The sight of neatly paved roads and shops everywhere soon faded as they neared the forest. The sound of shoes on brick was replaced by the rustling of grass as they reached the grassy lands of the forest.

Mei walked gingerly as she followed the duo. It might not have rained today and turned the ground into a muddy hell, but she didn't want to get too much mud on her shoes. She just got them not too long ago and liked them a lot. She did eventually pick up her pace to catch up to them, however.

"Up ahead is the clearing where the elf kids play!" said Mark as he pointed ahead. "They are very cute and will help us find herbs and stuff if we give them food."

"Uh hu-"

"Don't grow too much beard hair! They'll mistake you for pedobear, umu!" shouted Umuton all of a sudden.

"Normally, I like to take out the deep fryer and fry up some french fries for them! They seem to like them very much." said Mark to Mei.

"There are stuff like deep fryers in this game?" asked Mei, slighty surprised.

The streamers she watched didn't interact with dwarves much in their playthroughs, so she didn't know much about their technology.

"Yeah! Apparently, the dwarves NPCs actually have a lot of pretty modern inventions! They just require some mana crystals to power instead of electricity." answered Mark.

The two of them had learnt to ignore Umuton's silly jokes. The skeleton felt slightly left out. That would not deter him from making more jokes, however. 

Mark suddenly stopped walking, something having caught his eye.

"A magic onion!"

Mark bent down and punched his hands into the dirt, ripping out the plant from the ground aggressively as its roots dangled in the air. Mei moved a slight distance away to avoid getting hit by the dirt flying all over the place, but the skeleton didn't seem to mind.

The onion began wriggled in the hands of the dwarf, starting to glow brightly. A second later, a ball of white light was fired from the leaves of the onion to Mark's face.

"Dammit!" he shouted.

Black spots clouded his vision after the intense light. As the plant was about to slip out of his hands, he quickly tossed it high in the air. He took out his sword as quickly as he could from his inventory and swung it at the onion.

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"Hiyah!" shouted Mark... as he missed.

The onion hit the ground and began to dig into the earth and kicking up dirt violently. Mark bought up his blade and prepared to swing downwards, only for a chunk of dirt to hit his face, some of it getting into his eyes and mouths. He spat out the dirt in disgust and swung downwards. This time, it hit the onion, slicing it into two.

+25 EXP

He rubbed the dirt off his face and eyes, then quickly put the halved plant into his inventory. There was a moment of silence as Umuton and Mei watched.

"Top ten anime battles!" cheered Umuton very suddenly. He clapped his bony hands, making sounds similar to doorknocks.

Mei couldn't help smile slightly after hearing the joke but tried to hide it.

"Let's go!" said Mark as he turned his face away from them, slightly embarrassed. 

They reached a clearing where they could see groups of elven children played. There were a few young rabbit beastmen and little wolves with slightly green fur that joined in their games.

 "Hey! It's the old man and the skeleton!" shouted one of the elves as he spotted them.

Most of the kids looked over, but only a small portion ran towards them immediately.

"Geezer! When are the fries going to be ready?" demanded one of the little elves as he jumped around excitedly.

"Who's that girl with you?" asked another one.

Mark sighed.

"Alright kids, don't be impatient! It'll take some time for me to set things up! And how many times have I told you to stop calling me that? I'm not even twenty!" grumbled the dwarf.

"Yeah whatever old man!" shouted one of the young bunny beastmen in a squeaky tone.

"Fries! Fries! Fries! Fries!" the children began chanting. A few of the green wolves even began barking as if to join the chant.

"You ignored my question!" shouted the one who asked who Mei was.

"You lot are so demanding! Give me some time to prepare!" groaned Mark.

He bought out a giant metal box without a top and placed it on the grass carefully. Next, was a huge bottle of oil and which he dumped huge amounts into the compartment on top. He then took out a huge bowl and put a dozen large potatoes in, then poured water into it, then stirring it up violently to get rid of the dirt. The water was then poured into the grass.

As he washed the potatoes a few more times, Mei decided to offer to help.

"It'll take some time for you to chop them up, right? I can help too!" she said.

"No no. We don't need to chop them." Mark shook his head. "I'll show you how I do it!"

Umuton seemed amused for some reason as he watched.

Mark took out the rectangular deep frying metal basket and put it in the oil. Next, he pressed a button on the side of the box. Suddenly Mei could feel a huge burst of heat despite not standing that close. The oil swiftly began bubbling. Mark released the button and pressed a different switch. The heat waves immediately stopped, but the oil continued to bubble gently.

"It's some of quick heating mechanism," explained Mark to Mei.

"I think that's pretty obvious, umu!" Umuton chimed in.

"You're not throwing in them whole, are you?" Mei was slightly exasperated. Surely Mark would not be that lazy!

"Of course not!" Mark shook his head. "Watch!"

He reached out for one of the potatoes and held it above the bubbling oil, confusing Mei. Then his fingers clenched down with incredible strength. The potato exploded into tiny chunks that flew everywhere, most of it into the oil amazingly.

Mei: ...