During his sleepless night, Axel tested everything he could do with his inventory. That included figuring out that even without Navi's help, he could deposit and withdraw items freely from it.
But more than that, there was one thing he noticed. Items stored in the inventory... changed ever so slightly during storage and upon withdrawal.
For example, he tried storing a burning wood piece in it. What do you think happened next? Withdrawing the item... turned it into a regular stick. Right, it was no longer a "burning stick" but just a stick!
After playing around with it, he figured out the advantages and disadvantages of it. And it was one he could apply to his little soap-making, too.
First of all, he sprinkled "rock salt" over the mixture as it was settling in the wooden mold, like a finishing touch. Not to adjust flavor or anything, but rather, a little ingredient to help harden the soap into a more solid form.
Next, he did the most important part...
"Stashing it into inventory!"
As he did, the entire panel of wooden mold, along with the soap that was dripping down from it, disappeared in a flash. Axel quickly checked his inventory, and just as he predicted, the item was now listed as "primitive soap" instead of "runny, semi-liquid soap."
"Withdraw!"
And without wasting a beat, he took out the same item immediately. The moment he did, his lips curled into a thin smile. "It worked!" he shouted, seeing the now-dried soap.
Not only that, he even tried poking at it and confirmed it was solid enough. A bit springy to the touch, rubbery, but solid enough to maintain a "bar" shape properly!
Seeing that it was a success, Axel removed the hardened soap and left only the mold behind, storing the finished product in his inventory again. He continued pouring his mixture into the mold, dabbing a bit of salt over the entire length, repeating the exact steps from before.
After repeating the process several times, Axel sighed as the last of the mixture ran out.
In the end, he only made ten bars of primitive soap.
Since it was "soap" even when stored in his inventory, that meant his little chemistry experiment was a success, at least. But the problem now was that...
"I can't recoup my investment with just 10 bars of it."
He carefully shook his head. After checking the shop, he could sell his soap for 200 Colts each. That meant he'd get 2,000 Colts after selling everything. That was far from his 10k investment at the start... but thinking carefully, not all his investments went to the materials.
For example, of the 10k, 9k actually went to the pot and the ladle. In short, he spent 1k for the materials he used, which he hadn't used up entirely either.
"Given the remaining quantities... I can make about 100 bars more before I run out of ashes and oil." He nodded to himself, satisfied.
This meant he could potentially get 20,000 Colts from his investments!
Removing the equipment fees, he'd basically turned about 10x profit! After all, the pot wasn't a consumable!
But of course, patience was necessary. Although he could shorten the curing time with his inventory, he still couldn't completely cut the process down using the system. Thus, he still needed to manufacture the remaining 90 bars of soap by hand.
"Alright! Time to get to work!"
But of course, that much wouldn't even count as hard work for him.
Spending the entire morning, he completed the remaining 90 bars and sold all of them but two.
Not only that, but Arianne and the others gathered a lot of random items, including sticks and ragged clothes they picked off the ground.
With this influx of materials, he made an extra 50 Voodoo Dolls right after.
Adding all his earnings for half a day, his balance rose from zero to almost 100,000 quickly.
"This much should be enough."
Axel nodded.
With that, he was already satisfied with his "earnings" for the day.
Up next, he manufactured wooden bowls and spoons using the crafting panel, for which he got the "recipes" from pestering Navi.
Then, using the same pot he used in soap making, he began to cook their lunch.
One might think it was unsanitary, but actually, placing the item once inside his inventory and then withdrawing it was enough to clear out any "impurities" sticking to the pot's insides. Axel even hypothesized that if he placed moldy bread inside, it would remove the mold instantly!
'Truly a convenient function,' he thought. 'With my inventory, we don't even need to waste water for washing dishes.'
For their lunch, what Axel made was... gruel. Of course, he didn't have grains to use; rather, he simply used what they already had on hand—bread.
Over the pot half-filled with water, he pinched the bread into little crumbs and mixed it into the pot. Under the campfire's heat, the bread began to "dissolve" and mix into the water, creating a thick consistency... more like soup.
As a finishing touch, he added a bit of salt to taste. And with just that, a simple but filling meal was made.
"Dig in. Don't be shy."
Hungry eyes were already honed in on the food he was making long before it was done, so as soon as he finished, he urged the girls over.
Using the ladle, he transferred a good amount of it to their wooden bowls. Warm, steamy, and filling.
"This is... a soup?"
"Hmm...! It tastes like bread, but watery! This is good!"
"Sir Axel, you should've called us to cook instead... But can you teach us this recipe of yours? What is it called?"
The girls reacted in their own unique ways.
Only the two maids looked more interested in the recipe than the finished product itself. 'Do they not know what a gruel is?' Axel thought, but didn't hold back, and recounted the recipe he had just done for them.
If he could get his hands off cooking, then that'd be for the best. Assigning work to others that could do it just fine was definitely the right way to go about coexistence, after all.
During the meal, smiles returned to their faces.
Although they still showed signs of fatigue, it was pretty obvious that they were already feeling a bit better compared to when they had just met at dawn. After they were done eating, they even chatted with each other as they let their bodies rest. Introducing themselves to each other and such.
Then, in the afternoon, the same work continued.
The three girls who finished setting up the two new tents helped out with crafting the new barricades instead. As for the other two, they continued gathering more loot from a bit farther away.
Everyone worked without complaint. After all, what they were doing directly correlated to their survival.
And this cordial work schedule continued until the sun began to sink.