HC:Pacifist | Ch. 147 - Drills

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After visiting the sixth or seventh honeypot, he found a new type of honeydew that was made from glowshroom. As soon as Roth saw it, he had an idea. He hopped from honeypot to honeypot, looking for a specific buff. If it was here, he would become a very rich man. Finally, on the 14th honeypot that he visited, he discovered it.

Miniaturizing Honeydew (Consumable)

Description: A sweet liquid fermented in the stomach of the honeypot ants. Having been fed many mushrooms today, the honeydew takes some of its characteristics.

Item effects: [Miniaturize] for 30 minutes.

Here it was. The ratans had already told him that [Miniaturizing Potion] was made by mixing some of the mushrooms of the Rat Cave. If that was the case, chances were that the treeants could recreate a similar recipe since they also collected and fed the different mushrooms of the forest to the honeypot ants.

Additionally, it only made sense that Antioch would have an affordable way for players to reduce their size to enter it. If he could just buy this and bring it outside, he would become rich.

“Your honeydew looks excellent. Here is all the food I have on me. Can I trade it for some of your honeydew?”

The ant regarded him for a few seconds, and he got a system notification.

Would you like to trade 4x[Glowshroom], 2x[Morelshroom], x9[Pine Cones], 3x[Fox Ginseng] for 4x[Miniaturizing Dew]? [Y/N]

“Yes!”

You’ve been traded 4x[Miniaturizing Dew].

Roth studied the honeydew in his inventory. He had just secured four items similar to the [Miniaturizing] potions, worth thousands of gold, in exchange for a few consumables that were only worth a few silvers. He had struck gold! All he had to do was fill his inventory with food and come here to trade it for this item. Then, if he brought it to an auction house, he would become a millionaire!

Roth kept going through honeypot ant after honeypot ant, looking for more meaningful buffs. He didn’t find anything else that was worth purchasing. After he made sure that there were no other overpowered buffs he had missed, he decided it was time to make the next stop. It was time to visit the chitinsmiths.

*

Julio was just about to leave through the city gate when he got a message in his guild chat.

Guild announcement: All Pegasus players in Greensburg report to your squad captain. We’re going to execute a drill.

He clicked his tongue. Why hadn’t the guild let him know with more time in advance? He was getting sick of these drills. The guild had been running these almost every day for the past two weeks, and they were required to move immediately to whatever location they were summoned to.

Sometimes, they just dismissed players after they appeared, wasting everyone’s time. Other times, they sent the players to a dungeon. And once, he was lucky enough to go hunt a wild boss on a nearby map. Julio took a deep breath and tried focusing on the bright side.

Even though no other guild of the top 10 required players to run these ridiculous drills, he was still rewarded a generous amount of guild points if he showed up on time. He had already bought a new spear from the guild shop with it and was very close to getting a chest plate.

“Hey, Julio. Our team will meet in the slums, near the pawn shop. Try to be there in the next hour," came the message.

The slums? Not outside of the city? That meant that they were probably just going to take attendance, give everyone some guild points, and he would be off the hook. “Aye, aye, captain.”

Julio ran for the slums.

*

The chitinsmith oak tree was situated somewhere in fox territory. It happened to be the closest workstation to the larder where he’d just been and, hence, the next stop in his tour.

Unlike other areas of the colony that were vastly populated with workers, here, the overwhelming majority of treeants were soldiers. They were easily told apart by their bigger bodies and mandibles. Additionally, unlike workers who walked around with little to no equipment, soldiers walked clad in armor.

Antioch’s military proceeded in an orderly fashion through shedding stations at the base of the tree. He watched as a soldier approached one of the shedding stations. A group of worker ants helped it unequip its armor and then carefully cut into the soldier’s chitin shell to help her out of her exoskeleton. They then threw the shells off to wagons at the back of the station.

As ants grew, their hard exoskeletons became increasingly tighter. The only way to grow was to shed their shells and create new ones that were larger and more suitable for the next growth spur. Ants entered the shedding stations in shiny, hard shells and came out with dull, soft ones, which would harden in the days to come. Then, soldiers got a new-sized suit of armor from one of the upper floors.

The chitinsmith tree reminded Roth of a shopping center. There was a well, an empty space in the middle, that allowed him to see the dozens of floors where the chitin smiths made equipment out of these used exoskeletons.

He followed one of the porters, pushing a wagon full of used hard shells up a ramp, leading him to a new floor. He had been here before blindfolded, but this time, he would be able to see and appreciate the craftsmanship of the chitinsmiths. Roth was eager to see the items crafted here.

As the porter pushed the wagon, ants from working stations took shells as needed and brought them to the rest of their team. Chitinsmiths, like weaver ants, worked in teams. They had a well-structured assembly line that ran like clockwork. At the forefront were ants with powerful mandibles that cut the chitin into a pattern size. As the exoskeleton was cut into the shape of scales, others ran silk threads produced near the queen’s chambers and ran them through the scales. Finally, the assembly team fashioned the scales into a variety of shapes. There were scaled breastplates, helmets, and greaves.

At the end of the assembly line, there were neatly organized armories. Unequipped soldiers arrived, grabbed the gear suited to their size, and then disappeared into the tunnels, ready to return to their posts.

Roth walked toward one of the armories and inspected an ant organizing the racks dug into the tree's wood.

Riley, the Rock Ant

Lvl. 54

50,000/50,000

You meet many people and see many things.

+1 insight.

Roth smiled as he saw the stat points that kept coming in. He waited for a window to appear, but nothing happened. He scratched his head. How was he supposed to buy stuff around here?

“Hey, there.”

Riley stopped. “Yes?”

“I was wondering… are any of these suits of armor for sale?”

Hearing Roth’s business inquiry, the ant climbed over the pile and ran its antennae over him, smelling and studying him. “Sale? The colony has no use for money. But our team will accept lunch. We haven’t eaten all day. So much work. Oh, so much work, indeed. Oh my, oh my. I wasn’t expecting someone to come here as I was about to start polishing armor.”

A slight sense of impatient annoyance accompanied the ant’s mental message. “I suppose that if we hurry, I can still help. Hmmm, you have a very strange body, but we do have some pieces of armor that should suit you. Here. Quick, try this one. It’s originally an abdomen plate for a soldier, but you might be able to use it in your chest.”

Black Carpenter Scaled Breastplate (Uncommon)

Description: A breastplate that has been fashioned out of the shed armor of a black carpenter ant and covered with cut pieces of leaf-cutter ant’s armor.

Item effects:

+10 strength;

+5% status resistance;

+10% damage reduction;

+10kg carry capacity;

+200 hp.

Restrictions:

Lvl. 40.

Roth couldn’t breathe. The effects of this armor were amazing! First of all, its strength and stat resistance were very generous, but the coolest thing about it was that it had no class restrictions. Even better, it increased carry capacity! This was a dream of any merchant! No, any player!

Although it was mostly warriors who craved strength, that didn’t mean that there weren’t other hidden or hybrid classes that didn’t need the stat. But since the equipment that offered strength or bonuses such as this was hard to come by, it was also ridiculously expensive.

Additionally, some players disliked wearing cloth armor. Roth, for example, had played warrior classes all his life and, if given the choice, would always choose plate armor. He was sure that there were other players out there who shared his preference. If Roth could buy this and bring it to the surface, he would be rich.

Honeypot ants had traded food for food. He guessed that here, they would accept old armor in exchange for the items they made. “How much do you want for this piece of armor?”

“Three ephahs of cereal.”

It looked like he had been off the mark. With millions of mouths to feed, all Antioch cared about was food.  He didn’t mind it! It wasn’t like these treeants were used to having champagne and caviar. They lived off the basic, cheap consumables that could be harvested from this beginner zone. This was great news to Roth.

“How much is an ephah?”

The ant sent him the mental equivalent of an exasperated sigh and the image of an ant carrying a small batch of grain back into the colony. This piece of armor was super cheap! He could get that much grain with one or two silvers! He had just found one more gold mine! He wiped the drool off his mouth on his sleeve and tried keeping his excitement away from his telepathic conversation.

“Are chitin armors the only kind you have?”

“No, not at all. We also have powerful mineral armor.”

“Can I see it?”

“You have to go to mineralsmiths for that, human.”

“Uh? Mineralsmiths?” Roth hadn't heard of them. There was still so much more to learn about this mysterious place. Everything was so alien and new. “How can I get to them?”

“I’ll show you.” A series of flashing images appeared in his mind, and he saw ants digging dark, rocky tunnels. Riley’s back legs were moving restlessly. Ants couldn’t be kept in a conversation for long. They were always running against the clock.

“Thank you! I now know how to find it.”

Just as Riley was about to go off to polish armor, Roth remembered something. What happened to these items once he reverted to his human size? Were they like his current equipment that shrank and grew together with him? Or was it more like the ratan tapestries that always kept the same size no matter what?

Now that he thought of it, he had also forgotten to ask the honeypot ants about the food. What happened to the consumables once he returned to his human size? Although the blobs of syrup looked as big as oranges in Antioch to his human form, they would be smaller than a grain of sand! It would be like feeding a grape to a dinosaur! Would the consumables even do anything at that point?

What about the armor? Did it remain the same size? The items of Antioch would be useless if they didn’t grow back together with him. Maybe Riley could give him an answer. “What happens to the armor if I return to my regular size?”

“What do you mean?”

“Does it grow with me?”

“Don’t bother me with stupid questions. Can’t you see I’m busy?”

The ant turned its back on Roth and went away. What was that supposed to mean? The ant hadn’t answered him! But the fact that it held the answer back from him told Roth that it couldn’t be as simple as changing one grain of cereal for a god-tier piece of armor and making a fortune. That would have broken the game. There had to be a catch here.

He approached another armory.

“Hello, miss. I was wondering if these suits of armor accompany the growth of humans who wear them?”

“Don’t ask me questions that even a larva knows the answer to!”

He was given the cold shoulder again, only adding to his suspicions. He sighed. He would figure it out in time. The truth was that even if he could only wear this type of armor here, it was still pretty cool. He visited armory after armory and compiled a list of the different equipment available there. He asked a few chitinsmiths about the supercolony quest, but no one knew anything about it here either. He was beginning to think he was never going to solve this mystery.

All pieces of equipment offered a bonus to the weight-carry capacity. The two stats most strengthened by the shells were strength and intelligence. He looked at the list he drafted and grinned evilly. This was excellent guild bait.

After seeing how cool the items that the chitinsmiths made were, he couldn’t take it anymore. He had to visit the weaver ants. Roth needed to see the items crafted by the tailors of Antioch.

Ch. 146 - Pinecone Honeydew

INDEX

Ch. 148 - A Crowded Inn