3 Crafting
Ch3. Crafting
I woke up almost freezing myself to death.
Starting a fire proves to be difficult. I couldn't do it last night and decided to just fuck it off. I slept without a single source of heat while huddling my body in a corner. I think I might get cold if this continues. I need to think about how to make a fire.
But it's a brand new day, and the sun has started to rise. I went outside to bask in the heat of the morning sun.
I ate my breakfast, an apple.
Last night, I checked the Design function. This function is broken. Like you could literally design anything as long as you know how it was made and the materials needed. I got three design attempts from the daily attempts and two level-ups.
I used the first one to design a 'telik', a traditional fish trap made of interwoven bamboo. After finishing designing the fish trap, the system will determine how many materials I need. It needs 5 Bamboo Woods to craft one Telik.
The second design would be a wooden bed. Although I bet it would be uncomfortable sleeping on top of a wooden plank, it's still better than cold wooden floor tiles. And besides, I'm horrified thinking if one day I woke up getting bitten by a poisonous snake. The bed needed 10 units of wood to craft.
I save one design attempt for future use.
And yeah, I also checked the rewards from the first time upgrade, the first time crafting a building, and the first time completing a design. A special reward would be granted every time I have done something for the first time. I wonder if the system would grant me some rewards too when I do 'that' first time.
Enough with that let's move on with my rewards, I received three blueprints. Actually, the system let me choose from the two available choices. The choice are [Workbench]/[Anvil], [Log House]/[Storage Shed], and [Mill]/[Workshop].
The Workbench is a Carpenter Workbench, while Anvil is a Blacksmith Anvil. I'm slightly curious about the difference between crafting something by hand and with the help of the system. Because metal ore and such might be unavailable at the moment, I'll take the Workbench for now.
Loghouse is just a better version of lodging, it's a house built with horizontal logs interlocked at the corners by notching. The other choice is the Storage Shed, it's a storehouse to store foodstuff, materials, and other types of resources. I choose the Storage Shed because I need another way to store things. The system inventory only has the capacity of 9x3 slots, each slot can store object up to 100 stacks. So another type of storage is much needed when I gather more resources.
Lastly, there's Mill/Workshop, the Mill is for irrigation purposes and for milling foodstuffs. The workshop is a workplace where I can craft or repair items. I choose the workshop because of the sheer utility and extra perks. The Mill can grant a faster harvest of crops while the workshop can boost crafted items. Besides, I know the general concept of a watermill, so maybe I could try to design one for myself.
Alright ..., enough of that recap, it's time for resource gathering!
I explored the forest and gather any material I spotted on the way. Clearing the bushes and tall grass using my Stone Sword. I also found some other foodstuffs and materials.
[Obtained <Hua Jiao Pepper> x3]
[Obtained <Cotton> x1]
[Obtained <Cloud Ear Mushroom> x9]
[Obtained <Ginger> x1]
[Obtained <Sugarcane> x4]
[Obtained <Jackfruit> x1]
Well, the more foodstuff I acquired the better. And there's also cotton too ..., I maybe can plant the seeds and weave some fabric in the future.
I found a bamboo forest and hacked it with my axe. One bamboo tree is more than enough to get 5 units of Bamboo Wood. After I get enough bamboo to make 5 Teliks, I immediately crafted them on the spot.
[15 Mana, 5 <Bamboo Wood> has been consumed.]
[You have successfully crafted a <Telik>!]
[Gained 60 Exp.]
[Telik]: A simple fish trap.
[Unique]: <You may enter, but can you escape?> "Fish and aquatic creatures trapped can't get out, entrapped within. Around 6~10 fish can be harvested once a day."
[Durability] 100/100
[Materials]: Bamboo Wood x5
I crafted 4 more Telik and sacrificed one for an upgrade to +1. The +1 upgrade grant additional durability and added the rate of fish produced becoming 18~22 fish per day.
I placed the fish traps in different locations and try to keep them well hidden. Back in my childhood day, I used to swim in the river with my friend because I lived in a rural area. And when we explored the river, I found a telik ..., took the fish inside and also bring it back home. That might be our first group crime, though maybe because of that I know the shape of the telik.
Right, the problem with foodstuff is done temporarily. Let's get to the next project. The storage shed and the workshop.
To create a Workshop, I need Wood x40, Stone 18, Iron Ingot x2, Workbench x1, Stool x1, a Grinding Stone x1, Wooden Window x3, and Wooden Door x1. There is furniture added there, they can be crafted manually using the Workbench or automatically using the Crafting System.
As for Storage Shed, it requires Wood x42, Stone x24, Wooden Crate x16, Log Pile x2, Stone Pile x2. The wooden crate is a storage compartment that could store 8 slots of items. Wood and stone can't be stored inside a crate though, they would go to the piles.
It would take time to gather all the materials needed, and of course ..., the furniture that needs to be added on. And so ..., I need to get working.
-—-
It's been three days since I got transmigrated into this world. Zero interaction with other people. This forest is eerily quiet without any human other than me.
But also because of that, I felt a lot of freedom and was at ease. I don't know, maybe not having an encounter with those backward primitive savages would be a lot safer for me. That would be too far, but I can say for sure that the people of this era are all like that. Bloodthirsty and warmongering.
Quick update, I finally know how to start a fire using just a stick and rocks. I remembered watching a youtube video of this Australian guy starting a fire using a rope drill. The channel was called Primitive Technology as far as I can remember, he's such a cool dude. Oh, how I miss having an internet connection and watching YouTube.
Anyway, I have solved the problem with the heat source.
I didn't finish any design yesterday, thankfully the attempt is accumulated and it was not compulsory to do design every day.
Last night, I got too tired from gathering the materials. I cut down trees, quarried stones, collect fruits, etc all done manually. Though, I got a good rate of extraction. I obtained 40 units of wood in one noon, take a short rest, and then continued by hitting down the big stone in the river, crushing down another and I got 23 units of stone.
This morning till noon, I cut down 6 trees to fulfill before I went to smash the stone. I have fulfilled the required materials for the building, but still short to make the furniture so I can really craft the building with the system.
Thus, here I am ..., in front of the Carpenter Workbench. Working on this wood making a stool. The workbench has an iron saw and chisels that come with it, so working on more detailed cuts and parts would definitely be a lot easier.
[You have crafted a Stool from 2 Wood.]
[Gained 500 Exp.]
[Congratulation! You have leveled up! Level 3 >>4!]
[You have successfully crafted your very first item manually! A reward has been added to your Inventory.]
I spent an hour or so crafting just a single stool. But the reward is incredible, 500 Exp for just one object!? Even crafting a wooden shack that requires more materials for this stupid stool only grants 200 Exp.
Well, I guess manual crafting is a good way to grind levels. And it didn't cost mana, it cost a lot of time though.
I checked the reward and it let me choose one of the two blueprints. Lumber Camp/Stone Quarry. I choose the former because wood is the most abundant material for now.
I spend the rest of my day crafting the other materials needed for the Workshop.
-—-
It's already day five, and bathing without soap feels so wrong. Like there's something missing. I need to somehow hunt animals or extract some oil from fruit if there's any. I need that fat and oil for saponification.
Daily updates on the progress, I finished crafting the necessary materials for Workshop. Thankfully, the door and window are all sliding so there's no need for hinges and nails. The hinge and nails were made from metal to make it durable, but I'm experimenting with making a wood joint that can rotate just like a hinge.
Oh well, maybe I should take it slowly and use the materials that were based on my tech tree. After getting proficient with woodworking I need to learn how to do masonry, and then after that mine some ore to tackle the metalworking.
Why my thinking pattern gradually shifted like this was a game? Whatever, as long as it keeps me sane.
Yeah, I figured out how to extract fibers from some soft stem of a tree. I also crafted the Cotton into thread. I just need to weave it to make a cloth. The fibers from the tree might be useful to make a bow, I guess? I'm not sure ..., what kind of material did people of ancient times use for their bowstrings?
But anyway, let's place the Workshop into the world. I place it not that far from the shack. My base layout would be something like this, the river on the west side, around 120 meters to the east is where my Shack is located, and 15 meters to the north is Workshop. I lay down some stone slabs as road pavement.
[Workshop]: A place that helps you to focus on crafting and repairing items.
[Unique]: <Craftsman's Comfort> "Crafting or repairing items will be slightly boosted."
[Durability] 3.000/3.000
[Materials]: Wood x40, Stone x18, and Iron Ingot x2, Workbench x1, Stool x1, Grinding Stone x1, Wooden Window x3, and Wooden Door x1
I used the Crafting System for synthesizing object that needs large quantity like the crate, I also designed some wooden floor and stone pavement because why the hell not?
Thinking about something in large quantity. Maybe if I can get some clay deposit I'll start making some bricks..., wait, how do I bind those bricks? With mud? Hmmm if only I have some lime deposit around here, I maybe can use it to make some pseudo-concrete cement mix.
Making a stone brick? But I heard that stone building has bad thermal stability, it would get cold at night. But it would last longer than some clay brick.
Well, that's for the near future I guess. Now, I'm in need of some land cultivation. Eating fish and fruit is fine, but I think I can't survive with only that as food. My body also needs some carbohydrates, I found some wild millet and sorghum grains, but I decided to germinate them to make seedlings for future harvest.
Swinging my Wooden Hoe, I hit the damp soil and tiled it to one side to make a mound. I estimated the mound dimension as high as 20 cm high, and the width is around 30 cm, as for the length, it is 10 meters. The distance between one mound to another is 50 cm and there are 12 of these mounds.
As I felt it was enough I planted some of the seeds and saplings that I obtained on my routine resource gathering. I planted sugarcanes on one lane, two lanes for cotton plants, one lane for red pepper, and the rest eight lanes dedicated to millet grain.
I didn't get any reward for planting these seeds, oh well, that is fine.
Hmmm ..., I need to make some fence of some sort to protect the farm area from some wild animals. And I decided to open the system and Design a simple Wooden Fence for a bit. After done, I immediately crafted them in large batches. It needs 2 units of wood and 5 mana to make a fence, and I created enough to cover the area of 20-meter squares.
I installed the fence and went to the workshop to make an unhinged gate. This gonna be temporary, I'm gonna figure out how to make a hinge or wood joint in no time. Yeah, I'm sure of that I installed the gate and then left to take my afternoon bath.
