HC: Pacifist | Ch. 265 - Jackpot (Patreon)

Thank you all for your opinions on yesterday's poll! I do think it's the best option in the future. Thank you!

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You’ve traded [Friend of Cloud Lizards], [Friend of Tree Lizards], [Friend of Rock Lizards], [Friend of Sand Lizards], [Friend of Sea Lizards], [Friend of Lava Lizards], [Friend of Lightning Lizards] for [Lizard Race Patron].

Lizard Race Patron (Unique)

Description: You've united all of the lizard races in AstroTerra, and they have become one.

Effects:

Whenever a player starts the game as a lizardman you receive one gold.

Conditions to unlock [Lizard Race Patron]:

Unite all lizard factions in AstroTerra. {complete}

System Announcement: The game has received a patch. Players can now choose to start the game as lizardmen.

[Broker Ledger] has been updated.

[Peace Treaty] has been updated.

Roth stood dumbfounded at the series of notifications. Seven common titles had merged into a unique one that changed the game's inner workings! When he first started playing AstroTerra, he was given no option. He had to start as a human. However, that was going to change. Players could start the game directly as lizardmen!

Even though the quest to become a lizardman wasn’t hard, from what he’d read in the forums, it still took at least three days of running around. To be given the choice to skip over that hurdle and start playing the game in a unique, exotic setting was bound to capture the interest of many players. What warrior would be able to resist the temptation?

The title’s effects were very simple but very powerful, too. AstroTerra had millions of players. It is the most played MMORPG right now. Tens of thousands of players still joined every day. If even only a small percentage started the game as lizardmen, he would receive a considerable sum. He was going to become rich!

This begged the question: what other races could players unlock for new players? Roth tried thinking of all the races that players could have in the game. There were zoomorphs, thumbers, dwarves, region-specific races such as skylings and sealings, hivies if that was still a race that anyone had after the event, cyborgs, and that race Xerxes from Pegasus had, the one with the long head. He wondered whether it was possible to complete a quest that allowed new players to unlock similar achievements such as the one he had just gotten. If so, there was a ton of gold to be made here!

He drooled as he imagined himself unlocking all of these races for players to choose from the start of the game while the gold poured into his account. That would probably be impossible for just one player to accomplish, though.

Roth went on to study the changes to his relationship page. 

Positive relationships:

Badgers (2143/8000); Boars (1992/2000); Corvids (1991/2000); Cyborg Union (1351/2000); Dogs (289/300); Dwarf Exiles (287/300); Flock (292/300); Foxes (1975/2000); Golden Mountain Inc. (1632/2000); Greenleaf Inc. (1101/2000); Hilsford Garrison Soldiers (116/300); Lizards (8000/8000); Moles (589/1000); Moon Garrison of Sapphira (103/300); Moonlight Herd (158/300); Oli, the Cat Burglar (128/300); Peace Corps (119/300); Ratans (4275/8000); Silkworms (13/100); Snakes (3251/8000); The Table (61/100); Treeants (1710/2000); White Onyx Inc. (351/1000)

The seven different lizard factions had amalgamated into one: the lizards. The best part of this was that lizardmen were also included in this faction. At least, that’s what the new version of the trade agreement suggested. A never-ending list of different types of items now featured lizardmen’s shed skin and scales, as well as some consumables found in the swamps.

Roth opened the reputation store to confirm this. Sure enough, he found different items related to the lizardmen. Among those was an item that players had previously used to change races.

Lizardman Mutagen (Rare)

Description: Lizardmen scientists have developed this serum to induce changes in human bodies and mutate them into lizardmen.

Effects:

Become a lizardman.

+30 strength;

-10 intelligence.

It was on sale for 1000 reputation coins. He also spotted two other interesting items One was mother scales. Like the treeant’s vault tickets, each could also be obtained from the reputation store for 300 coins. Finally, there was something that made Roth’s mouth drool.

Flag of the Eight Spires (Epic)

Description: The flagpole is made of red maple, and the flag is made of lotus silk. A flag that represents all lizards and lizardmen in AstroTerra. Each symbol represents one of the bone spires of the Great Swamp, home to the lizardmen elders.

Effects:

If hoisted by a guild, it gives all their players [Hulking Titan]].

It was on sale for ten thousand reputation coins. If someone didn’t have a title that made all of their reputation coins interlinked into a common currency, they would have to skip purchasing any other items from the reputation store to get this flag. It was an epic flag—epic! It was much better than any of Roth's two flags right now.

The faction changes also impacted his bonuses from being in a peace treaty with them. It didn’t just grant strength anymore.

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

Mario’s Blessing: +5 strength;

Sewer Snakes’ Blessing: +15 subterfuge;

Sewer Rats Blessing: +15 dexterity;

Lizards’ Blessing: +20 to all stats;

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

Badgers’ Blessing: +8 intelligence;

Boars’ 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;

Lizard’s Blessing: +10 strength;

Snakes Blessing: +2 subterfuge.

After this event, the lizard race's tier jumped tiers. Or, since they had come under the umbrella of the lizardman race, they had been all elevated to match its higher tier. Instead of only granting strength, it granted +20 to all stats! It also cleared some space in his peace treaty to include other factions.

He started receiving messages. Sarg, Drake, BlueFire, Manny, ColdHand, Jaw-Long, MountainTop, and several other guild representatives tried to talk to him. It looked like everyone had been keeping tabs on the different lizard factions being added to the Union’s list, and they immediately deduced that Roth was behind this. 

One of the people trying to contact him was Mel from the Krakens. Seeing Mel’s name among the bunch burst his elation. He asked for permission from the lizardmen elders to step outside for a minute and take her call.

“Hi, Roth!” Mel smiled. She called him from the virtual space where he’d seen her the last time they talked. However, this time, she had let her hair loose instead of holding it in a ponytail. It looked good on her.

“Hey, Mel,” Roth said, trying to mask his annoyance.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing much. Just out doing a quest.”

“Listen, I want to talk to you about something.” 

She had been so nice to him the last time they talked, but here she was again, back to her old ways. The Krakens had probably tasked her with prying the secrets about what he’d done with the lizards. “What is that?” Roth asked, disappointed.

“I talked to ColdHand about how your pod is boobytrapped. Surprise, surprise, other than being a brilliant strategist, he’s an incredible programmer. He’s willing to help the Ogres break you free from the pod. However, I think BlueFire will take it better if the suggestion to let him in on this comes from you. He and ColdHand have a little history.”

Roth blinked a few times. “Is that what you wanted to talk about?”

“Of course! Last time we talked, you told me you were inside a bomb!” She shuddered. “I had trouble thinking about little else. You poor thing.”

Roth hurriedly sorted through the messages he’d received and opened ColdHand’s.

“Hello, Roth. We’re willing to pay you handsomely for information on how you did what you did and what kind of benefit you got from it. Please contact me.”

It didn’t make much sense that the Krakens would contact him through two different agents. Roth decided to test his theory. “I thought you were calling to talk about Lacertia.”

“Uh? What about it?”

“You know. The system notification.”

“What notification?”

“Aren’t you in the game?”

“No. I took the day off. I have a life outside the game, too, you know.”

She seemed to genuinely not know what he had done in the game. In that case, she called him out of concern. Roth’s anger melted away, and his frown turned upside down into a warm smile.

“Never mind. Thank you, Mel. It means a lot. I’ll talk to BlueFire.”

“Of course!”

“Listen, I was just finishing a dialogue with some NPCs. Can I call you in an hour or so? I have something I want your opinion about.”

“Sure!” she answered happily.

“By the way, your hair looks nice that way.”

She pursed her lips and coughed embarrassedly. “Thanks.”

“I’ll call you in a moment, then.”

“Alright!”

Roth got off the call and took a deep breath. He hadn’t expected Mel to be so worried about his condition and to have been thinking of ways of helping him break free. He had jumped to conclusions too quickly. She had changed. He decided he trusted her enough to have her opinion about BlueFire’s job offer.

For now, Roth silenced all the notifications. He walked back into the Assembly Hall and tried to focus solely on the lizardmen around him.

“Thank you for your trust,” Roth declared. “I hope unifying all lizards will usher in a new era for the eight spires.”

“You are a patron to us all,” Obsidia said lovingly.

“Such an irreprehensible hero,” another elder chimed in.

“No wonder all adore him.”

There was a clear distinction in how they treated him compared to before. They had always been friendly and respectful, but from the moment his reputation points were fused into one faction that included them, they saw him as if he were a beloved family member.

“I would like to trade some of my [Mother Scales] if that’s OK.”

“Of course, martyr. Take your pick.”

A window appeared before Roth, outlining the different prices for the items available for sale. He hadn’t seen any of these for sale at the reputation store. The cheapest weapons from the racks were available for five mother scales each.

Sword of the Swamp - 5x[Mother Scales]

Scaled Javelins - 5x[Mother Scales]

The worst of them was still a respectable piece of rare equipment. It only impressed more on Roth the value of mother scales. He also found the different orbs he’d seen earlier at ten mother scales.

[Fire Orb] - 10x[Mother Scales]

[Lighting Orb] - 10x[Mother Scales]

Roth already had a significantly better orb, therefore, he skipped these as well. Things became more interesting as the prices climbed.

[Lizardman Leatherworking Manual] - 20x[Mother Scales]

…

[Nari’s Axe] - 40x[Mother Scales]

[Lacertian Set]- 50x[Mother Scales]

[Affinity Orb] - 50x[Mother Scales]

As a reward for unifying the lizards, he received 60 [Mother Scales], barely enough to buy the [Lacertian Set]. The [Lizardman Leatherworking] manual was reasonably priced at 20 scales, and the [Affinity Orb] was as expensive as Roth had imagined. This item had the potential to unveil the secrets of the game.

“Are these items one of a kind?” Roth asked.

“What do you mean, beloved?”

“If I take the [Affinity Orb], for example, will others be able to get it too?”

“That item in particular is one of a kind, martyr.”

Roth licked his lip. “What about the set?”

“That’s a masterpiece that requires months of work. It’s only made after wars with many lizardmen casualties.”

“I see… And I guess that the leatherworking manual isn’t unique.”

“We always keep one in the library. After all, it’s an important craft of our people. Metal is scarce in the swamps, and we need to protect our warriors as best we can.”

Even though Roth had been initially inclined to buy the set, he decided to give up. He had a gut feeling about the [Affinity Orb], so he went for it and purchased it. Finally, he traded 3000 reputation coins to get the necessary scales to buy the lizardman leatherworking manual. He didn’t have any special tailoring recipes, and this seemed like a good way to set himself apart from the other tailors.

As for his armor, this new, unique title would make him rich. Even if he couldn’t buy something quite like the set, he could probably purchase something similar. Investing 15000 reputation coins in it wasn’t too bad, but there were other things that Roth wanted to buy from the reputation store. He opened the reputation store and purchased the [Flag of the Eight Spires].

Ch. 264 - Nari's Axe

INDEX

Ch. 266 - Hidden Trap