ALL NOVEL Chapter 34: The Next Plan of Action
Making burgers.
I sliced the meat, diced it and turned it into minced meat. Place them into a bowl after that. Then, I add in some spices and seasoning before shaping them into patties.
Next, I heat up the pan. Then add some oil. After that, place the patties in, add more seasoning and let it cook.
While the patties are cooking, I prepare the rest of the ingredients for the burgers. Chopping onions, tomatoes, lettuce and slicing some cheese. Also cut the breads into top and bottom buns before spreading some butter on them.
Once those were done, I placed the onions and buns onto the pan with the patties that had been cooked on one side by then. So I flipped the patties onto the other side and seasoned it again.
While the patties continued cooking, the buns and onions were done at some point. So I took them out of the pan and waited until the patties were done cooking until medium rare.
And once those were done as well, I began final touches and combined the prepared ingredients into three separate burgers.
Like that, three mutant cow cheeseburgers are done.
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Condition Cleared: [Successfully cooked a decent meal.]
Skill Acquired: [Cooking (basic)]
The first stage of the Cooking skill. Food made by the possessor of this skill is slightly more delicious.
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Huh? I got a skill for that. Kind of expected though.
And since I have this other skill I'd acquired earlier, I might as well...
"Produce Milk." I softly muttered under my breath. Spawning the maximum amount of three Jugs of Milk in my inventory, as I served them along with the burger.
"Here you go." I served it to Hikari and Himeji, who were delighted when their meals were presented.
"This looks good!" Hikari commented.
"Mm! Mm!" Himeji nodded.
Then, they began eating while I changed my outfit back before joining them.
"Awww... Come on, sis!"
"What?"
"Why did you have to change out of your Mama form?"
"I'm not going to eat in my 'Mama form', obviously. And don't call it that!" I then sat down to eat with them. "So how's the burger?" I asked, proceeding to eat mine as well.
"Oh, it's delicious. Very delicious. Especially your milk. Very refreshing."
"Yes. The food you cooked is better than the restaurant foods in the game. Can you cook some other meals, Mama?"
"Sure, HimeHime. After I've finished my burger. Also, don't call me Mama."
"Ok, Mama."
"Ughh...."
After I was done eating my burger, I changed back into the embarrassing apron outfit and proceeded to make more types of meal using the ingredients we have procured.
Filet mignon, crispy chicken wings, lamb chop with herbs, lettuce wraps, and many more, as we did not only get cow meat from our hunt.
Hikari had to stop eating at some point because she was full. But Himeji kept going until the ingredients ran out. Once meal time was over, the three of us sat around together to discuss what to do next.
"Let's go to a dungeon!" Hikari suggested enthusiastically.
"HimeHime, you got any suggestions?" I asked.
"No." Himeji replied.
I also have none.
"Then I guess we're going to a dungeon next."
"Yes!" Hikari pumped her fist. "Ah. But first..." she then said. "Let's go to the skill shop in the city."
"There's a shop that sells skills in the city?"
"Yeah, there is. HimeHime actually found it when we split up in the marketplace earlier. Right, HimeHime?"
"Mm. I did..." Himeji nodded. "It's a place that sells skill scrolls, Mama."
I see. So you can just buy skills in the game if you have the money, huh? Saves people time from acquiring them by clearing certain conditions, I guess.
"Alright. Let's go then."
"Lead the way, HimeHime!"
"Okay!"
Thus, we booked out of the inn and left. Following Himeji to the skill shop she'd found, which would not be hard to miss, seeing as how big the building was when we arrived there.
Damn...
Many players can also be seen entering and exiting the store, as it is just that popular of a place for them. Although, there seem to be some players exiting the store with a frustrated look on their faces. Mumbling something about the scrolls being too expensive.
"Come on, sis! Let's go and see what skills they have."
Hikari and Himeji grabbed one of my hands each and tugged me along with them as we entered the store. Upon stepping into the building, we were dazzled by the lights inside and were amazed by the interior of the store itself, as the place looked like it came out from the Harry Potter world.
"Oh wow.... this place is beautiful." I remarked in awe.
"Yeah..."
"Agreed."
Hikari and Himeji nodded to the remark as well.
While we were too occupied with the scenery, an NPC staff of the store came walking up to us and bowed.
"Welcome, Miss Yoru and her comrades. We are honored to have you visit our store tonight."
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Eh?"
We stared at the staff for a moment. Then, Hikari moved close to me and whispered.
"Hey, bro. You know, I've been meaning to ask but... how do the NPCs know your name? Have you met them before?"
"No... This is my first time seeing them as well." I whispered back.
We continued staring blankly at the staff a bit longer until Himeji suddenly tapped on my shoulder.
"Umm, Mama... The players are looking at you for some reason." she pointed out.
I looked around and noticed their gazes on me too. Whispering something that I wasn't able to make out of.
Why are they looking?
Whatever the reason was, it was uncomfortable, so I approached the staff and asked. "Excuse me, do you have a room where we can browse your stocks in private?"
The staff replied. "Of course, Miss Yoru! Please, allow me to guide you and your comrade to our private lounge at the back."
"Right... Thanks... Also how is it that you know my name?" I asked next.
"How could I not?" the staff replied, as if knowing my name was natural. "You are the hero who liberated our city from the Umbra Lords. How can we not know the name of our great saviour?" she stated with the humblest tone imaginable. Resulting in Hikari, Himeji and I just look at each other, confused.
"Sis, did you get something from the Liberation Quest after you've cleared it?"
"Err... Come to think of it...." I opened my skill window to check. "Yeah... I got this skill when I did."
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Skill: [Liberator of Arialight]
A Unique Skill granted to the first player(s) who cleared the Arialight Liberation Quest. All NPCs in the Holy City, Arialight, will recognise you as a hero.
All items in NPC-owned shops will be discounted to the possessor of this skill.
All items sold to NPC-owned shops will sell for more gold for the possessor of this skill.
A small percentage of the city's income will be automatically added to the player's inventory on a weekly basis.
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Oh wow.
Reading skill details for the first time to Hikari and Himeji, made me amazed by how good the skill itself is. Especially the last effect of this skill.
"Sis, you got privileges."
"Yeah... I do indeed...."
"Mama became a celebrity?"
"Kind of like that, I guess."
Besides this skill, I also got more gold and some other stuff, didn't I?
I think I should check those out later.
But while the three of us were still in shock by the skill, the staff suddenly called out to us and snapped us out of it.
"Miss Yoru? Should I still guide you to the lounge?"
"Ah. Yes please. Lead the way."
"Understood. Please follow me."
We followed the staff to the private lounge at the back of the store. Once we had comfortably sat down on the couches, the staff then brought us a full log of the skills they have in stock, a small bell to call for a staff and some tea as refreshments, before leaving us to our own devices.
The tea smells good... but it's pretty bland.
After taking a sip, I looked through the log next with Hikari and Himeji. While I was doing that, I said to the girls.
"Both of you. Once you've decided which skills you want, tell me and I'll buy it for you."
"Ok, sis. That's what I was thinking of anyways."
"Yeah... Me too. Mama is the one with the discount after all."
After that brief conversation, silence filled the room again as we scanned through the pages and flipped them. And after a while more, we've picked the skills we wanted, before removing some of them from our wanted list due to their prices and the total amount of in-game gold we have.
Eventually, everything was finalised, we rang the bell and called for a staff member to bring us the skill scrolls.
The staff then came with a trolley carrying the scrolls, and we paid the amount for them. Placing the money on the same trolley as we take our respective skill scrolls and immediately use them.
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[Skill Scroll - Magic Amplification] has been used.
Skill Acquired: Magic Amplification.
Increases the user's magic attack by 10% for 60 seconds.
Cost: 25 MP
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[Skill Scroll - Magic Booster] has been used.
Skill Acquired: Magic Booster.
Increases the user's cast speed when using spells for 60 seconds.
Cost: 20 MP
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[Skill Scroll - Aqua Shot] has been used.
Skill Acquired: Aqua Shot.
A basic water-attribute spell.
Cost: 20 MP
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[Skill Scroll - Charge Ball] has been used.
Skill Acquired: Charge Ball.
A basic lightning-attribute spell.
Cost: 25 MP
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[Skill Scroll - Rock Bullet] has been used.
Skill Acquired: Rock Bullet.
A basic earth-attribute spell.
Cost: 25 MP
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[Skill Scroll - Smokescreen] has been used.
Skill Acquired: Smokescreen.
Creates a cloud of smoke when used. Impairing enemies' vision. Only the user and their party members can see visibly in the cloud created by the user themselves.
Cooldown Time: 40 seconds.
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[Skill Scroll - High Wisdom] has been used.
Skill Acquired: High Wisdom.
Doubles the Max MP of the user for 60 seconds.
Cost: 100 MP
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And that's about all for me. Hikari and Himeji are still using their scrolls since they bought more than me.
More skills are good and all, but realistically speaking, I doubt I can remember their names if I were to have so many of them. Which was why I had only picked the skills that I would be sure to use in the long run. Hopefully.
Honestly, out of all of which I had bought for myself, High Wisdom was the most expensive one.
I simply waited for Hikari and Himeji to finish using their skill scrolls after that, as we later left the store with the staff thanking us for our purchase and the eyes of other players on us for some reason.
But, we ignored those players and moved on.
"So, Lumina, which dungeon are we heading to?" Himeji asked Hikari as we walked. Curious about the dungeon she's thinking of going since she had not mentioned about it yet.
Hikari smirked as she responded. "About that, I was just about to ask our 'Mama' here to lead us. Since she's the only one out of us who knows where the dungeon I'm thinking of is." she stated, as they then shifted their glance to me.
"I do? Wait... Hold on..."
It took a moment for me to process. But I soon understood which dungeon Hikari wanted to go. Especially since there's only one dungeon I've been to in the game so far and it was the one where I fought Gaius.
"You want to go to the Underground Catacombs?"
"Yes! Take us to the Hidden Dungeon, my dear sister~"
And so, we left the city and entered the Shade Forest with each of our lampbugs on, where I proceeded to guide them to the location where I had found the entrance to the Underground Catacomb.
Additionally, we are all penniless now after our purchase at the skill shop.
If there's time after this, I should go and collect some Magicule Herbs again for the old man.
