Arcane Chef - Slice of Life x Adventure LitRPG

Milo was right after all—the group from Greenstone didn’t follow us when we left. About three hours into our journey, the excitement of having my own horse had worn off. Now there was only pain.

Despite Jen and Liane’s warnings not to grip too tightly with my knees, I must have done it anyway, because the insides of my legs were already sore and my whole body ached. I dumped my two unspent points into Endurance, hoping it would help a little. It didn’t.

“Is it always this bad?” I half-groaned.

Liane, of course, found the whole thing very amusing.

“No, no, it’s not always this bad. But today and tomorrow? Yeah, they’re going to be rough,” she said with a laugh. “For what it’s worth, though, you’re doing better than I expected. I thought you’d be back in the wagon again after an hour.”

“I can go into the wagon?!” I asked, latching onto the hope.

“Absolutely not. You need the practice. You can’t exactly run behind the horses when this journey’s over,” Jen said firmly.

I just grumbled, “Fine.” I understood what they meant. I’d have to learn this eventually… but I wasn’t convinced that a week on the road was the best way to do it.

“Just make sure you keep your eyes open, Trev. We’re following the outskirts of the Dark Forest for the next week until we hit the base of Mt. Divinus,” Jen said.

I nodded. I’d been through worse back at the academy during sword training. We got hit with wooden swords every single day for nearly a year. If I could handle that, this should be no problem.

When we stopped for lunch, I practically fell off Sable. The moment my legs hit the ground, they turned to mush, and I collapsed. Milo came over, visibly trying to hold back a laugh.

“Come on, lad. Get Sable some water and feed, then tie her up. After that, I’ll give you a poultice to help your legs for the next part of the journey.”

I nodded, too exhausted to answer. It felt like I’d been training all day—and it was only lunchtime.

Very slowly, I led Sable over to where the other horses were tied up. Milo had already been busy—there was a stone basin filled with water, along with what looked like a bundle of dried grass or grain. I wasn’t entirely sure.

“Right, tie her up here. Make sure you tie a proper knot or she’ll get loose. Normally, you’d brush her down too, but we’ll sort that out for you today, so don’t worry,” Milo said.

He then handed me something that looked like a green paste.

“This is a healing poultice. Not as strong as a potion, but if you check your status, you’ll see you’re not missing many—if any—hit points. That said, what’s your stamina at?” he asked.

I tied Sable’s reins and did as instructed.

Name: Trevor

Class: Arcane Chef

Rarity: Rare

Level: 14

Experience: 983/8880

Hit points: 207/210

Mana: 374/430

Stamina: 46/210

“It’s only forty-six out of two hundred and ten,” I said, half-defeated, as I followed Milo over to where everyone was sitting under the temporary stone shelter, getting jerky from Troy.

“Ugh, I’m sorry I didn’t cook lunch,” I added, realising I hadn’t even done—or thought about—the one thing I was here for.

“It’s fine,” Milo said with a chuckle. “We expected it today. This gets a lot easier, trust me,” he added, giving me a reassuring pat on the back.

I sat off to the side to apply the poultice I’d been given, hoping for a bit of privacy—only for that hope to be dashed when Hari sat down next to me.

“Don’t mind me; carry on applying it. I’m just here to give you this,” he said, handing me a small vial filled with some kind of liquid I couldn’t identify.

“It’s a stamina potion. A minor one, but it should still fully replenish your stamina. Wait until you drop below ten before drinking it.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate it,” I muttered.

And stick it out I did. The poultice worked surprisingly well. While my body still ached in places, my legs felt mostly fine. I followed Hari’s instructions, and as soon as my stamina dipped below ten, I drank the potion he’d given me.

It had no flavour—just a cool, refreshing sensation that washed through my body. In maybe fifteen seconds, my stamina shot from nine all the way back to two hundred and ten.

For the second half of the journey, I made a conscious effort not to squeeze so hard with my legs, and I actually started to feel more comfortable.

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Even so, by the time we stopped for the evening, I nearly fell off Sable again. But at least I remembered what I’d been taught: I led her over, fed her, and tied her up for the night.

I was just about to head into the shelter to prepare something simple for dinner when a voice rang out from the trees.

“Trev! I got us dinner!” Jen called, dragging something behind her. I couldn’t make out what it was at first, but as she drew closer, it became painfully clear.

She was hauling a giant snake with dark green vivid scales. It was massive—easily as thick as my torso and at least three times my length. That thing could have swallowed me whole without even trying.

“What in the world is that?” I asked, staring in shock.

“It’s called a Miremaw,” Jen said, grinning from ear to ear. “Didn’t expect to find one here—they usually stick closer to water sources in the forest. But they’re delicious if you can get one.”

She added with a laugh, “Also, their hides sell for a fair bit. I hope you won’t mind if I skin this one tonight.”

As she stepped fully into the clearing, the horses grew visibly nervous at the sight of the snake.

“Oh, shoot—sorry. Let me help,” I said, hurrying over and storing the snake away.

Would you like to store 1x Juvenile Miremaw for 5 mana? Yes/No

“Juvenile?” I said, shocked. “How could this thing be a juvenile? How large do they get?”

“They get very, very large, Trev—large enough to swallow a horse whole,” Jen said with a chuckle, rolling her shoulders now that she wasn’t dragging the snake anymore.

“Let’s move away from the horses to skin it. They’re clearly afraid of it,” I suggested, heading toward the shelter. I had no idea how to prepare or cook a snake—or how many meals we’d even get out of it—but I figured this would be a learning experience.

We hauled the snake to the opposite side of the shelter, where Milo shaped a stone table for us to work on. I pulled the carcass out, and Jen wasted no time breaking it down—removing the fangs, venom glands, and skin with practised ease.

I stored the venom glands in my inventory, but the fangs and scales weren’t accepted, so I handed them to Jen to hold. Still feeling drained, I stuck with my usual herb rub: a mix of Fire Salts, Virfolium, salt, and pepper.

Originally, I’d planned to stuff it with onion and garlic grass, but the sheer size of the thing made that impossible. If I tried, I’d burn through every ingredient I had. Instead, I cut small pockets along the meat and pressed the seasoning into them, letting the flavour infuse that way.

Even though Jen had removed the venom sacs, I decided—just in case—to use Culinary Transformation on the meat, purifying it of any lingering toxins.

What I was left with was a giant, skinned snake longer than I was tall. I stared at it, wondering how in the world I was supposed to cook something like that. A spit was out of the question; it would never cook evenly.

In the end, I asked Milo to make a massive stone pot that could be suspended over the coals. He even created a matching stone slab to cover it, turning it into a kind of makeshift oven. I coiled the snake inside.

It wasn’t perfect, but it would do the job.

While that cooked, I pulled out my iron pot and started making some rice I’d bought back in Greenstone. Then, exhausted, I finally sat down to wait.

That’s when a notification popped up. It surprised me a little—I hadn’t made any meals in days. Curious, I opened it and was pleasantly surprised.

Notification:

Evolution Quest: Perform 50 perfect cuts - Completed!

Two evolution options are available for Knifework.

Pulling up the skill and focusing on the evolution option, I was presented with my choices. I could keep the base skill and continue levelling it, but since I didn’t even really know what the skill did, I saw no reason to stick with it.

Evolution Options Available:

Skill: Knifework to Edge Mastery

• Provides finer control over different types of cuts.
• Reduce the durability loss of your knife,
• Reduces the chance to waste the potency of magical ingredients.

Interesting. I could definitely see a use for this. It was also the first time the system had ever given me a clear explanation of what my skills actually did—and that alone made this option tempting.

Skill: Knifework to Carving Touch

• Can more easily shape ingredients for presentation.
• Ability to carve runes onto ingredients for additional buffs.

Now, this one was very interesting.

The problem was, I didn’t know any runes. And I wasn’t even sure if the runes from regular Runescribe would apply here—they had nothing to do with food. Which left me with one big question: how in the world was I supposed to learn what runes actually worked?

“Hey Milo, quick question. I got my skill evolution,” I started. “One option just gives me better control, better durability, and a lower chance of destroying magical ingredients.”

“That sounds good!” Milo said, sounding impressed.

“The second one, though,” I continued, “would let me carve runes into ingredients to give them additional buffs. But it doesn’t explain how I’d actually learn those runes.”

Milo frowned, clearly turning it over in his mind. “Yeah, honestly, that second one sounds far better. But I suspect you’d at least need a book on the basics of Rune Crafting. That’s a beginner-to-intermediate step for a Runescribe—when they can start designing their own runes. You’d need to learn how runes are built first.” He shook his head. “Unfortunately, none of us are trained in that.”

He looked back at me, expression firm. “That said, Trev, it absolutely sounds like the stronger option. The first one might give you quick results, sure, but once you’ve got a good quality knife, durability isn’t really a problem. And you’re not using high-end magical ingredients yet anyway. I’m pretty sure you could find a Rune Crafting book in Boltron.”

He glanced around to see if anyone else had an opinion, but the others didn’t seem to be paying attention.

In the end, I chose Carving Touch—if only for the childish notion that it felt more magical. I really didn’t want to end up in some random city kitchen cooking for the rest of my life.

Congratulations you have chosen Carving Touch!

Carving Touch

Level: 1

Experience: 0/100

Well, there was no turning back now. As I expected, Carving Touch didn’t suddenly grant me any runes or knowledge—not that I really thought it would. What did surprise me, though, was that it didn’t even give me a skill description on my status page. Despite explaining itself during the evolution choice, it was now just… blank.

I guess I’d just have to remember.

I let out a loud sigh and leant back, waiting for the food to cook. Milo must have taken it the wrong way.

“End up choosing the first option?” he asked.

“Oh, no. Sorry—I went with Carving Touch,” I said quickly. “I’m just exhausted. Today’s been a long day. I still can’t believe I have my own horse.”

As I said it, another thought hit me—one I’d completely forgotten in all the excitement. Micca. Geo. I’d promised I’d come back to Dunhearth.

“Milo, how often do you guys pass through Dunhearth?” I asked.

“At the moment? Every couple of months,” he said with a shrug. “But it really depends on where we are. If we’re in the far south or north, it could be a couple of years before we pass through. Why?”

“I have some good friends there,” I admitted, my voice dipping slightly. “They looked out for me when I got into trouble. I’d like to see them again someday. Let them know I’m alright. Tell them what I’m doing.”

Milo gave me a small, understanding nod, but didn’t push. I really would’ve loved to have Micca along for this trip.

About three hours later, I finally judged the snake done. Instead of trying to drag it out of the massive stone oven Milo had made, he simply dispelled the stone, leaving the roasted snake resting neatly on a slab.

I used Infuse Flavour on both the snake and the pot of rice before dishing everything out. Each of us got a bowl of boiled rice, and I let everyone help themselves to the roasted snake.

The smell was incredible—the onion and garlic grass came through strong.

At least we’d be eating well for the next few days.