[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 176 - Crafting as a service

“Right,” Sam told her, hardly surprised by her reaction, “but if you’re the only one with money, nobody else can buy your stuff.”

“Then I’ll use [Commission] to pay ‘em.”

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yes, but if they don’t have any money, they won’t have materials to make new things. You can’t have all the money, Komachi. That’s some late-stage capitalistic nightmare fuel.”

“But [Commission] pays you for what you craft. I don’t get it. Does the ore need to cost less than it takes to make an ingot?”

How to explain?

Sam took out a [Bronze Plate]. “If I make this for you, and you give me say, 5 rel for it, then I’ll have 5 rel, right?”

Komachi slowly reached a paw towards it, but Sam gently slapped her paw away. “I’m not actually selling it right now, Komachi. Just using it to illustrate a point.”

His cat gave him a Look. “Aight.”

“But if I sell it to you, and you have all the money, every last bit, then you’ll also sell me the ore to make it, right?”

“Yis.”

“And if that ore costs me 5 rel….” Sam watched to see if she would get it.

“Then Komachi gets 5 rel.”

Sam tried hard not to grimace. “Right, and then you want another [Bronze Plate], I can’t make it because I don’t have the materials, in case I blew up the attempt or something went wrong. And I have no money to buy more.”

“Sounds like a you problem.”

“Komachi!”

“Okay so, it’s cause you’re not making any profit, even though you get to craft without having to gather materials? Cause that takes me time and money to do, Sam.” She rubbed her muzzle with her paws. “I got access to loads of Merchant abilities, I just can’t pick them all up yet. Point is, I can give you a better deal later. There’s one that lets me generate rel from certain interactions. For now, [Commission] is roughly what I could do, if that’s what I pick.”

“I’m not saying what you’re doing is wrong,” Sam told her. “I’m just saying if you have all the money, that’s not very good either.”

She handed him some rel. “Here you go. Getchyerself somethin’ pretty.”

Sam slid the hexagonal coins back to her. “I don’t want to take from you, Komachi. I’m just… you know what? Nevermind.” He reached over and patted her head gently and lovingly.

Maybe she wouldn’t get that one person collecting all the money was a bad thing, but she wasn’t human either. She didn’t have a cruel bone in her body.

She tilted her head to the side.

“So,” he said instead, “you want to pick up [Commission]?”

“Yis, that seems like a good starting point. Machi can then directly interact with other Professions and support their crafting ability. From there, I might be able to pursue things like Retainers and maybe even a treasury. Might even be able to [Commission] crafters outside the Skyshard.”

Sam had to admit he liked the sound of all of that.

“All right, Komachi. How does [Commission] work then? Do you get to choose what is commissioned or is it something specific you don’t have control over?” He took out half a dozen more [Bronze Plates]. The square pieces of beaten metal clattered together noisily as he set them down on her counter.

The Merchant looked over them with interest. Her eyes squeezed shut, making her look like quite the happy cat, and then examined the [Bronze Plates] with a fresh skill-enlightened perspective.

“Both,” she admitted. “There’s many, many options. Machi can choose a grab bag from a Profession or select specific items. The Experience and prices are better if the items are specifically created for the [Commission].”

“So, if you want 10 plates, I’d get more money, and you’d get more Experience if I created them after accepting the [Commission]?” Sam asked.

“Yis.”

Sam tilted his head to the side, curious. “Where does the money come from, you or somewhere else?”

“Me,” Komachi explained. “Technically, if you agree to make somethin’ for Machi, then that’s called a [Commission (Special Order)]. It’s primo stuff. But a normal [Commission] is anything. Special orders are better, but a crafter can only have one active at a time.”

Now Sam was getting it. “And if I didn’t make those plates for you, then you couldn’t go and get them from Kai or somebody else because that special order was with me. That’s… honestly, a more complicated system than I would have expected.”

Komachi licked her paw and rubbed her ear cutely. When she was done, she looked up at Sam in that uniquely adoring way she saved just for him. “So you wanna do Komachi a solid?”

Sam laughed and said, “Sure, Komachi. What can I get for you?”

Without missing a beat, the cat slid forward a tiny slip of golden paper. Sam picked it up and was hardly surprised when the notification rolled past his vision.

[Commission (Special Order)]

The Merchant Komachi requests a speedy delivery of newly smelted ingots in exchange for a fair compensation of currency, in the interest of both Professions gaining Experience.

(5) [Bronze Ingot]

Reward:

55 rel

(2) [Metal Crystal]

Greater Blacksmithing Experience or higher depending on quality.

Sam stared. “Wait, I get Experience too?”

“Yeah, I thought you knew that. Was wondering why you didn’t like the idea. Started to wonder if I was being a bad cat…”

“No! I thought you were the one who got the Experience and you just… y’know, paid me from your own pocket.”

“Nah, we both get Experience Sam!” She pawed at him with a grin. “Guess I’m none too good at explaining Merchant stuff though.”

That changed everything. Hell, he’d even give Komachi money if it meant she could make more of these special orders that gave bonus Experience.

It more than made up for losing the ability to [Desynthesize] the items into their base components.

He paused. No… it couldn’t be that easy.

“Komachi?”

“Yee?”

“Would you be able to give a special order to [Desynthesize] the items I gave you?” At the odd look from her, Sam explained what the Blacksmith ability did. There was an unmistakably piggy glint to Komachi’s eyes.

“Heh, yis. This will do nicely. Nicely indeed…” She rubbed her paws together greedily. “I mean, yah, sure.”

“I’ll get right on it, boss,” Sam said, giving Komachi a little two-finger salute. He was more than happy to play supplier to her little scheme.

The more he helped her level up, the more her Merchant could do things that would benefit everybody. If she had the ability to do these sooner, Sam would have solely made special orders just for her.

It was well worth it, considering that it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. Komachi got the Experience she needed to do more wild Merchant shenanigans, and Sam got money. It was a win-win up until the point that somebody ran out of money.

Sam had a strong feeling that there were some protections built into this by the Shard that would prevent them from gaming the system too hard.

But as it stood, they could game the system a little. By getting a special order to make items, then another to [Desynthesize] them, Sam could double-dip, getting Experience coming and going as it were.

He doubted he could just give her the materials free of charge to satisfy the [Commission], and he did not think Komachi could set the price willingly, either.

Before he left, he had one burning question that she seemed—against all reason—best suited to ask.

“Komachi, are there standard values for items? Like, this [Bronze Plate], does it have a value that you can see on it compared to an ingot or even a box of [Bronze Scales]?”

His cat leaned forward and sniffed the plate. “Yep. Every item has its own value. Merchants can see ‘em and can’t sell them below their value without taking an Experience hit.” She paused and stretched, lowering her back like a U and spreading her claws out. Wiggling back into place, she continued talking as if she hadn’t taken a moment to stretch. “I didn’t have enough levels in Merchant to know ‘dat before. S’why I sold ‘em so cheap. I got [Vendor] that I could pick next time I get Merchant abilities.”

“What’s that do?” Sam asked, fascinated.

“It’s a lot like your [Desynthesis] ability. I can turn items into money, basically. As if I’m selling them to the Shard.”

“You can literally mint money,” Sam said hoarsely.

It wasn’t precisely minting money, but it was pretty damn close. They didn’t need a buyer to make money? That was a lot like a game providing a money faucet of sorts.

Sam wasn’t smart enough to know how that’d work with the greater economics of the Shardrune, but if it worked for trillions of other people who had been here long before him, it must work, right?

“Yep,” Komachi agreed, ears twitching with excitement. “Probably can in other ways, too. That’s the cool thing about Merchant, and well other Professions too. What you can do opens up and evolves over time.”

“We need to get you leveled up ASAP.”

Komachi purred.

“If you see any of the others, tell them about the special orders and [Commissions] Komachi. Everybody should get involved if possible.” Sam shoved the special order slip into his pocket, petted Komachi once more, and then hurried into the workshop.

Sam came out again a few moments later and dropped all 112 rel he had to his name on the table. “For you, Komachi.”

She looked up at him in wonder, tears in her eyes.

He reached out and scratched beneath her white furry chin, just like she liked. “It’s come to my realization that a Merchant—at least, a Merchant that is you—having money is significantly more useful than any of us. What the hell are we going to spend it on? You, however, can do [Commissions], and who knows what else? I’ve seen you mine with money. I’m sorry it took me this long to figure it out.”

“Thanks Sam. That means a lot. I was trying my best, but Machi didn’t have much. I managed to get as far as I did cause Lenal is such a whale.” She looked a little skittish, fussing with her paws. Finally she said, “I like money… it means freedom and food.” Komachi looked away, her ears flattening to her head as her voice turned softer and heartbreakingly sorrowful. “It means my best friend can be around instead of me being alone all the time….”

Unable to resist, Sam scooped her up and squeezed her, mindful not to hurt the small animal. “I’m so sorry Komachi.”

There was nothing he could have done. On Earth, he had to work to support them, but he could imagine a creature as smart and different as Komachi being sad that he was gone so long every single day.

“We’re together now, Komachi. You’ll always have me.”

She sniffled and nuzzled against him, purring like a little motor.

Sam was determined to power level Komachi, and since power leveling her Merchant was the same thing as leveling his Blacksmith, it was perfect.

Plus, he had a great deal of things to make for both Komachi’s special order and for Bal’daz. He wanted that [Workshop] so badly he could taste it.

A building that gave buffs? That was a dream come true.

Just as he thought it, a notification appeared.

New Kingdom Quest: Workers for Workshops

As a King, you have expressed great interest in seeing the [Workshop] come to fruition. You may offer a Kingdom Quest to all of your citizens, rewarding them based on their level of contribution to the materials and work needed to see the [Workshop] completed. You will gain a portion of rewards given to each individual, not to exceed the total any one person receives.

Would you like to offer this Kingdom Quest?

Hell yes!