Behind the counter of the Pottery Association stood a short, young NPC. He had a chipped tooth and spoke with a lisp. “Will you be renting a private workshop? Or use the communal one? Both are well equipped, but some of our more experienced potters prefer to keep their privacy.”
Looking at the higher price of a private workshop, Jack twisted his mouth. Even though he owned several gold coins, he didn’t dare call himself rich. He’d seen how fast gold could fly out of his wallet. Also, Felix had told him it was best to work in view of other potters so that he could learn from them. “I’ll just use the communal space. Thank you.”
“Very well. Right that way, sir.”
Jack left the counter, went through the red-bricked hallway, and ignored the cases of glass protecting elaborate vases and porcelain sculptures.
[Pig Skin Swimming Cap] has been sold for two silver and 33 coppers.
Jack clicked his tongue. This was the third notification for the items he had listed at the marketplace, but he had yet to receive news about the two pieces of the junior bugkeeper set on the cash website. Hopefully, he would receive good news sooner rather than later.
The Pottery Association smelled of fire and earth, and it was as deserted as he remembered it, especially after coming straight here from the bustling coach station. A potter was off to the corner, with her hair tied by a bandana, keeping it away from her eyes. She was making bowls out of stoneware. Jack smiled, thinking about how that had been him not long ago.
Looking around, Jack spotted the workstation he’d used last time. As he walked toward it, a workstation hidden by the kilns came into view, and Jack spotted old Felix. A pile of plates, bowls, cups, and cooking pots stood behind him on the table. Some of them were of a beautiful marbled green and white, while others were of a ruby red with black veins. Their glossy finish was stunning.
However, Felix was done with that project and was focused on something else. White clay figurines of a bear were strewn about the table, organized by different stages of completion: some were at the very beginning, only featuring a simple clay disk that served as the base. Others only had the bear’s hind legs. In the next stage of the process, Felix added a headless torso until he finally added the head and forelimbs.
The figurine Felix was currently working on was almost completed. With wrinkled hands, the potter scored the piece with his triceratops horn, adding finer details such as the bear’s fur, sharp claws, and menacing teeth.
It took Jack a few seconds to understand why the old man worked this way. He had set up an assembly line to let the clay set. This logic was similar to the coiling method, but instead of adding coil by coil, the old man added bits to the statue, letting the clay dry before incorporating more details.
Jack couldn't help but wonder how the old man kept track of so much different work happening at various stages. And why didn’t he need a torch like Jack? Did he have a skill Jack wasn’t aware of?
Under Jack’s gaze, the old man finished scoring the piece's details, set it aside for a little more drying, and picked up an armless bear. He rolled a clay tube, folding, kneading, and shaping it into a fore limb.
Seeing the white, plastic-like clay, Jack couldn’t help but ask aloud. “Porcelain?”
The old man looked up from work, adjusted his glasses with a muddied hand, and grinned. Felix’s weathered voice echoed in the empty hall. “Look who it is! The impatient potter. Yes, son. It’s porcelain. Did you come here for another round of crafting?"
"That’s the idea," Jack said happily. “I love the figurines. They’re incredible,” Jack praised, returning the attention to Felix’s work.
"Yes, porcelain lets you create very delicate work, but the truth is, you only know if you did a good job when it goes into the oven. Half of these will crack," the old man explained.
Hearing how the old man had already accepted that half of the sculptures would go to the bin, Jack gasped. “Half of them? Even though you are making them?”
Felix just shrugged, moving on to rolling a ball and shaping it like a bear’s head. “It’s what it is.”
“How much do good ones sell for?” asked Jack, curious.
"The most I got from a bear figurine was 250 gold," the old man replied.
"Woah! That’s serious money.”
The old potter laughed. "Retirement doesn't pay for all my bills, you know? An old man has to make a living somehow."
Seeing how many bears were on the table, Jack couldn't help but feel jealous of the old man. Even if half of these statuettes of bears broke, the table had more than enough bears to cover for a whole year of rent. “Did you get a recipe from a quest?” The old man looked up, frowning. Fearing he had upset him, Jack waved his hands apologetically, “I don’t mean to pry or anything. I’m just curious. You don’t have to give me any details.”
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"I’m not upset. Just surprised. What do you mean by quest? I bought this recipe from the XP store."
"XP store?" Jack asked, blinking a few times.
“Are you level 10 yet?”
Jack stood a little straighter. “Yes, sir! Just reached it yesterday.”
“And you didn’t see the XP store yet?”
“N-no,” Jack admitted.
Felix pointed toward the direction Jack had just come from. "Over there, where you buy recipes. Didn’t you see it when paying the fee to work at the workshop?"
“No. I-I’ll go check it now.” Curious, Jack left Felix working and ran over to the NPC. “Can I see what you have for sale?” Jack asked.
A window appeared, and Jack scrolled through it. There was a never-ending list with several recipes and glazes. Now that he was level 10 in pottery, there was no level cap to overcome anymore. It was all up for grabs. Jack scrolled through it.
“Statue of the fish, statue of the horse, cooking pot, large cauldron,” Jack read aloud, and then, through the blur of different names, one stood out. “Clay warrior? Aren’t those the statues I saw for sale at the marketplace for 100 gold a piece?” Jack’s eyes widened. So that’s where he could buy it! He checked how much it cost and frowned. The recipe wasn’t on sale for gold. It cost one million pottery XP!
Jack scrolled through the other recipes and found that this wasn’t the only one on sale for this new currency. 80% of the recipes, glazes, and techniques could only be purchased using experience points.
"So that's the end game," Jack exclaimed. He had wondered how the game motivated players who reached the maximum level in a profession to stick with it instead of just switching to a new one. Without unlocking new levels, recipes, and such, motivation tended to drop in games like these, and their solution was quite ingenious: they turned pottery XP into a currency.
For example, he would have to craft around the clock for several days, maybe weeks, to accumulate enough XP to purchase the [Clay Warrior] recipe. No wonder old Felix stayed cooped up here for days on end. The list of things to unlock was never-ending.
Enlightened, Jack scrolled back up and read the list carefully. Among the different glazes, Jack found the [Turmeric Yellow Glaze] he received from Professor Alan Grant. It cost 20,000 pottery XP. There was at least one glaze that cost ten times as much. It didn’t matter, though. Jack had no XP to spend right now. None of the pottery XP gained to reach level 10 counted.
Jack patiently went through the list, ignoring all the different recipes for sale. Droplets of sweat formed on his forehead while he patiently scrolled through the list. Once he reached the end, he smirked. The Pottery Association sold no recipes for [Clay Ocarinas]. He couldn’t find [Mud Hut] or [Clay Bombs] either. He was the only one who could make them!
If he had been eager to begin crafting his ocarina before, he was on fire now. Not only did he have the monopoly over clay ocarinas, but the XP he would make here would count toward buying neat stuff later. Better than that, he could immediately start crafting a rare item without grinding for pottery XP.
Walking back to his workstation, he waved at Felix.
“Neat, right?” Felix asked.
"Yes, sir. Fascinating stuff."
"I know. It will keep you busy for a couple of years."
Is he willing to spend years buying everything on that list? "How long have you been level 10 in pottery?" Jack asked, curious.
"Well, I started playing the game as soon as it came out. It was a gift from my son. As you young people say, he's in a big guild." The old man looked up as he counted fingers and rummaged through his memories. "So, I guess I’ve been at level 10 in Pottery for about four months now."
"Four months?!"
"Oh yes.”
“Aren’t you tired of it?”
“Are you kidding me? I haven't bought even 10% of the recipes and glazes available. There's still a lot of experimenting left to do."
Jack couldn't help but look at old Felix with renewed appreciation. To be able to stick with a profession for this long without wavering showed a lot of character. He doubted he could have pulled it off. “Good work, sir. I’ll be working over here.”
“By all means!”
Jack spared Felix’s work one last glance. Instead of staring at the old man’s fortune, Jack decided it was time to make his own. He opened the ocarina recipe to jog his memory.
Earthenware Ocarina
Ingredients: 4x[Earthenware Clay].
Recipe: Shape and hollow out two matching clay halves, then join them, ensuring they are airtight. Add a mouthpiece and create a windway, then puncture finger holes and a sound hole on the body. Let the ocarina dry completely, and tune it by adjusting the finger holes.
Clay Molding, Lvl. 3
Self-Taught, lvl 1.
Handyman, lvl. 10.
The recipe offered no details. It didn’t specify the appropriate size of the ocarina’s body, the length and thickness of the mouthpiece, or even how many holes it should have. The only thing that Jack could deduce based on his knowledge of music was that the smaller the body, the higher-pitched the ocarina would be. Violins were much smaller and high-pitched than a cello, for example.
Did he want an ocarina with a higher pitch or one with more bass? Did it matter? How many holes should the ocarina have? What scale should he make it in? Sighing, Jack took a seat and opened the web browser. Before finding out how to make this thing, he should listen to what it sounded like.
He found the video of someone playing the ocarina. Jack squinted, trying to judge its size, and found it was roughly as large as a potato. The musician brought the mouthpiece to their lips and began to play. Jack was immediately struck by the purity of the notes. Each note was crisp and distinct. The melody was both haunting and beautiful. It reminded him of a flute but had a unique, almost ethereal tone.
Pleasantly surprised with how much he liked the instrument's sound, he focused next on how many holes it had. At first, it seemed only to have eight holes on the top, but after a minute, Jack caught how the ocarinist also moved his thumbs. There was at least one more hole in the bottom.
The musician's fingers danced across the ocarina's surface, sometimes covering multiple holes at once, other times rapidly shifting positions to play complex sequences of notes. As the song's final notes faded away, Jack sat back, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He hadn’t expected to like it so much.
He turned the video off and researched more details about the instrument. He couldn’t wait to try playing the ocarina, too.