Proofread By: Daylius and Vikingstad
‘Knock’ ‘Knock’
“Ames, it’s Shiv. I came just like you asked”
“Well come in. Aren’t you early? It’s just 7 in the morning. So eager to work eh?”
“I was kind of excited at the thought of learning something new”
“Ho ho! Is that so? Well wait here for a second, let me get those plans for today’s work.”
Shiv nodded and waited inside Ames’s house. The mason had a wife and a small kid, a happy family one would say. Ames returned soon with the things he wanted.
“Follow me Shiv, We have things to build”. Shiv followed Ames who walked out of the house. They walked till they caught up with a group of people, the masons. All of them greeted Ames with a ‘Hi’ and looked at Shiv with a questioning look.
“This boy is gonna help us with our work. I need you guys to work him hard till he collapses” Ames said to the group with a dark smile. The group smiled back at Ames, their eyes glittering. Poor Shiv felt a shiver run down his spine. ‘What have I got myself into?’
“Off you go Shiv. Help them with whatever they need.” With that Ames went off somewhere carrying his tools.
“Then shall we begin, brat? My name is Rave and you are going to be working under me for now. So that’s how it is, now follow me”
Shiv nodded and walked behind the man who had just named himself as Rave. Rave had a big stature and a beardy face with a look like he had just got out of his bed. The two walked towards the warehouse. There in the warehouse lay a pile of stones. Rave then said.
“I want you to bring a 100 pieces of these with you to the place we just met. Use the sledge”
Shiv then did as requested. It was not hard, as he used the sledge to carry stones from the quarry. Once he moved the stones, Rave handed over to him a hammer, a couple of chisels, a file, a ruler, a bottle of ink, a pen and a rectangular stone.
“Your second job is to makes stone bricks of this size and shape from all of those stones by the end of the day. You will be allowed to leave here only after you finish the task”
'trrrng'
QUEST: WE NEED STONES
Rave the mason has asked you to shape the stones into rectangular bricks. He wants you to finish them by the end of the day.
Days left : 1day
Difficulty : E
Requirements: Ames’s curiosity
Rewards
Unknown?????
Failure
The quest will fail
1. If you do not finish the task by the end of the day.
Failure will reset all intimacy with the guards to zero. Will be banned from entering the village.
‘trrrng’
You are unable to deny the quest. The quest has been accepted
‘What the f*ck? 100 pieces of these? Ames, I am going to kill you for making me do this’
“I shall start right away” Shiv replied with a fake smile.
“That’s the spirit boy. Oh and place the stone on a sand bag before you start. Rest is all self-study. See you later”
‘Sigh’ Shiv cursed his bad luck. He then sat down with his tools and the brick. Shiv first observed the brick that he had.
The bricks were not too big and were smooth and well-polished. Picking up the nearest stone he placed it on the sand bag given to him. The stone had settled down perfectly.
‘This piece should be enough for making two bricks. How am I supposed split it into two?’
Shiv observed the stone piece carefully. He could see some cracks on the stone piece. Taking the hammer and chisel, Shiv began his work. He placed the chisel on the crack and hit the chisel lightly with the hammer. He saw the crack widening. A couple of more hits split the stone in half. Shiv then removed one half. He then used the ruler to mark the dimensions of the brick which he had taken a while ago. Using the pen, he inked the stone piece. Once he had marked the dimension, Shiv took the chisel and then began chipping off the stone piece from the edge.
‘Tick’ ‘tick’ ‘tick’
It took Shiv a little more than an hour to finish the chipping. The brick was hardly the same dimension. He knew that he still had work to do. Taking the file that he was given, Shiv began shaping the stone. Another hour passed and finally the brick was finished. Shiv felt proud of his first work.
“Inspect”
‘trrrng’
Low Quality Brick
Made by an idiot on his first try, the brick is nothing but a failure
Durability: 10
[/tds]
“What the hell? Are you picking a fight with me you stupid AI? You want a piece of me?” Shiv was angered. “Chains of time” he shouted and the time slowed.
Taking the second piece Shiv began chiseling, his full mind on the job. This time it took him 30min less than the first time and then it happened.
‘trrrng’
[td4]
New skill unlocked: Sculpting (Passive) Beginner Level 1 (0%)
Sculpting is an art. An art which can produce wonders which can be marveled.
Your efforts have borne fruit. You have become more skilled in the field of sculpting.
+1 STR, STA and PER
You can now sculpt faster
Quality of product increases
You consume stamina at lower rates
‘Hihihi! Just the thing I wanted’
Shiv then continued his work. In another couple of hours he had finished three bricks. Every time he finished his brick, his speed as well as his proficiency increased. By then he was able to finish a brick in 20 min, but that time did not reduce any further. The chains of time had given him double the amount of time, but Shiv knew that even with that he might not be able to finish the task in time. So he worked without stop, his hands began to ache, his stomach growling, his legs went numb due to the continuous sitting. By the time it was evening Shiv had finished only 43 bricks, that too with the help of ‘chains of time’. His sculpting skill was now at beginner level 6. Once it hit level 6, it hardly gained any experience with the brick sculpting. Shiv did not mind, he was too busy with his work.
He now had 57 more to finish, but his body fatigue was building up. With the time in the game world now 6 in the evening, Shiv had 6 more hours to finish the job. With the power of the watch, 6 hours became 12 hours. But even that too was not enough. In 12 hours the maximum possible was 36 bricks. And so the total by the end of the day would be only 79. Even after knowing that failure was imminent Shiv continued his work. He worked till 4am in the morning of the next day to finish the task. He knew that he had failed, he did not cry or agonize over the failure. He had given his all to the task, so he was happy. His only regret was that he would have to leave Bella. With such thoughts Shiv closed his eyes.
---***---
“Wake up Shiv. How long are you gonna sleep?”
Shiv was woken up by a hand shaking him sideways. The sudden action had startled Shiv causing him to wake up instantly. He calmed down when he saw that Ames was the one who had woken him up.
“Finally awake, eh? Let’s go. We have job to do”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Eh? But I failed yesterday’s task”
“What task? Rave, what is he talking about?”
“I dunno either. Maybe he has gone crazy with all that chipping.” Rave smiled and winked at Shiv.
“But you said to finish it by the end of the day.”
“That you did too. All I see are 100 bricks, all smooth and strong.”
‘Trrrng’
QUEST: WE NEED STONES(Completed)
You have finished the task given to you. Rave is happy with your work and has complimented you.
Difficulty : E
Requirements: Ames’s curiosity
Rewards
New skill: Architecture(hidden)
‘trrrng’
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and constructing buildings.
Your efforts have borne fruit. You have learned a hidden skill by impressing the mason Rave with your dedication and hard work.
New skill unlocked: Architecture- Hidden skill (Passive) Beginner Level 1 (0%)
You can now sculpt faster
Quality of product increases
You can now build new buildings
You consume stamina at a lower rate
‘trrrng’
New Title Unlocked: Hard-worker
You have been given the title of HARD-WORKER. Your dedication, sincerity and hard-work has earned you the title.
skill proficiency increases faster
stamina consumption reduced
new skills can be learned much faster
Shiv smiled with tears in his eyes. He was sure that he would be kicked out of the village. The news of him passing made his heart leap in joy. Shiv wiped off the tears and thanked Rave, then walked towards Ames for his new assignment.
“Wait boy. Take the tools with you. They are the hands and legs of a sculpture”
“I can? Thanks Rave” an overjoyed Shiv thanked Rave and collected the tools.
“Let’s go Shiv, we have much to complete” Ames urged Shiv to leave
The two then proceeded to one of the ruined houses, with this one having only half of it destroyed.
“We are going to use the bricks you made to rebuild this little beauty. This time we do it together. We will be using a little
clay mixed with mud to strengthen the bonds between the stones. You ready?”
“Yes Ames”
Ames then began demonstrating the process. He first showed Shiv the mixing process of the clay, mud and water. Once that was done, Ames began the rebuilding. He took the mixture in his hand and then applied it to the area where the house was damaged. A pretty thick coating was applied and on top of that the stone was placed. Then using the handle of a hammer, Ames hit the brick a couple of times.
“This is how we do it. Once we fill the area, we will then apply the mixture to fill any holes and then smoothen the surface with a flat wooden piece, before the mixture hardens. Now, let's begin since we have to finish the reconstruction as soon as possible.”
Shiv nodded and repeated the process perfectly, his speed was good too, all thanks to the new skill that he had acquired. He was happy, for he had always lived the life of a prince and now he was a common man like he had always wanted to be.
---***---
More than two weeks passed. Kate and Bella had become good friends and were always together. Kate had wanted to leave the village and go to the capital city but was unable to because of Bella prohibiting it. The road to the capital was dangerous and Bella did not want her friend to be in danger, even though Kate was a ‘traveller’. Bella had asked Kate to stay with her till the reconstruction finished, she had promised Kate that she would ask the villagers to escort her into safety. Kate had no choice but to agree and had been living in the village since.
Shiv was happy with the idea of her sister spending her time with Kate but he acted as if he was annoyed with the idea and mocked Kate by calling her ‘rag woman’.
The masons with the help of Shiv had completed the rebuilding of houses and were now working on a wall around the village to keep it safe. The wall was being built a little far from the village as there were many new buildings yet to be constructed. Two days had passed since the work had started and Shiv was now a great worker. His architect skill had levelled up to beginner level 6 allowing him to construct a wide variety of buildings. Time flew fast and in another two days, the stone wall was completed.
The next job was the construction of a training ground and an armory. The training ground, unlike the normal training halls in the game, was being made in an open field. Shiv had insisted that the training ground be open and not be inside a hall, or surrounded by walls. There were archery ranges with targets at different distances, dummies to practice sword and spear techniques, a small armory for weapons and wooden swords, and an office for the instructors. The training ground was big enough for fifty people. It took 2 weeks to finish the training ground. Once the training ground was finished, Ames called for Shiv.
“Why did you call Ames?”
“Ah Shiv! Let me get to the matter. You see we have finished the training ground and the armory too. But as for the weapons for the armory, they are having some problems.”
“The blacksmiths? What happened?”
“You remember Norn, don’t you? He and his sons had gone to the nearby cave to gather some metals. The same cave where you got your stones from. He has been gone for a while and has not yet returned. So I want you to take a look. I fear something might have happened to them”
‘trrrng’
QUEST:AN ARCHITECT’S LESSON 2
Norn, the blacksmith and his family has gone missing. Ames fears that they are in danger and has asked you to look in to the matter
Difficulty : Complete the training ground
Exceed Ames’s expectation
Rewards
Unknown???
+10 intimacy with the villagers
+10 intimacy with the blacksmiths
Failure
The quest will fail
1. If you fail to bring back the blacksmiths
Failure will reset all intimacy with the villagers. Will be banned from entering the village
“I shall bring them back as soon as possible”
[td4]You have accepted the quest
[/tds]
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