Linus retreated to his bedroom. He then pressed the [OK] button to read the new notification.
[Quest: Tool Production]
[To pool an army of followers, a leader must have a steady source of revenue. Accept 100 orders from friends and deliver on time.]
[Reward: (Skill) Prospecting]
[Time Limit: 1 month]
[Accept the quest?]
[Yes] [No]
Linus hovered his finger over the skill Prospecting, revealing a tooltip.
[Prospecting]
[Type: Passive Skill]
[Target: Resource materials]
[Prospecting grants the user the ability to find precious material resources. Success in finding target resource materials are determined by the skill level.]
"Wow, this one is extremely useful. Imagine having metal tools. I can use this to make the standards of living in this area, better." Linus was lost in thought, thinking of the possibilities.
Without hesitation, Linus accepted the quest. "Now that I think of it, is there a way to check on the other quests? If the system is some sort of computer prompt, I should be able to open the windows through commands." scratching his chin, he thought.
"Status!" Linus shouted, but nothing happened.
"System on!" Linus shouted, and a command terminal window materialized in air, all in text and black and white.
[System:// 'on' is not a recognized command or executable.]
Linus recognized the similarity of the command terminal to the ones he used in his past life, the Cassette Operating System, also known as COS. In his childhood, all computers used command terminals, alienating everyone from its use except the minority of nerds who lurked in the computer labs. He wasn't tech savvy at all, but to play games, he used to illegally copy game cassette tapes from his nerdy friends and run them on his father's computer. The experience made him familiar with the operation of command terminals.
"System HELP!" Linus screamed in the air. The terminal window was quickly populated with text, scrolling upwards. Perusing the text, Linus found the commands he needed.
"System STATUS!" A blue window popped out with a portrait of Linus and his stats.
[Status]
[Name: Linus Stannous]
[Ethnicity: Nozul Islander]
[Status: OK]
[Skills: Art of Teaching Lv1 (Passive)]
[Titles: Chief's Son]
[Press OK to dismiss]
"Oh, that helps a lot. Let me try the other one." Linus dismissed the window and paused for a bit, then he screamed "System Quest!"
[Quests]
------------------------------------
[Recruitment]
[Objective A: 2 of 10 followers recruited.]
[Objective B: 2 of 100 followers recruited.]
[Reward A: (Skill) Deputization]
[Reward B: (Skill) Possession]
[Time Limit: None]
--------------------------------------
[Tool Production]
[Objective A: 0 of 100 orders completed]
[Reward: (Skill) Prospecting]
[Time Limit: 1 month]
[Press OK to dismiss]
"2 followers? Is Nina one of them? Who's the other one?" Linus hovered his finger on the word
[Followers]
[1. Gordon Fahrenheit 60%]
[2. Nina Fahrenheit 80%]
Linus was pleasantly surprised finding Gordon's name in the list, but was puzzled by the percentage numbers. However, the tooltip disappears when he moved his finger away from the word
"One of these days, I'll read the manual" Linus muttered to himself. He then dismissed the window.
Linus packed his things, including the bow and the blueprint. Shortly, he went to Gordon's to look for Nina.
"Linus, my boy. What brings you to my humble abode?" Gordon opened his arms in embrace.
"Do you happen to know where Nina is? I'd like to talk to her." Linus replied.
"Hi, Linus. We just finished our project, what brings you here? Uck! For the price, this baked stuff sucks! Ptooey!" Nina spitted the piece of bread she munched on.
BONK! Gordon's hit her head with his staff. "Niece! Do I need remind you?"
Nina scratches her head apologetically. "I'm sorry, where are my manners." She wiped the crumbs off her mouth with the collar of her work clothes.
Watching the deed, Linus couldn't help but knit his eyebrows. Coughing he said "Errmm! It's okay, my lady. I'm here for business. I hope you can help me with a simple request."
"Anything is fine. What is it?" Nina's eyes twinkled.
"My father said that his friends were impressed with your work. His friends wanted to mod their bows too, but there's a hundred or more of them who wanted it."
"Oh, okay. That's a lot of coins to count. But it may take half a year to finish. There's only one me." Nina replied.
"We have but a month to finish all orders." Linus sighed.
Nina gasped. "A month!" She rubbed her forehead in frustration. "That's impossible!"
"With such a big order, maybe we can talk to your master so he could lend us a hand." Linus suggested.
"Good idea! Come with me, let's meet him." Nina dashed off, pulling Linus with him.
Crunch, crunch, crunch! In quick succession, footsteps crushed the wood shavings that cover the entire floor of the workshop. The duo slowed down as their feet sank a foot deep in wooden debris.
"Who goes there!" A stout short bald man sporting a long curly graying beard stopped them in their tracks.
"Master Simon, it's me." Nina bowed.
"Don't call me master, I don't recall taking a woman as a disciple. You chose to learn on your own." Simon scolded her.
"No, master. You have been kind. You will always be my master." Nina pleaded.
"Whatever, lass. Just do your thing." Simon shrugged. He then turned his eyes to Linus. Walking next to him, the master held his arm and patted his legs in inspection. "Hmmm… this friend of yours is well built. Do you want to be my apprentice?"
"Don't even think about it, master. He's Julius' son." Nina told Simon.
"No wonder. He has the making of a warrior. Ha, ha, ha!" Simon laughed, and then he asked, "What does the chief's son need from a humble carpenter like myself?"
"I need you to work on this." Linus handed the blueprint to him, briefly explaining to him the plan.
"What? Should I destroy such craftsmanship, wouldn't it invoke the ire of all warriors of Solus?" Simon's eye widened, surprised.
"Actions speak louder than words, it seems. Nina, is there a target that I can shoot?" Linus took his bow out.
"Yes, you can shoot that wooden plank over there." Nina pointed at the target.
Linus took an arrow from his quiver, notching it on the bowstring. It surprised Simon to see how far the young boy could draw such a heavy bow. Equally impressive to him was the amount of time spent holding the arrow at full draw, aiming. At the release, the arrow flew straight to its target, splitting the wooden plank in half.
"I see. This new kind of weapon is revolutionary. How much will the shop earn from each one?" Simon inquired.
"We'll split it in half. My father said that the warriors are willing to pay up to 150 coins each. That means 75 coins per bow. Only under the condition that we deliver in a month." Linus replied.
Simon's jaw dropped, hearing the figure, saying "Boy, that's more than what I earn doing these menial tasks here in my shop. Just tell me when I can begin."
"Sure thing. I'll come back here with as soon as we have the orders."
"Deal." Simon shook Linus' hand with a firm grip.
In the morning, a crowd of big burly and hairy fellows gathered in front of Linus' house, each patiently waited for the chief to come out. The crowd parted as soon as Julius stepped out his dwelling. The warriors bowed and saluted him, showing courtesy.
"Brothers! I gathered you this morning so we can talk about your bows. As I told you, my son agrees to transform your weapons for the price of 150 coins. My son has something else to add." Julius patted Linus in the shoulder.
"Uncles! The method I devised to transform your weapons is time consuming and labor intensive. With all your requests, it may even take half a year before I can deliver all the products." the crowd chattered loudly, showing discontent.
"I understand that time spent away from your bows could be better used for hunting and defending our home from those nasty pirates and bandits. So much could happen in half a year, thus I came up with a solution. I commissioned Simon's workshop to work on the products. Simon guaranteed to deliver your newly improved weapons within a month." The crowd cheered.
"There is only one condition. You must pay 75 coins or half of the upgrade fee upfront." Linus explained. The crowd was quiet.
Julius butted in. "Upon order, I paid the craftsman fully to upgrade mine. You know it was worth it. If anything happens, I'll give you your money back." he said, assuring the crowd. "Raise your hands if you're willing to have your weapons transformed." Only but a few men backed out from ordering.
"Alright, I'll receive your bows and the advanced payments inside. Please form a line and wait for your turn."
One at a time, the warriors patiently waited for their turn. Receiving all the payments and inscribing the receipts on small wooden planks occupied Linus for half of the day. With the help of Nina and other workers, Linus transported the bows to the shop.
"One hundred and fifty-three! That's a lot of orders. Oh boy, we've got a lot of work to do." Simon sighed, looking at the mountain of work ahead.
"I'd hire as much workers as I could if I were you." Linus suggested. "Old Simon, you can have these all." He then signaled to the workers to bring the bags forward. "These bags contain 11,475 coins, your full share of the payment for the work."
"What are you talking about? How about your share?" concerned, Simon asked.
"All I did was sell your labor. I'll take the risk and receive my part of the payment at the delivery." Linus replied.
Feeling warm and all fuzzy, tears pooled up in Simon's eyes. He hugged Linus and kissed him. "My boy! How I hope all clients were as understanding. You can count on me if you needed my help in the future."
"Sure thing, Old Simon. Make sure to include Nina in the team. She must get her fair share of the dividends."
"Alright kid. No worries." Simon put his thumb up.
Ding! [Achievement unlocked! You are hereby granted the skill