Ch 5 Time to craft?
I check my banking app on my phone I have a whole 86 dollars. Maybe I should see if the currency is worth anything in credits? No, not yet. Maybe when the dungeons are more popular. I checked to see the closest craft store. I can make it in my car easily, but first I want to ask a few more questions.
Questions
Comments
Concerns
Input
I thought for a moment.
Input
How many people can go into a dungeon?
Output
Dungeons create multiple instances.
Ok so we can just keep loading people into them? Just more and more? Useful.
Input
How do I check my mana level?
Output
By registering mana levels in your body.
Not useful. So, something I'm going to have to train myself to do. Would meditation work? That’s a thing, right?
Input
Are dungeons easy?
Output
All dungeons are currently level 0
OK, so dungeons have levels too. Maybe I can keep this going.
Input
How do dungeons level up?
Output
When ten percent of local population has level up.
Ten percent? Of humans? So, do people need to level in order for dungeons to level? Ok, that’s great news it won't ever out level humans. It might get super high level with very few people that high?
Input
Has anyone reached level 1?
Output
No
Okay, so it’s a little difficult? Are the dungeons hard or can they not be reentered?
Input
How often can I enter a dungeon?
Output
At level 0 every 10 hours.
That’s why people have gone in maybe twice so far. So, I should try and go once a day. After I make a wand, or three. I need to have spares after all. I go back to my apartment and sit down. I googled for a bit to see if there is anything new about the dungeons. I specifically look at local news.
“I’m here today with Michael Anderson. Mr. Anderson what can you tell us about the Dallas dungeon?”
“Well, it’s not as hard as it seemed. I went in with three friends, we all bought armor and swords from the store, so we figured we were kitted out enough. The first room had four goblins, you know what those are, right?”
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“Yes, they’ve been described as child sized green killers, that feast on human flesh.”
“Good description. They are horrible to anything not goblin, and sometimes to goblin as well. So, in the first room we each had a goblin, it was a little hard sorting them out, because my friends and I are here for college. We play MMO’s but never have I been in a fight before. It was very intense. We checked and we got ten credits each, and one experience each.”
“I'm sorry, experience?”
“To level up. It's not just skills that level up but you as well. You personally level up. We don’t know how that figure into skills and such leveling, but I gained experience from killing. But that wasn’t the craziest part. The second room had eight goblins.”
“You decided to keep going? Even though you had trouble with the first room?”
“You bet! I've never had such an adrenaline rush! We agreed to be careful, but we segmented them this time. Me and my buddy were keeping three each from attacking the other two guys while they killed the goblins one by one. It's called tanking and dps.”
“So, you were more prepared for what you faced now that you had an idea of what to do? Or is it that you knew what to do and just never did it?”
“It's that we’ve played games before, we know the strategies, but it's different when it's your own body. When it's not a character on a screen, you're the one getting hurt. You can feel the pain. You can feel the sweat, the blood, the fight. It's way more than I expected. I think anyone who has ever done combat will be way more prepared for this, but anyone who's ever played MMOs will have the strategies for what to do.”
“Did you stop there or continue one?”
“We took a look at the third room, but we stopped there. The third room had twelve goblins and we agreed that was too much. We tried luring some in the corridor between rooms, but it didn’t work. If you go into a room and back out, they don’t follow.”
“So, you left then?”
“No, then we practiced our skills. Mana regenerates faster in the dungeon. We found this out when Sandy called Strike four times instead of twice, he could do it outside the dungeon. So, we practiced until we nearly passed out, then waited a bit. Then we felt better and practiced again. We did that for hours.”
“According to the guards you were in the dungeon for 30 minutes? How do explain that?”
“Because the dungeon isn't here, it’s a pocket dimension. Not connected to our time and space.”
“Thank you for your time, Mr. Anderson. Will you be dungeon running in the future?”
“Of course! I want to see what's at the end of the dungeon!”
Okay enough procrastination. I need to get to the craft store. Grabbing my keys, I set out. My car isn't the best, but it runs, just not the ac. Sitting in Dallas morning traffic isn't the worst. I picked a fairly large store instead of a whole in the wall. A bog box store is likely to have more supplies of strange variety.
Pulling into the parking lot 20 minutes later. I glance around. Not very popular today, just as well. Strolling into the store, I feel a wave of relief as the cooler air washes over me. As much as I love the city, Texas heat is killer. Looking over the signs I go towards the sewing section. I grab a hand basket on my way. I need needles, thread, something to hold fabric tight? What else? A sharpie would be useful, so I have a pattern to follow. I can probably redraw everything. I've done well, so far. Grabbing needle pack, I go look at threads, does it need to match or not? I just got a few spools of black thread, just plain cotton. Nothing fancy needed. Looking around I find hoops, usually for cross stitch. Get a small one since I only need to do a square. Exactly what I need to put embroidery on. Isn't that what I'm doing technically embroidery? That works. Wait, do I need a frame too? Yes, l get a cheap one, hoop is plastic, frame is plastic, that’s fine for what I'm doing. I don’t really know the difference yet; one has a fastener and the other is super tight against itself. That’s 30 spent so far. I get paid in four days and I have enough food until then. So, I can spend all 86. What else do I need? Wooden rod of some kind? For wands.
I circle around to the wood carving section. I look at the variety of chisels and sigh. They're 20 each, so at least I spent my credits well? Looking at wooden rods and dowels. Found it. 5 rods for 10 dollars. They're about half an inch wide so comfortable in hand, over a foot long so ill cut them in half. I’ll have plenty to practice on and plenty more to use in the dungeon. So, 40 done. Ok what else do I need? I can carve hide with my paring knife. I can carve wood with chisel. I can sew with thread. How do I put anything on chain? Need rings too. I check to see if the store sells costume jewelry. They don’t, but they have children's kits on make your own plastic bracelets. I grabbed one. Need to find a dollar store then. Lucky me this parking lot is connected and there's one at the end of the row. I go to check out. Wait no. Wire thread that’s how I enchant chain. I went to look at jewelry making and found a spool of copper wire. It's very cheap thankfully. I looked at the kid's bracelet kit, I could make a wire bracelet and enchant a bead and put it on. Or go with rings still. I put the kit down and grabbed some plain wooden beads. Pausing a moment, I grab some wire pliers as well. Elastic string? Could I use that for bracelets? Or even put anywhere? Maybe an ankle or an upper arm. If it’s elastic, then I wouldn’t need auto size for it and sell it as is. I suppose I don’t need the rings after all. I go to ring up. 60 isn't too bad.
Getting back to my car with all my bags I sit down and think for a moment, I pull up my inventory.
Chisel
Chest Chain
Okay what if I put the bag of bought things into the inventory? Would it let me? How do I? I tried for a moment, and nothing seemed to work. I pulled out the package of wire tools and thought of my inventory again.
Chisel
Chest Chain
Wire tools
Ok can't put a bag of stuff inside inventory. That’s good to know. I start unloading everything into my inventory.
Chisel
Chest Chain
Wire Tools
Needles
Cotton Thread
Plastic Hoop
Plastic Frame
Sharpie
Wooden Rods
Copper Wire
Wooden Beads
Elastic Thread
That looks better, I'm still not sure of the limit on my inventory. Does it have stasis? I drive home, thinking about what to wear, how to enchant a wand, what am I going to do for the dungeon. Am I really going into the dungeon? Should I do it today before work? Do I have time to finish everything today? Yes, I will enchant today and run the dungeon before work dammit. I can't let myself get this distracted. I got home and sat down. Then my stomach grumbles. Time for food first.