Edited By: Tyhuko, 1jayds, Edet

Author’s Note:

Hey everyone, sorry for late chapter, I had some real life shit to deal with so I couldn’t post it last week. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

True Identity

Chapter 18 – Cooking Profession

When the conversation ended, I received my weapons and left the church in an excited mood. I know exactly who I’m going to invite!

…

After leaving the church, I immediately opened up my friends list in order to message Iris. Wait where’s Iris? I stare at my list in confusion, before realizing she isn’t there. Fuck!, I forgot to ask her if I could add her as a friend. Now, I have to go and look around for her…

…

I ran around Edilath for a while hoping to find Iris, but, unfortunately, I couldn’t find her anywhere. Hmm, I guess I’ll just invite someone else. Just when I was about to give up, I saw Iris through a window. She’s inside the cooking profession workshop.

I decided to wait outside of the school until she was done talking. I had to wait for around 10 minutes and it seems she was finally done. Ah, women… Opening the door, she saw me waiting outside. Startled a little, she took a few steps back.

Tyhuko: And the winner of the masterchef is… Iris *clap clap*

Well that’s not the reaction I expected…. Nevertheless, I just acted as if nothing happened.

“Iris, I have an important matter to talk to you about. But first let me add you to my friends list.”

Iris nods

We added each other to our friends list. After that I started telling her about the quest.

“So you see, I just received this quest from the High Priest at the church. The quest is all about going to a village called Zovia in the north and purging the evil that lurks there.”

Iris didn’t answer me with any words, she just kept looking at me as if she was saying, “what does this have to do with me?”

“Well, the High Priest said that I can bring 1 person with me and since you are the only person other than Ronin’s group that I know, I was wondering if you would come with me?”

Iris looked like she was in a deep thought, it seemed like she was going to answer with something I didn’t want to hear. Well, this is a problem….

Suddenly a window popped up, it was an in-game message. Now that Iris and I add each other to our friends list, we could message each other now.

“Sorry, I can’t help you because I have an important quest to complete.” – Iris

“Oh ok, well if you change your mind, I have 1 day to prepare anyway.”

Iris started making all kinds of different gestures but I couldn’t figure out what she was trying say…

“Just message me….”

Again, Iris messaged me.

“If you help me with my quest first, I’ll help you.” – Iris

Oh, she was trying to tell me to help her with her current quest. And then she’ll help me with mine. Seems fine to me.

“Sounds like a plan!”

…

Iris led me to the eastern gates. I assumed it was the shortest way to reach her quest destination. When we stopped talking the atmosphere became awkward. Trying to break the silence, I spoke up.

“So, since you are going for the cooking profession you must be confident in your cooking skills.”

Seeing Iris nod, I got my answer.

“Great, that will help us a lot with our quest.”

Walking past the eastern gate, Iris led me into the Death Forest. Come on, why do we have to enter this place again. I just hope we don’t meet those people from [Nemesis] again. All hell would break loose once more.

[You have entered Death Forest]

It wasn’t long before Iris have found what she seemed to be looking for. She picked up a strange looking mushroom.

“Is that what you were looking for?”

Iris messaged me.

“No… preparing for the future.” – Iris

“Oh, cool, you’re thinking ahead. But how do you know that mushroom isn’t poisonous?”

Iris just stared at me blankly, giving the impression like a realization had just hit her.

“I don’t….” – Iris

Umm, well let’s just hope her cooking skills are better than her gathering skills. We walked around exploring the forest while gathering up ingredients… or should I say potential ingredients, on the way towards our destination.

We finally stopped when we reached a mountain. This is our destination…. The mountain wasn’t as big as the others, but you could tell that it was just as dangerous. There were many rough and jagged rocks protruding here and there. The slope of the mountain wasn’t that steep so hiking up the mountain wouldn’t be a problem. But if you lost your footing and started rolling down the mountain, only one fate awaited you… death.

That wasn’t the only problem, it was getting late, with the sun setting, the air was becoming gradually cooler and the sky was getting darker and darker. Soon it will be night time and we still need to hike up that mountain. I’m just not dressed appropriately for this kind of venture. Who knows what type of temperature and what kind of monsters are up there.

“Umm, so what exactly are we looking for up there?”

Instead of telling me what her quest entailed, Iris just shared her quest with me.

Quest: Meat On The Mountain

Difficulty: C

Requirements: Receive cooking profession quest

Description: Climb up Sowth Mountain and bring back the animal that tastes delicious. You will know what you are looking for once you see it.

“Wait, we don’t even know what we’re supposed to be looking for?”

Iris nods

Oh great, we’re going to climb this godforsaken mountain, when we don’t even know what we’re looking for… this is going to be a long day…This animal better look majestic or something.

“Alright, well we better get going before night starts to set in.”

…

We moved around the base of the mountain and found a path that seemed less dangerous than the others. Iris wanted me to hike up the mountain first, probably because she would feel conscious if I were behind her the whole time.

[You have entered Sowth Mountain]

I actually wanted to draw a map of the mountain, but due to the rough terrain, I had to concentrate my full attention on trying to get a good foothold. Also, I didn’t want Iris to complain that I am moving too slow. It looked like I would have to try to memorize the area and draw it from my memory later on.

…

I was surprised at how much stamina it took to hike up the mountain. We can’t even use our wings to fly, harsh winds would just blow us away. Ultimately, flying would take too much stamina and would be harder than just hiking. We also had to take into consideration the food usage, without eating we would have to take breaks quite often.

*Growl*

What’s that noise? I think it was coming from the peak of the mountain.

“Umm, I’m guessing that wasn’t your stomach growling Iris?”

“No….” -Iris

*Growl*

I heard more growls coming from above us, uh-oh this could be bad. There are definitely monsters above us.

“Let’s hurry up, I feel like something bad is going to happen and we want to be prepared for it.”

We hiked up the mountain until we found a nice flat ledge. We had a long way to go until we reach the top, but for now, this ledge will be a good resting place.

*Growl*

Night was setting in and everything was getting darker, making it harder to see. Luckily, I caught a glimpse of the monster that was growling at us from above.

Grey Wolf [Rank 1]

Level: 16

Health: 200/ 200

Attack: 40

Defense 35

Abilities: [Night Vision] [Sharpened Claws]

I immediately shared the wolf’s stats with Iris.

“Don’t be fooled by their low stats, wolves don’t travel alone. Those growls are warnings that we are trespassing on their territory. They will attack us if they see an opportunity.”

Iris didn’t answer me as if this didn’t bother her. Are you not scared woman? We could be swarmed by a pack of wolves and you’re not the slightest bit disturbed.

Looking down the mountain from the ledge we were resting on, I admit, I was somewhat scared. That was a long way down, I can’t even guess how high we’ve hiked so far. Looking at my depleted stamina, I don’t think I’ll be able to go on without a pit stop.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to go on without food to replenish our stamina.”

Iris immediately opened her bag and took out some fruits. It’s a good thing we picked up ingredients before coming here. We split the fruits between us and ate it. I felt my energy gradually coming back, my stamina started replenishing.

While we were still resting I decided to take out my quill and some paper. I immediately started drawing a map of the mountain, recalling every little detail that I could remember. I thought I was doing a good job, considering that I was drawing it all from my memory.

Suddenly I was startled by a message window and I almost messed up my map.

“What are you drawing?” – Iris

“It’s nothing special, just drawing a map of the mountain. It’s hard to draw it from the memory though.”

Iris came over to see my map. Judging by her facial expression, it actually seemed like she was impressed.

She points somewhere along the path I drew and sketches something that looks like a tree with her finger.

“Oh, that’s a good suggestion, people could use the tree as a landmark, thanks for the help.”

Iris and I continued drawing the map, trying to remember every single detail.

*Growl*

Hearing the numerous growls, we immediately stood up and readied our weapons. Looking around, I could see 5 wolves surrounding us. Damn, we created an opportunity for them to strike.

“I can see 5 wolves, but be careful, there might be more. It’s too dark to see anything else.”

This is extremely dangerous, we’re cornered. The wolves have surrounded us on the cliff. If we’re not careful, we could fall to our imminent death.

The wolves watched us carefully. They could attack from many directions, we have to be vigilant. The only direction that we knew they wouldn’t attack from, was the edge of the cliff, but that wasn’t that reassuring either.

I held my sword in my left hand and my axe in my right, while Iris held a sword in each hand. We were ready for an attack at any given moment. The staredown that occurred between us was short.

Suddenly, the wolves attacked all at once. Three wolves attacked me while the other 2 attacked Iris. The wolves’ attacks didn’t do that much damage, but their numbers more than made up for it. I was getting pummeled, defending against 3 wolves was extremely hard. If 1 attacks, they all attack.

|12|

|4| [Block]

|10|

If this continues, I might die. In desperation I used [Skull Splitter] on the head of the wolf closest to me, stunning it for 4 seconds. Without even thinking, I kicked the wolf off the cliff. You could hear its howls of agony as it rolled down the mountain.

Now it was 2 versus 1, this will be much easier to deal with. The 2 wolves seemed more conscious of me now, since I had just killed 1 of their own. They didn’t attack me as a group anymore, instead they observed my actions and attacked only when they saw an opening. Their hit and run tactic was superior to mine because of their naturally high movement speed.

I only had 46 health left so I decided to drink a health potion, which brought my health back up to 96. As there is no healer here, health potions are the only way I’m going to be able to replenish my health during the battle. Using my insights, I analyzed the wolves’ attack patterns.

I noticed that the wolves liked to attack their prey when they see an opening, but what happens if I purposely make an opening for them? There was 1 wolf to my left and the other one to my right. You’re supposed to watch both of them and attack carefully so that 1 of them doesn’t hit you in the back. But instead, I charged at the wolf towards my left, with my back completely open to the other wolf.

This left a clear opening for the wolf to attack me, but as it was about to strike, I quickly turned around and stabbed it in the side with my sword.

[45]

My plan worked, am I a genius? The wolf howled in pain from being hit, retreating back. Blood was dripping onto the ground from the wound. Goddamn it, I wish I had more skills than [Skull Splitter], having to wait a long time in order to use it is horrible. Just as [Skull Splitter] went off cooldown, I used it on the already injured wolf. I really do rely on this skill way too much….

[60] [The enemy’s leg is paralyzed for 3 seconds]

I hit its leg, paralyzing it for 3 seconds. From there, the wolf was fairly easy to kill. Since the wolf’s movement speed was significantly decreased with one of its legs paralyzed, I quickly slashed its side with my sword and cleaved its hind with my axe.

[25]

[42]

My consecutive attack killed the wolf in a flash, leaving its corpse lying on the ground.

|36| |-60 health over 60 seconds|

“ARGHH”

Fuck! I forgot about the other wolf.

The last remaining wolf used its ability [Sharpened Claws] on me, not only dealing massive damage, but also causing a bleeding effect. I would lose 60 health over a course of 1 minute.

Fortunately, dealing with 1 wolf was much easier than fighting multiple wolves. I blocked most of the wolf’s attacks while also dealing damage. The fight with the last remaining wolf ended in less than a minute.

I looked at the 2 dead wolf corpses on the ground then to my left where Iris was standing, She had already killed her opponents quite some time ago. Then, finally, I looked up towards the peak of the mountain. Well, this is going to be a long climb.

…

Author’s Note:

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