“Yikes,” Jack exclaimed as he studied his new tinderbox. Compared to it, Saul’s was luxurious! The box was rough and brittle; a few pieces of wood barely held together. Even with it closed, the cracks were wide enough for Jack to see its contents. There was the same black stone Saul called flint and another rock. It was shiny and sparkled with a golden sheen. Apparently this rock was a replacement for firesteel.
He grabbed the two rocks and, recalling Saul’s earlier lesson, squatted over the pile of dry grass and tried hitting them at an angle. The shape of the rocks wasn’t as convenient as Saul’s tinderbox’s had been, and the flint hit his thumb instead of hitting the golden rock. It took some twisting and turning until he could find a way to hold the rocks that actually allowed him to hit them together. Nothing happened on the first couple of hits. Only on the sixth try did some sparks fly out.
Emboldened by some success, Jack licked his lip and tried again, carefully positioning the objects over the grass pile. Nothing happened. Jack tried a few more times. Was it his impression, or was it harder to get sparks with this tinderbox? Nevertheless, he kept stubbornly trying. On his 26th try, a floating text appeared.
Warning! [Rudimentary Tinderbox]’s durability is running low.
Alarmed, he inspected the object and paled.
Rudimentary Tinderbox (Common)
Crafting grade: D
Item description: A very simple box containing a piece of pyrite and a piece of flint. It can be used to start fires.
Item effects:
Can start low-temperature fires using common materials. Requires [Kindle].
Durability: 1
“What?! But I just bought this piece of garbage!” Jack shouted, drawing the curious attention of a few players within earshot. Jack passed his hand through his hair. When he had purchased this tinderbox, it had come with eight durability! It had already gone down to one? "You've got to be kidding me," Jack muttered, staring at the tinderbox. Eighty coppers wasted, and he didn’t even get a fire going yet.
The rocks and the box were flashing red, and Jack’s best guess was that the tinderbox would break if he kept pushing. Biting his lip, he pressed forward and hit the pyrite against the flint again. He got some sparks but failed to start the fire.
Jack was sweating profusely now, hands shaking. At any moment, his tinderbox would break. The pressure was overwhelming. At any point, his 83 copper would all be shot into oblivion. It felt like he was trying to defuse a bomb. One wrong move and everything could blow up in his face.
He hit it three more times and finally lucked out. The sparks ignited the grass, and he finally managed to get the fire going. The tinderbox hadn’t broken, but maybe it would in one or two more hits.
Congratulations! You’ve crafted [Low-Temperature Fire].
+10XP in [Bushcraft]
Seeing how he had finally started a fire, Jack felt his heart split into two. Part of him urged him to rush and fire the pots, while the other wanted to curse at whoever had made this lousy, stinky tinderbox.
He got all his bone-dry pots out of the inventory and started placing them on the fire.
-3
You’re burning.
-2HP every second.
-2
+1
-2
+1
“Ouch!” It looked like the mittens Jenny had lent him earlier weren’t just for show. The fire damaged him, and he was even given a debuff. Luckily for him, being near the fire granted some basic HP regeneration, which partially offset the damage.
+1
-3
+1
Jack winced as the fire licked his skin. He gritted his teeth, refusing to let the burn slow him down.
-3
+1
When he placed the last of the ten pots, the progress bar on the first one finished filling. Jack dove his hands into the fire, getting hurt again.
You’ve single-fired [Earthenware Gardening Pot].
+5XP in [Pottery]
-3
Congratulations! You’ve crafted [Earthenware Gardening Pot].
+10XP in [Pottery]
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
He allowed himself a quick glance at his HP bar and realized in horror that it was only half-full.
"Pottery’s going to kill me at this rate," Jack muttered, forcing himself to keep moving despite the pain. He couldn't believe he was risking his life for some pots.
Even though he was panicking, the progress bar on the second pot had finished filling, and he hurriedly removed it from the fire, too.
You’ve single-fired [Earthenware Gardening Pot].
+5XP in [Pottery]
-3
+1
-2
+1
Congratulations! You’ve crafted [Earthenware Gardening Pot].
+10XP in [Pottery]
“Inventory!” Jack called out. As he picked up the third pot, he hurriedly grabbed one of the ointments, which was basically a leaf wrapped in a cloth, and smeared it on his burns. Even though the motion only took a few seconds, it prevented him from grabbing the pot as it finished firing. It didn’t crack or break, however. It just started to flash red, and Jack safely removed it in time
You’ve single-fired [Earthenware Gardening Pot].
+5xp in [Pottery]
Congratulations! You’ve crafted [Earthenware Gardening Pot].
+20xp in [Pottery]
You’ve used [Aloe Ointment].
+5hp every 10 seconds.
The system allowed a slight delay between the pot firing and him taking it out of the fire. [Aloe Ointment]’s effect had also kicked in, and he was starting to recover a little health. Hopefully, he would survive this battle against these pots. The last thing he needed was to die from making ceramics. Just how lame would that be? Dying from pottery would be a new low.
Jack kept removing the pots as soon as they finished firing, and by the time he was done, his HP bar only had a little sliver left. He watched the burn effect fighting against the HP recovery triggered by his nearness to the fire and the [Aloe Ointment]’s effect and sighed in relief as it began recovering. The burning effect finally wore off, and Jack collapsed to the ground. Who knew that making pots could be such a rush?
He checked the results of his labors, and his eyes widened at a notification that he had missed while fighting for his life.
Congratulations! You’ve crafted [Earthenware Gardening Pot].
+10XP in [Pottery]
You’ve reached level 2 in [Pottery]!
You’ve learned a new pottery recipe: [Slip].
You’ve learned a new pottery skill: [Glazing].
Jack allowed himself a small smile. Level 2 in pottery. One down, eight to go. He wasn’t done yet, but it was a good start. He also checked the pots he’d made. He had crafted six E-grade pots, similar to his first ones. However, four of them had turned out a little better.
Earthenware Gardening Pot (Common)
Crafting Grade: D
Durability: 4
Effects: You can keep level 1 plants in it.
D-grade granted no bonuses or penalties. Going through the notifications, he noticed that whenever he crafted an E-grade pot, he only got 10XP in [Pottery]. However, when he got a D grade, he got double that. That meant that the cost of the items wasn’t the only thing that improved with quality. The experience granted was also affected.
He watched the fire’s durability dropping, and excited with his new creations, stored them in his inventory. It was a relief that pots did stack, provided they had the same grade. They only created stacks of five, though. Three inventory slots were enough to store all his crafted items.
Looking at the fire, he couldn’t help but shake his head. It had taken him 83 coppers to start it, and it would die off soon. Before he ran off, he decided to make the most out of this costly fire. He would sit for a moment and let his HP and stamina fully recover. He needed a break. Crafting these pots had been too intense.
He stayed near the burning grass until the fire went out. Once the flames died off, Jack squinted. He spotted an item in the remains of the fire. Jack dug his hands into the warm ashes and grabbed a handful of black dust.
You've collected 2x[Ash]. Added to your inventory.
Ash (Common)
Description: the carbonized remains of a fire.
Durability: 5
Since it was a common material, he could collect it thanks to the [Forage] skill from the bushcraft minor. He wondered what kind of applications this ingredient had.
Burning roughly two stacks of dry grass only got him two ashes in return, making it a rarer item. He decided to hold onto it. After selling stacks of clay in the marketplace, and especially after firing the pots, he had a generous amount of free inventory slots.
Having rested from the stress of crafting while burning himself, he examined the new skill and recipe he learned from leveling [Pottery].
Slip (Common)
Ingredients: [Water], [Clay].
Recipe: Add water to a lump of clay until it forms a watery paste.
Requirements: [Pottery], lvl. 2
It looked like nothing special, just a mush of water and clay. He couldn’t mold anything with such a mix, could he? He went on to check his new skill.
Glaze, lvl. 1
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 [Slip] as glazing;
Grants +2 durability to a pot.
Before he knew it, he had already gotten the answer to his previous question. Glazing was some sort of coating, like varnish on wood, that enhanced a pot's effects. Slip was the only glaze he could use at the time. He frowned. Coating a pot with a mix of clay and water? Weren't they the same materials? He couldn't understand what kind of benefit there was to doing this, but he shrugged. He would just try it and see what happened.
Just as he prepared to make a quick run to the shop, he looked at the setting sun and realized that he wouldn't have many more hours of sunlight. Looking at his half-empty inventory, he decided to make his trip to the marketplace count. From his earlier experience with the rudimentary tinder box, he already knew that leveling bushcraft by starting fires was madness. It would cost him a fortune! He was much better off making cordage, which granted similar experience points and didn’t require an expensive tinderbox.
Even though he hadn't checked the prices in the marketplace, he was sure that cords could fetch him at least some coppers. Jack started yanking the long blades of grass around him, leaving them to dry in the sunlight. He didn't even run the numbers; he just pulled up all the grass from the surrounding area until he had formed a grassless circle roughly 10 meters in diameter. He imagined that from a helicopter, it would look like a yellowish-brown dot in the middle of a sea of green.
RobbieRobber is calling you.
Finally. He had been waiting for his cousin to call him back. He was afraid of pestering him too much, so he had been patiently waiting for him to take the initiative. It looked like his cousin hadn’t grown tired of him yet.
“Hey, Robert!”
“So, how's it going, man? Are you a little more comfortable moving around in the game?”
“Yeah, sort of. I've been keeping myself busy.”
“Good, good.”
“Uh… And you? What are you up to?” Jack tried.
“I just finished an expedition.”
“Oh? Is that when they send you outside of the wall?”
“Yeah. They post a list of what they need. I had to hunt three megaloceros, and there was also a gathering side quest. Nailed it.”
Hearing the fancy, ancient-sounding name, Jack couldn’t help but feel excited. He recalled the scene portrayed in the bus with a player valiantly fighting against a giant many times his size. Was his cousin at that level? “Rob, can you already hunt dinosaurs?”