Lvl 3: The Great Deck Bake Off

Terry was the last one out of the gateway, he instantly noticed the suns were high in the sky indicating it must be near noon or maybe slightly past. Hurk and Morris were a little ways off leaning over the figures of Sid and Tid on the ground. As Terry approached he could see neither were in a good way.

Sid’s pants were off and he had several peppered welts and wounds, but the worst was a disgusting and foul smelling sore on his hip. The skin around the wound was discolored and it looked to be bubbling or frothing, despite Hurks attempts to treat or just clean the wound.

Tid was not much different, he had been burned along one side of his body, the skin was bright red and even blacked in some spots like an awful Two-Face mask or make up job. His clothes had protected some of his body, but both gnomes were in a bad way. Tid was unconscious, probably from the pain. At least Sid seemed to be awake, but in a good deal of distress. He was seething and hissing and cursing in a colorful string of imaginative words, far beyond what Terry thought he might have come up with in a similar state.

Hurk was in the middle of saying something as Terry approached, “There is a healer in The Iron Bay who can take care of the acid. We need to get back fast. Can you carry Tid to Mother Marin’s academy estate? She has a Burn-bee ointment that can treat him.”

Morris just nodded along, lifting the limp form of Tid. Hurk rose more gingerly with Sid in his arms and turned to Terry. “We are going to rush back and get them taken care of.”

Terry asked, “Can I put these in a pack for you or something? They are all labeled.” He motioned to the upgrade bottles. Morris nodded to the bag on his back and Terry fumbled the potions in there. Terry kept his own.

Watching as Hurk and Morris rushed off, he wondered if there was more he could do and he let out a worried sigh. Then a horrible thought struck him before he could make his own way back to town.

“Rosa! I left Rosa in the locker” Terry turned and rushed back to the gateway he had just come from. As he rushed through nothing happened. He stumbled and panicked on the other side of the stone arch. He remembered that he could only enter certain levels once, including the miniboss levels.

Terry looked to the top part of the gateways indicating what type of level each was. He had gone in the leftmost gateway, the middle had the symbol of the hoard on it. This meant that it was a wave based fighting level, he did not feel comfortable doing that alone. If he entered the level he would have to complete the level before he could leave. The gear he had received had vanished and had been replaced by his normal clothing automatically as he left the gateway to the world outside. The last was a symbol for a task level, or at least he was pretty sure. This was a level you could do multiple times.

In the tavern, it had been explained that the task levels were among the simplest. Often they were puzzles or simple tasks that got harder and harder the more times you entered. He hoped he could just get to the locker room and grab Rosa. He was not even sure it would be the same locker room and that scared him for a moment.

What if Terry just doomed her to die slowly because he just walked out and could not re-enter in his panic. Terry rushed the right gateway. The shimmering filled the entrance and he went though happy to see the locker room he had expected. It was smaller however with only a bench and one locker. He moved to the locker, throwing open the door. He was met with a look of disapproval from a very small turtle.

“You left me!” Rosa glared.

“I was distracted,” Terry stammered.

Her face changed slightly, “They were not the nicest, but I don’t think they deserved that… But you cannot forget me in her again and now you have to do another challenge. What door did you come in?”

“I chose the random task, I hoped I would get in here again to get you. I am really sorry, this one should be safe. Maybe you can come with me?” Terry was hopeful, but would understand if she…

“Yeah, you better take me, that last one was terrifying. I am not going to miss what this thing throws at you next. Oh and drink your upgrade before entering.” She was excited and he was thankful for her tenacity after his horrid mistake. Terry had almost forgotten about the upgrade in his haste to get Rosa back and he moved to remove the cap and drink.

It once again was his favorite flavor and even though he had expected the pain he still sat and keeled over as it followed the sensation of flavor. His eyes were closed tightly, but he still saw the upgraded type across the blackness of his eyelids and a voice spoke in his head.

You have 1 new attributes:

Your Integrity attribute has been upgraded to Dark

This title has been earned by your moment of instant fear at your situation, but your ability to return to your team and face that darkness of the unknown.

Continue to complete levels to gain upgrades for your remaining attributes.

You have been granted experience. You have 27 points of experience. You now have 41 points of experience. You have unlocked one utility skill and one spell.

With Darkness comes the ability to see in the dark, you can now see in low light and complete darkness.

You have gained the spell Call to The Shadows, you can control the shadows to do your bidding. This spell costs low mana. You have gained mana, you will grow mana equal as your experience points rise. You now have 100 points of mana.

The spell sounded useful, but Terry was unsure how exactly to use it. Morris had just pointed and commanded with the wand. He was not sure if he’d needed that or not, so he resolved to ask Morris about it later. Rosa knew a lot about the world, but she was not always the most focused teacher and Morris might be able to help him practice the spell. He took the time to add in the Mana bar back to his HUD, it now read:

Mana: 100/100 MP

He was not sure if the title of Dark really fit him. He sort of understood the logic in the reasoning. The Death-Brain had freaked him out, he had almost expected more of a hybrid creature or animal, not a robot that looked like a tank and shot fire and bullets. None of the other participants had seemed as scared as him. Do things like that exist in this world? I probably should have learned more about this place before I just jumped into all this.

“I think the sickness is past. I got a spell, and the ability to see in the dark.” Terry told Rosa.

She nodded, “Good, Morris’ spells helped a lot, it should be fun using some magic. You’ll be able to see all your base stat upgrades once you have all the attributes. I saw how fast you moved in the last level, that came from the Wind upgrade I am sure. It is hard to say exactly what has changed. It could be a range of things, but now with 3 upgrades you will really start to feel the power.”

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Terry did feel very different, but he had rested a good while recovering from that elixir. The clock only showed about 3 minutes of prep left. So he grabbed Rosa, opened the door and walked into the level. The playing field was very different

He stepped into what must have been a large awning or tent, it was white on the ceiling and held in place from a light breeze that came through the open side by tall poles at each corner and along the sides. The inside had several stations, more than just simple cabinets and counters, each of the 6 stations had a sink, some sort of stand mixer, cutting boards, and many cooking utensils and gadgets. Along the area beside each station was a fridge and metal shelving with baking trays. He could see draws in the station and what must be an oven and cooktop, it was like a large baking tent.

“What in the world?” Terry thought out loud then there was movement. 5 figures moved from the open sides to stand at each station. The figures looked like robots or advanced droids. They were about his height and had no clothes or even features to them at all. The androids were simple white humanoid mannequins. The only open station was in the back right, so he stepped up to it.

Just as he did a voice rang out coming from all around the tent, even though he could see no speakers.

“You will have 3 hours to create a dessert and present it to our judges. You will find any and all ingredients that are needed in the replicator frigid and the replicator draw at your station. You will only pass if you place in the top 3. There is a special prize available if you win. Good luck!” The voice was robotic and sorta energetic. A screen at the front showed a simple timer like in the locker room and the level began.

Terry had not had to cook for himself a lot in his teen or college years. Like most students at his boarding school he had 3 square meals a day prepared for him. In college, he had a simple dorm and a microwave. He subsisted off cafeteria food and ramen or various microwave meals. He had some idea how to bake from the home economics classes he had been a part of, but that cooking had been in groups and he did not know all their role and barely his own.

He opened some of the draws and looked at his android competition. Each of them was moving mechanically putting together ingredients in mixing bowls and chopping other ingredients. In the draws he did eventually find helpful sheets of paper.

They were like recipe cards, there was one for vanilla cake, another for a fruit crumble, and the last was for basic pancakes. Each looked good, but he had to place in the top three or even try to win. His mind raced trying to think of a plan or anything. Maybe I can enhance one of these with something to make it better. I like crumbles and fruit pies, maybe something with that?

The indecision was not something that Terry liked to dwell on and after another flip of the recipe cards he had an idea. He started to get to work.

His mom had worked in several different odd jobs and she had excelled in a few of them. When he was 8 or 9 she worked in a café and bakery called Debra's Do’s and Donuts or as he called it the DDD. Whenever he was sick or not feeling well he got to skip school and go to the DDD for a day of shadowing his mom, drinking soda from glass bottles and munching on rejected pastries and other baked goods.

His favorite type of donut was an apple fritter. As he went to open the fridge, he knew most of the ingredients for a simple recipe and opened the medal door. Several bright red apples were on the shelf. He grabbed them out and brought them to the station, cut them into small pieces and scooped them into a bowl. He remembered a trick and opened the fridge again to find a single lemon. At the station he cut that in half and squeezed the juice on the apple. His mom said it had something to do with stopping the brown spots that appeared on cut apples.

Terry knew it needed flour, eggs, salt and cinnamon. As he explained the idea to Rosa, who he had set on the station, she chimed, “Probably baking powder in there too, also sugar and a neutral oil to fry them.” it seemed her knowledge was more than just the planet that they were on. That or apple fritters were a thing here too, Terry hoped they were.

As he thought of the dry ingredients they appeared in the draws he opened, and Rosa gave him more instructions on the proper amounts the pastry would need. He mixed the dry ingredients in one bowl and had a separate one for the wet ingredients to add into the mixture later. The dry ingredients were combined in the mixer and oddly to Terry, the sugar was considered a wet ingredient. He did not question it; he just followed Rosa’s directions.

Terry folded in the apples at the end by hand. He tried a bit with a finger and was immediately reminded of DDD’s batter, making him smile. Terry wanted them to be fresh for the judge. He moved the mix to the fridge and mixed powdered sugar, a small amount of apple juice and water together to make the glaze.

He looked at the timer, he had 45 min left, plenty of time to finish. He suddenly realized how hungry he was and tried something out. He opened the fridge thinking about a simple ham and cheese sandwich and there it was. He took a bit of time to eat and heat the oil for frying the fritters. With 25 min left he started preparing the mounds of apple pastry. Frying them in a high walled pan and a good amount of oil.

This had been his favorite part of the process. The pan was only big enough for 2 doughnuts at a time with oil just deep enough for the bottom and some of the sides. He put a lid on to steam the doughnuts, at Rosa's suggestion, but just for a couple of moments. He then spooned some of the hot oil on top of the fritters to finish off the top. Each pastry was a little different. Terry smiled as he retrieved the first two and generously spooned up two more, repeating the previous steps till he had 8 amazing fritters. He had a small amount of batter left so he made a tester as he retrieved the glaze.

Terry’s mom had always given him the tiny tester fritter. He poured the glaze on and removed the tester with 5 min to spare, and when he dipped the tiny fritter in the last of the glaze, Terry was almost giddy to put it in his mouth. He was flooded with nostalgic feelings as he chewed the treat and he smiled with the memories. While he was still in a moment of ecstasy, the timer chimed and the competition was complete.

Terry still felt nerves like a fluttering in his stomach as the judging began. Instead of androids, the judges looked like female humans, but on closer inspection each had inconsistencies with Earth or Terff humans. They were taller and almost sickly thin, their long limbs were more like a thin tree branch than anything strong or substantial. They wore plain women's pants suits, like a group of high level executives going to lunch together rather than showing up to judge a baking competition.

There was one at each station, Terry barley got to introduce his dessert when the judge grabbed one delicately. Her face did seem to register joy at eating the dessert, as he would have expected. She actually seemed very pleased. A clipboard and pen seemed to appear in her hand after she quickly finished one whole fritter. Terry had made 8 fritters, but as she finished writing, she looked at him straight in the eye and grabbed another. She turned and walked back to the front of the tent. Terry thought he saw a smile on her face as she turned and took a bite of the pastry. The fluttering was gone and a warm feeling of accomplishment came over him.

A minute or two later they announced the placing in reverse order. Terry had missed some of the androids' antics apparently. The last place went to cinnamon raisin oatcakes that were described as dry plank stomp cake. Another had apparently had a small fire in their oven while making cookies and the result they had called double chocolate, Terry wondered how the burned cookies didn’t lose when they got to the top 3. Second and third were also cookies. A coconut nut cookie, that sounded very nice and second an apparently perfect dessert, the cakey chocolate chip cookie. Terry was getting hungry again when his name was given for the first place!

Terry had never come in first in anything in his life, he stared dumbly as the androids clapped and motioned him to the front of the tent. Rosa beamed at the praise from his shoulder as the judges presented him with 3 bundles, all wrapped so he could not see the contents. Two were in blue and one was in a purple box.

“You have made a very acceptable offering today. As a token for your winning you have a choice between these three prizes, please choose wisely.” The judge that had tried his fritter said with a smile.

Terry looked to the bundles, guessing he would not get a question about what was best. He grabbed the purple bundle as it was his mother’s favorite color and it had been his memory of her that had helped him the most. It was slightly heavy and very solid. He examined it only slightly before the judge spoke again.

“Now I give you another spell and your experience” she placed a hand on his head and he felt a warm feeling move through his body.

You have been granted experience. You have 41 points of experience. You now have 55 points of experience. You have unlocked one spell.

* You have learned the spell Call Wind. Call the wind to perform your commands on enemies and objects. The wind is a free force, command increased based on the amount of mana offered.

Terry liked this way of receiving upgrades over the delicious, but painful drinks. He felt accomplished as he walked away from the judges and the tent seemed to dissolve behind him to the white void. He was able to grab the plate of Fritters before exiting.