HC:Pacifist | Ch. 143 - Pull Your Own Weight

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Antioch was unlike human cities. Whereas humans relied on a two-dimensional plan, ants thought more tri-dimensionally. This wasn’t Hilsford, where one could take the whole city in one look from atop the citadel. No vantage point could afford a full view of Antioch’s landscape.

Roth was fascinated with Antiochian culture. This was a people of unity and diversity, a place where everyone was part of the same mind but still managed to keep their individuality. Their unity manifested in common traits, like an obsession with work, care for their young, and love for the colony. 

Variety manifested itself in a number of ways. One was through the characteristics of the different treeant species. Turtle ants were grounded and calm, while carpenter ants were rushed and impetuous. Weaver ants were caring and artistic, but their colleagues, the leaf-cutters, were practical and decisive. Moreoever, ant NPCs all had different names, routines, and personalities. 

As Roth traveled from chamber to chamber and discovered the city's wonders, he kept in mind the vital mission he received from the Lord. Whenever he met a new species of ant, he asked them about the supercolony quest. No one knew anything about it. Roth’s hope that individual ants had information unknown to their collective mind was shattered. It looked like the Lord of the Woods had access to every ant’s full memories.

The most frustrating thing in his exploration had been to resist the urge to remove his blindfold and turn on the flashlight. He had thought about removing it many times, but he was sure there had to be a title around the corner. Hopefully, it would be worth it.

His only comfort was the sweet ring of notifications whenever he gained reputation with an ant or an extra point of charisma, intelligence, or insight. One of the most pleasant notifications he got gave him an update on his passive XP income.

Congratulations! Peace endures among the ratans, snakes, and Mario.

+127,360 XP.

The XP gain was noticeable after Roth got the [Repercussions] upgrade to his [Peace Treaty] skill. But the most significant increase to the XP gained was because he was in [Badger Form].

“[Peace Treaty], skill description,” he called out. The system had the skill’s effects read to him.

Peace Treaty (Epic)

Skill Description: You are known to cherish the common good and can mediate deals between factions.

Skill effects:

Active. You can sign treaties between different parties;

Whoever breaks the treaty has to pay you compensation;

For each day a treaty remains active, you receive experience;

You can sign treaties between 1 +(1 party per 50 levels of wisdom);

Compensation if the treaty is broken: Affected by wisdom, intelligence, and strength - Current value: 31.3 gold;

Experience if the treaty isn't broken: Affected by wisdom, intelligence, and charisma - Current value: 127,360 XP per day;

Restrictions: Pacifist, Lvl. 20.

Before today, he hadn’t had the chance to experiment on whether being in one of his forms would benefit this skill. The description did mention that the skill was enhanced by wisdom, intelligence, and strength. Roth was happy that the bonus intelligence [Badger Form] granted, although temporary, still counted. That made him more confident that [Corvid Form] would enable him to celebrate peace treaties with more factions. Instead of climbing his wisdom to very high levels, he could make the stat skyrocket with [Corvid Form] and then revert to human form.

But those were plans for later. For now, Roth walked in his [Badger Form], blindfolded. He had been exploring Antioch for many hours and kept making exciting discoveries. The artisans in the city left a big impression on him. Wherever he visited, he found what looked like unique professions. Even if they weren’t, they surely knew unique profession skills and crafting techniques. As he jumped from workstation to workstation, he kept finding things that would make craftsmen all over AstroTerra go nuts. He was sure there were many hidden questlines for craftsmen here.

One of the more unique professions in Antioch was the chitinsmiths. They were responsible for equipping the ant army defending the colony. The suits of armor they fashioned from used-up ant shells and minerals boosted the soldiers’ defensive powers, and the blades they forged added to the cutting power of the soldiers’ powerful mandibles. Roth suspected players could use some of this equipment and the mandible blades as swords. He wasn't sure. Even though he could have notifications read to him, he couldn’t read item descriptions while blindfolded.

Even if he didn’t know the specifics of the items that ants crafted, he could tell they were valuable and would be worth trading. When the guilds discovered all the riches hidden here, they would come crawling to him, begging him to let them help him.

His biggest question now was, what happened to the items once he scaled back up to his normal size? Would a chitin suit of armor armor he bought here just grow along with him? Did a cloth of larvae silk that seemed humongous in his miniature form become a tiny piece of lint once he returned to his normal size?

After all, he remembered that when he retrieved the stolen ratan tapestries from Oli’s hideout, they didn’t grow or shrink with him. In his normal form, ratan tapestries looked like handkerchiefs. They only looked like imposing tapestries when he miniaturized. What if these items were like that, too?

Another fascinating profession that Roth had discovered was the treesmiths. It was a weird mix of carpentry and programming. Ants carved patterns into the tree, digging channels for bioenergy to flow in, like electricity in a circuit board. The trees of the Green Woods hid much of Antioch’s infrastructure. Treeants saw each tree as a piece of specialized advanced machinery, a living computer.  Using the treesmith profession, carpenter ants turned hollow trees into inns, stores, and crafting districts.  Other trees were weaponized and integrated into the colony’s defense system. He had already been shown shield generators that converted bioenergy from the surrounding fawn and flora into an impenetrable force field. Some trees compressed bioenergy and could shoot it in bursts. Others worked as radars and satellites. This didn’t mean that every single tree was used as a computer. Some were used as food for the aphids or leaf fodder for the fungi farms underground.

After visiting the treesmiths, Roth addressed one of the turtle ants at an intersection. “Good morning, gatekeeper! I’ve visited the colony’s farms, weavers, chitinsmiths, and treesmiths. Antioch is a paradise for craftsmen. What’s the next nearest working station? I’m trying to see all the wonders that you ants create.”

He spat out the speech he’d been using every time he was done with one visit. He felt like a call center operator or a salesman. His pitch was developing a fake naturalness and didn’t sound like words anymore, just sound.

“The closest workstation is the larder. It’s right at the end of the tunnel.”

“The larder?” Roth had already been to one. Wasn’t that just where ants stored their food? Of course! Food! Chefs! Cooking! “Thank you, soldier!”

The turtle ant returned to its gatekeeping duties, and Roth headed down the tunnel. The idea of visiting the treeant chefs made him think of his mother. He hadn’t called her today yet. Maybe, after visiting the larder, he would do so. He scratched his head. She would probably tell him off for being blindfolded. He would call her tomorrow instead.

Just as he was about to reach the larder, Roth got a notification.

You learn to see with your mind, and your mental reach has grown stronger.

+1 insight.

Roth smiled, hearing he had gained one more stat point. He had already unlocked 4 points of insight and 2 of intelligence since he started walking around blindfolded. Unlocking a new title couldn't be far off. 

As Roth approached the chamber, he felt a pleasant scent. It was the smell of someone cooking. Roth wiped off the drool from the corner of his mouth and entered the larder. He had already seen a larder before. The memory of it merged with his telepathic vision. There were big blobs of light and thousands of ants arriving and leaving. Some came with their mental strength on the weaker side, letting some strain leak into their brain waves. Roth took that as workers who were carrying food for the cooks. Then, there were others whose fires had just been stoked and left with a brighter, steadier light, probably workers who had come here for a meal. The big blobs of light, the smell of food, and many creatures coming to eat reminded him of a festival.

The food smelled delicious. It was true that the pod was taking care of his physical needs. Even so, he missed eating. He had come straight from a jail diet to IV feeding. He missed a good hot meal, just like anyone else would. Being deprived of his vision was just making him feel his taste buds and his sense of smell more acutely. He decided to get in line and see if he could get a piece of the honeypot treeants' cooking. He hadn’t spotted any cauldrons or pots when he first saw a larder, but he had also seen the chamber with a flashlight. He might have missed something. Even if he couldn’t read the item’s description, perhaps he could get away with buying something and trying it.

As Roth got in line to grab food, the brain waves around him became edgy. It was as if he had entered an ocean that showed signs of an upcoming storm. He wondered what was making the treeants upset. Had they just gotten bad news or something? Maybe a death in the family. With so many treeants, it had to be a daily occurrence. Eventually, it came to his turn to get food. The chef preemptively addressed him before he could ask the honeypot treeant for a menu.

“Martyr? What are you doing?”

Roth frowned. It wasn’t common for a treeant to take the initiative to approach him. They were always so busy getting to places. “I want to try one of your delicious dishes.”

Behind him, the sense of disquiet grew. All kinds of emotions were being leaked into the mental waves of the treeants waiting in line: indignation, fear, anxiety, outrage, terror.

“Is anything wrong?” asked Roth.

“Well… it’s just that… have you worked today?”

“E-excuse me?”

“Have you done any work for the colony?”

A series of images flashed through Roth’s mind. He could see himself through the eyes of the treeants, walking around blindfolded. He looked carefree and excited as a tourist visiting a city. Occasionally, he approached a passerby, interrupting their labors just to chat. He gulped. The treeants thought he was being lazy. “Well, I’ve been working for the Lord. He asked me to look into what’s killing your babies.”

“Have you finished that yet?”

“Well, no…”

“Hurry up over there,” one of the treeant soldiers behind him complained. “I have to get back to work.”

“We don’t have food for the lazy. If you want to eat, I suggest you make yourself useful around here.”

You’ve just received a new quest: [Pull Your Weight].

Pull Your Weight (Common)

Every citizen of Antioch is a cog in a giant machine. There is no room for dead weight. Everyone has to contribute to the greater good of the colony.

Quest objectives: Find work to do and do it!

“Once you’ve proven your usefulness, come back. But for now, get to work!”

The nerve! You thought you could eat from the colony’s food stores without contributing anything to it.

-5 reputation with the treeants.

Ch. 142 - Palatial Skirmish

INDEX

Ch. 144 - Creature of the Night