HC: Handyman | Ch. 10 - Tinderbox (Patreon)

The nicest adjective Jack could think of for the inside of the beginner shop was ‘clean.’ The shop was a seemingly empty home. There wasn’t even a counter, but only a table with some different wares on it. Why it was so packed with players baffled Jack. The rusty wares on display were hardly worth such commotion.

When Jack approached the plain-looking table to try to understand why it was so crowded here, a window automatically opened.

Marketplace

• Buy

• Sell

Jack opened the buy option, and a never-ending assortment of items appeared. There was a shiny, flaming spear for sale at 100 gold and an intricately carved bow for sale at 60. As he scrolled down and saw some of the price tags on the other items, Jack gulped hard. He only had 100 coppers to his name. Why could he already see these high-level items on display? Were beginners supposed to have access to these?

Above the different listings were a series of filters and a search bar. Jack wrote ‘tinderbox,’ and several results appeared, each priced at a few silver or gold. Seeing how expensive these were, he fiddled with the controls and sorted the results by price.

The cheapest one available cost 83 coppers.

Rudimentary Tinderbox (Common)

Crafting grade: D

Item description: A very simple box containing a piece of pyrite and a piece of flint. It can be used to start fires.

Item effects:

Can start low-temperature fires using common materials. Requires [Kindle].

Durability: 8

As Jack debated whether to buy this one or look for more options, he saw the listing disappear, giving place to a different listing for the same item at a slightly higher price range. This one cost 92 coppers.

Rudimentary Tinderbox (Common)

Crafting grade: C

Item description: A very simple box containing a piece of pyrite and a piece of flint. It can be used to start fires.

Item effects: Can start low-temperature fires using common materials. Requires [Kindle].

Durability: 8+2

Jack tried to understand what he was seeing. He had read online that this game had a player-based economy and that players could craft everything. If his guess was correct, all marketplaces were linked into one massive global store. That’s why he was presented with impossibly expensive weapons when he first opened the trading window.

The price difference between the tinderboxes was that the first tinderbox had a D crafting grade, lowering the listing’s price. The second cheapest had higher durability, perhaps because whoever had crafted it had gotten a better rating.

Jack waited a few moments, and a new listing hit the market. Someone had placed ten tinderboxes with a D crafting grade. Each of them was priced at 83 coppers. Why was it worth the same price as before? Did the system make the final pricing decision?

Out of curiosity, Jack checked how much the items he was crafting were worth. He wrote ‘Gardening Pot’ on the search bar.

Earthenware Gardening Pot (Common)

Crafting Grade: E

Durability: 2

A simple pot that can hold some dirt and a plant.

Effects:

You can keep level 1 plants in it.

Grade E penalty:

Plants grow 5% slower.

Cost: 8 coppers.

Earthenware gardening pots with an E rating were on sale for eight coppers, causing Jack to twist his mouth. That wasn’t a lot of money.

He scrolled down and saw that as the crafting grade improved, the prices also rose. For example, a [Gardening Pot] with an A rating, similar to the one he had fired for Jenny earlier, was sold for much more money.

Earthenware Gardening Pot (Common)

Crafting Grade: A

Durability: 10

A simple pot that can hold some dirt and a plant.

Effects:

You can keep level 1 plants in it.

Grade A bonus:

Plants grow 20% faster.

Cost: 60 coppers

The difference was massive. Out of curiosity, Jack also checked the prices of crafting materials. Both materials he had collected were considered practically worthless. [Earthenware Clay] and [Grass] sold for two coppers a stack, and [Dry Grass] wasn’t much better at three coppers a stack.

As an experiment, Jack wrote only ‘pottery’ in the search bar to see how expensive ceramics could get. Thousands of listings appeared. He sorted it out by price from most expensive to cheapest. The most costly ceramic for sale wasn’t a pot.

Clay Warrior (Rare)

Item description: An astounding sculpture that will inspire soldiers and strengthen them.

Effects:

Grants bonuses if placed inside your house.

+100hp;

+5 constitution;

+1 strength;

Grade B bonus: +1 strength.

Cost: 100 gold

Was there such an item too? He was led to believe he could only make pots, but that wasn’t the full story. 100 gold was a lot of money! He opened the auction website and found that some of these sculptures were on sale for prices ranging from 50 to 60 credits. If he could sell 10 of these, he would have his rent covered!

Happy that there was some future for his minor, Jack hurriedly bought the Tinderbox. He had to start firing his dried pots and come here to sell them. After some thought, he tried putting one stack of clay for sale.

10x[Earthenware Clay] will be sold for two copper. Are you sure you want to put this for sale?

As he had suspected, he had no control over the price. The system set that up. He wondered if there was any way around that. Could he trade directly with players, for example? If one could auction it for real-life money, there was probably such flexibility, too, right?

He put nine more stacks of clay for sale. If anyone bought all this clay, he would make 20 coppers. He didn’t need to be burdened by a full inventory. At least this way, he could recoup some of his investment. Nothing happened after he put the clay up for sale, and Jack just shrugged and left. He probably had to wait for someone to buy his clay. As he was almost on the hill where he was crafting, floating text appeared, notifying him of a successful transaction.

You sold 100x[Earthenware Clay] for 20 coppers.

With a deeper knowledge of the game’s inner workings, Jack returned to where he had been earlier, his ‘crafting station.’ The grass he had yanked to form a clearing had grown back. Had this been the real world, there was no way that grass would regrow so quickly, but he recognized the spot because of all the clay tossed around. No one had picked it up. Now knowing that it was worth some money, Jack scooped it all up.

He yanked grass again, threw it to the side to dry, and grabbed all the dry grass in his inventory, recreating the pile he had formed earlier. He then grabbed his new acquisition.

“Yikes,” he exclaimed as he studied his tinderbox. Compared to it, Saul’s junk was luxurious! The box was rough and brittle; a few pieces of wood barely held together. Even with it closed, the cracks were wide enough for Jack to see its contents. There was the same black stone Saul called flint and another rock. It was shiny and sparkled with a golden sheen. It looked like this rock was a replacement for firesteel.

He took the objects out, and recalling Saul’s earlier lesson squatted over the pile of dry grass and tried hitting both rocks at an angle. The shape of the rocks wasn’t as convenient as Saul’s tinderbox’s had been, and what ended up happening was that the flint hit his thumb instead of hitting the pyrite. It took some twisting and turning until he could find a way to hold the rocks that actually allowed him to hit them together. Nothing happened on the first couple of hits. Only on the sixth try did some sparks fly out.

Emboldened by some success, Jack licked his lip and tried again, carefully positioning the objects over the grass pile. Nothing happened. Jack tried a few more times. Was it his impression, or was it harder to get sparks with this tinderbox? Nevertheless, he kept stubbornly trying. On his 26th try, a floating text appeared.

Warning! [Rudimentary Tinderbox]’s durability is running low.

Alarmed, he inspected the object and became pale.

Rudimentary Tinderbox (Common)

Crafting grade: D

Item description: A very simple box containing a piece of pyrite and a piece of flint. It can be used to start fires.

Item effects:

Can start low-temperature fires using common materials. Requires [Kindle].

Durability: 1

“What?! But I just bought this piece of garbage!” Jack shouted, drawing the curious attention of a few players within earshot. Jack passed his hand through his hair. When he had purchased this tinderbox, it had come with eight durability! It had already gone down to one? “No! No! No! I bought this for 80 coppers! What a rip-off!” he protested. The worst thing was that he hadn’t even gotten a fire going yet.

The rocks and the box were all flashing red, and Jack’s best guess was that the tinderbox would break if he kept pushing. Biting his lip, he pressed forward and hit the pyrite against the flint again. He got some sparks but failed to start the fire.

Jack was sweating profusely now, hands shaking. At any moment, his tinderbox would break. The pressure was overwhelming. At any point, his 83 copper would all be shot into oblivion. Was this what surgeons felt when transplanting a heart?

He hit it three more times and finally lucked out. The sparks ignited the grass, and he finally managed to get the fire going. The tinderbox hadn’t broken, but maybe it would in one or two more hits.

Congratulations! You’ve crafted [Low-Temperature Fire].

+10xp in [Bushcraft]

Seeing how he had finally started a fire, Jack felt his heart split into two. Part of him urged him to rush and fire the pots, while the other wanted to curse at whoever had made this lousy, stinky tinderbox.

He got all his bone-dry pots out of the inventory and started placing them on the fire.

-3hp

You’re burning.

-2hp every second.

-2hp

+1hp

-2hp

+1hp

“Ouch!” It looked like the mittens Jenny had lent him earlier weren’t just for show. The fire damaged him, and he was even given a debuff. Luckily for him, being near the fire granted some basic HP regeneration, which offset some of the damage.

+1hp

-3hp

+1hp

“Ouch!”

-3hp

+1hp

“Double ouch!”

When he placed the last of the ten pots, the progress bar on the first one finished filling. Jack dove his hands into the fire, getting hurt again.

You’ve single-fired [Earthenware Gardening Pot].

+5xp in [Pottery]

-3hp

Congratulations! You’ve crafted [Earthenware Gardening Pot].

+10xp in [Pottery]

He allowed himself a quick glance at his hp bar and realized in horror that it was only half-full.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! Am I going to die? From pottery, of all things? No!”

Even though he was panicking, the progress bar on the second pot had finished filling, and he hurriedly removed it from the fire, too.

You’ve single-fired [Earthenware Gardening Pot].

+5xp in [Pottery]

-3hp

+1hp

-2hp

+1hp

Congratulations! You’ve crafted [Earthenware Gardening Pot].

+10xp in [Pottery]

“Inventory!” Jack called out. As he picked up the third pot, he hurriedly grabbed one of the ointments, which was basically a leaf wrapped in a cloth and smeared it on his burns. Even though the motion only took a few seconds, it prevented him from grabbing the pot as it finished firing. It didn’t crack or break, however. It just started to flash red, and Jack safely removed it.

You’ve single-fired [Earthenware Gardening Pot].

+5xp in [Pottery]

Congratulations! You’ve crafted [Earthenware Gardening Pot].

+20xp in [Pottery]

You’ve used [Aloe Ointment].

+5hp every 10 seconds.

It looked like the system allowed a slight delay between the pot firing and him taking it out of the fire. [Aloe Ointment]’s effect had also kicked in, and he was starting to recover a little health. Hopefully, he would survive this battle against these cursed pots. The last thing he needed was to die from making ceramics. Just how lame would that be? ‘Here lies Jack Sousa, a son and a loser. He died in a tragic incident involving a pot.’ There was something pathetic about the possibility that terrified Jack.

Jack kept removing the pots as soon as they finished firing, and by the time he was done, his hp bar only had a little sliver left. He watched the burn effect fighting against the hp recovery triggered by his nearness to the fire and the [Aloe Ointment]’s effect and sighed in relief as it began recovering. The burning effect finally wore off, and Jack collapsed to the ground. Who knew that making pots could be such a rush?

He checked the results of his labors and his eyes widened at a notification that he had missed while fighting for his life.

Congratulations! You’ve crafted [Earthenware Gardening Pot].

+10xp in [Pottery]

Congratulations! You’ve reached level 2 in [Pottery].

You’ve learned a new recipe [Slip].

You’ve learned a new skill [Glazing].

“Yes!” He celebrated happily. He had reached level 2 in pottery. “Uuf. One down, eight to go!” He also checked the pots he’d made. He had crafted six E-grade pots, similar to his first ones. However, four of them had turned out a little better.

Earthenware Gardening Pot (Common)

Crafting Grade: D

Durability: 4

A simple pot that can hold some dirt and a plant.

Effects:

You can keep level 1 plants in it.

It looked like a D-grade granted no bonuses or penalties. Going through the notifications, he noticed that whenever he crafted an E-grade pot, he only got 10xp in pottery. However, when he got a D grade, he got double that. That meant that the cost of the items he made wasn’t the only thing that improved with quality. The experience granted was also affected.

He watched the fire’s durability dropping, and excited with his new creations, he stored them in his inventory. He was relieved that pots did stack, provided they had the same grade. They only created stacks of five, though. Three inventory slots were enough to store all his crafted items.

Looking at the fire, he couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed. It had taken him 83 copper to start, and it would die off soon. Before he ran off, he decided to sit by the fire for a moment and let his hp and stamina fully recover. He needed a break. Crafting these pots had been too intense.

He stayed near the fire until it went out. Once the flames died off, Jack squinted and found something in the fire that he could harvest. He dug his hands into the hot ashes to find out what it was.

Ch. 9 - Level Up!

INDEX

Ch. 11 - Survival Cooking