Chapter 6 - Above Average

Just over a week later, I was standing on the porch of my new home, a rather quaint cabin with just a few rooms compared to the massive towers and complexes I’d lived in before. Less room for beasts, but also less reason for anyone to need to storm my home as well.
The crew had been making progress but it was far less than the system had suggested they should have made. Though, that had more than a few reasons for it, least of which being that I had prioritized the build of my cabin first and foremost.
Outside of a few decent pieces, most of their tools were incredibly subpar, leaving the average quality in my menus listed at Poor. That meant that in the six days they’d been working for me–because no one worked on Dawn’s Day and I’d decided to extend their contract another five days–they’d only managed to clear just four of my hundred acres. Others might have gotten upset about the delay, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I really wasn’t in a rush and the locals, though odd, weren’t intolerable.
Daniel’s younger sister, Willow, and several of the other men’s wives would come out every day at lunch with a variety of small things. Baskets of hard rolls, sliced cheese, some cured elken meat, pickled vegetables, and whatever stew could survive the walk. It was nothing fancy by any means, but I felt oddly welcomed to the place with very little pushback from… well… anyone.
That’s not to say I wanted things to take days longer than it realistically should either though.
The real problem was how central to this place’s economy I was willing to make myself. I certainly could afford to send someone out to Gold’s Lodge to buy the top-of-the-line axes just to maximize their productivity, but that would raise entirely too many questions. Even chipping in for the most basic Good quality tools would make it seem like I was trying to buy my way into their woodcutting industry. And why would I do that when I had a perfectly good plan already?
True, if the only options were buying better tools or paying the crew more to stay longer and keep working, I might have gone with the former just because I did kind of hope that one of them managed to Activate as a Woodwright. Having one nearby, especially if they were friendly, would be beyond useful for some of the more complex structures I’d eventually want to build. But those weren’t my only options.
Dartigan might have laughed at the idea of an Alchemist deciding to focus on farming, but I really did think that he and most people who would laugh at the idea were missing the point. Besides the fact that I could, and would, grow some of my own reagents, the breadth of potions, tonics, and salves that Alchemy could produce was vast. Sure, a Potion of Madness might have been the most effective use of the skill for breaking even the most mentally resistant, but there was a reason that every Blacksmith made a point of cozying up to their local Alchemist.
“Okay, I think this should do it,” I said, looking down at the pastel blue paste sitting in the large bowl.
Since my strength stats were still hampered due to my class, I was actually more of a hindrance than a help for cutting down any of the trees. I’d initially considered mixing up some Strength Potions just to up my stats enough that I could help, before remembering a different recipe the Alchemists I’d employed in the past had often used.
Now, while you could use the Mix skill even without the recipe already in your book, trial-and-error was the primary way for any Crafting Utility Class to grow their catalog without spending a fortune. And even though either method would add the results to that catalog, when you did it correctly by hand at an actual workstation the quality was always higher, and made the subsequent creations better on average.
[New Recipe Created!] Improved Quality Salve Batch Quality: Excellent Uses: 10 A salve for temporarily increasing the Tier and Durability of any Crafting Tool. The Excellent Quality of this batch will improve any crafting tool by three tiers for two system days.
“You want us to wipe that stuff on our tools and then use them?” Bram asked, brown eyes moving from the bowl then back at me as he held his poorly repaired axe.
“Or don’t, it’s really up to you if you want to keep hacking at those trees like they insulted your mother,” I said, eliciting an odd look from Bram, Daniel, and two others that had been nearby when I’d seen Bram’s axehead fly off the handle. “Look, I’m Activated as an Alchemist, so mixing things is the easiest way to get experience. This stuff should up your tool quality and make using them easier. I figured this was a win-win for everyone. If you don’t want to use it…”
“Boarshit, ain’t that an Advanced Recipe? I’m sure the guy over in Gold’s Lodge charges five gold a pop for an application of this stuff. How do you know it?” Daniel asked, inching closer and I felt my stomach turn. Had there been an Alchemist there?
“It’s called a book Daniel, they’re normally made out of those big, brown things you guys cut down,” I said before too much time passed. This quickly got a laugh out of the group and Daniel shook his head, though the smirk was obvious even under the growing scruff. “But really, that’s the price they’re charging you out here? Talk about getting ripped off.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed for a moment, clearly not quite buying it, before Bram finally stepped up, stopping him before he could push back. Bram took the brush that I’d placed into the paste, and then unceremoniously slathered it over his axe. There was a glow that surrounded the tool before its tooltip updated. With the possible exception of Daniel, I was probably the only one who could see it. I was going to have to sit down with him and see just what parts of the system he actually had access to.
I’d thought their tools would have at least been Below Average, meaning the recipe would have brought them up to Good, but I really shouldn’t have been surprised given just how shoddy half of them really looked.
“Do I gotta say, like… a magic word or something?” Bram asked, looking at me with confusion.
“Just go try it,” I said, nodding towards the nearest tree.
Bram looked at his axe again. Other than the quickly drying, matte blue paste, it didn’t exactly look any different so I couldn’t exactly be that annoyed by the younger man for being skeptical. He looked over at Daniel who just shrugged before doing what I’d suggested, only stopping to adjust his shaggy brown hair back into a sort of wolf-tail he kept it in before he walked over to the nearest tree.
Though Bram was probably one of the smaller men of Daniel’s crew and definitely the youngest at barely eight-and-ten, I’d watched them all working now for long enough to see he was just as adept at the task as the biggest of them. He planted his feet, pulled back with his axe… and then struck.
Now, the tree he’d approached was, like him, one of the smaller ones of the bunch. But I’d seen him and others cut those down and with their tools it always took at least six good strikes. Which made Bram’s shock all the more understandable when the tree was felled with just two hits.
Daniel’s eyes went wide, looking from Bram staring awestruck at his axe back to me, then to the bowl.
“How many uses did you say that bowl’s got in it?”
“I didn’t…”
He picked up the brush and then applied it to his own tool, the tooltip listing that his axe had improved from Average to Very Good. Then he looked at me again.
“So how many does it have left?”
“Eight…” I said, looking over as the rest of the crew nearby were more than obviously eagerly waiting their turn.
“And you’re not gonna charge us for it?”
“Most of the supplies came from the stuff I’d picked on the journey out here… It’s not like I had to work that hard to make it and since it helps me out if you guys work faster, it doesn’t seem right to make you buy it,” I said, which wasn’t a lie, though it did leave out the Uncommon Polishing Cacti I had a rather large stock of.
There’d been a time when I thought building my grand base in the center of the Western Frontier Desert would dissuade Frederick from launching a campaign against me. While it didn’t work in the slightest, it had required clearing out a lot of the prickly plants that had all ended up in my inventory. It wasn’t the only abrasive reagent that would work for the recipe, but when you had thousands of the item sitting around, why would you use anything else?
“I can see the logic… how uh… how much more of that stuff do you think you could make? This stuff wears off after what, two days?” Daniel asked, once again proving he knew quite a bit more than I’d expected of him.
“Enough to finish the job and then some,” I said and he smiled.
“How much would you give me for a month of the crew’s service? Used whenever you want to.”
I stared at him, his eyes boring back into mine with a mixture of hope and determination that reminded me, for some reason, of Gregory. I considered the question for a minute, not wanting to accidentally overpay… again.
“I’d need to see how much more I could reasonably make if I search along the road back to Gold’s Lodge… but I have enough supplies on hand to make, well, more than I want to tell you I can make. So, how about instead of purchasing a month of the crew’s time, I’ll give you a batch for every five days your crew helps me out?”
Daniel stared at me, his jaw going just a bit slack.
“So instead of fifteen gold, you wanna pay us with something equivalent to fifty? You’re either secretly rich or just absolutely terrible with money…”
“My bet is terrible with money,” an older man with more gray than black in his hair said, looking back over as Bram immediately moved on to the next closest tree he could find.
“I’m telling you, that guy has to be overcharging you. The folks out west in Twin Lakes sell a whole batch of this stuff for five gold,” I insisted, Daniel refusing to take his eyes off of me.
“That’s all well and good for them, but the cost on the far side of the crown’s territory is ashes to us. You might want to do a little trade research before you start trying to sell anything yah grow,” he said, finally stepping aside and letting the other members of the crew start using the bowl. “So I’m gonna ask yah again, cause I can’t in good conscience take advantage of you when you’ve already been so generous. Is that really the deal you want to make?”
“I’m not starting an Alchemy business Daniel, I’m starting a farm. I’m never going to sell this stuff and I like to think being on your crew’s good side can only be a good thing,” I said, nodding at the older man that had stepped up and carefully moved to apply the salve to his own tool with a surprisingly careful eye. “Besides, cutting trees and clearing the rocks is the easy part. Your guys might think I’m underpaying you when we start clearing the stumps and roots out of here.”
Daniel’s expression changed just a bit as he looked out over the slowly growing field of stumps.
“Stars… Hadn’t thought about that,” he muttered, rubbing his chin. “You should start praying to the system that one of us Activates… would make that whole thing a lot faster.”
“And then have to pay you guys even more? Please, that would make me look like I was bad with money,” I said, and Daniel rolled his eyes. Only one member of the crew hadn’t been able to use the salve, though I was more than prepared to get another batch ready. The system decided that the final use had been more than enough and notification appeared.
[Project Status Updated] Project: Land Clearing Average Tool Quality Updated: Poor -> Above Average One Day Clearance Average Updated: 2 Acres -> 8 Acres
“Well that’s much better,” I said with a nod, looking over to Daniel. “So, what do you say. Five days per batch? Sound good?”
“I’m a woodcutter, not an idiot. I did as my mama always said and gave yah a chance to back down. Who am I to say no now,” Daniel said, with a wide smile. “Okay boys, let’s get to work. The ladies will be here in no time with lunch and I wanna see just how much faster this makes us.”
A cheer went up from the crew, with the exception of one–I think his name was Thomas–who stood there eagerly awaiting the next batch for his own application.
Maybe I wasn’t trying to start an Alchemy business, but I’d just made it the first thing every one of these guys was going to think when they looked at me.
That was frankly unacceptable.
I was going to need that tavern sooner rather than later. Cause if people were going to stare at me with hope in their eyes, I’d prefer if it was because I had ale.