HC: Pacifist | Ch. 269 - Memory Tears (Patreon)

It felt like someone else was talking. When he started telling his story, he aimed to gain reputation points with the crocodiles, which worked fine.

The crocodilians are moved by your sad tale.

+12 reputation with the crocodilians.

Then, when he got to the part of the story when he talked about his father, the previously important task of befriending the crocodiles faded into the background, and he started talking just for the sake of talking.

The crocodilians are moved by your sad tale.

+11 reputation with the crocodilians.

By the time he was about to get to the part of his story where he left prison, he felt like he wasn’t talking anymore and just hearing himself talk. Roth felt as if he were just one more of the crocodilians gathered around him, tearing up as he heard his story. It all felt fuzzy and distant. The fact that the alligator’s tears were black only added to the weirdness of the moment. It was almost as if he was dreaming. 

He realized that he had never told his whole story from start to finish. True, he had shared his fall from being a gaming mercenary to being stuck in the slammer. Still, he had never continued it, moving on to the part where he was forced to become a gamer again and adventure in AstroTerra. 

“When I left prison and found Wilson, I couldn’t believe it. I felt something was off, but the idea that even my old teammates had forgiven me was too enticing. Something in me felt that if even they could forgive me, I could start fresh. I was suspicious when he told me to enter that capsule, but I couldn’t say no to Wilson after I made him lose so much.

“What I never expected was that they would ambush me and beat me up. To this day, when I close my eyes, I see them attacking me. I still feel the cuts, burns, and blows. I’m afraid of leaving the capsule and sleeping. I know what my nightmares will be. I suppose I could make it so that I never sleep again, even if I leave this place alive. I could always return to the capsule when it’s time to go to bed…”

Your story is just too tragic!

+11 reputation with the crocodilians.

“I felt so alone in the game. One of my first friends in AstroTerra was a little mouse called Brownie…”

Roth told how he befriended the ratans, the foxes, and the 14th hunting them. Not even the notifications of the moves of the Leafies were enough to pull him out of his storytelling trance.

*

When the Lord of the Acorn decided to breed 400 new ants, he knew the colony would have to work around the clock. No ant was still. Workers were used as hunters, and soldiers were used as porters. Even the queen was exhausted from laying so many eggs. But exhaustion and tiredness were the badges of honor of an ant. Fatigue didn't matter as long as the hungry larvae could get their share of food. 

The field of cocoons began rustling. They covered every inch of the nursery. One soldier tore through the silk and then another. The workers followed. Hundreds of new minds awakened and connected with the Lord’s, strengthening his web of thoughts and reason. 

The Lord’s established network of neurons fired impulses and information down the grid, teaching, sharing, and imparting experience. At the same time, with the added processing power, the Lord’s thoughts accelerated and expanded. Cumbersome, sluggish thoughts became fluid and easy.

The Lord revisited his every memory, inspecting and scrutinizing his every plan and decision with his elevated intellect. He especially lingered on the scouting expedition he had sent a few days earlier, replaying what had happened with each scout. 

The Lord of the Acorn recalled how the scouts had felt scared. It was challenging for an ant to be far from the colony, apart from the whole. Regardless, they still had marched with unwavering steps toward their last mission.

The first scout that perished simply disconnected her mind from the Lord’s somewhere in the Field of Fortresses. She didn’t even get to see what killed her. The Lord of the Acorn already knew about the praying mantises and the armored beetles. Probably, a juvenile mantis lying in ambush had gotten to the scout. There was good news. This meant there was still a lot of prey to replenish their larders.

He remembered the two other scouts who had made it past the Field of Fortresses and had reached the bark giant. The Lord had the surviving scouts climb the towering tree from two opposite directions. He remembered the scouts' joy and contentment, feeling their old wooden allies and the relief that while they would die away from their colony, at least they could die in the arms of a tree.

The second scout died somewhere in the oak tree's trunk. After it climbed a few meters, a sharp green scythe sprung from within a hole, dealing a lethal wound. The killer’s eyes were large and alien, and its armored green shell shone under the light. Its scythes were even sharper and deadlier than those of juveniles: adult praying mantises.

As expected, since there were juvenile praying mantises, logic would have it that adults were nearby. Juvenile praying mantises remained the most dreadful foes the Lord of the Acorn had ever encountered. For each one they took down, at least twenty ants perished. He couldn’t fathom how many casualties would be needed to take each adult down.

The lord wasn’t scared, though. If anything, he was relieved. Being predator or prey to an ant was all a matter of numbers. Furthermore, the sharp scythes of the adults would make for excellent sources of chitin to make mandiblades. Their military had grown immensely, and their armory needed replenishing. 

As for the third and last scout, it managed to avoid all praying mantises laying in ambush, making it up to the canopy. The top of the tree was a sight to behold. Fortresses hung from the tree branches, filled with nutrients and the promise of life. There were also many fresh leaves: fertilizer for a fungus farm. The ant even sighted an aphid, important cattle that, if nurtured, could be an important source of food for the colony. The tree canopy showed a lot of promise but also hid a great threat. 

It started with a droning buzz as if the whole sky was shaking. Then came the sight that had sent the Lord into a breeding frenzy. They had yellow and black stripes and were heavily armored. They wielded a sharp sword in their abdomen, and they flew fast. Worst of all, they hunted as a pack: yellow jackets.

One of the yellow-winged monsters skewered the ant before she could run away. The ant was then carried into the dungeons of the monster’s lair, a structure made of leathery tubes hanging from a branch inhabited by dozens of other deadly yellow hunters. The wasp dragged the treeant in and left it alive in its nursery to serve as live fodder for its larvae.

The next scene was too horrendous to describe, but the Lord made himself watch through the eyes of the dying ant, taking stock of enemy numbers and the layout of the wasp nest.

After analyzing his memories with an expanded intellect, the Lord’s concerns weren’t alleviated in any way. On the contrary, it only aggravated his fear of having a nest of yellow jackets nearby. These flying hunters also knew the power of numbers, and if they were to find the Acorn Fortress, they could very well terminate the colony.

However, the strategic potential of controlling the tree became all the more important in the Lord’s mind. No matter the cost, they had to make that tree their own. They would siege it and pay the price to gain control of what would be the cradle of their rising empire. 

He directed all ants toward the larders. The exhausted ants were told to feast and rest. They still had vigor; the Lord would prefer it if they didn’t die of overexertion. 

The newcomers were told to fill their bellies and gather their strength. There was much work to be done.

*

“And that’s how I ended up here.”

It had taken a couple of hours, but Roth finally finished telling his story. The moment he did, he could shake his dreamlike state, finally remove the focus from his past, and look at his surroundings.

At his feet were several crocodiles, all crying and shedding tears. Unlike Mario's, they weren’t crystalline and pure but black and smelly. Were the alligators sick or something? Why would they be crying black tears? 

He looked through his notifications and found he had built a relationship with them.

You’ve reached [Revered] status with the crocodilians.

You’ve unlocked a new title: [Friend of the Crocodilians].

Friend of the Crocodilians (Uncommon)

Description: You’ve managed to become friends with the large reptiles that guard the borders of the marshlands.

Effects:

+2 endurance;

It’s easier to learn Crocadoc.

He had managed to gain 300 reputation with the crocodilians. Hopefully, that would be enough to help him find Mario’s mother.

He also examined the Leafies' development. They had gained several levels since he last checked on them.

Leafies (Pet)

Pet rating: A+

Lvl. 16

Queen: Lea

Soldiers: 154

Workers: 314

Affection: 7/100

Weight Lifting: 31 kg

Dexterity: 33

Intelligence: 65

Strength: 50

Skills: [Tiny House]; [Ant Constructs]; [Bite]; [Poisonous Bite]; [Hunt]; [Forage]; [Scavenge].

Professions: [Chitinsmithing].

They had come a long way and surpassed the 500-population mark. He wondered if they could all still fit inside the acorn. Sadly, he’d been away from them for so long, losing affection with them daily. As he looked across the lake toward the Dark Abyss, he wondered whether he should at least visit Sapphira and ensure his colony was OK before seeking out the Crow Emperor. He had no idea of how long that would take.

He decided to make the crossing. If he could find the crow emperor quickly, so be it. He could scratch that quest off his list, too. If not, he would use the [Swamp Orb] to teleport to Rock Lizard Lair and visit Sapphira. He had business to do there, too, anyway. However, he could only go about it after he found Mario’s mother.

“Hello, friends. Thank you for listening to my story. I’m Mario's friend, a cyborg alligator. Can you help me find his mom? He says he remembers seeing his mom in a swamp. Is this the swamp?”

The crocodiles began growling and grunting, communicating with each other.

You start making sense of the foreign sounds around you.

There are some similarities between Lizardspeak and Crocadoc.

Progress in learning Crocadoc: 35%... 37%...

One of the alligators stepped forward. Roth felt strange seeing an alligator walk clumsily on all fours, especially after seeing Mario move agilely around in his lab. She had no distinguishable features that set her apart from the others but was smaller, singling her out as a female. “Are you Mario’s mother?” Roth tried.

“Roar.”

It somehow felt like a yes.

“Growl? Roar, a cyborg?”

Roth got only the last word. Guessing what she was asking, Roth tried answering: “Yes. Mario is a cyborg. He works in the sewers under Hilsford.”

Suddenly, there was tension in the air. Mario’s mom gave an aggressive roar, and all other alligators joined in growling and shouting, causing ripples in the lake's waters and making the mangrove root beach reverberate. Why were they so mad? What had he said wrong?

The alligator opened her mouth wide and lifted her tongue. Roth approached. She had slightly raised her tongue, revealing two glass bottles. Roth picked them up. One was half filled with clean water and half a black, gooey liquid. Tar, if he had to guess. It reminded him of the Striped Lake. 

The other bottle contained only a clean liquid. Roth inspected both items, curious.

Striped Extract (Rare)

Effects: When alligators eat abyssal creatures, they build up toxins. The only way to excrete them is by crying. This extract is a concentrated form of the toxins in the abyssal tar.

Effects:

+10 darkness affinity;

Can only be eaten once.

Memory Tears (Quest-Item)

Description: Every alligator family living in the Striped Lake has shed a clean tear filled with memories. It’s a powerful medicine that can cure any form of amnesia.

After Roth inspected the items, the quest was updated.

Ch. 268 - Striped Lake

INDEX

Ch. 270 - Captured?