Chapter 4: Games & Entertainment

Alphonse and Sarah carried Edrit to the medical center and placed her on the wooden table. "For now I'll take a look at her injuries, you two can go choose your rooms." Min Li said as she grabbed a few tools. Sarah and Alphonse nodded, then left the room.

Sarah and Alphonse walked down the hall and saw that many of the rooms closest to the main room had already been taken. though it didn't take long for them to find a few vacant rooms. Alphonse grabbed the small piece of wood hanging from the doorknob and wrote his name on the white part.

Sarah did the same two doors down. She walked to Alphonse. "We will be down here for a bit of time, so do you want to make something with me?" Sarah asked.

"What are you making?" Alphonse asked.

"Board games! I figured that since we'll be down here for some time, we should at least do something to make it more enjoyable!" Sarah responded enthusiastically.

"Um..." Alphonse hesitated for a moment. "Sure..." He said enthusiastically. "Hey... Sarah..." Alphonse said quietly.

"Yeah?" Sarah responded.

"Erm... How do I phrase this...?" Alphonse mumbled to himself. "Do you... Know what a system is...? Not in a technological sense..." Alphonse asked.

"System? The only thing that comes to mind is computer systems, why?" Sarah asked in response.

"Well... There was this popular thing in books, it was called a system, it would usually help the main character become stronger and survive whatever world they were in, typically it was in the reincarnation genre." Alphonse said.

"I didn't really read many books like that. Why do you ask?" Sarah responded.

"I was just curious... Anyway, what board games did you want to make?" Alphonse asked as he started walking towards the main room.

"I was thinking mancala, though, any other games you can think of would work too." Sarah said as she followed Alphonse.

"Right. Then we'll need permission to use the materials in the storage room." Alphonse responded. "Let's head to the medical center and ask Min Li." He said.

{Were you thinking about telling her about me?} Prism asked.

'Perhaps... I'm not sure...' Alphonse responded. 'Maybe I was hoping someone else had a system... I guess I was just curious...' Alphonse thought to himself.

{Perhaps, but I do recommend being careful when choosing to tell people about me, who knows how they'll react.} Prism warned.

'Huang Fei didn't react badly at least.' Alphonse responded. Alphonse and Sarah reached the medical center quite quickly and knocked on the door.

"One moment!" Min Li yelled. After a few seconds, Min Li opened the door. "What do you need?" Min Li asked.

"Alphonse and I were wondering if we could use some wood and stone if we have some down here." Sarah said.

"What for?" Min Li asked.

"Well, ever heard of board games?" Sarah asked

"No, I haven't." Min Li said.

"Well, it's something Alphonse and I came up with, they're entertainment objects." Sarah said.

"Can I get a description of the 'board game'?" Min Li asked.

"It's called mancala, you have a piece of wood with grooves in it that hold stones, your goal is to get as many stones in your goal as possible." Sarah explained. "That's just the rough outline, there is more to it than that." Sarah stated.

"I'll let you make one, after that let me test it to see its worth." Min Li said.

"Okay, thank you! We will head to the storage room now!" Sarah said enthusiastically as Alphonse nodded. Sarah walked at a fast pace as Alphonse followed her to the storage room. After around a minute, they reached three storage rooms. "This one! I think..." Sarah said as she placed her hand on the doorknob.

She opened the door to reveal a large amount of wood, stone, and minerals amongst other things. "Nice." Alphonse said as he entered the room. Alphonse looked at the types of wood and went deep into thought. After a few seconds, Sarah walked over to him.

"What're you thinking so deeply about?" She asked.

"What type of wood we should use." He responded.

"Does it matter?" She asked. Alphonse nodded.

"Different woods have different durabilities, rot resistance, and even uses, some kinds of wood are also easier to work with." Alphonse explained.

"I-I see, so a lot actually goes into this, huh?" Sarah asked. Alphonse nodded as he reached out to grab a short log.

"This is moderately easy to work with, plus it has decent rot resistance. Another bonus is it has a nice reddish-brown color." Alphonse said as he inspected the log. The log is about 20 inches long and has a width of 10 inches. "Let's use this log." Alphonse said as he stood up and walked over to the pile of rocks and boulders.

"Does it matter what type of rocks we use?" Sarah asked.

"Not particularly, but I would like to make three colors of stones, so let's use..." Alphonse said as he drifted into thought. After a few moments, Alphonse grabbed three large rocks, one of marble, one of granite, and one of your average stone.

"That everything?" Sarah asked. Alphonse nodded. "Good... Oh, and don't ask why, but I already have the tools for this." Sarah said.

"Okay... Where will we be working?" Alphonse asked.

"Probably best if we use one of our rooms... I think mine should be fine." Sarah said after thinking for a moment. Alphonse nodded. The two of them walked back to the rooms and entered into Sarah's room. "Place the objects over there on the table, I'll get my tools." She said.

"Okay." Alphonse said. After a few moments, Sarah walked back over with a chisel, hammer, and carving knife.

"Here we go, which one do you want to work on? The board, or the stones?" Sarah asked.

"I'll work on the board." Alphonse said as he was handed the carving knife. "By the way... Why did you ask me to help you?" Alphonse asked.