HC: Handyman | Ch. 213 - Windfall

Jack’s avatar materialized in the courtyard of the Breach’s fortress.

The air was crisp, and the sun was about to set. He heard the nearby stomps of marching soldiers and the scrapings of Christoff’s knife as he crafted arrows.

The friend’s list showed everyone’s name in bright, white letters with a green circle next to it.

Oh no. I was the last one to log in.

His stomach sank. The others had been online for the past twenty minutes.

That meant wave 35 had already come and gone—and he’d missed it. He could only hope the elite had been easy to deal with and they hadn’t needed him on the frontlines.

He paused, bracing himself. Marie would probably have a sharp comment ready in chat.

But instead, the messages that greeted him were all peace and love.

“Hi, Jack! Welcome back!” texted Horace.

“Hey, Jack! How did it go with your dad?” asked Amari.

Jack let out a slow breath. No scolding. No guilt. Just warmth. They really hadn’t minded.

He waited, but no other messages came.

Interesting. Neither Rob nor Marie sent a message.

Maybe that’s why Marie hadn’t sent a scolding message. Perhaps she was too busy being lovey-dovey with Rob. He grimaced. That was hard to imagine.

Jack typed a quick reply.

“Hey! Good to be back. Sorry I ran late—work with my dad dragged on longer than expected.”

Amari responded. “No problem! By the way, Jack, I was able to do quite a bit of editing. I released a new video on the channel about thirty minutes ago.”

Jack’s eyes widened. A new video? And it’s out already?

Holly came to mind immediately. She might be watching the video now.

He opened his contact list. Sure enough, she was online, not in the game, of course, but she was using the VRX helmet.

His hand hovered over the icon. Should he give her a call? Send a text?

He scratched his head, torn. His mom’s voice echoed in—give it time, let things settle—but the magnetic pull was still there, humming under the surface.

He breathed in, held it, then let it go. He dismissed the contact list.

They’d already seen each other today. She’d see the video. And last time, he’d been the one to message first.

Better not to overdo it. She’s going to think I’m stalking her or something...

Especially after he’d randomly bumped into her at her dorm. No—he didn’t want to risk their friendship with overeagerness. 

He shoved the feelings aside and turned his focus to the courtyard—the rhythm of the Breach, steady and grounding.

Soldiers moved in quiet rhythm, patrolling in their grass-and-bone armor. Christoff sat hunched on a low bench, a carving knife in hand, shaving down a fresh batch of arrow shafts.

Esther was nearby, shaping a clay pot. Riku was doing something Jack had never seen him do since they’d arrived in the Breach: idling. He was gathering pebbles in little mounds and playing some sort of chess game near his mom.

Given how used Jack was to seeing the boy setting traps, it was easy to forget just how young the kid was.

“Good evening, sir!” one of the soldiers greeted as they passed nearby.

“Evening!”

He watched them march. They looked sturdy enough, but still lacked helmets and footwear.

Jack flipped through his available recipes. One was for a bone-carved helmet, the other for studded boots.

Recipe for: [Skull Helmet]

Ingredients:

• 1x [Skull]

Instructions:

• Cut a skull roughly in half.
• Decorate as you see fit.

Requirements:

• [Bone Carving], lvl. 3

Recipe for: [Studded Grass Boots]

Ingredients:

• 2x[Ropes]

• 2x[Cords]

• [Glue]

Instructions:

• Cut the ropes to match the shape of your foot and glue them together to make soles.

• Cut cords, attach one end between your toes and the other near your ankles.

• Cut a bone and cut it roughly in half. Cut it a little shorter than your foot.

• Drill holes. Fasten with cords.

Requirements:

• [Bone Carving], lvl. 4

• [Rope Weaving], lvl. 2

Both seemed solid options, and they also looked fun to make. The only problem was that both required more time and energy than he was ready to give right now. That, and he didn’t have skulls available. He only had one skull—the drop from the Cobalt Romie—and he was saving that for something special.

Before logging out, he'd been crafting for ten hours straight. And after a full day helping his dad with repairs, just thinking about another long grind made him ache all over again.

Maybe the soldiers could manage with what they had for now.

His eyes drifted to Esther, then down to his own sandals.

Hmm… We’ve still got a fair bit of rope and cord left…

Maybe the soldiers didn’t have to fight barefoot and without a helmet. Scratching his chin, Jack walked over.

“Hi, Esther.”

“Sir! How can I help?”

He swapped Pottery out and assigned her Bushcraft instead.

“I’ve got a new assignment for you. Grass hats and sandals—ten of each.”

“Whatever you need, sir!”

“Great. Let me show you how to make them.”

He knelt beside the rope coils and grabbed a few cords. “Start by twisting the rope into a spiral,” he said, demonstrating. “Then loop the cord around to hold it tight. The secret is tension—you want it snug.”

He shaped the cords as he spoke. “Go for a flat oval with the sandals. For the hats, make it dome-shaped, then finish with a brim. Oh, and glue at the end—it helps the whole thing set.”

Esther leaned in, nodding intently. Jack finished one of each, holding them up. “Got it?”

“Yes, sir!” she said, eyes shining. “I think I’ve got it.”

She darted over to the supply pile and grabbed a bundle of rope, already beginning to copy his technique.

Jack lingered for a moment, watching Esther twist the fibers into shape. The gear would come out with low crafting grades, but it was more than enough for what was needed. The important thing was that he could leave it to her.

He had to spend some time on his other professions. Beekeeping, barding, brewing—each of them needed attention. He hadn’t checked the hives in almost two days. There were melodies he still hadn’t learned, and brewing had been almost entirely Esther’s responsibility.

That brought something else to mind…

Before shifting focus to crafting gear, he’d asked Esther to keep an eye on the cellar. With everything else going on, he’d forgotten entirely.

“Esther?”

“Yes?” she asked, bracing the spiral of rope with her knee as she looked up.

“Remember what I told you? About checking in on the cellar?”

“Oh—yes, sir! Here you go.”

Esther transferred 2×[Mead V] to you.

Jack’s eyes widened. He accepted immediately, and sure enough, two amphorae labeled Tier V appeared in his inventory.

“I did as you asked, sir,” Esther said. “Out of the sixty-some amphorae, only two didn’t go bitter. I stopped the aging process and saved them for you.”

“Good job, Esther. Thank you.”

Jack let out a low whistle and grinned. He felt as if he had slipped on an old pair of jeans and found a forgotten bill in a pocket.

From that first small batch made exclusively of [Alpine Honey], only one had reached Tier IV—he’d drunk it with Horace before the fight with IronIre. And he was glad he did.

Near the end of the fight, the IronIre players had figured out their weakness—Jack’s unarmored spots. That’s when the mead’s evasion boost kicked in, turning that last hit into a harmless miss. It had saved the entire operation.

He tapped one of the amphorae to examine it.

Mead V (Rare)

A mead made by an experienced brewer. Deep and flavorful.

Item effects: +15% attack and +10 evasion for 30 minutes.

Jack’s jaw dropped. A fifteen percent attack boost was incredible, and the ten points of evasion—equivalent to ten full levels—was nothing to scoff at either.

“I wonder how much I could sell this for.”

He opened the auction listings and searched for Tier V mead. Prices hovered between fourteen and eighteen gold.

It wasn’t bad, exactly—but for the hours sunk into making it, the return felt underwhelming.

“Well… I still have room to grow. I haven’t even hit Journeyman yet.”

He was still level eight in the Novice tier—almost nine. Brewing extended all the way to Expert, meaning there were twenty-two levels still ahead of him if he wanted to max out the profession.

And he wasn’t quite sure that his mead would sell for so little. He looked for any other brews on the auction site that offered evasion bonuses, but they were all spirits other than mead. That meant his brew was unique!

Maybe I can sell it for a higher price.

The real payoff in Brewing came with the highest-tiered brews. He was still miles away from making something like that X-tiered Port Wine he’d seen listed once.

A renewed fire burned in his heart.

“I really need to up my game in Brewing.”

Sadly, there wasn’t much he could do right now. He glanced toward the cellar. There was no point in heading down. At this point, anything left behind would have long since turned to vinegar.

It was time to find out whether the work he’d done to boost honey production had paid off. If so, he’d be able to brew more mead and reach higher tiers.

Jack turned toward the back of the fortress.

As he approached, the buzz sounded… different.

After so many hours with a hive strapped to his back, he could tell the difference immediately—this buzzing was louder, richer, more alive.

He found his two jade-green pot hives surrounded by little yellow and black dots. He approached the older hive, and a system prompt blinked into view:

Congratulations! A new bee queen has been raised!

+50,000 XP in Beekeeping.

Time until the queen bee matures: 3h 58m

“Cool! It’s almost over!”
[Queen Breeding] had done its job—the hive had successfully raised a new queen. Soon, she’d start laying eggs, and the hive could resume growth.
He proceeded to harvest whatever was available for withdrawal.

You’ve collected: 375× [Honey]; 205× [Wax]; 75× [Royal Jelly].

His inventory blinked, suddenly overflowing with fresh stacks. Jack blinked right back.

“Whoa.”

The hive hadn’t slowed down at all after the queen had been poached for the new colony. If anything, they’d ramped up production.

“Three seventy-five honey? That’s like… over eight an hour. Did they drink caffeine or something?”

It didn’t quite add up. The colony shouldn’t have grown—there hadn’t been any new eggs since the split. Maybe the last batch of larvae matured and joined the workforce... or maybe…

His fingers drifted to the pendant at his neck and the clay earrings.

Wait. My jewelry.

Honey production scaled with Intelligence, and both accessories boosted that stat. That could explain the sudden windfall.

Jack rubbed his hands together, grinning. This wasn’t just a good haul—this was a real payday. He could make mead for days, sure, but that wasn’t even the best part.

[Royal Jelly]. Seventy-five pieces, worth twenty gold each.

That was 1,500 gold. Or 1,125 credits. Two months of rent—in one harvest.

“I’m rich! I’M RICH!”

He broke into a little dance, spinning on his heel.

Earlier, he’d been disappointed by how little Tier V mead sold for—but this more than made up for it.

Who would’ve thought? Beekeeping’s more profitable than brewing.

The guides he’d read didn’t paint it that way. But he guessed he was an outlier. From his colleagues’ reactions, his Luck stat was freakishly high.

How many other beekeepers could say the same? How many could pull this much royal jelly from a single hive?

Based on the auction prices, not many.

And since he could harvest a lot of it, just the Royal Jelly alone was enough to cover rent for the next two months.

And that was just the old hive. 

He approached the new one. It looked sparse in comparison, but it buzzed with promise. Several bees were already flying in and out, working tirelessly.

Jack lifted the lid and peeked inside. The scrap of wax he’d wedged between the wall and a branch had expanded dramatically—now covering half the pot. Worker bees crawled across the comb in a blur of movement.

Another system prompt appeared:

You’ve collected: 103× [Honey]; 47× [Wax]; 13× [Royal Jelly].

It wasn’t close to the older hive’s output, but for something just two days old? It was thriving.

He checked his XP bar—Beekeeping was only ten percent away from hitting Level 3.

Maybe it’d unlock a cool skill or recipe. Even a little bonus to egg-laying or honey yield would be sweet. Literally.

Either way, he wasn’t stopping here.

With all this honey available, he had to readjust his plans. Jack stood, mind already spinning with new logistics.

If he wanted to keep up with the momentum, it was time to reshuffle his assignments—and get brewing.

Ch. 212 - Forcing a Smile

INDEX

Ch. 214 - Dozing Off