Mmm. Something smells really good. My eyes flutter open. facing down, I see the cast iron cauldron, flames licking up the sides with a bubbling broth inside. Oddly, there's lots of meat, as well as the root vegetables that I would expect. I float onto my feet and see that only Lyre is still in bed, cuddling one of my rabbits. Looking down at myself, I can hardly detect any transparency at all. I pop down to the basement to get a better look at my mana level and see that my core is now about the size of an orange. I think I'll make a bigger animal today. The rabbits are good for a little bit of mana but one mouse that Salem catches gives the same amount of mana that a rabbit collects in almost a day. I know there are deer in this forest because of.. The incident. I doubt I can make anything big enough to hunt deer but the ecosystem must be at least similar to back home, so there must be plenty of smaller animals too.
I'll decide what to make in a bit but first I'm dying to taste this soup. Solidifying my hand and mouth fully, I pick up the wooden spoon sitting on the edge of the cauldron and give the soup a stir, then get a nice scoop and bring it to my lips. It tastes absolutely delicious, the meat is almost spicy and falls apart without even needing to chew, the broth has an amazing buttery feel, and the vegetables are soft without being mushy. I catch myself on my third spoonful when I realize that the kids actually need to eat and I don't. I put the spoon back and bring down the flames to just keep it warm since it's definitely done cooking. I'm glad I have the ability to eat, and it does seem to have given me a lot of mana, probably more than just the raw ingredient would, which is interesting.
I jump so hard that I almost hit the ceiling when I hear someone start talking behind me. “Guess you were hungry, eh?”
“Salem! Do not sneak up on me like that, you’re too cat… like. Nevermind. I just wanted to see if I could still eat, did you make this soup?”
“I dont have thumbs, Aulos made it, used a lot of those spices you have too. He says his mom taught him how to cook, he went out to find something called ‘delectamenti root’. Apparently his mom never cooked without it and you didn't have any here.”
“Oh, ill have to compliment his skills when he gets back, did he also hunt this meat?”
“That part was me, he isn't fast enough to catch those tasty little birds.”
“Birds? It tasted like beef!”
“That's what makes them so tasty.”
“You're not wrong there, I'll need you to catch more of them later.”
The door is thrown open by Aulos, who happily waves around a bundle of thin, dark purple roots.
“Hey Salem, I found a whole patch of delecta! I’ll only need one for the stew, so I'm gonna hold onto a few to replant them after winter." The boy then washes the roots in a bucket of water and chops one into the stew with a small and ornate, but worn and tarnished folding pocket knife.
“somethings different, did you or Lyre eat some already?”
“That would be Wica, she says it's delicious.”
“Oh, lady Wica is awake! Uhm, hello ma'am, please have as much soup as you'd like. It'll taste much better with the delecta root." The pale boy nervously said, his eyes wandering around the room, unsure of where to look. He's been cleaned up, seems to have even washed his clothes, though they're still very worn and baggy. I make a mental note to make them some nice clothes before replying through Salem.
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"She says she'll have some after you two have had your fill. She also has a few questions after you've eaten so you'll probably want to wake your sister and eat before your soup gets cold."
Aulos agrees and gently shakes Lyre awake causing the rabbit she was cuddling to angrily hope down and through the hole under the bed, they collect a few unglazed bowls and forged spoons from the dish cabinet and fill them up with soup, they even set down a small one for Salem. I watch them while they all eat, Salem's food immediately turning to mana as it hits his stomach, just like when he catches a mouse. I'm certain now that it's more mana than its constituent parts should give. I wonder if it's the cooking process or something else but I'll have to experiment with that later. I also look at the kids, the mana flaking off of them seems to be even more substantial now. I hope that's from them getting stronger since they look even better than when they first found me.
Once everyone is finished with their soup and the dishes are cleaned, Aulos pours the last of the soup into a bowl and takes it down to the basement. Placing it before the pedestal which my core rests on. "Salem said this was like your body so I'll leave this here for when you get hungry." He's so sweet, I'm keeping him. Though now that i think about it, placing an offering before my alter makes me feel like some kind of weird cult god. I'm going to work on changing the vibe in here to be a little less culty but it's time to learn a little more about this world from some real people. I only made it about halfway through that boring dungeon book so it'll be nice to learn from people who don't drone on about 'proper delving etiquette' for four chapters.
I have the kids sit down at the card table with Salem and have him ask my questions.
"So, let's start with the basics. What is this place called?"
"Do you mean the forest, Havenwood, or the continent, Magnarbor?"
"Both I suppose, and the world?"
"That's Lutum."
"Interesting. You said something about winter, is it coming soon? And what kind of things will you need for it?"
"Winter will be here within a month or two . We have most of what we need here to be comfortable, but it will be more difficult to forage once the snow falls, so It'd be best if you stockpiled some food soon.”
“I see, I'll have the rabbits collect any vegetables they find instead of eating them. Speaking of food, that barrel in the shed had a bunch of that fruit in it that was in perfect condition. Does it just keep really well or is the barrel special?”
“Ooh Is there any left?” the boy perks up a bit
“No, I'm sorry I used their mana a while ago”
He looks pretty disappointed but responds. “Aw, well dulce fruits are known for their long shelf life. That's probably why they were stored to begin with.”
“Ok good to know. Last question, do you know anything about dungeons?”
“Just that we’re supposed to stay away from them. Pa used to go out to delve in them but never took us.”
“Ah, okay. Thank you for answering my questions. I'll probably have more later but for now you two should play. Do you know how to play chess or cards?”
“I know ‘prisoners game’. That's a card game, but I don't know about chess.”
“Alright, I'll teach you the rules, then I'll go and get some work done.”
I teach them all the rules and watch them play a game to make sure they have it right. They only make a few mistakes so they're already better than I was at their age.
I pop back outside and decide what animal to make next. I'll need mana through the winter and animals will be both plentiful and give the most mana so ill need something that can hunt game. I decide on either a wolf or a hawk. A hawk would have more range but a wolf would be able to hunt even bigger animals. I decide on the hawk since it should cost less and will give me a better idea of the surrounding areas. I point my staff and start forming the large bird. It ends up much larger than I thought, about the size of an Australian shepard. I pour more mana into it just like I did with Salem so she can tell me about anything interesting she sees. The extra intelligence should also make her a better hunter.
“Hello Acci! Nice to meet you!”
“Greetings, lady Wica. shall I hunt?”
“Yes, please keep an eye out for anything interesting and report back tonight.”
Acci gives a formal bow and sends herself off the ground in a single flap of her massive wings. I watch her quickly soar into the distance in no time at all and I start receiving tons of mana almost immediately as she begins hunting.
Alright, time to start stockpiling food. I pop over to the fruit tree and pour mana into all the unripe fruit, causing them to swell and lighten in color. I collect them all, placing them back in that barrel and teleport it into the basement. Since I can grow food so quickly, I doubt it'll be an issue to do some farming before winter sets in, so I pop over to the garden. All the weeds have been taken care of by the rabbits, so I just need to till the soil and plant. I mentally tell the rabbits to find me some seeds and get to preparing the garden. With a sweeping motion of my staff, I till all the soil. Immediately a few sticks are pulled up. I lift all the soil to get rid of them and immediately drop it again when I realize what I'm seeing. What kind of monster lived here before me?