10: Attention
It wasn’t long before the notifications started coming in. I had counted fourteen meal and healing experience drops so far, bringing me to:
Name: Trevor
Class: Arcane Chef
Rarity: Rare
Level: 6
Experience: 604/2103
I’d gained a level! “Yes!” I said out loud, quickly glancing around to make sure nobody noticed.
Placing one point into Intelligence, bringing it to twenty-one, then one into Charisma, raising it to seven—finally making it my second lowest stat.
I still struggled to make sense of Charisma. At the academy, they’d told us it had no direct influence over people but gave you the appearance of someone trustworthy and worth listening to. They said it was useless—unless you were aiming for the rank of General and had to give speeches before battle. Other than that, it wasn’t worth investing in.
But from talking with Geo, I realised it was a necessity for anyone running a service: crafters, merchants, street vendors for food—and, well, tricksters and thieves too.
The depth of that one stat was amazing.
Coming up to the outside of the inn, I followed the plan Geo and I had agreed on. There was a bucket sitting by the pump, so I filled it before heading inside. If Larry happened to be there, he’d just think I’d stepped out for water.
Turned out, it wasn’t necessary—only Micca was in the dining area. I waved to her as I passed through, then stepped into the kitchen with a huge smile on my face.
“They accepted it!” I said, beaming at Geo.
“That’s great news. Any trouble?” he asked.
I shook my head, setting the water bucket on the table. “No. The Matron had a few questions, I answered what I could, but after she tested the healing properties, she accepted it immediately,” I replied, washing my hands before grabbing a knife and helping Geo with the vegetables he was working on.
I never really noticed when it happened, but at some point, I stopped needing Geo’s instructions to jump into the flow of work. Little by little, he had to guide me less and less, and now I could just step in, help out, and know exactly where he was up to.
We really make a good team, I thought to myself.
On the menu today was a creature I had never cooked with before. As I understood it, it came from a large herd animal called Buvul. Its meat was red, with a slightly gamey flavour.
We added onions, carrots, and celery, along with some root vegetables I didn’t recognise. They looked a bit like carrots but were white and almost felt woody.
Before long, the stew was simmering near the coals.
Heading out of the kitchen to see if Micca needed a hand, I checked my notifications once more. I had gained five more meal experience points and two healing bonuses.
I supposed some of the staff might have eaten some, or maybe someone was seeking medical attention but didn’t have missing hit points? I wasn’t entirely sure.
Once I made it out, I was handed a cloth and a bucket to wipe the tables down. Micca asked me how things went at the Pavilion, and I basically repeated what I had told Geo.
"How much experience did you get?" she asked, serving another round of drinks to a party of three and a lone merchant-looking fellow.
"Uh, nineteen people ate the food, and sixteen of them healed. I hit level six!" I finished excitedly, forgetting I hadn’t even mentioned that part to her yet.
"That's awesome!" she said, returning behind the bar and back to her usual task of polishing mugs.
"For someone who couldn’t even gain experience in their class a couple of weeks ago, you're really smashing it now," she said with a huge smile on her face.
The rest of the day passed without any new notifications. Geo advised me to prepare food for the Pavilion every second or third day and to focus on buying the cheaper cuts of meat from the stalls to keep costs low. After all, I wasn’t exactly wealthy, with only 28 coppers left to my name.
I was coming up on my 14th day, which meant payday. Now that I wasn’t staying at the inn anymore, I’d be getting the full 26 coppers instead of 19.
If I could make a meal for six coppers or fewer, I’d be fine.
Geo said budgeting and planning like this would be incredibly helpful later on, but honestly, I hated doing maths. Numbers were just… exhausting.
That night, I had nothing to cook at Micca’s place—my place now too; I guess…
Instead, I focused on cleaning. I’d brought over a spare bucket from the inn that Geo didn’t want anymore because it leaked a little, which now doubled the number of buckets at home. I chuckled at that thought. At home. I have a home.
After several hours of scrubbing and tidying, the kitchen looked great. Not Martin-level perfect by any stretch, but good enough that Geo wouldn’t smack the back of my head if he saw it. Next, I’d work on my room before tackling the rest of the house. After all, I wasn’t paying rent, so it only made sense I put in the effort.
The next morning, I met Geo at the market. With the goal of getting ingredients for stews at home, we set out. On the way, Geo suddenly said, “Oh, I forgot. Uh, this could be bad. That fish I gave you yesterday—want to pull it out?”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I wasn’t paying much attention, but I noticed Geo had taken a step back, putting some distance between us.
Withdrawing the fish, I didn’t notice anything odd. It looked exactly the same as when it went in.
“Oh, wow, it’s even still a little cold from yesterday,” Geo said, studying it closely. “So your storage must be a full time stop for perishable items.”
Before I could reply, he tossed the fish toward a cat lurking near an alley entrance.
“Hey!” I said, frowning. “I could have used that!”
I watched the little ball of fluff vanish into the darkness with its prize.
“Nah,” Geo said with a chuckle. “You don’t want those. They taste muddy, like eating dirt. They’re edible, and if you were starving they’d do, but they’re not good—and they’re almost impossible to make taste decent.”
“Well, my young friend, the good news is that with your pantry space essentially being a time stop, you can purchase in bulk instead of every day,” Geo explained. “If you see a good deal on meat, you should stock up. That’ll save you a lot of money in the long run.”
In the end, I purchased a large slab of Buvul rump meat that cost me eight coppers. Geo told me it would be good for at least three hearty stews. I also picked up a large bag of mixed vegetables for another nine coppers.
Happy with the haul, we went back to the inn, where Geo agreed to let me prepare the stew solo again.
"I know you want the experience, but I think it’s worth testing something today," Geo said. "I think you should add some of the wine to the stew. It’s possible you won’t get experience for it, but I think it’s worth finding out now."
I hesitated, especially since the system had been so strict about what counted as solo work so far. Then, as if struck by inspiration, I said, "Okay, I’m happy to try it out, but how about we split the stew into two pots? I have the one you gifted me—we can use that and the normal pot to make two separate batches and test it out." I smiled, feeling certain I’d outsmarted the system.
Geo just laughed. "Sure, let’s do it," he said before turning back to his bread dough, shaping them into small rolls to rise and bake later.
I made both stews exactly the same, the only exception being that one had wine, and the other did not. Looking at my mana, I suspected I already had my answer: Mana 155/210.
Only one lot of mana had been used from my pool after cooking; the rest of the missing mana was from withdrawing items.
"I don't think it worked," I said to Geo.
"Oh? Can you see something different when it works?" he asked curiously.
"Oh no, I can’t see anything, but only 5 mana was used when I cooked the two. Every other time, it’s taken 5 mana for every meal I’ve cooked," I explained.
"Ah, that’s disappointing. You’re going to have to learn to make wine one day," he said with a laugh. "Well, I think we should serve one table the wine stew, just to be sure. If you don’t get experience, we’ll save that one for lunch tomorrow and serve the other tonight for dinner. The wine-based stews always gain a richness overnight," Geo reasoned.
The night went by in a blur of activity, and sure enough, the wine-based stew did not give me any experience. I did, however, get forty-five notifications about enjoyable meals before we ran out of that stew. I also received three healing notifications during that time, bringing me very close to level 7.
Experience: 2054/2103
That night, after work, as I cooked another stew in the kitchen at home, I was joined by Micca, who was making some light conversation.
"I've had an odd guy at the inn for the last two days, both dinner, and lunch," she started. "He looks like a merchant, and I thought he was one initially, but I don't think so anymore. He barely drinks and just sits there for the whole service watching everything. I haven’t told Larry yet, but if he’s there again tomorrow, it might be worth letting him know," she said, mostly to herself with me as her audience.
I thought little of it, figuring he was just likely a traveller resting a couple of days before heading out again.
I finished the stew in what felt like record time. My knife skills and speed had significantly improved, but I also felt like the water boiled faster, the meat browned quicker—everything just felt slightly faster overall.
Heading into my room that night, my thoughts raced over the day. I wondered why ingredients like wine didn’t work, but salt and root starch did just fine.
The next morning, I met up with Geo as usual but quickly parted ways so I could drop off the stew at the Pavilion before starting the day. Unlike last time, this was a simple affair. When I entered, I met the same person who had been at the front before. He promptly took the pot, using a cloth to hold the handles, and returned a few minutes later with a clean, empty pot to replace the one that was used.
“Thank you, Trevor. Your last donation was a great success, and several people experienced improved conditions after your food. It is greatly appreciated.” With that, the man bowed.
“No problem, happy to help where I can,” I replied, not quite sure how to handle the gratitude.
After storing the empty pot, I left the Pavilion and started heading back toward the inn. Once outside, I noticed the merchant-looking guy leaning against the wall opposite the Pavilion, seemingly just observing his surroundings. I paid little mind and hurried off back to the inn. Tonight’s meal was a hearty chicken and grain soup, which meant it was incredibly easy to prepare.
Halfway through lunch, Micca came into the kitchen.
“He’s back again!” she said to Geo and me.
“Who?” Geo asked, and it even took me a moment to clue in on who she meant.
“Yeah, I saw him this morning outside the Pavilion too,” I said.
She explained to Geo that he’d been coming in for three straight days now, eating a little, not drinking much, and mostly just watching his surroundings, giving her a bad vibe.
“Yeah, I’d let Larry know. He hasn’t caused any trouble, and it might be nothing, but you can never be too sure,” Geo said.
Micca went past the kitchen toward Larry’s office to fill him in. On her return, she whispered, “Larry said if he’s back tonight, he’ll try to force a conversation—find out what his deal is.”
"Oh, I nearly forgot! I got some experience from the stew I delivered to the Pavilion this morning," I said excitedly, pulling up my status to check.
Notifications:
You have reached Level 2 in Chef's Pantry
You have earned 25 experience for making an enjoyable meal
You have earned 50 bonus experience for healing someone with your meal
...
You have reached Level 7 in Arcane Chef
You have +2 unspent stat points
...
You have earned 25 experience for making an enjoyable meal
In total, I had sixteen meal and twelve healing experience notifications. Quickly sorting out my unspent points, I placed one into Charisma again and one into Wisdom, following Elder Peter’s advice. I was in the middle of doing a little happy dance at the level-up when Micca walked in, catching the whole thing and giggling to herself.
“What was that all about?” she asked, trying to hold back laughter.
I swear my face must have turned bright red. “Uh, nothing! You saw nothing!” I stammered.
That only made it worse. She burst out laughing, placed the order with Geo, and left me behind—embarrassed and probably still bright red. Avoiding heading straight out to the main room, I turned back to Geo in the kitchen.
“Geo, where can I buy a kitchen knife?” I asked. Until now, I’d been using Geo’s old spare, but it was a beaten-up thing, and its best years were well behind it.
“Oh, any smithy could sort one out for you. A basic knife shouldn’t be too expensive—5 to 10 copper depending on the handle quality,” he said. I was surprised; that was cheaper than I expected.
“Is that all?” I asked, still surprised.
“Well, that’s just for a basic common blade. Obviously, it goes up from there. I doubt our smithy could do it, but you can get enchanted knives with sharpness and self-repair. Those, though, you'd be talking gold, not copper,” he laughed. “And you and I are a long way from having any gold in our pockets.”
“Honestly, if you had a gold coin, you’d be better off putting it toward buying your own house anyway rather than a knife,” he added dismissively. My imagination ran wild with the idea.
“Can you enchant cooking pots?” I asked eagerly.
“Sure, technically you can enchant anything if the enchanter’s willing, but I don’t know that anyone would pay to have a regular cooking pot enchanted. Maybe if it were an alchemist’s cauldron?” Geo mused. “Anyway, if you have time to daydream like this, you have time to go help Micca out front.”
Laughing, I left the kitchen to give Micca a hand, then I remembered what she had seen earlier.
I stepped out, likely bright red again, and joined Micca on the floor, trying to avoid eye contact. But every time I caught sight of her smile, I knew she was absolutely going to be making fun of me for a while.