Sora sorted his inventory out as he equipped a small woodsman's axe. His inventory consisted of nearly 1,000 pebbles and a few stacks of fish. Each inventory slot can hold up to 100 of the same item, excluding equipment, special items, and other things that were not counted as material or ammunition. 2 stacks of fish made up a total of 148 Flat River Fish while another stack was a meager 24 Feline Fish Snapper. Sora closed his inventory and found a very thin tree between the thicket of the forest. He put his axe near the tree and gently tapped on the bark.

[Woodcut Skill obtained]

-Used to cut various types of trees. Quality of cut is determined by quality of axe, type of tree, and Woodcut Skill.

The reason he gently tapped the tree was simply to acquire the skill, if Sora was to do a full swing on the tree there was a high chance that his axe would lose a lot of durability. Without the Woodcut skill he was basically just ramming a sharp edge into a blunt object. Sora got into a comfortable swinging position and started to chop the tree. The tree slowly gave way as a split grew larger near the base of the tree. After 5 minutes of vigorous chopping, the tree finally fell.

[Woodcut skill succeeded]

Sora walked towards the top of the tree and started cutting off thick branches with his axe and used his knife to sheer off small branches and twigs. Each time a branch or twig was trimmed from the tree a notification would pop up saying “x1 Tinder obtained”. It was a very physically demanding job and by the time he was finished 15 minutes had already passed. There was now a straight tree laying across the ground with no protrusions sticking out. Sora lifted his axe and began sectioning the tree into equal pieces. “X1 Gel Tree Lumber obtained” The Gel Tree was a low level tree that oozed a orange colored gel like substance when cutting into it. The gel could be harvested to use in things like alchemy or cooking but Sora lacked any empty vials to contain the gel within. Sora immediately found an open area and dug a small pit within the ground. After the pit was dug he sat down next to it, pulled out his knife and a couple pieces of Gel Tree Lumber. After 10 minutes of shaving the lumber he was left with 2 sticks with a small incision made on one of the sticks. “X1 Firestarter Sticks obtained” Sora made a small pile of Tinder in the dug out pit and began to use the Firestarter Sticks.

[Fire failed to start]

[Fire failed to start]

[Fire failed to start]

[Fire failed to start]

[Fire started successfully]

Sora had an irritated look on his face as he finally managed to start the fire. Starting a fire wasn’t like most skills where you could level it up to assure a higher chance of success, it was more of a hidden stat that took into account the quality of the tinder along with the quality of the firestarter. Since Sora had the most basic items to start the fire, it failed many times before eventually working. Sora immediately put a few pieces of Gel Tree Lumber onto the fire after it started to burn. After the fire was satisfactory Sora began taking out his fish and skewering them with sticks. Sora slowly put a fish just above the fire and plunged the stick into the ground around the fire.

[Cooking Skill obtained]

Sora continued to put the skewered sticks in a circle around the fire before finally getting back to the first fish.

[Cooking Skill failed]

As soon as Sora picked up the stick the fish turned black and directly crumbled off of the stick before disappearing. It was expected to happen, his cooking skill was level 1 and he had the most basic fire he could have, therefore he wasn’t irritated and immediately replaced the fish with another.

[Cooking Skill failed]

[Cooking Skill failed]

[Cooking Skill succeeded]

[X1 Smoked Flat River Fish obtained]

Reduces hunger and gives a small buff to Constitution

“Poorly cooked Flat River Fish that has many burnt areas.”

+10 Constitution

Duration: 4 hours

It was far from being a huge buff, but for someone like Sora who had only been putting AP into Strength it was a 100% buff to his health. Each point of constitution gave 10 points of health and having an extra 100 is very much the difference between life and death a lot of the time, at least at this level it is. Sora continued to cook fish in this manner before he ran out of Flat River Fish, effectively raising his cooking skill to level 2. He specifically waited to cook his Feline Fish Snappers until after he raised his cooking level since they were a higher level of fish, thus had a smaller chance of success when cooking.

[You are starting to feel pangs from hunger]

-20% all stats

-25% all skills

-50% health regeneration

Just as Sora was about to start his second round of cooking a debuff appeared. He actually forgot to eat after he had been cooking for close to an hour now. Sora quickly pulled a Smoked Flat River fish out and ate it.

[Hunger has been sated]

-Debuffs from hunger removed

Sora continued cooking his Feline Fish Snappers, succeeding about once every 4 attempts.

[X1 Roasted Feline Fish Snapper obtained]

Reduces hunger and gives a small buff to Agility

“Poorly cooked Feline Fish Snapper that has many burnt areas.”

+10 Agility

Duration: 4 hours

[Level up]

Just as Sora finished up his last fish he gained a level, putting him at level 10 which is exactly where he wanted to be before returning to town. Now Sora had plenty of levels, plenty of food, and plenty of buffs to push his way through the last 5 levels needed to transport to the capital of the kingdom while also completing some hidden quests. With a small smile on his face, Sora packed up his fish and headed back towards the town.

Once Sora reached the town he could see many players still fighting over the level 1 bunnies. The crowd has thinned out but there still wasn’t enough bunnies to go around. He continued walking down the main street of the town before coming to a stop in front of a small shop where players could be seen going in and out. He sat down across from the shop and started selling some of his fish.

“Get your fresh cooked fish here! Only 50 copper for food that not only sates your hunger but also gives you a boost to your Constitution! Act quick, supplies are limited!”

Sora already set aside 10 of the Constitution buffing type of fish for himself, the rest would be sold so that he can buy equipment. His yelling instantly attracted many people with eyes that looked like a starving wolf. A line instantly formed in front of him. The players who were going towards the shop ended up detouring to Sora’s line to see what everybody was so excited over.

“You said it gives a boost to Constitution? How much of a boost?”

“It gives a boost of 10, I also have a few that gives a boost of 10 to Agility if that’s more your style?”

“I’ll take 3 of the Constitution buffing food!”

The man quickly pulled out a silver and 50 copper before trading them over to Sora, Sora casually handed the man 3 skewered fish and the trade was complete. The man carefully bit into one of the fish as he stored the other 2. As he saw a message pop up saying “+10 Constitution” and his health gained an additional 100 points his eyes nearly teared up. He had been hunting in a low level field for the entire day, it was crowded and getting EXP was hard to do. With the extra 100 HP he would be able to go into less crowded areas and finally be able to properly level. As the crowd saw the man nearly crying they became more vigorous with their shouting and pushing, trying to get to the front by all means. After 5 people went through the line a player who was level 7 came up to Sora. He had blonde hair, green eyes, and a face that permeated an aura of ‘I’m too good for you’.

“Don’t you think the price of 50 copper is a little expensive? Why don’t you stop ripping people off and sell there for a better price?”

“Hmmm, alright how about this, I’ll sell this Constitution buffing food for the same price that you sell yours?”

“Th-That….”

“I’m giving you the choice to set a fair price, why don’t you show me what a fair and upright man like yourself can do for the rest of these people?”

The blonde haired man walked right into a trap. Where was he supposed to get this kind of food? It would be a surprise if there was at least one other person who also rushed into fishing like Sora did. Right now Sora was the only person that had a buffing food. The blonde man panicked as he couldn’t find the words to say.

“Well? If you don’t have any then you can get the fuck out of the way and stop holding up my line.”

“Ya get out of the way you prick, I want to buy some food before more players get on!”

“If you can’t afford it then get moving. Pfffft, people these days, who does he think he is?”

The entire line started to curse the man in front, wanting him to move so they could get their turn. The blonde man turned stiff and briskly walked away with a look on his face that could only be described as revolting. The line moved quickly and the last few fish were sold within 10 minutes of setting up shop. There were only two people left at the end of the line. A feisty girl with red hair and a timid girl with black hair.

“Oh, miss Blossom and miss LeeLee. How did the hunting go?”

“Mister fisherman, you were absolutely right about the amount of wolves that was at that hill. We were able to hunt for a full hour without having to share any wolves with other players. You really saved us a lot of trouble this time.”

“Congratulations. So, did you want to buy my last few fish?”

“Ohhh so that’s what was going on here, we just showed up and saw that you had a line in front of you and had to come see why. Selling fish? Sure I’ll buy a couple.”

Blossom pulled out 20 copper and tried to hand it to Sora with an eager look on her face. Sora looked at the pathetic amount of copper and had a complicated look on his face. Sure I guess they could be considered acquaintances but 20 copper for his remaining 4 fish would mean a loss of 1 silver 80 copper. Blossom noticed the difficult expression on Sora face and put on a quizzical expression while pulling out another 5 copper.

Sigh

“What’s wrong mister fisherman?”

“Well… that’s not quite enough…”

“Hmmm? 30 copper then? 40?”

“2.”

“42 copper? That’s a rand-”

“Silver.”

“...”

“...”

“WHAT?! Are you trying to rip me off?! I thought we were friends mister fisherman!”

Blossom had a look on her face as if she had just been in a long relationship with Sora and he just cheated on her. From behind Blossom came the small squeak of a girl as LeeLee slowly appeared in front of Sora.

“H-how could you b-be so mean mister fisherman! 2 silver for a few fish? Th-that’s just so mean.”

“Well it does give a boost of 10 to Constitution. I thought 50 copper per fish was a very reasonable deal.”

“...boost...of...10? As in an extra 100 HP?”

“Mhmm, that’s right. These two give 10 Constitution for 4 hours and these two give 10 Agility for 4 hours.”

When Constitution was mentioned Blossom perked up with a shocked look and when Agility was mentioned LeeLee also had a shocked look on her face. Blossom quickly pulled out 2 silver pieces, took the fish, and ran away like nothing happened. Sora was left with a perplexed look as he put the 2 silver away and watched as the two girls disappeared behind a building.

…..

“LeeLee….”

“Yes Blossom?”

“We need to make sure that guy is our friend in the future.”

“Mhmm.”

“...”

“Then why did we run away?”

“...”

“Blossom?”

Blossom suddenly face palmed as her face turned red. It’s been awhile since she was rendered into such a state by someone.