HC: Handyman | Ch. 102 - Rope Weaving

After four hours of braiding grass, it felt good to take a lunch break. He had thought about going for a walk, but the possibility of running into his parents and having to explain why he wasn’t in class made him stay put.

Jack logged back into the game, greeted by the familiar sounds of crackling fire, unioryx bleats, and Snowy’s steady snoring. The camp was exactly as he had left it, perched atop a rocky outcrop that provided a perfect vantage point.

Below, the meadow stretched out like a vast green carpet, illuminated by moonlight and fireflies. Dark-green, almost black, one-horned deer grazed in the shadows, their forms lit softly in the gentle glow.

A quick exchange of messages with Amari had clued him in: these were unioryxes, a popular mob for hunters between levels 13 and 16. Their horns were valuable for crafting, though most newbies preferred hunting grounds closer to the city.

Their bleats unsettled Jack—a strange mix of a sheep’s call and the harsh cawing of a crow. Occasionally, one would let out a desperate bleat, followed by a sharp shriek and then eerie silence. He hadn’t seen the predators that lurked in these parts, but something was out there, hunting the unioryxes. For all he knew, it could be a hunting party.

In the short time Jack had been offline, the meadow had miraculously regrown its grass, allowing the unioryxes to graze peacefully again. Before he logged out, not a single blade of grass had been left—he had stripped the meadow clean to gather every bit for crafting. Without Snowy’s [Largeness] skill keeping the creatures at bay, Jack was certain the deer would have skewered him for clearing their food source.

The fire flickered nearby, the stones surrounding it reflecting warmth into the cool night air. Snowy slept contentedly by the fire, enjoying a well-earned rest after helping Jack earlier.

Stacked beside him were long strips of bark, carefully harvested with Snowy’s help. The sloth’s sharp claws sliced through the bark with a precision that reminded Jack of a kebab vendor expertly carving meat. Nearby, a mountain of sticks lay in a neat pile—Jack had selected the straightest ones for crafting while the rest served as firewood.

Off to the side stood his pot hive, bees buzzing in and out, tirelessly working even at night. Jack grinned at the small but satisfying tick of his XP bar. His bees were putting in work, too.

Next to him lay piles of grass cords and rope, the product of hours of labor that had left his fingers stiff and sore. Jack told himself his hands didn’t hurt, but the numbness said otherwise.

There’s no way I got arthritis from playing a game, right? He shuddered at the thought, then, to distract himself, picked up an [Average Rope].

He ran it through his fingers, appreciating the differences from the [Weak Rope] he used to make. 

Recipe for: [Average Rope]

Ingredients:

• [6x Weak Cord]

• [4x Dry Grass]

Instructions:

• Untie one end of each [Weak Cord] before starting.

• Twist the [Weak Cords] together as you would with [Dry Grass] to create the rope.

• When you run out of fiber length, add more [Weak Cords] to the mixture.

Requirements:

• [Rope Weaving], lvl. 5

Jack stretched the rope taut with his hands, a pleasant twang vibrating through the air. Weaving three cords instead of two gave the ropes extra strength and elasticity. The best part was the XP he earned for crafting it. Before learning this recipe, he hadn’t gained any bushcrafting XP for weak rope braiding anymore, but now he’d earned over 1,000 XP just from making [Average Rope].

Of course, these perks came at a price: more materials and effort. [Weak Rope] only required twenty-eight pieces of grass per rope, but now he needed forty—four full stacks of dry grass. With Snowy’s extra inventory space, he could only carry enough grass to make ten ropes at a time, forcing him to shuttle back and forth between the meadow and his crafting spot over the last hours.

With the preparations complete, it was time to get crafting. Jack started with the mats. He picked out five of the straightest sticks and arranged them into a square, adding a central stick for support. After cleaning off the rough edges, he tied the frame together tightly with cords. Some sticks bowed more than others, but it held.

Next, he tied one of the ropes to a corner of the frame, looping it around the central stick before securing it at the opposite end. Row by row, he repeated the process until the frame resembled a warped harp.

That was the easy part, Jack thought. He rotated the frame 90 degrees, ready to begin weaving. Up until now, his rope-making had only involved twisting fibers, but now he had to weave them over and under each other. It reminded him of the time he was a kid when he’d tried crocheting with his mom, an attempt that had ended in laughter and a mess of yarn. At least this time, he had a sturdy frame and thicker threads to work with.

Taking a deep breath, Jack started weaving the rope over and under. Over and under, over and under, he repeated to himself, finding a rhythm. Then, halfway through, confusion struck. Wait… what? He’d missed a row. Pausing, he retraced his steps, his mind briefly blank as he figured out how far back the mistake went. After some careful undoing, he found the error and fixed it.

With the mistake corrected, he picked up speed, muscle memory kicking in. The process became smoother, and by the time he finished, Jack was feeling more confident. He carefully loosened the knots, removed the sticks, and fastened the knots along the edges, securing the mat.

You’ve crafted [Rope Mat].

+500XP in [Bushcraft]

Rope Mat (Common)

Description: A rustic mat that grants charm to any room, retaining the scent of the meadow.

Crafting grade: D

Durability: 31

Effects: +10HP when placed in a house you own.

D-grade debuff: Durability falls much faster.

He picked the mat up and inspected it. It was surprisingly heavy. From the sheer amount of grass in this thing, he couldn’t help but feel he was picking up the whole meadow. The mat was rough, with uneven knots and stray grass sticking out, but it was functional. Good enough for a start, Jack thought, though he was already thinking about improving his next attempt.

The mat was designed to be placed in a house, where higher-quality items boosted stats. Jack couldn’t help but wonder how much a house would cost. He made a mental note to ask Amari next time they teamed up.

Determined to do better, Jack grabbed the same sticks and got to work on his second mat. This time, the process went more smoothly, with fewer mistakes.

You’ve crafted [Rope Mat].

+800XP in [Bushcraft]

Rope Mat (Common)

Description: A rustic mat that grants charm to any room, retaining the scent of the meadow.

Crafting grade: C

Durability: 36

Effects: +10HP when placed in a house you own.

Comparing the two mats, Jack sighed. The second one looked much better than the first. Not content with a D-grade mat, he picked up enough rope for a third attempt. He’d harvested more than enough grass for all the recipes he needed to craft. This wasn’t just about making mats; this was equipment for him and Snowy, and he wasn’t about to settle for subpar quality.

You’ve crafted [Rope Mat].

+850XP in [Bushcraft]

“The third time’s the charm,” Jack said, inspecting his final mat. It looked good enough to use. 

Rope Mat (Common)

Description: A rustic mat that grants charm to any room, retaining the scent of the meadow.

Crafting grade: C+

Durability: 36

Effects: +10HP when placed in a house you own.

He picked up the worst of the three mats and laid it on the ground where he was working, sitting down on it with a satisfied sigh. It was a marked improvement over the cold, rough rock.

Feeling more like a craftsman now, Jack set the other mats aside, careful to keep them out of Snowy’s reach. His ground sloth had tried more than once to eat the dry grass he’d collected, and Jack wasn’t about to let Snowy turn his hard work into a snack.

“One recipe down,” he said, mentally preparing himself for the next challenge.

Next, Jack turned to the basket.

He grabbed the end of a rope and began curling it into a tight spiral. The fibers resisted, trying to spring back into their original shape, but Jack held them firmly, determined to keep the spiral tight. With one hand awkwardly holding the spiral in place, he used his teeth to grip a cord and the other hand to tie it around the coil. It was a mess, but after some fumbling, he managed to pull the cord tight, compressing the spiral together. Then, he tied another cord at a 90º angle, making sure it held the shape.

He wiped the sweat from his brow and took a step back to examine what would become the base of his basket. So far, it wasn’t falling apart, but he wasn’t sure how long that would last. He kept rolling the rope around itself, watching as the spiral widened. To keep it from unraveling, he pressed his knees down over the base, trying to pin it in place while tying knot after knot with the cords. The whole process felt clumsy, and Jack couldn’t help but wonder whether basket weaving was supposed to be this difficult.

Is it normal for this to be so... stubborn? he thought as he struggled to keep the rope in shape. He wasn’t even halfway through the base when he noticed the first rope was almost finished. His stomach sank. Four stacks of dry grass, and it was barely enough to finish the base of the basket.

Making a basket’s going to chew through more materials than I thought, he mused, but he wasn’t about to give up now. He grabbed more rope and persevered, determined to finish what he’d started.

After what felt like ages, he finally completed the base. But the real challenge came when he started working on the basket’s walls. If keeping the flat spiral together was tough, building the walls was nearly impossible. Every time he tried to stack more rope on top of the base, the walls sagged and wobbled, threatening to collapse in on themselves. He tied knots as tightly as he could, but the cords weren’t holding properly, and the whole structure drooped like a poorly made vase.

It’s like I’m making a coiled vase all over again, he thought bitterly, but this time, there’s no drying the layers to keep them in place.

The basket was a lopsided disaster. The walls leaned to one side, barely standing, and the cords that were supposed to keep it together were only making it sag more. The entire thing looked ready to fall apart at the slightest touch.

You’ve crafted a [Grass Basket].

+90XP in [Bushcraft]

Grass Basket (Common)

Description: A simple basket made of grass that is flexible and can be used to carry stuff around.

Crafting grade: D-

Durability: 7

D-grade debuff: Breaks at two durability.

I need to think.

Jack paced back and forth on the crag. The struggle with the basket reminded him of his attempts at making tall vases. He’d had trouble stabilizing them back then, too. What could I do to make this work? He tried to imagine Old Felix standing beside him, watching him work. Though this wasn’t pottery, Jack could practically hear Felix’s gravelly voice in his head.

The old craftsman would likely start rambling about how the principles of crafting were universal, no matter the medium. Don’t rush it. Stabilize before building further. The question was, how could he do that? It wasn’t like the basket needed to dry—though maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea.

“Glue!” Jack said aloud, the idea hitting him like a spark.

It made perfect sense. Glue would help stabilize the basket and take some of the strain off the cords.

But another issue remained. "How am I going to keep it secured while the glue dries?" 

His joy deflated. He didn’t even have any glue on him. He began pacing again. Glancing at his flimsy basket attempt, then at the pot hive, Jack knew there was no way this weak structure could hold a pot of that size.

Suddenly, he froze. “Wait a minute! I have the perfect way of securing it!” He dashed over to the pot hive, bees buzzing in and out in their endless quest for honey. His eyes flicked to his inventory—six full stacks of honey and growing. He couldn’t wait to unload it in the city.

But for now, he had a different use for the hive. Refocusing, Jack carried the heavy pot hive over to his crafting mat. He then started gathering rocks, searching for ones heavy enough to help hold the rope in place. “Alright. Let’s try this. Patience, Jack. Steady, Jack.”

Ch. 101 - Addictive

INDEX

Ch. 103 - Saddled