HC: Handyman | Ch. 35 - Donor (Patreon)

“You’ve done well. This is beyond my expectations. Excellently done,” the professor praised as he stared at the pile of ceramics. “You were even able to find these pristine plates. Five of them no less. They will be a great contribution to our research. They might even make for excellent museum pieces.”

Jack’s heart was racing. This was the first time he was completing a quest on New Earth. Second, if he counted the tutorial, but that hadn’t been a quest. Even Amari, who was a seasoned player, seemed excited. Jack waited for the professor to start handing out rewards, but he was too enamored with the newly arrived ceramics and ignored them. 

“Fascinating. I had wondered how they achieved this color in their pottery, but it turned out to be turmeric. It makes sense. It’s a plant indigenous to that part of the jungle. And they already used wheels.”

Jack tapped his foot rapidly, as the professor went on mumbling about the ceramics. Luckily, the NPC wasn’t the one handing the rewards.

Completion rate: A+.

Calculating rewards.

“Yes! An A+!” Amari said while slapping Jack’s back heartily.

Jack hadn’t realized that quests also came with completion rates. This game gave out more grades than his school ever did. Between that and all the numbers in attributes and items’ descriptions, he felt like he was back in math class, being scolded for not doing his homework. “Is this a big deal?” Jack asked, hopefully.

“Are you kidding me? It’s really, really good. The rewards are going to be awesome!”

Jack's heart raced with anticipation. Every second that the system was thinking only added to the thrill. The rewards, he knew, were going to be worth the wait.

[The Vase Shards] has been completed.

You’ve received ten gold.

+5000xp

You’ve reached level 6!

+10,000 [Pottery] xp 

You’ve reached level 6 in [Pottery]!

[Glaze] has been upgraded.

You’ve learned a new recipe: [Clear Glaze].

You’ve reached level 7 in [Pottery]!

You can now use [Potter’s Wheel].

+5000 [Bushcraft] xp

You’ve reached level 7 in [Bushcraft]!

You’ve learned a new skill: [Bush Immunity].

You’ve received a new pottery recipe: [Turmeric Yellow]

You’ve received a new title: [Museum Donor].

Jack stared at all the rewards with a slackened jaw. Firstly, he received experience across the board. He had gained a character level, and both his professions had reached level 7! Given how he had already gained professional xp from being out in the bush and collecting the plates, taking this quest had been like flying a rocket. He was one step closer to completing his rare quest!

Jack checked the skills and recipes he’d learned from leveling up his professions. 

Glaze, lvl. 2

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

Skill effects: 

You can use different glazes.

He was now able to use other types of glaze. After completing this quest, he learned two. One was a recipe unlocked from reaching level 6 in pottery.

Clear Glaze

Ingredients: [Slip], [Flint], [Ash].

Recipe: Use a pestle and mortar to grind a few pieces of flint together. The smaller the grains, the better. Add the ash and the slip and mix them.

The other seemed to be a special reward for completing this quest.

Yellow Glaze

Ingredients: [Slip], [Turmeric], [Ash]

Recipe: Use a pestle and mortar to crush ash into a fine powder. Add slip, and finally the turmeric.

Jack scratched his chin. Glazing pottery with slip, had added two durability to each ceramic. His best guess was that these glazes would add even more of it. He was surprised that one of the rewards for the quest was a glaze recipe, though. He remembered his cousin saying something about how the richest craftsmen in the game were those with boring professions or unique recipes. Could this recipe be anything special? How good could it be if he received from completing a basic quest with the historical society?

The possibility of using a potter’s wheel was also appealing, although Jack didn’t know what effect that would have on his ceramics. 

The new skill unlocked by reaching level 7 in bushcraft seemed quite useful.

Bush Immunity (Common)

Skill description: As you spend time in the wild, your body becomes used to the different maladies and gains resistance to them.

Effects:

Passive. Gain some resistance to environmental debuffs. Scales with constitution.

It was a skill that would help him suffer less the next time he went out into the jungle. Jungle debuffs piled on, and becoming immune to some of them, or at least being able to resist them somewhat could go a long way. 

The Historical Society gave him ten gold coins as payment for his service. He had invested almost everything in this quest, so it felt good to be paid back in full and then some. Finally, he had unlocked an uncommon title!

Museum Donor (Uncommon)

Description: Your love and appreciation for history are only surpassed by your generosity and willingness to pass on what you know to the next generation of adventurers.

Effects:

Museum buffs are 10% stronger;

10% discount at the museum canteen;

+1 intelect.

Conditions to unlock [Museum Donor]:

Donate five artifacts to a historical society. 

“The five plates!” Jack exclaimed. 

Amari who stood to the side smiled brilliantly. “Oh yes. This is a great title. I wasn’t expecting to unlock it this soon.”

“So each plate counts as its own artifact.”

“That’s right.”

Receiving stronger buffs did sound like a great title. Before he could ask Amari anything else, he took the initiative to leave the office. “We’ll be on our way, then, professor.”

“Godspeed!” the professor said half-heartedly while keeping his full attention on the yellow relics.

After they left the office, Jack was still on a high. “Uuf! That was good xp!” Jack said happily. “By the way, I’ve received a glaze recipe from this quest. Is that any good?”

“It’s good. It will help you make more money from pottery.” Amari's calm tone told Jack that the title was a better reward than the recipe.

“This is it then,” Jack said, holding out his hand.

Amari smiled and shook it firmly. “It was a pleasure, Jack. Honestly, at first, I thought you were a bit of an obtuse punk but you’re actually quite alright.”

Seeing how honest Amari was, Jack could see how he could get on someone’s nerves. The story about how he’d gotten into a feud with another player and was hunted and killed until he was back to level zero was starting to make more sense now. 

Remembering he was on camera, Jack forced a smile. “Thank you for teaching me so much.”

“No worries. Maybe we’ll run into each other again. I’ve got your contact. Let me know what your channel’s name is so that I can tag it when I release the video of this quest.”

“Don’t make me look bad!” Jack asked half-jokingly, hoping that Amari would not portray him as an obtuse punk.

“Cheers!” Amari turned his back and walked away. “Take care of yourself!”

Jack watched as Amari disappeared into the crowd of visitors and NPCs. Doing this quest with him had been surprisingly fun. Plus, he had really learned a lot. He now had a sense of how running quests and expeditions worked, and also had an inkling of what a bushcrafter was supposed to do.

Looking at the clock, Jack decided it was time to take a break. He double-checked that the option for the helmet to sound an alarm to wake him up was on, and logged out.

*

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Jack’s eyelids fluttered open. He was back in his bedroom. The way the pink helmet beeped annoyingly made him think of Piri, and for a dazed moment, he imagined the pyramid breaking free from its programmed shackles and taking over the pink helmet to torment Jack in real life.

He turned the VRX helmet off and threw it away as if it were cursed. His hair was sweaty from having the helmet on for so many hours. He groaned as he made an effort to stand up. He felt sore, especially on his neck. Every joint in his body cracked as took a few steps around his bedroom. “Maybe Amari’s right. This can’t be good for my health.”

Jack looked at himself in the mirror and realized that he looked as bad as he felt. In part, he felt disoriented. The day-light cycle of the game versus that of the real world was getting to him. When he left the game it had been evening, and it was morning outside. Additionally, he had been thinking and chasing after this quest around the clock. He missed sleeping, which was strange, given how he had just spent 8 hours doing just that.

Should he have breakfast, go back to bed, and take a nap? Could he even do it after sleeping for so many hours? No. That wasn’t what he really wanted. An idea took over Jack. It was foreign and unnatural, and he felt surprised at himself for even having it. The more he thought about it, though, the more he realized that was what he wanted to do the most, right now.

He opened his dresser's drawers and started taking all the clothes off the top. “Where is it? It has to be here somewhere.” He kept digging through the drawer until he finally found a set of black, lightweight pants and an old matching jacket. 

Jack took off his pajamas and tried them on. The pants barely fit anymore, but given how elastic the waistband was, he was still able to put them on. Regardless of how much he tried to close the jacket, he couldn’t. Sighing, he put on an old T-shirt and went downstairs to look for his running shoes.

“Good morning, son.”

Jack gasped and found his father looking at him. He was in his squared red and blue robe and had a steamy coffee mug in his hand. 

“Hi, dad. You startled me.”

His father laughed. “No, son. You startled me. You usually don’t wake up this early. Everything OK?”

Jack gulped drily. This was the first time he'd talked to his father after the rent ultimatum. “Yeah. I was about to go for a jog.”

His father looked at him wide-eyed. From the surprised look on his face, it was almost as if Jack had just declared he was off to rob a bank. Now that he thought about it, perhaps doing that would be less work than finishing that rare quest.

“A jog? As in running?” his father confirmed.

“Yeah. Anything wrong?”

“No. Sorry. I’m just surprised. But it’s good. Good for you.”

Jack finally found his running shoes underneath all his other shoes. He hadn’t worn these in years, but they still looked good. He started to put them on, and as he glanced over his shoulder to see if his father was still there, he sighed in relief. He’d left. 

Jack sat on the mudroom bench and put on his shoes. Thankfully, his feet had not become fat, so the sneakers still fit comfortably. As he finished tying his shoelaces, his father appeared again.

“Here.”

Jack looked up and found his father giving him a coffee mug and a banana. “Are these for me?”

“Yes. It’s not good to work out hard on an empty stomach. Have this, then go.”

Jack pursed his lip. He had expected his father to come down on him hard, asking him whether he’d gotten a job yet, demanding to know where he’d been over the last 36 hours, or criticizing his life choices. He hadn’t expected breakfast. “Thanks, Dad.”

“No problem.” His father reached for his own coffee mug which he had placed on a nearby table, and sat next to Jack, sipping on it while Jack had his breakfast.

“So… is mom home yet?” Jack said, trying to break the silence.

“It’s 6 am, Jack. It will still take her one hour to get home. I’ll pick her up.”

“Right. Right.” Jack wolfed down the banana, to get this conversation with his dad over with, but the coffee was too hot, and he couldn’t finish it quickly. He blew into the mug to cool it quicker.

“You are OK?” his father finally asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Lydia,” his father said simply.

Jack felt a catch on his throat. “No. Not really.”

His father put his hand over Jack’s shoulder and squeezed. “Running might help. Your mom and I are here if you need to talk. OK?”

Jack finished his coffee and let his father take the empty mug from him. Before the tears came, he left the house.

Ch. 34 - Zzzz

INDEX

Ch. 36 - IronIreSlayer