novelraw Chapter 193
Chapter 193
Facing Robin’s teasing, Leon scratched his nose awkwardly. “Forget it, I was just asking casually.”
“So you brought all two hundred pieces of lumber?” Robin confirmed.
“Yeah.” Leon nodded.
“My goodness, what a convenient ability. If I had that, I wouldn’t need to drive every time I go out for construction or renovation work. And for big projects, I can’t even transport all the materials in one trip.” Robin sighed with envy.
“You don’t seem surprised about the existence of special abilities.” Leon looked at Robin curiously. “Mind telling me why?”
“Because this is Stardew Valley. Young folks might not understand, but us older folks have seen all kinds of things.” Robin smiled as she explained. “And you’re not the only one with a special ability—I have one too. Otherwise, why do you think I’m the only carpenter in all of Pelican Town?”
“Does Demetrius know?” Leon asked, intrigued. He couldn’t help but wonder if Robin’s second husband, the science-obsessed man, knew his wife had a hidden talent.
“He never pays attention to my work. His head’s always buried in research.” Robin shrugged. “Besides, I wouldn’t want him to know. Otherwise, he’d try to make me his research subject. I’m not interested in that kind of… unique marital pastime.”
“Tsk tsk tsk.” Leon clicked his tongue regretfully. “So your ability must be related to construction, right? Is it the effect of a Starfruit?”
“It’s inherited, but it does have some connection to the Starfruit. My great-grandfather ate one, and while us descendants didn’t, since we’re direct bloodline, there’s a chance to inherit the talent. I’m just one of the lucky ones.” Robin explained.“Oh? I didn’t know that. That’s eye-opening.”
Leon thought about it for a moment and found the explanation surprisingly reasonable.
The abilities granted by the Starfruit seemed to work like a genetic mutation. Since genes are inheritable, it was entirely possible for the modified gene to be passed down, allowing descendants to acquire the same power.
From what Rasmodius and Linus had told him, Leon had already suspected this. Robin’s account now gave him a concrete example to back up his theory.
Another odd piece of knowledge added to the pile.
“All right, I’m just a carpenter. For the technical details, go ask a professional. Right now, I’m only concerned about my lumber.” Seeing Leon deep in thought, Robin patted his shoulder impatiently.
“Oh, sorry. But are you just going to leave the lumber at your front door?” Leon asked.
“Oh, right, it should go in the backyard.” Robin realized, chuckled awkwardly, and led Leon to an empty spot under a tent behind her house. She pointed. “Put it here.”
Without hesitation, Leon unloaded the lumber from his System Backpack. As soon as it left the inventory, the neatly prepared wood stacked itself into a perfect rectangular block in the designated spot.
Twenty pieces per layer, ten layers high, with a noticeable gap in the top layer.
“You really wouldn’t bring even one extra piece, huh?” Robin put the display piece she’d been holding onto the pile, completing the stack, and gave Leon a mock glare.
“Aren’t you worried about returns if there’s defective material?”
“I wouldn’t try to pass off bad lumber to you,” Leon reassured, holding out his hand. “Payment, my dear customer.”
“All right, all right. Two hundred pieces of lumber. Since this was a rush order, I’ll buy them at a higher-than-market rate—6 gold each. That’s 1,200 gold total.” Robin counted the pieces, checked a few for quality, and quickly named her price.
“What do you normally pay for lumber?” Leon asked.
“Raw logs are 3.5 gold per piece. Processed lumber—like your standard-size pieces—cost a bit more, 4 gold each.” Robin explained.
“And at 6 gold, you’re still making a profit?” Leon raised an eyebrow.
“Trade secret. But I’ll tell you this—I’m definitely making a profit.” Robin said mysteriously. “Otherwise, who’d be willing to do such hard manual labor?”
“Uh… so if I come to you for farm building projects in the future, you’re not going to rip me off, are you?” Leon asked cautiously.
“Of course not. You’re one of us. I’ll only charge for labor. But you’ll have to provide your own materials.” Robin assured him.
“What if I want to build a coop?” Leon asked. Since he was here, he figured he might as well check the price.
“A coop? That’ll be 2,000 gold labor, plus 150 wood and 50 stone. Once the materials are ready, I can have a basic coop done in two days.” Robin replied promptly.
Leon was pleased. The cost was about half of what he remembered, and the capacity was larger. He immediately followed up.
“How many chickens can it hold?”
“This is a basic coop, so it can only hold eight poultry. But it’s not just for chickens—once you buy an upgrade from me, I can expand it into a Big Coop, doubling space and capacity. I’ll also install an incubator so you can hatch your own, and I can add a duck pen so you can keep ducks. Upgrade it again to a Deluxe Coop, and I’ll throw in an automatic feeder and even give you the option to raise cute rabbits.”
Robin pitched her services enthusiastically, then added, “Of course, upgrades cost extra, and you’ll need more materials. And since upgraded coops take up more space, you’ll need to plan your layout before we start.”
“Mm.” Leon nodded, mulling over the idea of raising livestock.
For now, he wasn’t interested in upgrading the coop. Building costs aside, he didn’t need ducks or rabbits yet. Better to start with a few chickens and see how much work and profit livestock raising involved before committing.
If it turned out to be too much hassle, he might drop the idea entirely. As for the animal products needed for the old Community Center bundles, he could just buy them elsewhere.
After all, farming had the System Tools to make things easy, but livestock was different. Without system assistance, he’d have to do everything himself—cleaning manure, feeding every day, and so on.
With no experience at all, he worried he might kill the animals before seeing any returns. Then he’d be losing not only money but goodwill.
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