Two common methods were used in Inner Line Hook Binding, one being the Wire Head Connection Method, and the other was the Finger Wheeling Method.
Both methods essentially produced the same quality of hooks, but the techniques during the process differed greatly.
The hooks bound by the Wire Head Connection Method were more uniform, and it wasted less material, but the speed was somewhat slow.
The hooks crafted using the Finger Wheeling Method, on the other hand, were completed much faster than those done by the Wire Head Connection Method. The cost was that it required longer wire ends for easier handling, which led to more waste of material.
Yue Feng tried both methods just now, but he found that controlling the length of the hooks with the Swinging Finger Method was difficult. After binding several sets, the hooks varied in length and looked quite unsightly.
As someone with OCD from Virgo, he found such work unacceptable for sale, let alone for personal use.
Yue Feng glanced at his work and frowned slightly, quickly cutting off the bound lines with scissors and switching back to the Wire Head Connection Method.
After switching methods, though the speed of hook binding slowed down, Yue Feng managed to produce hooks that were passable after getting used to the method. When hung in the hook box and slightly pulled, they were basically uniform without significant discrepancies.
Time seemed to fly by when he was deeply immersed in the task. When Yue Feng looked up again, he was almost done with the first box of hooks—it was 11:10.
With increasing proficiency, the quality rate of the hooks Yue Feng crafted was getting higher, and his speed was also increasing. By the time he finished the second box of hooks, he could basically achieve uniform length and the variance did not affect normal usage.
At 1:20 A.M., two hundred pairs of hooks were bound, and Yue Feng stood up from the workbench, rubbing his slightly stiff neck.
"Finally done binding! With so many Sleeve Hooks, I probably couldn't use them all up this year even if I wanted to," he said.
Looking at the two layers filled with hook boxes, Yue Feng felt a sense of accomplishment rise within him.
Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the task "Practice Makes Perfect," with exceptional evaluation!
Ding! Congratulations to the host for receiving the skill reward "Master Level Inner Line Hook Binding!"
"Master Level Inner Line Hook Binding": Master's craft, guaranteed quality! When normally binding ordinary sub-lines, a minimum 99% quality rate is guaranteed, with a 50% chance of producing perfect quality sub-lines, and no loss of tensile strength due to knots.
Ding! You get what you give! Given that the host chose small Sleeve Hooks for practice, a skill with high binding difficulty, an extra reward "Small Hook Binding Specialty" is granted.
"Small Hook Binding Specialty": When binding hooks sized five or smaller, speed increases by an additional 50%, and the chance of achieving perfect quality increases by 30%.
Following three system prompts, a vast amount of hook binding tips, tricks, proficiency, and muscle memory surged into Yue Feng's mind, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.
Yue Feng casually cut another piece of sub-line to try re-binding a pair of hooks. His fingers were incredibly agile, swift, and precise, taking just a short dozen seconds to complete a hook.
When turning the wire head to bind the second hook, the efficiency was the same, and in just over forty seconds, a pair of perfectly detailed hooks was hung on the hook box!
Before completing the task, Yue Feng hadn't considered the differences between binding large and small hooks; he had instinctively felt that since it was for practice, why not bind what he could use, so he unconsciously selected smaller four-sized Sleeve Hooks.
However, to those in the know, the time required to craft a size four Sleeve Hook is significantly more than what's needed for making the larger sizes five and six Ishiyama hooks.
Given Yue Feng's beginner-level speed, the time it takes him to make two sets of Sleeve Hooks would suffice to make three sets of the larger hooks.
But as the saying goes, heaven rewards the diligent, one reaps what one sows. Yue Feng, spending more time crafting smaller hooks, unexpectedly acquired the skill "Small Hook Crafting Expertise." In the future, he might even craft small hooks faster than the larger ones.
Yue Feng finished the first pair of hooks and casually pulled out another line, and whoosh, in a blink, had crafted the second pair. This sense of everything being under control, flowing smoothly like clouds and water, felt incredibly wonderful.
When the two pairs of hooks were hung side by side in the sub-line box, one could see that whether it was the total length of the hooks, the number of coils in the winding, or the size of the hook gap, they were almost exactly alike, as if they were cast from the same mold, not differing even slightly.
"Is this the power of the Master Level Inner Line Hook Binding?" Yue Feng marvelled at the hooks before him.
Next, Yue Feng, as if enchanted, kept going and made several more sets, finishing up the last ten prepared sub-lines, and since there was no more room to hang them, he simply opened another single-layer sub-line box.
Looking at the perfectly uniform sub-lines, Yue Feng scratched his head and couldn't bear to look directly at the full box of hooks on the table next to him.
They say it's devastating to compare oneself to others, and goods to other goods. Compared to the Master Level hook crafting results, his own hand-crafted practice works, which just moments ago felt quite fulfilling, suddenly lost their appeal.
After hesitating for several seconds, Yue Feng decided against the idea of cutting up the whole box of hooks and redoing them, reasoning that their quality was basically up to par; he could just sell them slightly cheaper to the fishermen who needed them.
After tidying up the hook-binding tools on the table, Yue Feng looked up at the time, and before he knew it, it was already 2 a.m.
After checking the doors and windows, he set the alarm clock and went upstairs to sleep.
The next morning, Yue Feng, with dark circles under his eyes, woke up early to open the store.
As usual, he cleaned the shop, then sat in the chair behind the counter, waiting for customers.
On both of the previous mornings, there had been customers rushing to fish by the river early, and today, being the weekend, there were naturally fishermen among them; it wasn't long before a customer showed up.
He was busy all morning and only managed to have a peaceful breakfast after 8 a.m.
Before he'd even had a chance to wipe his mouth after finishing his soy milk, the sound of a logistics truck's horn rang out outside the store; the goods he had ordered yesterday had arrived.
In front of the logistics driver, Yue Feng checked the goods, confirming there was no loss or damage, then paid the bill. The logistics costs from the small town to the fishing gear market weren't expensive, just five yuan for a considerably large box of goods.
After seeing off the logistics driver, the system's notification sound popped up in his mind again.
Ding! Congratulations on completing your first restocking! You're one step closer to becoming a successful store owner, reward: Lottery Points +300!
An unexpected gain, restocking gave him three hundred points!
Yue Feng took out the goods one by one, placed them where they were supposed to be in the display, and then returned behind the counter to patiently start crafting hooks again.