HC: Pacifist | Ch. 258 - Cloud Candy (Patreon)

The lizards appreciate the sunbath. So warm. So nice.

+94 reputation with the cloud lizards.

You’re now revered by cloud lizards.

Whenever Roth’s energy bar got too low, he gulped an energy potion and brought it back up. This skill was very effective in this particular instance and wasn't too energy-consuming. After all, it was designed for pyrokinetics to use on top of their other skills. 

The lizards appreciate the sunbath. So warm. So nice.

+81 reputation with the cloud lizards.

You’re now adored by cloud lizards.

You’ve broken through multiple relationship milestones in a row!

+1 charisma.

By the time the half-hour charisma boost ended, Roth had reached [Adored] status with the cloud lizards. It wasn’t at the same level as the rock lizards, but still quite high. Thanks to the [Hero of Ages] title, it didn't require 3,000 reputation points to reach [Adored] with a faction anymore; just 2,000 did the trick. 

It was time to wrap things up here. “So, first things first, would you like to start a trade agreement?” Roth asked directly, wanting to kick things off with the easiest part of his mission.

“That’s an excellent idea. No one represents us and we need more treasures to help us through the pilgrimage.”

Roth sighed in relief. The other broker hadn’t been here. A list of items that the cloud lizards were willing to trade appeared. 

Cloud Lizards {Exclusive}

You have earned the right to represent the Cloud lizards in the Sky Islands.

Specialty products:

[Cloud Lizard Poison] - 200 per day.

[Cloud Lizard Shed Skin] - 200 per day.

[Cloud Lizard Scales] - 400 per day.

[Cloud Candy] - 2 per day.

[Elite Lizard Shed Skin] - 2 per day.

[Elite Lizard Scales] - 20 per day.

[Cloud Mother’s Tear] - 1 per week.

Procured goods:

[Unknown]

Rate:

You keep 5% of all profits generated.

Congratulations on securing exclusivity with another race!

+50,000 broker XP.

Even though he had just met the cloud lizards, thanks to Roth’s many bonuses, he instantly got an exclusive agreement! Maybe it was because the animals loved the stacked effects of his zoomorph race and nature affinity. Or maybe it was because he had high righteousness and charisma. Or perhaps it was a mix of everything. Whatever the explanation was, Roth couldn’t be happier. His profit margin dramatically increased whenever he got an exclusive agreement with a faction.

They had shed skins of roughly the same level as the rock lizards. Instead of dropping their tails here, it seems that these lizards had a different specialty product. 

Cloud Candy (Common) 

Description: Every so often, when the conditions are right enough, the clouds surrounding the sunny cliff converge, and the gasses in the atmosphere mix with the poison of the cloud lizards, melding into a sweet delicacy. 

Effects: 

+5 dexterity.

It can only be consumed once.

This consumable was a little lackluster compared with the [Hellberry] Lin had offered him earlier, but it was still very precious! It was roughly on the same level as [Snake Fruit], a little lower since it offered only one of the basic stats, whereas [Snake Fruit] could help a player unlock a new stat.

The best part was that it was a vegetarian item; he could eat it. Roth bit his lip, wondering whether he should buy this from the reputation store or wait for the cloud lizards to give him one. These stat boosters were of paramount importance to him. Without them, he would never break into the game’s top 10 and escape his prison.

While Roth checked the details of each item, he shared his catalog with Chloe. “Here are the items I can provide to you. Please let me know if anything catches your interest.” 

[Power Truffle] has been added to the cloud lizards’ procurement list.

[Snake Fruit] has been added to the cloud lizards’ procurement list.

[Premium Lizard Tail Steak] has been added to the cloud lizards’ procurement list.

Before Roth took some time to decide how he’d secure [Cloud Candy] for himself, he addressed the real reason that had brought him to this dungeon and not any of the bird nests in Sunny Crag.

“I'm aware that there's some animosity between different species of the lizards.” 

“There is,” Chloe readily agreed, visibly more relaxed because of Roth's high reputation with them. 

“What can we do to unify all the lizards?” Roth asked suggestively.

Chloe paused for a moment. Her thinking stance was indistinguishable from her sunbathing one. 

“If every other lizard species surrendered to the cloud lizards, we could unify the race. It makes perfect sense if you think about it. After all, we stand way higher than all other lizards. While they live in the dirt, we live in the heavens. It's only right that we rule.”

Roth bit his lip. All these lizards needed to learn some humility! He would never unify them following their stupid suggestions. It was time to test whether his idea could work. 

“Tell me something, Chloe. How far would you be willing to go to have every other lizard species surrender to you?”

Chloe paused, her eyes blinking and her tongue licking her eyeball. This reminded Roth of MountainTop, who had also adopted this weird reptile habit.

“We’d fight to death for this birthright.”

“That’s not what I mean. Suppose I got every other lizard race to surrender to you, and in exchange, you would only have to agree with,” Roth paused as if trying to think of an example, “the rock lizards, for example. Would you be willing to do so?

Chloe’s tail flipped violently back and forth. “The rock lizards? Those are among the types of lizards we dislike the most. They live so far beneath us.”

“What if I told you you have already signed a treaty with them?”

Many tails stomped violently on the cliff as the cloud lizards eyed their leader angrily. Chloe whirled toward them and stood tall, hissing. They recoiled, but there was still anger in their eyes. “What do you mean, human?”

“You’ve just signed a trade agreement. Rock lizards are among my customers and, thereby, your business partners. They are the suppliers of that premium lizard tail you procured.”

“You didn’t disclose this information!”

“Come on! Where did you think the tail steak came from? Are you telling me you don’t know where this type of item comes from?” The idea that the cloud lizards were interested in eating the tail of another lizard species was gross, but Roth forced himself not to think about that. “What’s the big difference between trading with the rock lizards and signing a peace treaty with them?” Roth asked loudly so that all the lizards could hear.

Chloe was caught between a rock and a hard place. All the other lizards were looking at her. Her standing with them would suffer if she admitted to carelessly falling for Roth’s trap. Who wanted a leader who didn’t read the small print before signing an important document that included all of her race?

“Yes. We can make peace with the rock lizards in exchange for all the other lizards surrendering to us. We hardly have any dealings with them. Only one of the sky islands floats above the Rock Canyon. And they never come up to stir trouble. They can’t even if they wanted,” she mocked. “After all, they can't fly.”

Chloe tried to sound confident and certain, but Roth didn’t miss the sideways, hurt glances she was throwing at him.

You’ve tricked Chloe.

+1 subterfuge;

-10 righteousness;

-100 reputation with the cloud lizards.

Roth grinned. Despite the losses, it was still worth it. “Very well then. Here's a document. Could you please sign it? By the way, it also contains some other species you would have to make peace with. But you probably have no dealings with them, anyway.”

“Let me see.” Having learned her lesson, she made sure she read the document properly this time. “The foxes. They live in another crag and don’t bother us. No boars up here. Ratans. Those are everywhere, but we don’t usually hunt them. We prefer to eat eggs and small birds. It's a good way of keeping our enemies in check. The corvids? Those nasty birds! We don’t like birds.” Chloe’s reaction was more aggressive than when she had spoken of the rock lizards.

“I noticed,” said Roth appeasingly. “Think of it this way. It's only one kind of bird. In exchange, we would get all the other lizards to surrender…” to peace, Roth added to himself. But he didn't say that out loud. For this stratagem to work, he had to outsmart each lizard faction one at a time and throw them on the same boat before they realized what he had done. 

“Well, we don't like corvids, but truth be told, we don't dare mess with them. The Crow Emperor is not one to be trifled with,” she said as if to explain to her subjects why she would go forward with this treaty. “So be it. We accept.”

You’ve tricked the rock lizards into signing a peace treaty with the cloud lizards!

You've lost 500 reputation with the rock lizards. 

+1 subterfuge.

[Unify the Lizards] updated.

Peace treaty updated.

The bonus for the cloud lizards was also added to the list of bonuses granted by his [Friends of Peace] upgrade.

You’re currently in a peace treaty with [Mario], [Sewer Snakes], [Sewer Rats], [Cloud Lizards], [Rock Lizards].

Mario’s Blessing: +5 strength;

Sewer Snakes’ Blessing: +15 subterfuge;

Sewer Rats Blessing: +15 dexterity;

Rock Lizards’ Blessing: +25 strength;

Cloud Lizards’ Blessing: +15 strength.

You have trade agreements with [Badgers], [Boars], [Cloud Lizards], [Corvids], [Dwarf Exiles], [Foxes], [Golden Mountain Inc.], [Greenleaf Inc.], [Ratans], [Rock Lizards], [Snakes], [Treeants].

Badgers’ Blessing: +8 intelligence;

Boars’ Blessing: +8 strength;

Cloud Lizard’s Blessing: +8 strength;

Corvids’ Blessing: +8 wisdom;

Dwarf Exiles’ Blessing: +2 dexterity;

Foxes’ Blessing: +8 charisma;

Golden Mountain Inc’s Blessing: +4 charisma;

Greenleaf Inc’s Blessing: +1 charisma;

Ratan’s Blessing: +8 dexterity;

Rock Lizard’s Blessing: +10 strength;

Snakes Blessing: +2 subterfuge.

Sadly, lizards seemed to only grant strength. Many professions required this stat, such as blacksmiths, and carpenters. Since the Union could get a part of these stats, it would benefit them. Roth also checked the updated description of the epic quest to unify the lizards.

Unify the Lizards (Epic)

Description: The lizards have been involved in a violent conflict and seek the help of a mediator. Even though the rock lizards have asked you to make all the other races surrender to them, you’ve outsmarted both the leader of the rock lizards and of the cloud lizards and got them to sign a treaty. 

Try to include all other lizard races into the peace treaty to complete the quest. 

Even though pulling these underhanded moves would cost him some reputation with the lizards, he could quickly regain it. His little maneuvers would be worth it if he could get all the lizards to find peace.

While he waited for his [Ant Form] to come off cooldown, he weighed his options. If he hung around this dungeon, maybe, with time, one of the cloud lizards would trigger the spontaneous gift feature and give him more precious items that he could sell. He could even get some [Cloud Candy] if he were lucky enough. 

On the other hand, Lin had caused too much of a commotion outside. It might be best to wait for his racial skills to come off cooldown while closer to the teleportation pad. Roth changed from his outfit into a simpler one he’d brought as a disguise and quietly left the dungeon. He called a helicab and started heading toward the city.

As the flying wooden carpet left the floating crag, Roth tried to decide how to pass the time before he could move over to the next town. He checked his inventory and frowned. Sadly, he hadn't brought any crafting supplies with him. He had an empty inventory, purposely kept that way so that he could transfer more merchandise between cities.  Fortunately, he had other ways to use his time. The Union Library kept growing, and he had only scratched the surface of the sections for merchants and tailors. 

He could also make a few calls. He hadn’t called his mom for a long time. Yes. He’d do that. Roth sat down and enjoyed the scenic ride back to Nimbus City.

*

Loki opened his latest message. Sadly, it wasn’t news that someone had found Zin but his spy in the Union who had sent him another report. Since Loki had scolded his secretaries, as soon as any piece of intel arrived, they immediately forwarded it to him. They still knew who was in charge here and what would happen to them if they got on his wrong side.

“Another faction and bonus for VIPs? Cloud Lizards?” Loki shrieked. That was on the other side of the world map, in the Sky Islands hovering over the Fire Pits. The pale man massaged his temples, trying to make sense of the erratic movement. One moment, the Slayer had been in the Rock Canyon, and suddenly, he popped up on the other side of Astro Terra's world map. Just what was going on?

It would take a high-grade flying mount a full day to travel from one place to the other, and the teleportation fee for such a vast distance would be at least 20,000 gold. No, there was no way. Loki had to revisit his conclusions. This VIP seat thing couldn’t be something unique to a player but a secret skill or profession that the Slayer and his associates had discovered. 

He remembered seeing that when he had inspected the Slayer, he was a pacifist, a broker, and an ecotailor. He needed to find out what each of these did. He knew brokers were specialized merchants but possessed only that much information. He received another report just as he tried to make sense of the information.

It was the link to a video. In it, a player with Roth’s height and in the outfit he’d last seen him in appeared. He instantly recognized the hateful pest, one of the prime suspects for the unsolved case of his stolen statboosters—that ugly, monstrous kitten. The video showed both dashing around, the kitten killing innocent players and the Slayer making a run for it after they had caused a bloodbath.

Loki bit his lip. It was the Slayer. The monster had corrupted such a little creature to become a brute like him! This footage was from the entrance to the Cloud Lizard Lair in Nimbus City. Pegasus kept a branch and a powerful presence in Cloudia, which wasn’t far from that location. 

“Found you, Slayer!” 

He deployed the local troop of assassins. The video had been uploaded an hour ago. Hopefully, they weren’t too late.

Ch. 257 - Scolding Time

INDEX

Ch. 259 - Cute