HC: Handyman | Ch. 11 - Survival Cooking (Patreon)

Jack dug his hands into the warm ashes, and as he grabbed a handful of black dust, he finally understood what items could be harvested from a dead fire.

You've collected 2x[Ash]. Added to your inventory.

Ash (Common)

Description: the carbonized remains of a fire.

Since it was a common material, he could collect it thanks to the [Forage] skill from the bushcraft minor. He wondered what kind of applications this ingredient had.

After burning roughly two stacks of dry grass, he only received two ashes in return, making it a rarer item. He decided to hold onto it. After selling stacks of clay from the marketplace, and especially after firing the pots, he had a generous amount of free slots in his inventory.

Having rested from the stress of crafting while burning, he examined the new skill and recipe he learned from leveling [Pottery].

Slip

Ingredients: [Water], [Clay].

Recipe: Add water to a lump of clay until it forms a watery paste.

Requirements: [Pottery], lvl. 2

It looked like nothing special, just a mush of water and clay. He couldn’t mold anything with such a mix, could he? He went on to check his new skill.

Glaze, lvl. 1

Skill description: Before firing a pot, you can give it additional stats by covering it with a layer of glaze.

Skill effects:

You can use [Slip] as glazing;

Grants +2 durability to a pot.

Before he knew it, he had already gotten the answer to his previous question. Glazing was some sort of coating, like varnish on wood, that enhanced a pot's effects. And silt was the only glaze he could use for now. He frowned. Wasn’t that kind of stupid? Coating a pot with a mix of clay and water… what could that do? They were the same materials. Whatever. It was just a game, and if it granted more stats, so be it.

Just as he prepared to make a quick run to the shop, he looked at the setting sun and realized that he wouldn't have many more hours of sunlight. Looking at his half-empty inventory, he decided to make his trip to the marketplace count. From his earlier experience with the rudimentary tinder box, he already knew that leveling bushcraft by starting fires was madness. It would cost him a fortune! He was much better off making cordage, which granted similar experience points and didn’t require an expensive tinderbox.

Even though he hadn't checked the prices in the marketplace, he was sure that cords could fetch him at least some coppers. Jack started yanking the long blades of grass around him, leaving them to dry in the sunlight. He didn't even run the numbers; he just pulled all the grass from the surrounding area until he had formed a grassless circle roughly 10 meters in diameter. He imagined that from a helicopter, it would look like a yellowish-brown dot in the middle of a sea of green.

Just as he was about to expand the circle, he got a call.

“What's up, cousin?”

“Hey, Robert!” Finally. He had been waiting for his cousin to call him back. He was afraid of pestering him too much, so he had been patiently waiting for him to take the initiative to reach him. It looked like his cousin hadn’t grown tired of him yet.

“So, how's it going, man? Are you a little more comfortable moving around in the game?”

“Yeah, sort of. I've been keeping myself busy.”

“Good, good.”

“Uh… And you? What are you up to?” Jack tried.

“I just finished an expedition.”

“Oh? Is that when they send you outside of the wall?”

“Yeah. They post a list of what they need. I had to hunt three megaloceros, and there was also a gathering side quest. Nailed it.”

Hearing the fancy, ancient-sounding name, Jack couldn’t help but feel excited. “Did you hunt a dinosaur?”

“Haha. Not this time. A prehistoric moose, you can call it.”

“Wow!”

Jack heard the laughter on the other side of the call and realized that his cousin was having the time of his life. He was happy to show off his veteran awesomeness to his baby cousin. Jack didn’t blame him. He would love to be in his shoes right now.

“So, any new questions you'd like to ask your old cousin?”

“Sure. Listen, I went to visit a shop for the first time.”

“Cool. Go on.”

“From what I gather, every shop in the game is connected, am I right?”

“That's right. Even from the beginner village, you can see what everyone else is selling.”

“I have to say: I’m not a fan of being unable to set the price that I want for stuff I sell.”

“It’s to prevent players from purchasing in bulk and then inflating prices. You’ll see it’s a fair system. The developers keep a close eye on the market. Every week or so, the developers release a patch, and some prices see some adjustments.

“Interesting…”

“Yeah, for example, if the developer finds an item that no one is selling because the prices for it are too low, they might jack it up a little to encourage more players to gather it. The inverse is also true. Yesterday, there was a patch. Ores got nerfed hard because everyone was going into mining to make money.”

That sounded very frustrating for the players who had dedicated much time to mining. But for the developers to step in, they were probably making too much money.

“But if you like to set your own price on stuff, you can always trade directly with the buyer, or you can sign up for an auction.”

“Do you mean like in that website you showed me?”

“No. I’m talking about in-game auctions. They go down in the capital. There’s a pricey signup fee, so don’t worry about it for now. It’s more for rare items. You’re not quite there yet,” His cousin said.

Hearing that there were other ways to trade in the game, Jack perked up. His cousin’s condescending remark at the end kind of bummed him out, though. He decided to change topics. “Listen, I have a question about a tinder box I bought.”

“Oh, cool. What profession did you have that gives you [Kindle]?”

“Bushcraft." Jack responded promptly.

“That's a useful one.”

Hearing the praise in his cousin’s voice, he couldn’t help but feel a little proud of himself. He realized he didn’t know almost anything about his cousin’s character development yet. “Which professions do you have?”

“I have [Herbalist], a profession that focuses on gathering herbs, and I also have [Lockpicker].”

“Lockpicker? Is that a profession?”

“Yeah, handy one when you're exploring or want to break into chests and stuff. I'll let you know how to get it if you want.”

“No, it's okay. Anyway, going back to the tinder box. It only has one point of durability left. I wanted to know what happens once it reaches zero durability.”

“It breaks. It's much better to use it until it's one step before breaking, and then you could sell it to a recycler for scraps. If it's a precious item, you can also seek a restorer who will recover some of the item's durability for you. But I wouldn't recommend it unless you really love that item. Restorers ain’t cheap.”

“Have any of your items ever broken?”

“Oh, far too many times to count. Sometimes, you're out in the wild, you end up blocking too many hits, and your shield breaks. A good hunter always carries at least two sets of equipment with them. Other times, it breaks because you get distracted. I've considered learning the [Restorer] minor to avoid this from happening. But in the end, this combination works for me.”

“So what about a class? What class do you have?”

“I’m a rogue. Do you know about classes yet?”

“Not really.”

“So there are four main ones: rangers, fighters, rogues and grenadiers.”

Jack frowned. “No magic? No healers?”

“No magic in this game. Rangers and grenadiers do the healing.”

Jack laughed. “What? Grenadiers heal in this game?”

“That’s right! They use healing bombs and stuff. It’s cool. You’ll see. How is your rare quest coming along?” His cousin seemed to be growing a little tired of answering questions, so he turned the conversation toward Jack’s progress.

“To finish my quest, I have to raise [Pottery] and [Bushcraft] to level 10.”

“Oh, really? I don't know about Pottery, but Bushcraft isn't too difficult to level up.”

“Any hints?” Jack asked hopefully.

“Sorry cousin, as I told you, I'm not much of a craftsman. For bushcraft, I hear that it's better to first unlock level two in [Kindle] before using it to gain proficiency. At the start, making cordage is much more efficient.”

“No kidding,” Jack said, disappointed. He already had learned that the hard way. “Any other final words of wisdom?” Jack said, signaling his cousin that he had picked up on his impatience, and giving him a way out of the conversation.

“Uh… let’s see. Don't leave stuff rotting in your inventory. It's much better just to sell it, and then, if you need it down the road, you can just repurchase it. Having some cash in hand is good. Sorry cousin. It's almost 6 a.m. in the real world. I have to get up to go to work. Let me know how things turn out. See you tomorrow?”

“You got it!”

“Don't forget to pause the game to stretch.”

“Thanks, cousin.”

Just as Jack was about to disconnect, his cousin returned to the call. “By the way, I almost forgot. You're unemployed now, right? Do you want me to ask around the construction site if they need someone?”

Jack grimaced. Just the thought of getting out of bed at 6 a.m. sickened him. “You know what? Leave it be for now. I want to give full-timing in this game a shot first. If I do need your referral, I'll let you know.”

“Okay, talk to you soon, bro.”

Seeing Rob leave the game, Jack considered his next move. He usually didn't get out of bed before 10 a.m. The VRX helmet had warned him to spend at most 10 hours online, but he had started playing the game a little past midnight. So he only had roughly 6 hours in the game. He could still go for four more.

Then and there, Jack set the goal of leaving the game with level three in both minors. While he was talking to his cousin, all the grass finished drying. It was time to start crafting cords.

Jack began by picking up two pieces of grass and used a third one to tie a knot at the end. He then twisted the fibers slowly, gently, careful not to unravel the cord. Just as he was about to run out of grass length, he added two more pieces of grass. He kept twisting and braiding the fibers, carefully keeping tension in the cord. Once the cordage was finished, he wrapped another piece of grass and used it to tie the other end.

Congratulations! You’ve crafted [Weak Cord].

+10xp in [Bushcraft]

Jack kept going. When he crafted his seventh cord, he received a notification.

Level up in [Bushcraft].

New recipe: Survival Stew.

New skill: [Survival Cooking].

Survival Stew.

Recipe: Combine three different common edible ingredients in a cooking pot with water and let it boil for a while.

Survival Cooking, Lvl. 1

Survival Cooking allows you to craft simple dishes with ingredients that you forage in nature.

The guide he read online about Bushcraft had mentioned that he could do a little cooking. It looked like he could only make very simple recipes, but that was just as good for Jack.

He would have to find out how much a survival stew sold for. Maybe it was better money than cordage. He had to decide whether to invest in this new recipe or keep weaving cords. After some thought, he decided to stay. [Survival Stew] required three ingredients, which he didn't know how to obtain while he could craft cords with the grass readily available to him. He still had plenty of dry grass to go through, and it would be a waste to leave it here.

He repeated the tedious process of twisting, braiding, adding more fibers, adding length to the cord, and then tying it at the end.

Congratulations! You’ve crafted [Weak Cord].

+7xp in [Bushcraft]

Seeing the odd number, Jack frowned. The quality of the cord was B, but instead of granting the usual 10xp, the experience granted decreased. Why was that? Was it because he had leveled up in bushcraft? In many games, experience from crafting low-level recipes decreased as one progressed in a profession. It seemed they had added that annoying feature to this game, too.

Sighing, Jack continued. It was still good xp. He would at least finish using the dry grass he’d gathered. As he kept crafting, his hands got used to the motion, and he stopped thinking about what he was doing. His mind started wandering.

He replayed the conversation with Lydia earlier today. Was that less than 24 hours ago? Somehow, it felt longer. Maybe it was because his mind hadn’t blacked out during his sleep hours. Even though each of Lydia’s words still stung, for the first time, he was able to replay them in his memory without feeling gut-wrenching sadness. He absent-mindedly noted that the cord he had just finished only came out with a C-grade. Maybe his hands were draining the stress, leaving his mind free to think.

He thought about his last jobs and what had happened earlier in the game. She was right about something she’d said. She had claimed that he didn’t wait to get fired anymore, and took the initiative to be the one leaving. As much as he hated to admit it, it was true. Who could have known that a habit born from avoiding rejection had ultimately resulted in his girlfriend rejecting him?

He then replayed the conversation with his dad. Lately, he kept nagging him at every turn. He was always on top of him, breathing down his neck, demanding to know his plans, and pressuring him to get a job. He felt a little annoyed at the recollection of the earlier sermon.

He then thought about the rent his dad had demanded of him: 500 credits. That was serious money. However, Rob’s small apartment was rented for 1200 credits the last time he asked. 500 credits wasn’t unreasonable. If he were to take any job with minimum wages, and worked the full month, or even three full weeks, he would be able to pay it. The truth was that he and his mom did work hard, and he was already twenty-five. Lydia accused him of mooching off them. Maybe she wasn’t wrong.

Jack kept weaving cords, and by the time he was done with all of the dry grass around him, he had Jack finished crafting his 21st [Week Cord]. He had even gotten a few A-grades this time around! When that happened, the XP was much better.

Congratulations! You’ve crafted [Weak Cord].

+21xp in [Bushcraft]

Weak Cord (Common)

Crafting Grade: A

Durability: 12

A simple cord made of weak fibers.

Grade A bonus:

Durability decreases more slowly.

After this round of cord-weaving, he already had two-thirds of his bushcraft XP bar full. He was tired of twisting and grinding the grass fibers, but it wasn't that bad. He started pulling more long grass from the surrounding area. He would go the extra mile and reach level 3.

Ch. 10 - Tinderbox

INDEX

Ch. 12 – Scrambled Eggs and Coffee