For the purpose of purchasing privacy, I made my next stop the crafting hall. It cost ten ancient coins to rent a novice crafting room for an hour. The interior offered every tool I could possibly need for processing and manufacturing. I didn't know how to use any of them, though.
Thankfully, this was a game and it wasn't required to use the machines unless I wanted to increase my success rate. As long as I 'knew' the processing method, I could use a crafting room to automatically process any material I wanted. All I had to do was put the material on the processing table and select the method in my crafting menu.
[Automatic processing will result in a 20% material loss. Proceed?]
"Proceed," I said. In a flash of light, ten long strands of kelp vines turned into bundles of kelp leaves and nearly thirty spools of a hemp-like twine.
While I was at it, I auto-processed the spiny lobsters and kelp crabs. The lobsters gave me lobster meat and stacks of shells. The crabs gave me crab meat and crab shells.
[Lobster shells and crab shells can be processed further at a 20% material loss. Proceed?]
I confirmed for the processing to continue. The shells disappeared. What I received in return wasn't the powder I expected, but stacks of red and grey ingots. I inspected each of them in turn.
[Atlantean Bronze Ingot - Crafting Material
Ingot made from processing lobster shells. Rust-proof.]
[Atlantean Iron Ingot - Crafting Material
Ingot made from processed crab shells. Rust-proof.]
"Sure enough, this kind of thing can only happen in a game," I muttered as I stored away the processed goods. I didn't have any manufacturing recipes yet, so this was as far as I could go.
Since I still had time left in the room, I pulled out Sage Karson's Journal.
I instantly recognized it as a jackpot reward. Each page I read added something new to my crafting menu. The very first page explained how kelp leaves could be used for camouflage. When added to armor, it possessed the effect of dissipating micro-currents, increasing underwater stealth so I'd be harder to sense. The following pages offered information on a handful of other underwater materials I could gather and how to process them, including how to find, harvest, and process high-quality sea silk. The final few pages gave me the patterns for three sizes of kelp bags, the recipe for clamshell whetstones, and the processing method to create seaglass containers from sand and coral.
I didn't have any sand on hand, but I had plenty of kelp twine and I still had ten clams. I used auto-processing to most of the kelp twine into a type of waterproof burlap fabric, then I used auto-manufacturing to create a large, thirty-slot sling bag. I used the leftover spools to create two six-slot belt pouches. As for the clams, I only received two whetstones after processing. The failure rate for whetstone auto-processing was simply too high.
Even with the losses, I walked out of the room in high spirits, my new sling bag resting at my hip and my belt pouches tied to my waist. The system had only given me fifteen slots to start out with, but now I had fifty-seven. It was plenty for me to collect a wider range of interesting things.
[Would you like to end your room reservation early? You will be refunded four Ancient Coins.]
I started to say yes when I realized I'd overlooked something obvious. I was in a crafting area. Surely one of the resident NPCs could teach me how to make armor out of my ingots.
"Not yet," I said, dismissing the panel. I went to the front of the hall to talk to the receptionist and inquire about manufacturing blueprints. She pointed me toward a burly merman working on a pair of scale-mail leggings.
As soon as I tried to talk to the NPC, a purchase window appeared. He offered five items.
[Blueprint: Atlantean Scale Armor – 100 Ancient Coins]
[Blueprint: Atlantean Scale Robe – 100 Ancient Coins]
[Atlantean Scale Processing Method – 50 Ancient Coins]
[Pattern: Atlantean Kelp Fin – 10 Ancient Coins]
[Pattern: Kelp Headband – 5 Ancient Coins]
I only had two hundred sixty-six coins after buying return scrolls and my room rental. While it was possible to buy the armor and robe blueprints, I felt it would be a waste if I didn't have enough ingots to make both of them. I decided to get everything except the robe pattern.
Returning to the room, I processed the bronze and iron ingots into scales. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough ingots to complete the entire set, but I managed to make bracers and a set of leggings. And with the number of kelp leaves I possessed, I created fifteen Kelp Headbands and six Kelp Dorsal Fins. I would have made more, but I completely ran out of kelp twine.
[Kelp Imbued Atlantean Scale Bracers
Armor +50
Natural Camouflage +10
Sell Value: 5 Ancient Coins]
[Kelp Imbued Atlantean Scale Leggings
Armor +100
Natural Camouflage +20
Sell Value: 10 Ancient Coins]
[Kelp Headband
Armor +10
Natural Camouflage +20
Sell Value: 2 Ancient Coins]
[Kelp Dorsal Fins
Strength +25
Swim Speed +100
Natural Camouflage +30
Sell Value: 10 Ancient Coins]
I equipped my new armor, then I had to laugh at myself. I had a fringe of kelp leaves trailing from my wrists and legs. A ridge of kelp also grew down my spine and its existence meant I could no longer wear my novice robe, forcing me to bare my chest. It made me feel like some kind of barbarian shaman. The headband was even worse. It wasn't a headband at all, but a circlet of leaves twisted around my head like a lopsided halo.
Looking at myself in the room's mirror, I discovered it wasn't quite as bad as it seemed. The red and silver scales had been used in a tiger pattern and the kelp created a warrior vibe. The longer I looked, the more I liked it. As for the kelp crown, it wasn't nearly as noticeable as I expected. My character had medium-length hair that blended well with the headband, making it seem as if I had leaves growing out of my hair. The final affect was somewhat puckish rather than shoddy.
Actually, I was rather surprised at how good I looked. I knew merpeople were attractive in general, but I hadn't thought it applied to me. It was actually scary in a way, because I recognized my own face in the mirror. The game hadn't changed anything I could pinpoint, yet I wasn't the same nerdy creep people avoided in school.
It was the hair and the lack of glasses, I decided. The constantly fluctuating currents didn't allow my stringy hair to stay still and create shadows over my eyes. It constantly moved, revealing my face with supernaturally good lighting effects. My character had better skin, too, which improved my appearance even further.
I wondered if I should start doing a daily skin care treatment in the real world. I wasn't vain, but there was nothing wrong with improving myself.
Turning my attention back to crafting, I stored all the extra kelp headbands and fins in my inventory, then moved on to process the rest of the items I had on hand. I ended up with five Cerulean Skewers and a nearly two stacks of sea urchin needles by the time I finished.
[Would you like to end your room reservation early? You will be refunded one Ancient Coin.]
"Yes," I said. The moment I stepped into the main hall, I attracted attention, although not so much anyone approached me. It might have been my second day, but Aetherscape's underwater expansion had been out for nearly two weeks already. I wasn't the first person to appear wearing similar gear.
A quick check of the time let me know I only had two hours left before morning. I spent it by visiting the marketplace to sell off the items I didn't want. The tavern bought the lobster and crab meat, the general store bought the sea urchin needles, and the armory bought up all my Kelp headbands and fins. As a result, my purse filled again with nearly three hundred coins. It made me very tempted to go back out and harvest more kelp.
I barely managed to talk myself out of it, reminding myself of my goal. I didn't want to be a tradesman, but an explorer. This was just the starter town. There was a lot more out there waiting for me to experience.
It was time to move on to the next town. I spent the rest of my game time preparing. I bought extra food at the tavern and a flask of Cerulean cider with a specially made spout to keep seawater out. Since I was living underwater, it was unnecessary to drink to survive, but even mermen occasionally wanted the taste of something different in their mouths.
At the general store, I bought a magically laminated map of the entire ocean and two aquariums. The map wasn't very detailed and didn't update like my compass, but it gave me the gist of where I could find towns and named areas. As for the aquariums, I bought two when the salesman explained I needed one for breeding fish and a separate one for plants if I wanted to make my own fish food. Naturally, he talked me into buying fish food to get started and the processing method to make my own.
I instantly went from rich tycoon to being a poor beggar again.