His stomach rumbled, reminding him how long it had been since he had eaten. He moved back to join Ella Bree by the fire and sat cross-legged on the other side of it from her. Taking over rotating the spitted conies, he let his cooking skills guide him until they were properly roasted, and he got the notification.

You have discovered a new dish: Slow Roasted Rabbit (Whole) x 2

Dish Rarity: Common

Dish Quality: Edible

Weight: 2 kg

Traits: This whole rabbit was slowly roasted over an open flame. The lack of seasonings gives it a gamey and stringy flavor, but overall, it is wholesome and filling.

Congratulations! You have learned a new skill – Cooking level 2. Hark and hear, by continuing to place ingredients to fire you have taken another step down the path. From the simplest salad to the most robust entrée cooking is the path to gastronomic pleasure and status-enhancing buffs. Masters of this skill can craft delicacies that would make gods and kings weep with pleasure and foods that would empower armies. +4% to flavor of prepared dishes. +4% yield from cooking ingredients.

He thought it might be a trick of his eyes, but the small roasts seemed to swell slightly in size, and the aroma rising from the cooked flesh seemed slightly more appealing to his nose. Pulling both skewers from the fire, he held one out to the woman opposite him, and after she took it, he settled back down to eat. They ate in silence for the most part, not awkward silence but companionable, though they both kept an eye on the other.

As he ate, he looked about the room keenly interested in where they were. The chamber was a larger room, and he could see the remnants of brackets near the windows and on walls around the chamber where murals or other decorations might hang. “A meeting chamber maybe?” He thought to himself. It was certainly large enough for it. He wondered if this might have been one of the central buildings of the former village. To his gamer mind it made sense, it was more centrally located, and the rock formation's usage made it defensible and functional. His eyes narrowed slightly as he scanned the back of the chamber where the rock made up part of the building. There were cracks in the stone that looked like they might be in the shape of a door, but they were not whole just the vague impression of one. Setting down the remnants of his meal he rose and crossed over to the location searching the stone wall for indications of what he thought he had seen. However, as he drew closer the perception faded, and he was met with blank stone.

Shrugging slightly, he turned back to the room. It was getting late, and he was starting to feel the exertion of the day and the fighting earlier weighing on his body and mind. “We didn’t see any other trace of rat-men other than those that were after you. With their bodies drug off into the forest, they shouldn’t draw any beasts to us. I think we are probably safe to sleep here for the night at least. Tomorrow we can decide what to do next.”

Ella Bree looked up from the fire towards him and pondered for a moment before nodding. “I had not seen anything until they caught me. This could be a good place to rest. At least it has a roof and walls so we are not out in the elements. I think a storm is coming at least that’s what it feels like.”

Her words made him move back to the window and look out once more. The air was heavier with humidity and the odd moons he had noticed earlier were not shrouded in clouds with darker ones moving in. She was right, there was a storm moving in, and sleeping outside tonight would be miserable. He looked back to where their fire burned and the wood they had gathered, it seemed like they had enough to last for a while, so he opted not to head back outside for more.

He moved back to the fire and picked up another long straight branch and one of the fresh rabbit hides. He had an idea for what he hoped would be a better spear. The last one breaking on him during the fight had left him worried about what might happen before he found something better. Taking a seat next to the fire he set to work cutting the hide into strips with his crude stone knife much to the amusement of the woman watching him. Hearing her giggle slightly he looked up.

“Well, at least you’re in good spirits now. What is so funny though?” He asked of her as she covered her mouth with one hand while watching him.

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“Is that really your knife? Don’t you have any actual tools or weapons?” Her eyes were wide with mirth though the rest of her face remained hidden behind her hands. “Would you like to use my blade instead? I am sure it would give you a better result than broken stone.” She held out her dagger hilt first towards him as she regained control of her laughter.

Eyeing her slightly he took the blade and returned to working on the leather. “I told you I woke up in the woods not too far from here. All I had were the clothes I was wearing so I was making do with what I could.” He had been proud of what he had been able to accomplish so her laughter made him feel slightly angry and upset. “They were fine so far.”

After he had cut the leather into strips he turned to the shaft of wood and had a feeling he should cut a notch into the end before trying to affix the stone dagger with the leather. Following the hunch, it was only a handful of minutes more before he had secured the pieces together and received a new prompt.

You have discovered:

Crude Stone Spear

Item Class: Spear

Item Rarity: Common

Item Quality: Poor

Weight: 2kg

Durability: 15/15

Damage: 3 – 8 Piercing

Traits: Pride of the footman, the noble spear has broken many a charge and pierced many a heart. This crude stone spear was crafted from a carved tree branch and crude stone dagger, an improvement to the rough wooden variant it is a step closer to being a true weapon.

Smiling with his achievement he turned to show Ella Bree and hand the dagger back to her. She smirked slightly and nodded though she clearly was less impressed than he was. She held her hand up as he held out the dagger. “I think you should keep it. I think you will get better use of it. I will just stay behind you if we must fight. Besides I can always throw things if you keep the monsters off me.” She picked up a small rock and quick as a flash it flew across the room striking the wall with enough force to throw several chips and sparks from the impact site.

He admired the skill of her throw before finally taking a good look at what seemed to be his blade for now. The metal was darker than any he had seen before, not blackened just dark with almost an oily sheen to it. Its edge was keen, which he knew full well from nearly taking off one of his fingers when he first started cutting the leather with it. However, it was the vagueness of the usual prompt describing what he held that caught his attention most, and the color to the edges of the prompt seemed to be shifting as if unable to determine what rarity the weapon was.

You have discovered:

Ella Bree’s Unusual Knife

Item Class: Dagger

Item Rarity: Unknown

Item Quality: Unknown

Weight: 1kg

Durability: Unknown

Damage: 20 – 25 Piercing/Slashing

Traits: Ella Bree’s knife is unusual in more than just looks. This blade is made of a metal unknown to you and defies your ability to understand anything more than the most basic of details about it. The edge retains a wicked edge despite obvious usage.

Similar to many games he had played back on earth, items in this world fell in a structured system of class, rarity, and quality. The class would determine what skill was required to wield it properly. Rarity, well rarity was just that it was how rare the weapon, item, or component was. It fell into a spectrum of common, uncommon, rare, epic, legendary, and finally mythic. You could usually tell immediately from the prompt for the item what its rarity was due to the color of the border, white for common, green for uncommon, blue, purple, orange, and finally gold respectively. Lastly, there was quality. This shifted somewhat depending on the item described. Usually, crafted items seemed to follow trash, poor, average and he assumed above average, well crafted, superb, exquisite, and finally masterwork. However, he hadn’t seen anything above the lowest tiers so he couldn’t be sure of those tiers.

He looked at the woman once more, “Where did you get this? It’s amazing! I cannot tell much of anything about it.” He swung the dagger a couple of times before sliding it into his belt.

She smiled at him slightly. “I was given it at birth. It has been with me my whole life. I do not know who gave it to me just that it has always been there and always comes back to me.” Her words sounded more like something she repeated often than an off-the-cuff answer. That made him look at her once more curiously before they both sat down once again trying to make themselves comfortable to rest for the night.

Xavier laid the spear and knife between them so either would have access to them as they split watch for the night. Since she was more covered in bruises and cuts, he opted to take the first watch and let her rest and recover. Soon he could hear her gentle snoring, and he glanced at her. She seemed to be resting peacefully. Oddly, though, she had reached out in her sleep to rest her fingertips on the blade of the dagger. Chuckling softly, he thought about her earlier words and figured whatever made her more comfortable he was not going to argue with.

And thus, the night passed, outside the storm struck and he could hear the wind and rain rage in the forest and ruins. The water cascaded down in torrents just outside the door and windows and obscured the vision of anything further than a couple of feet away. Below something stirred, sensing more than just animal life above it shifted in its long slumber.