Chapter 9: Hagrid’s weakness
Translated by : Chua
Edited by: TN and Elkassar
Actually the crux of this mission wasn’t in finding the Jobberknoll, but finding a tree they loved and first scaring away the threatening Bowtruckle. Most of the trees in the forbidden forest were withered and dead, only the protection of a Bowtruckle could give a tree a chance at survival. Therefore, the Jobberknolls loved to reside on a tree that was protected by Bowtruckles. Once he found the tree, then it wasn’t hard to get the birds to the bait.
Sheyan brought back a bag of birds, and Hagrid naturally praised him. Because the mission requirement was only capturing one, yet he actually brought back a nest. Thus his impression soared from 276/1000 to 476/1000. But it was only midday, Sheyan wanted to strike when the iron was still hot and accept more missions. But at this moment, the enchantment bell from Hagrid’s house suddenly notified him of a visitor. Sheyan could only return to camp.
Lunch was sent by a few house-elves from Hogwarts. But hoping for a sumptuous meal that students enjoyed was too far-fetched, it was definitely just a hamburger or something. Probably because of his previous feud with the Banks syndicate where he displayed his capabilities, the Symbiosis sect people treated him kindly. Sheyan then casually asked a memer of the Symbiosis sect on where to find ground beetles. That person merely shook his head, but a voice travelled to Sheyan’s side.
“You’ve encountered a bowtruckle?”
Sheyan turned his head over, he then saw Diaz standing nearby with his shirt hung over his shoulder. His right hand was dragging onto a huge bag that looked gloomy and even had blood dripping from it. Besides, his left hand also had a distinct scar. Sheyan similarly was classified as a neutral contestant, he nodded and replied.
“Yeah. Eh, Hagrid tasked you with such a gruesome job.”
Diaz whispered.
“Take the train to the mountain range about a hundred kilometres from here, purchase the internal organs of 3 brown bears.”
Sheyan excitedly raised his shoulders.
“Wa! That is such a dangerous and disgusting mission. Right, I encountered a bowtruckle. Do you have any good suggestions?”
Diaz still remained his cool appearance, bluntly putting out.
“Regarding questions about bowtruckles, one for 100 utility points. 500 utility points and I will tell you every relevant information, of course I know the prerequisites. This deal can be officiated by the nightmare imprint.”
Sheyan laughed. Diaz’s second offer was a trap, because it was solely based on the conjuncture that Diaz should know a great deal about bowtruckles. Choosing to pay 100 utility points was more worthwhile. But after considering deeply, he still chose to pay 500 utility points. Besides, he had obtained 600 utility points from Hagrid’s mission, it was enough to even out this deal. Diaz also complied with the deal regulation, and coughed out everything he knew.
Actually, bowtruckles liking ground beetles was only a myth. Hagrid possessed giant blood, and he grew up amongst the giants. Thus the information of ‘ground beetles’ he gave to Sheyan was in fact just a figure of speech the giants used. It actually referred to a beetle that resided in the water. This beetle loved to move about in the sludge, and underneath moisty rocks. Sheyan would never be able to find it in the grasslands.
Furthermore, Sheyan obtained very valuable information. There was a detailed report on the relevant milestone ‘Warm Hearted man’. After completing this milestone, he will automatically obtain the title ‘Omnipotent’. That title was rare, and its attribute bonus were extremely outstanding: All user attributes +3!
Of course, a high reward would mean huge risks. To complete the milestone ‘Warm hearted man’, one must first complete the final commissioning of Eeylops Owl Emporium / Gringgots manager / magic goods shop (The one that sells the Nimbus 2000) / Borgin and Burkes magic shop, these 4 magic shops.
The first 3 merchant shops resided in the magic marketplace, Diagon alley. The last shop was in knockturn alley, an assembling corner for dark magicians and wizards.
Noteworthily, before completion of the milestone, there is the word ‘final’ in front of commission. This implied that first one had to earn the trust of the owners of these 4 shops, and then finally obtain the qualifications for the final commissioning. Although the owner from Borgin and Burkes wasn’t very tough, the mission he gave was a chained mission which resulted in more complications and may not be inferior to the other shop missions but in fact be harder.
The final beneficial information is that after completing the ‘doting man’ milestone, one will obtain a title ‘Bowtruckles feedback (fast)’. Anywhere within 30 metres of any existence of trees, under combat state your HP regeneration will have a bonus 25 points per minute. Furthermore there was a tag ‘(fast)’ behind the title, this indicated it belonged to fast equipping ability which meant that even in combat state, this title can anytime be swifty substituted. If Sheyan was caught in a tussle with his opponent, and coincidentally there were trees close by, then by changing to his title and lasting for 4 minutes, Sheyan would have been able to regain an additional 100 HP.
However, after completing the ‘doting man’ milestone, he would be unable to complete the ‘cruel man’ milestone. Only one could be chosen. The ‘cruel man’ milestone did not give any title upon completion, but will instead reward 2 achievement points.
Therefore in the afternoon, Sheyan managed to successfully locate a small stream filled with beetles. He then carried a huge bag of beetles to the edge of the forbidden forest, and started searching for bowtruckles to gain their favour. Up till here, Sheyan was glad he didn’t choose the ‘cruel man’ milestone. Not because the attacking strength of the bowtruckles was too great, but because they simply too hard to locate.
This minute creature would normally only surface when a person approaches the tree, if not it will peacefully rest atop the tree and not make a single movement. Sheyan wouldn’t be able to engage every single tree in the forbidden forest. The only consolation was that the tree protected by bowtruckles would be more luscious, which lessens much of Sheyan’s burdens.
As nightfall approached, Sheyan didn’t dare to risk staying on near the forbidden forest. The vicious creatures that may randomly appear are not something he could handle. An entire afternoon’s worth of work only earned him 23 bowtruckles. And when he returned to the camp, he discovered that every member of the Symbiosis sect was silently gathered around a bonfire. The atmosphere was deathly still. Surprisingly, the normally reclusive Diaz was also at the meeting.
“Seaman.” The head of the Symbiosis sect, Qiao Gun, stood up. His expression sunken as he faced Sheyan saying. “There’re some extremely unfavourable news for you, me and everyone else. This is truly a misfortune.”
Sheyan was slightly taken aback, but immediately calmed himself down. Probing out he asked.
“Is it that Banks Syndicate?”
“Yes.” Qiao Gun lowered his voice. “That giant Hagrid will not be appearing anytime soon for at least 48 hours. If I’m not wrong, the next time he will be back to issue jobs would be the last afternoon of our five days timeframe. This means the one with the best performance now, would have to raise their impression by over 500 points on the last day! That is simply an impossible task.”
“What why?” Hard to believe, the one who spoke up was actually Diaz. “Hagrid doing this, is completely neglecting his duty! Won’t he be punished by Hogwarts?”
Qiao Gun snorted and replied.
“Everyone has a weakness, Hagrid is no exception. That idiot has a passion in rearing various dangerous and rare creatures! Even in the main storyline, for the sake of a dragon egg he accidentally leaked out the secret of the cerberus. His behavior led to the philosopher’s stone being stolen. Banks Syndicate has similarly identified this weakness!”
“Within the Banks Syndicate, there are others who have entered this world before and their identity a mystery. But one thing can be confirmed is that he has already gained the trust of an important storyline character, and thus acquired certain influence. Furthermore this time entering, the banks syndicate had sacrificed a huge price, to bring in a young bug species from the ‘Starship Troopers’ world. This bug in this world, is a completely new creature species.
“When someone from the Banks Syndicate utilizes this young bug species to make a deal with Hagrid, not only can they obtain a generous reward, they also injected anesthesia into the bug which can last for an entire 50 hours. To Hagrid who is infatuated with rearing creatures, he will loss his mind and toss aside all the unimportant task that on hand, concentrating solely on taking care of that small bastard. This is just like when anyone is horny and come across a naked and sexy woman with blossoming chest and chubby buttcheeks, you would certainly toss aside your duty. Gentlemen, Hogwarts is currently managed by Dumbledore, he is a person who can entrust his life with Hagrid. Under such circumstances, no matter what problems arise, that silly Hagrid would only be berated a little that’s all. Yet we would meet a tragic end even before the main show has started! Without our aid, boss is inevitably isolated and without help, our original plan is completely wasted!”