. If their lord liked swimming, that made some sense. Roth had walked the entire length of the sewers already, but he hadn’t invested much time in swimming. So that’s why he was missing that last piece of the map.

It seemed that he wouldn't strike a deal with the snakes today. Hopefully, the trade agreement he had secured with Mario would suffice in maintaining exclusivity with Soros. Roth took off toward his next stop.

*

Roth was currently sitting in the auction house. The last time he had been here, he was still rattled by having met Gary, and he purchased his current set of skills and the toxicologist set he now wore.

Now that he was more tranquil, he could do his shopping with the right frame of mind. Now, it was time to make preparations for the journey ahead of him. The [Green Pastures] quest was undoubtedly going to be difficult, and it would be foolish of him to go into the unknown unprepared.

The first thing that Roth did was to look into his inventory and try to determine what he could get rid of. There were the extra parts of the woodland set, for example. He looked up if there were any for sale and applied the current market prices. He put each piece for sale at one gold each.

He then looked into the skill cards he owned. There was [Badger’s Intellect]; [Green Woods Blessing]; [Snake Slither]; [Rat Poison]; [Ratan Strike]; [Ratan Double-Strike]; [Sewer Sludge]; [Foxian Slash]; [Corvid Gust] and others he had been accumulating from when he went to visit the factions he was friends with. He looked for the prices of each, and his jaw dropped. The information he was looking at made absolutely no sense.

There were no [Green Woods Blessing] cards for sale. The suggested price by the auction house was 150 gold for some reason. Why? The skills weren't anything that special, right? There must have been better skills. Then among the other skills he had, even though they had seemingly similar effects, the price fluctuations made no sense to him. [Rat Poison] was on sale for 1 silver, but [Sewer Sludge] was on sale for 10 gold. [Ratan Strike] was on sale for 2 silver, and [Foxian Slash] was on sale for 2 gold. Why the discrepancy?

There must be something he was missing. He decided to hold on to the skill cards for now. Only after he understood the reason for these prices would he feel comfortable enough to part with them. Besides, they weighed next to nothing, and didn’t get in the way of his trade runs.

The other things Roth had in his inventory were the black eggs and the scramblers he’d found in the sewers. He decided to check the prices for those and gulped. [Frying Scramblers] were all sold for at least 300 gold, and the market didn’t have any for sale right now. That meant that they were in high demand. What a boon! He’d picked up 1500 gold off the ground in the sewers! It was a small fortune. His mind went to the guide he’d seen for sale for 1000 gold, and he paused. Should he sell three of these and get the guide?

Even though curiosity was gnawing at him, he decided to wait. It was a lot of money, and the fact that these items were in such high demand, could only mean they were very valuable. He decided to keep them with him too. The only problem is that they weighed 2 kg each, and he was trying to reduce weight.

Finally, there were the hydrogen grenades. Roth looked it up, and his heart skipped a beat. Each grenade cost 5k gold. 5k gold! He couldn’t believe it. What a boatload of money! And he’d found it in Oli’s trash in the beginner zone. His breaths quickened, and he felt light-headed. Should he sell the grenades? With the money he’d make from this sale, he could even afford those earrings he’d seen the other day. They cost 10k gold. He’d also be able to easily afford the guide that cost 1k gold.

Thanks to the grenades, he’d been able to achieve a legendary grade on [The Sewer Monsters] quest. They were incredibly useful items. But, at the same time, he didn’t like the thought of carrying around a grenade with him. Look at what he’d done with one of them. He’d killed dozens of ratans and snakes! Even if they were turned into those horrible monsters, they used to be his friends! Not a day passed that he didn’t think of those poor creatures and their scorched corpses.

Even though Athos hadn’t hesitated to obliterate any oozing ratans, he couldn’t help but imagine Suzy, Scar and Scratchy among the monsters who’d died as a result of the explosion he caused.

Did he want to keep these grenades around to use them? Did he dare sell them? After all, what kind of pacifist was he if he got involved in the arms trade? It was all a massive headache.

He approached one of the many NPC scattered throughout the gardened square where players were shopping.

“Excuse me, sir?”

“Yes? How can I be of assistance?”

“Is there anywhere where I could leave stuff I don’t want to carry around with me?”

“Certainly! For a small fee, you can rent a warehouse where you can keep any unwanted goods.”

“Very well. How much is it?”

“50 silver a month.”

Roth selected the option immediately and deposited four scramblers and the two grenades. For now, he left the skill cards in his inventory.

“Thank you, sir.”

“You’re welcome.”

Roth walked about to the bench where he’d been sitting and checked his equipment. Nothing much had changed since the last time he was here. He was satisfied with his skill set and his equipment for the time being. He looked at the different tabs in the auction market and decided to check the different consumables for sale here.

First, he checked items that permanently improved stats. After all, wasn’t the sale of consumables such as the [Power Truffle] his most significant victory as a broker? As expected, they were all in high demand, and the least expensive was sold at 10 gold a piece.

Golden Acorn (Consumable)

Item description: Occasionally, the majestic oak trees of the Jade Forest will give one exceptional acorn such as this.

Item effects:

Increases a random stat by 1;

It can only be eaten 3 times.

The second least expensive was considerably pricier. It was sold for 1000 gold.

Wolf Fillet (Consumable)

Item description: An incredible cut of meat harvested from a wolf elite. Just the smell of it makes your mouth drool.

Item effects:

Improves your worst stat by 2.

It can only be eaten once.

Roth was tempted by the [Golden Acorns]. He checked on items more similar to the [Miniaturizing Potions]. Perhaps there were some valuable consumables that could help him in his next quest.

*

After a long shopping session, Roth was back in the sewers. He ended up spending all his money and selling one of the scramblers to top up his funds again, before spending all of that money too. He felt as ready as he could be to escort the sheep to the Green Woods. For now, there was only one item of unfinished business. He had to try to create a trade agreement with the snakes.

There was still a little while to go before his transformations came off cooldown, so Roth decided to make a visit. He had been afraid of making it because he was afraid of what he’d find, but he couldn’t delay it anymore.

Roth turned around the corner and found the gashed scorched marks in the tunnels where Athos had unleashed all his might. Unlike marks left by player-caused damage, it seemed that Athos' attacks had been at a whole other level, and the system hadn’t restored the sewers to what they used to be. The long sword gashes and the black ashen stone stood as testimonies of the presence of one of the mighty mouseketeers.

At a slightly different spot from when he’d first been here, there was a mound formed of garbage from where tiny little rats looked at him curiously.

“Hello.”

A few rats emerged from the mound, and, from a distance, a bigger ratan, the local elite, also ran to welcome him. His worst fears had proven true. He scanned the elite that had just arrived and was smelling him.

Toxy, Ratan Elite (Friendly)

Lvl. 17

Description: Sewer rats are constantly exposed to toxic chemicals, making them highly resistant to poison. Their teeth are exceedingly sharp and can easily chew electric cables. In each nest, there is a dominant rat that leads the others and takes the lead in protecting their turf.

HP: 3000

Energy: 200

Skills: [Ratan Dash]; [Ratan Double Strike]; [Ratan Strike]; [Strength of the Many]

“Welcome to our nest, friend! What an honor. You’re the talk of the town. Every ratan has heard about you.”

Scar was no more. He couldn’t see Scratchy either. He’d wondered if the system returned every mob the way they used to be. He’d seen that happen many times in the Green Woods. The mouse king, for example, was always the same, no matter how many times he was hunted. Same thing for Mario. But it seemed that the way they had died and being turned into those oozing monsters had wholly obliterated any memory of Scar, Scratchy, and the others. And he’d been the one killing them.

Ch. 106 - Strategic Thinking

INDEX

Ch. 108 - The Garden