Ch 24 Jan 6-Jan 7
“Raven how long since I wrote in my journal?”
“It has been 16 hours since user last wrote in journal.”
So 6 pm Jan 5. time to start writing again.
Writing down my experiments and my thoughts for the new enchantments took a bit of time. Then I started a new page and wrote a letter for my parents. As a way to connect to the outside world. With little to no social contact, as I still didn’t know if raven counted or not, I wanted to keep the people I cared about in mind.
Then I wrote up what could be a guild charter. How everything could work in the guild. How we would walk people through. That they had to pass a test of not throwing up at pictures of dead animals. That they had to agree to a system backed contract of buying a wand. That they had the choice of paying in credits after the run. Then suggestions about armor and how to walk people through. What walkers would need to know, how they would handle a dungeon alone if their clients weren’t able to participate. Or if they were overly participating. To prevent someone from dying. What equipment would they need to be able to handle, such as both gravity wand and bolt wand, and likely a stasis wand too. Maybe even a pristine wand as part of our care package. Make the clients feel better with being clean each time and not covered in gore?
As I kept writing my thoughts kept looking to the future, how would it even look? Would the government collapse? Would they close the entrance to the dungeons? Would people live on the system and dungeons alone? Would everyone abandon their previous lives like I nearly am?
My thoughts kept spiraling, what would happen if all the farmers moved to a big city to run the dungeon? Would the cattle die off without them? Run wild? Would the pastures and acres of crops wither? Or would they become artisanal produce? Stay as a farmer and create the best of the best products that can be bought? Sell it to people for credits or currency? Sell it to the system maybe? I know the food in the system now is standard fare, but what if someone made better food? Would it replace it? Or would it just fall to the wayside?
“Raven, what would happen if I made a better gravity wand? Could I replace what is available in system store?”
“Confirmed, if user made an upgrade to their previous product thy can upgrade what is available in system store.”
“OK, what if someone sold food to the store, and someone else made it better? would the first one be replaced?”
“Negative. Both would be available in store and be marked with ratings.”
“What ratings?”
“Ratings based on other users experience of product”
“Like how much they liked it or how much they used it?”
“Confirmed.”
“This would be judged by the system?”
“Confirmed.”
Ok wow. So, no fake reviews and no one buying just to get better reviews either. They had to actually use or consume the product to be able to rate it? But how did the system know if they liked it? I'm a little afraid to ask though. Maybe it's their reaction to it? Or based on if they get it again? Let's not think about it anymore.
My stomach grumbles. Sighing, I head to the dining table. Going through the plates of food I find what I'm looking for. A burger, just a regular plain American cheeseburger, with fries. I pulled the soda bottle to me and have at it.
***
Feeling stuffed, I ask, “Raven what time is it?”
“Attention is it 11pm Jan 5”
So, I wrote about four-ish hours. Not so terrible. Thinking about what I wanted to finish today I feel like a great blumbering idiot once more. Ignoring the urge to slam my head on the table.
“Raven, you copy what I do when crafting correct?”
“Confirmed.”
“Even my mistakes?”
“Confirmed.”
Sighing I think about it a moment. I could have had raven crafting clothes this entire time or putting the enchantments on them. Maybe I should level up my tailoring first?
“If I get better at sewing, do you do as well?”
“Confirmed.”
Thats it. I'm just an idiot. Ignoramus. Simpleton. Nincompoop. Imbecile. “Raven please start cutting shorts out of different materials and sewing them together. Large as I was, and then enchanted them as I was. Different fabrics and colors, please.”
“Confirmed.”
Once again denying myself the urge to head desk. I get up and stretch and set to making skirts this time. Should be simple right? Just a circle with a waist band and a closure.
***
It's not simple. Somehow the pattern I chose was pleated. Pleats are somehow related to the devil. Not sure how yet, but I'll find out. I once again started with blue. And I remembered to iron. Only to find out that I have to iron each pleat separately. As I sew. Sighing I gather the fabric together, yards of it as it takes nearly double of what I had thought. Making it as large as I can, a 2x. Because then I'll never have to do it smaller. I'll likely leave the skirts to raven from now on. The closure will have to be secure likely a button and zipper though. Or maybe make two kinds, one with an elastic waist band too? I'll think about it later. I continue to fold the skirt into pleats and iron each edge. It really was just a circle though. And a bit of sewing at the waist to keep the pleats together. Once I got to the other end of the circle I sighed. Piecing the edges of the circle together I collected a zipper that was a fairly close match, and a button as well. Sewing them on wasn’t too difficult for me now. Just took patience. And then sewing back down the lines, because these are really supposed to be done with machines.
Now to do the edges of the fabric to make it neat. Going to the bottom of the skirt, I roll the end of a little to make it neat and tidy then start around. It doesn’t take me as long since I'm just make a neat hem.
Looking at the finished skirt, I feel underwhelmed. I can't tell if it looks right or not. I don't really want to autosize it to me either. But I must. Taking my shorts off I put the skirt on and placed an auto size tag on. The skirt shifts a bit. My legs feel a bit of a draft and it swishes in place. I swing my hips a little, checking that its secure. It's a fairly pretty blue, but in my head all pleated skirts should be plaid. Too many high school dramas, I guess.
Taking the skirt off I set it on the stack of finished projects. Then I pick a light green to make an elastic band skirt. No point in disparaging people.
***
After finishing the second skirt, and the same swishy test. I look to see how Raven is doing. The pile of finished projects seems to have three more shorts added to it. All in yellows. Good enough.
“Raven, how long since I ate?”
“Attention user last ate four hours ago.”
So, its roughly 3am Jan 6? Not bad. Thinking for a moment. I'll eat something quickly and get back to it. Mindlessly eating a plate of something noodley, I think about my plans.
Maybe I want to try the hot, cold enchantment. Take a bath in the kiddie pool? That sounds nice. But I also want to keep working. So maybe later. I could make that toilet now? Sounds good.
Pulling out a bucket and a toilet seat I set them down. I didn't think about how to adhere them together so for now I'll use the caulk. I pull that out and line the top edge of the bucket, generously with caulk. Then set the toilet seat on it in the exact right place so that no open space is anywhere but the bucket. Thinking for a second, I flip in so that the toilet seat is on the ground and the bucket is upside down. Then I place more caulk around the edge of the bucket. And smear it in place with my fingers.to make an even better seal. I should have done this on the inside. Maybe I still can. So, I flip it upright and put a glob of caulk in my hand and start smearing the inside lip of the bucket under the toilet seat. I'm getting the caulk everywhere by this point, but I have the pristine wand. I want to make this as sealed as possible for the enchantment first. I use nearly the whole tube of the first caulk. Then I make sure it's nice and smooth everywhere I put it, not gaps or bubbles anywhere.
That should do it well enough. I'll let it sit for the enchantment for later though. I shoot pristine everywhere. My clothes, my hands, my shoes. The bucket, the seat, the caulk gun. No mess to be found here, no siree.
Grinning to myself I pull a shower head from my inventory, and go to put the hot, cold enchantment on. The shower head is a simple one with just the spray head and a pip coming from the back. I caulk the pip up for safety, then I pause. Do I need to do this caulk or would just a sharpie work?
Grabbing a sharpie I scribble the enchantment on. In between the open spray nozzles seems like the best idea, as that is where the water is supposed to come from. It takes some doing and a little fiddling, but it seems right. Maybe the enchantment is a little misshapen, but I was still focused on the right enchantment to work.
I go into the third room for safety measures. And feed a little mana into the shower head in, the middle of the. A trickle of water comes out. I want to whoop out, but instead I feed it a little more mana. The water picks up. I start feeding it about as much mana as I would the wand per cast. The water spray is about what you would see in a sink, nice and even. I put my hand close. It's a little warm. I push my mana towards the cold side. The water cools. I push my mana towards hot. The water heats. I grin. Sticking my arm into the spray fully. It feels decadent. A soft shower of hot water. I just need to be able to stick this somewhere high. I pull my mana from the shower head and sigh. Waving my arm for a moment the water fly's off. It'll dry quickly. As I walk back to my living area, I think of the other tents. Maybe not set up a tent, but I could use the poles to set up the shower head? Or set up a complete bathroom in a tent? It's an idea. Quickly turning back to the third room, I relieve myself and then go back to my living room, after shooting pristine.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
***
“Raven, can you switch to skirts please?”
“Confirmed.”
With that she stops the pair of shorts she was making and goes to the pile of fabrics once more. I pick up the shorts to finish it off. Doesn't take me long.
“Raven change the speakers to alternative rock please”
“Confirmed.”
Papa Roach starts playing, one of my favorite bands. I hum along as I continue to work. I continue making shorts for several hours until Raven announces.
“Attention it has been six hours since user last ate.”
Huh, I guess it has. Time for a break, I guess.
That makes it roughly 9am? Maybe, ish. Close enough not to matter. Putting the shorts I was working on down. I veer to my dining table. I wasn't paying attention earlier so maybe I'll pick something better to eat now.
“Raven pick something, that cheesy please.”
“Confirmed.”
A plate of dumpling looks a likes appeared in front of me. “What are these?”
“Arepas” was Raven response.
Well, whatever. Picking one up and biting into it, my mouth was flooded with cheese. Apparently, it was a ball of bread filled with flavored cheese. It was delicious, however. There were five on the plate. I took my time with the meal. Drinking plain water seemed right with this meal. Any fruit flavor would overpower it.
After eating I decided I wanted to keep working. Going back to the pair of shorts I was working on I saw that Raven went back to her skirts. Again, she was doing yellows. I guess she had a favorite color?
***
Several hours went by, going through the motions of picking different fabrics and enchanting the shorts one by one. I had finished the blues and greens sections to my satisfaction and was now working on the purples. I think. I’ll have to check with Raven how many blues and greens I've actually done though. Mostly I got tired of blue and green so switched over.
Stretching, I decided I was tired. “Raven when did I last eat?”
“User last ate five hours ago.”
So, its once again 11pm. Jan 6 this time. huh, did I really stay awake for nearly 30 hours without noticing? Is that what happens when you get perfect sleep? Yawning for a moment.
“Time for bed Raven, can you change the music to rainstorm? Just a little louder than it was last night. Please.”
“Confirmed.”
With that shift, Raven stopped working on the skirts. I see she was doing oranges now. Going to the sleeping tent I shoot pristine and fall into bed, barely remembering to pull a blanket up. Adn I'm out.
***
I was barely awake, groggy and just feeling like I wanted to doze. But something was niggling at me. Like I had forgotten something important. Struggling to sit up, I look around the tent. My pile of pillows is still on the floor. My blankets still in a heap. I don't feel awake yet, which means I should have woken up yet?
“Raven, what woke me up? I don't feel like is should have woken up yet. Perfect repose feels like it hasn't worked.”
“Attention. User has been unconscious past safety standards. User was awoken to maintain safety standard.”
What? “Raven how long was I asleep?”
“Attention, user was asleep ten hours.”
Ten hours is too long? “What do you mean by safety standard?”
“Attention, user may sustain damage after maintaining use of perfect repose after ten hours sleep.”
The fuck? I sleep too long I can get hurt? From my own skill? “Raven, can you explain what you mean please?”
“Confirmed. Perfect repose is meant to be used to get sleep in less time than needed. User sleeping beyond necessity can impact on skill and impede skill form working, which will sustain damage to users body.”
Well shit. If I sleep too long, I can get damaged from my skill. That sucks. “This will happen every time I sleep too long?”
“Negative. With skill increase damage will be lessened.”
I guess that's one good thing. “So as long as I don't sleep past what I need I'm fine?”
“Confirmed.”
I sigh and get up. I start think real hard about that shower now. It would be a great way to start my day, especially now that I can't lay about in bed, or doze. Grabbing a plate of something I start eating, not paying attention to what it is. Seems potato like well enough. Taking gulps of coffee, I start planning my day.
“Raven what time is it?”
“Attention, it is 10am Jan 7.”
Not bad time to start the day. As long as I don't stay up 30 hours, I should be good.
“Raven tell me when I've stayed up 18 hours, please.”
“Confirmed.”
I go to the third room and pull out the next tent. Its 25ft by 11ft. Seems like it'll take the whole room up. Wishing I had a smaller tent instead, I go about setting it up. Without the porch though, apparently its much smaller. That added on another 8ft of cover which I don't need. So, it's only 16or so ft by 11, much easier to deal with. This tent is brown and green. I set it up sideways as its unlikely I'll ever go to the fourth room. I could have set this up in the second room now that I think about it. Maybe I should yeah.
After taking the poles out and resetting the tent up in the second room, not quite blocking off the hallway to the third room. Still leaving plenty of room for the kiddie pool and chair though. There several places inside where you can hang items. Which works well for me. Maybe I don't need a basin if I just make one room of this tent a shower room? Can I do that?
“Raven, can I make part of this tent into my enchantment?”
“Confirmed. No tent is yet up for sale. User constructed tent self. With enchantment this would be considered users product.”
Sweet. I can make this entire tent a bathroom. Shower this inside room and toilet/changing room the other room. Just need toilet paper? Or dispenser for pristine tags. No, toilet paper and hand soap. Thats what people are used to and if they had pristine, they wouldn't need a shower. It will cost credits to enter, however. Or currency? Or either.
Need to make a mana reservoir or battery, though. Or it will run dry. Or have it snatch mana from people entering? That might work, but what if they notice? Have it posted that you could pay in mana? No. I don't need mana, and I'm not doing this for free. This is going to be a stall for money. I'll need to set a dial for the shower if I want it to be a stall for money. Not everyone has mana control. Or sell it to the guard? And let them deal with it? I could do that. Once it's done. Make it work from peoples mana and ambient mana?
Sighing, I get back to work. I know what will work for me but not everyone else. This can do as first installment. I'll buy smaller tent for the next one though. I hand the shower head from the middle of the point in the second room. With the windows screens shut. It should come down like a rainfall now. I'll have to rewrite my vanish for the shower basin. Or make something different for the bottom of the tent? To just vanish everything a few millimeters up. I start thinking of how to draw that out. To dry out the tent. The salt flats idea would work even better for this one though.
Going back to my living room. I look at my salt flats tag. Would that work for the shower basin in the tent? It might need a pristine every now and then though. For dirt and grime.
“Raven, can I have a dispenser of pristine tags in the tent that people can buy from?”
“Confirmed. User may make a custom interface to only sell pristine tags within users space.”
Cool, so I can sell pristine in the tent so people can be clean before a shower. “Can I have it, so toilet paper and hand soap are provided in the tent?”
“Confirmed. Both products are available on Earth and can be obtained for users space.”
Sweet. “And can I make it so entrance into the space costs credits?”
“Confirmed. User may set a system restriction on use of space.”
Cool, no frolicking in the bathroom. One last thing. “Can I have it, so the tent runs on ambient mana?”
“Confirmed. That is within users capabilities.”
So, I'll have to enchant it. Thats fine with me. Different parts then. But sweet. I'll make credits of a sale then I'll make credits off the rest. “If I sell this in system store and someone else buys it, would I make credits from others using it, or would they?”
“Attention, both user and purchaser would receive royalties.”
Cool. So, I can sell it and still make money. Time to get to work then.
***
First, I sharpie the shower room floor with the salt flats triangle enchantment. Then I pick four smoother stones from the toilet project and sharpie them with my stick figure in bed enchantment, to be put in the corners of the toilet room. I should have picked a standing sick. But they were too heavy for my inventory. So, I have to sacrifice my two by two table from my bedside. Setting the sink onto the table I think a moment, could I put it into a bucket? Or would that be too low? It needs to be roughly thigh height for most people to be comfortable. Maybe hip height. But I have to be able to vanish the water too. And it's not like I have pipes here. Setting the bucket on the table its almost to my chest. Putting the sink on top its nearly to my shoulders. Putting the sink and bucket on the floor it's just over my knees. Really wishing I kept some wood now.
The table has four legs though so I can cut it short and stand the bucket up. The seal the sink to the bucket and just use the vanish enchant. Going back to my living room, I start sawing about four inches off each leg. Its below where they fold so the table will still be usable just low. I'll have to use caulk to seal the legs on as I don't have anything else.
I sharpie the inside of the bucket with the vanish enchantment. The caulk the legs on. With plenty of extra to make sure its sealed. I have the sink upside down for now, and set to caulk around the inside edges, the outside edges of the bucket. Then set it on the sink. Then place more caulk on the bottom of the sink. Smoothing it out with my fingers, I leave it alone after making sure the legs are leveled out.
Thinking about it I never did finish my toilet. Going to check it I forgot to enchant the inside with vanish, doing so now. It's a little awkward with having to stick my arm inside the toilet seat hole. Once done, I think of what I could use for a tank to drop in more water. I have two bucket left. Then I realized I didn't leave a way for the water to get into the bucket. Except through the toilet seat. Feck. If I drill a hole, will it mess with the enchantment? Let's hope not. Thinking a moment. What if I put the sink and toilet side by side so that the sink water flowed into the toilet? Would only need to vanish the sink water if it got too full then. And the toilet water won't overflow with people using it all the time.
Why didn't I think of this before? Because I'm a dumbass. This is how several other countries do it. Also, bidets. But I sure as hell aint doing that. Pulling a chisel from my inventory I make a small hole to the right side of the toilet bucket, not too far from the top, but it's just about level with the sink bucket, just about two inches above the bottom. Its looks pretty good. Except I have no pipes.
I do have the caulk tubes though. I can make it work. They're flexible and plastic. I would just need to cut a strip off and roll it tight enough to fit into the holes. Since in on the second tube that shouldn't be a problem. Right?
It was a problem. First off, the tubes were not that flexible. They were made from thick plastic to not melt or crush under pressure. It took time just to saw off both ends. Only to find of course there was still caulk in the tube. So, I smeared it onto the holes of the buckets because that's where I will need it. Then I cut it in half. Which took some real doing. Like holding it in-between my feet and sawing straight down. Because that was the only way I could hold it straight. Then I Pristine'd both halves. It was not flexible at all. It was sheet plastic set in a mold. I had little to no way to heat it. Except for my hot shower. Which might just be hot enough to make it malleable. Which is all I need. Time to try.
Running the shower as hot as it could go led me to another problem I didn't see. It was too hot for me. I like hot showers, but not burn your skin hot. Setting parts of the tube into the hot water for moments at a time let it become softer and softer. It was becoming easier to manipulate though. If I could hold my hands under the water, it would have been done in minutes. Instead, it took what felt like hours. Doing it piece meal at a time.
Once I had the half a tube to what I think was small enough I took it back to the sink and toilet, to check. It fits the holes. And loosely. Which might be a problem. Back to the shower. After enlarging the ends a bit with my fingers, the holes fit much better. And I still had caulk everywhere, so I set to. And with the second tube of caulk. Add in more and more to make sure it was extremely sealed tight. No water coming from these holes. No siree.
Only to realize I forgot to enchant the sink with water. Sighing to myself. I stretch. I quickly sharpie hot, cold onto the faucet. Ignoring the taps for now. I feed a bit of mana into it and there's a gurgle. I forgot to caulk the other end of the pipe. So, I do that too.
Then I try the sink again. Feeding mana into it water slowly comes from the faucet. Lukewarm, but it comes. The sink and the toilet are about a foot apart, so that should be good enough for anyone, right?
On the side of the sink bucket in front of the toilet I scribble in sharpie. “TOILET PAPER HERE” then on top of the sink next to the hot tap. “HAND SOAP HERE.” then grabbing a sheet of paper I write on it “PRSITINE DISPENSER HERE” and hang it up near the entrance of the shower room. I make sure all the windows and screens are closed so that the doors zip shut. Now I just need a way to collect and use ambient mana. Joy.