Arcane Chef - Slice of Life x Adventure LitRPG

With everyone eating their meals, I decided it was a good time to check whether the results were random or consistent with the ingredients. In the past, rabbit had provided a Dexterity bonus of +1, and there was nothing else in this dish that I thought would affect it. So, all things going well, it should provide the same result.

It might also be worth asking how long the buff lasted—or at least checking if it held until we went to sleep.

“What buff did it give you today?” I asked the group.

“Dexterity,” Liane replied immediately, followed by Milo elaborating, “Yeah, plus one Dexterity from that. Can’t you see it yourself?”

“No, I can’t seem to get my own buffs—or at least, not yet. I don’t get experience from eating my own food either,” I explained.

“Well, that sucks,” Milo muttered.

“It’s good, though. It seems like a rabbit dish will always—maybe—give a Dexterity bonus. I wonder if all fish provide water magic resistance…” I trailed off, rambling and sinking deep into thought as I tried to work it out.

“That’s a very handy ability,” Jen said thoughtfully. “It might not seem like much, but at our level, any extra stats can be the difference between life and death.”

At this point, Troy added his input.

“If you could make a jerky that gave stat boosts—or some kind of preserved food—you’d make a lot of money.”

“Ooh, he really would,” Saddie chimed in, joining the conversation for the first time. “Those stat elixirs that high-level alchemists sell go for nearly a gold each, and they only give a plus three to plus five in stats.”

“I don’t really know how to make jerky or preserve anything yet,” I admitted shyly, not used to all the attention on me.

“That’s an easy one. Even I can make jerky,” Milo added knowingly.

A snort of laughter came from Liane.

“You make boot leather, more like it. The last jerky you made? I was chewing on it for half the day,” she said with a look of despair. “Please don’t learn to cook from him.”

“What?” Milo said in mock outrage. “You still ate it, didn’t you?”

“We had no other choice. It was the only meat we had. You turned all our stock into jerky,” Hari added helpfully.

“Well, I didn’t think it was that bad,” Milo muttered, sounding a little dejected.

“That’s because you used your magic to soften yours, and told the rest of us you didn’t have the mana to spare,” Jen said with a laugh, clearly enjoying the back and forth.

I checked my notifications to see if I’d gained any experience, but it seemed the inn was already busy serving the stew and pies I’d left with Geo. I was getting a steady stream of enjoyable meal notifications, so I figured I’d wait until later tonight to check them all properly.

After everyone had finished eating and the conversation had settled down, Hari and Liane left the structure.

“Where are they going at this time?” I asked, glancing between Milo and Jen.

“Ah, they’ve got first watch,” Milo replied while stoking the fire, making it larger to give Troy plenty of light for reading his book. “They’ll be outside for half the night, then switch with Jen and me.”

In the fire’s light, and not feeling sleepy at all—likely thanks to all those late nights at the inn—I decided I might as well prepare the stew for tomorrow. We could have it for lunch or dinner; it didn’t really matter. I had plenty of supplies for now.

Pulling out a large piece of Buvul meat, I placed it on the stone bench Milo had made for me. Then, retrieving the pot Geo had crafted, I got to work on the stew.

Milo watched with clear interest, asking several questions about my abilities. I explained what I had and what I knew about them, mentioning that Knifework and Basic Meal Prep didn’t exactly say what they did—but I could definitely feel myself working faster now.

Before long, I had the stew resting beside a small pile of coal just off the fire.

“Are you going to infuse that one?” Milo asked.

“Yeah, but I’ll wait until tomorrow. I haven’t tried infusing something the next day yet—and besides, I don’t really have the mana to spare after pulling everything out of my storage,” I explained.

“Makes sense. Doing these tests is important. I feel quite lucky, honestly—my abilities are all pretty clear about what to expect,” Milo pointed out.

Figuring it was getting late now, with Saddie, Troy, and Jordan already settled into their alcoves with their sleeping rolls, I pulled up my notifications.

Notifications:

You have earned 25 experience for making an enjoyable meal

...

You have earned 100 bonus experience for a buff used in combat

You have earned 100 bonus experience for a buff used in combat

You have reached Level 10 in Arcane Chef

You have +2 unspent stat points

You have gained a new ability

You have a new ability selection

You have earned 100 bonus experience for a buff used in combat

In total, I had seventy-two enjoyable meal notifications, four healing bonuses, and something I had never seen before. It caught me so off guard that it distracted me even from the fact that I’d levelled up to ten.

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“Are Hari or Liane in combat?” I asked Milo, frowning in confusion.

He gave me an odd look, while Jen turned her head toward the door.

“I don’t hear anything. Do you?” Milo asked seriously.

“Uh… no, sorry,” I admitted. “I just got three notifications that my buff was used in combat. The only food I’ve buffed is here with all of you.”

Jen didn’t wait for an explanation—she immediately got up and headed outside. Milo stared at me for a moment, and then it must have clicked.

“Wait here. Don’t come outside. We’ll check,” he said before hurrying out after her.

Part of me wanted to check my status and see what I’d gained for reaching level ten, but I held off, still feeling uneasy with the hunters outside. I kept an eye on my notifications, but nothing else came through.

A few minutes later, Milo and Jen came back inside.

“No need to worry,” Milo said. “Turns out Liane was just prowling around and killed a few poor critters in the area. That was enough to trigger your experience. That’s a pretty handy way to level, you know,” he added with a chuckle.

“Liane might kill a few more things, so don’t be alarmed unless you hear Hari yelling. I’m going to get some sleep before my watch,” Milo said as he moved toward his alcove.

Jen nodded and followed suit, calling out cheerfully, “Goodnight, Trevor!”

Deciding now was a good time to do my Level 10 upgrade, I pulled up my status again.

Congratulations on Level 10!

Choose from the following options:

Flame Control

Skill type: Active

Feel the burn.

Able to control your cooking fires and coals, allowing you to get the precise heat.

Culinary Transformation

Skill type: Active

Nothing should hold back good flavour.

Allows you to purify toxic ingredients, provides an immunity to poisons and toxins.

Handle the Heat

Skill type: Passive

No need to leave the heat. You’re here to stay.

Provides a fire resistance buff for all cooking-related heat.

Mana Pan

Skill type: Active

The perfect tool does exist.

Allows you to create a pan of various sizes out of Mana.

I looked over my options. Handle the Heat had carried over from my first set of skills, but the other three were brand new. As it stood, Handle the Heat was also the weakest of the bunch. I really didn’t need it—if something was hot, I could always use my rag to grab a handle, and it wasn’t like I had to reach into massive ovens. I ruled that one out quickly.

Mana Pan sounded tempting, but compared to the other two, I couldn’t justify it. I already had the pot Geo gave me, plus several utensils and even a backup pot from the Pavilion. That left me with the last two options.

Part of me wanted to pick Flame Control. I’d seen Geo use it, and it was incredibly useful—you could make fires and coals hotter or colder, but more importantly, keep them at a consistent temperature. Still, was that really more important than immunity to poisons and toxins? That seemed incredibly powerful.

Then again, in my fifteen years of life, I’d never once been poisoned. So was that really all that useful—especially compared to using fire every day since I got this skill?

What pushed me over the edge was the ability to purify ingredients. If I could purify everything, then almost anything would become edible, right? I hoped I was reading it correctly. Even if I wasn’t, immunity to poisons could never be a bad thing.

I wished someone were awake to ask. Then it clicked—technically, someone was awake.

I decided it couldn’t hurt to get Hari’s opinion, so I quietly got up and stepped outside the entrance. I didn’t wander far, just waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Soon, I heard the sound of armour approaching.

“Ah, Trevor, I was wondering who came outside. What can I help you with?” Hari asked, looking down at me.

“Hey, sorry for interrupting. I just wanted to ask for some advice… about my skills,” I whispered, careful not to disturb the night.

“Sure, though I’m not sure how much help I’ll be—I don’t know much about cooking skills,” he chuckled.

“I understand. I’m torn between two options. The first is pretty straightforward: I’d be able to adjust and stabilise the heat of cooking fires and coals. It’s a common skill cooks take, or so my last mentor said. The second lets me purify toxic ingredients and grants immunity to poisons and toxins,” I explained.

From above, a voice suddenly broke the quiet, making me nearly jump out of my skin.

“Immunities are very strong. Don’t pass that up—you might not get the chance again,” Liane said, sitting on the roof of the structure, looking down at Hari and me.

“She’s right,” Hari said. “I get that the flame control is useful, but generic skills tend to come around again, while speciality ones like that usually only appear once.”

I was glad I asked—this was new information to me.

“So, like Liane, I’d suggest the immunities. Plus, purifying toxic ingredients is really handy in hostile environments,” he added.

“Also, I’d really like to know what the damn spiders in the forests here taste like,” Liane said with a chuckle before slipping back into the shadows.

“She’s odd like that. But she’s probably serious—you’ll almost certainly end up cooking a spider or two if you take that skill,” Hari laughed. “Now get back inside. It’s not safe to be chatting out here at night.”

I headed back inside and selected Culinary Transformation.

Congratulations! You have gained the ability Culinary Transformation.

Congratulations! You have gained the ability Arcane Foraging.

Culinary Transformation

Level: 1

Experience: 0/100

Nothing should hold back good flavour.

Arcane Foraging

Level: 1

Experience: 0/100

A magical eye for the freshest of ingredients.

I really didn’t know what to expect from the skill descriptions—they were pretty vague—but I could tell this one was some kind of sight-based foraging ability. I’d have to try it out tomorrow to figure it all out, but it definitely seemed interesting.

Before calling it a night, I did one last check of my skills and stats. I spent my two unused stat points—one into Endurance, since being on the road meant extra stamina and hit points would come in handy, and the last into Intelligence, bringing it up to a nice, round thirty.

Tomorrow, when I woke up, I had a lot to test—especially figuring out how long those buffs lasted. If I could time it right, I might earn a ton of experience. I found one of the vacant alcoves and laid out my bedroll. It took me a long while to fall asleep; my mind was racing with all the possibilities for what to do next.

The next morning came, and I realised I’d left the stew next to the coals all night. It seemed like people had taken that as an invitation to help themselves for breakfast. Luckily, I’d made plenty. Then I remembered—

“Oh wait, I wanted to check something with the stew,” I said hastily, getting up from my bedroll.

I made my way over to the pot and saw that only three people were eating so far. That was good—unless everyone else had already finished. Reaching the pot, I cast Infuse Flavour on it.

Would you like to Infuse [Common] Buvul Stew for 50 mana? Yes/No

I selected Yes, and turned to the others.

“I wanted to see what buff we’d get from this one,” I said sheepishly.

“Oh, good idea. That buff lasted about three hours last night, so it was definitely handy to have,” Hari said, grabbing one of the stone bowls Milo had made and serving himself some stew.

I muttered to myself, “We’ll need more meat if I want to keep three meals like this every day.”

A voice beside me made me jump.

“Jen and I will find something today. I killed a few more critters last night while the buff was active,” Liane said with a smile, heading over and grabbing some food herself.

“It looks like Buvul is giving a plus one to Strength,” Hari said appreciatively. “That’s really handy to have.”

The only person who hadn’t eaten that morning was Saddie, and almost Jordan too—though I encouraged him to join in. He had spoken little to anyone, and I was curious why he needed to leave Dunhearth. Surely he could have found a carpenter’s job there?

We packed everything back into the caravan, and just like before, Milo returned the tables, plates, and structure to the ground. I carefully placed the leftover stew into my pantry—luckily, I had made a large serving, so there would be plenty left for lunch. Troy took the seat next to Cee to start the journey, so I settled in the back of the wagon.

I noticed Liane had indeed killed a few more critters, and I received five experience notifications, each granting 100 points, alongside the usual food notifications from the morning. That brought me to Experience: 800/5012.

When we stopped for lunch, I reminded myself to try using my arcane foraging ability. Maybe Milo would help if I needed to venture into the trees—he’d been curious about everything so far. I still hadn’t gotten around to explaining my new abilities to him, either.