HC: Pacifist | Ch. 181 - BlueFire
Added 2023-12-25 15:23:17 +0000 UTCRoth studied the face of the tactician of the Ogres, who had been willing to invest in his freedom more than anyone else.
“Hi, Pax. It looks like you’re doing well.”
Roth frowned at how BlueFire chose to address him. Why not just say his name? His impression that BlueFire wanted to create some distance between them only grew. “Hey, BlueFire. Thank you for taking us in.”
“The Ogres just stuck to our end of the deal,” he replied coolly. “Now, it is your turn.”
Roth grabbed his guide on Antioch and attached it to a message. “Here’s the guide.”
“Please, wait a moment.” BlueFire opened Roth’s guide and began reading through it. “Ants?! So that’s what it was.” As he skimmed through the guide, he widened his eyes and bobbed his head. Surprised, he looked at Roth more than once and returned to reading.
“All good?” prompted Roth.
“Hmm… It seems that you are worth our investment. This city is a gold mine.”
Roth saw a smile on the man’s face for the first time in the conversation.
“I never expected such a powerful entity to be hidden in the beginner region,” BlueFire said, trailing off.
“I’m glad you’re happy with it.”
“I wouldn’t say happy. Your guide fails to mention two vital pieces of information, Pax. One is a specific way for us to get through to the shield,” commented BlueFire.
Roth gulped. When putting together the guide, he carefully left out any references to his unique playstyle. He couldn’t divulge all his secrets. If he were to tell the top 10 guilds how he gained a reputation with all the different factions of the woods and all the quests he’d done to get there, he would put his livelihood in danger. It wouldn’t take long before every guild had a zoomorph broker running around and encroaching on his turf.
“I can tell you that the treeants are telepathic and need a lot of food. You'll find a way in with these two pieces of information.”
“Was that how you got in?” pried BlueFire, more friendly now that he wanted something from Roth.
“It’s a unique quest that I can’t share. That’s why it isn’t in the guide,” lied Roth.
“And tell me, Pax, how am I supposed to,” he looked at the guide and quoted a line Roth had written, “miniaturize twice?”
“Well, the first bit is easy. All you need is a [Miniaturizing Potion].”
“Go on,” BlueFire said through clenched teeth. Roth didn’t blame him. Those potions were worth a fortune. After Roth had messed with the [Miniaturizing Potion] market, the prices never came back down. A potion sold for no less than 170 gold the last time Roth had checked. Even though guilds had access to vast wealth, 170 gold was no small sum.
“As for the second part, it’s easy. An item for sale inside the city lets you miniaturize a second time. I can sell a batch of this item to you.”
BlueFire frowned. “How much?”
“Let’s say… 10,000 gold?” tried Roth.
BlueFire had a fit of coughing, and his whole face reddened. “You can’t be serious. Isn’t that included in the package we bought at the auction?”
“I only said I would sell you a guide. I never said anything about giving you precious consumables for free!”
“This is preposterous!”
“I’m sorry. Do you have a better way of miniaturizing twice?”
“I thought we were friends,” said BlueFire.
“Oh, please, BlueFire. Do you think I’m a child? We’re not friends. All I am is just a number to you.”
BlueFire regarded him coolly, admitting the truth in Roth’s statement. “10k is way too much.”
“Come on, BlueFire. After you get in, you’ll get all this stuff, including the item I’m selling. What’s 10K for you?”
BlueFire stayed silent for a few moments.
“You clever boy,” he complimented. “You know what? I do respect it when someone pulls one over me. I’ll give you 1k.”
“You’re forgetting this is a one-time trade, BlueFire. This item that lets you miniaturize a second time is available in Antioch. From the moment I sell this to you, you’ll have access to the city. Think of how much money you can make reselling this to other guilds or the common player base.”
“2k.”
“10k,” countered Roth, noticing how BlueFire was starting to sweat.
“3k.”
“10k,” replied Roth.
“4k,” BlueFire had changed color by now. He was living up to his tag because he was close to becoming blue.
Gauging that he was close to reaching his limit, Roth decided to leave him a way out. “5k, and you stop calling me Pax and call me Roth.”
BlueFire slumped into his chair and nodded weakly. “Deal.”
“Pleasure doing business with you. You can send someone to the auction house in Hilsford to collect the items.”
“Fine,” said BlueFire, exasperated.
Roth quickly changed subjects before BlueFire could ask more questions about his secrets or try to go back on his word. “Now, tell me when and where I should open the portal.”
“When would you be ready?”
“Whenever. I’m in Hilsford.”
“Good. We go in at noon.”
Roth checked his clock. That was ten hours from now. “Why at that time?”
“Statistically, that’s when the least number of players are logged in. It will increase our chances of success.”
“Very well. Where should we meet?”
BlueFire sent him a pair of coordinates. “This is a small farming village on the outskirts of Hilsford. We’ll meet you there. Don’t be late.” BlueFire hung up.
After Roth got off the call with BlueFire, he shook his head. He wouldn’t have felt comfortable pulling an underhanded move like this on him a few days back. But being in that auction and seeing repeatedly how heartless these people were, had removed any vestiges of pity for them from this heart.
If BlueFire had reacted like this at the idea of spending 5k gold on a stack of [Miniaturizing Honeydew], he would die when he found out that all that was needed to buy this item in Antioch was to trade the honeydew for a few berries. Trading a handful of berries worth a few coppers for five thousand gold wasn’t such a bad deal. Roth chuckled.
If he was just a number for them, he would ensure he was very expensive. Besides, the only way to miniaturize twice that Roth knew didn’t involve using [Miniaturizing Honeydew] was to use the [Miniaturize] skill. If he had sold it instead of learning it when he received it from King Ratatouille, he could have made tens of thousands of gold. 5k gold was cheap by comparison.
Not thirty seconds had passed when he got a message from someone in the Ogre guild.
“I’m Giganto, and I’m with the Ogre guild. I was asked to retrieve some items from you at the auction house. I’m in the trading square next to fountain number 34. I’m wearing black robes.”
Roth whistled, impressed by BlueFire’s speed. In the time it had taken him to finish responding to everyone and talking to BlueFire, he’d made it back to the auction house. He climbed the stairs through the columns, past the lobby, and into the massive trading square. He hadn’t realized that there was a small sign hanging over each fountain with the number to make rendezvousing more convenient.
Once he located number 34, he swiftly found the representative from the Ogre guild. He was the only player sitting near the fountain wearing black robes. Despite the pretentious game tag, the player was barely tall enough to reach Roth’s waist. Approaching him, he found that it was a kid. He couldn’t be older than 12.
“Giganto?” confirmed Roth.
“Pax, uh?”
The kid meant business and skipped over all the pleasantries. A floating trade window appeared in front of Roth. Giganto added 5k gold to the trade, and Roth, in turn, added a stack of 50 [Miniaturizing Honeydew]. Just like that, the trade was over.
“Thanks. Bye now.”
Roth looked at the kid’s departing figure and wondered how good a player he must be to be playing with the Ogres so young. He checked his inventory, pleased. With this, he had 6k gold to shop with. He left the fountain and looked for a quiet corner to sit and shop in peace.
With this trade, the Ogres now had access to the underground treeant city. Roth hoped that the Ogre guild wouldn’t try to storm Antioch violently. It wasn’t that he was concerned about the ants. What he was concerned about was what would happen to the poor players who tried to assault the city. The treeants soldiers would tear them all to shreds.
Roth found a pleasant spot within earshot of a babbling fountain. It was a worked wooden bench under a structure of latticed metal through which vine trees climbed, providing a quiet, peaceful corner in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the auction house.
Comfortably installed, Roth pulled out the small notepad app to organize his thoughts. First, he wrote down his avatar’s assets. He was a peacemaker, a broker, an ecotailor, and a zoomorph. He also had an established light affinity and a progressive nature affinity. He had many powerful titles, one of which empowered voice-related skills.
He had also already established that his skills were upgraded when they resonated with one of his forms or had a light element. Therefore, one of his goals for this shopping spree would be to guarantee that all his skills had either a light element or could react to one of his forms.
In terms of stats, things had become clearer to him after hiring Bucky. He had previously depended on strength to increase the weight he could carry around. After hiring help to run his trades, it became clearer that he didn’t need to invest more. Hiring someone like Bucky, who could move several tons of cargo, was more profitable.
Perception, endurance, subterfuge, dexterity, and insight were all nice stats, but the ones he depended on the most were charisma, intelligence, and wisdom. His high charisma was the key to his quick progress in the game. Additionally, it was important for [Stamp]. He opened the skill description and reread the final line: Your charisma limits the number of those who can gain your blessing.
Wisdom was the stat that dictated how many factions he could be in a treaty with. Finally, intelligence helped with crafting as an [Ecotailor] and also bolstered the power of skills like [Screeching Terror] and [Peace Decree]. Its stat bonuses also slightly boosted cooldown reduction, which Roth sorely needed.
Previously, he had focused on improving his wisdom. But after experimenting with his skills and getting to know his class better, that appeared to have been a mistake. When he and his crew started the Union Collective, using [Fox Form] allowed him to include more players in the union’s VIP roster. By the same token, his [Crow Form] would allow him to include more factions in a peace treaty.
If he only needed high wisdom to sign contracts, he would do better to invest in intelligence instead. Not only would it allow him to change forms a little quicker, but it would also help him in crafting.
Besides skills and gear, he had to replenish his stock of scrolls, grenades, and other consumables. Now that he’d seen how much milk Lin drank, he had to ensure he bought enough food for his pets. He could also afford a ride and some consumables offering permanent stats.
In the end, Roth ended up writing different entries in his notes.
1 - New Gear - Intelligence and CDR
2 - Skills - Light and Zoomorph Synergy
3 - Ride
4 - Pet related items
5 - Profession-related items
6 - Consumables to increase stats
7 - Consumables to get out of sticky situations
The more he thought about his character’s development, the smaller the amount he had mooched off the Ogres felt to him. Even though his avatar had some powerful attributes, he developed it in many different directions. This essentially meant more maintenance and more money.
Roth reviewed the equipment he currently wore.
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: [Wool Poncho] | 5 intelligence; +3% status resistance; +5% speed
Roth proceeded to call up the auction house’s window, opened the advanced options in the filter of the auction house, and programmed it to display only equipment that his avatar could use.
Thousands of items appeared, many of which were exclusively for medics, and others had no class limitations and could be worn by all players. After going through the first few entries in the list, Roth nodded approvingly. The filter also excluded all items that weren’t made of natural fibers and couldn’t be equipped by an ecotailor like himself.
Roth rubbed his hands together. It was time to splurge on some new items.
