5 Being A Technician In A Low-Tech Earth Is Quite Hard

"Some scrap wood here." Yoink.

"Newspapers. I can use that, definitely." Yoink.

"Discarded bottles. Some of with cracks and chips, but otherwise completely fine and fixable. I can fix them to sell or for personal use such as storage."

"Oh, nice... someone must have dropped their lunch money here." Yoink. "Three shillings... oooh, lovely. My money now totals four shillings and 18 pence."

Humming to himself, Henry went through the trash bins found in the streets near Doc's clinic. Which also serves as the meeting area for the monster-hunting group.

People might think this is just a typical 19th century London day. Just a nice day, not foggy at all. And no trace of anything supernatural whatsoever.

Except for our protagonist, of course.

"Oi, you there"

Henry turned around, seeing a group of five mid- to late-teens males. They may act tough, looking like typical Victorian-era thugs. But their scruffy and underfed reveal their true physical conditions.

The two burlier ones has crude, but serviceable clubs. The shortest of them wield a dull, rusty knife. Much better at causing tetanus than cutting, you surmise. Another one has a piece of thick rope stretched between his hand. And the leader - the one that shouted at him - holds a long piece of pipe in his right hand, slapping it occasionally on his left hand.

"Me?"

"Yeah, you. Are ye a bloody dimwit? Why are ye scavving in the rubbish bins around here? This is our turf. Now, hand over your stuff and get lost."

But Henry has only eyes to the items that the thugs were.

In a mocking tone, Henry replies "Really now, gentlemen. There's no need for violence between myself and you gentlemen."

"Are ye mocking me?"

"Think so boss." One of the club wielders answers.

"Uh-huh. Seems to me the shit thinks we're bluffing." The shortest of them replies.

"Are ye taking the piss at me, ye fucking bellend. Ya think we won't break a few of yer bones? Boys, let's teach this wank-stain a lesson, he'll never forget."

Henry sighs and speaks "Well I guess no more 'Nice Guy', eh? How about this for a change, my dudes."

And then he pulls out a gun.

A Beaumont-Adams M1872 Mark III, chambered in .450 caliber. Doc loaned it to him this morning, telling him to be careful. It was quite a struggle, asking Doc to let him out of the clinic and scavenge for junk. Doc even offered him share from the Vranitch bounty to get him started on his feet. Henry only convinced him to let him outside after a long discussion and debate that took almost an hour.

First, he agreed to be back before sundown. How the heck did his smartphone synced with the time zones here, he'll never know.

Henry haven't even unlocked the 'Otherworld Interwebs' mod for his phone yet, which will allow him to connect to his home world's internet. To obtain it requires an investment of 5000 Upgrade Points, requires at least rank 7 in 'Arcana' and rank 6 in 'Electronics', and quite a laundry list of parts and materials that don't make any sense to Henry. 'Aetheric Flux Crystal'? 'Dimensional Fragment'? When Doc heard of those items, he begun frantically searching on his archive. (Author: It didn't even make sense to me either. But it will... soon....)

Second, bring a gun. In this case, the revolver. The gun has just been been made the official sidearm of the British Army and Navy. And Doc lent it to him, just like that. The Society sure does have a lot of connections.

And third, the Doc's group has the first refusal on all items Henry produces. This is something Henry will agree to wholeheartedly. The group helped Henry obtain the items needed to complete his workshop. Even Sergei leveraged his influence on some black market dealers to obtain some of them. Henry's even going to owe them a lot more after that.

Henry owes them his life. He won't be alive if they haven't saved him from the Vranitch. Whether by providence or just plain happenstance, they saved him. They even are helping him now to get back on his feet. He has a lot to thank them for.

"So... gentlemen... how about a deal. You drop your weapons and then walk out of here. AND I won't shoot any of you. YOu see, I've got five rounds right here on my pistol. And there are five of you. You guys to risk your life for something insignificant?"

The boys, fearing for their, drop their weapons and scrammed.

"Hehe, too easy. Well... more loot for me."

========================================

"Got some shinies there, Darling?"

"Nothing special him. Just some junk and bits of material. But all of these are quite useful for my plans."

"So... what are your plans, Darling. Anything involving me, I hope. If you want, I can take you to dinner. My treat."

"I don't think that will be necessary."

Sergei interrupts "Stop pestering the kid and let him do his work." Henry breathes a sigh of relief.

"Really now, Sergei. You just come in and ruin all my fun."

"At least this is more important than you standing around there yapping. Doc just received a missive from the Society HQ. They released the pay for the Vranitch. And they also got a new job lined up for us."

"Oh my, action already? Well, atleast it won't boring now. This is gonna be fun."

"Let's go down then."

Henry lets out another sigh of relief. "Good thing they've already left."

"Okay, the 'Worktable' is assembled already. Incomplete, but functional. Still lacks some equipment like a lathe and better metalworking tools. And I'm going to unlock the 'All Packed Up' function, and make it portable. For that I'm gonna need 100 Points. It's not going to be like those video games where workstations are scattered all around the area."

"Let's see... what should we do first? Weapons, armor, medicine for healing wounds and curing poison, useful tools like explosives and traps.

"Weapons... my choices is to make a pipe gun. Or a scrap iron blade. Or a scrap iron bludgeon. All bad choices since I don't have the right tools to make better ones. No 'Forge' yet to smelt the scrap iron down. And I got a better pistol than that dinky pipe gun. If I have the Alchemistry Lab, I can make better bullets for the gun. Right now I'm limited to making black powder. I can't even make new bullets."

Henry just made a regular Wooden Club, instead of the scrap wood version. And then added 'Shaped Hand Grips' and 'Rusted Spikes' mods to it.

"That should suffice for." He checks the 'Worktable's' available blueprints. "Armor, the same. A scrap iron set. It got nice DEF stats, but horrible WGT and ENC scores. A padded leather vest would be better, but I have no Leather to make them. Wooden armor is just plain awful."

"For consumables... no dice. I don't have an 'Alchemistry Lab' or even the materials for the ordinary poultices and salves I could make without it."

"Tools choices are slim but quite useful. Black powder bombs, either plain explosives or the special ones filled with scrap metal fragments. Simple smoke bombs, just need sugar and saltpeter. I could make thermite, but aluminum is quite scarce. It costs even more than the weight in gold. That means reproducing the Bayer and Hall–Héroult process, then. I could do it, it's my Chemistry thesis paper revolves around those two processes, after all." Henry then checks his available blueprints and recipes. "Oh, right, I can make pure metals with the 'Alchemistry Lab'."

"Wow, all my advanced item craft really require I have an 'Alchemistry Lab'. And the 'Forge' too. Make sure to get some needed upgrades to the 'Worktable', too. We're going to need the added functionality."

Henry then thinks of the building he's now staying in.

"I can make upgrades to the house, too. Better lighting, for one. Electricity can certainly help that." Henry then realizes something. "Gaaah! I need a 'Forge' to make the glass for the lamp."

"I really want to make a lot of these things... but I'm seriously hampered by my lack of necessary equipment and functions. I'll have to resort to buying stuff for the time being."

"I'll have to write down any knowledge that I still remember that are from my world. Especially technological advancements that have not been made yet."

Then a light bulb goes off in Henry's "I know...I'll patents those inventions in my name. If I do that, I'll gonna rake in a large amount of money. Right.... It's a really brilliant idea, if I do say so myself. Making lives easier while making a nice load of cash is the best."

"So, what's items I think are needed to be in the list of 'Future Inventions Needed to be Made Now'?"

1. Bayer and Hall–Héroult processes - cheap aluminum is necessary for most modern conveniences. From lighter pots and pans to lightweight airplane parts.

2. Improve the Bessemer process - it can be done easily. Just replace the clay linings of the Bessemer converters with dolomite. The phosphate byproducts are a good source for fertilizers.

3. Steam turbines - going to need them for mass electrification. Much better than steam engines and produce significantly more power.

4. Alternators - another part of my mass electrification effort. Much better than dynamos. AC current is easier to switch on and off than DC.

5. Light bulbs - specifically incandescent ones. I want to make fluorescent lamps, but mercury vapor is dangerous. Better waste energy than play with mercury.

6. Better explosives and propellants - Cordite, RDX, and other modern explosive and propellants are the way to go. Much better than black powder and safer than just plain nitroglycerin or nitrocellulose. Rockets would also greatly benefit from this.

7. Better guns - with more powerful propellants will need more robust guns. Webleys, Brownings and Garands come to mind. Or even better; assault rifles, auto shotguns, and man-portable machine guns. I'll bet Pradesh will love to dual-wield them. He has the strength for it. He really needs better ranged weapons than the breech-loader shotty he has now.

8. Telephone - Bell would patent the phone in 1876, if we follow my world's timeline. But we need it NOW! Easier and more active lines of communications would greatly benefit the fight against the Abyss.

9. Radio broadcasting and telegraph - This one will be a doozy. Marconi isn't even born yet. But long- distance communications is crucial. Especially without the need for cumbersome wires.

10. Vacuum tubes - This will be necessary for long-range radio transmission.

11. Better internal combustion engine (ICE) - a big yes for industrialization and the development of mass transport.

12. Cars - Need I say more. Better transportation is needed for better and faster exchange of goods. And with it, Society members can easily travel to supernatural sightings.

13. Plastics - Yes, environmentalist all over the globe will sue me for this. But this a great innovation. Lightweight, yet durable materials. It will a great glass replacement for airtight and shatter-proof containers.

"I have very few more ideas but I don't know how to make them, or too advanced right now for me right now. Electronics came to mind. Transistors would be nice, but impractical for now. Better medical knowledge and technology would also be good, but I'm no doctor. Nuclear weapons? I'm not an atomics expert and it's way too dangerous. Airplanes will depends on the development of ICEs. Heck, most modern technologies trace their roots from this time period."

Henry contemplates.

"I will have to limit myself in the technological innovation I can introduced currently. Too much advancement might also harm the people. But progress is unavoidable. I will just have to be vigilant about it."

"I hope...."