My surprise didn’t come from seeing a penalty from eating the mushroom, after all I've said Goblins will eat almost anything as long as it won't outright kill them. No, it was because with that message I got other messages at the same time:
Iron Stomach +5 XP
Calories +5
But even those seemed reasonable since the first was a response to the mushroom's penalty, while the second was apparently the calories in the little blue snack, something that was a feature of Gluttony. No, the surprise was located away from the center of my vision; down in the bottom left of my vision appeared a new bit of information marked as "Cal" with a "5" next to it.
Was it how I stored calories to use with the Gluttony skill?
I muddled over it in my head for a moment before peeking at the description of the Blue Mushroom before making a decision:
Blue Mushroom
One of the cultured mushrooms of Goblin Mushroom farmers, this simple foodstuff of the Goblins is seens as an exotic ingredient in cooking.
Effects: When eaten raw a mild narcotic effect impairs the mind of the eater, numbing their ability to think clearly. -50% Insight (rounded down) for 5 minutes per mushroom consumed.
Maybe I should explain a little about Insight before I get too far into what happened right after reading that. Insight isn't exactly a measure of how smart you are, but rather a measure of your ability to understand things and apply what you do know.
Which is why, in my impaired state, I decided to finish the entire bag to see what happen. Eleven more mushrooms popped down the hatch and quickly popped and melted away into a delightful foam. Since I was already temporarily at 1 Insight it didn't drop further, but the time quickly shot up to 55 minutes was the total penalty I faced after eating those dozen mushrooms, a short period being shaved off of there are my Iron Stomach resisted one of the penalties and kept the penalty under an hour.
Iron Stomach +60 XP
Wait...did resisting the effects just pay out double? If so, then I see a valuable reason to keep eating suspect foods just to make it even stronger! Of course maybe next time checking what I put in my mouth might be a good idea.
Then again, it is double experience, that isn't too easy to just get like that for skills.
Calories +55
Cal: 60
Hm. So Cal is my total available calories based on what I ate. While this makes it easier to count calories in a diet, I guess it's supposed to help me keep track of how many calories I have for use to convert into refilling my stats.
Well that definitely makes it easier. I mean, if I had to sit down with a pen and paper to work this stuff out I'd probably just skip that and overstuff myself to solve the problem. Though I have to ask an obvious question: why didn't Gluttony gain any experience from my eating? Is it based on something else, like the quality of the food or the food being cooked?
Honestly I don't think I'll puzzle out this question on my own. If [Status] had a help feature or if I could just look up the answer on my phone then this wouldn't be so much of a pain to work out, so I gave up.
What? Eating is my strength, thinking is not. Of course that only is more obvious by the fact that I got a skill for eating and not one for my ability to think.
I gave up on trying to work out the limits of my skills for now and instead turned my attention to looking over my equipment.
Camouflage uniform
A uniform made for Soldiers. Increases concealment.
Combat Boots
Tough boots made for wear in combat situations. Reduce slippage and protect the feet from injury.
Bayonet
A steel combat knife designed to be used on it's own or attached to the barrel of a rifle. A little dull.
Nothing fanciful, but having something was better than nothing, so I made the switch by mentally selecting the boots and uniform from my inventory, which resulted in them immediately replacing my pajamas.
Camouflage uniform Equipped.
Combat Boots Equipped.
Pajamas Acquired.
I left the knife stowed and took a moment to appreciate that equipment resizes to the user. The original owner was a beanstalk compared to my body and frankly I couldn't be happier to not have to roll so much sleeve or pant leg up just to be able to wear the uniform.
I left the knife in my Inventory to ensure I couldn't lose it and left the barn. The boots were well broken in, which made them fit rather comfortable to walk in, despite being made of such stiff looking black leather.
My new-old boots carried me past the house despite the small thought that maybe there would be a gun somewhere. This wasn't due to my lowered Insight, but rather a simple fact: I had no idea how to use a gun so even if I found one I had no confidence in using it well enough to actually kill a goblin that was sleeping, much less one that was leaping at me.
On the other hand, I had some tennis experience from school so at least wielding the skillet like a deadly, and heavy, racket made of iron was an option. That and once I stunned something by nailing it in the head then the bayonet would be easier to use to finish the job. It wasn't a plan that would let me fight more than one thing at once, but it beat having no plan at all. Though, even my slightly muddled self had to admit that I needed to get stronger because this wasn't enough of a plan to live on.
As I returned to the road I noticed that the Cal counter in the corner of my eye had dropped to "59". Confused I stopped and stared at it for a moment. Was this what the Gluttony skill meant by excess calories being lost?
If so, how in the heck was my body processing food at this point?
More confusion was piling up so I dealt with it in the only way I knew how: ignoring it and doing something else. In this case, I followed the highway further from the tunnel, hoping to find the way out. As I walked I did my best to use my Tracking skill to look for signs of goblins.
I continued like that for a while before I realized my Cal number had hit 0. As hunger pains began to set in again I gave in an increased my Cal number by eating raw heads of wheat. It wasn't all that tasty but it was filling enough to keep me going. I pulled off several heads and stored them in my inventory just-in-case. I have to admit though that if I didn't have an Iron Stomach I honestly wouldn't have tried eating raw wheat like that.
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Like that the day ended and I slept poorly on the side of the road, my mind filled with thoughts of my mother, and of course of my warm bed that I wasn't able to sleep in right now.
Days passed like that. On the second day I started singing to myself to help pass the time and it helped a bit. On the fourth I was starting to see bits of green in the distance and began to find insects which I hunted to fill my stomach, though it never felt like it was getting full as much as the Cal was increasing since the feeling of being full never came, just a feeling of not being hungry.
The change to my body wasn't something I could properly think about though as I was still too focused on walking to try and figure out what the limits of the skill where.
Fitness (level 1) acquired.
Almost immediately after that notice popped up on the fifth day I felt my body getting lighter and it feel like I have more energy. The red and yellow bars in the corner of my vision were longer too. I admit I had to smile a little because this was a skill I knew from my past life. For every level you earned you gained an extra point of strength and vitality which would influence how much damage you could live through while increased strength generally made your body stronger and more capable in a fight.
That said, while it was an easy skill to learn, namely because anyone who put forth enough effort would get it, it wasn't an easy one to master. The more it increases in level the harder it is to level it further. Additionally, a single extra point here or there wasn't something people of high level cared about. I mean I kind of understand since once your stats start getting high enough the addition of a point or two isn't a major increase, but any increase was better than no increase in my book. At least in this lifetime, my old lifetime I'd been too focused on my archery and killing things from a distance to really worry about increasing my stats like that.
Being as weak as I am in this life though, I could only take the path given to get stronger and try and see it to the end. Not only to see Mom again, but to be strong enough to live that comfortable life I had before this. Only through strength could I have a peaceful life.
It was on the sixth day that I reached the edge of the forest, the road continuing straight through, but my brain crying that it looked like a great way to get ambushed I gave it up and entered the treeline off to the side of the road, keeping it close enough to see, but no so close that I was easily visible from the road itself.
Two more days passed like that with me testing anything I found that looked halfway like food. Berries, the occasional nut, leaves, and even mushrooms were all given testing, some increased my Iron Stomach's experience, others being edible but bitter, while occasionally something would be both edible and good tasting. They weren't fine dining but for someone who'd been forced to eat raw wheat and bitter plants to live so far they were a wonderful alternative. I also tried hunting insects like I'd done the grasshoppers but I was less confident of trying to eat anything I found due to their bright colors.
I mean I have an Iron Stomach, but even iron rusts, so let's not push it too hard. Especially after that incident with the berries that had me puking rainbows.
Well I say that but despite a fair amount of eating all I really did was spend a good while dry heaving and experiencing stomach cramps. I guess the way the Gluttony skill converts the things I eat means puking is out of the question.
It was as I lying on the ground and thinking about the fact that no food came up that I noticed a couple of things. First, I wasn't getting thirsty. Was the skill making it possible to get my liquids from what I eat, or was it more that since it converts everything, I no longer needed to drink water to maintain my hydration levels?
The second was a little more embarrassing, but for the sake of honest I'll just say it: I didn't feel the call of nature. Seeing no food come up when I vomited despite eating meant that it was probably not because of my lack of proper food and more because I no longer processed food like a normal person. Honestly this would have been more distressing if I wasn't too tired from the cramps too care, and too mentally exhausted from all the time spent alone.
That was three days ago and since then I can definitely say that there is a children's book about the bathroom that is no longer true. Well, at least toilet paper isn't a concern.
As the days and miles passed by I would occasionally as I hiked I would find signs of Goblins, but I did my best to avoid them since most were in groups and I was still weak, even with my extra bit of strength from gaining the Fitness skill. On the other hand though, when I could find them on their own, I was a lot more brave.
"Girl?"
"Stinky pickle!"
I admit that my loneliness seemed to encourage me to start retorting to their weird conversations, but honestly I was having fun looking at their baffled expressions when I compared them to various green foods. Broccoli, cucumbers, lettuce heads, and of course pickles. Stinky pickle was just the most recent one I found and seemed to baffle them as much as it annoyed them.
"No stink! Girl stink!"
"Pft. Everyone knows girls only smell of flowers and sunshine you dill weed."
He didn't retort and instead threw a small clay pot at me which I dodged by rolling out of the way, a small burst of fire exploding behind me as I came to my feet and took my skillet out of my inventory. BANG! A strong strike to his head left him crumpled on the ground, and I swapped the skillet for the knife to finish the job.
+20 XP
Soldier has increased to level 2.
+1 Strength
+1 Insight
+1 Vitality
Melee has increased to E Rank.
Due to being bathed in the blood of over a dozen foes the skillet has become Bloody Skillet and now does extra concussive damage.
Oh I've finally gotten a little stronger. I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to see that level increase.
Oh, looks like Red Mushrooms this time. Better be careful since those lower my Vitality. If I had some butter or some fat I could fry them but it looks like I'll need to find another method to cook them to take the penalty off of them if I need to eat them out here.
Stowing my newest provisions I took out a handful of ants I'd "collected" and snacked on them, watching my Iron Stomach gain the occasional of experience as I wondered if this cave ever had an end.
Somewhere in the back of my mind I had to wonder if it was good or bad that I'd become accustomed to foraging like this. I couldn't answer but I still dreamed of going home and enjoying a bag of chips or bowl of popcorn instead of plants that numbed my mouth, berries that gave me stomach cramps or insects by the handful. Oh snack cabinet, how I miss you.
Honestly this punishing diet was making me wish that I could hunt like I did in my last life just for a change of pace in what I was stuck eating. That said it wouldn't happen unless I could find an animal in this forest. I mean I could find Goblins by the truck load, but despite their green skin I couldn't actually treat eating them as the same as eating a salad. Eating something that looks too close to being human was just a line I couldn't get myself to cross.
With a heavy heart full of grievances I oriented myself with the road again and kept walking.
---
Emily's Food Log:
Insects are a dish popular in many countries, but honestly they're usually cooked. Eating them raw is much sadder, but frankly easier than trying to start a fire just to roast a handful of whatever I've found. Grasshoppers have a strong, almost overpowering, flavor that made them hard to stomach at first, while the ants I've found have a strong acidic sting to them that makes them almost seem spicy. Neither was really a full meal, but as small snacks to keep my stomach quiet they did alright.
The mushrooms I've found range from the slightly meaty texture but rather tasteless button mushroom, to the fizzy cola ones I've taken from the Goblins but none of them are particularly filling. Speaking of the Goblin farmed mushrooms, blue ones impacted Insight which took away my MP, red impacted Vitality which lowered my HP, and yellow lowered my Strength which lowered my Stamina. They're good, but I really want to try them fried!
Worst of what I could find to eat has to be those poisonous berries. While a cheerfully bright red color that just asks you to eat them, the stomach cramps they gave lasted me hours! That said I still ended up picking the bush clean and have taken to eating one here and there less for the calories and more to try and improve my ability to resist the cramping. Why? Because in the last couple of weeks since I've gotten here they're the best tasting things I've eaten! Oh this is so not fair! Why must the tastiest thing be the most painful one!