Mint

Just when he was about to internally announce the end of his short-lived searching spree, Aris found another material hidden carefully behind a tree. It had been a good hiding spot that the young individual almost looked over, but due to second-guessing himself, Aris managed to walk past the tree again and actually spot it. Happy to add another material to his growing collection, the young boy swiftly pulled the material into his still rather empty inventory. "One more to go" he mumbled energetically upon seeing a sneaky notification pop up again to show his progress. It was really uplifting to actually do well at gathering right now, and it made him start to see it as a sufficient way of gaining enough tools to craft at his own shop. Aris had pondered about engaging in combat several times, but, if gathering like this kept going well for him, he'd probably keep avoiding it until finding a party he could do it together with.

Not seeing anything of interest in the surrounding environment, Aris made his way into the forest. Seeing as it wasn't the best weather, the place wasn't decorated with the beautiful green leaves and variety of birds/animals he was hoping for. Instead, it was just cold, both appearance wise and temperature wise. Aris, though taking a liking of warm weather over freezing to death, didn't care all that much. He would probably be complaining thoroughly if someone had been with him right now, but he didn't have a companion right now.

The 16-year-old would occasionally crawl down onto the ground to identify any bits of green he spotted, often misinterpreting random plants as the crafting material he was searching for. Aris wasn't exactly an expert at properly remembering how various pieces of flora looked, so it was only natural for him to make mistakes. His first moments in the forest didn't seem all too promising, considering he didn't find anything.

It had apparently been a good idea to move forward since Aris was once again blessed by the sudden arrival of a small plant that Zakariah had asked for. Gathering it was a very easy task that didn't take more than a few seconds, allowing Aris to keep moving around. He mimicked his former strategy, looking around the Herb in case they happened to grow closer together. Sadly, he couldn't see all that much, causing him to decide to walk nearer to the forest. The young boy was a little nervous despite not having seen a single monster anywhere close to him. He just hoped that everything would avoid him, except for the materials of course.

Slowly but surely making his way towards the forest, Aris already internally discussed the way back to Zakaraiah's place. He wasn't very good at remembering or following directions, sadly managing to forget the exact location of the NPC's workshop. It luckily only took a quick appearance of his beloved interface to see a small dot on his map, indicating the precise area in which the NPC was staying.

Checking his surroundings for another couple minutes, Aris sadly failed to see any other herbs. He didn't feel discouraged at all, though, since he had already found two materials in such a short span. Happy with his finds, Aris moved on further away from the town of beginnings, seeing a line of trees in the far distance. Unlike during his Earning a Living quest, Aris decided to go west this time in hopes of not having to see that stupid lake anymore. He had never gone into this direction, making it a new experience as a whole for the young boy. He prefered a forest over some random lake, though, so there was nothing to complain about right now. His only concern was the possible presence of more powerful mobs inside the forest, but he would just do his best to avoid them. Besides, now that he was level three, Aris could at least pack a bigger punch than before which was definitely a relief.

Perhaps the gods of this virtual realm felt pity for the young boy after having made him go through pure terror in his first attempt at gathering. Maybe the felt so bad, that they just magically made herbs sprout up around him, right where he could never look past them or potentially fail to spot them. Not even meters away from the first herb, Aris saw another one, a smile instantly appearing on his face. He felt excited, which was rather odd considering all he was doing was collecting flowers. In real life the young boy was not very interested interested in the wondrous world of flora, so being so happy about finding one was definitely a first time experience. Without hesitation, Aris added the little plant to his inventory before getting up again and furthering his search. Seeing as he already found two closely together, the low levelled mace-wielder decided it would be smart for him to stick around the area, testing his luck.

On his way away from the large city walls, Aris accidentally managed to catch a glimpse of a small patch of some unknown plant. Interest and hope resulted in him quickly rushing towards it, quickly noticing that the plant confirmed to Zakariah's description. While he carefully removed the plant's usable parts, Aris received a small notification in the shape of a white screen, showing him that he had successfully found one of five materials! The young boy was extremely happy with his quick find, making today seem nothing like his first gathering trip. If he kept being this lucky, Aris would most definitely spend the rest of his day searching for his own materials after having finished the quest. That would be an idea for later though, as his first priority was to properly complete this lesson.

After having added the herb to his inventory, Aris got back up and started searching around the vicinity for any other hidden treasures.

Having only just recently left the safe zone, Aris knew his chance of finding something out of the blue would be rather small. Not only would other players quite easily see and collect the materials, the spawn rate would probably be lower to compensate for the lack of a risk. At least, that's what he told himself after not seeing even a slight hint of a herb, deciding to simply walk further into the 'dangerous' area in hopes of quickly managing to collect some plants. He was already thinking back to his awful first experience with the gathering system, still having vivid nightmares about that one, stupid pearl. It had taken so long that, upon having finally found the item, the relief of not having to search further wasn't even enough to compensate for the induced anger. Luckily, it was eventually worth it considering he did receive his title as Artisan. Though he hadn't much luck with crafting so far, Aris was sure he'd eventually get it right.

A loud, theatrical yawn welcomed the residents of floor 1 that were already awake, not many of them actually seemed to care all that much though. Aris sluggishly walked forward as he rubbed his eyes, his left hand eventually travelling to the front to make a screen appear in front of him through a simple gesture. The still tired boy did his best to focus on reading, coming to a stop as he did so to prevent himself from needlessly falling over. There he stood, in the middle of the road while reading information about some quest he had heard about before. Apparently, there was a kind old man that spent his time teaching low levelled players like him how to actually function properly, awarding them for coming to him. Aris hadn't been completely sure as to how said individual profited from such a thing but after a little bit of asking around, he did discover that Mr friendly old man asked people to gather materials for him. Having recently been scarred for life after having spent 2 hours to find a single material, Aris just hoped that he wouldn't be as unlucky as he had been before. Still, knowing that he needed to level up, the younger boy decided to take on the quest.

Only about 10 minutes later had Aris visited the man's humble abode, a small workplace that wasn't all too difficult to find. After Zakariah explained to him what he had to do, Aris quickly accepted the quest to get going. Not much of a conversation had appeared between him and the older individual, but Aris did find the man rather pleasant to be around, assuming him to be a very caring bundle of data. Having politely said his goodbyes, Aris went out into the grassland to search for a number of herbs he needed to find.

Day 2

Having not had all too much luck yesterday did cause for slight discouragement to occur, but Aris most definitely wasn't ready to give up already. His priority was to earn col through his shop, meaning that he did actually have to craft something to fill his stocks with. It'd be quite embarrassing if he was left with an empty shop for an extended amount of time, so he really hoped he'd succeed today. After having released a couple materials from his inventory, Aris set down to start crafting, aiming several lights at the table he chose to work at beforehand. There he slowly started working up a trinket, at least attempting to create something nice.

Aris, who was currently very busy trying to not come off as lost, didn't hear the other player's messages to herself, though quite clearly noticing the girl's appearance beside him as he walked forth. The young boy tried to look over the crowded area, trying to spot any buildings that might contain what he was searching for. Not much was going through his head while his sapphire eyes scanned the area, eventually catching a glimpse of what seemed to be a small, NPC run cafe. "There's one right there," he said, pointing diagonally to the right while simultaneously looking at the girl to spot any possible reaction. Aris didn't spend much time waiting though, as he would instantly move forward to the little shop unless he was somehow stopped. The noob carefully manoeuvred himself through the area, trying not to bother any of the other people on the streets.

Quickly making his way up the two steps before the open wooden door, Aris would glance back to see if the girl was still behind him, waiting for her if she somehow had trouble following him through the busy streets of Urbus. He would then eagerly step into the humble yet welcoming little place, his eyes falling down onto a small wooden table almost halfway into the shop. The place wasn't very busy, not at all actually to the boy's surprise. By quickly glancing around, Aris admired the old-school interior as well as taking a liking of the many flowers scattered around the area. This would most definitely be kept in mind when decorating his own shop.

"Where would you like to sit?" He would ask his new acquaintance, once again offering the same friendly expression as before. Aris didn't really care much for a particular location, but it just felt polite to ask her before making any drastic decisions.

For the first time in this conversation, Aris had somehow managed to make some sort of reaction appear on the seemingly frozen face of the other player.  It wasn't much of a drastic change, only the mere shift of an eye that, if Aris hadn't paid close attention, probably wasn't even that noticeable. Still, it was a start! "Great! Thank you for accompanying me," he replied, his expression not showing much other than happiness. 

Upon having been asked where to go, Aris quickly looked around, letting out a short "Uhmmm," which would quite clearly show that he wasn't entirely sure. The blond haired boy had been the one to ask for the directions after all, so Aris wasn't sure if she was actually expecting a good answer. Not wanting to just stand in the middle of a road for the rest of the day, Aris just randomly chose a direction that seemed busy enough for a little cafe to be hidden in. "This way!" he called out energetically, pointing his left hand to the right. The younger individual spent no time on hesitating, immediately starting to walk into the direction he had just quite clearly pointed in. 

Day 1

The young player stood proudly before the building he had just gained possession over, his eyes eagerly staring through the glass in front of him to admire his own decorations. It still felt rather surreal to him that he actually was the owner of this shop, knowing that it most definitely wouldn't have been possible in real life.

It didn't take all too long for Aris to find himself in the workplace, already getting to work in an attempt to create something nice as his first item. He hoped that beginner's luck would aid him today, considering he still wasn't completely sure whether or not he actually knew what he was doing.

I N F O R M A T I O N

Pricing:

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UNCOMMON: 300 col or 3 mats

RARE: 500 col or 5 mats

PERFECT: 850 col or 6 mats

Orders:

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Name:
Profession: Artisan
Rank: 1
ID:  leave blank
Roll: leave blank
Item Type:
Tier: T1
Quality:
Enhancements: List can be found here
Description:

Stock:

The cobblestone paths had something special to them when looked at from afar, but when only a few centimetres away from them, they didn't. Still slightly disoriented and surprised by the sudden fall, Aris slowly tried to push himself up utilizing both of his hands that were now stained with dirt, little stones sticking to them. Besides having a good visual perception of stones at the moment, he also was blessed with an auditorial one in the shape of the woman's voice. Stone cold as it had formerly been, the player's voice managed to make Aris feel pretty bad about himself. Before he managed to think of a proper reaction, another set of words was handed to him. Aris wasn't completely certain how telling someone to stop being clumsy was purposeful, but perhaps the new acquaintance had some sort of magical ability to take away all his clumsiness by mentioning it. A sheepish smile remained awkwardly on his face as he spoke up, also pushing himself up slightly to get into a position with his knees on the ground instead of his entire body. "That's easier said than done." He replied, looking at the odd individual as he revealed his thoughts. 

Slowly but surely Aris made his way back up again, putting a bit of time in brushing off the dirt on his trousers and hands. Hearing the female speak up again, Aris aimed his eyes back at her to show he was listening. Her reaction resembled her former ones, cold, direct and not all too positive. She did make it pretty clear that she wasn't familiar with the floor, once again making sure that Aris understood he had probably asked the wrong person for help. Still, he wouldn't admit defeat by trying again with another person, stubbornly deciding to keep going. Upon being asked what he wanted, Aris's mind quickly searched for a good answer. He wanted several things, specifically answers to questions regarding other floors and possible nice locations. Besides that, Aris was also searching for friends or just people that could aid him on his trip through Aincrad. Being alone wasn't exactly his talent, so he needed to make as many positive relationships as he could. To possibly achieve both, Aris's minor intelligence managed to bring up a good reply. "Well I'm pretty lonely, so I was wondering if you'd like to get something to eat together?" He once again spoke in a friendly manner, hoping that the girl would fall right into his not-so-evil masterplan.

Rank 3 - Experienced Artisan - T1 Equipment

"Welcome, how may I help you?"

A friendly, youthful voice calls out to you almost immediately as you enter the shop,

your entrance releasing a variety of ringing noises coming from several tiny bells.

The 16 year-old-owner would be working at the back of the shop,

swiftly yet carefully dropping his current work to appear standing behind the counter.

Appearance

Having expected at least some sort of reaction caused the less expressive face of the newly met player to catch him by surprise. Aris couldn't really tell what was going through the girl's head right now, but he just hoped she wasn't annoyed. The younger boy would still stubbornly keep a smile on his face, not really responding to the lack of emotion that he could perceive. 

Her reaction was simple, quite clearly showing that she wasn't the one to ask for directions. At least, that's what he thought. Aris wasn't really sure what to think about the other blue-eyed individual, but this was most definitely the best first impression to ever exist. The brunette's tone of voice, which was lacking sentiment much like her body language, did cause for slight discomfort to arise due to him not really thinking she was all too happy with him reaching out to her. "Oh, sorry," he replied, a sheepish laugh being released as a response in combination with an awkward scratch aimed at the back of his head. His apology was not really fitting for the situation, but the other player mentioned to give off the idea that Aris wasn't really welcome. Perhaps it was all in his head, or maybe it wasn't. 

A few seconds passed without much of a reaction of either player. Aris just maintained a diffident laugh, not adding much else to the conversation (if one could even call it that). Eventually, though, a sigh and response shattered the silence, Aris carefully listening to the words that the robotic human being revealed. She was kind enough to share her knowledge about the shops around Urbus, which the blond haired boy appreciated. He still hadn't really gotten the exact directions he was hoping for, but at least he knew that, if he found a shop, he wouldn't have to worry about the quality.  As a response, Aris simply nodded and replied with a quick yet well-meant "Thank you," silence following afterwards once again. Valuing himself as a sociable individual, the younger boy pondered the reason why he wasn't exactly achieving the reactions he had expected. Due to the lack of activity in front of him, Aris's attention was temporarily shifted to the left, where a loud man behind a stand was quite clearly having a discussion with one of his customers. He didn't look away for long, but, when he looked back, Aris saw the girl leave. Considering he still had a couple questions in mind, the oblivious child decided it was perfectly fine for him to ask them despite the girl not seeming to be all that interested. In an attempt to stop her,  Aris swiftly took a couple steps forward, releasing a wobbly "Wait!" without paying much attention to the irregular path beneath him. Little did he know fate had a surprise for him.

Before he knew it, Aris was caught in an involuntary swan-dive right down against the cobblestone. The collision with the hard ground didn't cause pain at all, but instead leaving the boy slightly in shock and releasing a muffled "Oww" as a natural reaction. Once again, he had messed up. 

The familiar noise of bells uncontrollably wiggling around once again announced Aris's return to the shop.  "Welcome!" Desiree, who was currently in the back room probably enjoying the tidy workplace that Aris had cleaned up for her, called out. The woman made her way to the counter fast enough to see Aris walking up to it, now realizing he wasn't a new customer. "Oh, you're back!" she said, still as energetic as before. "It took you a while" was added up to it, almost as if she was purposely trying to annoy Aris. There was not even a slight whim of evil intentions in her tone of voice or body language, but it still came off as taunting. Not wanting to further his spree of annoyance, Aris did his best to contain his temper. His eye did twitch slightly as a natural reaction,  but apart from that nothing really happened. "Yes, yes it did." he replied, a smile tightly forced onto his face while he looked at the NPC. "Did you get the material?" the woman spoke up, a white screen popping up in front of Aris to take his newly found pearl away. With the press of a button, Aris sent the pearl to the NPC, the little white orb almost instantly appearing in her right hand. Taking a good look at it, Desiree nodded her head in approval. "Good, come here and we'll get started!" opening the little gate beside the counter, Desiree moved further into the workplace, Aris quickly following behind her.

"So if you do this..." the woman mumbled, her hand carefully moving forward to attach the pearl to a beautiful silver lining. Aris carefully watched the NPC as she turned a simple pearl into a pretty charm. It was quite fascinating and most definitely educative to see the precise movements necessary to do so, showing how much Desiree cared about detail. Every little shift caused the charm to look even more appealing, becoming seemingly more expensive with every touch added to it. The now slightly more likeable NPC explained every part of the crafting process clearly to the novice, who constantly nodded his head to show he understood what she was talking about. 

For the first time today it felt like time was flying by. It was genuinely interesting and fun to see an participate in such an activity, causing Aris to already look forward to doing it on his own.

Once the two finished making a surprisingly good trinket, it was time for Aris to go home. Getting up from the chair he was sitting on, Aris offered a kind smile to the NPC, who returned one to him. "Thank you for teaching me." he said, quickly receiving a reply. "Not a problem, I wish you the best of luck with your own shop!" Desiree mentioned, bringing up their former discussion during the crafting. Aris had told her he wanted to set up a shop for himself, an idea of which she was apparently quite supportive. Slowly but surely, Aris started making his way to the door.

However, soon after Desiree finished her sentence, another unknown screen appeared in front of Aris. "QUEST COMPLETE" it read, showing the rewards underneath to make Aris even happier than he already was. As the happy expression on his face grew brighter, Aris looked back to the NPC. "It was nice meeting you." his words were genuine, nothing like the rude tone he originally entered the shop with. "Likewise." she replied after letting out a giggle. Aris nodded, lifting his left hand up and making a swift waving gesture as he opened the door to exit the shop. Speaking up one last time to say "Bye!", Aris stepped out of the shop, closing the door behind him. And with that, his first quest was finished.

The medieval architecture, the busy cobblestone roads and the mountainous environment, it was all rather new to the mace-wielding noob. Aris felt like a kid in a candy shop, eagerly looking around at all the possibilities, all the expensive items (at least to him). The young boy moved through the marketplace at a ridiculously slow pace, taking an extensive look at everything he could perhaps add to his inventory. Right now, he wasn't really looking for much, despite most definitely being in need of some better equipment. While other players were fighting bosses with the best equipment possibly accessible, he was still happily hopping around in his starter's kit, holding a mace that seemed like it couldn't even harm an opponent. The reason why he was on floor 2 was simple, to explore and look around to see if the floor was interesting enough to put a shop on. He wanted his little business to be in a place he could enjoy, while also actually getting some customers. Having a shop in a less populated place seemed like nothing but a bad idea to him, hence why he wanted to check as many floors as he could to find the most visited areas. Aris decided to start in Urbus, the main settlement of the second floor. So far, he really liked the area despite feeling a tad bit overwhelmed in terms of finding directions. He had no clue where to go, which became a moderate issue once he felt the need for the sensation of eating arise. knowing that the chance of getting lost would be large if he went out on his own, Aris made use of one of his unique talents. Asking for help.

Little hesitation surrounded Aris while he caught sight of a real player. He went to the first real person he spotted, his victim being a brown haired female of which he was too far away from to make assumptions about her age. Seeing as the individual was not facing his way, Aris carefully tapped her shoulder once getting in range of her, a smile on his face while he waited for her to turn around. If she would, Aris would speak up. "Excuse me, but would you perhaps know a good place to eat at?" he would say, his tone of voice being nothing but friendly and sincere. He was, luckily, in a good mood.

Another rock was thrown into the lake, another rock was kicked furiously, and yet another rock was subject to Aris's anger by being fired off as a baseball, his mace being the bat. Those pebbles were currently the only way he could really vent his anger, hence his idiotic actions. "WHeRe Is It!" he called out, dislocating another rock with a reckless fling of his right leg. And that's when it happened.

Divine intervention!

It felt as if some otherworldly god had responded to his prayers shaped as aggressive shouts, awarding him for his heroic and patient search for such a valuable item. Apparently, they were so mesmerised by his elegant presence that they decided to put the pearl right underneath the rock he just kicked away, the shining surface reflecting the sun perfectly to cause the boy to see it. The frustrated look on his face sank away as fast as the rocks he had thrown in the lake,  making room for a genuine smile to appear.  Slowly, Aris kneeled down to carefully grab the pearl, his eyes permanently stuck to the shiny white object. He held it reasonably close to his face so he could thoroughly inspect the item while he turned it around with his fingers, speaking up once again as if he was talking to the inanimate thing. "If only I could throw you into the lake as well, you piece of ...." his hand was turned into a fist almost immediately, his other hand, which he was holding the mace with, awkwardly being used to send the pearl directly into his inventory to make sure he wouldn't lose it. Relaxing his left hand once again, Aris closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You're finished." he mumbled to himself, his eyes opening after he had said the two calming words. Letting out a sigh of relief, Aris started moving back towards the town of beginnings, no longer caring about the beautiful grasslands and cute baby boars. All he wanted was to get this quest over with. Hopefully, the rest would be enjoyable.

"AAAAH" 

A loud shout temporarily made its way through the formerly peaceful area, announcing Aris's  breaking point loud and clear. 2 hours had passed by now, and the poor boy was on the verge of completely going mental. Why, why was it so darn hard in this world to find one single thing. "It must be rigged, it must be!" Conspiracy theories of this entire place being rigged soon started becoming quite convincing and accessible within Aris's boiling head. To release some more anger (or perhaps make it worse), Aris grabbed a stone with his spare hand and threw it into the lake, the small stone making several small hops before sinking down to the bottom where it belonged. Aris had temporarily forgotten about the fact that there was a mob not all that far away from him, but it was luckily not really phased by the sudden shout. Not like Aris really cared much right now though, considering he was far too busy with being angry at.. everything. For such a seemingly innocent boy, Aris did care a lot of anger within him.

Another 10 minutes of pure torture flew by while Aris was still not-so-happily dancing around the lake. For some reason, he was so certain that idiotic pearl was hidden here, but there was nothing, nothing to be found.  Why did he even have to search for such a small thing, couldn't they have just made a sculpture from one of the pebbles, or perhaps used a piece of bark to make something moderately good-looking? Desiree probably just wanted him to search for such a rare thing so she could secretly sell it or something, and that wouldn't surprise Aris. He had pretty much completely demonized the NPC in his head, almost imagining a pair of horns on her head. Deep down he knew it wasn't her fault, but it was just too easy to blame her for it. By now the motivation granted by thinking about his future shop didn't suffice, annoyance heavily influencing Aris's manners. His body was still searching, but his mind was elsewhere.

Day 98503120, still no materials were found. It felt like an eternity had passed already since he left the safe-zone, revealing that Aris's patience had dwindled down to almost non-existence. He would've still been keen on exploring the area and searching around as a side-job, but right now he was just constantly looking at rocks that did nothing but look annoying to him. Aris was pretty certain that, if rocks could laugh and actually were living beings, they would be laughing hysterically now while the aggressive teen charged past the lake in search of one simple material. It was beyond him whether he was actually doing something wrong, and it thoroughly annoyed him to know it wasn't working out as well as he had expected it to. His positivity was drained away slightly every step he took, Aris now becoming slightly more vocal. "Stupid ####### pearl" he muttered, kicking another rock.

Nothing once again. Releasing a groan, Aris got up and released his frustration by kicking several pebbles forward. Why couldn't he just be lucky like he usually was? Having lost his interest and hope for the newfound 'promising' land, Aris decided to walk further. He was pretty much walking in a circle right now, reaching his original starting point eventually which most definitely wasn't good news. Had he perhaps misunderstood the directions, or were all the materials looted by other players before he even reached the lake? Aris could make up all kinds of reasons as to why that stupid object was nowhere to be found, but it wouldn't somehow distort reality and make it appear. All he could do right now was follow after his own steps, hoping that he had looked over the little thing by accident. It would've been very useful if he could find the quest item soon because Aris felt his temper slowly rise. He didn't really enjoy feeling extremely annoyed, so avoiding would be appreciated.

It didn't take very long for Aris to realize there was literally nothing different to the other side of the lake. He walked around, his eyes constantly aimed at the ground while he occasionally kneeled down to dig at some promising areas. Aris found literally nothing, nada, zero. It almost felt like he had been sent into the wrong direction by the lovely NPC which, frankly, wouldn't actually surprise him considering how messy Desiree had proven to be. He didn't exactly trust Desiree, or the quest, or anything else that wasn't 'human' and alive in SAO, and that, for something whose trust is easily gained,  was pretty unusual.

Getting nice and close to the ground once again, Aris used his killing tool to push aside some of the pebbles after thinking he saw something shine within the mess of rocks. Not finding anything, Aris kept going for quite a while due to being too stubborn for his own good. 

The way to the other side of the lake wasn't particularly special. Nothing much changed in terms of surroundings (nor did he find anything), though the sighting of some sort of weird insect did cause him to be a bit more careful on his way there. He paid close attention to the creature while he glared at it, moving at a slightly faster pace in the hopes to get past it swiftly. Luckily, the creature didn't seem to have noticed him, or it was just not interested in him. Maybe it was just not interested in fighting, much like Aris, but he doubted that was actually possible for such a creature. He didn't really believe all the stories his acquaintances had told him anymore, but Aris was pretty sure that monsters only existed to make the life of players harder. At least, that's what his experience in MMORPGs taught him.  He still had vivid memories of the games he played before SAO happened, preferring them over this prison. Aris wished he would've had the magic and acrobatic skills his characters had in other worlds, but sadly that would only remain to be a fragment of his imagination. All he had here was an iron object of which he had no clue how to use properly.