PenguinKills
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Chapter 136 - Planning
🕑 Added 2024-09-17 20:11:33 +0000 UTCWe planned out our trip on the map for a while longer but the markers were set and our destination was planned. The trip would take months and that required another level of planning.
My initial assumptions were that it would take around a week to get up to Minnesota but the map showed how misguided that thought was.
It quickly turned into a long haul that we would need to be prepared for and a lot more planning was required. Stop points would need to be planned out. Where to get water and food needed to be considered.
One of the first things we needed to do was figure out how far we could travel in a day. That decided almost everything else for our trip and we wouldn't be able to know that until we set out.
My plan for pulling the carts needed to be completely overhauled. If it was only a week or so, pulling them by hand didn't sound too bad. We had well over 20 people by now and only around 5 or 6 carts of material, it wouldn't be that hard to pull it.
People with high strength especially. The warriors would be doing the heavy lifting but magic could work as well, pushing the carts with whatever element you controlled. It was a mental exercise rather than a physical one but doable nonetheless.
Less than half of our mages had an element that could be used like that but it was better than nothing. Fire and light would sooner burn the cart than push it.
Also, during the trip, we needed to constantly be aware of our surroundings. Tracing out our path led us through some of the hot spots on the map where the mana was dense and plentiful. Monsters and beasts would be prevalent there which we would need to look out for.
I didn't miss much about the tutorial but not having Kathy to scout for us was becoming increasingly frustrating. It was so much easier to have her birds up in the air keeping lookout rather than having people rove around.
Plus, she would be able to tame a few animals to pull the carts for us.
Thinking of her made me kick the ground in frustration. I had offered for her to join us but she respectfully declined. While she was a college student here and lived here currently, she wasn't from here.
She was from a few hours south and she wanted to go down there to where her family and friends were.
I didn't blame her but it was frustrating to not have what she offered.
Wait, what if we make a new Beastmaster?
As soon as the thought flitted through, a lightbulb went off in my head. We didn't need Kathy specifically, but the class that she had.
We had information on how to get a few of the more common classes but I wasn't sure if Beastmaster was in it. Even if it wasn't, trying to figure it out would pay dividends in the long run.
Finding Abigail, who cataloged all of the information booklets we had brought with us, I quickly explained my idea.
"It's possible, but I don't remember reading about that class specifically. I'll look again but I don't think it's in there." She said.
"You spoke with Kathy the most, did she say how she got it?" I asked, trying a different idea.
"I know she was a Ranger first but it wasn't clear what she did to jump to Beastmaster. I know it wasn't her G-rank class, but her F-rank one. So she went from Ranger to something else, then to Beastmaster." Abigail said.
That complicated things. If there was an intermediary class that had to be completed before Beastmaster, it would make it impossible to get one in a timely manner.
Most people were past H-rank already and had their first evolution under their belt. If they had to take the intermediary class for F-rank, they wouldn't be able to evolve into a Beastmaster until E-rank.
So instead of becoming a Beastmaster at level 25, they wouldn't get the class until level 50. We would have to wait for them to get through over 25 levels before we received any benefits.
While that wasn't the end of the world, it narrowed our search down significantly. We needed someone who had the Ranger class lower than level 10 to raise up quickly, or someone below level 25 who wasn't that far deviated from a Ranger class.
Both would be hard to find.
Also, all of that was on the assumption we could guide them to the Beastmaster class. It wasn't impossible to do, but it may end up taking more than one person to get the result we want, making the whole process take much longer.
"Why don't you talk with Gabriel to see if there were any in his tutorial? If we can find someone who is already a Beastmaster it will make it a whole lot easier." Abigail added while I was thinking of how long it would take to raise somebody up.
"That's perfect!" Before she could say anything more, I was off to find my wayward brother.
The one time he isn't right next to me.
Finding him was hard and I walked up to him while he was practicing his skills. He had different-sized chunks of ice revolving around him going at various speeds. It looked like a training exercise of some kind. It was still odd to see ice around camp that wasn't mine but it was growing on me.
He looked in deep concentration as he moved it all around but opened his eyes as I neared.
"Was there a Beastmaster in your tutorial?" I asked quickly.
He took a second to think about it before answering, "There was someone similar but I don't know if he was a Beastmaster specifically. He never had an army of them but a few followed him around." He said.
My hopes were rising.
I asked a few more clarifying questions but I wouldn't be able to go evaluate the man until Jonathan came back. He was still out tracking down his family and he was supposed to return tomorrow at the latest.
Gabriel said that he was a part of the Knighthood but he wasn't that high up in their leadership and usually stayed in the dungeon, remaining away from the conflict between the two guilds.
I just hoped he would be easy to find. He could literally be anywhere inside the city and he could have even left, going somewhere else.
That was another thing we needed for our trip.
A tracker of some kind would come in handy when the situation called for it. The only person we had that had any tracking ability was Hal and that was only due to one skill.
A low rarity one at that.
Getting someone specialized in tracking could go a long way to ease any future troubles we could face.
Ugh, the problems keep coming.
With the hope of securing a Beastmaster in the city, I still needed to prepare for the possibility of not finding him, or of being refused. Finding the man didn't cement his choice to join us.
After having that idea pop up, a few other things I hadn't thought of arose and my day flew by. Little things we would need and jobs that needed to be filled.
Everything needed attention and I couldn't split myself to do it all. I didn't know how Abigail did it. Just keeping track of everything that was happening was a full-time job.
I think fighting the waves was easier than this.
Still, it was nice to start writing down what needed to be done before we set out. Getting it on paper helped keep track of it all.
Carts were being made to carry our stuff, a Beastmaster needed to be searched for, a foraging profession or survivalist class would come in handy, a tracker of some kind.
We wouldn't be able to fill every spot but being on the lookout for people was good enough. We didn't need them but they would make our life a lot easier.
Similarly, I started thinking about the kinds of classes and professions we would need once we reached our destination.
Builders, Masons, Carpenters, Engineers, and Architects were all required and that was just for building the city.
Crafters would be needed to make anything and we would also need people to gather raw material. I had yet to meet a Miner or Lumberjack but they were out there somewhere.
I knew our numbers would grow as we ran across people along our trip and some of the positions would be found but the list was quickly exploding in length.
When I first had the idea to found a city I hadn't anticipated it being so hard.
~~
I didn't spend all day thinking about all of that and I had time available to spend elsewhere.
Mostly in the forge that Vinny put together.
It wasn't as good as the one he used in the tutorial but it got the job done. It was a temporary fix that we could both use while we were camped out here.
It wasn't enough to break out my Spirit Fire that I got but it was enough to use for smaller things.
Vinny was working on something to make the construction and tear down easier so that he could bring it with us but I focused on something else.
He also wanted to play with his new Spirit Fire but without a permanent forge to contain the energies, it would burn down anything nearby.
Throughout the tutorial, my class was my main focus. Fighting the waves, growing stronger, getting as powerful as I could. That soaked up my attention and my profession took a back seat.
That wasn't a bad thing, per se, but it did make the two disproportionate. I didn't think I would ever excel at my profession as well as my class but I didn't want to leave it too far behind.
One of the main things I wanted to remedy was my skill rarities. While rushing to evolve and scrambling for experience, I let them remain at Common and Uncommon for far too long.
I wanted to raise them while I had the time and it was a nice change of pace to focus on. Both my [Create] skills were still at Common while Vinny was pushing into Rare. Both my forging proficiency and style were falling behind.
The only thing that kept up were my Rune skills and that was only because they started at a higher rank.
We didn't have access to the same list of materials as before which limited what I could make somewhat but it was nice to get back into the forge. To spend some time creating things.
With our trip slated to take months, I wasn't sure how much time I would be able to dedicate to my profession.
One of the first things I wanted to do was remake my armor.
It was due for an upgrade and I had long come up with ideas of what I was going to make. I even had the materials purchased ahead of time just for this occasion.
The only thing I had to do before that was raise my skills a bit before beginning its creation.
Both [Create Armor(Common)] and [Forging Proficiency(Novice)] boosted the final product and I wanted to raise both skills before attempting my armor. It wouldn't be a huge improvement but every little bit added up.
Plus, with time to dedicate to material processing, I could saturate the metal I was going to use in mana with [Mana Infusion(Common)]. We normally didn't have the time to spend on doing that before but that changed now.
There wasn't a fight to prepare for in a few days that I needed the new armor for. I could spend some time making it the best I could without having a sword waiting to fall over my head.
[Mana Infusion] worked to saturate the material you were going to use in mana to improve its grade.
Material grades weren't broken into strict ranks like Classes were. There weren't F-rank materials or E-ranked materials. Materials followed the same grading system as Equipment which made it harder to divide them into strict Ranks.
It was possible, according to essence and mana level, to divide out materials into strict ranks like classes and race, but that led to confusion down the line when material grade and equipment grade were different.
There was so much you could do during the crafting process to improve upon the materials used which made the ranking system a bit more blurry than dedicated Ranks.
Materials with an essence level in F-rank used by experienced smiths, treated with solutions from experienced Alchemists, enchanted or engraved by experienced Enchanters or Runesmiths, could be pushed well past where its material was initially ranked if it was broken into the same grade as classes.
It could possibly be ranked higher than certain D-rank materials if they were handled poorly and used by a novice blacksmith without any additional material processing.
That was why equipment wasn't broken into strict Ranks and materials had to follow suit. Having them be different was too much of a headache to keep straight.
While the lines were harder to draw, that didn't mean there weren't lines. There was a stopping point in how far you could push low-ranked materials and that stopping point created three distinct brackets.
They were normally referred to as the Low ranks, Middle ranks, and High ranks. From level 1-200 was the first bracket, 200-500 for the second, and 500-1000 for the last.
It was insanely confusing at first, but it wasn't that difficult to remember. Level 200 was the cut-off for D-rank and level 500 was the cut-off for B-rank. Which meant every rank D and below was in the same bracket, C-B was in a bracket, and A-S was in a bracket.
So a Rare-tier sword in the F-rank would continue to be a Rare-tier sword up until D-rank. When crossing over the threshold into C-rank, the sword would be evaluated differently and fall down the rankings. Falling into Uncommon or Common-tier depending on the sword.
Appraisers and Craftsman could break materials down further into Low, Mid, and High inside of the Rarities but that was usually only used by crafters. There wasn't a need for most people to get that specific, High-grade Common-tier was unnecessary for most people and saying Common-tier was usually enough.
I didn't have to worry about most of that until C-rank which was the reason I had ignored the grading system at first. It was easy enough to say I made a Common-tier weapon without having to think about it depreciating when I went up in Rank.
All of that to say, [Mana Infusion] worked to improve a material's grade.
Material's grade was the keyword there. While having an impact on the equipment's final grade, it didn't directly correlate to a higher grade weapon or armor.
Using an opposing mana type to infuse a material with a conflicting mana type could actively hurt a material but that was easy enough to avoid.
Now, with time to spare, I had to decide how much of it I was going to dedicate to infusing the material I was going to use.
The base material was an Uncommon grade Ice-aligned metal but I could maybe push it to Rare if I gave it enough time.
The metal already being Ice-aligned made it easier on me and I wouldn't have to find someone else to supply the mana or convert my own with enchantments.
Pushing past Rare ran into diminishing returns. It just took too long to become feasible and it was quicker to buy a higher-grade material to start with.
Still, it was a nice problem to have and it got my creative juices flowing again.
Even if my to-do list grew with every passing hour.
~~AN~~
Howdy, this Author's note won't contain any information useful for most readers, but I thought I'd let you guys know a bit of what I'm currently thinking.
One of the main things I'm working on right now is Pacing. I do not want this Journey arc to drag out like the tutorial one did and I'm working to keep that from happening. BUT, I don't want it to feel rushed and skip over things.
There are people I need to introduce and places I need to hit on during the arc that I don't want to breeze by which makes it hard to get a consistent pacing through chapters.
I, being a reader first who transitioned into writing, would rather it be slower and explain more than faster and more rushed if I had to pick between the two. Which was the main reason the tutorial arc took so long.
Plus, being my first attempt at writing exacerbated some of that.
But, I thought I'd let you guys know and for you guys to comment if it gets too slow or too fast. I know the first few chapters of this arc were a bit slow but we are about to pick it up, which is the main reason I'm telling you guys this now.
Anywho, if you read this, thanks I guess, if not, well, oh well.
Comments
Artman
I’d have a few chapters while traveling to give a feel for the New Earth, beyond that the stopping points for resupply for the rest. My two cents.
Thomas Issa
Also we need to know Gabriel’s profession, maybe Chris could get his brother skills for enchanting and making runes, enchanting using ice magic together We also need to learn his mom’s profession
Thomas Issa
Also people are going to be met on the trip and join the caravan, crafters are going to want to be able to work and progress while travelling, and resources are going to be gathered as beasts are killed That plus John and Austin’s professions make me think that the family is going to set up trade routes and a trading caravan Plus having the world’s largest spatial storage after the hill is deposited
Thomas Issa
What about using mana constructs or summons to pull vehicles? Or using runes to build hauling trucks and such?
Baconwargod
I think you keep things pretty dense as is your pace so far has been great
Athena Alexandria
I will say I didn't think the Tutorial arc dragged at all, that may just be my preference though. I always prefer slower paced writing, as long as it's not just a repetition of the same information, which you have been very good at not doing too badly.
Demonlord
Thanks for the nice chapter 😊 I wonder if Chris can haul 2-3 wagons alone... With his strength stat at over 300 he should be able to do that easily... Also cutting wood... I think he could easily just rip the tree out of the ground and bring it over to whoever needs the wood
PWeygandt
I really appreciate the transparency about the Pacing. Obviously, as a reader, you want each chapter to be filled with new awesome stuff but that isn't realistic. Personally, i am excited for the Zalenski Family Factions journey north and want to see all of the stuff they encounter along the way. Having a couple "mini arcs", that explore various relationships and problems, just seems really fun
