CH2: The First Customer
Piles of wood shavings covered the floor as his arm shook from the effort of cutting. His hands shook, and sweat poured down his face. Outside was an inferno as more of the cursed Totems burned. A great tree far in the distance revealed itself after the other trees finally fell. Long vines lashed out but ultimately failed to do anything against the inferno Red had caused. The wind blew in the direction of the tree and the monster ultimately failed to defend itself.
1SP had bought him a water bottle and a box lunch. Incidentally, both made excellent containers in which to relieve himself. So he tossed their remnants out of his shop onto the ash-covered ground. It wasn't long before they caught fire from the proximity of the inferno in front of him. It couldn't have happened to a nicer species of monster.
Red's arms shook as he struggled to pull off his soaked shirt before throwing it wetly on the ground.
Splat!
Even with a knife built for woodworking and his new knowledge, working Verdant Logs wasn't easy. Each log was roughly 10 feet long and 4 feet in diameter, so they could, in theory, make numerous spears and swords.
Wallet 24
He spent 15SP to increase the size of his shop by 2 feet in every direction. The first foot was only 5SP, but the next one was 10. Then, he purchased the new Lumber Chest. It could only stay in the shop, but it could hold 1000 logs of lumber and could be upgraded to hold more. Red smirked, and it was time to ask his next question.
"How much to link my bag of holding to the chest so my lumber automatically enters the lumber chest while I'm in the shop?"
While he was in the shop, it was essential.
1SP
Wallet 23
Red purchased it because it changed the entire paradigm of his situation. By framing things within the shop, he could make many things possible that weren't before.
While he hadn't unlocked the Trash Menu yet, that didn't mean functions were completely unavailable. He was only limited by price; the shop could do anything he could think of if he could afford it. Now, it was time for his next idea.
"Can I use lumber instead of SP to expand the shop while in the shop?" Red asked.
Lumber must be in the Epic tier or above for expansion.
That sucked.
"How much SP should allow my woodworking skill to level naturally?"
SP is not required; a Work Shop Attachment is needed to upgrade one's woodworking skills.
"How much SP for a Work Shop Attachment?"
Achievement Create 100 products will unlock the Work Shop Attachment.
Level Up Shop 1 time to unlock the Trash Tier achievement Menu.
So skills could be leveled by using them but only in facilities granted by the shop. Red couldn't just buy a Work Shop. He had to play by the rules if he wanted to unlock it. Having extra rooms and more space would be a great thing.
If he could acquire more attributes, like strength and maybe dexterity, that would help him carve faster and produce better products to sell.
He felt his bag of holding wiggle when the giant tree stopped moving. He reached into his bag and pulled out a glowing green orb the size of a marble.
Tree Heart (Uncommon) – The heart of an old monster tree that has terrorized a land for decades, spreading its mutation to its offspring and making war on civilized species. Attach to a wood nature creation to imbue it with a random, uncommon enchantment. A higher level of woodworking skills will boost the effects of this item. Place it in a log before processing.
That was great information to have. If he had a karmic system, he would get all the positive karma from his actions. If his achievement system wasn't based on a shop, then he would probably at least get an elf friend or some charisma-based titles or perks. Instead, he had an uncommon item that could give an item a random uncommon enchantment.
Hours later, he completed the blade of his first sword and rubbed it with a sheet of sandpaper until it was smooth. He left the handle a block until he was finished with the blade. The kit contained several different grains of sandpaper, and he used one for the edge and another for smoothing it out.
He worked hard to ensure the handle was structurally sound. He cut a few ridges in the handle to help the grip and ensured the connection between the blade and handle was good. He had only used around an eighth of his current log and could easily make seven more swords with the same piece.
Red looked up to see Cursed Runners pounding on his door but could not enter. They groaned and drooled as flames licked at their legs while the vines running through their bodies shied away from them.
A part of him wanted to put them down. There was no gain-like experience or anything like that. He tried to help them. But the sword he was making was hardly suitable for killing. It was more of a toy than anything, and its edge would wear down quickly.
On the next one, he planned on rounding the guard more to give the handle more weight to counterbalance the sword.
Red picked up his sword, and it felt strong. He slashed it once, and it felt sturdy. It wasn't finished; two parts of the process remained until he could consider it a finished product. He spent 1SP on a pack of microfiber rags and pulled free a sac of Common Cursed Totem oil, which was red in color.
Totem Oil (Common): An oily mixture of tree sap and elf blood mixed to create a nutrient-rich oil perfect for sealing wood to protect it from rain and bugs.
He had 10 Uncommon and 199 standard logs that his tools couldn't cut. The trash logs were the only ones he could work with.
Excitement flowed through him as the sword's grey wood turned a rich Mahagonny color from treating it with oil. By his 3rd round of rubbing the wood with oils, it finally stopped absorbing the oil, and he left it to dry.
It was about to happen. Red could feel it in his bones. A random enchantment was about to attach itself to his first weapon made by his own hands.
Wallet 22
This was going to make him so much money. He would buy a room to sleep in and a kitchen to cook.
He saw the dice roll.
Verdant Wood Sword (Trash)
Durability: E+
Damage: D-
Enchantment
Verdant Regrowth: If left out in sunlight for an hour, it regains a small portion of its durability.
Value: 30SP
Achievement Unlocked
Crafting Trash: Unlocks the dexterity attribute
Rolling Attribute 1D20
Red watched as a 20-sided die rolled, deciding how well he would be able to work with his hands in the future.
Rolling DEX(Dexterity): Dexterity determines delicate motor control and improves any craftsmanship that requires delicate work, from work working to forging. Higher dexterity is a benefit to any craftsman. I give +1 to any enchantment rolls for finished products at every point in Dexterity. A Natural 20 will require the user to roll 1D20 for a higher-tier enchantment.
It was good that he could make gains with achievements, but they seemed only accessible within the shop. Or maybe there was something he wasn't getting. If he stepped outside, could he gain achievements for the carnage he unleashed? Or were there other rules in play he didn't yet understand?
DEX 4
That was, unfortunately, to be expected. He couldn't expect every dice roll to be great. On the bright side, he could feel it already and knew it was an improvement to his current abilities, not a detriment. Attributes, it seemed, were added atop his base, not resetting it based on an arbitrary number.
As for the letters on his items, that was his fault; the change was within the scope of options. He could alter his attributes to reflect the same. Trash was the tier, but there was a lot within it. His wooden sword within the Trash tier had E+ Durability and D- Damage potential. Unfortunately, he had no baseline for what a standard wooden sword in the trash tier would have for its durability and damage.
So, all he could do was focus and hope his next creations were better than the last.
…
He fled when his mother fell ill, and he saw the bites on her neck. When his sister vanished in the middle of the night, his father lost the focus in his eyes. When the priest told him that his family was cursed with an illness, he had a manic grin on his face. When the old mage was burned at the stake for charges against the master, he left with money stolen from the church's coffers.
Darien Hawke had stolen the biggest, meanest stallion from Mr. Ashborne's ranch, and the man with glazed eyes hadn't seemed to notice as Darien took the nicest saddle he could find at early dawn. He wanted to get as much distance as he could from the village before nightfall. He knew that only an enchanted weapon made of wood could put down the vampires while they slept. With the mage dead, he only hoped to travel north along the Ao River to Basin City. If he rode hard, he could get within the torchlight of the city guards before nightfall.
If the city doesn't have the weapon he seeks, he will be forced to go to the taboo forest of Eldrin Hollow. It's said that a heartwood steak can kill any vampire, but anyone who takes a heartwood stake must return to that place.
…
Red was looking rough. The dungeon had ended, and he had returned to his world. Rexy, his nickname for the t-rex that stalked outside his shop, seemed overjoyed with his return. The monster was busily chowing down on a pile of elk it had hunted and left in front of the exit door. Seven large deer were quickly crunched down and devoured while he cut, sanded, and oiled a spear.
Once it was complete, he looked on to see
The outbox was a way to gain revenue without customers. Unfortunately, anything placed within was sold for half the object's value.
Wallet 37SP
He made seven more swords out of one log with slightly higher stats than his first work. Dexterity helped with crafting. He planned to increase it immediately and then raise his attribute. In his opinion, that was the best way to go about things. Before jumping into anything else, he needed to grind more money. He could make roughly four swords in a day, by his estimate. After the dexterity gain, they averaged 40SP apiece but could only be sold for 20, meaning in a day, if he worked hard, he could make 80SP.
"Shop how much to upgrade my dexterity attribute from 4 to 5?"
50SP
That wasn't too bad. Oh, it was expensive, for sure, but it seemed expenses didn't really pick up until after 10. Maybe ten or more was like going from trash to common, or he was utterly wrong. It could be that after 10, everything was multiplied by 100 for the next point.
"Is there a way to train attribute points?" Red asked.
By unlocking an attribute, gym attributes can be trained using various types of equipment. You need to complete an achievement to unlock the gym attribute for purchase.
"What's the achievement?"
User must level up the shop to unlock the Achievement Menu (Trash)
There was no free lunch. Even after he unlocked the attribute gym, he would have to purchase it and any upgrades. It would be expensive, and he wasn't getting anywhere without customers. For that, he needed a ton more SP.
Knowing what achievements were possible for his current tier would be great. For now, he needed to get his dexterity attribute to level 10 and improve his crafting abilities as much as possible. He added four wooden swords to the outbox and received 80SP in return.
Wallet 117SP
That was the most SP he'd ever had, and he was about to blow it.
DEX 6
Wallet 7SP
It hurt, but he needed to improve his equipment before he could get his first customer.
He focused on grinding and buying DEX upgrades with the materials on hand whenever he had enough SP. Every point seemed to increase the value of his items by 5SP until he reached DEX10, and then his crafted weapons seemed to undergo a qualitative change.
From 9 to 10, his gains increased from 45 to 60. His craft speed also increased; instead of making four swords and spears in a day, he could make 8 with his increased speed. This was incredible. On day 5 of owning the shop, he felt ready to finish the quest and get his first customer.
Red worked on the sheath for his best sword yet, a curved blade. He scored a NAT 20 on the enchantment roll.
His DEX gave him a bonus to a roll of 17, which allowed the sword to take on two everyday enchantments. It was the most potent wooden sword he's ever crafted.
Verdant Wormwood Sword (Trash)
Durability: C-
Damage C
Enchantments
Splintering Sweep: Sweeping attacks hit an additional nearby target for half of the damage
Wormwood Resonance: The sword hums with Verdant power, occasionally healing the wielder for 10% of the damage dealt to the undead.
Value 300SP
While it was still trash, it was much better than what he initially made. He almost couldn't believe what kind of weapon he built. Red was also very impressed with the hidden mechanic of dexterity, which the shop was utterly straightforward with. It only needed a sheath and a spear, and he would be ready to sell.
Verdant Sheath (Trash)
Durability D+
Enchantment
Grip Stabilizer: Improves grip strength when drawing a sword.
Value: 120SP
Spears were the easiest weapon to make. They were long poles with sharp tips. Each was 9 feet long; he could make around ten a day if he focused solely on them. While the Verdant sheath wasn't his best work, he had plenty of spears to go through to find his display piece.
On one of the spears, he rolled a NAT 20 and then an 11 with his DEX, which gave him two choices. He could claim the 11 and 10 enchantments or the 20 and 1 enchantments.
He had a choice between minor frostbite and weighted strikes or polished tip and runic strikes. Option one would give the spear minor frost damage and add extra blunt damage to swings, while option two gave the spear shockwave, a sharper tip, and significantly increased damage potential. Since a spear was used to stab more than anything, he chose the second option.
Verdant Rune Wooden Spear (Trash)
Durability C
Damage C+
Enchantments
Runic Strike: At the tip, faint magical runes are inscribed.
Polished Tip: The spear's tip is magically enhanced for extra sharpness.
Value: 400SP
Quest completed
Acquire Merchandise
Rewarded 100SP, Shop Menu (Trash)
He didn't waste any time opening the menu. There was a lot he didn't know that became clear.
Wallet 376SP
Worlds Opened 0
Open Shop 50SP
Rooms 1
Add Room: 100SP
Floor 1
Add Floor: 500SP
Attributes 2
Purchase STR: 150SP
Purchase WIS: 150SP
Purchase CON: 150SP
Purchase CHA: 150SP
Purchase LUK: 150SP
Markets 0
Unlock Market: 50SP
Shop Owner Abilities
Appraise: 50SP
Gacha Token (Trash): 100SP
Summon token (Trash): 1000SP
Skill Token (Trash): 1000SP
Weapon Token (Trash): 1000SP
Armor Token (Trash): 1000SP
Vehicle Token (Trash): 1000SP
If he was going to survive, he needed customers and markets to invest in, so his first order of business was to purchase CHA, and then he opened his shop.
Rolling CHA (Charisma): Charisma is the attribute that governs interactions with people and, in the case of the shop, how likely a customer is to pay exorbitant prices for whatever items the user cobbles together. While luck can bring in customers with deep pockets and low expectations, charisma will have someone entering a shop looking for a steel sword and then spending all their money on a hunk of wood. Remember, all transactions are final; the shop can turn any currency into SP.
CHA 8
Red didn't feel changed. It was more like he had become more than he was. That wasn't important; he purchased the appraisal skill and checked his wallet.
Wallet: 126SP
He felt like he was finally getting somewhere. Red purchased some signs, listed the enchantments of his weapons on plaques, and placed them in front of each one.
The customer door opened for the first time, and a scrawny boy hefting a sack of coins entered Red's shop. He stared at the very wooden weapons, and a tear fell from his face. Then his face hardened, and a gleam appeared in his eyes.
"You're the only shop that sells wooden weapons. Are they enchanted or toys?"
"You're right. I'm the only shop that sells wooden weapons. Do you read, boy? If so, then you can clearly see that these are enchanted weapons."
"They don't look like heartwood. Did you carve them from Mahogony, which won't do much against vampires?"
Red blinked at that. It was like saying a steel sword wouldn't do jack against a dragon. Well, guess what? It worked fine for knights when they needed to cut down peasants in their fields. Maybe his sword wouldn't do much against a vampire, but against normal undead, it would be a great weapon. Ten percent of damage dealt as personal healing and a slight AOE effect. It was a great weapon. The shop owner tried to calm down. He was dealing with a kid who didn't know any better.
"In the right hands, these weapons will turn the tide of battle. They aren't steel, but that isn't what you're after. You need wood, and these are the best wooden weapons around. This sheath will make any grip on your weapon unbreakable." Red said.
"How much for the spear? It couldn't be worth more than 50 silver."
That was 500SP, far more than the weapon was worth, but it seemed his customer had more silver than sense.
"A custom-made weapon like it is sealed with a mix of elven blood and sap. No sir, it is worth more than 200 silver, but I could part with it for 190."
The boy's eyes seemed to glow momentarily, and he took up the weapon. He spun it almost like a master. "It's well balanced but still only made of wood, perhaps if it was made from a monster. I couldn't possibly purchase it for more than 100 silver coins.
That translated to a 1000SP, a massive windfall. He could gain more attributes and upgrade them, increasing his work speed and increasing his gains even further. But should he push for more?
He would have to do something that disturbed him more than anything. Red would have to get to know the boy and find out why he wanted a wooden weapon.