HC: Handyman | Ch. 175 - Friendly Fire

After Jack pitched his theory of how they might be able to leave the Breach and return here, they’d all come running back to the fortress. With the arrival of the boss wave, everyone had almost forgotten about the broken mechanic Jack had unlocked earlier. But now, everyone was gathered around the mud hut near the fire, hoping to see if it would work.

Mud Hut (Uncommon)

A simple shelter fashioned with tempered clay and covered with a dry grass roof.

Crafting grade: C

Effects:

Boosts the effects of all bushcraft structures within a 10-meter radius.

Whenever you have a meal within 10 meters of the hut, it will grant a temporary XP bonus.

Pride of the Innovator: Durability doubled.

The hut’s pasty clay walls and thatch roof would have looked shabby anywhere else, but in the middle of a half-destroyed fortress, it stood out as one of the more respectable structures. Jack hadn’t thought much about it when he built it close to the fire and the tent in the fortress’ courtyard. He’d almost forgotten it was even there.

There were no beasts to keep away, so the boost it gave to fire was moot. And since Piri didn’t grant XP for character growth while inside the breach, its meal bonuses were just as useless. The only XP that could be earned here was professional XP—and the hut didn’t help with that.

It had just sat there, in a quiet corner of the courtyard, close enough to the fire just in case but far enough to stay out of everyone’s way.

“You ready?” Jack asked, eager to see if his theory held.

Amari nodded. Behind him, Horace let out a long sigh.

“Do you always have to do this?”

“Do what?”

“Make us wait like you’re a game show host stalling for the big reveal? Just say it works or doesn’t.”

Marie chimed in, “I agree! It’s annoying. Just do it already.”

Jack ignored them with a grin and crouched through the entrance of the hut.

He placed each of the four vases—each etched with the likeness of the One-Eyes and the Bears—inside. The hut’s interior was small and cramped, forcing him to stack two on top of the other two. The clay scraped faintly against the courtyard’s floor, but they held steady. Once they were in place, he stood up, brushed off his hands, and walked away.

“Nothing,” Jack said, disappointed.

“Keep walking. Maybe the skill only activates if you’re a certain distance away.”

Jack kept walking—across the courtyard.

What if it doesn’t work?

He kept walking through the gate, eyes glued to the list of usable skills in his interface, waiting for something to change.

Then, just as he stepped out of the fortress and into the mountain pass, a new icon appeared in his vision.

Retreat (Rare)

There’s no shame in leaving a battle if it isn’t going your way. Sometimes, taking a step back is the greatest feat of courage.

Effects: Active. Channeling time: 1 minute. Teleports you to your house.

“Yes!” Jack pumped his fist. “Retreat works!”

A round of cheers erupted from his friends. They came running out of the fortress, and as the icon appeared on each of their interfaces, they joined him in celebration.

“He’s right! It works!”

“The system thinks Jack’s stupid shack counts as a house! Yes!” Horace whooped.

“Hey!” Jack complained, giving Horace a playful punch on the shoulder.

For a moment, they stood in stunned excitement, each realizing what this could mean. They had found a loophole—a real one.

Jack couldn’t help but grin. He had known that the etching recipe was special, but now that he saw this application, he couldn’t help but feel proud of his discovery.

Amari was the least enthusiastic of the bunch. His face had settled into a thoughtful scowl. “Okay, this is a great discovery—no doubt about that. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

The group calmed down.

“First, let’s test the limits of this skill.”

He walked a short distance away, then called back, “We have to be near Jack for the skill to work.”

“That’s an important thing to know,” Jack said. “Especially if the Slayer shows up again.”

Amari returned to the group.

“So? What do you think?” Jack asked. “If we leave the Breach, can we use this skill to make it back here?”

Amari paused, thinking. Then his fingers moved as he opened his interface.

“What are you looking for?” Marie asked gently, trying not to interrupt his train of thought.

“I’m checking my system log—what the game said when we used the Breach Key to come here.”

“So?”

Amari shared the message with the others:

Warning! You’re about to be transported to a special map!

Warning! You can’t leave the map until you die or finish your quest. The longer you last, the greater the rewards.

Are you sure you want to be transported?

He continued, “Then there’s the description of the quest item.”

Breach Key (Quest Item)

Item description: A piece of lost technology that can be used together with a pyramid to teleport you to a Breach map.

Can only be used once.

Jack read through the text hungrily. “I see nothing that says we can’t use a skill to come back here.”

Amari nodded. “True.”

“So? Should we risk it?” Horace asked.

“Maybe we can even escape the map and keep playing normally!” Marie suggested. “If we’re ever in trouble with the Slayer—or anyone else—we can just retreat here.”

Horace nodded vigorously. “Right! We could use the opportunity to grind levels and upgrade our gear. Then, when we return, the waves will be way easier to handle!”

“That’s brilliant!” Jack said.

Amari, however, remained unconvinced. He paced back and forth, shaking his head. “I don’t know. I have a few concerns. First, we entered this map at level 20. What happens if we leave and level up out there? Will the Breach scale with us? Will the waves become even harder?”

Jack’s enthusiasm faltered. “I…”

“That’s not all,” Amari continued. “What if we all leave the map? Will this place still exist? One more thing. The only time the clock stops is when we’re all logged out. But if we’re logged in somewhere else, does the Breach timer keep ticking—or pause?”

Jack pictured the fortress empty, monsters pouring in unchecked, trampling Esther, Marie, and Christoff. He shuddered.

“So what do you suggest we do?” he asked.

Amari didn’t answer right away. His eyes stayed distant, clearly turning the possibilities over in his mind.

Horace finally broke the silence. “I say we let only Jack leave the Breach.”

“Go on,” Amari said.

“He has the most storage out of all of us. Especially now that his mount got upgraded here. We kill him once, so he exits the map. The,n the rest of us can log out for a few minutes and log back in. Worst case, the clock keeps ticking—Jack does a supply run and returns when he’s done. Best case, the Breach freezes while we’re gone. If that happens, we’ll rethink the plan and maybe send more of us out.”

Amari frowned. “The real worst thing is Jack dying and getting locked out of the Breach entirely. Is that risk worth it? If we don’t run the risk, with his help, we can certainly reach wave 40.”

“What if we run into another Gear Grinder?” Horace countered. “Besides, if this loophole works, we can stay stocked forever. We might last for several days. Maybe weeks!”

Marie added, “There’s been a lot of speculation about how the record holders reached wave 88. Everyone else seems to tap out in the 40s. That gap’s huge. What if they found something like this? It would explain everything.”

Amari nodded, clearly tempted. “Argh! Fine. That does seem worth the risk.”

“I didn’t like the part about killing me,” Jack muttered.

Horace cracked his knuckles. “Don’t worry about it. No pain, no gain, right?”

Jack gulped. He didn’t like the way Horace was looking at him.

*

Jack’s eyes fluttered open. There were dull, gray skies overhead and gravestones jutting from the earth. The sounds of quiet footsteps and distant respawned players drifted around him.

You’ve died.

He’d come to in the cemetery of Embersgate. As Horace had promised—right before hammering him to death—there was no message about losing a level or dropping items. Deaths inside the Breach didn’t penalize character growth.

The first thing Jack did was check his skills list.

There it was. The [Retreat] icon.

He let out a breath and grinned ear to ear. Their gamble had paid off.

“Guys! It works!” he messaged in the party chat.

“OK. Stay put.”

AmariNinja has logged out.

Horace has logged out.

MarieBomber has logged out.

As his friends began running the experiment, Jack hurriedly activated another skill.

Summon!

Snowy’s massive, elephant-sized form appeared in a puff of smoke. A few nearby players who’d just been resurrected gasped, pointing at the towering mount. Normally, Jack would have been proud to draw this kind of attention. However, he was mostly happy to see Snowy had retained her transformation. She remained a pseudo-megatherium.

Snowy leaned in toward Jack, who petted her. “Good to see you, girl!” 

Another weight off his shoulders. A moment later, notifications popped up.

AmariNinja has logged in.

Horace has logged in.

MarieBomber has logged in.

Amari messaged: “Hi, Jack. The clock keeps ticking in the Breach if you’re online.”

Jack sighed. “Too bad. Roger that!” Jack replied.

So, the combo wasn’t that broken. He’d only have a limited window outside the Breach to stock up and resupply.

His hand hovered over the logout icon. Time to regroup—offline.

As they’d planned, Jack logged out.

Everyone was exhausted after the last boss wave. They’d take a break, stop the Breach’s clock, and talk in the real world about how to make the most of this loophole. Then, they’d wring every last advantage they could out of the Breach.

Jack smiled.

Just you wait, Piri. I’m coming back to sweep through that Breach of yours.

*

The Slayer sat in his office at the guild’s headquarters. Before him stood a player clad head-to-toe in black. 

“What have you found?” the Slayer asked.

The assassin moved his fingers through the air, and several messages appeared on the Slayer’s interface—links to Amari’s latest videos, a player profile he didn’t recognize, and social media accounts connected to Rob.

“I looked into your guild member, as requested,” the rogue said. “There’s a connection to Amari.”

The Slayer’s fists clenched, a vein throbbing in his forehead. “Go on.”

“I checked Rob’s socials. He used to follow a small-time creator called JackOfSpades. If you scroll through the comments, Rob always shows up—and they’re cousins.”

“And?”

“Amari’s new videos feature a player named Jack. The tag is different—JackOfDiamonds—but the mannerisms match. The avatar’s slightly altered, but you can see the resemblance.”

The Slayer narrowed his eyes. “So Rob’s cousin is Amari’s friend. The traitor.” He spat the word like a curse. “I hate traitors.”

Loki remained still, expression unreadable.

“Anything else?”

“Yes,” he replied. “The videos show that Jack has a hidden class, along with potter and bushcraft minors. I went to Embersgate and asked around at the Pottery Association and the Bushcraft XP store near Red Lake. They’ve seen them there many times. This Jack fella has been in Embersgate until very recently. Amari probably is, too.”

“Good.” The Slayer leaned back, cracking his knuckles one by one. “Excellent work, as always. How much do I owe you, Loki?”

“Nothing,” Loki said. “It’s enough that you’re considering my offer.”

The Slayer’s throat tightened. “Sure. I’m still going through the details. I haven’t made a decision yet.”

“Of course! No rush. A merger is a big deal. Even if you say no, I wouldn’t charge for this. We’re friends. Aren’t we?”

The Slayer forced a smile. “Of course.”

“Alright then! I’ll leave you to it. Talk soon.”

The Slayer watched Loki as he walked out the door, quiet as a shadow. Once he was gone, the Slayer stood too. He sent a message to Wilson, who confirmed that Rob usually logged in only in the evenings. He would have to wait a few hours.

He cracked his neck, clenched his fists, and tightened his jaw.

Oh, Rob… I’m going to make you pay for lying to me.

And then, I’ll pay a visit to Embersgate.

****

End of book 3: the Bonecarving Brewer

The next book will be vol. 4, The Candlemaking Cook

I realize that I need to adjust a bit when Jack sets up camp and builds a hut and sets up a tent in the courtyard. What did you think of book 3?

Ch. 174 - Loot Time

INDEX