Chereads / The Big Bang System / Chapter 3 - Mudball

Chapter 3 - Mudball

Although concerned about the description of the taste, Angela still selected confirm; It was the most suitable source of food. A round, brown fruit appears in Angela's hand, looking a little like a rotten peach with a slightly sticky surface.

Angela shudders at the thought of eating something that looked so unappealing but it had to be done. She scrunched her face up and pinched her nose, tentatively taking a bite before almost spitting it out immediately after; the taste was horrible. It wasn't even just the taste but the texture that was horrible too. The cultivators certainly named it aptly; it was akin to eating mud. Angela somehow manages to swallow the whole fruit down despite gagging, as well as a coughing fit she has after. The fruit had left behind 2 small seeds that looked somewhat similar to sunflower seeds with a broad rounded end that tapered off to a pointed tip. Angela thought about planting the seeds now but, as she currently had no way of getting water, she decided to put them to the side instead.

With her hunger satiated, Angela now had two options. The first option was to look at the third category of the creation tab while the other was to look at the third tab that appeared when she got the achievement; it was labelled 'blueprints'. Blueprints sounded like it would be complicated and time consuming so Angela first decided to check out the structures menu, hoping for furniture such as a table and a mirror. After opening the tab however, she was somewhat disappointed as it was much more simplified.

[Structure

dirt brick: 0.1 anima

clay brick (unfired): 0.3 anima

wooden plank: 0.5 anima

???: (build a clay brick wall 3m long and 2m high to unlock)

???: (unlock requirements unknown)]

Sadly, no furniture was available from this tab; causing Angela to be somewhat downcast as she thought about the three things unlocked in the menu. With regards to the dirt brick Angela immediately discarded the thought of building anything with it right now as she was, due to her upbringing, very cleanly and hated getting dirt inside where she lived.

As for the clay brick, the add-on of (unfired) suggests that in order to use it Angela would have to first find a way to fire them. She had read about this in books but had no practical experience of it; it would have to be put on hold. The last option was promising but looking around her, Angela noticed that the number of planks required to build the shed she was in was quite high and at 0.5 anima per plank it would be very pricy to build with so she kept that thought for later.

Finally it was time to look at the blueprints tab. While Angela didn't have any professional training in blueprints and engineering, she had taken the school course for it and thus has some idea of what to expect.

She opens the tab and a window divided into three sections appears. On the left side was a list of all the materials she has unlocked so far as well as their costs per m³.

[Materials

dirt: 1 anima

sand: 2 anima

clay: 3 anima

wood: 5 anima]

On the right hand side are many of the tools Angela recognised from her course such as the pencil, rule and eraser as well as the more complicated tools that are usually seen in professional software like the one her school used. In short, as long as Angela could think of something she could probably make it using these tools.

Angela ponders what to design. As a young lady naturally she cared a lot about her appearance and hygiene so the first things she thought of were the usual bathroom implements that she was so used to; things like her mirror, hairbrush and toothbrush all came to mind but sadly had to be shelved due to a lack of suitable materials. Angela didn't care for the wooden hairbrushes sometimes found in stores as they hurt her hair and she preferred the more gentle and malleable plastic ones.

Next she thought of a sink and toilet which (despite her lack of knowledge about plumbing) she could make a primitive version of, one without plumbing or water. First she decided to make the sink. For this, as well as the toilet, the void surrounding her would actually be of use as It made for a great way to dispose of waste. Angela didn't quite feel comfortable with the thought of that but for lack of a better alternative she has no choice.

Starting with the base Angela draws a wooden circle about the size of a bowling ball and uses the extrude function to turn it into a cylinder. Next she hollows it so that there is a hole all the way down to the bottom, about the width of a tennis ball. After the base is complete all that is left is the basin. For this section Angela makes a sphere and then cuts it in half both vertically and horizontally, leaving a quarter segment which she then hollows, attaches to the base and cuts a hole in to match the base. When she was done Angela stares proudly at her new creation for a moment and then clicks confirm to store the blueprint for later use, causing a new tab to open up on the blueprint window.

[Saved blueprints

sink: wood, 4 anima]

As she only had 5.3 anima at this point and the toilet is more important to her she decides to hold off on the sink for now and instead chooses to design the toilet. The design for the toilet is similar to the design for the sink, the difference being the slightly different sizes. The biggest difference was in the seat, as well as the lid. Both the seat and the lid were easy to make however, the hinge system that is usually used in modern toilets confuses Angela as she had never really paid attention to them. As such she decides that she will just attach the seat to the base and move the lid herself when she needs to; after all the reason for the seat moving was mostly for boys anyway.

[Saved blueprints

sink: wood, 4 anima

toilet: wood, 5.5 anima]

Angela lets out a wistful sigh at the cost and waits for the last 0.2 anima she needs. It didn't take long as it had already been about 50 minutes since the last time she gained anima and when she gets it she selects the toilet and places it in the corner of her room.