“Leave me alone,” I said, looking down from the balcony while whittling away at a wooden bowl.

“I’m sorry Sid if this is about the money, I can totally pay you back whatever you lost,” Rachel replied.

“How do you plan to do that?”

“I just need to go back to the mainland and withdraw from a bank, I have plenty...”

“How do you plan to go back to the mainland?” I said, cutting her off.

“We just need too...” Rachel grew quiet as she contemplated her options. “Can’t we just take the waterfall back up?”

“Anyone trapped in the waterfall dies before they make it to the top. I presume that the only way back to the mainland would be to kill the Leviathan, and I don't think that’s happening anytime soon.”

“Aren't you going to get more money once they kill the wyvern? Did you need it urgently?”

“Yeah, this building has a monthly tax and it’s not cheap.”

“What tax?” Rachel said in confusion.

“I have to pay a monthly tax for this building and it about a hundred thousand.”

“What do you mean a hundred thousand? Didn't you buy this place for four hundred?”

“Initially the tax was sixty thousand, but with the addition of the shrine, it bumped up to a hundred. I was confused about why it was so high so I asked Harriet. She did some zone lookup and told me that this building was sold to me under the price predetermined by the game system three years ago. One the purchase was completed the zone was then updated to the current market value and the price was inflated to meet today's rates which valued this building to be somewhere in the millions.”

Rachel hunched over, her hand held against her feet as she fell down towards the wooden floor. “Fuck, I screwed you over royally.”

“You don't even know the half of it,” I said in a half-hearted chuckle. “I’m going to lose the inn and then we're both going to die.”

“What do you mean die?”

“I don't have money to pay for the month’s subscription.”

Rachel got up and glared at me like I was a rock. “Are you an idiot,” Rachel yelled, getting up from the floor. “You had all that money and you only paid for one month?”

“What are you getting at?”

“You know they give you the option to buy your subscription in bulk right. I buy mine in one-year intervals so I don't have to go through the hassle of doing every month and the rates are cheaper that way as well.”

“Dammit,” I yelled. “Now I feel like an idiot.”

“Don’t you have a plan B?”

“Plan A was to not die, and that was going pretty smoothly until...”

“Yes, you don't have to hover your death over me, I get it.”

“Have you tried asking any of the guild leaders?”

“I would but most of them are not online. Kain was dragged out of the house by his wife to go to the doctor when she found out he had died and was locked out of the game for two days which is a pretty rare occasion. Don and Harriet are doing date night while Melina is currently traveling abroad.”

“What about Sen and Cassius?”

“Cassius is over there,” I said, pointing towards the bar where a bunch people sat drinking and discussing some plans. “Sen is in room two sleeping.”

“Sleeping?” Rachel said in confusion.

“She’s an NBC like us.”

“Huh… So why don't you try asking Cassius or Sen for the money?

“I tried, no one brought any money because there was no reason to do so. The only way to get money across would be to have it ferried from the mainland, but Harriet told me that due to the uncertainty of it making it across the waterfall, any amount that is lost I would still need to reimburse.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Well If I wanted a hundred thousand, the safest way for any of the guild leader to do that would be to load five people with twenty thousand. Let's say three of them died to the Leviathan, only forty thousand gets to me, I still have to repay the full hundred thousand.”

“That sounds stupid.”

“Honesty, coming from a corporate point of view, it sounds quite reasonable. I've been with Xuxan and they would always do this type of dealing with farmers.”

“Then what about the money from the drake?”

“I already asked about that. Harriet told me that they would need more time to get more people and resources across the barrier. They might take more than the required month, so at this point, I'm just waiting for them to get back to see what other plans they might have.”

“That might take a few days, what do you plan to do in the meantime?”

”Do the same thing I have been doing for the last week, make utensils and level up my cooking.”

“Why are you even making food in the first place? You're not at a high enough level to where your food could grant buffs.”

“That the same thing I told Cassius when I laid out rations for everyone to eat. He went on a whole speech about how I need to learn how to make food because if the only thing I'm feeding the group is stale crackers then I’m going to have a bad time. He went on about how I need to keep the groups moral up and the easiest way to do that is to make food. I headed his advice and started to learn how to cook and that pretty the whole story.

“Hmm… never thought of it that way,” Rachel pondered. What level are you in cooking anyway?“

“Nine, but I only need a hair more experience to hit ten.”

“Oh, let me help you with that then, it’s the least I can do.”

“I have the perfect job for you,” I said walking down the stairs. “I was able to get enough wood and metal from Kain to build part of the kitchen, It has a decent stove as well as an oven.”

“Ooo, sounds fancy, what do you want me to make?”

“Bread,” I told her, not giving away a bit of hesitation.

“Your joking right?” Rachel said, almost tripping down the stairs.

Walking past the bar, I open the wooden door to the kitchen. “If only?” I said, holding the door open. Pacing up to the brick oven, I pulled a few logs from my inventory and jammed it towards the back. Throwing in a small amount of hay, I grabbed a small flint and steel from the side table. Rubbing the two pieces together sparks flew hitting the hay immediately catching and setting the whole thing ablaze.

“Where are your pots and pans?” Rachel said opening the many draws and cupboards.

“We don't have any crafter, so I don't have any..”

“So how have you been cooking?”

“Taking out a large metal buckler shield, I place it in the oven, the metal immediately heating up as the fire swelled.

“Are you serious?” Rachel asked, looking at me like I had just dug through the trash for a meal.

“I have to make do with what I have, and besides it's not too bad, the shield is over level ninety so it has crazy high durability and look here,” opening the shield’s status screen, I pointed towards a small line of text.”This shield has basic fire resistance. I asked Sen to add this for me, now the shield will never get so hot that it will burn the food.”

“That’s stup…,” Rachel tried to say before she cut herself off. “You know, that kinda genius. Since regular cooking utensils were classified as general equipment you were never able to add an enchantment to them, but cooking with real equipment might have some benefits.”

“I know, isn't that amazing.”

“So where are the ingredients?”

“Over there,” I said, pointing towards a wooden cupboard. Opening the door, Rachel was presented with a list of several items.

“I see we have flour, but not much else.”

“What do you need to make bread?”

“I can make a basic flatbread with just flour and water but it's going to be bland and tacky. With some yeast, I can get the bread to rise so it won't be so flat, and with some salt and sugar it won't taste so bland, but I can always experiment with any other ingredients if we get any.”

“Hey, Sid you here,” a woman said coming in through the door. She wore a dark brown almost black leather armor that hugged her body. The armor had several different layers that moved and flexed with each step but gave off no sound. Behind her was a large metal crossbow that was folded in a way to give it a slim profile. Walking up to the counter she opened her inventory and produce several chunks of meat as well as a few bags of grains. Pulling up a chair, she took a seat watching as Sid heated the cooking hearth. “What’s for dinner?”

“Sorry Aladay, but it's going to be more stew.”

“Again? It has been stew for the last weeks. Don’t you know how to make anything other than stew?”

“No, not really,” I said. “But I have Rachel to help and she can make bread and stuff.”

“Bread and stuff,” Aladay repeated in an almost inquisitive tone. I hope its better than the crappy ration we were eating for the first week, that stuff tastes like dried cement.”

Rummaging through the sacks, Rachel took in the smell and feel of the few different grains. “Where did you get this?”

“There is a field across the ridge, once you get across you can find them in abundance. They make great ambush points since they grow to about eight feet tall.”

“Can you get more tonight?”

“Nope, Harriet put a restriction on what time we’re allowed to leave the inn. Once it hits eleven server time, were locked in until six.”

“Why didn't I get this memo?” I asked.

“Because you never leave the inn.”

“Hm… fair point. Why is the restriction in place?”

“The Reaper. If you thought the wyvern was hard, that thing is near indestructible.”

“I’m guessing it only comes out at night?”

“Yeah, if you ask Cassius he should have the track map.”

“A what?” I asked.

“When a boss monster shows up, they usually have a preset route. While it’s not always the same, you can usually guess their next location by gathering enough data points. Once this is all complied we call this a monster’s track map. A track map can usually tell you a monster’s favorite hunting spot and the place they go to rest.”

“That's awesome, how do I get a copy?”

“A thorough track map can cost quite a bit, but since we're the only one tracking it I’m sure if you ask Cassius he would be glad to set you up with a track list of all the monsters we’ve encountered so far.”

“Could you take me to the spot tomorrow?” Rachel chimed in, feeling a bit anxious.

“Why are you in such a rush to get a few grains, this is the real prize right here,” Aladay said slapping the hunk of meat set out on the table.

“Because these grains are of some crazy high quality. Not to put you down or anything, but have you ever notice why Sid has been able to cook the editable stew with almost no cooking experience?”

“Um… is it because I'm just a good cook,” I rebutted.

“No, its because the ingredients are such high quality that small mistakes go unnoticed. Take this meat for instance,” Rachel said, opening its status screen. “Out of all these cuts of meat, none of them are lower than A class.”

“Meaning what?” I asked.

“Meaning anything you make with them will, for the most part, turn out edible. Meat like this is very rare to come by in the wild and must be bought through player farmed cattle.”

“You may not be able to see the benefits yet, but with grain this tier, I could make bread with some outrageous stat boost.”

“So why can’t you do it with meat?” Aladay said.

“It’s because my profession is a baker, once you hit level twenty in a profession you have to choose a subclass.”

“I know, I know, you don't have to give me the whole spiel about classes. I just never knew cooking had its own subclass.”

“Why don't you make something now?” Aladay said. If you make something that half-decent I'm sure you will have many players lining up to grab more ingredients for you.

“It won't be too good since I have limited ingredients, but at least its something different to the stew.”

After an hour of cooking, I came out with several shield worth of stew, each one still bubbling as I place them across the bar. “It’s ready,” I shouted, looking at the several patrons talking to each other around circular tables.

“Me first,” Aladay said, rushing up to the bar.

Grabbing a wooden bowl, I scooped a large portion of the stew along with a very thinned out flatbread Rachel had made. “Rachel is still tweaking with a few recipes in the back, but she told me that this should taste half decent.”

“I'll be the judge of that,” Aladay said, ripping the bread to bite size stripes and smearing it across the bowl of stew. “Holy shit, that’s so good.”

“Move out of the way,” a man with large rippling muscle said as he impatiently stood behind her.

“Oops, sorry Rodrick,” Aladay said turning around and handing him one of the strips of bread. Grabbing it, he slid it across the thick stew and sucked it in his mouth making an audible wet slurping noise.

“What the...” Rodrick began to sputter.

“It’s good right?” Aladay asked.

“No, not that.” Opening his stats screen he turned it around to show Aladay.

System: Intelligence increased by 23%

System: Duration 5h 59m

“Pfffft, what the hell, that’s hilarious. Hey Cassius, come over here and take a look at this.”

Getting up from a table near the back of the bar, he walked over towards the group. “What?”

“Look,” Aladay said pointing to the screen.

Cassius started at it for a good five seconds before turning his head away. Keeping an arm to his mouth, he tried to keep a stoic face before letting out a burst of muffled laughter. “What your intelligence at now? Twelve?”

“No… I have… 43. What about you Aladay, last time I checked all your points were put into dex.”

Opening her logs Aladay looked at her intelligence and notice that it had stayed the same. With a frown, she opened her logs wondering why she was not granted the boost.

System: Movement speed increased by 31%

System: Duration 5h 54m

“Holy shit,” Aladay said pointing to her stat window.

“Cassius, what's your movement speed?”

“Two fifty six, Why?”

“Uh… I’m faster than you.”