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HC: Handyman | Ch. 57 - Reel
🕑 Added 2024-06-19 12:51:40 +0000 UTCWhen Jack's figure reappeared in Master Kevin's cavern, he immediately located the NPC. He was looking under a microscope, mumbling complaints. Jack was unsure what Master Kevin was using the gadget for, but he was happy that the NPC was distracted. That gave him enough time to figure out his next move.
Before he even got to explore the details of the handyman class, there was a more pressing decision to make: should he keep pretending he was a hunchback? When they had first met, he had pretended to be a hunchback for fear that Master Kevin would hold on to the rewards if he suspected he’d been peeking through the keyhole. However, he had already received the reward for the quest. What was the worst thing that could happen? He had nothing to lose now.
He stood up straight and walked over to Master Kevin with confident steps. “Mr. Kevin! Mr. Kevin! It's a miracle. I'm healed!”
“Uh?! What?” Master Kevin looked at Jack from top to bottom, jumping from the squeaky stool he’d been sitting on and circling him a few times. “Healed? I thought being a hunchback was a severe condition. How can you be healed?”
“I don't know, Master Kevin. Since I became a handyman, I feel strangely powerful.” Jack said as he looked at the palms of his hands, closing them and opening them again. “This is the highest path Master Kevin. I feel so strong!”
The short, stocky NPC was thrown aback by Jack's claims. “Really? Healed? Because you became a handyman?”
Jack nodded furiously, hoping that the NPC would buy it. After a few more inspection rounds, Master Kevin seemed to finally accept the explanation. “Well, the truth is that handymen are the best. And I do like the sound of that word. Master. Well, I'm glad that you’re healed!”
Jack let out a relieved sigh. At least he could walk straight in front of this NPC from now on. Since Master Kevin was the one who gave him his class, chances were that he would have to keep coming back here. Seeing that the NPC was about to return to his microscope, Jack stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Excuse me, master. When you helped me take my first steps in this highest of paths, you asked me to learn pottery and bushcraft.” Hearing how Master Kevin had appreciated being called master, he kept buttering him up.
“Yes. So?” Mr. Kevin said, shrugging, trying to hide how happy he was to be addressed with such respect.
“I was wondering. Was there a reason for those two, master?”
“I just chose them at random. Ha!” The NPC laughed at his remark as if it was a funny joke he had heard for the first time.
Jack blinked his eyes a few times, nostrils flaring. “At random?”
“Yes! I could have just as easily told you to learn fishing and skinning. I just wanted to see you sweat. Pottery and bushcraft were the funniest combinations I could think of.”
For a moment, Jack imagined a giant cave like this, hidden under every beginner village with obnoxious stocky NPCs choosing minors at random and handing quests out to noobs, making their lives miserable. He’d been working hard over the past few days because of an NPC’s thoughtless whim?! Seeing how calloused this NPC was, he hesitated. Should he ask him? Biting his lip, he decided he had nothing to lose.
“Do you have any suggestions for the next two minors I should learn?”
Master Kevin’s eyes were leaning against the contraption of lenses. Up close, Jack saw he was using two small metal needles to fix a small device. It was precise, detailed work. Was this the tinkering minor? Or engineering? After moments of silent concentration, he pulled his eyes away from the microscope and stared at Jack squarely.
“Nope. No suggestions. It's up to you. Law of demand and supply, my boy. Just find what people need and offer them your services. That's how we, handymen, stay in business. Those specializing in only one craft are at the mercy of the tides. However, we can adapt. We can evolve. We are not bound by a small clientele. You can do everything you want! Now, I need to go back to work.”
Jack’s shoulders slumped, and he dragged himself back to the armchair in the cave. Since Master Kevin wasn’t in a helping mood, he would at least use his comfortable armchair while researching the different minors available.
Jack activated the web browser. “Guides. Minors,” he mumbled. He found a website with a comprehensive list of minors in a neat chart. Instead of sorting them alphabetically, Jack sorted them by type. The list was shuffled into different sections.
There was one group devoted to gathering professions. It included mining, fishing, lumberjacking, herbalism, skinning, beekeeping, etc… Jack immediately skipped over it. He could already gather many resources with the [Forage] skill. That wasn’t what he needed most right now. He needed to make himself an asset in a hunt and to be able to craft equipment.
He headed to the next group on the list: craft minors. There were tinkerers, glassblowers, potters, florists, and… beekeepers? Seeing beekeeping again, Jack frowned. Wasn’t that on the list of gathering professions? He circled back, and sure enough, it was. Was this a mistake? Had they tagged the profession twice by accident? Shrugging, he scrolled to the next section of the guide.
There was a group of specialized minors tagged under miscellany. He spotted Rob’s minor there: [Locksmithing]. There were also appraisers, bushcrafters, recyclers, and others.
Finally, he landed on the section that interested him most: combat minors. He found a couple of names he recognized. There were the trapper and poisoner professions. Horace had used [Trapper] to capture beasts, while Marie used [Poisoner]’s soporifics to keep them asleep. It was a powerful combo! Should he choose one of them? He looked through the other options and gasped. “Beekeeping again? Uh?”
Curious about why beekeeping would be featured in so many different sections, he couldn’t hold his curiosity.
Beekeeping
Do you like kingdom management games? Do you enjoy sitting back and seeing someone do the hard work for you? Do you want a profession that lets you do a bit of gathering and crafting and can supplement your DPS to boot? Then look no further! Welcome to the world of beekeeping!
A beekeeper has to manage one or more colonies of bees. This involves checking in on them daily. If you ignore your colony often, you risk them getting sick and dying off, but once you get the hang of it, it can be done reasonably quickly, and bees will generally care for themselves.
Beekeepers can produce honey, beeswax, and other specialty products and breed queens to sell to other aspiring beekeepers. As you keep progressing in the profession, the yield of your colonies will increase, and you’ll be able to generate more profit. Once you reach the beekeeper journeyman level, you can start making candles, which are a great way to heal and buff your hunting partners, and at journeyman level 10, you can even command the bees to attack enemies with the [Swarm] Skill. It’s limited to the area where your colony is, though, and has severe limitations. Even so, with the right planning, you can have an army of bees under your command.
For the first few months of the game, the secrets to unlock this minor were kept under wraps, and honey and queen bees were sold at a premium in auctions. As more players unlocked it, and the secret to unlock the minor came out, the number of beekeepers increased, and therefore, the demand for the items in auctions plummeted. Even so, there’s always a demand for beekeepers' products, and you can guarantee a steady profit in the marketplace.
Keep in mind that a colony needs a place to be in. You can’t carry it around with you all the time. Therefore, factor in the rental or purchase of a lot of land or house into the profit margin before you commit to it.
To learn more about this minor, visit the entomology section at the local zoo and stare at the bee exhibit for 10 hours. That will prompt a dialogue with an NPC, triggering the quest that grants you this profession.
Pros:
Incredibly versatile
Good potential! You can level it up to journeyman
Gathering, crafting, and combat all in one
Cons:
Requires daily management
Limited profit
Requires owning land or a house
Rank: B
Jack finally understood why this profession was featured in so many sections. It was similar to bushcraft: it let him do a little of everything. Even though the part about swarming enemies sounded cool, something else caught his eye. He could buff allies with candles.
He looked for an example of a recipe and promptly found one.
Spicy Candle (Uncommon)
Description: A candle made with hot peppers and beeswax. Infuses the people around it with strength and energy.
Effects: Burn it to increase the damage of allies by 10%.
There were many other options. Candles that boosted defense, life recovery, stamina, etc.… He envisioned Horace charging a dinosaur, followed by Amari and Marie, while Jack sat in the back burning candles and waving a fan to get the perfume over to his allies. It sounded useful, safe, and different. Maybe this was it! Maybe this was how he would make himself a relevant hunting party member.
Regardless, Jack closed the window, saved [Beekeeping] in his favorites, and scrolled through the other options, looking for more. Ultimately, nothing else among the combat-oriented minors caught his eye like beekeeping. “So, imagining that I learned this minor, what else should I learn to synergize with it?” he asked himself.
Suddenly, sharp, playful tones echoed across the cavern, and Jack jolted upright. “A flute?” The pigs running amok in the cave and the birds nesting in the nooks and crevices stampeded toward the source of the sound. Jack couldn’t help but join them.
Kevin daftly moved his fingers as he played a mellow tune. The pigs settled around him, swaying with the melody, while the birds perched on nearby nooks, chirping along to the music.
That brutish NPC looked completely different behind that flute. He looked so refined and gentle. Jack’s hand fidgeted. How long had it been since he played? It had been months. Years. He hadn’t picked a guitar since he was turned down. Every time he thought of music, all he felt was empty bitterness. All those hours of practice. All that effort. For what?
Despite the rush of sad memories, music was still in his mind. He couldn’t help but identify the key Kevin was playing and think of arpeggios and riffs that would go well with the tune. He quieted all of that down and tried to focus solely on the melody. It was a beautiful tune. For a real flute player to play this well, it would take them at least five years, three if they practiced hard.
Why was Master Kevin playing? Could this be one of his professions? Jack respectfully waited for the melody to end. Nothing was more irritating than being interrupted by a thoughtless remark when playing. He knew. That’s what happened that day.
Seeing Kevin putting the flute down, Jack approached. “Master Kevin! That was a beautiful tune.”
“Thank you.”
“Why were you playing, if I may ask?”
“The animals spend a lot of time in this cave. Keeping them happy goes a long way to keep them well-behaved.”
Jack gulped as his mind raced. This looked like a profession to him! He quickly opened the library of minors, looking for anything related to music. There was nothing. However, that didn’t mean it didn’t exist. Didn’t he have a hidden class? What guarantee did he have that there wasn’t a hidden minor? “Could you teach me how to play?”
Kevin’s eyebrow raised. “Do you like music?” Jack recalled all those hours of writing, recording, and editing. The call that had filled him with hope and then the devastating remarks that had shattered his dreams. “Y-yes.”
“Good! Come here. I'll play. You can sing.”
“W-what?” Jack asked, embarrassed, but Kevin had already begun playing. From the way he accented the bar's first and third beats and the even, fast beats, it sounded like an Irish reel. Not exactly the kind of music Jack was used to. There was a part A where the melody went up and a part B where it went down. Jack heard the whole thing, trying to think of words that went with the melody.
It’s been a long time since I last sang. He thought to himself. Clearing his throat, Jack joined in.
Ch. 56 - A Blessing or a Curse?
