HC: Handyman | Ch. 4 - Master or Mister? (Patreon)

Jack of All Trades (Rare)

Despite Ezekiel’s best efforts, none of the majors available in town seems to suit you. He suggests you visit Mr. Kevin. He might be able to point you toward a better path.

Coordinates added to your world map.

Requirements:

• To quit every major in town without trying it first {complete}

It was his very first quest on New Earth! He might not have much experience with full-dive games, but he had played plenty of games on his phone, and quests were a good way to get his hands on precious items.

Jack noticed the NPC he would visit was not named ‘Master Kevin,’ but ‘Mister Kevin.’ What did that mean?

“Thank you, Tutor Ezekiel.”

“Just try it. OK?”

“Excuse me?”

“At least try this one. Please. Remember, impatience isn’t good for a craftsman!”

“I-I will,” stammered Jack. He left the hill in a daze. Was it his impression, or was the game criticizing his attitude today? Lydia had accused him of not trying hard enough and not having a plan. His father had scolded him for being irresponsible and inconsequential. And now, even Tutor Ezekiel sounded exasperated and had criticized him for his impatience.

Even though Jack felt the impulse to run off and complete his quest, he forced himself to sit down and stop for a few moments. First came the gnawing memories of guilt and embarrassment after being dumped by Lydia and scolded by his father. He held himself down, letting the pain and negative emotions pass through him. Then came clarity.

Jack reviewed his moves in the game today. He had skimmed through one article on the internet and came running to the game unprepared, skipping every dialogue and trying to rush to become a craftsman without any prior research. He felt his ears getting hot and his cheeks flush.

Not trying? Check. Not having a plan? Check. Irresponsible? Maybe. Inconsequential? Strong possibility. Impatient? Definitely. Jack dug his face into his hands. What was wrong with him?

“My dad’s right. Lydia’s right. Ezekiel’s right. I’ve just-” it was hard to form the words and say them aloud, but he made himself say them anyway, “I’m lazy.”

Just like his legs had brought him from Lydia’s cafe to his house on auto-pilot, his lazy self had taken the wheel from the moment he arrived in the game. Even how he rudely parted with each NPC was like what he did to his bosses in the real world. Getting a quest despite his carelessness had been sheer luck!

He slapped his face a few times. “Enough fooling around, Jack! You’re going to finish this quest, no matter what. You’re better than this. Come on. You have to win Lydia back.”

With newfound determination, Jack marched toward the destination marked on his map.

*

Jack studied the old, run-down shack that Ezekiel had directed him to. It was the last house at the end of one of the stretches. Whereas all other houses in town were made of black stone and had red roofs, this shack was a mismatch of construction materials. He supposed it was impressive that someone could glue and nail tin sheets, mud, stone, brick, and wood together into a house like this.

What kind of major could he learn here? This was the first locked door he found in the game, and Jack knocked carefully, afraid that it would bring the whole shack down. He did so gently the first few times and then more vigorously, seeing that the structure didn’t budge.

“Who?!” came the voice from the other side.

“Hello, Mr. Kevin. Tutor Ezekiel told me to come here and that you might help me find my path.”

“Hmmm…” came the pensive sound from the other side. “What can you do?”

“Excuse me?”

“If Ezekiel sent you here, you want to become a craftsman. Yes?”

“Yeah.”

“What can you do?”

“I have no major,” Jack explained, guessing this was what the man on the other side wanted to know. Why wasn’t he opening the door?

“No, no, no! I’m asking about minors. Do you have any minors yet?”

“I don’t have those either,” he said, annoyed.

“Come back after you learn [Pottery].”

[Jack of All Trades] has been updated.

Jack of All Trades (Rare)

Mr. Kevin has shown himself willing to guide you and show you a path that might suit you. He asks you to return after learning [Pottery].

• Visit Mr. Kevin {completed}
• Learn [Pottery] {ongoing}

“Where do I do that?” asked Jack, seeing that no coordinates appeared on the map.

The man issued a few complaints, and his voice became fainter as if he had disappeared into the back of a big house.

“What in the world?” Jack circled the building in a few steps. Where had the man gone to if the shack was this small? He knocked on the door again. “Mr. Kevin! Where can I learn [Pottery]?”

Hearing no response, Jack took a few steps back and considered what to do. Why had the man not given him the coordinates for this task? Was it a fluke? Maybe he meant to make his job harder. And why did Mr. Kevin want him to learn pottery? Hadn’t Ezekiel told him it was better to obtain a major first?

Jack heard a whining whisper in his ear. This is stupid. Let’s just try something else, Jack. However, Jack held his ground. This was a rare quest. That meant that it was worth something. Hadn’t he just decided to see it through to the end? This time, he decided to take a different approach.

“Internet access,” he called.

The world of New Earth and the sight of Kevin’s old shack grayed out, and a floating window with an internet browser appeared in front of him. All VRX helmets came with a standard operating system that enabled people to check their emails, make phone calls, and run normal programs.

He typed ‘Pottery New Earth,’ and several results popped out. The first entry led him to one of the most popular websites with information about the game. He found different entries on the sidebar with terms he was better familiar with now. ‘Classes,’ ‘Majors,’ ‘Minors,’ ‘The Wall’, etc. The link had dropped directly into a page within the minor section dedicated to pottery.

Pottery

This one-tier profession is easy to learn and allows you to craft pots and vases. Chefs, chemists, gardeners, and other professions require items crafted by potters. Even though ceramics won’t sell for much money, clay is cheap and easy to find. You’ll turn in a profit with every item you craft.

Pottery is considered a lone minor. It doesn’t synergize with any of the currently known majors. That doesn’t mean that won’t change in the future, though. This profession only ranks up to novice, so it might interest someone looking to fill the minor slot at the start of the game while waiting for the right minor down the road.

To learn the pottery profession, just find a local potter NPC or buy clay and try to mold it. After a few tries, you’ll unlock the pottery profession.

Pros:

• Easy to learn
• Constant market demand
• Fairly profitable
• Inexpensive ingredients

Cons:

• No synergies with majors
• Dead-end minor (Only has one tier)
• While profitable, there are far more lucrative professions.

Rank: D

Jack made himself read through the guide twice. Rubbing his eyes, he tried to make sense of the information. There were some terms in the guide that were new to him. What did it mean that the profession was one-tier? What did it mean that it ranked up to novice? And why did having only one tier make it good for him in case he wanted to change later? He saved this page in his favorites and returned to the search engine to find answers to these questions. After reading through a couple of basic guides on crafting, he found one that explained it clearly.

Introduction to Crafting in New Earth

New Earth has a player-based economy. That means that players can craft everything in the game. New Earth also introduces the concept of crafting majors and minors.

The guide went on to explain what Ezekiel had already told him. Then, it got more interesting.

There is a maximum of four tiers in professions: novice, journeyman, expert, and master. Once craftsmen level their profession to level 10, they climb tiers. If I level [Novice Smithing] to level 10, I unlock level 1 [Journeyman Smithing].

All major professions have four tiers, meaning they can go to master grade. As for minors, they only go up to three tiers, meaning you can become, at most, an expert in them. The higher tiered you are, the better items you can make. That’s why majors are so important to craftsmen. Masters produce the more valuable items in the game.

Pottery being one tier meant it only went up to level 10 of the novice tier. That’s why the guide said that pottery was a dead-end minor. He also found an interesting paragraph about synergies.

Majors and minors have countless synergies. For example, if you major in [Cooking] and minor in [Fishing], you can craft sushi. If you major in [Smithing] and minor in [Mining], you can craft mining equipment. The game has dozens of minor professions and hundreds of possible combinations with majors. New synergies keep being discovered every week.

He hadn’t realized that synergies were so meaningful. That’s why the guide mentioned that [Pottery] had no synergies. It didn’t unlock any unique crafting skill tree. Finally, he wrote the last question he had in the search bar: “Can I change professions after learning them?”

The answer appeared promptly. He could, but all the progress in the forgotten profession would be lost. If he ever wanted to change back to the abandoned profession, he would have to learn everything from scratch.

It all made more sense now. The more one progressed in the profession, the harder it would be to go further. “That’s why [Pottery] is good if one isn’t sure about what minor to take,” he reasoned aloud. “If I ever change minors, I won’t lose much progress.”

Enlightened about the game mechanics, Jack set out to become a potter. He asked the nearest players for information. “Hey, guys! Sorry to bother you. Know if there’s any potter in town?”

“No, man. Sorry. Just started the game, like, two hours ago.”

“That’s OK. Thanks.”

He approached a pretty girl his age, who replied similarly. He wouldn’t get much out of players who were as noob as he was. He started asking players who had some pieces of equipment other than the grays they had all spawned into.

He finally lucked out when he approached a player with a leather helmet and gloves. “Excuse me, do you know if there’s a potter in this town?”

“Sure. I think I saw a pottery. It’s over there if I’m not mistaken!” he pointed. It was on the same road as the smith.

“Thank you!” Jack said politely and followed the directions. The pottery was smaller than the workshops he’d visited when trying different majors. Given the number of vases and plant pots that covered every available inch of the window ledge and lined the house wall, he would have mistaken it for a place to learn gardening or something similar.

He knocked, and a lady answered the door. She had an apron, brown smears on her face, and muddy hands. The name tag above her read ‘Jenny Potter.’

“Yes?” she greeted. “Can I help you?”

“I’ve heard that you teach the [Pottery] profession. I was wondering if I could learn it?” Jack tried.

“Of course. This town takes pride in its hospitality. We help the adventurers passing by in whatever way we can. Here, step right in.”

Even though he had expected to find a workshop solely devoted to pottery, Jenny’s house looked normal. The only hint of pottery he could see were the many decorative vases and the different earthenware pots and jars scattered throughout the kitchen. Jenny had a cozy fire on the kitchen's hearth with a cauldron placed over it. The lid trembled and shook as steam from a delicious stew fought to break out. Compared to the stench of the leather workshop, this was the best-smelling workshop yet.

She gestured invitingly toward the table, where there was what he guessed was a half-finished pot. “You can sit over there. Let me get you a little bit of clay so we that we can get started.”

She walked over to a box at the corner of the kitchen and groaned as she pulled the heavy lid. She removed a wet, muddy cloth and reached into the box with both hands, pushing, pulling, and finally taking a blob of wet brown clay from it. “Here, you’ll be working with this.”

She covered the clay in the box with the damp cloth and closed the lid.

“Why do you do that?” asked Jack.

“What?”

“Put a cloth in? Close the lid?”

“If the clay is too dry, you can’t mold it. This keeps the clay fresh and moist,” she answered with a smile, happy to see Jack taking an interest.

She approached the table and sat facing him. “Let’s start with your lesson then. This is earthenware, a type of clay. We’ll start by working with it, alright?”

Jack touched the wet blob. He had expected it to feel like plasticine, but it was surprisingly cool and yucky.

“Dig your hands in it; feel how it’s soft and moldable?” Jenny said encouragingly.

Jack twitched his mouth. Even after a gentle touch, his hands were already dirty, and he felt the urge to wash them. His legs tensed, ready to take him away from this disgusting job, but he heard Lydia’s voice in his head. “You’re not trying.” He then heard his father’s reprimanding tone, saying, “Why are you lazy, son? Why you don’t want to work?” Finally, he heard Ezekiel. “Try. Please try it.”

Jack closed his eyes and dug his hands into the clay.

Ch. 3 - Too Dusty

INDEX

Ch. 5 - Muddy Hands