6: Real Friends

Micca soon emerged from her room, dressed in fresh clothes and carrying the bucket out. I was studying my status screen, puzzled by the day’s revelations. Maybe now I could finally level up—hopefully.

I sat down on another chair, and Micca settled nearby, sipping her cup of water and patiently waiting.

“Did you work it out?” she asked.

“Not entirely,” I admitted. “But it seems I have to make the entire meal on my own for it to count. Same with the butchery.”

She nodded like that made sense to her.

“But I got bonus experience for healing you,” I continued. “There’s no mention of healing in the skill descriptions. How many does it heal? How does it even work?” I buried my face in my hands. “So many questions…”

Arching a brow, Micca said, “Sure, it poses a lot of questions, but the important thing is—you earned experience. Your class isn’t impossible to train. That’s great news!”

I smiled weakly at her. Today had been an absolute whirlwind of emotions—enjoying my day off, worrying about a friend, gaining experience, and now facing a world of questions. I knew I’d need to speak with Geo, Martin, and probably Elder Peter for advice moving forward.

And that last thought gave me hope. I could move forward.

“Thanks,” I said to her. “That helps.”

Sighing deeply, I picked up the half-eaten bowl of soup and finished it.

“I’d better get going,” I said to Micca. “Will you be alright? I’ll leave the soup here if you want more. There’s plenty left.”

She blinked a moment, coming back from studying her screen. “I’ll be fine. My hit points are up to 75 now, and the fever seems completely gone.”

With that, she got up and came over to give me a hug.

“I appreciate your coming to help. Could you let Larry know I’ll be back tomorrow—if he hasn’t already replaced me?” she said, with a nervous laugh.

“Of course,” I said, returning the hug.

After saying my farewells, I left her house and headed back to the inn.

A short walk later, I entered the inn, which was bustling with activity. The moment Larry spotted me, he didn’t even let me get a word in.

“There you are, Trevor! Get over here and give me a hand. It’s a madhouse!” Larry shouted over the crowd.

And so I was put to work—carrying bowls to customers and clearing away dirty mugs and plates. When the night finally died down enough for a break, I headed to the kitchen to find Geo, but he’d already gone home for the day.

I made my way back out front and caught Larry’s attention.

“I checked on Micca. She’ll be back for work tomorrow,” I said, deciding not to go into details about what had happened.

Larry just grunted and turned back to his duties.

The next morning, Geo woke me for our daily trip to the markets. As we walked, I explained what had happened—and how I’d earned experience. Geo winced when I told him about the butchering, doing it all by myself. Like me, he had plenty of questions.

“Do you get experience for everyone who eats it?” was his first.

And, of course, that was the first of many questions I didn’t know the answer to.

His eyes gleamed. “You said it mentioned they ‘enjoyed’ the meal—so if they don’t enjoy it, you get no experience? And what do you mean, it healed her? How?”

The questions came rapid-fire, and all I could do was chuckle awkwardly and honestly reply that I didn’t know.

“The one concerning thing you mentioned was the butchering from start to finish. You said you had to pluck a chicken that had been freshly killed, and that earnt you butchery experience?” Geo fell silent, pondering. “We could get some rabbits, I suppose, or maybe some birds, but at the inn we don’t really have the space to butcher anything larger from start to finish.”

“I understand.” I nodded. It was true—the inn’s kitchen wasn’t set up for full butchery at all.

After our daily shopping trip back to the inn, Geo said, “Let’s have you make the stew today. I won’t help with any of it. I’ll just make the bread rolls and supervise to make sure you don’t mess up. It’ll be like a day off for me!”

I agreed immediately. Any chance to train my main class was one I wouldn’t miss.

For this test, we decided not to use any wine. That way, there would be no outside influence to worry about. So, it was a very basic venison stew with root vegetables, onion, garlic, and thickened with root starch.

Micca, true to her word, had returned to work that day. Larry was a bit short with her, but since she still looked under the weather, it wasn’t too bad. When she heard I’d be making the stew on my own, a giant smile lit up her face. As she left the kitchen, she said, “I’ll make sure everyone buys it.”

I felt both nervous and eager as the stew was taken off the heat and I prepared to serve it. If this didn’t work, I’d be back to square one. But I was confident it would.

At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.

I glanced at my status screen, looking for any sign that I had used mana again.

Name: Trevor

Class: Arcane Chef

Rarity: Rare

Level: 1

Experience: 75/100

Hit points: 140/140

Mana: 45/50

Stamina: 70/140

I had used five mana again while making this dish. That had to be a good sign, right?

When the night began, Geo had me serve the first few bowls of stew myself—just in case that mattered. Then it happened.

Notifications:

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You have earned 25 experience for making an enjoyable meal.

You have reached Level 2 in Arcane Chef.

You have +2 unspent stat points.

…

You have earned 25 experience for making an enjoyable meal.

You have earned 25 experience for making an enjoyable meal.

That was one question answered. Geo served the next series of dishes to see if it mattered who served it.

Notifications:

You have earned 25 experience for making an enjoyable meal.

You have earned 25 experience for making an enjoyable meal.

You have earned 50 bonus experience for healing someone with your meal.

“I got bonus experience for healing someone again,” I said to Geo as we waited in the kitchen.

Geo’s eyebrows went up. “That’s good news. Seems like you don’t need to serve the dishes, and I suppose anyone who’s missing HP counts as you healing them?”

The inn hummed with happy customers as I checked my status again.

Name: Trevor

Class: Arcane Chef