HC: Pacifist | Chapter 138 - "You Have Guts!"

“Haha. You have guts, man.” Drake was laughing out loud on the other end of the line. It was better than the scolding he was expecting. SergeantSarg was also connected, but he didn’t share in the laughter. He regarded Roth with a severe face. The facial expression that he had undoubtedly learned in the army was squeezing the marrow out of Roth’s bones.

“Well. I’m glad you liked it, Drake?”

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m so furious at you, that next time I see you, I’m going to make your life miserable. I know all these pressure points that will make you squirm.”

“There are also all these punishments I remember from my time back in the army, that should make him think twice before he ever pulls a stunt like that again.”

“Really? I always admired the military. They concoct some of the most creative punishments in the world. They are all so elegant.”

Roth gulped at the idea of Drake and SergeantSarg conspiring on how to deal his punishment. Hopefully, they were just joking. He doubted that was the case, though.

“But anyway, even though you did it out of spite, it might actually have been a good move,” said the Sergeant.

“Agreed. Loki is a proud fella. Now that he knows that your tag in the game is Pax, he’s going to bring the full power of the guild on you. Challenging him like that might have been better than running away from him with your tail stuck between your legs. Individuals like him prey on fear. That move of yours will have dealt him at least a psychological blow.”

“What do you think of what the other guilds have said?” Roth tried to divert the attention away from the reckless call he had made. The guilds’ response had been underwhelming. They all said that they needed to see results before they would offer him and his family protection.

The most generous guild had been the Ogres. They had fought Pegasus recently, and once Roth told him that he was their enemy, they had shown some willingness to give Roth protection and even offered a position as a guild elder. They had been adamant, though, that they were only willing to do that for Roth and no one else.

Even though it was better than nothing, for Roth, it was either everyone or no one. He couldn’t afford to move his family to safety little by little. It had to be done in one fell swoop so that it would be too late by the time Loki noticed they were gone. And there wasn’t only his family to think about. He worried about Drake, too.

Roth’s biggest concern was that Loki’s spies would get wind of this round of negotiations. He prayed that none of the high-level players that had contacted him were in Loki’s pockets. If they were, there was nothing he could do about it. He’d been cautious only to accept talking to famous players, unmistakably associated with their guilds.

“Well, I don’t blame them for not offering to take care of you forever based on you discovering a place they’ve never heard about,” commented the Sergeant.

Roth clicked his tongue. “I hoped this could be a quick exit out of the situation.”

“It might give you some leverage, but I’m still betting my money on the unions,” said Drake.

“How are things with the unions?”

The Sergeant exchanged looks. Drake prompted the Sergeant to speak. “We’re still working on it. We have been putting feelers out toward the craftsmen of the guild but with little success. What we’ve been able to do more successfully is to get the contacts of many free craftsmen.”

“In sum,” said Drake drily, “It’s going well, but it will still take a long time before the plan bears fruit.

Hearing of how slowly things were progressing and thinking of Loki’s siege just frustrated Roth more. “Argh. I really thought that making it into the Hall of Fame would make this map enticing enough to the guilds.”

“All fame? What’s that?”

“No. Hall of Fame. Go to the forums. It’s right there, in big shining letters,” said the Sergeant.

For a few moments that felt like forever, the two men had an argument that eventually ended with Drake finding the window in front of him and finding what Roth was pointing out, he started mumbling as he read. “Oh wow. That’s right. Here you are. And you’re right above Loki! Argh! This is priceless.” Drake burst out laughing again.

“So what’s the treeant city like?” asked the Sergeant.

“Excuse me? What do you mean by treeant city?”

“It says so right here in the Hall of Fame.”

Roth opened the Hall of Fame and read the listing.

Pax, the Pacifist

Here lies a statement to Pax, who was the first to discover the entrance to the lost treeant city.

“Gotta go, guys. Bye.”

“Wha-” Roth hung up, ignoring the two. He was going to be tortured by them anyway, so what did he have to lose?

The implications of what the system had registered in the Hall of Fame were too big. Treeant city? Treeant city?! He looked around at the thousands of ants entering and exiting their den under the tree. Could it be that the ants and not the trees were the treeants? He had just assumed the tree was the entity he’d been talking to. What if it were the ants instead? Now that he thought about it, it was right there on the name. Tree + ant = Treeant.

That would explain why his [Discoverer of Species] charisma bonus hadn't activated when he first tried to talk to an ant. This title only activated when he talked to a race for the very first time. But it didn’t this time, because he had met the race before!

If the treeants were indeed the ants and not the trees, that would also explain why they hadn’t responded to his attempts at conversation. Instead of using his voice, he tried using his mind.

“Hello?”

*

“Xerxes!” roared Loki.

The long-head esper on the other side of the video feed was pale, and his Adam’s Apple was moving non-stop. Behind him, flashes of different colors showed the uninterrupted bombardment they were throwing at the invisible shield.

“How did this idiot discover a new world region?”

“S-sir. I don’t know. There must be some sort of portal or gateway on the other side of the shield, but we just can’t get through no matter how much we attack it.”

“Stop wasting energy! You’re going to call the other guilds’ attention!”

“I was only following your orders, sir.”

“We’re taking a softer approach. Gather some guild members who are good in questing and with high charisma. Turn the Green Woods upside down, and look under every rock, tree, and village if you have to. There must be a clue somewhere.”

“Yes, sir. What if other guilds appear, sir?”

“Has that happened yet?”

Xerxes' silence showed it had. Loki cursed under his breath. The farming teams. In his anger, he hadn’t even considered the different farming teams guilds kept in the Green Woods to harvest the precious [Miniaturizing Potions] and [Power Truffles]. Everyone in the top 10 probably knew about the encirclement already.

Loki thought about the upcoming days and spared a look at the tenth hatchling. “Stand your ground. Don’t let the others approach the clearing.”

“But, sir, that will start a massive battle with the other guilds.”

“Just do as you’re told.” Loki hung up. This was the perfect distraction. With the world announcement that the Slayer had made and the show Xerxes would put up in the Green Woods, every other guild’s attention wasn’t going to be in the sewers. That would let him finish setting up his grand finale.

*

As Roth sent a telepathic greeting, all the ants suddenly stopped and turned toward him. For a few seconds, Roth wondered if he was about to be attacked by the ants, but soon, they resumed their march, and only one ant walked toward him. He inspected it.

Leia, the Carpenter Treeant (Friendly)

Lvl. 42

20,000/20,000

My goodness! Such powerful stats! Who would have known that such a tiny insect had such massive power? He looked at the description of Leia. His hunch was right. The ants were the new race he had discovered.

“Martyr?”

“That’s me. Are you the Lord of the Woods?”

“I’m busy, human. There’s work to do. Oh, so much work. I can’t stop.” The ant took off toward the colony.

“Wait? I just want to talk a bit.”

“No. Talking takes forever. I have lots of work to do. I have to leave food in the larder and feed the larvae. Then I have to take out the trash and climb back here again. Too much work. Too much work.”

“Can we just walk and talk then?”

The ant conveyed to him a feeling of impatient acceptance.

“Fine. But I have work to do!”

Wow. Ants were very conscious of their time. Now that he thought about it, all the ants around him were busily walking to and fro. They were all in a hurry, all walking with a single-minded purpose. He was starting to realize that treeants hated wasting time.

The ant never stopped moving. Roth had already grabbed his flashlight and shone it on the ant as he followed her into the darkness of the tunnels. The tunnel was spacious for ants but just right for him. Because of his height, he hunched to walk without hitting his head on the ceiling. Fortunately, even if the tunnels weren’t too tall, they were wide enough for all the ants using them.

“So, where is the Lord of the Woods?”

“Here.”

“Here underground?”

“No. Here. Talking to you.”

Roth scratched his head, confused. “Does that mean you are the Lord of the Woods, Leia?”

The ant shook its head in a very human gesture. “Yes and no.”

How could it be yes and no? “Who did I talk to when I was outside? I mean, when I was my regular human size?”

“You talked to all of us but didn’t talk to me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it's difficult to explain. But basically, we are a communal mind. We all have an individual mind. But we are all part of a whole.”

Shining the flashlight on the ants around the tunnels, Roth noticed a new type of ant down here. Whereas the ants he’d seen above ground were red leafcutters or black herders the size of cats, this new type of ant he saw had massive heads, almost as big as the rest of their body, and they were as big as dogs. Strange. He thought that ant colonies of different species didn’t share a home.

“So, you were saying you are a communal mind? Kind of like the flock?”

“No! The flock is a radio. Their leader sends his broadcast into the air, and all the sheep follow blindly. We are like individual neurons, who make up a greater mind.”

“I don’t follow.” The ant scratched one leg with the other, and a feeling of annoyance and patience was transmitted via their telepathic link. The ant didn’t stop walking for a second.

They came to a closed door in a tunnel. After a few seconds of waiting, the wall started moving. As Roth entered the opening, he saw that what had been closing the door wasn’t a mechanism but a new type of ant. It had a flattened dish-like head. The head was even bigger than the previous type of ant he had seen earlier, and it used it as a door!

When the guard opened the gate, Leia decisively turned downward, following the thousands of other ants around it, and kept moving. Roth was almost running to keep up with her. His energy bar was starting to decrease. All this walking while holding the flashlight was eating at his stamina.

“It’s easier if you see it for yourself. Try to stretch your mind, martyr. Close your eyes. See with your mind instead.”

Roth tried to focus, but it was difficult amidst all the new things happening around him.

“Any chance we can stop so that I can do it?”

“Nope. Too busy. Too busy.”

Roth’s shoulders slumped. He tried to stop noticing all the exciting sights around him and focused only on Leia. As he followed her, he tried to imagine that his mind was a dam. He opened the floodgates and let his mind wander off like waters that had been let loose. He couldn’t feel anything yet. In a moment of distraction, at the sight of a new type of blacker ant that moved with incredible speed, he lost his focus.

This was proving difficult. His mind went back to when he had first learned telepathy. It was worth trying to increase his sensitivity to the brain waves around him to make this task easier.

Badger Form!

Ch. 137 - Anthiochian Ripples

INDEX

Ch. 139 - Mind Expansion