"Inventory… so I did have it all this time. I only needed to unlock it and craft it."
Will was ecstatic. Having an inventory would be such a great help. And the best part, he could place anything inside and it won't drop when he dies. This doesn't include the armor and weapons he'd use when he dies.
This made sense now that he thought about it. It's a crafting system. He even needed to craft even his own inventory.
He checked the crafting materials needed to craft the inventory.
{Inventory I}
{Crafting materials: 500x gold bars, 100x cobalt bars}
"Bruh! 500! I worked hard to earn 100 gold ores, and now I need to work 5x the amount for that?! And I also need cobalt! I don't even know how far I need to go down to get that ore!"
Will wanted to pull his hairs out. Just when he thought it was a lot of work to mine 100 gold ores, now he needs 500.
"Whatever, I'll worry about that later. What other exclusive items do I have here?"
The {Inventory} wasn't the only exclusive item to him. There were several more.
{Hot belt: Place items inside, and you can instantly equip them at any time with ease}
{Maximum number: 4}
{Upgrade to increase the maximum number of items allowed}
{Portable crafting table}
{Can craft anything without having to place down a crafting table. Does not drop upon death}
{Blueprint: Copy down a building/structure, or anything else and instantly build it}
{Super map: It shows the user where you are, and the places where you've been}
It looks like he had unlocked many helpful and useful items.
But, on the exclusive item section, some of the pictures were grayed with a '?' in the middle of the picture. Apparently he needed to unlock more crafting materials to unlock those other exclusive items.
Aside from the inventory, the hot belt was also very useful. If he could equip items fast like in terraria and minecraft, it'll help him a lot.
And that portable crafting table and blueprints would also be of great help to him.
"I should start with the cheapest one. That seems like a good idea."
Will wanted to craft the exclusive items first before seeing the other normal crafting recipes he had unlocked. The cheapest one to make was the portable crafting table, which required 100x crafting tables to make. Lucky for him, he had trees and wood to spare.
After a while he unlocked the portable crafting table. It was basically like wearing a bracelet, it had small and fine details carved in it. It was wood but felt really soft when touching it.
At that moment he had unlocked another item when his brown book glowed.
Will tapped the portable crafting table, and a list of items showed up in his face, as if he was using an ordinary crafting table.
"That's neat. What did I just unlock?"
{Universal table: You can now craft so much more with this, all portable}
{Does not drop upon death}
A crafting table can only craft so much. It could not craft weapons better than stone, or make arrows or bows.
"Huh, okay. What do I need for that?"
{Crafting materials: 1x advanced crafting table}
{Crafting materials: 1x portable crafting table}
{Crafting materials: 100x bowman's table}
{Crafting materials: 100x anvils}
"Ugh… this is gonna take so long to craft."
After one hour, he finally crafted the universal crafting table. It was still a bracelet, but with more details, and it was now made out of iron, wood, copper, and gold.
"Yup, this is worth it. Although the ores I collected over time have almost depleted." Will barely had any ores and wood left. Crafting those ingredients took up most of his resources.
"Oh god, and this was the cheapest on the list. What materials did I need to build the hot belt again?"
{Hot belt]
{Crafting materials: 100x leather belts}
{Crafting materials: 1000x wood}
{Crafting materials: 4 leather pouches}
Will frowned. How was he gonna get all that leather? He already got leather when he killed a camel, but that was nothing compared to what he needs to craft the hot belt.
"I'll just plant more trees, and breed more camels, but breeding camels and killing them will take me weeks or even months until I can gather the required materials… I am gonna need to breed more types of animals… or I need to go to another village to trade. But… that's too risky."
Will did not want to go to another village for several good reasons.
1. The last two villages he went to they had tried to kill him.
2. If he left the base unguarded for too long someone might steal all his stuff and grief it.
"Gah! Do I really have no choice but to risk leaving my base unguarded?" Will was trying to think which choice was the best one.
"What about the other items?" Will looked at the other exclusive items for now.
{Blueprints}
{Crafting material: 1000x papers}
"Oh god, why do these need so much wood?"
In order to make paper he needs wood.
{Super map}
{1000x papers}
{1x compass}
He got the compass when he asked Grace for it. She left it back at the base because she didn't need it anymore so she threw it away, but Will thought that he might have some use for it, so he kept it safe, and he was glad he did.
Will sighed. First he cut down all the remaining trees that he could and planted more. Next he tore down another portion of his wall and expanded his base once more, by adding more walls. This area was now going to be for trees only. The tree area was now larger than his base. It shows how much he needed wood at the moment.
When he had time, he built another area only for growing crops. There grew his grapes, apples, and oranges. It took him a total of 10 hours to build those walls, plus a few more hours to plant the seeds and saplings.
By then it was already night.
"This is taking so long to build. There has to be an easier way. That reminds me when Technoblade said something on one of his youtube videos 'if you have a problem, the answer is 'slavery'' and he's right. But, I don't see how that's possible at the…"
Will said that as a joke, because he never believed in enslaving people for real, even he has morals. But, an idea came to him.
"Wait, that's a good point, me. That's a damn good idea! Instead of gathering materials myself, why not have others do it for me?"
Will rummaged through his base and gathered all the silver he could find.
"Over 300 silver ore. Damn. Convert that into coins and I should have over 300 silver coins, at most 1,200. But that seems like it's not enough. Looks like I really need to go to another village, hopefully one that doesn't want to kill me."
Back in the kingdom of Reyes and Jack's village, there were these boards with jobs on them. If he could make his own job poster and pay people good money for wood, cobalt, gold, and leather, then he doesn't need to waste all that time grinding for it.
"It's like playing skyblock sort of." No matter how rich he felt, it'll all be gone when he needs a new better item. The life of every skyblock player.
Will sighed once more. Would this be enough silver to give him a lot of money? Because people won't work for free.
"But I can't leave the base unguarded for too long. Isn't there anything here that can help me?"
Will checked through his brown book. He had been busy for the past 12 hours that he didn't even check the new crafting materials he had unlocked.
What he unlocked was basically simple upgrades, crafting tools out of bones, better animal cages, better chests. Items that he couldn't craft with the normal crafting table. But two things caught his eye, something that could protect his base while he was out.
{Energy shield: Protects you from any attacks. Does not work on large, heavy, or explosive objects}
{Crafting materials: 1 diamond}
{Sentry turret: Shoots anyone that user deems as enemies}
{Crafting materials: 1000x iron bars, 3 diamonds}
The energy shield is something that even normal guards have. It's why Grace did not want to go against them, because it was easy to make and cheap too. In the beginning of the story, Clement shot at some of the guards, but was blocked by an energy shield. Diamonds are rare, but somehow more common in this world compared to Earth.
However, that turret seemed like the perfect item to use to protect his base. What he lacked was the materials to craft it.
"I need diamonds. Damn. And I just used one accidentally on enchanting."
This made him think of something else. Did this mean that other rare minerals such as rubies could be used to craft different types of weapons and items?
"Looks like first I'll need to go back to the mines to get diamonds. But I haven't even found one yet. I'll have to go deeper. I'll need to have Adaline help me mine. Oh well, I'll start right after I wake up,"
Will took a quick shower, enchanted his chest piece, and slept like a log.
Meanwhile…
Jack was silently standing on the counter. His mom was there as well. The village has been doing better lately. More people have migrated to their village and have begun to live there. There had been an increase in monsters and bandits attacking, which is why they migrated to the village where it was a little more safer to live in.
With the increase in people their shop was doing better. That means more jobs, more money, stable economy, more houses.
At the start they were worried if their village was going to be torn to shreds from the inside. But now it seems like it's gonna do well.
July was reading a book, but was also a bit bored. Jack was in a bad mood as he's waiting for Jasmine to message him. He needs to know if Will has truly fallen.
"Are you and Jasmine fighting?"
"Nope."
"Then why are you constantly checking your communication stone?"
"Reasons."
"Whenever you're in a bad mood you always answer with a few words. Aren't you gonna tell me why you're in a bad mood?"
"Nah."
"Fine, I won't ask you anymore. But thanks, for your help."
"With what?" Jack was confused.
"Remember a month ago when I asked your help to trick your grandmother into thinking I was committing incest? Because she wouldn't stop nagging me about finding another husband?"
"It was weird. Why did I agree again?" Jack shuddered at the thought.
"Because I promised you that someday I'd take you to the kingdom of Reyes, to see the summoning of the heroes."
"And we didn't. But at least I have this." Jack looked at the picture of the 99 heroes that were summoned, it was the same picture Will gave him.
"I'm sorry about that. I know how much you wanted to see the heroes."
"It's fine." Jack didn't mind because he made a friend with a hero, which is probably better. But after what Will had done, he didn't know anymore.
"But really, thank you for helping me trick you grandmother, even though it kinda backfired in the end. I can never love another man like your father."
Jack held her hand firmly.
"I miss dad."
July hugged her son.
"Me too."
Sharing this wonderful moment, someone had violently kicked the door.
"YO!"
It was 3 sorcerers men in their mid-twenties. They all had 2-stripes in their cloaks.
They ruined the mood the moment they walked in.
One that appeared to be the leader of the group had an enchanted staff with an emerald embedded in the tip. His cloak, and clothes were all enchanted too. He had wild-blonde hair, an enchanted earring, and black glasses. He was rather tall, over 6ft and skinny too.
One of the other two was a little quieter, covering his entire face with his cloak. He carried an enchanted katana and an enchanted knife with him.
The other had purple, spiky hair. He was carrying a mirror while combing his hair non-stop, as if his hair was never perfect. The spiky haired individual also smoked a cigarette as he combed. On his back was an enchanted crossbow that he carried.
"Hey, hot lady, gimme your best weapon in store."
"What you see here is all we've got." July didn't like his attitude one bit.
He looked around and had a disgusted look on his face.
"Ugh. How can you make such crappy… oh, you're both beginner blacksmiths. Make sense. Can you at least make decent arrows for my friend Pete?" He got a pouch full of coins and placed them on the counter.
It was full of copper coins.
"That's enough for 100 arrows."
"Pete, is that good enough for you?"
"Yeah, whatever, Nick. This place is making my hair get weird. I'll wait outside." The one called Pete left the store.
"How long until you have the arrows ready?" Nick asked while smiling for some reason.
"They're by the corner."
"Ah." Nick grabbed the arrows and took them all.
"HEY! That's over 300 arrows. I said take 100!"
"Yeah, yeah." Nick pretended not to listen and was about to leave, until someone blocked his way.
"Oi, are you gonna pay for those arrows or not?" It was Sam holding an enchanted hammer. He left to go eat and just got back.
"An expert blacksmith. That's better. Think you can make me some-"
"Are you gonna pay or not?"
"They're only arrows. They're cheap."
"Then make your own damn arrows. But these arrows were made by us and we didn't make them for free." Sam got closer and menacingly.
"You don't know who I am, do you?"
"I do. I just don't care."
"A sorcerer has a higher standing than an expert blacksmith. You don't scare me. I can single handedly obliterate this shop with my staff."
Nick reached for his staff quickly, but there was an arrow close to his throat. Sam took one of the arrows and pointed it to his neck with a great speed. Nick didn't expect that and was unprepared and left himself wide open.
"People think that it takes enchanted weapons to kill and become dominating. But really all it takes is one measly arrow, like this. If I press just a little more, It'll cut through your vocal chords, veins, cause you pain, and you'll bleed to death."
Nick didn't look scared, he kept smiling.
"Lucky for me, I brought a friend. Wade?"
The one behind Nick unsheathed his sword and sheathed it once more. The arrow on Sam's hand was cut to pieces.
Nick jumped back and took out his staff.
"You want to fight us old man? With that hammer?"
"Nope. I am no match for a sorcerer much less two. But she is."
Jasmine appeared at the door and pointed her staff at Nick and Wade.
"Jasmine!" Jack said happily.
"Sorry I couldn't message you. My communication stone broke into pieces. I ran back as fast as I could to let you know about… you-know-who."
"Well, if it isn't sorceress Jasmine." Nick seemed to have heard her name.
"You know me?"
"There aren't too many sorceresses. Heard you're only a sorcerer because of a fluke."
Jasmine frowned and charged up her staff's energy.
"Don't you know it's a crime to attack a fellow sorcerer?" Nick added.
"Don't you know it's a crime to destroy property and put innocents in danger when it's under the protection of the Reyes kingdom?"
"This… is that true?" Nick looked at the blacksmiths in the room. They all nodded.
"To think that this crappy village… that changes things." Nick put the staff on his back and Wade let go of his sword, Jasmine did the same.
"Here. That should be enough to cover the costs." Nick threw a few more leather pouches full of coins.
"I don't want to get a stain on my record. Otherwise I won't get to be a Kingsguard."
Nick only threatened to destroy the building but could never do it, because it would definitely lower his chances to become a kingsguard, who needed to have a clean record.
It wouldn't matter if he stole a few arrows as it'll have little to no effect on his record. But if he steals from a village under the protection of the kingdom, then it would be no different than stealing from the king.
"So much for free food and free stuff. Let's go, Wade."
Right as Nick was leaving, he stopped beside Jasmine and whispered.
"I heard you're aiming to become a kingsguard. But you'll never be a kingsguard. There's never been a woman kingsguard, and there will never be one. You're just lucky to be a sorcerer, but the majority of the people, including me, will truly never see you like one."
Jasmine gripped her tiny fists, but Sam came in and touched her shoulder.
"You'd better leave now." July said.
"We're leaving, hottie."
And just like that, they left.
"Thanks Sam. If you hadn't stopped me I would've punched him." Jasmine said.
"He was taunting you, baiting you into punching him."
"I know. But he's right…"
"Jasmine, stay with us. Grandma will serve us dinner and you're more than welcome to join us." July added.
"I really can't, I need to go and-"
*Growl*
Her stomach made a growling sound at the thought of food.
"On second thought, that would be nice. I haven't eaten much these past few days."
"Stay with us. You can stay the night." Sam said.
"You and Jack can sleep in the same room." July added.
"But, grandma owns a hote- OW!"
July kicked Jack before he could finish his sentence.
"I don't mind. It'll be just like when we were kids." Jasmine shrugged her arms.
"Come. Mom would love to see you again." Sam, July, and Jack left the store and went straight to Julia's, while not forgetting to put up a 'closed' sign on the door.
They were all good friend's of Jasmine, she's been with them since she was Jack's age. They all got along well.