Just outside the forest’s edge sat a large table. I noticed it because the thing looked out of place where it sat. Scraps of various plants littered the table. As I got closer, I noticed a shimmering green mixed in the pile. Linda hovered over a large steaming pot as she slowly stirred a small bottle of a dark red liquid in.
We must not have been quiet in our approach because when we were close enough, she called out. “Lunch is nearly done. Just adding my family's secret sauce.” Bottle empty, she gave it one last stir before taking a small sip off the ladle.
“You’re being awfully nice to share that sauce with Kyren here,” Jeremiah said as their group popped out of the forest behind us. “It took me four or five trips with you before you shared it with me. Now I can’t get enough of the stuff.”
“Speak for yourself,” mumbled Lance.
There was a sudden pop of air as Michael vanished. A loud crack and muffled scream came from my left. Michael had Lance up against a tree. One of his legs was bent at an odd angle. He flailed, trying to get out of Michael’s grasp. Michael didn’t budge as he leaned forward to say something into one of Lance’s ears. Lance’s eyes dimmed as his body relaxed. His body fell to the ground in a heap as Michael released him.
Having seen how quickly he had done that to one of his companions, I worried that something similar might happen to me. Michael must have seen this on my face because he gestured back as he spoke. “Mixed races like Wolfmen have some of the instincts of their animal counterparts. They will try to kill those they feel are a threat if you don’t show them who is the alpha every once in a while.”
I tried to process what he said. While I got what he said, it didn’t quite match what he had done. Lance hadn’t said anything in challenge to anyone else in the group. In fact, the punishment made no sense. Not that I was going to say anything to that effect. No, I would just have to play it cool until we got back to town. After today I could keep my distance from them.
I gave a brief, if jerky, nod as I turned to look at Linda. Her eyes were locked onto me as she studied. She must have seen something she liked, or decided to offer an olive branch, because she filled a bowl nearly to the brim and held it out for me.
I took the bowl before moving to the side. The liquid was thick. Chunks of meat were interspersed between various vegetables. It reminded me of a stew. All that was missing was a piece of bread. Curious, I lifted the bowl to my nose and breathed the steam in.
The stew smelled of the forest mixed with a sharp undertone. Its smell made my mouth water. As I sipped some of the stock right from the bowl, flavor exploded across my tongue. It was slightly sweet with an edge that snuck up on you as the rest of the flavors vanished.
I don’t mean that it was spicy like some people described the peppers used in some eating challenges. It was more akin to the sharp bite of freshly ground pepper. Not enough to overpower anything but enough to cause the mouth to water and deepen the flavor of the dish.
Curious about the rest of the dish, I grabbed one of the spoons off the table. I lifted one of the pieces of meat and gently placed it into my mouth. The meat fell apart as soon as it touched my tongue. It acted like an oversaturated sponge. Every bit of stored liquid and flavor poured out of it and across my tongue as it disintegrated.
This time, the sharp bite at the end was more pronounced. Almost like the meat had been the source of the spice that produced the effect. Curious, I ate one of the orange-colored vegetables next. As it had been cooked in the stew for a little while, I had expected it to be soft. To my surprise, it crunched as I bit down. While it didn’t have much spice, it contained quite a bit of the other flavors.
A soft white cube was my next target. It was soft, nearly falling apart as I caught it between my spoon and the side of the bowl. A more neutral, if a bit earthy, flavor filled my mouth.
The rest of the bowl quickly disappeared as I ate. When I looked up from my empty bowl, I found Linda watching me. A soft smile on her face as she lowered her spoon. “Would you like some more?”
I nodded. She set her bowl on the table she reached for mine. As I passed it over, I hesitated before asking “Is there any way I can get the recipe?”
“Sure,” She passed my refilled bowl back as she continued “as long as you are willing to eat a lesser version of it. Most of the flavor comes from my family's sauce.”
“Is there any way I can get some?” I nearly facepalmed the moment I realized what I had said. It was her family's secret sauce. There was no way that she would give me such a thing.
“Sure.” Her answer surprised me.
Given the fact that the group went silent and stopped eating, I was not the only one caught off guard. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Michael’s eyebrows lift in obvious question. Lance groaned before returning to his bowl. Grimacing as he took another bite.
“Why not?” She shrugged. “It would give us a reason to keep in touch. Maybe when you catch up to us you can join our group.”
Yeah, how about not. Something about this seemed a bit off. Then again, what would it hurt to be willing to talk to her every once in a while in return for her willingly selling me some of whatever this sauce was? Just because I accepted the bargain didn’t mean that I had to join their group. “Sure, what do you want in return for some? Oh and a few recipes that use it,” I took a second before adding “If you don’t mind that is.”
She chuckled. “For you, a silver a bottle. Though I only have a single bottle on me. When we get home I can get you a few more. Not many more, I still need some for myself. I can also message you several recipes and ways to add it to some dishes. The only thing I ask is that you refrain from using it in the guild. We can't have anyone else catching wind you have some. Some of them will fight you for it.”
Yeah, I was not willing to fight someone for a sauce. She tapped and dragged at the air as I finished my next bowl. Moments after she returned to her bowl, something flashed at the bottom right side of my vision. The symbol reminded me of a message bubble. A window opened up the moment I focused on it.
TRADE
Initiated By:
Linda Morrowgrave
Ask:
Offer:
1 Silver Coin
Contact Information
1 Bottle of Secret Family Sauce
Contact Information
Recipe Book
Reject
Accept
Well, that is new. This was the first time I had ever had a nonplayer character initiate a trade of their own volition. I had expected her to physically ask for the money and hand over the bottle. Maybe even hand me a small book of recipes that I could save to my interface, somehow.
As I accepted the deal, nothing seemed to happen. Then again, what did I expect to happen? It was likely that the system moved everything into and out of my inventory on its own. “Cool. Just contact me whenever you need some more.”
Michael grabbed Linda around the waist, kissing her lips lightly before murmuring something. As he stepped back, he turned to the four others. “Victor, how many mushrooms did you guys gather before lunch?”
“We got lucky. Lance managed to find two large clusters. We have enough to complete the quest twice over.” He said as he scraped at his bowl.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Good, the extra mushrooms should fetch a good price at the guild. Lance, help Jeremiah with the dishes.” I expected Lance to grumble but he simply lowered his head and moved to do as he was ordered.
Jeremiah flicked his hand over his bowl. A small orb of water formed in the air only to splash into it. A few moments later, a murky liquid lifted out. It shot toward the trees while he tossed the bowl to Lance. Each person passed him their bowl and he repeated the process.
After I handed mine off, Michael pulled me to the side. “While those two are working on the dishes, we have time to talk a bit.”
“About what?”
“Did you not gain a few levels from the fight earlier?”
Not quite understanding where he was going with this, I spoke, though it came out more like a question than an answer. “Yeah.”
“You need to think about what you want to spend those points on. Unless you don’t want to learn a skill or use magic.”
Well damn, for some reason I had forgotten what Barti had said about points. Michael had to be the one to remind me. “No, I do. I just forgot that…never mind.” I waved my hand in an effort to try and erase what I just said. “How do I use them?”
“Pull up the shop window and select the skill tab.” He spoke as if it should be obvious. I rolled my eyes but did as instructed. “Bear in mind that the costs for some of the skills may be higher or lower for you than for other people. Something to do with compatibility or something.”
Skill Selection
Skill
Point Cost
Cooking 1
1
Swimming 1
1
Meditating 1
1
Hair Cutting 1
1
Kick Boxing 1
1
Jumping 1
1
Silent Movement 1
1
Long Sight 1
1
Communication 1
1
Bladed Weapons 1
1
Hand-to-Hand 1
1
…
…
The list was long. My head shook at what the system offered as I skimmed over the list. I mean, I get why some were offered and why someone would buy them but come on, haircutting? That just sounded stupid.
Every time I scrolled to the bottom, the scroll bar popped back up to the middle indicating there was yet more. It was as though the list was never-ending. While I doubted that, I didn’t have time to read through everything.
Not sure of how to return to the top, I simply closed and reopened the screen. My eyes scanned the page for a search bar or some other way to narrow the list. Unsurprisingly, the option was right at the top of the list. It even had a few options right at the top of the drop-down.
Attack
Defense
Utility
Magical
Physical
I selected magical. Attack, defense, and utility all auto-selected. Given that I had no clue what I was looking for, I left them alone. The list that populated was much smaller. Not that it mattered. What I needed was at the very top of the list.
Skill Selection
Skill
Point Cost
Fire Element 1
5
Earth Element 1
5
Water Element 1
5
Wind Element 1
5
Light Element 1
10
Dark Element 1
10
Space Element 1
50
Time Element 1
%^#()@!
Magic Missile 1
1
Ether Claw 1
1
Night Vision 1
1
…
…
Well, I wouldn’t be using the space element anytime soon. Not that I minded. Various characters in various fictional stories I had read had each tried to play with the element only to accidentally rip holes in reality. It took the ones that survived a while to figure out how to control their powers. While I was willing to spend time learning to control such power, I would rather not do so until I got the hang of magic in general.
Then there was the buggy point cost associated with the Time Element. If that was any indication of the cost being way too high, the system could keep it. Though, now that I thought about it, how would such magic even work in this game? It wasn’t like a player could go back in time. Forward, yes. All that would be required for a game to do something like Future Sight was a very sophisticated prediction program.
Hah, did I really just say that was all that was required? Such a program would be put to better use predicting the weather or solving other real-world issues.
For some reason, my eyes kept going to the Fire Element option. Something told me that it was the most likely option to help me deal damage on my own. While there was other options, it was my best bet, so I selected it. As I did so, another window popped up asking me to confirm my selection.
The window disappeared the moment I agreed to the purchase. Another window replaced it a fraction of a second later. Not that I got to read it. Not with the sudden liquid fire that seared its way from the center of my chest. Each beat of my heart pushed it down my veins. The liquid burned everything it touched. Beat, burn, repeat. Eventually, it reached the end of my limbs. There was nowhere else for it to go.
I expected the fire to finish whatever it was doing or to at least kill me. After all, what else could it do now that it had burned through my body? Yeah, it didn’t. The damn liquid practically bounced off the ends of my limbs and raced back toward my heart. As soon as it returned to my heart, the muscle spasmed. It almost seemed to stall out.
Whatever was flowing through my veins did not like that. It wrapped around my heart and squeezed. Another wave of heat raced out of the heart faster than the first. Again my heart spasmed as it nearly stopped.
Wave after wave repeated the process. Each traveled along my veins faster than the last. Each caused my heart to spasm before being forced to beat yet again. As the waves sped up, so did my heart.
An eternity later my heart felt like it was humming. The waves were no longer separate. It almost felt like my veins were soaking in an ocean of fire. Slowly though, the pain subsided as my heart gradually slowed.
Not that the fire fully disappeared. Instead, it became something that sat in the back of my mind. Something I could ignore.
Finally, I opened my eyes and found myself staring up at the sky, again. Though, this time most of it was blotted out as Linda looked down at me. While I expected the grass was fairly soft, I didn’t think it was as soft as whatever was under my head. In fact, given her proximity, the only thing that made sense for me to be lying on was her lap.
That thought caused me to freeze. Given that she was dating Michael, I didn’t want to somehow piss him off. If he wanted to, he could crush me like a bug. So, as calmly as I could manage, I slipped off her lap while I mentally prayed to the gods that he didn’t see where I had been lying.
As I got up, I realized that there was a flashing icon in the corner. It looked almost like a minimized window. When I focused on it, a window popped up.
‘Fire Element 1’ integrating. Please wait.
Yeah, figures the burning sensation was because of the fucking fire element. I almost didn’t want to know what the other elements would feel like to unlock. Would water feel like you were drowning? What about space? Would it feel like I was being torn apart as my body tried to stretch and compress at the same time?
No, thank you. Shaking my head, I looked at the skill purchase window to see if anything had changed.
Skill Selection
Skill
Point Cost
Earth Element 1
10
Water Element 1
10
Wind Element 1
10
Light Element 1
20
Dark Element 1
20
Space Element 1
100
Time Element 1
%^#()@!
Magic Missile 1
1
Fireball 1
1
Fire Tornado 1
5
Fox Fire*
1
Fire Element 2
10
…
…
I had wondered where the fireball spell was on the list. Turns out you needed the ability to use the fire element to use it. Go figure. I wasn’t going to deal with any of the other options. At least not right now. With a brief effort of will, I closed the window. I took a look around as I tried to gauge how long I had been indisposed. It couldn’t have been all that long because Jeremiah was still washing the last of the dishes as Lance packed up the table and other supplies.
Linda dusted off her pants as she stood up. “What element did you choose?”
Without pause, I replied, “Fire.”
She smiled as she walked over to give me a hug. “Congratulations. I am sure you will love that element.” I stood there dumbfounded at her sudden need to touch me. Yeah, I had no clue how to take any of this. Though I was thankful for the group. Even though they were odd at times, and I didn’t agree with some of the things they did, they were being helpful to a newbie they had been stuck with.
“Let's head back,” Michael called from the other side of the group. Linda released her hug but didn’t leave my side as we made our way back toward town.