Khuutra said:
I will tell you my story. I have been working to be able to get the barn. I set myself back because on the first Holiday, when Kross wasn't in, (I would like to add that six-day weeks have thrown me off but at least this puts an clean number of weeks in every month) I bought a small Forge. I had wanted to be able to improve my weapons, and it took a bit to realize that the Blacksmith wouldn't. So it was on me. I intend to buy recipe books to help me with my forging soon, but for now the basic stuff that I have will do nicely. Anyway. I'm saving up for the barn. I had timed it nicely - I had about 800G in pocket and more than enough lumber stored up. Not a lot - the axe is still hard to use - but enough. I would go up to Whale Island at 10 AM, as soon as I was done with my garden, and I would fight there, collecting loot until I was tired. I would go to the bathhouse to rest, and then charge as deep into Whale Island as I could before 4:30. At that time I would warp home, deposit my loot, then get my payment at 5 and go pay Kross to build the barn. After that? Well, I guess I'd find out how long it takes a barn to be built, but I hoped to test out which monsters I could tame. I go in, using my broadsword because it has the best damage/RP ratio of all my weapons at the time. I water the patch of potatoes I hav there on the first level, and run in deeper, avoiding weak enemies. I know that in the second area, where I smashed the boulder for the hot spring, there were stronger enemies. If I could beat them, I was bound to get better loot. As I'm exiting the first level, I smash some rocks, picking up more iron and scrap iron. Maybe I'd upgrade my tools soon, I think to myself. I'd probably upgrade the watering can first, but the axe would be after that so I could clear out the stumps on my field. The hammer after that. I go into the second level, and fight the first set of monsters there - my last time through I wasn't strong enough to face them, but I've gained a level since then (now level 5) and I can handle them with some artful dodging. Defeating the first group gets me a levelup, completely replenishing me. Apparently I wouldn't need the hot springs after all. I charge in deeper, cutting through groups of the enemies with abandon. I eat my Squid Sashimi, and this gives me the strength boost I need. They're strong, but I'm stronger, and they give enough experience that I never need to leave to heal. When I get to a sealed door, I'm level 8. I'm much more powerful than when I walked in. And there's still plenty of time to get home and deposit my very valuable loot. But I go deeper. I come to the Whale Island Fin area. I remember, as I walk in, that I think I'm supposed to find Iris around here somewhere. Then I see the sheep. I remember what I've been told: sheep are terrors early on, and I'm only at the beginning of my second week. This would be a very bad day if I was not careful. I approached them with caution, because I am too brave - perhaps too stupid - to know that I should fear them. It did not take long to see that they were too strong for me, my broadsword only hit them for 1 damage every hit, but they were slo and almost entirely nonthreatening, in spite of their strength. Given time and enough RP, I could have beaten the lot of them. I still believe that. Something in me made me curious - I already had the brush. Was it possible to tame a monster without a barn? How many strokes would it take? If I couldn't be sure about any other monster type having the potential to be tamed, couldn't I be sure that sheep would be? I tried. I tried to brush one. I should have run - I knew that Lara would be very angry with me. My health melted away like snow in a desert. It went so fast I didn't even notice. If I had, I could have run. By the time I realized it? It was already too late. I woke up a day later with Lara staring me in the face, as pissed as I had thought she would be. Sh told me not to overwork herself. I didn't try to correct her. I lost my pride, though not my loot, and I was at half health, though I had all of my stamina. But those sheep took something from me - sending me from 3 PM on Monday to 10 AM on Tuesday. They took my time. Time is the only resource I have, the only resource that matters. I could have started building my barn. It could be one day closer to being finished. I even had less time to fix up my crops, now. So I warped home. And I watered my plants - I'm up to five plots, now, of various vegetables. I went about my business. But before anything else, I went inside, and I took my iron with me. The forge was put to use for the first time. I took a hammer of wood and made it a thing of iron. I took a can full of marks and I made it whole. I took an axe that was old and I made it like a thing new, shining and brilliant and sharp, as it should be. I lost to those sheep. But I will return to them soon, with an iron vengeance wrought in fire. I will bide until then, build extensions to my home and expand my field and sharpen my tools further. I would grow strong. When the time came, I would return. Those sheep took my time from me, you see. When I come back, I will be taking one of them home with me. |
