HC: Pacifist | Ch. 215 - Fishbones

Ogre stretched his muscles as he emerged from the capsule. He had been in AstroTerra for several days, and his physician had recommended that he not spend all his time in the game. He bobbed his head from one side to the other, cracking his neck. He then performed a series of movements to crack his shoulders and back.

After he was done, he looked out the window. His penthouse offered him a good view of his empire. It was a full moon tonight, and the buildings inside of his compound had some lights on. They looked like ships in the sea at night. In this case, separating the buildings were beautiful gardens. Seeing the beauty of his compound, his mind quickly went to how much money had gone into supporting this empire. After taking a deep breath, he sat at his desk and looked at some paperwork, waiting for his approval.

BlueFire had negotiated a deal with Tel Fiction for a series of commercials featuring him, Cyclops, and BlueFire. He signed off on it. Commercials were always good money. Next, Finish Line Sports would pay six figures if they renamed the ‘Ogrelords’ as ‘Finish Line Ogrelords.’ He signed it, too.

There was a knock on his door. “Come in.”

BlueFire came in through the door. Seeing someone’s real body after spending so many hours in the game always took some getting used to. Clothes were much duller in the real world, and after seeing everyone with swords, staffs, and shields in their hands, seeing someone empty-handed looked weird.

BlueFire was dressed in a simple black sweatsuit; his hair wasn’t quite as lush and shiny, and his features weren’t as sharp and striking. The one thing that didn’t change was his blue, intelligent eyes.

“Good to see you finally getting that paperwork done. You could also sign those in-game, you know?”

“I know, but I like to leave IRL stuff to IRL,” Ogre said as he approved another deal. “What a brutal battle, hey?”

BlueFire’s silence proved that this is what he had come to discuss. Ogre kept signing deal after deal. He only refused a request from the Gorgons, who wanted to buy one of his medics. Even though, in BlueFire’s opinion, his performance was subpar, and they should let him go, Ogre had seen him in battle and saw some potential in him. The pile of paperwork was finally done, and BlueFire was still silent, looking out the window.

“Your apartment is only one floor below mine. Does it make such a difference in helping you think?”

“Yes,” he answered drily.

Ogre stood up and took a stand next to him.

“Was it worth it? Did we break even?”

BlueFire nodded. “Loki’s drops are something else. And you’ve seen the stats on your diamond armor.”

Ogre grinned. He loved the upgrade. It was a good thing he’d been part of this hunt. All participants were allowed to upgrade their gold sets into diamond ones. The difference in quality was incredible.

“What’s gotten you thinking then? Is it the boy?”

BlueFire nodded. “Yes.”

“Have you told him that he can see our psychiatrist?”

“I have. But he’ll probably think it’s a maneuver to extract his secrets.”

“Is he wrong?”

“He is not.”

“Let’s just hire him. You’ve seen all he can do. He is a loose cannon but seems to be worth the trouble.”

BlueFire twitched his nose, signaling his disagreement.

“What?”

“What if we hire him, and his faulty capsule explodes? Do we want a bad rep? Do we want to be implicated in such an incident?”

“No progress on disarming it then?”

“No. Nexus can’t do anything, either. If we force it open, it explodes.”

Ogre let out a deep sigh. This industry was profitable partly because Nexus claimed its capsules were 100% safe. This incident could call that into question and affect the market. “The other guilds are interested now. You can’t let him go to them either. If you do, they might use this to accuse the Ogres of negligence.”

“I know. It’s a mess.”

“So what do we do for now?”

“We buy time for our technicians and Nexus to get him out of the pod. It will make everything simpler. The guilds know that we bought him for three months. They will wait until the period ends before trying to poach him.”

“And until then?”

“We do what everyone else will. We assign a tail and learn how he got his class, race, pets, and skills. Maybe by the time they get him out of the pod, we won’t need him anymore.”

“Or we hire him.”

“Or we hire him,” consented BlueFire.

*

Roth rode toward Hilsford. The moonlight reflected off Lua’s white mane as she galloped along the river, this time downstream. Since the trip was at night, Lua’s speed bonus was activated.

Moonlight Gallop (Pet Skill)

Description: The moonlight herd exhibits its true strength and speed at night.

Effects:

Passive. If it’s dark, your pet can move 50% faster.

The difference in speed was noticeable but offset by [Badger’s Form]’s low dexterity. Roth considered reverting to human form to regain more balanced stats and increase his speed but decided against it. He needed the time to think.

Goldie’s warning resounded in his mind. Initially, he had planned to head straight into the Green Woods to turn in his [Vanquish the Darkness] quest with Oli, but it turned out that it wouldn't be so simple. Roth had called too much attention to himself.

First, he discovered Antioch and entered the Hall of Fame. Then, there was the creation of the Union, followed by the auction, where a legendary magister appeared together with a group of god-tiered NPCs and revealed Lin was an S+ pet. However, this expedition was the last straw. He had revealed the power of [Badger Form], [Peace Decree], and his light affinity.

Roth had needed to attract the guilds' attention to get one of them to save him, but attracting too much of it wouldn’t be good. Mel hadn’t said it, but perhaps there was another reason why the guilds were happy to have Loki chase after Roth. That would stunt his growth. Were they starting to perceive him as a threat?

At the same time, it looked like they weren’t eager to finish him off. He’d been assigned a tail, and there would be more effort in prying his secrets out of him. The guilds wanted first to learn his secrets and only squash him after. So much of his gameplay had already been exposed, and he couldn’t afford to show all his tricks to the guilds. He had to figure out how capable the rogues sent to shadow him were and how to lose them.

He tried to understand why Mel had gone to the trouble of giving him the warning. Was she really looking out for him? Or was she playing some kind of game? And why hadn't she just sent him a private message? Could it be that the message history of high-ranking members of Guilds was monitored to ensure no leaks? Was that even legal? And if so, just how had Zin eluded Loki?

It was all very confusing, but one thing was sure. Be it because of Loki or the other guilds, Roth had to lay low, disappear, and start fresh. He would go through with his original plan that had been interrupted. Before Xerxes had trapped him in Antioch, he was headed toward a different world region. It was time to revisit this plan.

Before that, he had to find a way to shake off his tail. He wasn't sure if there was some item that would mark him and allow rogues to locate him, even if he teleported. Back in New Earth, plenty of tracking skills could show where an enemy player was or where they’d been.

As Lua rode in the darkness of night, a plan started coming together. All Roth needed was to purchase some things from the auction house.

*

The hardest thing about starting his character fresh wasn’t the large sum of money he had to pay Nexus to be given the same player tag as before. It wasn’t the loss of dozens of titles either, or the hours of gaming that had been lost. No. He wasn’t short of funds, and the knowledge of obtaining titles couldn’t be taken away from him. The worst was not knowing whether his sacrifice was worth it anymore.

Loki had been pulled down from his privileged position much sooner than he had hoped. He thought he had at least one more week of hunting bosses and plunging into the riches of the Dark Abyss before he was caught.

Anak soloed the centipede cave ahead of him, clearing a path to the guild’s headquarters in the observatory. Even though he was already doing everything he could as he traveled, he needed access to the guild’s vaults and other infrastructures to make management easier.  His trip from the beginner zone of the Rock Canyon to here felt extraordinarily long and unnaturally short at the same time. His avatar followed after Anak, but his mind was somewhere else.

Loki looked into his logs and records, reviewing every conversation he had had with Zin. Despite all his precautions, Zin had still caught him completely by surprise.

Loki finished reviewing the list of two years of missions and targets he had assigned Zin. All of them had to be thoroughly researched. Who knew how many of them Zin had sabotaged? When Loki thought of some of the targets he had Zin execute and the possibility of them still being around, he felt a headache brewing. Loki hated loose ends, and Zin had purposefully left him with a tangled mess.

Loki started looking at his organization. How much of it was compromised? How many had become Zin’s agents? Who could he count on? Anak had been his subordinate for many years, and he was confident he was trustworthy. Even though Xerxes was too eager sometimes, his rivalry with Zin was genuine. He reckoned that he could be trusted, too.

He reviewed a list of his highest-ranked employees and tagged them as ‘trustworthy,’ ‘compromised,’ and ‘probably traitors’. He messaged those he believed to be trustworthy and assigned them to investigate the others, promising hefty rewards for each mole and traitor found.

Then, he contacted his chief of security and ensured Zin had been blacklisted. He demanded security to be doubled and sent all the information he had on Zin to his friends in the police, in the government, and wherever else he might be wanted. After some thought, he also sent all information on Zin to the other guilds. They had to be upset at Zin for interfering with their hunt, and they would probably be happy to get back at him.

What a nightmare. It was difficult as it was to keep morale in the guild after they lost the extra stats Loki's unique race had provided. Knowing they lost their strongest player while submitting the entire organization to another purge would put a damper on the guild’s high spirits.

They finally left the centipedes' cave, and the scent of death and decay greeted him. Seeing the landscape of black ash and sand, he took some solace. At least he had planned for his fall and had already carefully planned his next moves. He hadn’t shared these plans with anyone, so there was still hope.

From the centipedes' cave, it was a short trip to the observatory. The barrier had already fallen, and the one lone rogue who stayed behind had been easily killed by his troops. They had taken such a long time to respond to his distress call and ended up doing nothing but finishing off one single rogue.

Loki pushed down the anger that threatened to surface at the incompetence of his guards. He now knew that Zin had arranged for his security to be laxer than it should be. His guild didn’t need him to go on a fit of rage. No, they needed him to show confidence and calm. He walked calmly into the observatory and headed toward his office.

It was time to rebuild his power. He entered the password for the guild’s coffer, which allowed him administrative access. He first opened the guild’s statutes and added his new avatar as guild leader.

Satisfied that he’d been prudent enough to deny anyone else access to the guild’s vault, he prepared for the next step. He would rebuild his power using the valuable consumables he’d secured.

He had already determined in which order he would eat all of them to maximize the benefits. For now, he only had the four main stats that every beginner player began with. First, he would focus on consumables that unlocked stats he didn't have, building up to other consumables that increased all stats. If his plan worked, he could return to where he was in three months, perhaps even stronger.

After Zin’s betrayal, he didn't know if Pegasus could enter the top three. Depending on how much of the guild was compromised, he might not even be able to climb in the ranks. However, one thing was sure. He would, at the very least, maintain his standing.

Loki opened the guild’s vault tab containing all consumables and froze.

“No, no, no, no.”

Fishbones (Trash)

Description: What is left of a fish? Something ate it and left it here.

Effects:

Maybe it can be used as fertilizer?

Nutrient-Filled Poop (Rare)

Description: A creature did its business here! It looked like it ate something amazing before it did, though.

Effects:

A powerful fertilizer. Can increase the success of a crop by 30%!

Instead of the prized consumables he had stored, there was only trash. Who? How? Why?

“It can’t be. It can’t be. No. No. NOOOOOOOO!!!!”

The castle of cards that Loki had built to hold onto his calm demeanor collapsed.

Ch. 214 - Targeted

INDEX

Ch. 216 - Tail