Mark turned his attention to the level that he’d gained. His level went up to eighty-five from level eighty-two. That meant he gained three levels and with comes three skill points and three stat points. His skill points were now seventy-six and his stat points were an even ten. He put his stat points to Intelligence, so it went up to seventy from sixty without the additional stats from his dungeon items. His base spell multiplier increased to fourteen, so his spell damage, spell duration, and spell effectiveness increased as well.

Based on the fact that he only earned three levels from tackling dungeon level twenty-five, it would probably be until dungeon level twenty-seven or twenty-eight before he reached level ninety. He didn’t worry about it since he did have plenty of time.

Mark checked the time and he saw that he had only spent around three hours identifying and sorting all of his dungeon items and sorting his stat points, so he went to his villa on the eleventh floor and spent some time taking a bath to relax. He then thought of the vacation oasis located on the twenty-first floor, but he didn’t want to go there alone, and he wasn’t ready to share the place with anyone. Maybe the twins, someday.

After his bath, Mark went outside the dungeon and the twins were still being taught by Rendira. Their halfling tutor decisively stopped the lecture and told the boys that they were done for the day even though it was early. He invited the teacher to dine with them for lunch and Rendira agreed since she had something to talk about to Mark.

Mark decided to go all out native with the food from his mother’s home country since once they had a cook, they would focus on eating the local food. He prepared the famous adobo and decided to both serve chicken and pork adobo. He also served garlic rice and since the food was an acquired taste and some may not like it, he added lechon kawali which was pot roasted pork. He made sure that there was soy sauce with vinegar, calamansi, which was a small citrus fruit, and chili for dipping.

For dessert, he replicated a local cuisine from his mother’s country called “halo-halo” roughly translated as mix-mix. It was a glass filled with mixtures of different things like beans, gelatin, ube, flan, and more with milk, sugar, and ice cream.

He invited everyone to lunch, and he explained to them the different types of food on the table and how to eat them. He was glad to see that everyone was enjoying the food that he prepared.

“Can I have the recipe for this food, MarkJ?” Rendira asked.

“I could give it to you but I’m not sure if you can get the ingredients locally.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Yes, some of the spices that were used were new to me.”

Everyone loved the dessert and the twins said that they liked it very much. He told everyone that usually, the dessert was eaten during summer and not winter but he missed the food, so he served it for everyone to have a taste.

After lunch, the kids went outside to look for their friends and Nedertu assured Mark that he was going to look after the twins.

Mark and Rendira went to the living room, and he served the older halfling coffee.

“This drink of yours is delicious, Mark. We also have coffee but yours is richer in taste.”

“Our people had centuries to research our food and drinks and some specialized on nothing else but do that. So, what do you want to talk to me about?”

“It's about the job position of sitter and cook. My eldest son just returned from his adventures, and I would like to apply for him.”

“Isn’t he an adventurer?”

“He was part of a huge mercenary group in the south and his job there was to cook food. The mercenary group was decimated in a dangerous mission and I’m thankful that he wasn’t with the group when they did that mission, so he was one of the few that survived.”

“He is still an adventurer though; wouldn’t he want to look for another group?”

“He told me he was really not part of that group; he was just a servant and the pay they gave him was so little he didn’t even manage to save money. At first, he told his father and me that he was ashamed to go home since he failed at being an adventurer, but he did learn to cook very well since he was apprenticed to a great chef. I haven’t told him anything yet, but I will show him the movie later and will tell him that it was from you, a great wizard. Maybe that will spark the desire for him to serve you. I just don’t want him to leave.”

“Once he was done watching the movie and he applied for the job, we will have a test run and if he’s compatible with us, of course, he can stay.”

“Thank you very much, Mark.”

Now he had a coach, a cook, and a sitter for the kids, Mark thought that maybe he would also need to hire a guard just to complete the ensemble. He shelved that though and would re-visit it if needed. The only reason that he thought of hiring a guard or two was for him to give out some of the items that he received from the dungeon.

Mark wanted to relax while waiting for the kids, so he started watching a recently released anime that was downloaded by Sam before he transmigrated. Sam praised it so much and said that it was one of the best. He was glad that the season just ended before he transmigrated. It’s a pity though that he might never know if there would be another season, but he didn’t lose hope. His main goal was to learn magic enough for him to traverse the dimensions so there was still a possibility that he could return to Earth someday.

The anime was called Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. According to Sam, it was about an elf mage who was part of the hero’s party but since she was an elf, she was long-lived, and all of her friends died of old age. He was interested since according to his system interface, his base Vitality was also related to his life span and that meant there was a high possibility that he would live a very long life.

Lossa also mentioned in one of their talks that mages do live long lives especially if they attain a high enough level.