Arcane Chef - Slice of Life x Adventure LitRPG

It didn’t take long before Milo shot to his feet.

“I’ve got to, uh.. go test something!” he said, before rushing outside.

Jen leant over to me, whispering, “You’ll want to go out there. He’s probably going to do something ridiculous with earth magic to test that buff.” With a chuckle, she returned to her food.

Well, I didn’t need to be told twice. I wanted to see some amazing magic, and if Milo’s everyday structures already blew me away, what would Jen consider “ridiculous”?

“Crisplet, I’ll be back in a second!” I said, getting up and heading outside. I didn’t want to worry the little elemental—or worse, get another burn for upsetting it. The thought made me laugh.

Outside, I spotted Milo holding a massive ball of rock above his hand, easily bigger than my head. It spun rapidly before reshaping into a sharp spike. He hurled it at the mountain slope, and with a loud boom, an immense cloud of dust erupted.

“This is amazing!” he shouted, already conjuring another ball of rock and hurling it at the same spot.

Only then did he notice me standing there.

“Trevor! I don’t know what you did, but you need to do it again. This is incredible. I need to study it more, but my earth attacks feel so much stronger. Look at these rock projectiles!”

He conjured another massive sphere of stone, holding it up for emphasis.

“Normally, they’re the size of a fist—and that alone packs a punch—but this…” He threw it again, the impact shaking the ground beneath our feet.

“This is massive!”

It didn’t take long before we had company outside. Liane suddenly appeared next to me, leaning on my shoulder as she watched Milo, and Jen followed soon after, stepping out of the entrance with a huge smile on her face—even before she saw what was happening.

As she approached, I noticed she was laughing to herself.

“Something happen inside?” I asked curiously.

“Yeah,” she said between chuckles, “they heard Milo using attacks outside and are panicking. Poor Hari’s running around trying to keep everyone calm while stopping them from rushing out. It’s like watching him herd cats!” She broke into full laughter at that.

“Well,” Liane said, still leaning against my shoulder, “you going to do something more than throw little rocks?”

The ground suddenly shook. A massive spike of stone—bigger than any of the wagons—shot out of the mountain slope.

I’d seen Milo use the spike attack against the Galvonson before, but this.. this would’ve been big enough to skewer the entire bird in one hit. Then, above it, a pillar of stone formed and came crashing down onto the spike with such force that I fell flat on my ass. The ground trembled violently, and I watched in awe as large rocks dislodged from the slope, tumbling down in a cascading rockslide.

“Better deal with that,” Liane said to the stunned Milo. She was still standing in the same spot, pointing at the rocks racing down the slope, but she had a huge grin on her face—clearly not concerned in the slightest.

“Oh, shit,” Milo muttered, finally realising what his attack had done. A moment later, a massive wall of stone erupted from the ground. This wasn’t like the walls he made for our camp—no, this was thick enough to pass for a town wall. It caught all but the smallest leading rocks before they could roll down into our camp.

“Wow,” he breathed, staring at his handiwork. “It feels like roughly a fifty percent power increase—maybe a bit more. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how much—”

“Don’t get academic on us here!” Jen cut him off with a teasing grin. “We came for the show.” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder, and I saw several people crowded in the entrance, staring wide-eyed at the wall: Hari, Kevin, and a few members of Kevin’s team among them.

I wasn’t sure how much they had seen, but judging by their expressions, Milo wasn’t done yet.

Milo began to form another ball of rock, shaping it into a spike. It kept growing—larger and larger—until he held one above his head that was bigger than both wagons combined. Then, with a deafening boom—and what I could only assume was the help of a wind spell—he hurled the massive spike forward.

For a moment, it felt like everything slowed down. The spike tore through the air and slammed into the mountainside with such force that the impact nearly threw us off our feet. The explosion that followed was loud enough, I swear, to wake a dragon from its sleep. A massive cloud of dust erupted, so thick and wide it looked less like dust and more like smoke rising from a burning town.

“Wow,” was all I could manage.

Then it started raining rocks. Small chunks of stone pelted down from above, bouncing off us and coating everyone in dust. I scrambled to get to my feet—only to immediately slip on the layer of loose rock and dirt that had turned the ground slick.

Before I could even curse, a sudden gust of wind roared past us, scattering the dust and pebbles away from the camp in an instant.

“Now that,” Kevin said from the entrance, staring in awe, “was an impressive attack.”

I couldn’t help but agree.

It was only then that Milo seemed to notice just how many people were watching him. “Oh, sorry if I disturbed your meal,” he said, looking genuinely embarrassed.

Jen burst out laughing. “Our meal? Milo, my dear, you’d have disturbed the meals of people in Boltron with that strike!”

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I could see Liane nodding, still seated on the ground where she’d fallen. She leant closer and whispered, “Think you can get me a potency buff like that?”

“I don’t even know how I got the earth one!” I said with a laugh, before falling back onto the ground—and immediately regretting it as I felt every sharp little rock beneath me.

After that, the show was pretty much over. Milo shifted into full academic mode, pulling out a small notebook and summoning rocks and tiny spikes above his hands, jotting down notes after each attempt. He didn’t return to the group at all that evening, completely absorbed in his own research.

We all went back inside after that. Crisplet seemed unhappy that everyone had left, and after most of us received a spark of protest—It was unfair that everyone but me had fire immunity.

Still, everyone apologised to the little flame elemental, and soon enough, things settled back to normal.

Well, almost normal. Kevin and Hari were off to the side, locked in a tense discussion. Kevin’s party had mostly gone back to their usual chatter, though they occasionally threw wary glances in Milo’s direction. As for Milo? He was still in his corner, lost in his notes like nothing else in the world existed.

Liane, sitting next to me, followed my gaze toward him. “Yeah,” she said with a smirk, “he’ll be like that all night until the buff wears off. Best not to disturb him now. Don’t suppose you’ve got any spiders left?”

Looking through my inventory, I saw that I didn’t have any cooked spiders left, but I still had the scorpions—and a few uncooked ones.

“No, but I can probably throw something together if Crisplet doesn’t mind helping. I don’t have any Fire Salts left, but, I have an idea,” I said.

I pulled out two Leaf Bladed Spiders and two Stone Scorpions, casting Transformation on each of them to purify any toxins they might have. Then I grabbed the metal spikes Liane had bought for me and skewered each one separately.

Rummaging through my inventory for seasoning, I split open the bodies of the scorpions and stuffed one Blood Tear into each, along with some Garlic Grass, salt, and pepper. After a moment’s thought, I looked over to Liane.

“Willing to try something crazy?” I asked.

She just grinned and nodded without hesitation.

Taking that as permission, I pulled out the Death Nut I’d harvested and purified earlier. Using my knife, I carefully scraped off a small amount and divided it among the four skewers. I did not know what it would taste like, but it glowed as if it were edible—and really, if not now, when would I get the chance to try it?

With my two scorpions and two spiders ready, I carried them over to the fire and sat down. Liane shuffled closer until she was right beside me. I planted the skewers into the ground near the flames and explained the plan to Crisplet. The little elemental didn’t waste a second—it immediately went to work.

What I really should have considered—but didn’t—was that the fire was still burning Treant wood. After a brief moment, the flames glowed with that unnatural orange hue, and then the glow around the arachnids receded. When it faded, I was left with four vastly different-looking skewers. All four arachnids had turned a deep orange, and the scorpions even seemed to have a faint glow of their own.

Reaching down to pick one up, I discovered—yet again—that metal spikes got a lot hotter than the stone ones I’d been using. I promptly burned my hand.

“I really need to get something with Fire Resistance,” I muttered.

Liane must have thought I was talking to her, because she replied,

“In Boltron, I’m fairly sure we could get you an item that’ll give you at least fire resistance. They’re not unheard of and usually not ridiculously expensive. Fire immunity is—but a good quality resistance should be enough for what you do.”

She reached out, casually taking the skewers herself. Thanks to her fire immunity, she didn’t even flinch. After dipping the rods in a bit of water to cool them, she handed them back to me.

Honestly, I’d half-expected her to eat them right then and there, but to my surprise, she had enough self-control to wait until they were buffed.

Placing the skewers together, I cast Infuse—then let out a long sigh as I read the names.

Would you like to Infuse [Rare] Smoked Death Spider x2 for 50 mana? Yes/No

Would you like to Infuse [Rare] Smoked Death Scorpion x2 for 50 mana? Yes/No

“What is it?” Liane asked, never once taking her eyes off the arachnids since I’d started cooking.

“Well.. Um, it’s the name. Maybe we should join Milo by the side of the hut before we talk about it,” I said, noticing a few curious eyes watching us. Honestly, I wasn’t surprised—between cooking spiders and scorpions and making them glow, I might as well have shouted for attention.

“So much for not drawing attention to yourself,” I heard Jen chuckle behind me.

“Sorry,” was all I could manage.

I stored the skewers, and we moved over to where Milo was sitting. He didn’t even glance up from his notes as we sat down.

“Milo, can you put a wall around us?” Liane asked.

Without looking up, he simply raised a hand, and a stone wall formed around us. Jen slipped inside just before it closed completely.

I pulled the skewers out of storage again. Before handing them to Liane, I cleared my throat.

“Okay, so, before you eat these, you should know they’re now called Smoked Death Spiders and Smoked Death Scorpions.”

Jen’s eyes widened, but she stayed silent—at least for now.

“They’re both marked as rare. I used Purify on every ingredient, so they shouldn’t be dangerous, but with names like that, I figured I’d better warn you first.”

It seemed that Liane would not be dissuaded, but Jen gave her a look that must have spoken a thousand words. With a long sigh, Liane pulled out three potions. Two were red—clearly health potions—but the third was black as night. I had no idea what that one was.

“Happy?” Liane said to Jen.

“No, but it’s the best I’m going to get,” Jen replied with a chuckle.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the black potion. “What’s that one?” I asked, gesturing toward it.

“That’s our strongest antidote potion,” Jen said. “And if she needs to drink it, it’s going to cost her several gold to replace,” she added with a laugh.

Figuring we had Jen’s reluctant approval—and since Milo still hadn’t looked up from his notes—I handed over one of each skewer, storing the other two just in case.

Liane wasted no time. In barely two seconds, she bit into the scorpion. Then she paused, as if deciding whether or not she actually liked it.

“Amazing!” she suddenly shouted, falling onto her back with glee. “It tastes sooooo good!”

She scrambled back up and tried to shove the scorpion at Jen, who was having none of it.

“You have to try it! And the buffs—” Liane’s eyes widened. “The buffs!”

That was apparently convincing enough for her to snatch it back from Jen, take another bite, and mutter, “Wow…”

“Well, don’t keep us in suspense,” Jen said, almost impatiently.

Liane swallowed and grinned.

“Fire Immunity, Poison Immunity, Major Improved Stealth, Increased Earth Potency, +3 Perception, and Minor Regeneration…”

Jen’s jaw practically hit the ground. Even Milo finally looked up from his notes.

“Don’t waste it then!” Jen said sharply, snatching the uneaten spider from Liane’s hand and thrusting it back at me.

“But I didn’t try that one!” Liane pleaded.

“You can wait till those buffs wear off before you do, or it wouldn’t be a proper test,” Jen retorted, clearly knowing she’d won the argument—especially when Milo started nodding along with her.

“Fine!” Liane mumbled, now taking smaller bites from her scorpion.

I hadn’t really been part of the conversation, lost mostly in my own thoughts.

“I think that confirms the Treant wood is responsible for the earth potency, then.”

At that moment, Milo’s eyes widened as the realisation dawned on him—we had sold almost all of it.

“It’s okay,” I said, trying to sound reassuring. “We can likely buy the Treant wood the crafters don’t want to use, right? The small stuff shouldn’t be too expensive?”

I really had no idea, but tonight had been a lot to take in.