บท 33: Cat Dad’s Slave is a Tank!
Chapter 33 – Cat Dad's Slave is a Tank!
Siren City
The capital city was the commercial hub of the Yuan Empire. It was located at a strategic point, a kilometer away from the commercial ports. Cargo ships from the western continent picked this place as a logistic center for distribution and trading goods with the Yuan Empire while the local firms and merchant guild gathered here to export their specialties to the other continents.
Because of the maritime transport and the necessities of vessel maintenance, shipbuilders were in high demand. Shipyards popped up like spreading mushrooms while the military port of the Yuan Empire flourished because of the influx of shipbuilders.
At the primary shipyard of Merchant Guild, the chief shipbuilding engineer was an elderly dwarf with ginger hair and a full beard. He sat in his office, crafting a miniature caravel with toothpicks to soothe his boredom.
Chip Hai was the unique name of this NPC, who was installed with the unique A.I. of Pangu. He was a fanatic warship-builder, who only cared about constructing large battleships. He used to construct several combat vessels for the Yuan Empire, but the commissions were scarce these days because of the rivaling shipyards of players.
Again, Chip Hai was bored. He didn't feel like working as all the commissions were mundane.
RRRRRRGGGG
A high-pitched sound of a telegram machine jolted Chip Hai off his seat. He fell off his chair and stumbled to get up.
The telegram machine was a round orb with a mouth. It spat out a piece of paper as if it was a modern fax machine.
Chip Hai picked the piece of A6 paper and skimmed through it. Then, his pupils expanded and brightened.
…
Urgent Commission from the Seaside Town
Build a Kraken Hunter within 6 months! The commissioner promised to pay 100 billion gold coins if you finish the ship under this timespan! If failed, we get only 50 billion.
A down payment of 20 billion GC has been made and transferred to your account.
The commissioner seems to know his craft. Be sure not to degrade the ship's quality, or you will ruin our reputation!
…
Chip Hai's hands trembled but not because of anger. The excitement of a new challenge and the joy of getting another big job gave him goosebumps and the drive to work.
"FINALLY! YA BOYZ HAVE A WORTHY CHALLENGE!"
Chip Hai rushed out to the shipyard workshop and yelled at the shipbuilders and engineers, who had been working on a small transport vessel.
"Stop what you're doing! Cancel every freaking order you have on your hands! We have a HUGE ONE!"
The dwarf, human, and giant shipbuilders dropped their hammers and tools on their hands. They stared at Chip Hai in astonishment.
"We're making a Galleon Class Kraken Hunter within 6 months! The pay is 100 billion gold coins if successful! If we fail, we get only half! Now, move out!"
…
A huge commission always impacted the NPCs in the game, especially important NPCs with Karmic Soul A.I.
An hour after Chip Hai had received the commission, the news reached the emperor's ears.
Building a commercial vessel was one thing. However, building a warship on the empire's soil without permission raised the eyebrows of the emperor and the nobles of the country.
Noble NPCs began issuing quests to investigate Xiaomao's background and his purposes for building the ship. However, they didn't stop the Merchant Guild's shipyard from doing their business as getting in their ways might offend all merchants in the country.
That day, the imperial court issued a telegram to Seaside Town's Adventurer Guild, Merchant Guild, Labor Guild, and all players' guilds in the vicinity.
"The emperor has summoned Xiaomao to Siren City! Find him!"
…
Gnoll Dungeon
Xiaomao and Slave One caught their breath. The fight just now was dangerous because of their number and the roaming floor boss.
However, that fight was intentional. Xiaomao checked the game messages to see how many gnolls they had killed during the chaos.
Out of 50 mobs, 17 were dead.
The fight lasted only a minute, but they killed 17 of them at once!
But that wasn't enough. They needed to go back in there and kill everything. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to get to the third level, where the hidden dungeon entrance was hidden.
For now, they needed to solve the inventory slot issue first.
"Toss the equipment items and the unstackable items to that pile, munya. We'll be going back again!"
Xiaomao looked at the pile of discarded equipment that they couldn't keep. The mountain of boots and Hyen Set was still there.
The duo put the newly acquired loot there, except for cards and random japtem. Aside from cards, the gnolls on the second level dropped other parts of the Hyen Set. They got extra helmets, clubs, and gloves for the trouble.
Then, Xiaomao inspected their statuses to adjust their strategies.
Meanwhile, Slave One decided to push his stats to another level. He agreed to sacrifice 200 max MP to the fairy.
Ding
<You have permitted Magdalene to use your mana.>
<Your max MP has decreased by 200.>
<Magdalene has grown stronger.>
<Your Water and Wood spiritual roots have been permanently increased by 50.>
<Your INT and WIS have been permanently increased by 50.>
<You have learned a new spell, Cleansing Water!>
<Magdalene wants you to increase your level to 40, and she will give you something nice.>
…
Cleansing Water (Mastery 0%)
This water element spell was basic healing magic. You can cast it on your ally to heal a small amount of HP.
Effect: Heal 56 HP
MP Usage: 20
…
Name: Slave One
Race: Human (Evolvable)
Job: Fisherman (Evolvable), Novice Water Mage (Evolvable)
Unique Skill: Fishing Spot Finder (15%)
Racial Skill: [???]
Normal Skills: Water Bullet (5%), Cleansing Water (0%)
Current Order: Waiting for Instructions.
LEVEL: 35 / 50
EXP: 102,485 / 280,607
Status Attributes
STR: 18
DEX: 18
AGI: 18
VIT: 18
INT: 116
WIS: 118
Allocable Status Points: 70
Spiritual Roots
Fire: 17
Water: 183
Wind: 17
Metal: 17
Wood: 77
Lightning: 17
Darkness: 17
Light: 17
Allocable Status Points: 70
Combat Status
ATK: 9 + 50
DEF: 9 + 150
M.ATK: 76
M.DEF: 59
HP: 380 / 380 (+200)
MP: 530 / 830 (-350)
…
Although the fairy took some of Slave One's max MP away, he didn't lose out much as the 50 extra WIS attribute granted him 500 max MP in return. Therefore, he gained an additional 150 max MP and magic defense stats as profits.
Now that his magic attack was stronger, Slave One was confident that he would be more useful in the next fight.
Xiaomao also noticed the proud look of Slave One. He checked the latter's status to see the progress of his improvement.
Upon noticing that the fairy had boosted his stats again, Xiaomao grinned.
"Now, you're making me envious. Too bad that I don't have enough time to befriend fairies. Otherwise, I would have seduced a few fairies for myself."
A spiritual being, such as a fairy, was helpful for players when they became soul-bound familiar. However, not all of them were sincere and friendly.
At a glance, they were useful. They always asked for max MP from the players whom they had made a contract with in exchange for extra status attributes, and the contracted players wouldn't lose out anything.
But after level to 50 was the true test. At that point, they began asking for something absurd, such as raising one's attribute to over 1,000, increasing a certain spiritual root to a certain amount, giving one million gold coins every day, or requesting 90% of the player's max MP and HP for its growth. If players refused or failed to fulfill their requests, they would break off the contract and took back the bonus status attributes along with the MAX MP of the player, which had been sacrificed to the fairy in early levels!
When that happened, the NFT character would become busted. Players would be forced to delete it and recreate a new one as the character would become unplayable.
Preventing such a scenario, Xiaomao had forced Slave One to make friends with Cernun and the fairies on the mysterious island and never asked for anything in return. This way, Slave One got a trustworthy fairy that would never betray him.
As Magdalene had a 5-star impression of Slave One, she would never harm him. On the contrary, after level 50, the supporting character could undergo a transformation, which would benefit both him and the fairy.
'The fairy increases Wood and Water Spiritual Roots for him, so she can definitely teach him THAT Wood Element spells.'
Xiaomao put 70 points to Slave One's Wood Spiritual Root and allocated 70 points to INT. The Spiritual Root raised from 77 to 147 while the INT changed from 116 to 186.
Slave One's M.ATK instantly jumped from 76 to 125!
Two INT increased the M.ATK by one. Spiritual Roots also gave bonuses to the M.ATK after they became higher than 100. By having two working spiritual roots, the bonus multiplied.
Now, Slave One became a unique fisherman mage, which sounded weird.
As Xiaomao admired his supporter's growth, he noticed that a new skill was added to Slave One's menu.
It was a basic earth element spell, Tree Skin.
…
Tree Skin (Mastery 0%)
This spell creates hardened tree barks to cover your skin and increase your physical defense. The power of this spell depends on the Wood Spiritual Root's attribute and mastery level.
Effect: Increase the caster's defense by 33.3 for one minute.
MP Usage: 100
…
'Aha! Here it comes! The OP buff of the century where 200 years of combined Dev's working experience doesn't mean crap!'
The spell seemed weak and worthless at a glance. The increase of DEF wasn't worth the 100 mana cost, and it only lasted a minute per use.
However, Xiaomao had seen its potential in his previous life. This spell was once known as the earliest broken spell among all buffs as the spell effect scaled with the caster's Wood Attribute and mastery level.
At the master level at 0 to 9.99%, the effect lasted a minute, and the calculation for the total defense bonus was (Wood Spiritual Root Value x 10%) + (INT x 10%).
But at a higher level, the calculation changed. At the max mastery, the calculation would become (Wood Spiritual Root Value x 200%) + (INT x 200%), and the spell would last 10 minutes!
In short, if Slave One trained the skill mastery to 100%, his current 186 INT and 147 Wood Spiritual Root would be calculated differently. The spell would increase his DEF by 666 instead of 33.3!
It was OP in the early game!
Unfortunately, this spell only affected the caster. Slave One couldn't use it on Xiaomao.
"You're a tank now, munya!"
Slave One's dull eyes gazed at his master. He couldn't speak, but he retorted in his mind.
He was a fisherman. What is his master trying to make him do?!
"Now, let's go back in there, munya! I need to reach level 20 before morning, munya!"
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