HC: Handyman | Ch. 48 - Sommer Crickets (Patreon)

Jack said goodbye to his latest batch of customers. “Thank you, ladies!”

“Bye, Jack!” the group said happily as they left the clearing, heading on to their next adventure. With their help, Jack had filled up his glass vials with water and had an inventory full of earthenware clay.

Jack walked over to both fires and ensured they still had enough durability. He wouldn’t let any of them go out after he found out the rewards of keeping a fire burning for a long time. Firstly, he received good bushcraft experience.

You’ve kept a fire going for two hours!

+200 bushcraft xp.

You’ve kept a fire going for three hours!

+500 bushcraft xp.

Furthermore, he unlocked a title by keeping the fire going.

Junior Firekeeper (Common)

Description: The smell of fire and smoke lingers in your clothes. You know the flames, and they know you.

Effects: +1 fire resistance.

Conditions to unlock [Junior Firekeeper]:

• Keep a fire burning for two hours.

The title effects were simple but still enticing. Given how the title came with ‘junior,’ Jack guessed that it could be upgraded into a better version. Maybe, if he kept a fire burning for five hours, ten hours, or whatever time frame it was decided by the developers, he would get an even better title. Therefore, he would keep the fires going for as long as possible. 

It had been three hours since they had left the city gates, and the team had yet to return with the third batch of insects. According to the quest window, they still had half of the list to go through.

2xSommer Crickets

2xJade Mantis

2xManipulator Cockroaches

2xBlade Wasps

2xRazor Dragonflies

1xSpark Bee Queen

Jack guessed that he would have at least three more hours on this campsite. Maybe that was enough to grind more levels in his professions. He had successfully reached level 9 in pottery. After setting camp, keeping the fires going, and serving customers several servings of survival stew, he also reached level 8 in bushcraft.

You’ve reached level 8 in bushcraft!

You’ve learned [Water Sniffing].

Water Sniffing (Common)

Description: After spending time in the wild, your senses pick up the presence of nearby water more easily.

Effects:

Automatically add any bodies of water in a 100-meter radius to your map.

The skill unlocked at level 8 of bushcraft seemed pretty useless, but who knew? Maybe it would prove its worth in a desert landscape. 

“It would be awesome if I finished this bug quest with level 10 in pottery and bushcraft,” Jack mumbled. “That way, I can just go see Kevin after we return.” Jack took a few moments to imagine the precious rewards of turning in this dreadful quest. He could almost smell the box in which his huge new flat screen would be shipped to his house. “Who am I kidding? The money is going to your stinking rent, silly.“ Jack took a deep breath and headed toward his makeshift pottery workstation.

“We're on our way to the camp,” came the sudden message from Amari, stopping Jack in his tracks.

Jack, who was about to start experimenting with coiling, sighed and instead veered off into the bush, making sure he had available ingredients at hand. He promptly located a berry bush. He’d harvested a few times already, and it had a relatively short spawning period. It had already generated more than enough berries for the gang. To add some variety and flavor and to get a better crafting grade, Jack also rummaged around the leaf litter until he found some mushrooms. 

Amari, Marie, and Horace arrived a couple of minutes after Jack returned to camp with the ingredients. Instead of having the clean, relaxed look of their first two visits, this time, they looked disheveled and tired. They had pieces of straw and branches in their hair and scratches all over their body. They looked as if they had tumbled down a hill riddled with thorns.

“What happened to you guys?” Jack couldn't help but exclaim. 

“Well, let's just say that sommer crickets are a nightmare,” Amari said weakly.

Jack kept a wary eye over Horace, fearing he would rattle one of the cages he was carrying in front of him, but the large man seemed broken, without any energy to mess with Jack again. “We got four more bugs. Should I put them in the tent?” Horace asked, exasperated. He seemed eager to sit by the fire. 

“Yeah, sure. Please do.” 

Horace placed the cages in the tent, and Jack peeked over his shoulder with interest at the new arrivals. This time, they had brought four insects. In two separate cages, there were two large crickets. They were slightly larger than the jade mantises. Their bodies were elongated and segmented, with a robust exoskeleton that gleamed faintly in the light of the nearby fire.

Their coloration was earthy, with hues of dark brown and green, and they had two long wings folded neatly along their backs. The most impressive thing about them, however, were their hind legs, powerful and muscular, tucked beneath them. They also had long antennae that didn’t fit in the cage. The thin, long appendages rested motionless, indicating that the crickets were in a deep sleep. Even though they were impressive creatures, they didn’t look nearly as menacing as the mantises, for example. Jack had to wonder what made them that difficult to capture. 

The third cage had not one but two flying insects. If Jack had seen them mid-air, he would have assumed they were small birds. They had striking coloration, with deep, glossy black bodies accented by vibrant red markings. Their wings were large, translucent, and veined with intricate patterns, and their whole body seemed to be clad in armor. Its sting was long, as long as a small knife. 

Seeing how the group complained about the crickets and not about these vicious-looking wasps, Jack’s curiosity about what made crickets that difficult to capture only heightened. 

“Step aside,” Marie asked as she tried to enter the tent. 

“Sorry,” Jack took a step back and watched as Marie visited every single cage. She untied the little paper bags with crushed herbs fastened to the bars of each cage, replacing them with new ones. She also grabbed a handful of dust from a small pouch and blew it over the sleeping insects. She repeated the process for each cage. 

Amari and Horace were already sitting by the fire, and Jack left Marie working as he cooked. The water in the pot had come to a boil, and Jack threw the berries and mushrooms in. As he worked on the survival stew, Marie finally arrived and joined the rest of the team, letting out a heavy, exaggerated breath. “So, only two left, eh?” 

“Yeah, the dragonflies should be easy. All we need to do is go near the water.” 

“There's a stream a couple of minutes away,” Jack chimed in as he filled the bowls with the newly cooked stew. 

Amari took the steamy bowl from him. “Thanks, Jack. We know. That’s one of the reasons why we chose this place as a camping site. We wanted to leave a few hunting spots close to the camp for when our food buffs wore off.”

“We’ll come visit the camp more often, too, by the way,” Marie warned Jack. 

“Of course, of course.” After meal buffs expired, health and stamina bars decreased significantly. They would need to come to heal up much more often if they wanted to stay alive and healthy. “By the way, why don't people go back to the city to renew their buffs? Isn't it better than just staying out?”

Marie looked up at him, annoyed.  

“I just want to know,” he explained, “I’m happy with you guys coming to the camp more often. The question just occurred to me, that’s all.” 

Marie watched him suspiciously but seemed to give up. She kept slurping her stew.

“If you do quests in only one outing, you get a better completion rate in quests,” Amari explained. 

“Really?”

“Yeah. Someone figured out that you get much better rewards if you don't return to the city during an expedition. If you do go back, it's almost impossible to get anything over a B,” Horace contributed. 

Jack noticed how Horace was becoming chattier with each visit to the campfire. What could Jack say? He was a people person. He drew others to him like a fire drew moths. He had an irresistible personality. It was no wonder that Horace was beginning to warm up to him. Marie would, too. He was sure of it.

“We still have to get the most challenging capture out of the way, though,” Marie said, bursting the optimistic bubble that had begun to form after a warm meal and resting by the fire. “The queen bee!” she spat, annoyed. 

“Why is that the hardest?” Jack asked. 

“Because queen bees usually don't leave their colonies. They stay within their nests. The only two ways to get a queen bee are one if you catch them in a nuptial flight,” Amari said as if talking to the audience that would watch this video later.

“Which is very rare!” Marie added right away.

Amari ignored Marie’s interruption, “Or two, you obliterate a nest, killing every bee in it to get to the queen.”

Jack scratched his head. “Can't you just scare them off their nest? And while they're running away, you ambush the queen bee?”

The group laughed. “You can try. But it's not going to be easy.”

Jack shrugged. It's a good thing that he wasn't the one who would do it then. 

“Okay, I think we're ready to go. Shall we head down to the stream and see if we can find any razor dragonflies?” Amari suggested.

“Let's do it,” Horace agreed. 

“Jack, do you think you can craft us a few bandages? We’ll need them.”

“Sure!” Jack said easily. He took out the cloths from his inventory, located the mossiest tree around the camp, and started to scrape it with the knife.

“Greeny, if you need anything, call us immediately. These eight captured insects can sell for a hefty price. Keep the tent closed so no one can see what’s in it,” Horace said as Jack worked on the bandages. 

Jack gave Horace a thumbs up. “Right on, chief.”

The nickname that Jack said jokingly seems to please Horace. “Very well done, Greeny. Haha. It looks like you know some manners, after all.”

Marie shook her head as if she were a grandmother hearing two children speak nonsense. Jack finished crafting three bandages for each of them and saw them heading south toward the stream.

Ch. 47 - Coiling

INDEX

Ch. 49 - Allosaurus' Dump