Roth had never missed sleeping so much. Regardless of what Nexus Co preached, he wasn’t refreshed or well-rested. He was completely drained. Judging from the groans around him, he wasn’t the only one. Dwarves around him lay down with their eyes closed, and some even held ice bags over their foreheads. From a fearsome crafting empire, the 82nd floor now looked like a campaign hospital.
The only movement on the floor belonged to the dwarves who’d been on guard duty and were now stockpiling the armor neatly, as well as the leader of this spartan crafting session. “Roth! Buddy!”
Despite Jack’s perky demeanor, he couldn’t hide the sluggish movements or the bags under his eyes. “Jack. That was… crazy.”
“I know. I’ve never done anything like it. Fifty-five hours of straight crafting.”
“Where’s Godsfried?”
“He logged out. Said he would go take a nap.”
“I don’t blame him.”
Beep!
The vacuum maker had finished sealing another one of Roth’s traps. Roth instinctively removed it from the machine and grabbed one of the many shields and plates from the trapped equipment that still needed sealing.
“Woah. All those still need this last step, uh?”
“Yeah. I was able to carve two traps in the time this machine sealed one. I have hundreds of items left to finish.”
“Can’t you just have one of the dwarves do it?”
“I don’t see how, Jack. I’m the only light trapper.”
“It’s OK. Just do it little by little. I’ll take a count of how much we got done. We need to prepare to sell all these babies.”
Roth sighed as Jack walked away. It would take another 30 hours before the vacuum maker could go through all of these. Not even the new light trapping skill he unlocked at level 19 of the profession fixed the problem for him.
Vacuuming Mastery (Rare)
Description: Vacuum makers show a different yield when they go through your capable hands.
Effects: Passive. The time needed to seal a trap is cut by 30%.
Requirements: Light trappers, lvl. 20.
What had he been thinking? He hadn’t really, had he? He’d just been in another crafting trance. This was different, however. It didn’t just make him entirely focus on crafting but pushed him to the very limit of his abilities, forcefully making him a better craftsman. No wonder his mind was this tired.
He had a lot of messages, emails, and notifications to go through, many of which were from Mel. He called his girlfriend before doing anything else.
Mel was in battle armor, her helmet’s beak-shaped visor raised, and her expressions shifted quickly from annoyance to terror and then concern. “Babe, I’ve been trying to… Woah! What happened to you?”
Roth waved weakly. “Hey. Tough day at work.”
“My goodness. I’ve never seen you without your adorable, smug smirk. You look finished! Are you sick?”
“I might as well be.”
“Why weren’t you returning any of my messages?”
“Jack, I mean, Galatheel used a legendary item that squeezes every drop of potential from your brain and made us craft for 55 hours straight. I couldn’t even see your messages, to be honest. All I could see and think about were the items before me.”
“A l-legendary item? F-fifty five hours? The guy’s nuts! Did you succeed, at least?”
“I don’t know. We’re still counting how many sets we’ve made,” Roth said as he switched a newly sealed shield with a new one in the vacuum maker. “I’ll let you know as soon as I can. I just wanted to call you before I did anything else.”
Mel’s eyes blinked a few times. “You called me first?”
“Yes.”
“Before your family and friends?”
“Of course, Mel. You’re my girlfriend. You get priority,” he said, forcing a smile.
She smiled happily but didn’t say anything. “Alright. ColdHand is calling me. You owe me another date!”
Roth almost choked. “O-of course!”
“Bye-bye! Say hi to Lin for me.”
Roth’s eyes widened. “Shoot. Lin. Bye, Mel.”
He’d forgotten about his kitty. Roth ran toward the room where he’d left his cat for the last three days. The poor thing was probably starving… No, that wasn’t why Roth was running. His cat was probably furious that he hadn’t paid him attention over the past few days.
Roth kicked the door open. Lin was at the same spot where he'd left him, staring at him coldly. His tail jerked, conveying annoyance, and he dug his head back into the cushion, ignoring Roth.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"Hey Lin. How are you, buddy?"
Lin didn’t react.
"Are you hungry? Would you like one of those Nether Cookies?" Roth tried, taking out a particular kind of treat that cost 100 gold, which Lin enjoyed.
The cat kept ignoring him.
"Come on, Lin, I’m sorry. I know I haven’t given you any attention over the past few days, but I was right beyond that door, working hard for us. You understand that, right?”
Seeing no reaction from Lin whatsoever, Roth sighed. It looked like, just as he had ignored Lin for over two days, his cat had decided to ignore him back. "That's cold, Lin. Come on."
Seeing Lin not budging, Roth put the treat beside him and filtered all notifications from the past 50 hours so that only Lin-related messages appeared.
It's been a while since you've talked to Lin.
-1 affection with Lin.
Is there anything so important that you would ignore your adorable kitten for so long?
-1 affection with Lin.
It was as he feared. Despite his bonuses and titles, Lin’s affection still dropped. As he scrolled through the notifications, he noticed Lin hadn't always been lying here.
[Naughty Antics] triggered!
Lin has stolen the underwear of the captain of the moon garrison.
+1 subterfuge;
-100 reputation with the Moon Garrison soldiers.
[Naughty Antics] triggered!
Lin ate every fish in Chef Marima’s freezer.
+2 subterfuge.
-200 reputation with Taste of the Sea restaurant.
Despite looking like an angelic, victimized, ignored kitten, the rascal had been up to all sorts of shenanigans while Roth was doing honest work. Smiling and shaking his head, Roth patted Lin.
Roth turned to his other pets. Lua wasn’t as needy as Lin. Even so, he had lost one point of affection with her for not riding her for over two days. He ignored the notification. What he was more curious about were the Leafies. The last time he'd seen them, he had left them with clear directives, and 50 hours should have been more than enough for them to make some progress.
As he activated the filters, a never-ending cascade of notifications appeared. Roth read through some of them and almost choked.
"No, this can't be right."
He hurriedly opened the Leafies' status window and almost fainted.
Leafies (Pet)
Pet rating: A+
Lvl. 58
Queen: Lea
Soldiers: 4632
Workers: 56131
Affection: 86/100
Weight Lifting: 141 kg
Dexterity: 154
Intelligence: 201
Strength: 183
Subterfuge: 80
Skills: [Ant Constructs V], [Bioenergy Power Grid V], [Crunch], [Fire Ant Swarm], [Forage], [Hunt], [Poisonous Bite], [Scavenge], [Swarm], [Synergistic Craftsmanship], [Tiny House], [Tree Barrage], [Tribute]
Professions: [Aphid Husbandry IV], [Bioengineering VI], [Chitinsmithing VI], [Fungi Farming III], [Leaf Weaving IV]
The last time Roth had seen this window, the Leafies were level 39. How had the Leafies climbed 19 levels in two days? Their level was now even higher than his! Was it because they had heeded his suggestion and eaten all those stat boosters instead of keeping them in the pantry?
The most significant progress was in their professions. They had jumped from level 1 or 2 to levels 3 and 6. They had also learned all sorts of skills. One in particular caught Roth’s eye.
Symbiotic Craftsmanship (Pet Skill)
Description: When ants work together, there is little that they can’t do. When a human and an ant colony work together, there’s nothing they can’t do.
Effects:
Assign quests to the Leafies that are compatible with their professions;
Pay affection points depending on the rarity of the quest issued.
Requirements: Treeant Colony, lvl. 50.
“Woah! This is amazing!” Roth could think of many things he would like the Leafies to help him with. Leaf weaving was probably compatible with ecotailoring. He would become unstoppable if he could get the Leafies to help him tailor.
Roth glanced over at Lin and saw that the cookie had disappeared. "Lin, something is going on with the Leafies. Do you want to come with me?"
The gray kitten got out of bed, stretched his back, and curled every muscle in his tail, yawning. Roth was thrilled to see his pet's reaction. The treat had worked. Lin had forgiven him. The kitten approached him slowly and suddenly jumped.
How Dare You Leave Me Alone For 2 Days Berserker Slash!
-613!
A flash of pain ran across Roth's face. "OUCH! That hurt, Lin!” Roth complained, feeling the blood running down his face. “What was that for?”
"Go to your beloved Leafies. Nyah," Lin said. He turned his back towards Roth and buried his head in his soft bed. It would take some time before Lin would warm up to him again.
The pain wasn’t enough to quell Roth’s excitement, though.
Miniaturize!
Roth jumped up the tunnel and raced toward his pet colony. After taking a few steps, he felt a breeze.
"Benefactor," he heard in a fatherly, strong voice.
"Is that you, Lord of the Oak?" Roth asked. “But you’re so far away! How can you talk to me from over there?”
"My mind has grown larger."
Roth kept walking up the tunnel as he conversed with the hive mind of his pet. "But, you’ve grown too fast. How is that possible?"
The Lord sent flashes of what had transpired. The Leafies’ work had been progressing smoothly, at an average speed, when there was a vibration from below followed by an increase in the strength of Roth’s mental waves. Roth saw a mental projection of his mind through the eyes of the Leafies. When Roth used his mind to see the Leafies, he saw each of their minds as if they were small stars, but to the Leafies, his mind looked like a supernova. His mind pulsed with blinding energy, way more than it was customary.
Roth put his hands over his head. "Oh, my goodness. The allhorn. It affected you, too."
The allhorn squeezed the whole potential of a craftsman and only affected allies. Since his mind was connected to the Leafies, the system also applied the buff to his pets. It wasn't just him that had been in the crafting zone for forty-eight hours. His treeants had been, too. Fifty thousand minds, all working at maximum capacity.
What followed in the Lord’s telepathic tale of events was unprecedented inspiration. The leaf weavers thought of new ways to spin, learning how to make capes and robes of pure silk. They had fashioned a majestic garment for the queen, which granted bonuses to egg-laying speed and sped the time it took for the brood to grow. Almost every worker was also now clad in capes of resin-baked leaves.
New ways of working with chitin had brought about a revolution in armorsmithing. The understanding of how to molt and use old carapaces to make new armor had filled the armory with enough raw material to outfit every single Leafie with more than enough tools and equipment.
The aphid herds had grown immensely, and the Leafies were splitting the herd and starting honeydew production among the trees scattered throughout the park outside the greenhouses. A big chamber under the park, near the hole Roth had dug in the glass, was already being prepared as a giant fungi farm, too.
The military and engineering divisions had grown, too. New tactics and more deadly ways of engaging the enemy had turned the Leafies’ army into a havoc-wreaking machine.
"What about the project?" Roth asked expectantly.
"The Great Green is under our control. Every grass, bush, flower, and tree blade is now part of the grid."
"Very well. What kind of skills do you have access to already?"
"See for yourself."
A special menu unfolded before Roth’s eyes.