“What’s wrong?”
“I wanted to add some flavour to the vegetable with some herbs, but I don’t have any in my pouch.”
Snickers gave him a strange look, then she started to laugh. The tinkling sound irritated Kit. He frowned in response.
“Kit your stupidity really amuses me. I should have known when you didn’t know how to arrange the restaurant furnishings that you would be clueless about everything else. How is it that you have already created your owns meals when you are this senseless. Did you even think about what was needed to run a restaurant?” Snickers gave an incredulous look, then kept talking.
“You seem to just be doing things on a whim. You only have two things on the menu and no supply of ingredients. You also built in an area that has no customers. You can’t run a business like this. Do you even want this restaurant to succeed?”
Kit felt a rush of anger pass over him. Then he let it go. He really had been clueless about opening his restaurant. He thought it would be easy when he first wanted to start a restaurant. He loved cooking so naturally he wanted to open his own place.
He hadn’t fully realised the enormity of responsibility running a business would have. It was more difficult than he had imagined. Having this pointed out to him stung his pride. It made him think about how silly he had been. Was he deluding himself that he could do this? Kit felt his face crumple.
“Ahh Kit! I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry. Don’t worry, you have me, ok? I will handle all the business side of things, you just concentrate on the menu. I was just a little frustrated at the lack of customers and took it out on you. Come here I will show you something to cheer you up.”
Snickers small hand grabbed his wrist. She pulled him over to the Magic storage pantry. She tapped her finger on the wooden surface and a screen appeared. Small pictures materialised on the surface. Kit leaned in to take a look. Next to the pictures was a price indicating how much each item cost.
Kit frowned in confusion. What did it mean? Was it a guide on how much he would need to spend if he brought ingredients from a market. Snickers looked over at him and laughed once again.
“Sorry Kit your face is just too expressive. It shows what you are thinking. From here you can order ingredients. The higher the level of stars the restaurant has the more options that will become available. You currently have access to just the basic ingredients.”
Kit rapidly blinked his eyes trying to process what he just heard.
“It’s probably faster if I show you. Snickers selected a herb from the screen, the picture enlarged. The screen flashed asking how many she wanted to order. Snickers entered 10. A flash of light filtered out through the gap in the doors. Snickers smiled then opened the pantry doors. Inside were 10 herbs the same as the picture.
Kit started to laugh. ‘Magic is awesome!’ He could order basic ingredients from right inside his kitchen. Kit flicked his restaurant tab open to see that 2 bronze crowns had been deducted. Kit turned to Snickers and gave her a hug. He couldn’t control himself, he was too happy. This would make things a lot easier for him.
Snickers laughed at his happiness. This time when Snickers laughed, he felt like they were laughing together.
“I thought that would cheer you up. The magic refrigerator is the same you know. I really am sorry for my harsh words earlier. I know you are trying your best. It is difficult to run a restaurant when it first starts. “
Snickers eyes showed how remorseful she was. She opened he mouth to continue talking.
“I was serious before, I think I should handle all the business matters and you just focus on the cooking. It will take some pressure off you. I think right now you are trying to accomplish too much. With the town, restaurant and raising your levels if you don’t slow down, you will burn yourself out.”
“I wanted to bring this up with you in a more dignified manner than I have. I’m sorry to have upset you.”
Snickers had a blush on her cheeks as she spoke. She really seemed like a little girl to Kit. He smiled she was worried about him. Kit patted her head.
“It’s ok Snickers and I think you are right. From now on I’ll just worry about cooking you can deal with everything else.”
Snickers beamed at him. “Thank you, Kit. It means a lot to me that you trust me. Umm I’ll leave you now to finish your cooking.”
“Wait before you go, do you think you could make some table decorations for me. I have these flowers that I think would brighten the place up a bit.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Kit handed over the Twin blooming hope. Snickers said she would create something and then left. Kit turned his gaze back to the kitchen. It was time to start experimenting to create a new dish.
Kit felt he was on cloud nine after finding out about how the Magic panty worked, he couldn’t contain his itchy finger to make some purchases. He had a feeling things would go a lot smoother now he had more options. He taped his finger on the smooth screen surface on the pantry and started browsing the contents.
He settled on some rosemary and sage then ordered 100 of each. He didn’t want to add too many herbs as he was planning to also add the Soft blue ball flower to the vegetables. He collected a portion of the herbs and returned to the counter. He then got to work on preparing the vegetables. Once he had enough to start cooking, he placed them into the clay pots.
He separated the vegetables into their own pots. He wasn’t sure on the cooking time of each ingredient yet, so he didn’t want to mix them together. He scattered the herbs and crushed flower over the vegetables, then placed the clay pot with the red elephant ear and water sweet nuts into the fire pit. The mushrooms would take less time, so he left them out for now.
He then started to clean up the kitchen as he waited for the ingredients to cook. Soon new aromas drifted to Kit’s nose making his mouth water. He went over to the mushrooms, he thought it was time to add them to the fire. He checked on the meat and was pleasantly surprised it was almost done.
The fire roaster and fire pit were much faster at cooking than he was used to. He put it down to them being magical equipment. It took a quarter of the time to roast than it would in the real world. Once the smells reached a tantalising peak Kit quickly started to take all the ingredients from the fire.
Ding!
[Skill learnt: Beginner Roasting]
Player can use dry heat using hot air to surround food to produce a flavoursome taste. Player has basic roasting skills.
+ 20 Agility
+ 30 Intelligence
+ 20 Speed
“Yes, another skill!”
Kit beamed with delight. Even if this didn’t turn out to be a stats dish, it was still a good day, another skill was unlocked. Kit didn’t have time to celebrate for long, he had to plate the roasted ingredients before they cooled down.
He took out his magic multiplier plater with anticipation swirling thickly around him. He was mentally crossing his fingers this would work out. He started to carve the mud wallower meat. Juice started to spill as his knife cut deeper into the meat. A delicious meaty smell filled the air. He placed two slices of meat on the plate.
He then placed two of each of the vegetable onto the plate. Kit took out the blood root he had prepared earlier as he was about to sprinkle it over the meal, he saw a familiar blue sheen start to swirl over the plate. Kit hastened to sprinkle the powder over his creation. Soon the whole meal was glowing with a shiny blue sheen. Kit held his breath.
Ding!
[Wallowing blue poison created]
Quality level: Fair
Quality bonus: + 30 minutes time extension.
Succulent juicy meat with a smoky taste, crisp fresh seasoned vegetable with a magical blue garnish. Perfect for a main meal.
+ 5 health regeneration every 30 seconds.
+ 100% poisonous fog resistance.
for 30 minutes.
[Restricted: Level 20 chef to unlock for sale.]
Reward: 5,000 EXP, 1,000 culinary EXP, 20 silver crown, 200 culinary points.
Ding!
[Congratulations, you are now Level 18 Chef]
Kit felt his heart swell with pride. He had created another dish! Kit felt giddy. He looked over the stats the dish gave and was happy. Even though he couldn’t sell it yet, Kit felt he would be able to raise his chef level to 20 before his grand opening.
He looked at the number 17 hovering over the magic multiplier plate and watched it turn into 18 with a happy grin. He then quickly took the dish over to the time freeze storage shelf and placed it inside. The feeling of joy didn’t leave him. He decided to have another try at a new meal. The apples had given him an idea to make apple pie.
He had originally dismissed the idea because he didn’t have any flour. Thanks to Snickers he knew he could buy some without leaving the kitchen. Kit went over to the panty and ordered some flour, cinnamon, salt and butter. He didn’t order any sugar, he planned to use the White sticky sweet flower instead.
Kit decided to start with the white sticky flower to see if he could extract the sugar from the flower. If it wasn’t possible then he would have to buy some sugar instead. Kit took out a large cooking pot and filled it with water. He placed it in the fire pit. When the water was boiling, he dumped a large helping of the flowers into the water.
As he watched the flowers jiggle from the bubbles, he noticed that the flowers were starting to dissolve. Kit felt a little thrill run down his spine. It looked like his idea might work. The liquid in the pot started to thicken as the flowers started to disappear. Once all the flowers were dissolved, he kept boiling the liquid until crystals started to form.
He took out some trays and started to pour the crystalised liquid inside to cool down. He placed the trays off to the side then took out a pile of Swamp dweller apples and started to peel the skin. He careful peeled the skin from the flesh trying to be as careful as possible in case he unlocked a new skill. He still remembered the crude puree skill he unlocked from being careless.
Ding!
[Skill learnt: Advanced novice peeling]
Player can use a knife with some skill to remove the skin from the flesh.
+ 20 Agility
+ 20 Speed
Kit laughed. He was glad he took his time in peeling the first apple. Kit felt his happiness bubbling once again. Unlocking skills felt great. As Kit continued to peel apples his mind wandered to his chef ranking requirements. Kit felt a jolt of shock run through his body. His eyes went wide. With the creation of the Wallowing blue poison, he could now promote his chef level to advance novice.
Kit almost cut his finger when his mind went blank from the shock. He placed his knife on the bench so he could calm his mind. Laughter started to bubble from inside his chest once again. This feeling of happiness Kit never wanted to lose. He finally felt like he was starting to see glimmers more and more of his old personality.
He remembered when being this happy was a normal day for him. He let himself get lost in his old happy memories of when his father was alive. He picked up the knife with a smile and continued to peel. The smile never left his face even though he was doing his least favourite chore in the kitchen. He would have to make plans to head to a culinary guild after his grand opening so he could receive his promotion.