HC: Pacifist | Ch. 242 - Locked Out? (Patreon)

Maggie paused to organize her thoughts and give Roth time to take notes. She then shared the options she had considered. “One, I would bathe the trap in diffuse light.”

“You mean light that isn’t focused in a beam. Right?”

“That’s correct.”

“And what would that do?”

“This approach relies on the statistical probability of photons hitting the mirrors at the correct angle over time. The probability of a photon shot from an angle to be perfectly trapped between the flat mirrors is small, but it is there. Since the whole thing is in a vacuum, and assuming the game makes the mirrors 100% reflective, if you keep a diffuse light on the trap, there’s the chance that it would slowly charge and eventually build up into a laser beam.”

“Alright… So that means just leaving the light on or leaving the trap under the sun and hoping for the best, right?”

“Correct.”

Roth frowned. He wasn’t sure if this would go anywhere. After all, that wasn’t how Bergelmir seemed to have done it. He specifically said in his notes that he had to shoot a laser into the trap. “What else do you have for me?”

“Very well. Option two is changing the mirrors in the trap. Instead of three flat mirrors, try using one convex mirror and two flat ones. The convex mirror could help redirect some photons toward the flat mirrors, increasing the likelihood of hitting them at the correct angle. This setup might offer better control over the incident angle of the laser beam.”

What Roth had heard so far was ‘Option 1: do nothing. Option 2: use two flat mirrors and one bulging one. “Fine. What’s the third,” he asked while massaging his temples. He was getting a headache.

“Building a Fabry–Pérot interferometer.”

Roth’s headache worsened. “And what is that?”

“It’s an optical resonator consisting of two parallel mirrors with a spacer in between. Adjusting the spacer thickness allows the cavity to be tuned to specific wavelengths, providing control over the trapped light.”

Roth blinked a few times, trying to make sense of the scientific jargon she had just thrown at him. “I beg your pardon?”

She widened her eyes, realizing that even what sounded simple to her was beyond Roth’s and the prison’s library's reach. “The device consists of parallel flat mirrors that partially reflect light and partially let light through. So far, so good?”

Roth nodded.

“Then, you need two collimating lenses.” She caught Roth’s confusion and explained, “Collimating means they focus light, like a magnifying glass.”

“Oh, OK.” He recalled holding a magnifying glass over an ant colony as a child. The memory of the burned smell of ants as he used focused sunlight to burn them made him feel disgusted. 

Maggie continued. “Then, you align the device, keeping one of the lenses in the trap. Once you get the beam aligned, you can remove the lens.”

Roth bit his lip until it was white. He wasn’t expecting this light trapping business to be so sciency. “Thank you, Maggie. I’ll try your options. I might need your help with option number three if it comes down to it.”

“Of course. Keep me posted. You owe me a light trap,” she joked.

“Say hi to everyone for me.”

“Will do.”

After Maggie disconnected the call, Roth wondered whether her suggestions would work. The last one, especially, sounded far too complicated. He would try at least the first two and hope that that would help him figure out how this light-trapping business worked. Looking around, he saw that the biggest source of light in the workshop was the hearth. He threw one more log into the fire to ensure it was nice and bright. 

He tilted the greave with the carved, sealed trap near the fire, hoping it would catch some of the light. Nothing happened. He kept doing this for a few minutes, but there were no signs of it working. “There goes option number one,” he said to Lin, who ignored him. He could always wait for daylight outside and put the greave under the sun, but he doubted that would work.

“Time to try option number two.” Roth grabbed a dried layered hide. He set it on the cutting table, marked the needed shapes, and punched holes. He was starting to feel more confident around leather. This was his third pair of greaves. Some of the skills he had acquired when knitting in the game and doing manual work in the real world helped him quickly get comfortable with the new material. In the end, he managed to get a B minus.

Congratulations! You've successfully crafted [Rock Lizard Layered-Leather Greaves].

Crafting Grade: B-

+400 ecotailor xp.

Rock Lizard Layered-Leather Greaves (Common)

Item description: A piece of light armor that offers a modicum of protection. The leather chosen by the craftsman is thin but it will reduce some of the damage.

Item effects:

+5% damage reduction;

+5% movement speed;

+3 endurance.

Requirements: Rogue, level 10.

As before, he called for the system's assistant and tried carving a trap into the greaves. He still couldn't do everything in one fluid motion, but instead of focusing the laser on individual points, he tried sweeping the laser in short strokes with good results. The trap turned out a little straighter than his first crude attempts. 

Once he was happy with the triangular light trap's depth, he mounted the two flat mirrors with his glass gun. He didn’t need to take breaks between mirrors, thanks to his badger form. He had more than enough energy to go around. His [Energy Tycoon] title also granted him a generous boost that let him heat the sand with plenty of energy to spare.

When he reached the last mirror, he rotated the dial to get the convex part bulging outward. Happy with the result, he activated the greave under the vacuuming machine. While the vacuuming machine sealed the trap, he tried to keep himself busy by layering leather and knitting sweaters. 

Even though he was running into obstacle after obstacle, he felt relaxed. It was almost as if he was on a holiday. No one was chasing after him; there was no conflict, no troubles, just the challenges of a peaceful job. He glanced over at Lin, who stretched before the fire while dreaming of whatever cats dreamed of. Roth’s best guess was that he dreamed of eating a fish or playing with yarn. Crafting near a fire and his sleeping kitten wasn’t a bad way to spend the day—not bad at all.

Once the vacuuming machine finished sealing the trap into a vacuum, he eagerly positioned the greave on the table and got the laser ready. Hands trembling, he shot the laser at the curved mirror. Instead of the beam angling downward, it bounced back upward. Roth adjusted the laser to make it bounce into the flat mirror. Although some of the light dispersed into a diffuse glare, he aligned the beam after several tries, making it bounce between the three mirrors. 

Congratulations! You’ve crafted [Triangular Trap].

+100 light trapper xp.

Light trapper level up!

Congratulations! You’ve learned [Convex Alignment].

+2000 light trapper xp.

Light trapper level up!

Light trapper level up!

You’ve learned [Squared Trap].

Light trapper level up!

Light trapper level up!

You’ve learned [Energy Efficiency].

Congratulations! You've successfully crafted [Rock Lizard Layered-Leather Greaves].

Crafting Grade: B-

+400 ecotailor xp.

Rock Lizard Layered-Leather Greaves (Common)

Item description: A piece of light armor that offers a modicum of protection. The leather chosen by the craftsman is thin but it will reduce some of the damage.

Item effects:

+5(+1)% damage reduction;

+5(+1)% movement speed;

+3(+1) endurance.

Light trap effects:

+1 to all equipment’s stats.

The cascade of notifications threw Roth aback, but one thing was certain! He had succeeded. “I did it!” he shouted in celebration. Little Lin awoke and looked at Roth with a sleepy, annoyed look. He had disrupted his beauty sleep. Roth didn’t care about Lin’s discontent, though. He was just too happy about what had just happened.

He remembered to message Maggie with the good news. “It worked, Maggie! Option two worked. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” He wouldn’t have figured this out without her help.

Roth looked at the greave with the completed light trap. The triangular, thin, glowing shape cast a beige glow on the patterns of the lizard hide. It looked super cool. Roth would have bought this equipment solely based on its aesthetically pleasing appearance.

It wasn’t just about the style, though. The light trap boosted the equipment! It enhanced his greaves by a considerable amount. Even though it just granted three additional stat points, it was still considerable. Furthermore, he was just a level one light trapper. He was just getting started.

Since he had figured out the [Convex Alignment] technique, he received a massive XP boost and leveled several times in the profession in one fell swoop. He studied the different skills he had unlocked after completing the light trap.

Convex Alignment (Uncommon)

Description: You can align laser beams utilizing a curved mirror. Most of the laser’s potency is dispersed, resulting in a thin beam.

Effects:

You can charge a light trap at 30% total capacity.

It looked like Maggie's solution worked somewhat but didn’t maximize the trap's potential. Since the trap working at 30% had increased each equipment stat by one, if he were looking at this correctly, a fully working triangular trap would boost each equipment stat by three! It had a nice thematic symmetry to it. A three-point trap boosted each equipment stat by three. The benefit was huge. He proceeded to check the other two things he had unlocked.

Quadrangular Trap (Recipe)

Description: A four-point trap that can boost equipment.

Requirements: Light trapper, lvl. 5.

He had learned a new trap—just a square. He guessed it was slightly superior to the triangular trap and gave +4 to each equipment stat. He’d check Bergelmir’s notes in a moment to see if there were any new instructions. Finally, he learned another skill.

Energy Efficiency (Common)

Description: You’ve learned to maximize your energy output.

Effects: -10% energy usage.

“Where were you when I used [Lion’s Breath]?” he demanded, looking at the skill description. This skill was awesome! It granted a discount to everything that consumed energy, so his energy problems were gone for good. This, coupled with his badger form, practically made his energy unlimited. He couldn’t wait to rub this skill in the face of that cheeky Griffin.

If the player base got hold of this, every esper and medic in the game would come running and beg him to learn this profession. Just for this skill, it would be worth it. He turned over the greave with the glowing triangle in his hand and then set it aside. He hadn’t finished carving the trap in the other greave!

If a light trap was this incredible when it was just on one of the greaves, what would happen if he could get a trap on each one? He hurriedly placed the other greave on the vacuuming machine. He paced as he waited for the machine to put the greave in a vacuum. He felt too fidgety to sit down and craft, so he checked the union forums.

Although many craftsmen had entered the Union after winning a crafting battle, the majority still entered by contributing unique insights into a profession. Roth hadn’t taken the time to read much of the Union library, but since he would spend a long time leveling his profession, he might as well check what he could learn from his peers.

The Rescue Library, built from the information stolen by Brian, had been instrumental so far, but its guides on crafting were shallow. It only provided information about common titles. Perhaps some unionized artisans had divulged information about cool titles or techniques that would help him progress.

Access denied.

“Uh? Access denied? What in the world?” One got this kind of message when they were banned from a private page in the forums. Why would the 14th lock him out?

He opened his friend's list and messaged H. “Hey, H. What’s up?! I tried to access the Union forums, but it says I’m denied access.”

This time, the response time was almost instant. “Hey, Roth. What’s up? The forums are undergoing maintenance. I have a lot of things to reorganize and optimize. What do you need to access in the forums?”

Undergoing maintenance? Why hadn’t H given him a heads-up about this? And did he have to shut the forums down for everyone? “I wanted to check the Union library to see what information there is about tailoring,” Roth tried.

“That I can give you access to.”

Awesome. It turned out that he could still get what you wanted. “Thanks, H! You’re the best!”

“No worries. I’ll let you know when the forums are up and running.”

He soon received a message granting him offline access to the section of the library that he wanted. Looking at the machine, he saw that he still had to wait 30 minutes before it finished sealing the trap.

“Let’s see what the other tailors in AstroTerra are up to,” he mused.

Ch. 241 - Light Trap

INDEX

Ch. 243 - Fly