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Chapter 77 Trade and Commerce
Chapter 77 Trade and Commerce
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Tulland Lowstreet Class Summary: Plant-based Combat Capabilities Tulland fights with a combination of poor melee skill and non-standard usage of plants. For the most part, his combat-participatory plants are members of a family descended from a single species of briar. Currently, this includes the painful but outdated Lunger Briar, the constricting Giant's Hair, and the effective and brutal Clubber Vine. Tulland is also able to create a mildly hallucinogenic powder cloud by detonating an Achewood flower, which also has a irritating effect on the eyes and mucus membranes of weaker creatures. This effect can be resisted in the same way more conventional poisons can be defended against, and with the same skills. Any of these plants can be enhanced individually or in reasonably sized groups by use of Tulland's Primal Growth ability. Up to two varieties of plants can be carried for the purpose of battle in a specialized dimensional storage, and those carried in this way are much more receptive to enhancement. Melee Combat Abilities Tulland Lowstreet's combat abilities are tied to his Farmer's Tool, a once mundane multi-purpose non-combat implement that has since been integrated into his class. The Farmer's Tool has four forms (Hoe, Shovel, Scythe, and Pitchfork), each of which differs only in shape and carries the same basic durability. Where a more typical class would tie the ability to use a weapon to a combat skill that would then be further enhanced by the weapon, Tulland's combat ability differs by being almost entirely anchored to the current quality of his Farmer's Tool, which provides class-based enhancements to his melee skill itself. The tool is enhanced by adding materials Tulland grows on his farm. In addition to altering the actual physical durability, weight, and sharpness of the tool, The Infinite determines the quality of the ingredients used in terms of species of plant, suitability for the current use, and the quality of the individual plant (as judged by level and general health) at the time of induction into the tool when determining the buff to Tulland's combat skill it provides. Farm Score and Power Enhancements Tulland Lowstreet is able to stake out a defined area on any given floor as his "farm". Every plant in it synergistically provides strength to every other plant under Tulland's control on the floor, broadly defined as plants Tulland has had significant influence over. This strength can be measured by his farm score. Each plant has a variable effect on the farm score, influenced by several factors ill-understood by Tulland himself. The quality of the plants has an effect, although "quality" has not yet been adequately defined. Plants that Tulland has created himself contribute even more. Despite this, the farm rewards plant diversity in such a way that even the lowest quality plants can contribute so much by simple inclusion into the farm as to justify one or two instances of even the humblest grass or shrub. Plants also contribute more points the more mature and healthy Tulland is able to coax them to be. As such, the addition of newer, more valuable plants to his farm has a radiating effect that slightly raises the value of every other plant simply by existing near them. When Tulland enters a new floor, he is allowed a 48-hour grace period in which he draws power from the previous floor's farm. In most cases, that farm is the one he has grown in the fifth floor safe zone. |
"That is…. A lot. And it's all very unusual. Give me a second." Ley kept reading the summary, which went on for pages and pages more. "The first thing that's standing out to me is that everything seems to funnel down to a single stat, mostly. Do you realize that?"
"I think so, but that's why I'm here." Tulland said. "Explain it again. The worst case is I just understand it a bit better."
"Okay. How do I explain this best?" Ley tapped his head. "Think of it this way. In an ideal world, you'd have enough different god-tier seeds that you could plant exactly one of each of them in your farm. They'd fill your farm to the brim and all contribute the maximum amount they could. And they'd all have a use. One of them would be great for armor, several of them would be great for your active plant combat stuff, and one or two of them would be perfect for your weapon."
"That would be nice." Tulland motioned towards his farm. "Most of what I have growing in there is trash. There are only a few plants that aren't either useless now, or that haven't been useless forever."
"Right. That's what I'm getting at." Ley was a guy who liked explaining things, apparently. He was getting worked up. "That's not something you can influence. You'll use that splicer tool. You keep it full right? Good. And you'll find new seeds here and there, and sometimes you will get lucky. But there's only so lucky you can get. Pouring more time into it won't necessarily help you."
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"Right."
"But since your farm quality makes all your plants stronger, and that makes your combat plants better at the same time it makes your melee skill better, you still need to get your farm quality up to do better. How fast have you been leveling, lately?"
Tulland told the Spymaster..
"That's fast. Not unbelievably fast. But fast." Ley did some quick mental calculations. "Okay. Here's my recommendations. Just accept them. I can't terminate our information share deal until we do."
Tulland immediately got the window.
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Ley Raditz's Understandings and Recommendations Ley Raditz understands Tulland Lowstreet's class as funneling down to just a few specific factors he can influence. In order, Ley Raditz recommends the following steps forward:
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"I think I understand most of this," Tulland said. "If I put more points into force, I can grow better plants, which makes everything better. Right?"
"Right."
"And I should declare my food-making capabilities to the masses to get them to work for me?" Tulland asked.
"Your choice on that, but it's the quickest way to get more seeds." Ley grimaced. "I think people are starting to catch on anyway."
"How?"
"Nobody near you looks starved to death."
"Ah. Fair. What about this primitive forms of plants thing, and the storage container?"
"That's thinking long-term. Right now, from what these notes say, you already abandoned one important plant without thinking about it. The original briar you used."
"Yeah." Tulland winced. "I don't think I ever thought about that."
"I can't say for sure, but… the System on my planet liked history. It liked quests that were connected to an adventurer's early days, that were consistent over long periods of time. The fact that your Clubber Vines are a dead end but other vines aren't means there were a lot of avenues that these vines could go down, and losing that starting point was bad. So get it back."
"How?" Tulland asked.
"Not a question I can answer. Figure it out yourself," Ley said.
"Same question for the storage container. Do people sell those, here?"
"Sell them? No. They could, but I doubt anyone would. Storage is a big thing." Ley started to settle back down to the ground, once again closing his eyes to the sunlight. "But if you want one bad enough, there's a good chance the Dungeon System will accommodate you. You influence your own class. Make your will known, Tulland. Is that all for today?"
"Yes."
"Then let me soak up some sun. The next floor won't be easy for me. This might be the last time."
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Necia eyed the town nervously. Somewhere, whether in the shadows of the safe zone or some distant floor, the rogue was still alive and kicking. Tulland was betting on the idea that he was either safely away challenging a floor or else too afraid of White to try very much. It could have been a gamble he'd lose, but so could anything. This was safe enough.
"You sure you want to do this?" Necia regripped her shield handle as if she expected it to come into use any moment. "It could wait."
"It can't." Tulland said. "We have however many days left now. The Infinte doesn't really pull on me any slower than you anymore. I don't just get stronger from fighting monsters. I have to make use of every little bit of everything I can."
That, Tulland was finding, was the lesson to be had here. For everyone else, the safe zone was a rest. They could have skipped it if they felt like it, and the only downside would have been psychological. For him, it was development time. The floors in The Infinite would only ever matter to him to the extent they let him make his plants stronger, and half of that effect was tied to having time.
"Fine then. Just be careful."
"Promise." Tulland took a deep breath and shouted into the village. "Everyone? I have cheap food. The cheapest you will ever see."
"Lies. Don't waste my time," a very lightly armored man with a long, thin rapier yelled back. "No food is cheap."
Tulland took one of his Wolfwood bags in hand. He had made dozens of them the night before. Hefting one through the air, he watched with pleasure as it crashed straight into the man's head. The man grunted in anger and turned with a drawn sword, ready to kill Tulland before he noticed exactly what the grains spilling from the edge of the bag were.
"Yours. Free. So long as you go tell more people in town." Tulland patted a stack of bags in front of him, all filled to the brim with easy-to-grow grain. "Deal?"
The commerce protections on the safe zone were the strongest ones Tulland had. He simply couldn't be robbed here. If the man wanted the food, he had to play ball. Of course, he could still have decided to try to assassinate Tulland. But thankfully, that thought didn't seem to occur to him. Within a minute, Tulland heard him making a full round of the area, telling everyone about the crazy man with free food.
"All right. Anyone with seeds for any plant I don't have, or any monster meat or parts that seem like they might be fertilizer, that's one bag. Any dimensional storage item that can keep it all fresh is ten bags up front, and a bag any time you are near me, I have excess, and am not dead. That's a good deal. And it's not going away."
"Never?" A man shouted in the back. He looked particularly starved compared to the rest.
"I am a farmer. I will always need seeds. If someone I've never met comes to me with a seed I haven't seen before because you told them, that's another free bag of food for you. Tell people. Now, who has anything to trade?"
Tulland was pretty generous with this first round of food, accepting almost any little scrap of monster anyone had on them while suspecting most of it would be useless. His Farmer's Intuition twigged on a few of those scraps, but the vast majority of them were garbage to it, too. But if nothing else, people had seeds. And the seeds were almost entirely for food plants.
"This is great, but new rule. If the seed you bring me comes from a dangerous plant and I verify it, I'll give you another bag. Got it?"
"You won't use it on us?" the starved man yelled. "We saw that fight the other day. You aren't exactly a kitten."
Tulland nodded, then did one better than mere words.