To get the Lich, I needed something to track him. A soul-bonded item. I had the pegasus cloak but it was consumed by the spear to unlock my rank-up. At least that was behind me. I could rank-up any time if I only could gather the 288.4 Trillion Exp necessary to reach level 20 in my current Class and Species. Oh, that makes it two, so double that value. While my Exp boost Perks got nerfed every single freaking time.
That's why people use mass murder and spend half their career Perks on Exp boosts if they want to get anywhere in a decent amount of time. Seriously, the Exp progression needed to change. Without multipliers, I would need to kill more than four billion level 160 creatures to rank up. I used the System to send a complaint ticket to the Administrators. I got no response but at least "now" they were aware of the issue we mere mortals suffered. My inner Karen felt satisfied.
But I didn't do it right now. I had other things occupying my mind and I wanted finish it. For the last few weeks, I was trying my luck at baking.
I still didn't get the hang of Mr. Honorcoin's Three-Continents-Famous fruit bread. My bread was too stiff and bland. Nothing like the crunchy crust and soft flesh of his bread. I needed more skill. And better materials. That's when I thought about bringing in my [Alchemist] profession to refine the ingredients. It marginally improved the bread quality. I guess there was no shortcut to excellence. I had to grind... the flour and the [Baker] points.
But it wasn't all for naught. I had a new ingredient to use, [Purified Flour]. It was sparkly white rather than yellowed. I earned a few points on both proficiencies and picked abilities that would help me get the perfect fruit bread.
I picked two abilities for Alchemist.
> Alchemist[ 259 / 284]
>
> * PH Measurement: You can measure the PH of a solution close to you with (Proficiency/4)% precision.
> * Food-Grade Additives: You can create compounds safe for cooking and consumption. Increase the quality of products by (Proficiency/5)%
The first one gave me more control over the baking process and others, as I knew if it were at the right degree of acidity. The second one allowed me to refine not only flour but other additives like baking soda, flavoring, colorants, and many more.
But my cross-discipline experiments weren't all in vain. They unlocked a few hidden traits for the other profession.
> Baker [ 121 / 134 ].
>
> * Acidic Fermentation: Increase dough quality, growth, and finished product's shelf life by (Proficiency/10)%.
> * Heat Distribution: Your oven is (Proficiency/2)% more likely to spread heat evenly.
> * Carbonation Retention: Increase volume, texture quality, and softness by (Proficiency/5)%.
That ability was fantastic. While it was half as strong as the others, it had three effects, making it one and a half times as good. {Heat Distribution} at high proficiency levels would allow me to work with crappy makeshift ovens as if they were top-quality ones. The last one made the bread bigger, fluffier, and easier on the tongue. It was worth three minor abilities in one package. At this point, I got half as much bread from the same dough recipe as before. There was no added mass but the bread didn't look like a brick anymore.
It was a great hit with the elves. They even gifted me the millennia-old recipe for their "not-scone" Peko Bread! Awesome. I finally learned what "Peko" meant. You know, the same "Peko" in "Pekothas". It was rather obvious once I knew it.
Trees in the western and northern regions have this kind of walnut, I even ate some while I grew up with the wolves. The nut was called Peko in old times, and the old people harvested them to eat in the winter as they lasted for very long until you broke their shells. The humans had another name for it by the time Lily was born, but the term "Nut gatherers", or "Pekothas" in their language, stuck as the name of the country and the whole continent.
That reminded me of the deathberries. How I was the only one that could enter the glades where the bush grew and engorge myself with the sweet, sweet, and ridiculously poisonous berries. That's when I grew curious and put one of the tasty snacks of doom in a flask and thought to extract its sugar. My [Alchemist] abilities triggered and I added some water and a few drops of other reagents.
> Property Prospection V
>
> Food-Grade Additives
>
> Dry Reagent
>
> Recycle Leftovers
After heating and drying the filtered solution, I took the remains of the boiled berries, ground them, and dissolved them into another solution.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
> You successfuly researched a new ingredient from [Deathberry]. You can now extract [White Sugar] from it.
The yield was ridiculous. I got about seventy percent of the berry mass back as crystalline sugar grains. No poison whatsoever. It looked like sugar you could buy at the supermarket back on Earth. Damn. Using that sugar in the next batch of Peko Bread caused me to fall on my butt when I {Appraised} the finished product.
> Sweet Peko Bread
>
> Price: 2 gold coins.
>
> This fluffy pastry was created by combining secret techniques from three disparate cultures from worlds apart. Its unique flavor is worthy of the taste of Kings and Queens.
My jaw would've hit the floor if it wasn't attached to my skull. Two gold coins. Two freaking gold coins, enough for a peasant family of five to live comfortably, housing, food, and clothing, for a whole year. That was the System-given price for a single not-scone.
The System valuation didn't count rarity, only quality. If these items were available everywhere in the world, each would cost that much. But since the only ones in existence were the ones in front of me, the price could go up by an order of magnitude.
It was the most expensive baked good I've ever seen. Some food items could cost more than that, but we were talking about full-course meals, not a single pastry.
I had to brag about it. I invited my granddaughters and the high priests for a tea party. I also brought Marlowe, Talysius, and Stephano along. The three cloth golems couldn't eat but I bet the souls resting within remembered very well how good eating was.
I worked hard on getting the quality of the drinks on par with the food. While the upgraded Peko Breads not-scones (important distinction. I wouldn't want one to go and offend the elves by comparing their food with lesser human fare) were the main course, I also had biscuits and cookies. The Honorcoin Fruitbread wasn't yet ready for guests, unfortunately.
After giving it some thought, I called forth the five Elder Fairies. It was only fair to offer them to partake at my feast. While most etiquette guides would tell you to not offer fairies food or take their food, that was void between fairies. We did collect favors from each other but that was done to a lesser extent, and between fairies of the same "family" or "grove", or "frolic" (the collective substantive changed depending on which group of fairies you were talking to - better do that research thoroughly, mortals) it was commonplace.
As their goddaughter and a fellow fairy, I belonged to the inner circle of all five. However, this wasn't your ordinary tea party, given the price tag and rarity of the treats being offered.
After they arrived, I bowed deeply. "Godmothers, I apologize for the wound I left at the site of old Pekothas. I am working to fix it, I hope you are not too angry."
Nenandil took her mother aside and started to chat as both shared tales of their adventures since the last time they met.
Both Daphne and Lorelai gave me the stink-eye. The two loved the ground more than the others and must've felt the wound I caused.
"That you are working to correct your mistakes and promptly accepted the painful punishment from the Gods is a good thing, goddaughter," the elder spriggan said, her voice coarse like rumbling stones. It betrayed how much she was forcing herself to be polite in her words.
"And you work to create glades and trees and preserve nature where you go," the elder dryad added with a sultry wink. "Despite that, we wouldn't refuse a tithe of vitality and magic from you, [Unicorn Queen]."
Nephele, the elder sylph, blew her sister's back as she walked forward. "If you want to atone for your deeds, bring back what was lost. The winds still cry and wail at the loss of flocks of pegasi playing across the breeze on argentine wings."
I nodded at them. "I shall do as you ask. After tea with our other guests, I'll take you to a secluded place where I'll pay the requested tithe. As for bringing pegasi back to the world, I'm afraid they'll be hunted again."
It was Brenna's turn to speak. "If you bring back the pegasi, we will give the first ones our blessings and protection, so they can fend off enemies. Though I know not how you intend to do so, it wouldn't be the first time you brought a species back from the brink of extinction."
She was right. The Lamias didn't need much help as the System boosted their reproductive abilities by orders of magnitude. The Star Elves were a subspecies of High Elves and I used in-vitro fertilization and my own eggs to bring them back in volunteer's wombs.
But none of these would work for pegasi. I needed to step up my game. It was time to use my voucher.
> You used your voucher to submit a Perk:
>
> * Incarnation (unique): Use massive amounts of your own lifeforce (HP) and magical Energy along with a soul stored in your Wisp of Creation to bring about one of the species you rule over. These species can be any of your previous incarnations, one listed under your [Progenitor Matriarch] Trait, or one that shares a common ancestry with one of your incarnations.
>
>
>
> ACKNOWLEDGED. Changing description.
>
> * Aspect of Incarnation (unique): Use massive amounts of your own lifeforce (HP, Energy, and Experience) along with souls and Energy stored in your Wisp of Creation to bring about one of the species you can pick Perks from, one of your previous incarnations, or which you have a Heritage Perk from. The cost and time depend on the species' rarity. You can also use a willing soul purified by your Soul Shepherd Perk to incarnate as. WARNING: Using this Perk depletes the power stored in your Wisp of Creation permanently.
>
> Submitting Perk for Administrator approval. Due to previous negotiations, Administrator Wyxnos' vote is an approval, after changes. Denied. Automatically Approved. Waiting for external Administrator's votes... Approved.
I could now create people from other species, not only silk-folk.
With the new Perk came the knowledge that to create a single pegasus, the energy from a lot of purified souls was needed. Bringing a matched couple of them would weaken Pandora significantly. The gruesome part was that the pegasi bodies would come from my own flesh and blood. I suddenly felt the two million HP per second would be really, really necessary.
I needed a way to charge Pandora that didn't involve mass murder. Animals and monsters didn't provide much power unless they were legendary, high-tier creatures. But sentients were worth a lot. A level 12 drunkard's soul was worth thousands of goats or oxen of the same level, for example.
That would have to wait. I wasn't spiritually ready to do it right now. We went to the solar have our tea party. If every gormandizing groan my guests uttered with each bite of the scones was a level 12 drunkard's soul, I would already have a flock of pegasi.