Second World Online

Chapter 16: Chapter 15: AFTER THE STORM SUBSIDES AND THE ART OF WOODWORKING

The remnants of golden particles from the Grizzly King’s body slowly dissipated into the air, leaving behind a very peaceful silence under the shade of the Eastern Forest. I let out a long breath to stabilize my still rapidly beating heart. On the slightly dug-up grassy ground from the bear’s rampage, three loot chests with shining silver carvings waited for me to open.

I stepped closer and knelt gracefully before the chests. One by one, I opened their lids.

Syuuutt...

[System: You have obtained material ’Grizzly King’s Tough Hide’ (Rare) x3!]

[System: You have obtained material ’Grizzly King’s Sharp Claw’ (Rare) x4!]

[System: You have obtained ’Blueprint: Ironwood Longbow’ (Rare) x1!]

[System: You have obtained 15 Silver Coins and 80 Copper Coins!]

My eyes sparkled as I saw the row of notifications, especially when my fingers touched the ancient leather scroll containing the Ironwood Longbow blueprint. As an Archer who had also taken the Carpenter (Woodworker) production sub-class, this blueprint was a priceless treasure. Ironwood bows were known for their extraordinary flexibility and elemental conduction capacity at the mid-level.

While organizing the loot items into my dimensional storage, I decided to check my status screen again, which had been flashing after the global announcement earlier.

"Open Status," I muttered softly.

========== STATUS ==========

Name : Syl

Gender : Female

Race : Elf

Trait : Albinism

Level : 10

EXP : 30 / 1500

Health : 60 / 60

MP : 180 / 180

Stamina : 100 / 100

========== ATTRIBUTES ==========

STR : 2

INT : 27(+6)

DEX : 26(+10) (+6)

AGI : 3

VIT : 2

Attribute Points : 9

========== SKILLS ==========

Slow Walking Lv20

Stamina Regeneration Lv10, Stealth Lv1

Bow Mastery Lv20

Power Shot Lv10, Vital Shot Lv1

Wind Element Lv5

Wind Arrow Lv5

Water Element Lv2

Water Ball Lv2

Carpenter Lv1

Skill Points : 27

========== EQUIPMENT ==========

Standard Hunting Wooden Bow, Glade Walker’s Bracer (Epic), Wild Boar Leather Armor Set (Common)

I was slightly startled when I saw my level. "Jumping straight from level 7 to level 10..."

The amount of experience points given by a solo-defeated Level 20 Area Boss was truly insane. This level surge also gave me additional (AP), which, combined with the previous points, now gave me a savings of 9 AP. In addition, thanks to the world bonus from the First Clear achievement, my remaining (SP) had increased to 27 SP.

However, behind the joy of this pile of rewards, an extreme fatigue suddenly hit my character’s body. Maintaining full focus for nearly an hour on the tree, calculating wind gusts, and holding my breath to continuously trigger Critical Hits had drained my mental energy to its limit. My head felt slightly light from the heavy brain workload (Virtual Fatigue).

I rested my wooden bow on my shoulder and slowly massaged my temples.

"I’m really tired of hunting for today... It’s better to return to the city and rest my mind by doing something more relaxing."

My eyes shifted to the very bottom of my skill table: [Carpenter] Lv1.

An interesting idea suddenly came to mind. Producing items and processing wood was an activity that didn’t require intense physical movement or high mental tension. This was the best way to recover my mental fatigue while strengthening my character’s foundation in the production sector.

"Let’s go back to the city and level up Carpentry," I decided as I left the Eastern Forest, which now felt much friendlier.

The journey back to StoneBrook took about fifteen minutes. Along the grassland path, I could see a very contrasting atmosphere compared to this morning. Dozens of player groups were now running hurriedly toward the forest with weapons drawn. Their faces were filled with curiosity, ambition, and disbelief.

"Hey! Are you sure it’s this way? The eastern area boss has really been defeated?"

"Of course! The system announcement earlier can’t be wrong! But who exactly is Syl? How could a solo player kill a level 20 boss alone?!"

I lowered the hood of my new leather armor a bit to cover my striking silver hair and eyes. Using the combination of the passive skill [Slow Walking] and occasionally activating [Stealth] in the shadows of the trees, I managed to walk past the crowd of players without drawing any attention. It felt very amusing to see them busy looking for me, while the person they were searching for was calmly walking right beside them.

The moment I crossed the eastern gate, the atmosphere inside StoneBrook was even crazier. The square area was filled with shouts from clan recruiters competing with each other, trying to take advantage of the momentum of the new area opening, Whispering Forest.

I ignored all the noise and immediately directed my steps toward the Craftsman District. Unlike the noisy market area filled with merchant stalls, this district felt much quieter and was dominated by the sounds of metal hammers striking, saws scraping, and the fragrant aroma of fresh wood shavings.

At the end of the district street, there was an open public workshop area owned by NPCs that provided various basic production facilities for players who had taken production sub-classes. There were iron forges, sewing tables, and several wooden workbenches that could be rented for free for basic crafting.

Before approaching the workbench, I stopped by an NPC material merchant stall in the corner of the workshop.

"Good afternoon, adventurer. How can I help you?" greeted the skinny middle-aged uncle behind the wooden counter.

"I need some raw wood materials for basic woodworking practice. What do you have?" I asked.

"Ah, for beginners, I highly recommend Softwood Logs or Pine Logs. They are very easy to shape and very cheap. One pine log is only 5 copper coins," explained the friendly seller.

I checked my virtual wallet, which was now quite thick thanks to the loot from the Grizzly King. Without hesitation, I immediately bought 50 Pine Logs and 20 Oak Logs that had a slightly harder texture for further experiments. After completing the transaction, I walked toward one of the still-empty wooden workbenches in the quiet corner of the workshop.

I stacked several pine logs beside the sturdy wooden workbench. On the table, the system automatically provided several basic tools that could be used by players with the [Carpenter] skill, such as a hand saw, carving knife, and coarse stone sandpaper.

I took a deep breath, then sat down on the round wooden stool. I picked up a medium-sized pine log, gripping it firmly with my left hand, while my right hand grabbed a sharp, gleaming carving knife.

In my unfortunate real life out there, my physical body was trapped in cruel paralysis due to leukemia. Forget carving a piece of wood, even just holding a spoon or writing a single sentence, my hands would sometimes tremble violently due to lost motor nerve control. That feeling of helplessness had always haunted my days in the real world.

But in this Second World Online... Everything felt so different.

The moment the tip of my carving knife touched the rough surface of the pine log, I could feel the wood grain texture flowing very realistically through my character’s digital sense of touch. I began moving my hand to shave off the outer part of the wood.

Thanks to my extraordinarily high attribute stats, massive accuracy and dexterity numbers for a beginner level, my hand movements felt very stable, precise, and flowed with extraordinary grace. The carving knife in my hand moved like a paintbrush on canvas, cutting every unwanted part of the pine wood with perfect smoothness without a single tremor or scratch error.

Sret... Sret... Sret...

The fresh and slightly sweet characteristic pine aroma wafted into the air as thin wood shavings fell onto the workbench. This wood processing process felt like very calming meditation therapy for my tired soul after the life-and-death battle earlier. Here, there were no rampaging monsters, no battle dust, and no pain. There was only me, this wood, and the pure art of creation.

I decided to start making the most basic and most needed item as an archer: standard wooden arrows.

I cut the pine log into several thin, long cylindrical pieces, then used the carving knife to smooth the surface until perfectly round. After the cylindrical shape was formed with precision, I made a small notch at the rear end as the nock for the bowstring.

Every time I completed one arrow shaft, a small system notification window would appear in the corner of my vision with a soft chime.

[System: You have successfully produced ’Standard Wooden Arrow Shaft’ (Common) with 98% design similarity!]

[System: ’Carpenter’ skill proficiency has increased!]

"98% similarity... Amazing," I muttered in satisfaction.

Usually, for beginner players who had just taken the woodworking class with low DEX stats, their product similarity rate would only range between 60% to 70%. Defective products often made the item non-functional or have very poor durability. However, thanks to my highly focused DEX stats, every arrow I created was almost close to system-manufactured quality.

I continued to immerse myself in my own world for the next nearly two hours. The dizziness in my head slowly disappeared, replaced by a deep sense of satisfaction every time I saw the pile of high-quality wooden arrows accumulating beside my workbench.

Ding!

[System: Your ’Carpenter’ skill has increased to Level 5!]

Seeing that level increase, I decided to raise the difficulty. I took a much larger Oak Log with denser and harder grain. Using the hand saw, I split the wood into a rough curved bow shape.

My plan was to try making a Practice Shortbow. This was a much greater challenge because it required understanding of wood thickness distribution so the bow would have balanced flexibility at both ends.

I began carving the oak wood very carefully. Every knife stroke I made with full feeling, sensing the resistance of the strong oak grain. I occasionally bent the wood over the table to test its flexibility, making sure there were no overly thin sections that could cause it to snap when drawn.

A thin layer of sweat dampened my albino Elf character’s forehead, but the smile on my lips never faded. The freedom to create something with my own two hands was a luxury that had long been lost from my real life, and here, I could feel it again so completely.

After nearly thirty minutes of carving, sanding, and attaching a simple bowstring I bought from a merchant, my first oak shortbow was finally complete.

Ding!

[System: You have successfully produced ’Handcrafted Oak Shortbow’ (Common) with outstanding craftsmanship quality!]

[System: Your ’Carpenter’ skill has increased to Level 7!]

[System: ’Carpenter’ skill proficiency has increased!]

I lifted the shortbow toward the sunlight streaming through the workshop window gaps. The golden-brown oak grain shimmered beautifully after being finely sanded. Although this was only a low-tier weapon without significant magical stat bonuses, the pride I felt when holding a bow of my own creation was far greater than when I obtained rare equipment from defeating monsters.

"This work is truly enjoyable," I whispered softly, stroking the smooth surface of the wooden bow with my fingertips.

With the remaining wood materials still abundant beside the workbench, I picked up a new pine log again. I intended to continue this peaceful crafting session until my skill proficiency reached the maximum level I wanted, letting the noise of the outside world and the roar of competition between major clans pass by behind the quiet workshop walls.