HC: Pacifist | Ch. 243 - Fly
Added 2024-03-22 13:56:20 +0000 UTCWhen the vacuuming machine rang, signaling that it had finished sealing the trap, Roth almost missed it. He had become engrossed in the many hints and insights into crafting he had found in the Union's library.
He had thought of himself as talented for having discovered different stitches, but the library of stitches in the Union Library showed him that what he knew was just a drop in the ocean. There were all kinds of stitches: the diamond-honeycomb stitch, the cablecar stitch, the Andalusian, the caterpillar stitch, the aurora stitch, and the list went on and on.
He had only scratched the surface of the information already available in the library. Still, from the little that he had read, Roth finally understood just how Leanne, Rhapsody, Godfrey, and Nakia could give him the exact stats he needed.
It was a combination of three things and a hot topic in the union. The first was a skill unlocked by all professions at level 25.
Attribute Selection (Common)
Description: It’s not just about making good items that fit your customer's needs.
Effects: Select the equipment’s main stat.
Roth had worried that attributing stats to equipment resulted from highly secretive techniques, but after seeing this skill, he wasn’t so scared of crafting anymore. This was a game. Of course there would be skills designed to help players along.
The second key to deciding which stats a piece of equipment got was the materials used. The posts in the library explained that some materials responded better to some attributes than others. For example, wool would grant much more intelligence than leather; conversely, leather offered more damage reduction. If one used [Attribute Selection] and selected intelligence on wool, they would get much better results than if they were to select strength or damage reduction.
That led him to another skill that he would unlock at level 35.
Material Eye (Common)
Description: After becoming more experienced as a craftsman, you develop a keen eye for judging the potential of crafting materials.
Effects: Grants more information about crafting materials. Scales with insight.
The synergy between both skills was evident. With [Material Eye], one could make a much better decision about what materials to use when crafting, thus maximizing the potential of [Attribute Selection].
Finally, technique was the last thing that allowed one to give more of one stat or the other in a piece of equipment. There were specific stitches in knitting and patterns in leatherworking that boosted one specific attribute. For example, the aurora stitch granted intelligence, and Roth could now identify the patterns all over his clothes. Rhapsody had used this technique to boost how much intelligence his set granted.
Much of this would only come later, though. He needed to gain quite a few levels before he could access these skills. For now, he was happy with all the hints he had found on how to improve his knitting, and there was even one new stitch that he felt confident trying.
Before getting lost in all these insights, it was time to figure out what happened once he set a second light trap in the other greave. Like before, Roth set two flat mirrors and one convex one, ensuring he got them at the right angles. Then he shot a laser into the convex mirror, aligned it, and got another beam of thin light bouncing between them.
The light trap failed.
+50 [Light Trapper] XP.
“What? Failed?” Roth complained. “Why?!”
The only benefit that carving a second light trap had provided to the second greave was aesthetic: Now, both greaves had a cool light trap. Roth frowned, confused. He had thought it possible to get light traps in both greaves. Maybe he was missing something, just as he had missed how Leanne and Rhapsody could give him the exact stats he wanted.
At least Roth finally figured out how to level both light trapping and tailoring simultaneously. It was time to streamline the process. He still had several layered hides, and he even had a new recipe: leather helmet.
Your treeant colony has reached its first landmark: a total population of 50.
[Level up!]
Your treeant colony has learned a new skill: [Scavenge].
Scavenge (Common)
Description: Your colony can scavenge dead insects to increase their growth.
Skill effects:
For each insect consumed, bonus experience is granted to the colony.
“Wow! Over 50? Already?” When Roth had dropped the Leafies, they only had ten workers and 20 nanites. As he looked over his pet’s description, he saw that the number of workers had climbed to 40. Their growth had skyrocketed after he left them foraging. He couldn’t wait to see what other skills his treeant colony would unlock down the road.
“Do you hear that, Lin? The Leafies are working hard. Maybe you should, too.”
“Nyah, let me sleep, meow, annoying.
Progress in learning Felinian: 52%...
Roth grabbed a greave he had assembled earlier and set it under the vacuuming machine. Grabbing chalk, he began marking the new shapes to craft a leather helmet.
*
The Lord of the Acorn examined the status of the colony. After the 20 new workers had metamorphosed, the clarity of his thoughts and the number of tasks that could be performed by the colony greatly increased.
The Leafies now had a nursery separated from the queen’s chambers, which allowed them to keep larvae and eggs separately. They had also built a second larder and a new garbage dump. Construction for two new chambers that could be used in the future for different applications was already well on its way.
The Lord's worries were mostly about the signs of a predator near the castle. Their greatest strength was numbers, but there were still so few of them. Now, with 39 workers, 20 nanites, and more workers on their way, it was time to send a new expedition.
This expedition would be vital in determining the colony's future. For the Lord’s plans to succeed, simple seeds wouldn't do this time. They needed rich protein. It was time for the treeants to go scavenging.
For the first time, the Lord left ant workers behind, five. They would remain stationed at the gate, ensuring the colony's safety. The second layer of defense, consisting of 10 nanites, stood at the ready, just in case whatever enemy tried attacking the castle had better armor that required thinner, more surgical mandibles.
This time, the Lord was prepared for casualties from the get-go. As soon as the gate opened, he sent the foragers in every direction to cover as much ground as possible. He was looking for not just seeds or fruit but something meatier. It couldn’t be something like the praying mantis, which could fight back and harm the workers. No, it had to be something that couldn’t fight back, something they could scavenge.
Since there were predators in this land, there had to be prey. And as long as there was live prey, there also had to be dead. The 34 ants, composing the colony’s third expedition, covered the ground around their castle.
“Food,” announced one of them—another grass seed.
“Food.” Another seed. The Lord had the workers mark the location of whatever food they found with pheromones but urged the workers to keep scouting.
“Food.”
“Food.”
“Food.”
There were more reports of seeds and even one rotting berry. These were valuable resources but not what the colony needed most. He encouraged the scouts to press onward and expand the radius of search. This time, he didn’t bother splitting them up into teams. Every ant traveled in a different direction, trying to locate what they desperately needed.
“Contact.” The Lord hurriedly focused on the individual eyes of the worker who had stumbled upon the brown praying mantis that had devoured one of their comrades. It was far away, with its back toward the worker.
Despite its discreet camouflage, this time, the Lord was expecting it. Furthermore, the pheromone left behind by the sacrificial worker enabled the scout to detect the predator from a safe distance. Spotting the predator was both good and bad news to him.
On the one hand, a predator represented danger, but it also suggested the presence of game around. The fact that the praying mantis hadn't moved much since the last time they had stumbled upon it meant this was a good hunting ground, and other insects were nearby.
“Mark,” he commanded the scout. The worker left a pheromone representing danger while the Lord commanded the other workers to stay clear of the praying mantis. These monsters had powerful eyesight, and if they weren't careful and if it was hungry enough, they could chase after them. With its large hind legs, it would probably quickly catch up with any individual worker.
The Lord of the Acorn had the workers bypass the predator like a river around a rock.
“Food.”
“Food.”
“Food.”
More seeds. Still not what they were looking for. With each passing minute, the danger of the praying mantis chasing after the foragers or for other predators to spot the ants increased, but the Lord remained patient. The risk was worth it.
“Target acquired.” Thankfully, the good news soon came. The Lord of the Acorn focused on the individual eyes that had found their bounty like a security guard switching between cameras in a security room and found what he had been hoping for. The corpse was big but not nearly as large as the praying mantis. It had large red eyes, faceted with hexagons like a precious stone. It had an emerald, shiny coat of armor, and translucent veiny wings. Its hairy legs had little blobs of yellow pollen. It was a pollinating fly.
The Lord of the Acorn wasn't sure if it had died from old age, but that didn’t matter. Here was the protein that they so sorely needed. The Lord focused on all the different sightings of seeds and food. Thanks to the increased number of neurons, he managed to quickly set a course that steered clear from the predator to the southwest and considered all sightings of seeds and fruits, maximizing the trip between the dead fly and the castle.
“Deploy!” All the workers converged. Carrying such a heavy dead fly was the work for more than one ant. Other workers began to arrive. They started dismantling the fly for transport. They started with the wings, which were more fragile and easy to cut. Though large, they were light enough for two workers to carry them.
The other ants began pulling at the fly, dragging it slowly. As more ants arrived, their power increased. They soon had enough to drag the fly back to the castle at an acceptable speed. After determining the number of ants required for optimal transportation was 22, the Lord sent commands to the rest of the foragers.
He had the gatekeepers expand the moat leading to the gate's surface. The remaining 12 workers collected as many seeds as possible. For the first time in the Leafies' history, they formed an ant trail. What a glorious occasion! A thin, moving line of ants traveled back and forth while the bulk of his scavengers dragged the nutritious bounty home.
By the time the dead fly was carried back to the castle, the moat had been expanded enough to fit it. The remaining workers had brought in several seeds, which the nanites were carrying to the larder. Seeing their comrades, the five gatekeepers joined in dragging the prey into the moat. Once the fly was completely underground, they sealed the entrance.
The castle’s gate was not large enough to fit the entire fly. Even though they had previously expanded the diameter of the gate, increasing it too much would make the castle vulnerable to predators.
Therefore, they had created an entry tunnel with a chamber in the dirt that would allow them to work undercover, dismantle the fly, and bring the pieces back into the castle without compromising security. In the quiet of the underground, they could dismantle it and prepare the food for storage and consumption. There, it would be butchered and properly stored.
Its much-needed protein would go a long way toward the next stage of development. They finally had the resources needed to breed their first soldiers.
******
Author's note: I realize that in earlier chapters, I said that the treeants had scavenged a dead termite. I already changed them to make them coherent with this chapter.
******
