I had the weirdest dreams. How my brain came up with the idea of demon squirrels and being a chef while in the hostile wilderness I will never know but I could see the appeal to those that loved the escapism of a new world. I always saw those kinds of stories online of people finding themselves in new worlds with game-like systems but I was never a reader of them. I guess my brain decided that was something new for me to dream about.
Stretching I lazily opened my eyes expecting to see my ceiling fan spin above me. The slightly transparent face of a young girl floating above me. In any other circumstance, I would have loved to awaken to find a woman next to me but this was no such occasion.
Realizing that my dream was no dream I jerked to my feet and grabbed my spear. Pointing it at the girl I asked.
“Who and what the hell are you?”
I tried to keep my voice under control but I knew I failed when she smiled at me and drifted closer. As she did so the point of my spear passed through her with no apparent discomfort.
“Hi, as I said last night I’m Izzy. It’s so nice to meet you it has been so long since someone has come through here. You are the first person I’ve talked to in literal ages, it must have been at least 50 years since the last person was summoned here.”
That last bit immediately caught my attention.
“Wait, you're saying that this wasn't some cosmic fluke and some psycho brought me here?!”
“Well, yeah. It's not like this just happens to people, there is always a cause.”
“So where is the guy that summoned me here, if he brought me here for something then he must have a way of sending me back, right?”
She stayed silent for a bit and then burst out laughing. I don't know why what I said was so hilarious but she was clutching her gut as if she needed to breathe. For all, I knew ghosts might need to breathe. After her laughing session, she looked at my irritated face and whipped away tears that weren't there.
“Sorry but that was a good one. There is no going back for you. You are just the by-product of whatever summoning happened. It happens all the time when someone brings someone from another dimension, sure they summon what they were after but random people always get pulled along as well for a free trip to usual certain death. Your just lucky to have survived this long.”
I paled as she said these things to me. It was one thing if I had been summoned to fulfill some weird purpose but if what she is saying is true then I am nothing more than an afterthought if even that.
I felt like my legs were jelly as I found a mostly intact chair and sat down.
“Don't feel so bad this is more common than you think. There used to be a guy a few doors over who was like you. He just appeared and went on to live the rest of his life here in happiness.”
“Then again he did die with the rest of us during the refresh.”
“I’m sorry the what?”
“The refresh. It was a mass spell that went wrong after some idiot mage tried to fix the ecosystem from over-farming and deforestation. He thought that if he was able to regrow all of the plants and accelerate all of the growth he might be able to make millions of gold. Instead, he cursed this forest for a hundred years of rampant growth and uncontrollable proliferation and mutations of its inhabitants.”
“Is that where those demon squirrels came from. What were they before?”
“Before everything in this forest was a normal plant and animal life now it's all dark and twisted and carnivorous.”
If that was the case then I was probably trapped here in the town surrounded by enemies.
“Is there any way for people to come rescue me?”
“Sure! The Regrowth spell faded years ago now it's only a matter of reconnecting to the outside. Now that you are here I wouldn't be surprised if someone didn't come and investigate the town.”
Thinking about that I asked, “How would they know I’m here?”
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“Well, it's not like your arrival here was quiet magically speaking. I'm a ghost and even I felt the massive mana wave. I am sure the nearest mage guild is sending a team to inquire.”
Hope bloomed inside me that I wouldn't die in this literal ghost town away from everything I knew. Before I could voice my relief Izzy decided to douse the embers of hope with some cold water.
“Of course, it might take a month or two to make their way here and by then you might already be dead.”
The fact that she could say that with such a smile on her face unnerved me more than a little. I didn’t wish to die here. Deciding not to go out without trying I stood up and grabbed my spear while heading for the door. If I was going to be here a month without any help I need food and water.
Unfortunately, that meant another run-in with demon squirrels or something worse. Before I left Izzy offered me some more words of dubious encouragement.
“Good luck! I hope to see you soon in one way or another.”
Not wanting to ponder her words I opened the door to head out ready to survive no matter the cost.
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(20 minutes later)
I was once more hobbling back to the bar but this time I was at least in a better position. After leaving I divided to look for some water as I remembered you could die of thirst far faster than dying of hunger. It wasn't hard to find the well as it was centrally located what was hard was finding a good enough bucket to fill and carry back with me. Looking in the nearby buildings most of everything was rotted and no good. Taking note of a few good-looking tables and chairs I continued on. In the third building, I found what I was looking for a metal bucket was left with an old dry mop in it taking it I went back and filled it with water.
It surprised me how clear the water was from the well I was expecting dirt and slime but was pleasantly surprised. As I headed back to the bar the chittering sounded again. With the foliage less thick in the town I could see them more clearly. Five demon squirrels perched on a nearby roof and stalked me. I began to walk faster but they only grew more excited.
The first attack came from behind and I was more or less expecting it. The problem was that I didn't want to spill the bucket of water. I felt the teeth sing one hore into my calf and I cried out in pain spilling some of my precious water. Twisting I thrust my spear down on the offending creature and was rewarded with another squirrel shish-kabab.
[Demonic Squirrel Killed]
[50 exp awarded]
Picking up my pace I made it back to the bar before anything else attacked me.
“Welcome back.”
I flinched at Izzy's greeting forgetting about how creepy she looked like as a ghost.
“Hi, Izzy.”
Trying my best to ignore her I limped back to the kitchen. I don't know why but when I entered the kitchen I just felt better like I was home and safe. I don't know if it was my class influencing me or what but I welcomed the relaxing atmosphere.
Setting the squirrel carcass on the counter I found an old pot and filled it with water. Restarting the fire I put the pot to let boil. While the water looked clear and clean I was not going to risk diseases in it.
As that was going I collected the knife and squirrel and skinned it. By the time I was done the pot was boiling. Thinking back on the awful taste of the [Roasted Demon Squirrel] I decided to do something a little different.
Using the knife I proceeded to trim all the meat off the bones as best I could and then dumped the bones into the pot to simmer. I couldn't remember how long it took to make broth but thankfully my chef class picked up the slack. After 2 hours which seemed like not enough time to me, I removed the bones and tasted the broth.
[Recipe Learned: Demon Squirrel Bone Broth]
[20 exp awarded]
[Demon Squirrel Bone Broth - Made from the bones of demonic squirrels this broth enhances the strength of the consumer to an extent]
I was intrigued to see that the broth could make me stronger to an extent but was annoyed that it didn't say how much. Putting that thought aside I began to make more [Roasted Demon Squirrel] with the butchered meat.
[15 exp awarded]
It was interesting to note that I gained experience again in making the recipe. I had thought that was a one-time thing from learning the recipe but was pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong.
Adding the roasted meat to the broth I got an unexpected result.
[Recipe Learned: Chunky Demon Squirrel Soup]
[30 exp rewarded]
[Chunky Demon Squirrel Soup - made from all parts of the demon squirrel this soup provided accelerated healing and muscle growth]
I had thought that because they were already recipes just dumping one into the other wouldn't change anything. I did notice that the wording for strengthening changed to muscle growth.
Finding an old pewter spoon I took some and tried it. The same taste as the [Roasted Demon Squirrel] greeted me but haven't expected anything else without spices I forced it down. I didn't feel any changes immediately so I continued to eat.
After finishing the soup my stomach was full but my mind desperately wanted to vomit it up from the taste. Just as I was going to get up something felt strange. I don’t know how else to say it but strange covered it as best as I could describe. My skin began to bubble and that feeling began to grow warm as it continued it grew hotter and hotter until I felt like my skin was burning.
Screaming the last thing that I saw before I blacked out was a new screen appearing.
[Chunky Demon Squirrel Soup - Muscular Enhancement Begining]
[Effectiveness: 87%]