97: Grey Rock

Looking at the doorway and seeing no one had stirred from their sleep yet,

“Uh, okay, something happened…” I said to Milo and Jen in a whisper.

“Everything okay?” Jen asked.

“Yes, but, erm… how rare are permanent stat increases?” I asked, making sure no one else was awake.

Milo just stared at me before Jen responded.

“Unheard of.”

“Do I want to know why you asked that?” Milo asked with a sigh.

“He’s about to tell us something completely ridiculous that’s absolutely going to have him locked away in the royal dungeons for life,” Jen said with a nervous chuckle.

“Well, the dragon has a lot of buffs—but at the end, it also provides a +1 permanent Endurance buff,” I explained.

“Don’t tell Liane,” Milo said sternly.

Jen just chuckled again, shaking her head.

“If she finds out, you know she’ll want to test it—and the dragon meat will probably kill her,” Milo said seriously now. “Also, what Jen just said—if anyone finds out about this, Trevor, and I mean anyone—if word spreads at all, we can’t help you.”

I just nodded. I kind of expected to be told not to tell Liane; after all, that’s why I kept peering inside to make sure she was still asleep.

“That’s the response I expected,” I replied, nodding.

“Oh—and don’t write that down anywhere,” Milo added. “Any others?”

“Not yet. It’s odd how the skill works—it didn’t feel like I gained any knowledge, but I just know… it’s hard to explain,” I said, pulling out a roll and inspecting it.

I intuitively knew now that this particular roll would provide Minor Regeneration and +2 Endurance. I could also tell that the +2 Endurance came from virfolium, and when I thought about the herb, I also saw that it had a regeneration property itself—but it required a second ingredient to activate it.

Blood Tear had a minor regeneration effect of its own and was overwriting the regeneration from virfolium.

I saw that the Grain Flour had a linked buff: if mixed with another grain-based ingredient of similar type, it would gain +1 Willpower.

As I went through it, I realised every single ingredient had a buff—or at least the potential of a buff.

“You okay, Trev?” Jen asked, looking at me.

“Sorry, I zoned out. I was just thinking about this roll, and I realised every single ingredient has a buff associated with it—but a lot of the items need another of a similar type to activate it,” I explained, before going through all the ingredients in the roll.

“So, using Virfolium and Blood Tear together is detrimental, and what you need to discover is an item that has some linked regeneration-based effect to achieve its potential,” Milo mused, rubbing his chin like some wise elder.

After a moment, I had a thought. It was completely crazy—but I’d throw it out there anyway.

“So, unrelated… we know Lily will visit us in town, and, as was mentioned to me before, I need to get strong enough to make it seem not worth it to try to kidnap me, right?” I started.

“Right…” Milo said sceptically.

“Well, say I walk into town with Lily following us in the group—would they stop us?” I asked.

“I’m not going to ask how you’ll convince Lily to openly join us by walking through the front gates of a town, but no… they won’t stop you. But there’s a non-zero chance they’ll panic and start to evacuate the city,” Milo answered.

“It would, however, confirm all the rumours that there’s a Shadow Cat with the group, and the likelihood of any trouble once word spreads would be incredibly low,” Jen added.

“Would it? Or would it just be the strongest people we get trouble from?” Milo countered.

“We don’t have to—but I just thought it might make life easier with the Lord of Dunhearth or something like that,” I added, a bit embarrassed by my idea. I didn’t expect a full city evacuation, but I suppose it made sense.

“It’s probably an idea to bring up with Hari, honestly, because we’ll need to either go all in or hide it before the cap—” Milo started, but was interrupted as Hari appeared in the doorway.

“Bring up what with me?” he said.

After explaining the idea again to him, he didn’t immediately shut it down.

“I know this could backfire, but if we want it to backfire in any town, it’ll be this one,” Hari began. “We have nothing to do there other than relax, and it’ll be better to solidify those rumours—and especially confirm the news I’m sure the capital has already been told—before we reach our destination.”

“Wait, you’re actually considering this?” Milo asked, surprised.

“I am. Trevor needs to show the world he shouldn’t be messed with—and this move screams ‘Don’t mess with me’ to all but the most powerful. Then those who are at the very top—what do they have to gain from messing with Trevor?” Hari added.

Jen laughed.

Hari eyed her suspiciously but didn’t ask—especially when Milo kicked her.

“Sorry, I was just laughing at the idea of Lily walking through the gates of the town,” she said quickly.

“Sure you were,” Hari replied, clearly not believing it but not prying any further.

“Trevor, I won’t lie to you—it’s a risk—but Lily is going to show up anyway, so maybe embrace it and lean into the fact you have a continent destroyer as a protector,” Hari said before heading further outside to do stretches.

“Not the response I was expecting,” Jen said.

“Should we double-check that’s actually Hari?” Milo asked as he watched him stretching.

“I can hear you two, you know,” Hari called back.

“Well, if I want to convince Lily to walk through the gates with us, I’m going to need food. Also, the Chironid stew I made last night is going to be a good test for my Second Simmer skill. I think I’ll make a large batch of porridge this morning as well, in my second pot,” I said, getting up from the bench and thanking Milo and Jen for their advice before heading back inside.

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It was such a strange experience—with every ingredient I pulled out, I could tell what it provided. For most of the super-common items, it would only provide a buff when cooked together with other similar ingredients.

I pulled out the rare honey. I figured now that we knew it was safe to eat, I could use some of it in the porridge. I was thankful that I’d already used this in Lily’s cooking, because just thinking about the honey…

I knew it provided some amazing benefits: +3 Wisdom, +3 Perception, Moderate Mana Regeneration, Minor Poison Resistance. I also saw that from ingredients I’d used in the past, it gained a bonus ability when combined with Dawnroot and Thornroot.

“Unbelievable…” I muttered. Just how useful was this skill?

In the end, since I was making a particularly large amount—and I wanted to know how Second Simmer would affect it—I added in my fruit. In particular, I threw in several handfuls of purified Dilwater berries, along with the honey, and once it was brought to the boil, I allowed it to start cooling, infusing the dish.

Something I noticed: I couldn’t tell what the end buffs would be for a dish until it was finally infused and completed. But I also couldn’t tell how changing the balance towards potency or duration would alter it—so I guessed I still had to figure that part out the hard way.

After everyone ate, I went outside before we packed up. Looking around, I obviously didn’t expect to see Lily there—honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in the morning, but I decided to try anyway.

“Lily, are you nearby?” I said, feeling a little silly but looking around and waiting.

I waited for what felt like forever, though it couldn’t have been more than a minute. Letting out a long sigh, I turned to go back inside—only to run straight into something large that knocked me to the ground.

Looking up to see what I’d collided with, there was Lily, just sitting behind me and staring in the same direction I’d been looking. Of course she was. She was just as bad as Liane at showing up out of nowhere.