Chapter 154: Upgraded Cellar

[Cellar Upgrade Condition met!]

[/] Store ten (25) different types of edibles at one time

[/] Store three (5) types of inn-processed food in the storage

[Would you like to upgrade for 2000 Hearth Points?]

His eyebrows rose.

Was it foolish to drain his points on this? Maybe. But who cared? This upgrade meant he could have his wine and sauces way earlier!

[Yes]

[Cellar has successfully been upgraded! -2000 Hearth Points!]

[Status]

Name: Finnick Altheus Solthar

Race: Human

Class: Innkeeper, Chef

Level: Awakened Tier 2

Awakening Type: Physical

Affinity: Fire, Earth, Wind

…

VITALS

HP: 400/400

Mana: 400/400

Stamina: 400/400

Wallet: 161 Gold

Hearth Points: 3069 Points

…

Skills:

Active: [Ingredient Scan] [Dish Analysis][Heated Arc] [Farming] [Assessment] [Feather Step] [Sticky Soil]

Passive: [Blade Proficiency – Growth Type (Lv 2)]

[Foraging] [Monster Instinct]

[Strong Stomach] [Improved Palate] [Fire Resistance]

Condition: Normal]

Speaking of this, he had been selling food the past few days, selling up to a maximum of three copies per food.

So far, he had eight D-class essence food and one C-Class one, and he was usually able to produce the maximum for about half of that. (He didn’t want to spend the whole day just cooking, of course, he also had a lot of other things to do).

Anyway, he looked at the [Room] tab and checked the Cellar status. He saw the upgrades, all of which made him excited.

[Upgrades Available]

[Expand Area]

Information: Expand the size of the cellar to 3m x 3m

Cost: 100 Gold, 500 Hearth Points

[Extended Life]

Information: Extend shelf life of all items within the cellar walls by 50%. Has a compounding effect with other bonuses.

Cost: 1000 Hearth Points

[Ice Step]

Information: Creates a 300mm x 300mm corner in the cellar with the lowest temperature -18 degrees celcius. Temperature changes according to height, with the highest cube at 3 degrees celsius.

Cost: 1000 Hearth Points

[Quickcell Hex]

Information: Allows the assignment of a 1 meter by 1 meter area wherein microbial activity is accelerated.

Cost: 1000 Hearth Points

“Pang, does this world use the same units of measurement?” he asked. It seems like there was an autotranslation in his head, even in terms of measurements, so he was curious.

“Of course not. The system presents data to Innkeepers in ways they understand.”

“Even the interface is different according to the person.”

“How… considerate.”

Pang actually looked proud at this. “Of course!”

Finn shook his head with a smile, immediately studying the new upgrades. First was the size. The cellar was built under the shell, so he would not have to adjust anything yet. For now, it was still big enough.

As for the rest, they only required Hearth Points, so he didn’t have to think too much! Buy, buy, BUY!

[Purchased! Extended Life. -1000 Hearth Points]

With this, he had an additional 50% preservation effect on whatever was inside the cellar, no matter how much it expanded.

One had to know that Everfresh Ward was applicable to anything within the Inn’s one thousand square meter area. If he bought that, adding another percentage to what the cellar gave, then he could practically make anything within the cellar last forever!

Finn was quite giddy, buying this and that.

[Purchased! Ice Step. -1000 Hearth Points]

A refrigerator a foot wide and a foot deep. Not big at all, but because it applied vertically, he could just think of it as a narrow but tall refrigerator. What was also interesting was that at certain heights, the temperature was different, with the freezing temp at the bottom, and the cool temp at the top.

And finally, what excited him the most—

[Purchased! Quickhex Cell. -1000 Hearth Points]

Why would this be good?

This meant they could create wines, pickles, and other things—fast! Would his inn actually have a tavern?! No matter where the alcohol was, even if it was in the middle of nowhere, as long as there was no immediate danger, men would be willing to spend on alcohol!

It wasn’t because he was an alcoholic or anything—

Finn felt very productive today.

That said, he also noted how the upgrades were much more expensive than the initial manifestations. He could assume things would not get cheaper moving forward.

Durgan stretched as he finished placing everything in the cellar, when he turned around and saw his boss’s creepy grin.

Did anything good happen while he was looking away?

…

When Durgan found out about the new feature, he almost squealed.

It was said that dwarves were major lovers of alcohol (regardless of whether they could make it) and they were the heavyweights of drinking, even more than beastkin, so he could tell that had truth in it.

Without another word, the dwarf ran outside with a large basket on his back, returning about an hour later with a full load of fruits!

Fortunately, the goblins were getting better and faster at creating pottery. From crude to normal quality ones were a few tries away.

They also decided to create wooden barrels for more containers. Now that the road-building was done, Tumble could resume his carpentry work.

Wooden barrels were common containers of wine. They could be made completely waterproof or sealed when the wood itself swelled.

Tumble had a skill that could tell which would do best for barrels, and Finn could only say purchasing that advanced Carpentry skill was so worth it.

That said, since the skills only worked within the territory, he was limited to studying the wood within sight while he was inside it. Fortunately, there were a few options, and they cut those trees almost immediately.

For sustainability, they tried to plant them again. The trees weren’t flowering trees, but they propagated in other ways. One was through cones, while the other had shoots growing from its roots. It was quite interesting.

While Tumble was making the wooden barrels, Durgan and Finn went to mass-create their wines.

Before, because it would take a while, he didn’t want to spend much time making it. He just assumed the alcohol would be limited to personal use. Besides, since it took so long to make, it just felt a bit cumbersome to do when he was so busy. In fact, the current batch was done only when he was bored and didn’t want to do his usual routine.

Now that they could hasten the process—the more they could make, the merrier!

The two worked together to crush the fruits they would be turning into wine. They used both the sunsweet pear and the grapeheart tree, both of which are accessible from the Inn. The former would create a light, fruity wine, and the latter would make stronger ones.

Gulp

Finn and Durgan wiped the drool on their faces. Thankfully, only Pang was there to witness this stupidity. The goblins were too busy with their own tasks.

They also made more pickles and fermented items. The difference for the latter was that it used natural bacteria and would take a long time to be awesome. Now, there was no problem!

To maximize the upgrade, Tumble also made cabinets, especially where Finn assigned the upgrades. For the Ice Step, they also marked the approximate temperature per level. There were three different temperature levels, maximizing the cellar’s 2-meter height ceilings.

The two looked satisfied as they placed everything in the area, and then at the several wooden kegs on top of each other. Best day ever!

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