He heard a crack, but the chest didn't unlock. He pulled the pins out; they were broken. He failed.
He heard a notification voice, "Lockpick failed, receive 20 proficiency points."
'I still got points for failing?' Jack asked telepathically.
'Of course, if not, it would take you ages to reach the next grade,' Peniel answered.
Jack took a look at his Lockpick skill in his status window: 20/1000 proficiency to reach the intermediate Apprentice grade. So if he used up all twenty of the lockpicks in his possession, even failing, he would be almost halfway there.
'You were right; I should have bought more lockpicks,' Jack admitted. 'I could just fast-track by inserting the lockpick and let it fail in quick succession to increase my grade. As long as I have enough coins, my skill will increase in no time!'
'You are one simple-minded buffoon,' Peniel scoffed. 'You think the world will let you cheat like that? If you do it like that, you might not even get any proficiency points at all. The reason you got 20 points was that you did it perfectly just now.'
'Wait, perfectly? Then why did it still fail?' Jack asked in bewilderment.
'Because that's just how it works. Your lockpick skill grade is too low; even if you do everything right, you still have a high chance of failing. But you still have to try your best every time because that's how you get your maximum proficiency points to increase your skill grade and thus increase the chance of successful lockpicking. And the reverse is true also; even if your lockpicking skill is at maximum, you will still fail if you do the lockpicking wrong. Thus, it is not just about increasing your skill grade; you have to refine your technique until you truly become a master locksmith.'
'That is such a hassle,' Jack complained.
Peniel scolded him, but Jack wasn't paying attention because one of the Men of Solidarity asked him, "You only have that one piece, mate?"
"Call him boss, you nitwit!" The Man smacked the guy on the head.
"I thought you were the boss?" The guy asked The Man with a wronged expression.
"I am the boss; he is the big boss," The Man said.
"I am not either of your boss!" Jack said in exasperation as he took out another lockpick.
He went through the same motions as before, did everything correctly, heard a click, and his lockpicks failed with a snap. He received another 20 proficiency points.
He kept trying.
As he continued to fish out lockpicks and repeat the sequence, everyone gathered around him to watch him work.
His concentration got lax on his sixth try, so he was a little late when he twisted the lockpicks after the click sound and only received 16 proficiency points.
He tensed up after that lapse and twisted the lockpicks too early, so he only got 12 proficiency points on his seventh try.
He paused for a while and took a deep breath, loosened himself up, and went back to work.
"Are you hoarding lockpicks? How many do you have?" John asked.
"Please don't disturb me; I'm concentrating," Jack replied.
"Let me have a try next," John said.
"I thought you were not interested because you will get nothing?"
"Well, looking at you having such fun. I am tempted to try my hand at it for the experience."
When his current try still failed, Jack moved aside and let John have a go.
John took out his lockpicks and inserted them as he had seen Jack do. Jack wasn't a petty person, so he explained the method Peniel had outlined. John did everything perfectly but also failed. He heard the notification sound.
"Oh, I still got proficiency after failing?" He asked.
"Yeah, in this way, you didn't waste lockpicks for nothing…," Jack then proceeded to give John the same explanation as Peniel had given him.
John looked at Jack intently, "How do you know so much about this?"
Jack was taken aback for a bit; he then quickly said, "Uh, I read it somewhere in the library."
John looked at him suspiciously, "You have gone to the library before?"
"Of course," Jack answered.
"Then you should have met the Keeper of the Books. What's her name?"
The Man interjected at this point, "What is this! Interrogation? Go away! Don't bother our boss working." The Man shooed John away; he was powerless against the Fighter's strength.
For once, Jack was glad that The Man treated him as his boss. He then ignored John and went back to work on the lock.
Not long after, Jack was down to only three lockpicks. He had no confidence that he would be able to open the lock.
"I'm sorry, these are my last three lockpicks," he said to The Man.
"It's okay, boss. We know you have done your best," The Man said sincerely.
"Can't we pick up the box and take it away?" Bowler asked.
"Cannot. We tried already," one of The Man's subordinates replied.
"You, give him the lockpicks you have," The Man said to John.
John smiled, "I will sell them to you guys; 30 copper for one lockpick."
"Screw you, man. That is three times the market price!" Jack uttered.
"You are such a bully," Bowler added.
"That's called business," John shrugged.
Jack continued to try picking the locks. In his anxiety about being close to running out of lockpicks, he performed badly twice and got low proficiency points.
Now down to his last attempt, he forced himself into total concentration and managed to perform perfectly. However, the result was still a failure. The treasure chest remained locked.
Men of Solidarity had their shoulders slumped with disappointment. Yet they bore no resentment towards Jack as they knew that he had been serious about helping them.
"How many lockpicks do you have?" Jack asked John.
John answered, "I still have six in my bag."
"Give them all to me."
"One silver and fifty copper coins, please."
"You fiend!" Bowler cursed.
"Friend, no need to be so hostile. We are just making a transaction," John said. "During such a time of emergency, I could even increase the price by five or even ten times. Giving you just three times market price is already considering you as friends."
"Don't bullshit too much. Give the lockpicks to me," Jack said as he took out his coins.
But The Man held his hand, "Boss, how could we let you pay for it when it is our responsibility. Here, take our coins!"
"It's okay. I got proficiency points anyway, and I got enough coins as loot," Jack said.
"No, we will pay for it!" The Man was resolute.
Jack didn't argue anymore. John received the coins with a smile and then handed six pairs of lockpicks to Jack.
"Nice doing business with you," John said to The Man, who replied by spitting at his feet.
Jack went back to working on the lock.
He performed imperfectly two out of four attempts, with failed results on all four. He only had two lockpicks left! Once these two were gone, there would be nothing more they could do. They had to return to the city and buy more lockpicks, then return and pray that the treasure chest would still be here and untouched.
Jack focused his attention on the lockpicking, couldn't afford to waste the remaining two chances. When he heard the click, he twisted the lockpicks gently. He felt something falling into place and didn't feel the lightness usually there when the lockpicks snapped.
Could it be? He thought.
Then he heard a sound of notification, "Congratulations! You are successful in your lockpicking, receiving 50 proficiency points."