HC: Handyman | Ch. 25 - Bulletin Board (Patreon)

Congratulations! You’ve completed Piri’s Cute Maze III!

+2000xp

Level up!

You’ve learned [First Aid].

You’ve learned a new recipe: [Moss Wound Dressing].

You’ve received 5x[Basic Torch]. 

You’ve received [Simple Shirt].

You’ve received 70 coppers.

The rewards weren’t all that special, but it was still enough for him to finally reach level 5 and unlock his new bushcraft skill.

First Aid, Lvl. 1

You can use medicinal herbs to cure some lesser ailments and sicknesses. An essential survival skill.

Skill effects:

You can craft wound dressings.

Requirements:

Bushcraft, lvl. 4 {complete}

Character, lvl. 5 {complete}

After unlocking it, the system also granted him a simple recipe to get him started.

Moss Wound Dressing

Ingredients: 4x[Green Moss], Cloth.

Recipe: Grind green moss using a mortar and pestle until you create a paste. Smear it onto a cloth. Apply it to wounds when necessary. 

Requirements: [First Aid], lvl. 1.

He didn’t recall seeing moss so far, but it had to be an easy ingredient to harvest. Additionally, it required him to buy a mortar and pestle and cloths from tailors. He wasn’t sure how much each of these cost or whether crafting wound dressings was better than just sticking with rope, but he would check that out later.

He also put on the new piece of equipment. It was garbage but still better than the simple grey shirt he’d started the game with.

Simple Shirt (Common)

Description: A simple garment made of sackcloth. The fabric will make you itchy, but it’s better than walking around naked.

Durability: 9

Block: 1

Defense: 2

Restrictions: Lvl. 1. 

A few hours ago, he’d been a total noob wearing a simple grey outfit. Now, he had a buckler in one hand, a straw hat, shoes, and gloves. He looked like a mysterious drifter. If he returned to Bright Hill, he would be the talk of the town. Now that he thought about it, why hadn’t he seen anyone wearing more varied equipment in the beginner town? He’d seen players wearing the sporadic leather helmet or the occasional buckler, but nothing comparable to what he was currently wearing.

Jack left the pyramid, hoping that the walk would help him decide where to go next. As he wandered, Jack was hit with a strange feeling. There was something wrong. He felt refreshed. He'd been under a lot of stress during the past six hours, running maze after maze, always alert for deadly traps. He should have felt tired. But there was something weird about the game. His brain was sleeping. The longer he worked on something, and the longer he spent in the game, the more well-rested he felt. It was unnatural. 

Had he been doing any other task for this long, his head would be burning up, and he’d be looking for a bed. He considered leaving the game now, but he would just sleep. That felt wasteful, given how he had paid 50 credits to rent his VR helmet for the week. He had to find something to do with this time. 

He had two options. One was to go back to Bright Hill and level up his minors there. The other was to stay here and head back to the beginner town when it was time to turn in his rare quest.

On the one hand, he was comfortable moving around in Bright Hill. He knew where to find the amply available source materials, and that's where Master Kevin was. On the other hand, he would have to come here anyway eventually. Furthermore, what if he spent one silver returning to Bright Hill, only to find that the next skill required him to have a higher character level? Would he keep commuting between the village and the city, spending two silver for every round trip?

Jack opened the internet browser and hoped that the all-knowing World Wide Web would help him figure out what to do. He came across an interesting article. 

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Hello. I'm wondering if I should stay behind in the village to level smithing up to novice or move to a gate city and grind there. Any suggestions? 

RugRat: Move to the gate city. 

VulesJerne: Go to the city. 

…

A more patient and chatty player went on to explain why. 

SaberSabre: Even though there seem to be many resources available in the villages, you'll soon find many more around the cities. Additionally, you're going to stay in the gate cities for most of your journey on New Earth. The sooner you begin exploring them, the better it will be for your future development. Finally, many noobs don't know this, but in the gate cities, there are many quests that allow you to level up your craft. 

Check out any of the bulletin boards. The Smithing Association issues quests that allow you to gain professional XP and simultaneously grind character levels. Most people get their smithing up to 10 by doing these quests, and I recommend you do the same. 

IsaacNew: Right on. Some quests allow you to level both your major and your minor simultaneously too. Have you chosen a minor yet? 

Poster: Yeah, I'm a miner. 

IsaacNew: You have the miner minor. Joke, joke. In that case, go to the bulletin board and filter quests that require both professions. Many require you to go to the mines, dig some ore, and then use that material to craft. 

Poster: Thanks. 

IsaacNew: You're welcome. 

SaberSabre: Happy gaming. 

Jack had assumed that grinding was the only way of leveling up a minor. This was an incredible discovery. No wonder players with better equipment immediately moved to the cities. It was much better here! He could take quests where he leveled his professions and character simultaneously, killing two birds with one stone. Why hadn't his cousin told him about this? 

Well, to be fair, he had only asked Rob what the fastest way to gain a character level was, and the pyramids really were fast. Also, he’d been level 1 before. Rob had perhaps considered that he needed to get his character level a little higher before trying these quests. 

Jack passed by the marketplace and put the five stacks of torches for sale. Throwing these torches away seemed like a waste because he would eventually have to buy new ones anyway. However, after considering his cousin's advice not to let things pile up in his inventory, he decided to sell them all. He could always use this money to buy the same items again later. 

In theory, the twenty stacks of torches would get him two gold—a very considerable amount of money for his level. His mood soured as he remembered the conversion rate between in-game gold and real-life credits. Considering how many hours he had needed to make this much, this was his worst-paid job ever!

He still didn't know what to spend this gold on, but he would leave that decision for after taking a quest that suited his needs. Locating one of the many Bulletin Boards around town didn't take much effort. 

The panel's frame was made of very tall and thin bones. Jack wondered what creature it was harvested from. If he had to guess, these were originally thick, curved dinosaur ribs that had been sanded until they were made into straight bone pillars. Hanging between the bones was a massive wooden board filled with papers and scrolls of all different colors, shades, and sizes. 

Even as Jack inspected the board, an NPC in a white apron and a tall white hat approached it and stuck a little note with a brand new quest. Jack touched the note, curious to see what the departing chef needed, and as he did, a system window appeared. 

Thankfully, the developers had made it easier for players to find the quests they wanted. The hovering system window was much more user-friendly than sorting through the never-ending layers of loose sheets of paper. 

Jack let out a whistle. There were hundreds of quests! Jack operated the system filters, looking for a quest that suited his needs. He operated the filters to reveal only quests that a character his level could complete and that required pottery. 

The number of quests instantly whittled down to just a few dozen. Following the guide's suggestion, Jack experimented with cross-referencing with quests that also required bushcrafting. There was only one option available. 

The Vase Shards (Common)

Recently, a hunting expedition found a fragment of broken pottery that dates to the time of the pyramids. The researchers at the Embersgate Historical Society hope that by gathering more of these shards, they can glean clues to uncover the secrets behind the mysterious artifacts.

The location isn’t far from the gate, but a pack of compsognathus has been sighted in the area. Tread carefully.

Mission objectives: Take a trip in the jungle to the location where the expedition located the ceramic shard;

Retrieve as many ceramic shards as you can;

Avoid the pack of compsognathus.

Restrictions: Pottery, Bushcraft.

Recommended number of players: 3

Quest issuer: Professor Grant, from the Embersgate Historical Society

Jack reread the details of this quest. This quest involved him going outside the walls. He hadn't considered that someone of his level could do that. After all, he was still a weakling, a boy with a stick. And what in the world was a compsognathus? He hoped it wasn’t a dinosaur. He didn’t feel exactly ready to fight one yet. 

At the same time, the requirements for this quest specified that the suggested number of players was three. Normally, players didn't keep two minors, especially such a mismatched combination with no synergies such as pottery and bushcraft. Jack, however, had both, so he could do it alone if he wished. It probably meant he would gain more rewards if he pulled it off alone. Just how hard could it be? It couldn’t be that much more difficult than handling Piri, right?

Besides, the torches were beginning to sell, and it wouldn’t be long before he had over two gold in his inventory. He could get better equipment and breeze through this quest. If he succeeded he could potentially gain multiple levels across professions. Even though it was a little work, when he compared it to having to grind for one thing at a time, this sounded like a much better option. 

Are you sure you want to take on [The Vase Shards]?

Jack accepted.

Report to Embersgate Historical Society. Professor Grant will give you more details about this quest. 

After he looked up the coordinates for the Embersgate Historical Society, he marked them on the map and headed toward the Historical Society. As he kept walking block after block, the magnitude of this city sank deeper. This city was incredibly big. It took him nearly 30 minutes to finally reach the building marked on the map.

His first impression of the Historical Society was that he was standing before a cathedral. The large building punctuated the skyline with its towering spires. The terracotta facade was filled with gargoyle depictions of animals of past years. Its collection of ochre and crimson tiles contrasted against the large whitewashed wall in the background, giving the building a vivid and dignified look. The main door was highlighted by an elegant collection of archways carved with nature-inspired motifs, plaster vine trees, and stone sculptures of squirrels and birds.

Academic-looking NPCs walked to and fro, but the place was crowded with all kinds of players. Many of them wore bulky armor with large shields and impressive swords. Others wore leather equipment with bows, crossbows, and quivers strapped around their back.

“Just what is this place?” Jack couldn’t help but ask aloud.

As large as the building looked from the outside, it was only after he entered that he could comprehend its size. There was a complete skeleton of the biggest creature Jack had ever seen. From the tip of the creature's skull to the tip of its tail, there were dozens of meters of curves and bones. Jack was to it what an ant was to him. Something to be squashed.

“How am I supposed to fight that?!” he yelped.

Ch. 24 - Puzzles

INDEX

Ch. 26 - Amari