Volume 3 - Ch 4.18
Maybe so, but just the fact that you know how to make is is amazing in and out of itself!
Well, if I didnt know how to make it then I guess I would have been plenty impressed as well, but since this is elementary knowledge in modern-day Japan, I guess knowing the process of how to create soap and what ingredients is it made of is not that big of a deal.
Now, I want you to take this here Shell Powder and use it when you will clean next time. If my hunch is correct and this will work exactly as I think it will, then all the dirt you will use it on should be coming right off.
Really? Is it really going to be that good?
Of that I have no doubt.
I didnt know about that. Well, in that case, I will go and test it out immediately. Oh, but how exactly should I use it? Spread it all over the floor and wipe with the dry cloth?
Sorry to break it to you, but you missed with your guess. It is actually pretty simple to use it: just dissolve the powder in warm water and then use a damp washcloth to clean the floors with it.
I see now. I will make sure to follow your instructions carefully, master. Well then, off to the cleaning duty I go.
I handed the extra Shell Powder that I bought to Roxanne and watched her as she left the room, all eager and fired up to try the cleaning method that I just told her about. I still do not know if the Shell Powder really is baking soda and if it can be used for the cleaning purposes, but if that little cleaning experiment fails, I can just buy more Shell Powder and dimply start from scratch one more time.
Now that I know that the Shell Powder is essentially this worlds baking soda, maybe I will give trying out its various uses a go? For example, during the ski training camp in junior high we went to Nagano, a prefecture that is famous for its hot springs, and I distinctly remember that one type of the springs at the resort we were staying in had something called baking soda spring, and I remember that at first I was weirdly cautious of it because, you know, who in their right mind would go adding a freaking baking soda into a bath, but after I gave it a try I was very pleased with it, so I think it might be worth my while to actually give a baking soda bath a try. Also, I feel like I should mention that the main activity at the skiing camp was skiing alone, so that was one of the few occasions where I can say that I genuinely had fun doing something simply because for once in my lifetime I was not forced to join any kind of group.
Okay, the soap looks like it should be done any minute now, and once it will be completed, I will no longer have to feel uncomfortable after taking a bath due to not being able to clean myself up properly. But then
Uhm in the off chance that I will run out of it, how do I replenish it? Will it be enough to add the Shell Powder to the dump cloth on onto the cleaned surface itself?
At first Roxanne was jumping with joy with her eyes all sparkly, but she soon returned to the kitchen with a perplexed look on her face as she asked me how to use the cleaning Shell Powder properly. Makes sense since what I handed off to her was a ready mixture of the Shell Powder that has already been dissolved in the water, so of course she would have no clue on how to do it herself.
No. You will have to do what I did just now. If you run out of the water mixed with Shell Powder, just replenish the water and dissolve more powder in it. In order to achieve the best possible effect the water has to be warm, so if you will need it, be sure to come and tell me and I will boil some of it for you.
Okay. Well then, off I go. This time for real.
Sure, take your time.
For me it is basic knowledge that I dont even have to think about too much, but I am still forgetting that my viewpoint is biased as hell since I am not of this world. But now that I have shown Roxanne how to properly clean using Shell Powder, I have every reason to believe that she is going to put all that I have shown her into practice and it will become second nature to her in no time.
Master, this is so amazing!
Eventually, Roxanne came running back with her eyes shining like a pair of stars. It seems like the cleaning with Shell Powder went well.
Finally, the time has come to remove the pot from the heat. Judging by how it all looked, I guess it was a success, but I ill not know for sure until it all dries up. And that is going to take roughly an entire day. A little long, but it is not like I need it right this instant, and since we have plenty of things we can do to kill time, the actual wait should not be all that long. I moved the pot with the soap into a shaded corner of the kitchen where the sun would not reach it and left it there.
After that, we went and entered Veil Labyrinths seventh floor and continued our daily exploration routine.
(Okay, set the usual Jobs I usually use for exploring Job Settings huh?)
When I performed a Character Reset so that I could equip myself with Durandal, I noticed that I have apparently unlocked yet another Job:
Alchemist Lv.1
Effects: Increase INT (small), Increase DEX (tiny)
Skill: Plating
A Job of an Alchemist, huh? But when exactly did I get that. . . oh, wait, could it be that. . . Alchemist. . . alchemy. . . chemistry. . . yeah, I must have unlocked that Job when I made soap. After all, my attempt ad making it was basically a chemical experiment, not a cooking one, so I guess that would make sense. The condition for unlocking it must have probably been something along the lines of triggering a chemical reaction or something like that. However, the real question now is what I should do with this Job.
When it comes to the monsters on the seventh floor of the Labyrinth, I cannot defeat them with one normal strike with Durandal; I need two normal strikes in order to take them out. However, based on some experimental trial and error I made during our previous explorations, I noticed that I can actually kill the monsters with one strike, but it needs to be the one combined with Warrior Jobs Skill, Rush. If I try anything other than that then it wont work, and I will have to use more than one strike.
But, here is the thing: my usual combination of Jobs is Explorer, Hero, Mage and Monk, and with my current go-to setup of Bonus Skills I dont have enough Bonus Points left to add Warrior as a Fifth Job, and I definitely cannot throw any of the other currently assigned Jobs out because they all have Skills that I am using pretty much all the time. I absolutely need to have Explorer around so that I can continue to use its Item Box, Hero Acts as my main source of increases to all of the stats and its Overwhelming Skill is useful whenever I have to gain the upper hand over an enemy by having them move I slow motion/moving so fast that it seems like everyone and everything else around me moves in slow motion, Mage gives me access to the Beginner Magic of every element, and Monk is my source of healing whenever I am not using Durandal as my main weapon and therefore cannot capitalize on its HP and MP recovery Skills.
If I opted for a less magical and more physical build without using as much magic then maybe I could remove Monk and only use Durandal for healing, but if I do that then I am going to lose the additional MP granted to me by the effects of one of Monk Jobs unique effects: Increase MP (tiny), and in my opinion its always good to have more MP on hand because more MP means more uses of offensive Skills and less chance that I am going to run out of it and end up all depressed.