You have acquired a pizza dough. 6/6 ingredients needed for quest Gathering Ingredients. You have gathered all the ingredients. To complete the quest, put the ingredients together, bake them, and create the first pizza in Round!

Pete poured a small pile of flour onto the counter. Then he dropped the doughball into the flour. From there, he began to slap, shape, and stretch the dough. With each movement, he seemed to gain proficiency in slapping.

You gained .2 slapping proficiency.

You gained .1 slapping proficiency.

You gained .3 slapping proficiency.

By the time he finished shaping the first doughball into a crust, he had gained at least five full proficiency points. To balance and stretch the crust, he tossed it into the air, spinning it.

You gained 1 tossing proficiency.

“Mod,” he asked, “do you have a cooking screen or stone about this size?”

The cook hurried to a spot near the oven, grabbing a stack of cooking screens, and setting them next to Pete.

Pete slid the first one to the counter with his elbow. It rolled on its edges like a spinning quarter before settling even with the flat surface. At that point, Pete flopped the crust atop the screen. He evened the edges of the screen with those of the dough. Then Pete moved to the next doughball.

What was strange was how each full point seemed to make slapping the dough easier. Within thirty seconds, he had made another two crusts. With those pizzas, he gained another five to ten proficiency points.

Mod the baker had enough dough for three or four more pizzas. As such, Pete decided to let Mod practice making the dough for himself. In the meantime, Pete summoned three of the tomatoes from his inventory. After, he asked Angel for a knife, eggbeater, peeler, and bowl.

She pointed to a space under the counter, “there is a steel mixing bowl down there. There are a knife and peeler in the drawer to your right.”

“Thanks,” Pete grabbed the cookware, peeled his tomatoes, cut them into a puree, and dropped them into a mixing bowl. Pete could have made pizza sauce without anything other than the tomatoes. Yet, he knew a recipe that would make it better. For said recipe, he requested those ingredients: olive oil, sugar, butter, salt, oregano, basil, thyme, garlic powder, and crushed peppers. Other than the peppers, Mod had everything available in his bakery.

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Pete finished the sauce as Mod finished the last crust. They used a ladle to scoop the sauce onto each crust. From there, they spread an even layer of the red paste over the crust. Then they grated cheese over the top. All the while, Mod and Angel watched with fascination. “We won’t be able to eat all this pizza on our own. Do either of you know people who you want to share it with?”

Without answering, Angel sped to the door before looking at Mod. “Quick, I need to get the triplets.”

“Right,” Mod agreed, moving to the door. “The triplets will love it. Can you stop by the mayor and Lilly, too? We should invite them.” Mod reached the door and pushed it open.

“Bet,” Angel sped outside.

Through the open door, Pete noticed the sun had begun to go down. He didn’t realize how late it had gotten. When Max the cat teleported him to Greenlake, it must have been earlier in the afternoon. Pete thought it had been morning. Regardless of the time, Pete felt hunger cramps beginning to torment him. Good thing he’d have pizza soon. He told Mod. “We should put those pizzas in the oven.”

Mod agreed, and one by one, they loaded the pizzas onto the oven racks. Mod asked. “When will they finish cooking?”

“If the ovens are the same temperature as the ones I use back home, it should be eight to ten minutes. We will need to keep an eye on them to see when the crust begins to brown. Also…” Pete summoned the pizza fork to his hand. “We will need to use this to pop any cheese bubbles, so everything bakes how we want it to.”

The eight minutes dragged by but popping the rogue cheese bubble kept Pete and Mod occupied. Then, when the pizzas began to look ready, Pete summoned his peel, using its broad metal head to pull a pizza from the oven. Once out, he set the pizza on the counter.

He summoned his cutter to his hand and ran the wheel across the pizza four times, creating eight slices. He tried to keep them the same size. A series of prompts appeared:

Congratulations. You have completed the quest Gathering Ingredients. Now, the world of Round will know you as the inventor of pizza. Also, Pizzamandom is a word. Don’t think it isn’t.

Did the prompt respond to his doubt about its use of the word from before? Pete still didn’t think that was a real word. Two more prompts appeared:

You gained 1 point pizza cutter proficiency.

You received 250 experience points.

Congratulations! You gained a level!

You earned 200 len.

You completed a job-related quest. You receive 3 bonus job points.

Before Pete closed the prompts, he took a quick glance at his status screen. He smiled when he saw his high slapping proficiency. Then he closed the prompts, saying. “The pizza is ready. Do you have a spatula or something we can use to lift the slices onto plates?”

“I do,” Mod smiled, pulling a triangular-shaped spatula—one used for slices of pie—from the drawer. Consequently, it was the same drawer that held the peel. He handed the spatula to Pete. “I’ll grab some plates, too…and stools, so people have places to sit. Company should be arriving soon.”

“Right,” Pete nodded. “Thanks, Mod.” As he said the name, he realized he’d never met someone named Mod before. “Hey, Mod. Do you mind if I ask a question?”

“Go ahead.”

“Where does the name Mod come from?”

“People who believe in literal, sentient moderators call themselves mods. It’s a type of religion.” He explained, bringing back a stack of plates, taking the one off the top of the pile, setting it next to the pizza. “My parents were religious.”

“That makes sense.” Pete likened it to someone whose parents name them Christian back on earth. “Here is a slice for you.” Pete used the spatula to lift a slice onto Mod’s plate. As he lifted the cheese stretched and Mod’s eyes widened with anticipation. “While you try that, I’m going to pull the other pizzas from the oven.”

One by one, Pete removed the cheese pizzas, setting them side by side on the counter. After, he turned to Mod who was already serving himself a second slice, an enormous smile on his face. Mod finished another slice and said, “this is amazing.”

“Everyone loves pizza,” Pete nodded his agreement.