Grandpa and Twix made a racket when they came back through the door, clay pots of all sizes were neatly stacked in their arms. Kit was instantly amused at the sight, how may pots did the pair of relatives make? His amusement grew when Grandpa placed the pots on the bench then pulled more clay pots out from his pouch.
“What do you think? This should cover all your needs for future creations, right?” Grandpa looked very pleased with himself at his foresightedness.
“Thank you both, it will indeed be more than enough.” Kit helplessly shook his head at the pleased pair. “Right now, come and get your rewards.” Kit paused as he looked at the plates that he had made for the pair. “Just remember that there might be some side effects to the dishes.”
A smile of anticipation grew on Kit’s face at the thought of the pair glowing. He kept his mouth shut about the exact side effects that could potentially happen to them. “The side effects are not harmful, so dig in!”
Twix was the first to react and grabbed his share of the plates first. “Oi! You should let the elders go first!” Grandpa complained to his grandson.
Twix completely ignored him and started to tuck into the sushi. Kit decided that they would be a distraction if he left them to eat in the kitchen, so he pushed the pair into the dining area to enjoy their meals.
With the pair out of the way, the kitchen was back to a settled state. Kit began to focus on the bear ribs once again, he gathered the largest clay pot from the stack and placed the seasoned bear ribs inside. He then took out a bottle of the Lucky sticky apple cider and added it to the bottom of the large pot, then stuck the lid on and placed it on the coals of the fire pit.
The next step was to make the barbecue sauce. Kit laid out the ingredients need for the barbecue sauce. As he placed a tomato on the bench, he realised that this would be the second time today that he needed tomato sauce for one of his creations.
He decided to make his own tomato sauce with the Blood shadow tomato for future use. Kit quickly got to work on making a homemade sauce.
When the tomato sauce was done, he poured it into glass jars for storage then used a jar for the barbecue sauce. He added garlic, salt, sugar, red velvet bloom, and paprika.
When the sauce was at a nice thick consistency, he removed it from the stove. Now it was time to add it to the bear ribs so he could make them nice and sticky! He took the bear ribs from the coals and took off the lid, a strong meaty smell arose from the clay pot.
Kit looked at the tender meat between each rib bone with delight. He quickly brushed the ribs with the thick sauce, when it started to cook it would turn into a glaze and create a shellac like coating. He couldn’t wait to taste the final result!
The clay pot went back onto the coals, this time with the lid off. Kit watched as the sauce began to change into a darker colour. A tantalising barbecue smell filled the kitchen making Kit’s mouth water. He quickly prepared a plate to put the meat on, a side of coleslaw was waiting for the main item.
When Kit turned back to the cooking ribs a familiar blue hue was frantically making its way over the sticky meat. Pure joy filled his heart at the sight of another stats dish coming to life. Kit wanted to share his excitement with someone, he couldn’t help calling the only other person in the kitchen over. “Haha Crackers, come and watch with me!”
Crackers stopped working on the possum stew and headed over to the fire pit. Two pairs of eyes focused on the blue glowing meat. When Kit thought the bear ribs were finished, he pulled them off the coals and placed the meat onto the waiting plate.
As soon as the meat touched the plate a notification rang in Kit’s ear.
Ding!
[Shining razor bear sticky BBQ ribs created]
Quality level: Poor
Quality bonus: A sticky substance oozes from the body after consumption for 10 minutes.
A guaranteed crowd pleaser, no one can resist the sticky goodness of a plate of barbecue ribs.
+ 500 stamina for 5 hours.
[Restricted: chef Level 60 to unlock for sale]
Reward: 15,000 EXP, 5,000 culinary EXP, 500 silver crowns, 750 culinary points.
Kit couldn’t help but pump a fist in his excitement, he had made another successful stats meal! He couldn’t wait to raise his chef level to add these items to the menu. He prayed that tomorrow’s attempt at making items for the menu would go as well as today.
He quickly read over the information displayed and his brows lifted when he saw how much stamina was given for consuming the meal. How on earth had he achieved this much! He thought about the ingredients that went into making the ribs, he then attributed his luck in getting such a high amount of stamina to the apple cider.
Delight surging with adrenaline was running rampant around his body, he felt like he needed to go for a run to dispel the extra energy. The smell of the ribs struck that idea out, he couldn’t help tucking into the tempting sticky ribs right in front of him.
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His face soon became smeared with a scrumptious barbecue sauce. Groans of delight filled his mouth as he gnawed on the bone to get all the meat into his mouth. He didn’t want to miss a scrap of the tender meat.
Crackers warily eyed him as she came closer to the large plate of ribs. “Kit ya won’t bite me if I try some right?” She slowly reached out her hand towards the meat as if waiting for him to pounce if she got too close without permission.
Kit swallowed his mouthful of meat. “Dig in Crackers, this plate is too big for one person.” Crackers hand shot forwards at Kit’s words, and she ripped off a chunk of the ribs for herself. Soon both of them had made a mess of themselves.
As Kit was eating he started to feel uncomfortable, his skin was starting to feel like it was coated in honey. He glanced down at his hands that were holding the rib bone. A thick substance was oozing from his pores.
The abnormality caused Kit’s eyes to round in shock. He put down the ribs and lifted his arm closer to his face so he could see what was happening. He froze when he got a whiff of the sticky substance. Unlike the tantalising smell of the sticky ribs this substance had a foul smell.
Kit couldn’t help dry retching, he quickly stopped Crackers from eating anymore of the ribs. “Don’t eat any more, we need to go and have a shower!” As they were about to leave a loud noise came from the dining area. “Crackers you go back to the boarding house, I’ll check in on those two.”
As Kit walked his clothes had started to stick to his body, a shiver of revulsion swept down his spine. He hoped that the noise wasn’t something that would consume much of his time. He really wanted that shower now, the smell from his body was increasing with each step.
He tried to ignore his discomfort as he headed into the dining area. Two glowing green men sat at one of the tables as he entered the room, both wore incredulous expressions.
“Ahh haha you could be the new attraction for Kit’s restaurant!” Glee was clear in Twix’ voice as he pointed a shaking finger towards the old man. Twix turned to Kit with a dazzling smile. “What do you think Kit, we could drum up more business for you with this stinky old man.” Twix shot to his feet and shouted. “Come and see the ancient human night light! The glow highlights all the wrinkles!”
Grandpa smiled evilly back at Twix. “You should try to find yourself a partner looking like this, it’s the only way you can attract someone!” Grandpa had a satisfied smirk as he glazed at his grandson.
Twix’ eyes rounded in shock at the old man’s words. “Grandpa! How can you say that to your favourite grandson!”
Confusion filled Kit at the playground insults they were shooting at each other. What had happened while he was in the kitchen? And why were their jabs so childish? “Um what’s going on?”
Twix’ face morphed into a pout. “Grandpa wouldn’t share the ice cream with me!”
“You stinky brat! You had your own, don’t try to steal mine!” Grandpa placed his arm on the table in front of a group of plates in a protective gesture. “Kit don’t give him anymore of the ice cream. It turns him into a thief!”
Laughter erupted from his mouth, their childish actions entertained him. “There is plenty of sorbet to go around, so no need to fight over it. Although I think you have both had enough food for today.” Kit looked at the plates sitting on the table, there was only a few scraps left of each dish.
How the hell had they stuffed all that food inside their stomachs? Kit shook his head at the bottomless pits in front of him. He then remembered why he had walked into the dining area in the first place, he looked around the room to see if anything was out of place.
When he could see the room looked the same as always he returned his gaze back to the pair in front of him. “What was the loud noise a moment ago?”
A blush crept up Twix’ neck. “Ah, that was me.” A chuckle left Grandpa lips at Twix discomfort. “I might have tried to distract Grandpa for a moment.” Kit rolled his eyes, at least it was nothing he would have to deal with.
Now that he was reassured that nothing bad was happening inside his restaurant he wanted to leave as fast as possible. “Can you two close the restaurant when you’re done, I need to go take a shower. The BBQ ribs have an unpleasant side effect.”
He motioned to his visible skin that was oozing a thick substance. Kit was starting to become uncomfortable, he could feel the substance sliding down his skin. Without waiting for an answer, he left to have a shower at the boarding house.
Once he was clean, he headed into the kitchen where he could hear noise. Crackers had her head hovering over a pot on the stove and Mars was standing next to her with a spoon in his hand. Kit walked over to see what was in the pot.
A thick stew was bubbling inside. “Is this the possum stew?”
Crackers nodded her head. “I be wantin to try a few different combinations before I be stoppin for the night.” Kit leaned over the pot to see a light sheen of blue. It hadn’t intensified much from his earlier attempt.
Kit felt he’d done enough experimenting for the day, so he left Crackers to the task. He was more than happy with how many meals he created today. It honestly surprised him that things had gone so smoothly. A feeling of trepidation about tomorrow crawled up his spine out of nowhere. He was feeling like his next attempts weren’t going to come as easily as they did today.
He hoped he was wrong and it was just a feeling not a prediction. He shrugged the uncomfortable thought away and went and sat on a stool in the kitchen so he could talk to Mars, he wanted to get an update on the cemetery. “Mars how is the construction going with the cemetery?”
Before Mars could answer the front door was pushed open and voices could be heard. “I can’t believe we got the walls finished. I can’t wait to see what will happen when the spiritual beast bones are placed in the cemetery.” Chamomile’s voice echoed down the hall.
“I don’t care about the cemetery, I want to see the Respawn arch activated. Do you think it will take long for it to be established once the cemetery is completed?” Bundt’s voice held anticipation as he spoke.
An excited tremble coursed through Kit’s body as the words registered in his brain. Spartan Fire’s promotion was imminent, he swung his gaze to Mars to seek confirmation. Mars seemed to know what he was asking with his gaze and nodded his head.
Kit didn’t know how he was going to sleep tonight, between his luck in creating stats meals and hearing about the cemetery almost being completed. His heart was racing from too much stimulation in one day.
The others finally entered the room and happily greeted Kit, they filled him in on what they had been doing since he was away. By the time they’d all finished catching up it was late in the evening. Kit finally felt the tug of sleepiness pull at his consciousness.
As he walked to his room, he was thinking about what to do tomorrow. He didn’t want to miss out on the cemetery’s completion. He also didn’t want to delay experimenting with his new ingredients. Before he could decide on what to do the front door burst open once again.
This time loud screeches filled the boarding house accompanied by snarling. All Kit’s sleepiness vanished in an instant. He felt his body become tense, he turned on his heel and headed towards the loud noise.