“Can we take a break yet?” I gasped as we trudged steadily through the tall grass. It didn’t take long for there to be a noticeable gradient upward, and I was quickly out of breath.

“A break? We’ve barely started! We should go at least another half an hour before we rest. Or need I remind you that we are on a time crunch?”

“And need I remind you that I’m carrying about a metric ton of crap!?” The pack they had loaded me with seemed to weight at least 100 pounds, and the straps were digging into my shoulders something fierce.

“We need that equipment if we’re going to be out in the wilds for any length of time.” Falco was leading us, obviously, with the other two ranging to the sides, and me in the middle.

“’Sides, cloudtop, you’re such a big strong lad, we were sure you could handle the gear, since we’re doing all the hard work of keeping your sorry level zero hide alive.” Waylin chimed in at this point.

“C’mon, Derrit. He’s the man with the information, and yeah, he’s level zero. Meaning we need to keep him safe-” His eyes slid over to me briefly. “-at least, as long as we need him. Who knows what may happen once we get what we need, eh? After all, if we wear ourselves out on the way back, we may not be able to watch his sorry behind on the way home, eh?”

“Would the both of you quit your jawing? We’re getting close to the edge of the tree line. Where we will rest for a moment while we orient, and get a decent lay of the land. And while we’re waiting, we can see about getting some training for Archon here, so he can pull his own weight.”

“..already pulling enough weight for all of us...” I grumbled under my breath.

After about another ten minutes of walking, I spotted the distant trees, and another hour or so after that, we reached the edge. Right as I stepped beneath the shade of the trees, I got a new notification, this time in bright red letters.

Alert! You are entering an area far above your current level (0). The area, “Twin Mountain Foothills” is rated at level 10-20. Be aware that being killed in a high-level area does not inflict the normal death penalties but does inflict an increased loss of xp. Know your limits!.

“Ten to twenty?! That’s not too bad, is it?”

“It’s quite high enough. The three of us will almost surely face powerful foes, and they will be even more dangerous with you along. Your low level will scream out that we are vulnerable, and that will draw more attention. We need to move quietly, and swiftly. But even more, we need to get you some rudimentary skills to help you keep up. So, what is your build geared toward? Based on your armor, I’m assuming you plan on being a warrior?”

“Well, I’m not really sure. I don’t know what my class trainer is, or what I’m supposed to be learning. I don’t really know anything yet. I do have a few skills.”

“What skills are those?”

“Umm...” I opened my character sheet. “I have Short Blades, Heavy Armor, and Summoning at level 1.”

There was silence. Falco gave a heavy sigh.

“Very well, lets get started.”

And then he stabbed me.

***

Four hours later, as the sun was halfway down the sky, I flopped to the ground panting, as yet another ping flowed into my notifications. I held a hand up to Waylin before he could stab me yet again.

“Okay, that’s it. I’m done.”

“So soon? Does your mama want you home for supper?”

“I need to check my notifications. Give me a few minutes to regen while I do.”

“Alright cloudtop. You catch your breath, I’ll be over here being a man.”

I snorted and leaned up against a tree while I opened my menu. I immediately filtered out all of the damage notifications. There were a lot. Next, I filtered for most recent. This is what I ended up with.

You are Thirsty! -5% health and mana regen

You are Hungry! -5% health and mana regen

Due to hours of training, you have increased your Strength!

Due to hours of training, you have increased your Dexterity!

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Due to hours of training, you have increased your Constitution!

You have gained a level in Staves! Level 9

You have gained a level in Unarmored! Level 9

You have gained a level in Small Blades! Level 8

You have gained a level in Long Blades! Level 6

You have gained a level in Heavy Armor! Level 5

Staves was the latest skill to go up, and it was the one I had been training the least. But it was going up much faster than the others. I guess it was just easier for me to pick up. Especially once I had switched out of my Heavy Armor. It was easier to balance, and I was faster with the double-ended weapon than with the blades. The debuffs were a nuisance, but hopefully we were actually getting close to done for the day. Derrit had set up a small fire pit and was doing something with herbs and a pot over the fire. I hoped for stew. Not that the smell was at all appetizing.

“Oh yeah! I got a bump in Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution!”

“Well then, if you’re all done playing with your status, we can get camp set up for the night.”

“Why stop now? I’m seeing some good gains here. Almost ten in Staves and Unarmored.”

“If your stats went up from training, we should stop, because you might get some more skill gains, but your stats can only go up from training once per day. So better to save it for tomorrow. We still got daylight, so we can get camp set up without stumbling around in the dark.”

And so we set up camp. I had never done much camping, and what became abundantly clear was that watching videos of people camping did not teach you how to do it. I fumbled with the tents, then with the sleeping rolls, and finally Waylin shoved me over toward the fire.

“Forget it, just get dinner started. Falco will return from scouting soon, and he’ll want to eat.”

“Started? What has Derrit been doing this whole time?”

“You are getting on my last nerve bud. Derrit is a trained Alchemist. He’s been brewing the potions that are going to keep your sorry skin alive.”

“Okay, sorry. What supplies have we got for dinner?”

“Check the packs.”

And so I checked the packs. Like most practical skills, I had never practiced cooking. Thankfully, there are very few ways one can mess up soup. I looked over the available ingredients.

Salt

Increases savory, Decreases bitter, Compliments sweet

Sage Moss

Increases bitter, Decreases sweet, Compliments spicy

Rophus

Increases spicy, Decreases sour, Compliments savory

Blue Mint

Increases sweet, Decreases spicy, Compliments sour

Nacitre

Increases sour, Decreases savory, Compliments bitter

Monarch Lizard Meat

Increases protein, Decreases vitamins, compliments fat

Baga Root

Increases vitamins, decreases fat, compliments protein

Nal oil

Increases fat, decreases protein, compliments vitamins

Okay, it looked like there were some very basic qualities each ingredient possessed, and you had to put them together in the right way to cook something edible. I tossed some Monarch Lizard meat, Baga Root, Salt, Rophus-which was a feathery greenish brown herb-and some of the Sage Moss into a pot with some water to boil. Hopefully, the combination would be palatable.

You have learned the Cooking skill!

You have made ‘Travellers Stew’

Travelers Stew

Item Type: Food

Item Quality: Poor

Travelers Stew is one of the most basic foods, and can be created from practically any combination of ingredients. The results are always different.

Effects: +5% stamina regen for 5 minutes.

Okay, not great bonuses. In fact, they were barely better than nothing. At least they weren’t debuffs.

***

When Falco returned to the campsite some time later, he found a bubbling pot of stew waiting for him. The three of us watched as he unloaded his gear, resting his bow and pack against a tree and reached for a bowl. We continued to watch as he spooned stew into it. And when he took his first bite, and his eyes widened. Then we burst into laughter.

After Falco had cleared his mouth and sanitized his bowl, he examined the pot of stew.

“How did you manage to make something that tastes so vile actually give a buff? I’ve eaten better dirt cakes.” Darrit wiped the tears from his eyes before answering.

“We were shocked too boss. Seems the lad has never cooked anything before. Blessed lucky he didn’t give us all the runs. Thank the gods he used the Sage Moss with the Lizard meat. Neutralized the venom.”

“Ven-” Falco glared at me now, “You fed me poisoned meat mixed with the antidote? Didn’t you scan anything before you started?”

“Of course! When I used the pot and opened the interface, it showed me all the ingredient properties and....why are you all looking at me like that?” As my sentence ran on, their faces became more and more incredulous.

“The pot had an interface? What, you don’t have any experience cooking, but you know cooking magic?” Waylin had his arms crossed and looked either uncomfortable, or pissed off.

“Um...yes? I mean, all I did was touch the pot, and the...I guess notification? Opened that described the ingredients I had available.”

Now Falco spoke up again, making me feel very ganged up on. “The only people that can see the “ingredient properties” as you say, are mages specializing in kitchen magics. Which we know you are not. You can see how this is hard for us to understand? Have you no explanation?”

“I guess...well, it could just be an Outworlder thing? I didn’t go through the Tutorial, so...” I saw their faces close off again, “..okay what now?”

“What is a too tree all?”

“Too-tor-ee-al" I enunciated. “It’s a sort of preliminary training Outworlders are supposed to go through before traveling here. But, I sort of skipped mine. So there’s a lot I probably should know but don’t.”

“Great. And you’re the one we’re depending on to save our freshly disenfranchised friends. The green horn who didn’t even read his orders before stepping through the gate.”

“Orders....I do have something. When I arrived, the same information that told me about this trainer also told me about some faction orders I received. The only problem is, I can’t read them until level five, since I skipped the tutorial.”

Falco quirked an eyebrow, then leaned over to whisper at Waylin and Darrit for a few moments. They all chuckled softly, and then Falco grinned again.

“Level five? We can do that by morning. Hope you’re ready to get your hands dirty.”