Before we had left the Lord’s manor I had confirmed with Milly that I intended to have her over for lunch in a couple of days. The rest of the evening was spent getting acquainted with the new people. I was mostly focused on three of the five that I had personally interviewed.

The two I was not focused on, I had handed off to the Phils, they would eventually become a party on their own, but for now, they would be joining the Phils. Both of them would be taking construction-related skills, with one of them focusing on wood as a material while the other focused on stone.

The first of the three I focused on was Martine, a large woman that made me look small. Not that she had much fat on her body, just the opposite, she was all muscle. She was a fitness fanatic that hit it off well with Kira. The reason why I chose her as a crafter instead of a fighter, was because of her background.

In all the previous games she had played, she had played as a blacksmith. She had not been bad at it, but neither had she been really great. However, in those games, her creativity and knowledge had been stifled by what was allowed. In those games that featured hardcore realism, but was not popular MMOs, her skills had been unparalleled.

I hoped that the semi-realistic approach of Carn Online would be able to bring out her best work. Sure, results were still mostly dependent on the in-game skill, but if you knew what you were doing, you could make a lot of stuff without needing blueprints and recipes. So knowledge of how things worked was golden, and here she had a huge leg up. Because she had a degree in metallurgy.

“Thanks for getting me out of those coffins,” she said. Her voice did not match her body. It was low, whispery, and a bit sultry. If it had been the age of phone sex, she would be making money hand over fist.

“They’re abominations that should not be allowed in the first place,” I replied with a smile. We were in the main inn, taking up most of the space. It was a little get together, so we could get to know each other. While we had seen and met each other in the real world, it had been hurried, because the expedition had been on a timeline to get as many resources as possible.

She nodded, before changing the subject. “I wonder how I’m going to get all the iron and coal I need, from what I gather there aren’t a lot of mining spots on the island.”

“It’ll be a little tough the first week. The guild will buy some iron ore you can grind with, though we did manage to get a bit this time,” I explained. “However, in the longterm, it would ruin the guild if we did that. But it’s only until we get started on the village we’re going to build.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, there’s a mine nearby. One of our members found it by accident,” I fibbed. I had taken the time to practice lines like that with Robin. I was unsure about how I felt about becoming a better liar. Well, not really unsure. I hated the fact that I was lying, but I knew it was necessary. Even if it was just misdirection, it still felt dirty.

“You still want us to stay here in Blackport, Boss?” the small man next to me asked. Alain’s hands seemed to be in constant motion, even if he did not do anything with them. While I preferred most people use their first name, I had agreed to Alain’s request to be called Mozart instead.

“For now, it’ll be some time before the village is up and running and will see the kind of traffic that Blackport has,” I answered him. “You wouldn’t have much of a crowd there.”

“That won’t do, Boss. The masses must hear my splendour,” he said with a puffed-up chest. He was going to be the clerk at our adventure store/tavern. He would only have two skills I wanted him to focus on. Imbue and Gem Cutting. The rest of his skill slots were his to do with as he wanted, and I knew they would be music related. Since we would be starting to sell magic items, it would be good with an extra source of gemstones.

“No singing,” Brant grumbled nasally. His voice was rather annoying, but he rarely spoke, so it was easy to forgive him that character flaw. The tall, taller than me, thin man would be our cook/butcher in Blackport. He was also the oldest member we had hired, being almost ninety years old.

Mozart pouted. “I’m sure the skills will help me correct my Curse, right Boss?”

I nodded with a pained look on my face. “Yes, when they become high enough, until then, please practice singing away from everyone else.”

“Sure thing, Boss,” he replied with a big smile. He could play any instrument you put in front of him. He only had to hear a song a couple of times before he could imitate them. He was quite the savant when it came to playing music. However, he could not sing a note if his life depended on it. “When will the tavern be ready?”

“I need the kitchen the day after tomorrow, but the Phils are going to need a couple of days of getting everything ready. So we’ll start tearing down the old building the day after,” I said. “Then it should take them at most 2 or 3 days to build the new building. We do need some time to get everything packed up and ready to move, though. I expect we’ll leave in a week, and at that time the building should be ready.”

“That’s fine, Boss,” he replied.

I turned to Brant. “Are you good with helping Nise for the next couple of days, so you can get the skills needed for keeping some chickens here?”

Brant nodded and grunted gruffly. Mozart immediately exclaimed, “Mmm, eggs. We need to serve scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and all that!”

Brant ignored him and went back to nursing his ale. Frowning every time he took a sip. The man had lost the family business decades ago and been without a job ever since. His family had owned a microbrewery and pub for decades, and when he inherited it, it expanded quickly, gained popularity, and became a fairly large franchise.

That was when the troubles began. The big corporations he was competing against did not like their new competitors, so through some less than moral actions, they managed to get his company into default. At the same time, his name was slandered in the media, ruining his reputation, making him unemployable.

For the last fifty years, he had been living on welfare, unable to pay the MWT, his debts so enormous that he would never be able to repay them. Because he had been focused on the family business, he had never established a family himself. After the company went under and he was settled with the debt, he did not feel it right to have any children that would share in his debt.

Of course, the man of almost no words had not told me this, it was all part of the dossier provided by Perennial’s recruitment service we had gotten help from. I wanted to say hired, but we did not really hire them to do the job. The service was provided to us, in hopes of getting more revenue in the hotels.

Looking around the rest of the room, I saw the new members were integrating well with the other new members, and decently with the older members. It was at that moment the door opened, to let in a large group of players. They looked vaguely familiar.

The one in the lead loudly proclaimed, “Too bad we’re inside Blackport, or it would be like shooting fish in a barrel with all these Blue Losers in here.”

The thirty or so players with him laughed uproariously. Checking them, I saw that it was The A-Team and Team Asura’s players, including a few Jesters. The asshole was an Asura. Before I could say anything, Hei had shot across the room, his left hand crackling with lightning.

His target had no chance of reacting before he was stunned. Hei grabbed the player and quickly dragged him backwards. The other assholes stood there gaping. One of them stuttered, “Y—you’re going to regret that. Someone call the guards!”

“What are you waiting for? We got a quest to complete!” Hei asked the rest of the guild. “Remember, only take down Team Asura, unless it’s self-defence.”

Benny sprang to his feet, “Sic ‘em, boys!”

With a roar, my guildmates surged at the group standing in the door. Some of them immediately turned tail and hoofed it out of there, with my guild members in hot pursuit. Tables and chairs were overturned, mugs smashed. For some reason, someone jumped through the windows. Probably to get around the traffic jam that had happened in the door, when my friends fell on the slower enemies.

I felt a headache starting, as I went up to the innkeeper who was standing there with a panicked look, mouth agape. I gave him an embarrassed smile. “Sorry about my guildmates. Take this five platinum, if it’s not enough, send the bill to the Blue Lotus Guild.”

The man still just stared, clearly lost for words. I made my way out the backdoor, together with the other non-combatants.

I had recovered the five platinum from the guild treasury, a price that was certainly worth paying. Only two of Team Asura has managed to get away. Momentarily only though, they had perished in the fighting, and my guild was waiting for them when they respawned. The DLA raised a stink about their member being killed inside the town, but because they tried to prevent my members from capturing Team Asura, it was deemed justified.

I spent the time offline catching up on all the physical training and shooting practice I had missed. When I logged in again it was morning in-game and excited I made my way to the blacksmith in town.

He had managed to make the items I requested and I happily paid the material cost that was only a bit over 2 platinum. Next, I made my way to the thief—I mean runesmith, Ilat, and bought knowledge of some more runes. The three new runes I had bought cost me another 30 platinum. Bringing my personal reserves under 100 platinum for the first time since the monthly auction.

What followed was an entire day filled with crafting and runesmithing. Which brought me up to level 33 and I unlocked the Engineering skill, which I immediately learned. The reason for learning the skill was because I assembled the items I had designed. However, the most important thing was that I managed to succeed in crafting all runesmithed kitchen appliances I had ordered.

There were a few things that had already been invented it seemed, such as the mixer I made. At least something akin to it existed because it already had a value assigned to it. The deep fryer was something that also existed already much to my dismay. A few other things I made existed already as well, but that made sense since it was variations of it. Including the ice cream maker I had designed.

The only thing that did not exist already was the blender I made. It was the only thing that did not already have something similar. Which I found weird. Maybe the system felt bad for all my attempts at creating something original that it rewarded me anyway.

The next day at the temple I ran into the priest I had shown the Lucky Charm to back then. It felt like a lifetime ago, but it was not that long. He gave me a big smile. “What can I help the esteemed leader of the Blue Lotus with today?”

“Greetings, your holiness. I was hoping you could verify this magic item for me,” I said and pulled out the blender and handed it to him.

He looked it over. “Interesting. I’m amazed that you can find something new that has not been invented before.”

I shrugged. “To be honest, I had hoped it was more, but it seems everything I tried to make has an equivalent of them already.”

“Just because they have got an equivalent doesn’t mean they’re not new. It just means that they’re not unique,” the priest replied. “A nice tool for the cooks I would say. Worth a platinum or two depending on size and quality. More importantly, Nophine informs me that this could easily be powered by steam or a handle the way you’ve made it. So it qualifies as a piece of engineering. You’re the first one to bring us a new engineering invention here in Blackport, so you should have some achievements coming to you.”

Just as he finished speaking, I received five prompts. The first 4 informed me that I had received an achievement and it had been upgraded. The last was much more interesting.

One Time Rewards for Achievements Received

Inventor

100 Free Experience Points

First Inventor in Blackport

500 Free Experience Points

1 Gnomish Essence Shard

First Inventor in Astia

1000 Free Experience Points

3 Gnomish Essence Shards

First Inventor in the Empire of the Endless Sky

2500 Free Experience Points

6 Gnomish Essence Shards

I quickly checked the passive reward.

First Inventor in the Empire of the Endless Sky

When you successfully invent a new item, you receive 10% extra XP as Free XP.

It was not bad at all. I thanked the priest and left. First stop on the way home was Fillard, I needed to know if he had what I needed. I was lucky that he did indeed have some cooking oil, limewater and cheese of average quality. Next stop was Old Milly herself.

I did not get a greeting when I arrived there. Instead, it was a slightly reproachful question, “Are you here to postpone again?”

“No, not at all. I’m, however, looking for some ingredients so I can cook for you, I’ll pay of course,” I answered with a friendly smile.

“You’re going to feed me my own produce?” she asked with an arched eyebrow.

I shrugged. “You’re the best source of fresh produce. At least this way you know that it’ll be good.”

“Flatterer, what quality?” she asked.

“Average.”

“A bit low.”

“My skills are a bit low at the moment, I hope that in the future I’ll be able to wow you with something else,” I replied with an apologetic look.

“Fine, what do you need?”

I quickly listed the items I needed. “Corn, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and some peppers. I don’t know if you like spicy food, but it’s better it’s not one that’s too hot.”

“Not too spicy, my stomach easily gets upset,” she said with narrowed eyes.

“That’s okay, we’ll just make it very mild then,” I replied. She harrumphed and went about gathering what I needed, querying me on the amount each time. Since I was cooking with average quality I decided to take my precautions and get extra of everything. Also because I needed to use four ingredients at the final assembly, which meant an extra penalty of 5.

With everything in hand, I made my way back to our guild house and saw Nise had killed the number of chickens I had asked of her. Butchering them would be the easy part, so I saved that for later.

The first step of the preparation was making the masa, or cornflour for the chips. That was where the corn and limewater came in. It took me nearly an hour to get the amount I was happy with. The second step was turning the masa into tortilla chips. It was not complicated, but I did fail quite a bit because I was cooking with average quality ingredients. The deep fryer worked flawlessly, and soon I had some crunchy chips.

Next step was the salsa sauce. I chopped a quarter of the tomatoes into small pieces, while I blended the rest together with the onions, cilantro, and a little bit of chilli pepper. It took me a while to make the amount I wanted for this as well.

Second last step was butchering the chickens and grilling the meat, before slicing them. Which was followed by the last step, which was the easiest and most difficult step at the same time. All I had to do was put the ingredients together and put it in the oven. Easy as that, however, it was just as difficult Cooking skill-wise as making the salsa sauce because it consisted of four ingredients.

Just as I heard the door knock and Mia lead Old Milly into the dining hall, I finished the first ten batches. Total overkill, but I wanted to be sure that I had something that tasted good for her. The rest of the batches would be given to the neighbours since none of the guild members was around, except for me and Mia. So one of the neighbourhood kids were waiting impatiently for me to finish. I heard a few audible gulps whenever the delicious fragrance of cooking got to them.

As I took them out, my face started to fall, when I saw the first three portions. Flawed, Flawed, and Flawed Success. On seeing the fourth, I finally sighed of relief, because there was a Success. It would have to do, but I was still hoping for better.

The fifth and sixth portion was also Flawed Successes. When I pulled out the seventh portion, I had a big smile because it was an Exceptional Success. Meaning the taste would be much better than the normal Success.

The smile transformed into a low laugh when I pulled out the eight portion. It was a freaking Brilliant Success. The best I could make at my current skill level unless I used very poor ingredients. Even then, there was only one percent chance of making a Masterwork, which would still be worse than a Flawed Success made with average quality.

The last two were also Flawed Successes. I put the three best one to the side and gestured for the girl to take the seven other portions. “Take these and share with the other kids.”

“Thanks, Mister Damian,” she said and quickly put them into her inventory and headed out the backdoor.

“Oh and Firan, come back with the pans when you’re done, okay?” I called after her. I got no reply, but I was not worried. If their parents found out they had taken something belonging to me, there would be hell to pay for the kids. The benefits of a high reputation.

I grabbed the remaining three portions. From the refrigerator, I grabbed a couple of pitchers and moved into the dining hall. “Sorry for making you wait, Miss Milly, lunch is ready.”

“It smelled pretty good from out here,” she said, a little gruffly. “Remember, I don’t like spicy food.”

“You said so, I hope this will be okay though. Just in case, we’ve got some cold milk as well,” I said as I pulled the items out of my inventory. Brilliant Success for Milly, of course, while Exceptional went to Mia.

She was very hard to read. I could not gauge her reactions at all, while she was eating. From time to time she asked some questions about how it was made, what else could be done with the dish, and the history of the dish. The last part was a bit tricky, but I managed to keep it free of any rule breaking of telling the NPCs about specifics of the real world.

When she finished, she looked thoughtful for a few minutes. I felt the urge to shake her and demand that she told me what she thought, but I curbed my impatience. Finally, she looked at me. “I don’t like spicy food, this was very mild, so it’s acceptable. You had some luck with my portion, average quality usually doesn’t taste this good.”

“Yes, I was very lucky,” I replied with a strained smile.

“You gave me what I wished for, though it’s similar to something else in this world,” she replied. “Nevertheless, you’ve succeeded. Do you think you can come up with more dishes?”

I nodded eagerly, ignoring the two prompts that had appeared. She gave a slight smile. “Very good, I’ll see myself out.”

“Thank you, Miss Milly,” I said and was about to check my prompts.

“Oh, and before you ask. I might have married into a family with spriggan history, but I myself am from a beastkin line,” she said just as she left the room.

Quest Completed

A New Taste Experience I

Reward

+68 reputation points with ‘Old Millie’

+13.6 reputation points with the Lord of Blackport

1000 Cooking Experience

1 Beastkin Essence Shard

Quest Accepted

Type: Chain

A New Taste Experience II

‘Old Millie’ has heard rumours of the wonderous food from your world. Since you have provided her one such meal, she wishes to try something else. Prepare her something she has never tried before.

Reward

Variable

Penalty for Failure

-100 reputation points with ‘Old Millie’

-100 reputation points with the Lord of Blackport

I was floored by the last part of the reward. The fact that she was able to provide essence shards for a personal quest, without an official title, meant that she was a direct descendant of the imperial family in the Wilderness. It also meant I had found a way to grind beastkin essence shards.