HC:Pacifist | Ch. 127 - Sweatshop Worker (Patreon)

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Sweatshop Worker (Common)

Title description: You've repeatedly been forced to do the same menial task. By enduring this tedious work, you've become a better craftsman.

Title effects: It's slightly easier to get a better crafting grade.

How to unlock [Sweatshop Worker]:

Craft 100x of the same item on the same day.

When Roth read about this title in the Rescue Library, he immediately saved it on his notes and set it as a priority. It hadn’t been easy to resist the temptation of moving on to more complex items, but knowing about this reward, he had soldiered on. In his opinion, it had been well worth it. Even after making hundreds of the most straightforward items tailors could make, he had only gotten an S- once. Getting a high grade when crafting could potentially double or even triple one’s profit margin and XP gained. This title would go a long way toward helping him get such a grade more often.

The best part was that since he knew about it from the beginning, he had been able to get working on it right away and would enjoy this bonus from the very start of his career as a tailor. Since he had used the [Woolen Cloth] recipe, it hadn’t even taken him that long or cost him much money to achieve this title.

Now that he was feeling more confident. It was time to try a new recipe. He reviewed his purchased recipes and settled on making scarves.

Wool Scarf (Common)

Accessory

Item description: A lovely, simple scarf that will keep your neck warm and protected.

Item effects: +2 intelligence.

No restrictions.

Crafting Success Rate: 95% + 5%

It was nothing special but better than not having any accessories. Roth could see a market for it among the new players who didn't have the fortune of finding a necklace in the Ravens Nest dungeon and were looking for a complete set of equipment.

Thanks to Roth's bonuses as an ecotailor, his success rate for this item was 100%. Whereas others would have the pressure of failing a few crafting attempts, he was sure that he’d succeed no matter how sloppy of a job he did. That reassurance took some of the pressure off. It wasn’t something he could avoid forever, though. Inevitably, he would come across the real possibility of failure in crafting.

Unlike the [Woolen Cloth], this recipe required four balls of yarn. He started by casting the stitches on the needle and following the same steps he had when making the woolen cloth. Now, instead, he had to keep knitting, creating a much longer piece than he would have with the [Woolen Cloth]. As he went through one ball of yarn, he cast off, cast on a new thread, tied the two threads together, and kept going.

After twenty minutes, he was finally done.

Congratulations! You've successfully crafted [Wool Scarf].

+200 ecotailor XP.

Wool Scarf (Common)

Crafting Grade: C.

Accessory

Item description: A lovely, simple scarf that will keep your neck warm and protected.

Item effects: +2 intelligence.

Even though he was slightly disappointed with the grade, it was a lovely item. This was the very first piece of equipment he was crafting. It was an even nicer feeling compared to crafting a consumable. Satisfied with the result, he looked at the many stacks of yarn in his inventory and kept knitting.

*

“Gary, what do we do? We have to go meet Xerxes at noon.” Wilson and Xana were freaking out, but Gary wasn’t doing much better. Time was running out. They had been in the sewers for almost a full day, and there was still no sign of the Slayer. Some part of him told him that this was their last chance to find him. The moment Xerxes got involved in searching for Roth, things would become much more challenging.

“We still have a few hours to go until then. If we don’t find him before then, you and Wilson will go to meet Xerxes. I’ll stay behind and see if I can find him.”

“But when Xerxes finds out you’re not there…”

“I don’t care if they permafrost me for one month or whatever punishment he wants to give me. I’ll think of something. For now, stay focused. He’s got to be here somewhere. Please make the most of the time we have left. Remember, he can’t log out. Remember. He’s probably wearing a disguise. If you see anything remotely suspicious, you let the group know immediately.”

*

For nearly 24 hours, Roth had been crafting non-stop. By now, he could knit with his eyes closed, and his fingers seemed to have developed a life of their own. He was enjoying it, but… He checked the screens and, still seeing the squad, sighed. What choice did he have? He would have enjoyed it more if he wasn’t being hunted outside.

He tried to push the distracting thoughts aside and focused on his blessing. He had always enjoyed working with his hands, but here, there was added motivation to do it. The feeling of gaining levels was addictive, and progressing as an ecotailor was proving much more straightforward than progressing in his broker profession. Or was it? Maybe it was because he could grind levels as an ecotailor, whereas as a broker, he just kept doing his business and conducting trade when convenient. Whatever the case was, it was a nice feeling.

He was now a level 8 ecotailor and had already unlocked one additional profession-related skill.

Plenty of Fiber (Common)

Skill description: You’re in such a hurry to get crafting that you put in the extra effort to get the fibers ready for tailoring.

Skill effects: There’s a 5% chance of completing a process twice as fast when preparing fibers for crafting.

It was a skill shared between ecotailors and regular tailors. According to the guides, as the profession progressed, he would unlock higher tiers of this skill. He appreciated any help he could get. After all, even with 24 waking hours in the day, he was having difficulty doing everything he wanted. Time just flew by. He wondered how he ever lived with having to sleep.

Roth kept looking at the clock. He should be unlocking a new title at any moment now. Right now, he was crafting wool bandages.

Wool Bandage (Common)

Item description: Although wool should not be used in bandages because the fibers might stick to the wound during healing, you somehow make it work.

Item effects:

Recover 2 HP every 10 seconds for 60 seconds;

It can only be used outside of battle.

The wool bandages were a simple enough recipe that only required two balls of yarn. Since they were simple, and with the help of his [Sweatshop Worker] title, he was getting consistent A’s and B’s, and the occasional S grade as well. The better the grade, the more healing the item provided.

Even the S ones weren’t anything special, though. Better healing items were in the market, and many players preferred to hunt with a medic in their party. Even so, Roth knew there was a market for it. From what he’d read, chemists could use these as crafting ingredients. They would smear them with one of their concoctions and produce more impressive results, such as the [Soothing Bandages] he had used on his sheep during the [Green Pastures] quest.

He had already sent a message to Charlie, and they agreed on getting together so that he could pass the bandages onto him since he could use them to level up his chemist profession and split the profit between them. As the clock kept ticking, he completed one more bandage and got the notification he was waiting for.

Congratulations! You've successfully crafted [Wool Bandage].

Crafting Grade: A.

+100 ecotailor XP.

You've unlocked a new title: [All-Nighter].

You've unlocked a new title: [Entitled].

All-Nighter (Common)

Title description: You’re obsessed with getting your job done, or maybe you have an evil boss. Regardless, your commitment to your craft pays off!

Title effects:

Whenever you craft for more than 10 hours, you gain a 10% profession XP bonus for items you craft.

How to unlock [All-Nighter]:

Spend 24 hours in a row crafting.

Roth stared, astonished at the notifications. He wasn’t surprised by the notification for [All-Nighter]. This was another one of the titles that he’d seen in the Rescue Library. Even though it only gave bonuses in very long crafting sessions, it was still a title that Roth wanted to get.

What surprised him was the other title he had unlocked along with it! This title was broken! And there wasn’t anything written about it in the Rescue Library.

Entitled (Rare)

Title description: You’ve unlocked so many achievements that it’s difficult to list all you’ve accomplished. Your name is the stuff of legends.

Title effects:

Select one of your common titles. Double its effect;

You can swap the selected title once a day.

Conditions to unlock [Entitled]:

You need to have 20+ titles.

20 titles? Did he have that many already? It was hard to believe that he had already unlocked 20 titles. Well, together with this one, it was now 21. From what he knew, the average player at his level didn’t even have five titles. For example, after him, the player with the most titles in their group was the sergeant, who had six titles. He had more than triple that.

How cool was it that he could get a title from getting titles? What kind of reward could he get from unlocking 50 titles? What about 100 titles? The possibilities were endless.

He loved the title effects. To enjoy double the effect of one of his other titles was incredible. He consulted his character sheet to remind himself of all his common ones so that he could choose which title to double for now.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

Name: Pax

Class: Pacifist

Race: Zoomorph (Human Form)

Profession(s): Broker, Lvl. 11 | Ecotailor, lvl. 4

Level: 23

Affinity: Light (139/300); Nature (21/100)

Alignment: Meek (344/1000)

Positive relationships:

Badgers (1623/3000); Boars (1456/3000); Corvids (1550/3000); Cyborg Union (1100/3000); Dogs (102/300); Dwarf Exiles (214/300); Flock (125/300); Foxes (1480/3000); Snakes (3153/10,000); Golden Mountain Inc. (1235/3000); Greenleaf Inc. (517/1000); Hilsford Garrison Soldiers (103/300); Oli, the Cat Burglar (1/100); Peace Corps (100/300); Ratans (3395/10,000); Silkworms (10/100); Treeants (400/1000)

Negative Relationships:

Bears (-10/-100); Gazpachos (-1400/-3000); Grassland Wolves (-45/-100); Thadeus (-10/100); Timberwolves (-90/-100);

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

STATS (9 Free Stat Points)

Hp: 226

Energy: 297

Damage Reduction: 41.9%

Status Resistance: 3.6%

Cooldown Reduction: 16%

Running Speed: 149.4%

Weight: [Light] - (85.8/91.5 kg)

Strength: 56

Dexterity: 66

Intelligence: 72 (+1%)

Wisdom: 112

Endurance: 239

Charisma: 100 (+5%)

Resilience: 19

Insight: 15

Subterfuge: 20

EQUIPMENT

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

Left Hand: [Flag of the Rat Cave] | +10 wisdom; +6 dexterity; +10% speed; [Ratan Stride]; [Ratan Dash]

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: [Charm]; [Eidetic Memory]; [Fast Hands]; [Good Character]; [Healthy Bones]; [Horse’s Gallop]; [Inner Light]; [Perfect Timing]; [Strategic Thinking]; [Stone Skin];

Profession Related: [Discount]; [Exasperate]; [Novice Hiring]; [Plenty of Fiber]; [Porter]; [Supplier's Fortune]; [Tailors Bag]; [Wool’s Will]

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

Active: [Camouflage]; [Miniaturize]; [Peace Decree]; [Peace Treaty]; [Rat Poison]; [Ratan Dash]; [Screeching Terror]; [Search]; [30 Steps]

He had come a long way with his character. He focused on his common titles, deciding which one to replicate.

His common titles were [Alpinist], [All-Nighter], [Art Enthusiast], [Jumper], [Marathonist], [Novice], [Sweatshop Worker], [Swimmer], and [Well-Read]. Since he was stuck in the lab for the moment, he just scratched [Alpinist], [Jumper], [Marathonist], and [Swimmer] off the list. Although [Art Enthusiast] and [Well-Read] granted him stats, he leaned more toward the newer titles he had unlocked relating to crafting. He struggled to decide between [Novice] and the title he had just unlocked [All-Nighter]. After a few moments, he settled with doubling [All-Nighter].

He would gain more profession XP from doubling its effects than from doubling [Novice]. With higher levels, it would maybe be a different story. Gaining 2% instead of just 1% of the professional level as free experience when he leveled would make a big difference down the road.

After doubling [All-Nighter], he noticed a new icon on the top of his vision. He now had a 20% XP bonus since he had been crafting for over 10 hours. His goal was to reach level 10 before he left the lab.

Before he started knitting again, Roth went to his inventory and picked up the one badger poem he had kept for himself. All others had been locked away from him because they were reserved for trading. He got the notification he wanted as he went through the whimsical description that the badgers had made of him.

The words of [A Kind Porter] resound in your young broker’s heart.

+500 broker XP.

Roth smiled at the boost in his XP bar. He wondered how much Soros would sell the other poems for.

It was time to go back to crafting. He grabbed a few more balls of yarn and started to cast on stitches so that he could craft a poncho.

Ch. 126 - A Minus

INDEX