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HC: Handyman | Ch. 51 - Pit
🕑 Added 2024-06-10 10:20:02 +0000 UTCJack stared at the two vases before him. One was small and sturdy. He had kept its walls thick.
Small Earthenware Vase (Uncommon)
Crafting grade: B
Description: A beautiful piece of ceramics beautifully carved and worked by an experienced potter.
Effect: When performing any activity that boosts experience while near this vase, you can gain 5% more experience points at the expense of its durability.
B-grade bonus: +5% bonus experience.
Durability: 16
Artistry: 5
Its durability was quite high, and it granted a 5% bonus experience. Jack compared it with the second vase. This one was taller and looked more delicate. He had made its walls as thin as the pinching method allowed, stretching the clay to increase the vase's volume.
Small Earthenware Vase (Uncommon)
Crafting grade: B
Description: A beautiful piece of ceramics beautifully carved and worked by an experienced potter.
Effect: When performing any activity that boosts experience while near this vase, you can gain 5% more experience points at the expense of its durability.
B-grade bonus: +6% bonus experience.
Durability: 10
Artistry: 5
Because the clay was thinner, the vase was more fragile and had poorer durability. Conversely, it offered a better XP bonus.
When Jack first stumbled upon vases with different XP bonuses, he assumed the difference was related to the artistry stat. After several crafting attempts, he finally managed to craft two vases with the same grade and artistry value, allowing him to finally confirm his suspicions. The artistry had nothing to do with it. It was all a matter of volume. The larger the vase, the more bonus XP it granted.
Jack glanced over at the bone-dry, large, coiled vase at the edge of the camp. Just how much XP would that behemoth of a vase grant? His desire to finish making the coiled pot was rekindled. All he had to do was to find a way to fire it in this cursed jungle! Where was a kiln when he needed it?
“Excuse me?”
Jack whirled toward the sound and found two new customers. They looked to be over level 10, the norm among his customers. “Hi there! Please have a seat by the fire. Two servings?”
“Yes, please.”
The mushrooms at the edge of the clearing had respawned, saving Jack the hassle of leaving his base of operations. He brought the ingredients to the fire and took out an earthenware gardening pot. He filled it with water and put the mushrooms in it, whistling while seasoning the [Survival Stew] with salt and pepper.
“So? Do any of you fellows have the miner profession?”
“I do,” the player with a bow strapped around his back replied, looking at Jack’s cooking utensils with a raised brow.
Jack’s heart skipped a beat. Finally, he had hit the jackpot! “I’ll serve you guys for free if you can just do me a little favor,” Jack offered without ever taking his eyes off the pot. It had already begun to crack.
“M-Mister, are you sure that will work? Isn’t that a gardening pot?" the other player asked, exchanging a nervous look with his companion.
"Oh yeah, it will. I've tried it before. I'm sorry, I've run out of cooking pots, so I have to make do with what I have." Jack noticed the pot's durability lower to one and put his hands on the fire, transferring the contents of the almost-broken pot into a fresh one. “See? Easy-peasy!” The progress bar kept filling in the new container, and finally, the stew finished cooking.
Congratulations! You’ve crafted [Survival Stew].
+50xp in [Bushcraft]
Survival Stew (Common)
Crafting grade: D
Item description: A nutritious meal from ingredients you’ve foraged in the wild.
Item effects:
+1 stamina per second for three minutes.
Durability: 3
Even though the gardening pot stews negatively affected the food’s grade, they still replenished some stamina. Unfortunately, it was insufficient to fully refill a larger, depleted stamina bar, meaning he often had to make two servings per patron. While some of his customers frowned at seeing his unconventional cooking methods, they didn't seem to mind it as long as they left the camp with full stamina.
Jack tried not to think too much of his reduced profit margin. He had to use double the ingredients and factor in the time he spent making gardening pots for cooking into his profit margin. He was throwing precious coppers into the bin with each broken pot.
However, it wasn’t all bad. He had made so many pots that it was impossible to carry them all back to the city. Instead of letting them rot in the jungle, he might use them this way. Pouring the contents of the cracked pot into each bowl, Jack served each of his customers.
“What were you saying about a trade?” the miner asked.
“I need you to dig me a hole where I can bury that vase,” Jack said, pointing at the large coiled vase at the edge of the clearing.
“That’s easy enough. Are you sure you don't want money? Just that hole in the ground?" the player confirmed between slurps.
"Yes."
“It will take some stamina,” the player suggested meaningfully.
“Of course! Don’t worry about it. I’ll ensure you leave my establishment with a full stamina bar.”
The players exchanged a happy look, and the miner stood up. “Where do you want it?”
“Right over there, please.”
The player took a shovel from his inventory and began digging through the forest's soft soil. Jack had expected the miner to have a helmet with a lamp, a pickaxe, and a monkey suit smudged with coal and soot. Seeing an archer in green equipment felt wrong for some reason. Nonetheless, the player lived up to his minor, and in under a minute, he was done. Jack bit his lip. The player had gotten the better end of their deal. Maybe he should have charged for at least one of the stews.
“Is this enough?”
“Yes. Thank you!” Jack poured a fresh serving of [Survival Stew] into a bowl and handed it to the miner. “By the way, do you have any flints?"
"I do. I can sell them to you for 14 coppers apiece."
“14? Why don’t we do 10?” Jack made the counteroffer.
“The least I’ll do is 12.”
“Come on. I just fed you guys for free.”
The miner sighed. "Okay, 11."
“10 flintstones, please!” Jack said, smiling. Since arriving here, he had made 15 gold and had enough to splurge on this experiment. A trade window appeared in front of Jack. He dragged 110 coppers to the window and saw the archer adding ten flints to the other. “Alright! Pleasure doing business with you.”
Jack watched the two players leave the clearing and studied the deep hole in the ground. He filled it with twigs and grass and dragged the man-sized vase into it. He slowly lowered the vase, careful not to break it. Once inside the pit, he filled the vase with dry grass, leaves, and twigs.
He grabbed the tinderbox and made sparks rain into the pit. One of the dry pieces of grass caught fire, and then another, and soon, the whole pit was burning, letting out thick, black smoke.
You’ve crafted [Low-Temperature Fire].
+10 bushcraft xp.
[Junior Firekeeper] has upgraded into [Novice Firekeeper].
Novice Firekeeper (Uncommon)
Description: The smell of fire and smoke lingers in your clothes. You know the flames, and they know you.
Effects: +2 fire resistance.
Conditions to unlock [Junior Firekeeper]:
Keep a fire burning for five hours;
Burn three fires simultaneously.
Jack hadn’t expected such a nice surprise! His title had been upgraded, granting him one additional fire resistance! Looking at the conditions to unlock the title, he gasped. Had he been out in the jungle for five hours? Looking at the clock, he realized it had been longer than that. The title had just been waiting for him to start a third fire before it was upgraded.
Thinking of the time, he wondered how the rest of the gang was doing. He hadn’t heard from them in quite a long time.
A progress bar appeared over the vase. Jack was used to seeing firing bars that quickly filled, but due to the size of this vase, it looked like he was in for some waiting!
Time until [Large Earthenware Vase] dries: 3 minutes.
While the vase bisque-fired, Jack took out all his available vases. The extra XP would go a long way toward helping him reach level 10 in pottery. Once the bar was nearly filled, Jack put on his mittens, entered the thick smoke, and pulled the vase by its handles. Since it was full of burning fuel, the vase felt much heavier than when Jack had put it in. The whole thing was burning hot, too.
Ouch! That’s too hot!
-2hp.
-2hp.
Thankfully, he had mittens and a title that significantly improved his fire resistance. He was also near the tent, and his HP regeneration was enough to offset the fire damage. Groaning, he picked up the hot vase, poured its burning contents into the pit, and carefully placed it on the ground. Jack walked around it and nodded appreciatively.
You’ve bisque-fired [Large Earthenware Vase].
+300xp in [Pottery]
+93xp in [Pottery].
Due to the sheer size of the vase, its XP was off the charts. The collection of vases around him cracked, and one even crumpled to dust, but it was more than worth it.
It was time to glaze this baby! He took one of the flints and placed it in the mortar. It was time to test the new glaze recipe he’d learned at level 6.
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 turmeric glaze would have been even better, but he hadn’t gotten one visitor with turmeric in their inventory. Only chefs tended to use the spice, and they could make their own food. It was unlikely he would come across any out here.
He ground the flint using the harder pestle and mortar. There was a terrible shrilling, scraping sound of rock against rock, and Jack stared, horrified at the pestle and mortar’s durability. Taking comfort in the 15 gold sitting in his inventory, Jack pressed onward, grinding the dark stone and unleashing its minerals. Once the flint had crumbled into dust, he added ash and slip and carefully blended the whole thing.
You’ve crafted [Clear Glaze].
+5xp to [Pottery].
Jack proceeded to cover the tall vase with the glaze. Compared to basic slip, this glaze left little glassy specks on the pot's surface, minerals released by the ground flint. Hopefully, it would make the vase sturdier.
The vase was too large to cover with only one portion of glaze, so Jack was forced to use up the rest of the mortar and pestle's durability to make four more portions. Once satisfied with the sparkling, twinkling glaze covering every inch of the vase, Jack lowered it into the burning pit. He added more twigs, leaves, and dry grass and rubbed his hands as the new progress bar filled.
>>> Marie is calling you <<<
Jack frowned. Why was Marie calling him? He would have expected Amari to contact him. Marie was so unfriendly to him all the time. He took the call. Marie ran through the bush, darting left and right through the thickets.
“Jack! The tent!”
“Uh? What’s going on, Marie?” he said, glancing over at the pit. Only two minutes and his largest creation would be complete.
“The tent! The bugs! Are they awake yet?”
“W-what? WHAT DO YOU MEAN WITH ARE THEY AWAKE YET?”
Jack ran toward the tent. Seeing that the insects were all inside their cages, Jack put his hand to his chest and let out a heavy sigh. “They’re sleeping.”
“Are you sure?! Aren’t they moving?”
Jack gulped and stared at the quiet tent for a few moments. There was movement. One of the mantis’ legs twitched a few times. The antennae of the cockroaches moved from one place to the other, and the sommer crickets’ legs jerked. “THEY ARE…” Jack covered his mouth and left the tent hurriedly. “They are all twitching and moving,” he hissed.
“Argh. I knew it. Listen. I’m on my way. If my calculations are correct, the mantises will awaken in 10 minutes.”
“How long until you get here?”
“20,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Then what do I do?”
“Hold the fort! I’m coming.”
Marie hung up. Jack bit his nails as he watched the increasing rhythm of jerks and twitches inside the tent. “Hold the fort?! How am I going to keep these demons under control?!” He had forgotten about the nasty pests sleeping in his camp. He imagined the mantises swarming him, cutting him into ribbons, while the cockroaches, dragonflies, and crickets fed on his remains.
“Shoot!”
Jack ran toward the pit. He’d been so caught up in the call and imagining his death that he’d forgotten about his vase! The bar was already flashing, and he hurriedly pulled the large vase out of the pit before it broke.
Thankfully, he was just in time. A little longer, and it would have been damaged. As he fished the large vase out of the pit, the surrounding vases cracked and a few were destroyed. Jack studied his newest creation.
