By the time Sean’s next mana upkeep cost was paid, they had managed to get a good distance away from both the farm and Dry Run. They had also found a relatively thick grove of silver, green, and brown trees with barely any tracks running through it. Sean judged it would be a good place to stop and try out his new frying pan, given that the canopy overhead would hide any smoke. A sentiment that Gel shared, though the slime pointed out that anyone looking for a skeleton was unlikely to go investigating strange fires.
Sean dropped the remnants of a stone-shoulder doe they had come across on the way over in the middle of the grove. Gel had not shared Sean’s sentiment that they save half of the carcass, but the slime had relented when Sean had promised to cook the rest for him. He slid their two packs and the satchel off his shoulder, laying each gently on the ground at the base of the largest silver tree. They had been forced to use both packs in order to fit all the tools. It would have been a cumbersome, maybe impossible way to travel were he still human, but his skeletal body was more than up to the task.
“Alright, we need sticks for the fire.” Gel said, swiveling around to look about the glade. There was an almost comical abundance of multi-colored sticks in the grove. The slime tossed a stone lightly into the air. “I’ve already got the rock we need, so this should be easy enough. First we–”
“I know how to make a fire, Gel.” Sean said, sitting down for the first time in what felt like a very long time. “You don’t actually need a rock to make one, either.”
“No?” Gel asked, curiously. “The villagers all used a rock when they were making fires out of sticks. I don’t have any memories of them making wood burn with just wood.”
“It makes it easier, sure. But you don’t need it.” Sean may not enjoy the stick-on-stick method, but his uncle had drilled that one into him. Almost literally. He tapped the pack containing their flint and tinder box. “And we definitely don’t need it. I picked up that firestarter kit from the farm. Shouldn’t take more than a minute or two to get a blaze going with that bad boy.”
“Oh.” Gel sounded disappointed. He dropped the rock, which landed with a small thud on the dark grass.
“Don’t worry, we’re not going to use that yet.” Sean said with a grin. “Flint and tinder is cheating, as my uncle would say. So, we’re going to test something else out instead.”
“Oh?” Gel perked back up. “What are we testing?”
“My ‘Amateur Arsonist’ title. Says it grants us an “exceedingly rare” chance to ignite struck enemies and objects. I’d like to find out just how rare that is. None of the skeletons we fought went up in flames, so I’m curious if it’s got a higher chance to proc versus objects.”
“‘Proc’?” Gel asked, as if tasting the word.
“Take effect.” Sean explained. “Basically, I want to figure out two things: whether you can proc my titles, and what it looks like when the title actually goes off. So I’m going to make a pile of sticks and I want you to attack them until they go up in flames.”
“I love everything about this plan.” Gel announced. “When do we start?”
Sean was about to ask for a minute or two to rest, but then he realized he didn’t actually need it. His body couldn’t tire any longer, and apparently neither could his mind despite everything they had gotten up to since he had arrived.
This is going to take some getting used to. Sean forced himself back up to his feet, and was again surprised to find none of the lingering exhaustion or creaking complaints he might have expected from his human body. He looked down and flexed the fingers on his remaining hand. Bone phalanges curled and uncurled without the slightest hint of delay.
Guess I’ll be able to go full speed all the time. Sean thought.
A part of him wasn’t sure how he felt about that yet, but a larger part of him was more excited than anything. Sure the prompt he had received back at Bancroft’s had told him all this already. It was one thing to read it however, and entirely another to feel it. Sean could feel that he had no need to sleep, or even rest right now, and the implications of that realization were just starting to sink in. He would never have those concerns again, so he was about to get at least 25 to 50% more productive than any other human!
That same unsure part of his mind pointed out that he no longer was human, but Sean shut it out. He had already accepted that part of his new reality. There was no going back.
“Right now.” Sean said, finally answering Gel’s question. “I’ll get the wood ready, and you figure out whether you want to try doing this with the dagger or the axe.”
“Axe.” Gel said immediately. “Axes. Kindling. Fire. It just makes sense.”
“Fair enough.”
Gathering enough random sticks took no time at all. Sean made sure to use the back end of their pickaxe to dig a healthy gap of dirt out around the fire’s intended location. Last thing he needed was for their fire to catch the grass and light the whole forest up. He also gathered up some decently-sized rocks and added those to the ring he had made for extra protection. When it was done, he clapped his hand on his thigh and looked down at the impromptu fire pit.
Uncle Randy would spit on this. Sean knew that. The old man had extremely high standards for forest fire prevention. Sean sighed internally and spent another few minutes improving on the design. When he was finally satisfied that his uncle wouldn’t have an apoplectic fit over the mere sight of it, Sean gestured for Gel to begin. The slime had already formed his axe and was leaning forward.
Immediately, and without the slightest hint of hesitation, Gel began chunking their pile of fallen branches and gathered twigs into ever-smaller bits of kindling. Each blow landed on at least half a dozen branches, if not more. Sean watched eagerly, keeping a mental count of Gel’s strikes as he kept a ready stance next to the pit to keep from falling off balance thanks to those same strikes.
For longer than Sean would have expected, Gel kept wailing away on the firewood. He hit more and more pieces each time as the branches were hacked into bits. They had to stop and reset the kindling pile three times due to pieces flying off. Then, right when Sean had counted 142 strikes, it happened. A prompt outlined by charred wood covered in flames appeared in his vision.
You have activated the ‘ignite’ effect of your title “Amateur Arsonist” for the first time! Note: Attacks by your flesh bonded companion count as attacks made by you for the purposes of this title’s effects.
The instant Gel’s giant, clear axeblade landed in the center of the pile a loud fwoosh sound erupted away from the impact, accompanied by brilliant orange flames that engulfed the entire weapon… and its target. Gel shouted in equal parts victory and alarm, yanking both the arm and weapon back, but the flames retreated rapidly from the axe’s surface. They did not retreat from the pile of kindling. Only seconds after the strike had landed, they now had a fire merrily blazing away in the pit.
“Well, that answers both of my questions.” Sean said, right as Gel shouted.
“WoooHOOO!! I have created the mighty FIRE!” The slime crowed, raising his oversized battle axe in victory. “How many slimes do you know who can do that!?
Sean laughed, and had to admit the answer was a resounding: “None. Now…”
Walking back over to the pack with the magical frying pan they had found back at the tavern in Dry Run, Sean pulled both it and the tongs he had found at Betsy Boopsie’s farm out. He stuck the tongs in the pan to make the pair easier to carry in one hand.
“Now you show me how to master fire to make even better food!” Gel pronounced.
“Actually…” Sean turned, and regarded the front half of the deer carcass they had. He wasn’t entirely sure if the half Gel had consumed had kept bacteria out of the rest, but he doubted it. At least keeping the head made it easier to drag around. “Now would be when I show you how to dress down a deer… something we would have done earlier if we had time, so for now I just need you to cut it open about… here. Then we’ll go in and– “
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Before Sean managed to finish that sentence, Gel had already swung his axe in a powerful downward stroke. Blood splattered the grass as the axe cleaved straight down to the dirt.
“Damnit, Gel!” Sean snapped, irritation flooding through him. “I’m trying to cook us up potentially life-saving food here and figure out the anatomy of creatures I’ve never seen before. I need you to listen to me before you just go off swinging like that! You may have ruined the meat!”
“How could that have ruined the meat?” Gel asked, a bit taken aback at Sean’s tone. There was a hint of apology in his tone, and the slime seemed genuinely puzzled. “It’s all going to the same place.”
“It is, yes. But if you open the wrong organ and it spills all over the rest, then you could spoil the taste.” Sean explained, reigning his irritation in before his undead body had the chance to. Gel doesn’t know these things. He reminded himself. That’s on me for not telling him earlier.
“Oh.” Gel said simply. “That… doesn’t make any sense, Sean. Organs make food taste better.”
Sean decided not to argue that point with the omnivorous, whole-body-devouring slime, choosing instead to explain the logic behind dressing down a kill for its meat. The analogues he used were all from Earth of course, but Gel listened with rapt fascination the entire time. As he talked, Sean also showed Gel how and where to cut as best he could, though it often took multiple inspections of the carcass before he felt confident he knew where those cuts should go.
The interior of this deer matched Earth deer in many areas, but some of its internal parts were different or completely new to him. Rather than being strange, Sean found that prospect intriguing. He made mental notes of the new organs and other differences, hoping to find some clue as to which pieces of meat or flesh might lead them to the creation of those buff-granting dishes Gel had mentioned earlier.
All told, preparing the deer meat for the fire actually didn’t take too long. They weren’t saving all of it, and this meal was all about experimentation after all. Gel eventually switched out his battle-axe form for the dagger, and the process went far more smoothly after that. The dagger’s clear blade was incredibly sharp. Sean felt himself relax as he flicked the dial on the frying pan to its first notch, activating the pan’s oil generation. Cooking had always calmed him.
He held the pan steadily over the fire to warm it, appreciating that he no longer had the same heat sensitivity concerns human chefs did. Beside him, Gel opened up their box of spices they had brought over and audibly restrained himself from just devouring the contents wholesale. The slime spent what sounded like a painful amount of time making his selection, but he eventually raised a single glass vial up.
“This one!” Gel proclaimed. “Use this one first.”
“Alright.” Sean said, then indicated the ground next to him. “Put it there and I’ll tell you when to add it.” A thought occurred to him, and Sean quickly added. “And how much to add. I’ll give you a thumbs-up when I’m done.”
“What’s a thumbs-up?”
“I’ll lift my thumb.”
“I… yeah, okay I should have caught that.”
The fire crackled and the ambient noise of the forest settled back into Sean’s awareness. He lost himself for a bit, enjoying the simple pleasure of focusing on a task he loved. Before long he was humming, though he didn’t notice it and Gel didn’t interrupt him. In the distance, the sun began to rise, bringing with it a slow, soft light that spread across the world as night retreated. Vibrant yellow light shot through the trees, causing some of the nearby trees – the silver ones – to literally glow for a time.
So enmeshed was he in the joy of his craft, that Sean barely noticed the world waking up around them. His new, magical frying pan was a marvel. It heated evenly – even on the sides – and the ability to ‘switch off’ the cooking oil it generated was ridiculously helpful. After adding the final sear and an extra dash of spice, Sean gave Gel a thumbs-up to indicate that it was done. His right arm immediately shot forward, grabbing the stone-shoulder deer steak and immediately tossing it into his stomach where Gel eagerly awaited his first ever cooked meal.
A prompt appeared. One that showed up with a sizzle of fat popping on a pan, exactly like that of the deer steak he had just finished cooking. The edges were cooking utensils, and some of them Sean didn’t recognize.
Congratulations! Your finished dish was of sufficient quality to advance your understanding as a chef beyond the borders of ordinary cooking! Continue expanding your range and knowledge to achieve further benefits and unlock new plateaus of potential in the culinary arts.
Progress towards achieving the Amateur Magichef title: 1.4%
Sean stared at the prompt with a real, visceral hunger emanating from deep within his bones. He couldn’t have said where it came from, but that didn’t matter. He wanted that title. Something in him yearned for it. Burned for it. He didn’t even care what benefits it gave, though he was somehow sure they would be worth the effort.
Not quite 2% towards it yet, but that was only from a single steak. If all I have to do is cook… Sean glanced at the large amount of deer they still had waiting and felt reasonably sure that the title would be his soon enough. The yawning hunger for it inside him retreated at the thought, and as he dismissed the prompt a familiar voice inside his head took his attention away.
“Ow-ow! Oomph… Thas hot!” Gel shouted around what sounded like a full mouthful. Sean still didn’t know how Gel managed to talk like that mentally, but he had come to accept it. “Hot hot hot!”
Sean laughed, unable to keep himself from doing so. The clattering of his jaws disturbing the otherwise peaceful morning forest.
“Sorry bud, I meant that to tell you the meat was done – I was still going to let it cool, though. Letting a dish ‘rest’ to marinate a bit in the juices can heighten the flavor. Though I guess we don’t really have anywhere to do that. Did you burn yourself?”
“Nomph.” Gel said, somehow managing a “no” through a mumble. “But thish is… so…”
The slime stopped talking, and Sean waited patiently. He wasn’t worried that Gel wouldn’t like it – his friend ate the actual anuses of their kills after all – though he was curious to see the response. When Gel had finished digesting the steak, which took longer than expected – Is he savoring it? – the slime gave his opinions.
“So worth the effort.” Gel pronounced, before grabbing another chunk of deer and slapping it onto the pan. “Another! Let’s cook the whole thing!”
Sean laughed again as he agreed, pleased that his friend had enjoyed it even if he couldn’t right now. They spent a few minutes discussing the flavor and how the spice had come through – what it had tasted like, etc. At the end, Sean figured that particular spice was similar to thyme from Earth. It looked similar, too. Though dried herbs all looked at least somewhat similar in his opinion. No matter what world they came from. It was an encouraging thought.
Might be easier to fit in here than I’d thought. Sean told Gel to pick another spice, which started off another round of deliberations, and the pair of them repeated the process with another steak.
Sean kept silent track of his progress towards the Amateur Magichef title as they worked. He quickly discovered that cooking the steak the exact same way did absolutely nothing for his progression. Adding different spices seemed to help, though not by much. Again, he marveled at how easy it was to play field-chef with his new frying pan. The galaxy-swirl in the center was completely non-stick, and not that imitation non-stick some pans claimed. Even charred meat would slide right off.
Maybe I should name it. Sean thought, as he wondered how the pan would react to vegetables and other things. Going to need more ingredients.
Sean flipped the steak over to add a fresh sear and began mentally going over the various techniques he knew. Maybe if I made some of these into jerky? That would take longer than we have probably, but it would also keep for longer. Would the food keep its mana regeneration properties though? That’s the real question.
None of the meat Gel had eaten thus far had regenerated any mana for either of them. But Sean wasn’t discouraged. They had plenty more, after all.
Around the time Gel was merrily devouring his tenth deer steak, one that finally gave them both some mana back, several prompts burst into his vision. The prompts’ borders were a dark, ornate metal shaped into symbols he didn’t recognize. They arrived one after the other alongside a fanfare of drums steadily rolling into a rising, energetic beat that eclipsed Sean’s excitement over finally getting mana back through the wonder of steak.
You have successfully outlasted being discarded by your summoner, and have even managed to escape from their domain! You earned 100 experience points.
You have successfully survived an assassination attempt by a more powerful creature, and have even evaded several squads of similarly-leveled hostile undead! You have earned 75 experience points.
You have successfully evaded, outwitted, and escaped from a creature more than five times your own level! You have earned 150 experience points.
These three prompts were quickly replaced by another, far more important prompt. As before its interior was marked by a bright, transparent gold with silver trim and each of the words were written in heavy black lettering. Sean thought the border of the prompt had darkened some, but he couldn’t tell for sure.
Sean’s grin would have split his face from ear to ear if he still had any.
Now that is what I’m talking about.