We didn't actually nap right there in front of the barely restrained army of ghosts. We weren't idiots. We rested for a minute to get some strength back and let Jessie top us all off with some life energy and then made the trek back to the hatchery where were we finally able to collapse into a nice restful sleep. I really needed the rest after all the craziness, and I couldn't wait for my head to stop throbbing.

Despite it being light out, we'd all been underground so long we had no legitimate clue what time it was. Nothing screwed up your internal clock like delving into an underground city of darkness, and when we all woke up the sun was just starting to set. Luckily we were not pretty far from the crypt, not to mention specters were apparently wary of auras much like goblins (understandably since they were literal spiritual beings) and Zeke's presence acted as a passive deterrent to them trying to come after us.

Even after a rest and a charge up from Jessie though, my head still pounded. I was pretty sure I'd over done it with my skill manipulation. I couldn't imagine how bad it would be if I'd kept going and actually blacked out from using all my charges. Still, we were back and fully stocked up on new mats and I just took the time to lie back and just decompress. Even with Jessie being there to pump us full of life energy, I'd noticed there was a mental component to relaxation that just didn't recover without actual rest.

After some time chilling though I got bored, and decided to get up and go eat...breakfast? Dinner? A meal. Since my cooking skill was the highest I decided to do the cooking myself, which had the added benefit of meaning I could make whatever I wanted. I checked the storage room, or at least the room of the hatchery where we were keeping our stuff, and was pleased to see that Zeke had brought a bunch of food with him...somewhere. I assumed he had a spatial artifact somewhere on his person.

Still, that worked fine for me because since Zeke never bothered to learn to cook he let me take supplies in exchange for labor whenever I made food. It didn't count as helping me because he was directly compensated. I grabbed a big crate of eggs, some ham, a few bell peppers, a block of cheese as well as a spatula and a convenient skillet I could use, and headed outside to cook in the twilight. The clearing was big enough that I didn't bother worrying about animals smelling the food so I didn't hesitate to get a fire started and begin prepping.

I found a relatively flat rock and used boiling cloud to steam clean the thing. I was recharged for the day and I didn't flex it so it wasn't a strain, and once the rock was clean I drew a knife I'd grabbed in the storage room and started chopping my ingredients. The fire had been simple enough to get going given my Might, the old stick rubbing trick was easy with super strength and I let it crackle away as I started chopping.

I diced the peppers, cut the cheese into cubes, and sliced the ham into thin strips before cracking the eggs into the skillet and whisking them with a knife. Once the eggs were all diced up I dumped the sliced veggies and cheese in and held it over the fire. Instead of rushing it, I held the skillet a bit higher over the flames and just...enjoyed myself. I loved cooking, it always made me feel so at peace. It was just nice to enjoy some time to myself and breathe for a bit.

As much as I enjoyed time with my friends and cultivating it was easy to ignore the slow build of tension and anxiety during the course of my adventures. I got so used to being on edge that it felt like I wasn't on edge at all, at least until I had a minute to slow down and really process what it felt like to relax. That was most of the reason I got overwhelmed at all, I got so excited fighting and training and looking for new loot I didn't even realize I was burning out until I was beyond my limits.

I scraped the eggs off the bottom of the skillet with the spatula and smiled. Times like this were good for me. No one to impress, nothing to fight, just me and my ingredients. Scrambled eggs were harder than most people thought. You had to slow cook them or half the egg ended up sticking to the bottom of the skillet, especially if you didn't use butter. It was an exercise in patience, but one I didn't mind at all, slowly pushing the cooked egg out of the way, letting the raw take its place as it cooked all the way through, melting cheese and searing ham and pepper alike.

The smell was amazing, and I closed my eyes for a second to soak it in. Perception could be a hell of a gift sometimes. I stayed there like that for a few minutes. Slow cooking the eggs by keeping the skillet just far enough off the fire to make the heat weaker. Finally I finished it, and I carried it inside to the storage room to scoop it all onto a huge platter and then headed up the raven room. I called everyone on the way, figuring if I was up everyone else would be too.

I'd made about a dozen eggs, the skillet had been pretty large, and there was enough eggs for everyone to have some, albeit not a huge amount. It was mostly just a nice breakfast to help everyone greet the day and give us some time to unwind before we planned our next move. The smell of the eggs permeated the whole building, and I laughed as I saw Callie stumble through the door, sleepy and slightly confused.

I'd called for plates and forks when I told everyone about the food, and I couldn't help but smile to see her grasping the plates blearily as she looked around in confusion. She swallowed slightly before croaking. "Food?" And I couldn't take it and dissolved into laughter. I set down the skillet on a table and went over to get the plates, prying them from her fingers and leading her to the table so I could make a plate for her. I put the fork on top and pushed it over, wary of her as she began to voraciously devour the eggs.

I made my own plate and started eating while she did, though I ate slower. I wasn't sure if Callie usually woke up too groggy to function or if this was a factor of her exhaustion but honestly it was kind of adorable. I just enjoyed seeing her kind of come to life as she ate, her eyes clearing and sharpening as she woke up more. Meanwhile I enjoyed my own eggs immensely. The cheese was perfectly melted and the eggs were incredibly fluffy, a testament to my cooking Skill rather than any practice or anything.

Once she finished she sighed and push the plate away, leaning over to kiss my cheek. "Thanks babe, that was delicious as always." She slumped back in her chair, enjoying the quiet before everyone else showed up. Callie was always more relaxed when it was just the two of us. The pressure of being in charge was a subtle thing, but as I'd noticed when I woke up, sometimes pressure could mount even when you weren't aware of it. I was glad she felt safe enough with me to relax for at least a little while, it was one of the few ways I could easily help her deal with her role.

As I finished the last bite of delicious eggs, the mouth in my mask closed back up and I pushed my own plate away. "Of course, glad you liked them. So, what are we doing today? We still have to get those items appraised or whatever. Hopefully Zeke can tell us what they are. No clue how we're going to pay for that, but hey, maybe he'll agree to take one of the objects as payment once he's finished." I figured more than anything we all needed a day off, and this was a good way for us to take that.

While we were in a time crunch, Callie more than the rest of us needed to take a break. Given her love of treasure I was sure the idea of spending a day identifying and cataloguing the artifacts from the Necropolis were going would be both fun for her and something that wouldn't weigh too heavily on her desire to push forward. It was a nice middle ground for all of us, given the others probably wouldn't even care enough to be involved.

As expected she seemed thrilled at the chance to find out what we'd ended up with after the raid in the crypt. I knew she was planning to trade at least some of the objects in question to other teams if possible, to try to fill out our own list. Granted some of them might be a bit too valuable for that to be cost effective, but I was certain there were some passingly useful artifacts in the bunch that could reduce the amount of work we had to do. Especially the things from the treasury, the chances of some of the other being list items for teams besides ours were pretty high given the specters insistence on collecting powerful items.

If they found other objects in their territory like the Corpse Grass the treasury was where it would have ended up, and I refused to believe there were so many treasures like that out in the wilderness that they found a dozen artifacts that powerful and literally none of them were on the lists for the hundreds of other teams that were out here with us. Callie had made the smart call when she decided to collect the extra stuff with the intention of trading it, because I didn't think I had five or six more raids like the Necropolis in me, and sure as hell not within a single week.

Zeke, who had just come in when he smelled the eggs dropped into a chair next to the table, scooping some of the eggs onto a plate. "What's this about me and artifacts?" Callie excitedly filled him in on our idea. He made a pensive noise as he ate, taking a moment to savor the eggs as he chewed and stewed. "Hmmm. That's not...impossible. I'd be willing to identify a few things in exchange for my pick of the resulting artifacts. I get first right of refusal though. My Identification Skill is substantially higher than anyone else you would find, and as such more valuable."

I rolled my eyes, pointing my fork at him as I countered his point. "I call bullshit. We only need the Skill to be strong enough to identify G ranked artifacts. Anything beyond that is just pointless excess, and there are plenty of people in Rajak who could do that. It's not like we're paying for prestige either since we aren't going to be telling anyone you were the one who did it. We're getting the same information regardless of who does the job."

He smiled proudly at that and gave me a conciliatory nod. "Fair enough. Fine, first right of refusal with a single veto. That's the best I can do." I grudgingly agreed and he smiled. "Now, I'm going to finish the rest of these eggs, great job by the way, and then we can get started." With that decided he lost himself in his food again and I turned to focus on the bag in the corner that contained our spatial box. Time to finally see what we had on our hands.