Supply and Demand (Invite)

[Shuwen]

Words: 338 Bailin

Shuwen frowned as he looked at through the wares belonging to an alchemist. He was at St. Pancreas station, looking through the various stands, stalls, and shops trying to find useful items that would help him in the field. He wanted small comforts, such as a portable stove for cooking in the field, or binoculars that would allow him to see greater distances. Unfortunately, there was a serious issue plaguing the marketplace.

Despite how well the adventurers as a whole seemed to be prospering, it felt like they were lagging behind in the material goods department. Everyone seemed more concerned about raising their main level and becoming stronger through linear progression, to the point that they were neglecting their own civilization. There were only a handful of people who bothered to focus on leveling their crafting skills, and those that did seemed to be charging ridiculous prices. Everyone just wants to farm, so the kinds of things people can buy are seriously lagging behind. It’s probably making the value of gold go down, which is why the few serious crafters have resorted to overcharging. It was simple economics; there was too much demand and too little supply, a painful imbalance in the economy. People needed to stop farming so much and work more on creating basic necessities, and not so necessities. Shuwen, for one, wanted to get some things made, but because they weren’t simplistic items that could be ready made, it was neigh-impossible for him to find anyone who was willing to make them for him at a reasonable price. People like Shuwen, who kept their crafting level ahead of their main level, were essentially wierdos in such a society, even though it was people like him who were likely contributing the most to it overall. Maybe he was being arrogant, but it was a simple fact. It also probably explains why I have as much money as I do. He thought with a grim smile. Having found nothing satisfactory, Shuwen moved on to the next stall.

[Bailin]

[nospaces]

HP: 100% MP: 100% RH: Saurum Progressive Riffle (lvl 20) LH: Sarum Progressive Riffle (lvl 20) QS: Golden Hilt (lvl 21) AR: Flak Jacket (lvl 21)

WC: 274 TWC: 274 Tags Shuwen Theme Song TS Credits Cortana

It was business as per usual at St. Pancras station, Landers and adventurers alike were shopping for certain goods, items, trying to haggle on the price or attempting to sell the loot they had gathered on their adventures. A few days before there had popped up some new recipes on his mechanic class crafting list and Bailin was anxious and curious to see if anyone happened to have the end result stored away somewhere. If a steam engine could be made, what boundaries could be crossed even further? ‘This might mean we could have a small Industrial Revolution of our own, but better, more efficient and a lot less harmful, it should be an interesting concept and process.’ He thought as he walked through the station, skimming through the stalls, looking for the steam engine. [break][break] Making his way through the throng of Landers and adventurers Bailin suddenly came to a standstill as he bumped into someone. “Please pardon my rather rude behaviour, it appears I misplaced myself and as a result seem to have bumped into you.” Bailin said with a grin as he turned his eye to the unlucky fellow whom had the bad luck of standing in Bailin’s way. “You see, with one eye one tends to… overlook some things or in this case someone. I do hope you can forgive me for my clumsiness.” [break][break] Taking a good look at the fellow in front of him Bailin slowly started to recognize the chap. Was this not Shuwen, one of his companions during their venture into the Miasma realms? “You look familiar… are you by any chance known as Shuwen?” Bailin asked carefully. [break][break]

[Shuwen]

Words: 263

Shuwen probably should have been paying more attention to where he was going. He was the type of autistic person who knew exactly how stupid it was to not look where he was going, and still do it anyways. This time, he was busy studying the ornate, overleveled, and obviously overpriced ornate weapons some blacksmith had put up for sale.he he briefly collided with another player. Fortunately, neither of them had been moving very quickly, so they weren’t knocked over or injured by said collision. Shuwen turned his head forward to apologize, only to realize he was familiar with the person he’d run into. At first he couldn’t place who it was, but as soon as the Warden began talking, he had no trouble recognizing him. It was Bailin, the talkative Warden from the Miasma realm quest, the one that was knowledgeable in engineering. Why didn’t he just check the interface? It would have revealed my name without the need to ask.

“Well, yes. How’ve you been Bailin?” The question was pretty much automatic small talk, something he did out of habit more then any real need to know about the Warden’s circumstances, but it created an opening in case there was something the Warden wanted to talk about. “I guess you’re out shopping too?”

“I was hoping someone would have made a portable stove by now, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.” Bailin would probably remember that he was a chef, on account of the fact he’d done most of the cooking back during their foray into the Miasma realm.

[Bailin]

[nospaces]

HP: 100% MP: 100% RH: Saurum Progressive Riffle (lvl 20) LH: Sarum Progressive Riffle (lvl 20) QS: Golden Hilt (lvl 21) AR: Flak Jacket (lvl 21)

WC: 302 TWC: 576 Tags Shuwen Theme Song TS Credits Cortana

“Oh you know, how did they say it in that near ancient move… getting fat and bored? Oh well, I’m not doing much at the moment, merely window-shopping, I heard some rumours about a new mechanical item, a steam engine and I am very curious as to the workings of said device. You have not seen any such device around here, by any chance?” Bailin replied to the monk. [break][break] “Wait, a portable stove? Isn’t that like… a barbeque? Or did you mean more like a small metal box with heating elements in it? Perhaps a gas-fuelled device though in this world we might be able to implement the use of fire-based summons and the likes? I suppose we could also try a Dutch oven or one of those Mediterranean stoves? I fear you have me at a surprise, but perhaps you could… elaborate a bit more on what you wanted to do with it exactly? Cooking is rather obvious but do you want to make big things or small? Do you want it to be mechanical in nature or natural, that being made of clay and stone, rather than metal and so on?” Bailin rambled on as he voiced out the options he could think of in the minute span of time it took him to think of, formulate and voice out the words [break][break] “Ooops, it seems I did it again, dreadfully sorry about that, I keep trying to keep the talking to a slightly less… present volume, like Steel suggested, but on occasion I accidentally make a slip and keep rambling on a bit. Anyway, I suppose it might be wisest to find ourselves a more quiet and private place to discuss things. Do you by any chance know of such a place?” Bailin asked after he apologised for his rambling. [break][break]

[Shuwen]

Words: 430

As soon as he gave Bailin a hook to respond to, he took advantage of it promptly. Apparently, he was in the marketplace to seek out rumors of the latest and greatest mechanical things being made by adventurers. Namely, a steam engine. That… came as something of a surprise to the Monk. “Er, no I haven’t.” He thought about who could possibly develop a steam engine. “A steam engine would probably take a lot of time and resources to put together, wouldn’t it? I doubt your average joe could just throw one together, or properly capitalize on such a creation, so it was more likely a group effort. I’d check with the major crafting or research guilds if that’s what you’re looking for.” They would probably be the only ones willing and able to conduct such a large scale project.

As soon as he mentioned that he was looking for a stove, Bailin was off like a rocket, at least mentally. He quickly began to ask question after question regarding exactly what Shuwen was looking for. “Er, the latter, not a barbeque thing. A small box with a heating element would work, though I’d leave the specifics to whoever created it.” Shuwen was a chef, not an alchemist or a mechanic. Since the apocalypse, he’d become fairly decent at making food, he was certainly better then he’d been back on Earth, but he had little to no experience with magitech or making mechanical objects. He’d leave that to someone who did. From the sound of it, he’d just found one.

“Erm, I’m not a Summoner or Sorcerer though, I’m a Monk, and I typically solo, so fire magic is out of the question. I am a chef though, so I could make beer with a high alcohol percentage, would that work as an alternative to gas?” Though he’d had limited experience making drinks, the chef class was partially merged with the brewer class, and he suspected that making such a beverage probably wouldn’t be terribly difficult. It certainly wouldn’t require being a competent brewer, he was sure of that much.

Bailin apologized for his outburst, and suggested they look for somewhere private to discuss the matter. “Well, we could probably find an alcove somewhere…” He briefly scanned their surroundings. Even though the place had been re-purposed, St. Pancras Station was still essentially a wrecked building, so there were large portions of the place that weren’t in active use. They probably wouldn’t have trouble finding somewhere private if they searched. “Not sure if here is what you had in mind though.”

[Bailin]

[nospaces]

HP: 100% MP: 100% RH: Saurum Progressive Riffle (lvl 20) LH: Sarum Progressive Riffle (lvl 20) QS: Golden Hilt (lvl 21) AR: Flak Jacket (lvl 21)

WC: 384 TWC: 960 Tags Shuwen Theme Song TS Credits Cortana

“Hmm, yes I suppose it would and you are right, they would probably be large and expensive. I will contemplate on it later, for now let us continue to the task at hand, your stove.” Said Bailin as Shuwen led the two of them towards a disused spot where they could talk more easily. [break][break] “Well, this is fine, I’d just rather not discuss research plans out in public, someone might steal the ideas and such. “ Bailin explained. “Well now, I suppose a barbeque would be too simple, the oven types would require you to build a fire and you’d rather have a mechanical variant, which could either run on alcohol, gas or something else. Summons are out as you have pointed out. I think I might have an idea… We’d need to find an alchemist to get our hands on some manashards, but I am fairly certain I could make a small mana-shardbattery, which would work much like the batteries in a flashlight. If we were to find a blacksmith or a small metal can, divide it in roughly 1/3rd for the battery and the remainder for the cooking grill. I suspect if we could use copper wires to let the current pass through, heating the wiring and as such allow you to cook… though I suppose… an alchemist could also make those wires and probably even better at that, as we’d be using mana as a power source and not electricity. I admit it will still function mostly like a barbeque, however, it is easier to take with you and you can still heat pots and pans on the grill, as well as cook meat. “Bailin suggested his mind racing as he went through the options. [break][break] “So in short: A small metal box with an opening to add a manashardbattery, which functions as the power source. The mana will run through wires, which will heat up as it flows through them, allowing you to cook on it. The alcohol burner would be nice, but it will be far more costly than manashards and it would mean you’d have to carry a flask of alcohol with you all the time. So for convenience sake I’d go for the mana shard version.” Bailin recapped his trail of thoughts regarding the materials and power source. [break][break]

[Shuwen]

Words: 465

Bailin quickly explained why he wanted to find somewhere private to discuss the matter; he didn’t want anyone else listening in on the conversation and using whatever they came up with for themselves. Honestly, he thought that was being overkill; he was slightly surprised no one had already developed a portable stove, but he doubted many people would be willing and able to take advantage of the information just to beat them to the punch, and even if there was, the odds of them happening to overhear them talking was rather low. Perhaps Bailin was being needlessly cautious? There could be all sorts of reasons for that. Shuwen’s initial thought was that Bailin was simply being paranoid. Or maybe he’d had some experience regarding that kind of thing from back in the real world. Since he knew next to nothing about Bailin’s past, and was unlikely to discover anything relevant from the Warden if he pressed him.

Upon hearing Shuwen’s best attempt to guess where he would find a steam engine, Bailin seemed to quickly accept it, then promptly push the subject aside for later reference. It sounds like he’s getting distracted by my problem. I guess that’s a good thing?

As Shuwen went into detail about his specifications, and the issues he had with Bailin’s initial suggestions, the Warden continued to revise and refine those suggestions, taking Shuwen’s own needs and resources into account.

“So, the parts that we need, the ones we need to get from an alchemist and blacksmith. Can we just buy those in a shop somewhere, or do they need to actively participate in the stove’s creation?” He (belatedly) remembered that Bailin was a mechanic, who had some skill despite his crafting being noticeably behind his main level. “Most of the things mechanics make probably require a little help from a blacksmith to get the right materials for making things, but I’m not sure about alchemy parts.” Unfortunately, the greater number of crafting disciplines needed to produce the stove, the harder it would be. As it was, items that required two crafting disciplines were rarely seen on the market, and tended to be rather expensive. Three was practically unheard of outside large crafting or research guilds. It didn’t bode well for what he had in mind.

“I’d rather not use a barbeque because it’s a lot more limited in regards to what you can make with it, and I’d have to change my cooking technique a bit to fit it.” He quickly explained when it came up.

“Alcohol would be easier for me to get ahold of, on account of me being able to make it myself, but you’re probably right about it becoming more expensive overall.” Assuming I can get a reliable source of batteries. He thought to himself.

[Bailin]

[nospaces]

HP: 100% MP: 100% RH: Saurum Progressive Riffle (lvl 20) LH: Sarum Progressive Riffle (lvl 20) QS: Golden Hilt (lvl 21) AR: Flak Jacket (lvl 21)

WC: 298 TWC: 1258 Tags Shuwen Theme Song TS Credits Cortana

“Well, in short, we’d need a blacksmith to make the grill and basket, a mechanic for the mana-shard battery and an alchemist for the mana- shards which power the battery. I suppose we could shop for the bits and bobs, though I can make the mana-shard battery myself. It is true we mechanics require some... material assistance from the blacksmiths, but we can make a load of different things. Things blacksmiths can’t make because of the game mechanics. As far as I’m aware, alchemist make mana-shards form near thin air, which would mean things, would pan out perfectly for us in that regard. Which would leave us with finding some mana-shards and the metal basket, as well as finding the parts for the battery, which shouldn’t be that hard, I might even have some stored at my humble home, probably in the workshop.” Bailin said, thinking on where to find the required parts. [break][break] “Hmm, I see, I have to agree it will not function as a proper stove but… I suppose it would have done the task it needed to, but if you rather did not use it, we shall keep it at the current plan.” Bailin said, “That might be true but you would probably start losing money over time, especially on the lower levelled recipes. Whereas the mana-shards are a tad… expensive but they are a lot easier to carry than a barrel of alcohol and a lot easier to make. So, shall we hunt for the parts we require? It would be… some coils, mana-shards, a metal basket and perhaps a grill or some more coils, so I could attempt to construct a grill. Do you perhaps have any more suggestions or things I possibly could have missed?” Bailin suggested and kindly asked of Shuwen. [break][break]

[Shuwen]

Words: 351

“So we only need to buy the materials from them then? That’s not as big a deal.” Getting one to participate directly would probably be a lot more difficult, not to mention a lot more expensive. “It’ll be great if you already have the materials; that would save us a shopping trip.” He pondered a bit more.

Bailin brought up the issue of the cost of using the stove, particularly of fueling it. “It’s fine. Having one will allow me to spend more time out in a field or dungeon. I haven’t had a lot of trouble finding ingredient items out in the field, my main bottle neck has been needing to go back into town every time I want to use them to restock. So as long as I can use them, I can simply make whatever food items I need to keep going. That will save me extra trips back into town, which will in turn save me time and by extension money.” The explanation was a bit complicated, but not by economics standards, and since he was an adventurer himself, he suspected that the Warden wouldn’t have a lot of trouble understanding.

The other things Shuwen could come up with, Bailin already brought up. The Warden was quite a talker, but he already knew that. “So where should we go to look for these things? To be honest, most of my knowledge when it comes to “finding things” is centered more around food ingredients, so I’m not really sure where to look for them.” It was embaressing to admit, but it was, essentially, Bailin’s party, as he was the only person amongst the two who really knew how to do these things. Shu could certainly use the stove once it was made, but until then, he was essentially useless. “I guess we’d need to find an alchemist for the mana shard. Do manashards have levels or ranks like other ingredient items? If we can just ask any alchemist for one, as opposed to a leveled alchemist, finding one would be much easier, not to mention cheaper to buy.”

[Bailin]

[nospaces]

HP: 100% MP: 100% RH: Saurum Progressive Riffle (lvl 20) LH: Sarum Progressive Riffle (lvl 20) QS: Golden Hilt (lvl 21) AR: Flak Jacket (lvl 21)

WC: 399 TWC: 1657 Tags Shuwen Theme Song TS Credits Cortana

“Indeed we shall and indeed it is and will not, bar finding an alchemist, but perhaps one of the Landers might have some lying about. “ Bailin suggested, gesturing they might as well start their hunt for the required parts. “Yes, I can imagine, I more or less have the same problem with both my sub-classes, accounting in the field where one is rather prone to being attacked is rather annoying, as well as not being able to construct or create the more delicate mechanisms due to a lack of tools or peace and quiet. Though I suppose a roster on some rocks and over a fire would also suffice as well, though one might be limited by game mechanics or a lack of wood or stone.” He continued as he led the monk through the various stalls of Landers and adventurers displaying their wares. Most stalls had at least some people browsing the wares, haggling about the price or trying to sell their spoils. [break][break] “Well, we’ve come to the right place, so far I have been successful in my hunts for certain parts or goods. I dare say mana shards or fragments are not level bound, which should allow us to buy them rather cheap, which isn’t all that strange considering they are more of a by-product rather than a full recipe. However, I fear I shall be a nasty person when it comes to the haggling and such, I will leave that to you.” Bailin said with a grin, as he started pointing at stalls as if he was making a mental checklist of what those stalls had and whether or not they had what they required. [break][break] After several stalls Bailin suddenly came to a stop as he pointed towards a stall on his left, where a burly Lander with a balding head and large moustache sat as if he was bored out of his mind but had nothing better to do. “I think we can find our metal box at that guy’s stall, I think it’s there on the left end corner of the table. If you would be so kind as to acquire said piece, I will start looking for the shards and the grill. The rest I will probably have at home.” Bailin suggested to Shuwen, gently turning his head to his left and right as to scour the next stalls for the required parts. [break][break]

[Shuwen]

Words: 286

Bailin confirmed that mana shards were not in fact level bound, and also pointed out that they were already in the right place to search for whatever random things they needed to get. Shuwen could only nod in agreement. However, when the issue of haggling came up, the Warden quickly left the matter into Shuwen’s capable(?) hands.

“Uh, okay.” Honestly, Shuwen would have preferred to just leave the haggling to Bailin, as he was the talker amongst them; Shuwn didn’t like drawn out conversations with strangers in general, and liked such conversations over a point of contention even less, but he complied. Well, some of these things might be a pain to find, but we can always look for them in multiple stalls, and force the sellers to compete. That would probably take more time, but it would drive the price down. I think. However, he scrapped that idea when Bailin pointed out the most likely stall to find it in. “Er, okay.” He could already feel his desire to talk fading rapidly even before they separated. Keeping pace with the talkative Warden in conversation took more out of him then he really liked. I guess it can’t be helped. A brief search around the stall came up with several possible containers that a stove could be built in. He picked what he thought would be the three best candidates and asked for the prices on them, and went with the cheapest option. He was able to convince the man to lower the price a little but, but not very much. Still, it didn’t seem to be overpriced, so Shuwen completed the transaction with a shrug and went to go see where Bailin had gone off to.

[Bailin]

[nospaces]

HP: 100% MP: 100% RH: Saurum Progressive Riffle (lvl 20) LH: Sarum Progressive Riffle (lvl 20) QS: Golden Hilt (lvl 21) AR: Flak Jacket (lvl 21)

WC: 510 TWC: 2167 Tags Shuwen Theme Song TS Credits Cortana

A few stalls further down the station Bailin was valiantly trying to haggle down the price of a rather shoddy looking grill, though it looked as if it would suffice for the purpose he intended to use it for. “Nay my good sir, I understand you wish to make a profit and yet I wish for the same, but with the price you are currently requesting for said item I could find several for the same value. And yet I find myself impatient as to wait for such quantity and as such I will meet you halfway, I will offer you ten pieces of golden coin for the grill and another ten pieces of gold for the mana fragment, for I have much desire to use them and yet find myself lacking both items and patience to find a more… fortunate bargain for myself. Though I will assure you, I will look for another salesman if my offer is not satisfactory for you. “Spoke the Warden with an evil grin and cold staring eye, whilst he was looking the clean shaven Lander in the eyes. The Lander was a youth, no older than Bhalin himself, yet he had found some way of procuring several items, which he had proceeded to produce on the small market stand in the station and attempt to sell them to anyone whom might be interested in his wares. He had found himself in rather ill luck when Bhalin had showed up on his stand, the Warden being aware of certain individuals with equally specific skills which would allow him to indeed procure the required materials for a lower price. However, contacting those individuals and setting up the deal would require a certain amount of time and this was a lot quicker, though the prices the young Lander requested for the items was a bit higher than Bhalin had hoped to pay for them. As such Bhalin had pointed out the items he wanted and named the price he would offer for each. The prices he offered did not make the price go down too steep but they did go down to a more satisfactory amount for the Warden. As such a staring match had ensued between the two of them, a match that meant the loser would concede with the victor’s price. The match continued for several minutes, but finally the Lander broke and agreed to the price Bailin had stated, though he was not happy with it and grudgingly accepted the coins Bailin handed him and received the items. [break][break] Turning about Bailin produced a grand smirk on his face as he felt joyous with his minor victory. Now all he had to do is create a mana battery, cut a hole in the metal basket, attach the grill and probably attach some wiring inside the basket as to have the mana battery flow through the basket and actually heat the grill up as Shuwen had requested; he thought, picturing each step in his mind to make a rudimentary plan to satisfy the monk’s desire. [break][break]

[Shuwen]

Words: 455

After a brief search, Shuwen found Bailin haggling with a shopkeeper over the price of a grill. Geez, he uses that overly wordy speech even when he’s haggling. In his experience, most players used a less formal tone then normal in favor of speeding up the conversation. It was probably annoying for the shopkeeper to put up with, but he supposed that was the way of things. Trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, the Monk tapped him on the shoulder. “It looks like you have things well in hand.” He began. Under the circumstances, it was hard to strike a balance between speaking loud enough to be heard over the background noise, but soft enough for the conversation to still be considered private. “I’m going to look for ingredient items to test the stove in Windsor. Send me a telepathy call when you’re almost ready, or if you need my help with something.” If Bailin didn’t object, Shuwen would quickly send him a friend request, which if he confirmed it, would add each other to their respective friend lists. When that was taken care of, Shuwen handed him the box he’d bought and walked off in the general direction of the nearest city gate.

Once he was ought in Windsor, he began thinking about what kinds of dishes would be best suited to test out the stove, and what kinds of ingredients he’d need to gather to make them. Hmm, a stew would probably be best for checking to see if it can heat evenly and reliably. That probably won’t be too difficult to make. I can hunt down boars for the necessary meat, Nepents or briar weasels for the herbs and vegetables. I guess I’ll come up with the details once I see what drops.

He started with the boars, as they were easiest to find. As he was fairly overleveled for the area, beating them wasn’t very difficult. Two thrown knives was al he needed to bring one down. Of course, due to the level difference, most of them tried to run when he aggro’d them, which made finishing them off somewhat harder. Throwing knives were great as a lesser ranged attack, but it was hard to use when there were a bunch of trees in the area getting in your way. Aiming properly and timing the throw so it was both aimed at where the boar was going to be, and not having any trees in your way took a bit of doing, but it was nice practice, and broke the monotony of fighting under leveled monsters. Before long, he had more then enough meat to meet his needs. Next up, the Nepents. He thought happily, breaking into an energetic jog.

[Bailin]

[nospaces]

HP: 100% MP: 100% RH: Saurum Progressive Riffle (lvl 20) LH: Sarum Progressive Riffle (lvl 20) QS: Golden Hilt (lvl 21) AR: Flak Jacket (lvl 21)

WC: 395 TWC: 2562 Tags Shuwen Theme Song TS Credits Cortana

As Bailin walked away grinning, he and Shuwen quickly met up again, at which point the latter sent a friend- request and suggested Bailin give him a call when he was nearly done with his crafting attempt. “Yes, that will be fine; I shall give you a call when I think it is ready for a test. I wish you a safe trip and remember to have fun.” Bailin responded with a gentle smile as he took the metal basket from Shuwen. [break][break] The next step was marching home with great haste, which Bailin did with great strides. A few hours later Bailin arrived at his home and proceeded to march on until he found himself in his workshop. With gentle care he placed the required pieces from his inventory on the working table. Rummaging through the stacks of parts Bailin quickly found several coils that would achieve the goal he required them to achieve perfectly… or so he hoped. Next he opened his crafting menu and used it to create a [level one mana fragment battery]. Next up he took up his screwdriver and gently made an opening in the metal basket, which could fit the battery tight enough as so it would not fall out, but still could be easily removed and replaced. Once Bailin had finished installing the opening and placed the batter he carefully attached the coils to the basket in such a manner they would allow the energy from the battery to flow through the basket, to the grill and as such heat the grill. [break][break] The entire process took about three or four hours, due to the small and delicate parts, which meant Bailin had to be careful and ever so gentle when installing each part and attaching them at the right spot. The finishing touch had been to punch two more holes in the metal basket and attaching the roster to the basket and making it connect with the coils. That way if something broke one would only have to lift the grill up and could easily replace the broken parts as well as store small items in it, allowing for cooking both on the grill and under it. [break][break] ‘Shuwen,’ Bailin said after he had opened a telepathic link to the monk, ‘I think it is done, perhaps you’d like to come and see what I have created for you.’ [break][break]

[Shuwen]

Words: 600

Bailin agreed to his plan without complaint, and quickly accepted his friend request. Good, that makes things easier.

The nepents were a bit harder to find, probably because they were plants hiding in a forest. Shu really ought to have thought about that a bit more. Aw well. Fortunately, he eventually managed to find a small group of three Nepent Snatchers, ready for the fighting. As he outleveled them by a large margin, the Monk could have probably easily beaten them in a contest of raw power. However, he wanted to do a bit more then that. He figured it was a good chance to practice dodging, drawing out the fight and getting some productive entertainment from it.

First, he used Rafting Taunt to draw their attention. The nearest one attacked him with whip-like vines, but Shuwen saw them coming and dodged by rolling to one side. He then took aim at the second plant and attacked it with Wyvern Kick. The attack was almost strong enough to wipe out its entire HP bar, but in his excitement, he forgot about the third plant, who’s flower/jaws quickly clamped down on his upper body, slathering it in painful acid. Owowowowowowow The attack wasn’t actually that bad due to their level difference, but receiving an acid bath was a new (and very unwelcome) experience for him. As he struggled, the plant picked him up, flailed around a bit, and threw him into a nearby tree. Which wasn’t quite as unfamiliar an experience, but none the lest still painful. I guess that’s what I get for being careless. He thought as multicolored stars flew across his vision. Now, gotta recover before the plants get me again. He felt his way back to his feet and ducked behind the tree, trying to keep it between himself and the Nepants. One of them tagged his leg with a vine, but otherwise it more or less bought him the time he needed to recover. Unfortunately, by that time, the plants were on either side of the tree, flanking him. Gonna have to break through one of them. Shouldn’t be too hard as long as I don’t get careless.

Pulling out a throwing knife, he threw it at the Nepant on the left side, jumped back as the one on the right tried to bite/grab him again. He then followed up by backhanding it with Zoom Attack. However, as he did so, the third plant hit him with it’s vines. Growling, he threw another knife at it. As the plant had already taken a hit earlier, that was more then enough to finish it off. With one of the nepants down, it was much easier to take care of the remaining two. He took care of the other plant he’d already hit with a quick flying kick, though it managed to tag him with its vines on the way in. Finally, he finished off the last one by using Bullet Punch. Blah, I didn’t want to turn it into a contest of power, but I got careless.

His mental chastising was quickly interrupted by a telepathy call from Bailin, to seemed to have finished it. "Great, I’ll be right over." Using Call of Home Shuwen teleported back to Londinium. Following the Warden’s instructions to his workshop, he soon met back up with him, and saw what he’d made. “It looks great!” Shuwen said with a grin. “Shall I try it out?” Even as he spoke, he was already pulling out the ingredients he’d gathered, along with a pot and a few utensils he’d need to make something.

[Bailin]

[nospaces]

HP: 100% MP: 100% RH: Saurum Progressive Riffle (lvl 20) LH: Sarum Progressive Riffle (lvl 20) QS: Golden Hilt (lvl 21) AR: Flak Jacket (lvl 21)

WC: 252 TWC: 2814 Tags Shuwen Theme Song TS Credits Cortana

Not long after the call Bailin had made to the monk, said monk arrived at Bailin’s home. From the looks of it he had entertained himself whilst Bailin had been entertaining himself with the puzzle box. [break][break] “Thank you, I hope you will enjoy cooking with it and please do, it will be a good test run. The mana batteries are usually good for a small jolt when you place a wet finger against it, but it might be possible that, due to the low but continues current required, it will work perfectly for the stove. If not, we could try multiple batteries or perhaps higher level ones. Though for now I suppose a test run with the level one variant will suffice for our goal and we can fine tune it further if need be.” Bailin explained, hinting there might be a chance of malfunction or just nothing happening, due to the lack of individual power of the mana shard battery.[break][break] “Well now, chef, what are you contemplating on making? A nice stew with; carrots, onions, garlic, raisins and bacon? Or perhaps pancakes? Mashed taters? Something else that is edible?” Bailin spoke, making suggestions and guesses as to what the chef could possibly be making on his test with the portable stove. “Or will you be testing out something new, using gained spoils of war to create a random dish and as such adding a new recipe to the menu?” the Warden continued asking, his curiosity on the matter not yet sated. [break][break]

Level 10 portable stove:[break][break]

- Mana fragment battery (5 gold)[break][break]

- Metal basket and Grill (10 gold)[break][break]

- 1 set of coils (5 gold)[break][break]

Total: 5*10*4 = 200 gold pieces[break][break]


I think this is about right, but as this is my first research thread I am not 100% certain ;)[break][break]

[Shuwen]

Words: 276

“I already gathered ingredients; it’ll be pork and veggie stew.” Bailin could probably guess where the pork came from; he hadn’t gone very far, and boars were a common monster in the zones around Londinium. It was a relatively simple dish, the only issue was that different kinds of food required different amounts of time to cook, and cooking them for too long would ruin them somewhat, so he had to divide the meat and different vegtables into groups, calculate about how much time each group of food needed, and place them in at the right time so they’d all finish at more or less the same time. He started by boiling water and broth, adding each group of food as it was needed.

The stove worked serviceably well. He needed a little help figuring which button/switch/knob did what, but once he reached that point, he didn’t need any further assistance.

His calculations were inexact and imperfect, so the food ended up not tasting quite as good as it could have, but it was certainly well within the realm of “edible.”

“Well, it works.” Shuwen said bluntly once they were finished eating. “I’ll keep an eye on it for the next few weeks or so, to see if it has any issues, but for now it seems to be doing fine. How much do I owe you?” Assuming Bailin specified an amount, Shuwen would pay it as long as it didn’t seem to unreasonable. Considering it’s usefulness to him, he’d defiantly pay a decent price for it. Once the deal was finalized, Shuwen would pack his things and leave, unless Bailin wanted to make small talk.