Survival Quest (The Way of the Shaman: Book #1) (12 page)

How do I roast the meat? I stick it onto a skewer, put it next to the fire and start to turn it slowly. I think that's how they roasted a deer in some film I once saw. I didn't know of any other methods. In the real world all food was made by the imitators and I did not level up in Cooking when I played my Hunter. Now I had a reason to regret that in all the 30 years of my life I had not once tried to find out how food is actually prepared. So what am I doing wrong? No answer presented itself and I started to go through the tools in the Cooking Kit, trying to figure out their function through their names: saucepan, ladle, frying pan, a contraption which stated that it was a meat mincer. I wonder how it cuts the meat if it only has a rotating screw and not a blade in sight. The kit contained a few other incomprehensible objects, which I did not bother to take out. What we had here was a monkey with a set of chess.

Unable to find a solution, I went outside the smithy and saw Alt. We seemed to be on normal terms, so I decided to ask him if he knew anything about Cooking.

"Greetings, Alt. Listen, do you happen to know how to roast meat properly? My attempts lead to it immediately getting crusted up and either undercooking or getting completely burned."

"Do you put the frying pan over a very hot fire? Try reducing the heat, maybe that'll do it."

"A frying pan?" my surprise was so natural that Alt couldn't help grinning.

"Why don't you tell me how you go about roasting the meat?" he said, a hint of sarcasm in his look.

"I copy how I've seen things being roasted. I screwed... I mean I skewered the meat onto the spit and held it over the fire, turning it around from time to time. But nothing came of it."

"Nor will it. This isn't like swinging the pick, here you have to know what you're doing. Let's go inside and I'll show you. With this it's best to show once instead of explaining ten times."

Alt took one of my instruments by the name of 'frying pan' and put it over the fire. After waiting a little while, he tossed the meat which I handed him onto it and started to turn it from time to time. The smithy began to fill with quite an appetizing smell. Just a few minutes later Alt took the fried piece of meat off the frying pan and gave it to me:

"It's ready. Do you get it now?"

I nodded and, putting the meat on the table started to copy Alt's actions. The pleasant aroma of frying meat once again spread around the smithy.

"And now you turn it: see how the sides have gone brown?" it turned out that Alt had been standing near me all this time and watching my actions. I would have to find a way to thank him for the help — this was a rare thing in the mine. After the meat was completely cooked I took it off the frying pan. Now the result looked a lot like the illustration in the cookbook and I found myself almost drooling over it.

Skill increase:

+30% to Cooking. Total: 30%

In an hour I fried all the meat that I had, increasing my Cooking to 5. Almost 80 pieces of Fried Rat should have allowed me to completely bypass handing in the daily quota — I had no shortage of food supplies. And if I started to sell the meat to other prisoners, I'd probably make a profit. Strange that no-one had thought of this before.

Taking one of the prepared pieces I ate it, trying not to think that just a couple of days ago this meat was literally running around my section of the mine. No, that's life, that's the way things are, sorry Mr. Rat.

Attention! You ate a foreign object and lost your daily food buff. -1 Strength, Energy is lost 50% faster. If you do not receive a new food buff within the next 12 hours, penalties will be imposed. Have a pleasant Game!

...! Penalties like dying from your stomach digesting itself? I had seen Kart in that state and had no desire to try it on myself. But now it was clear why no-one was offering their Cooking services. Anyone levelling up in Cooking here only does it for the pleasure it generates.

As I walked around the smithy to sell the meat I had just fried to Rine, I saw a show put on by none other than Kart. He stood by the dwarf and shouted with abandon:

"Come over! Hurry! I'm buying ore surplus for 11 copper coins! Come over! Show your goods! Get your money! Only today and only here will you get this great offer! I buy ten Copper ore pieces for the price of eleven!"

With such talent, and his Chattiness stat, the guy was priceless. A crowd gathered around, offering to sell Kart their surplus. In the evening we'll have to see the results of his trading. I waited for Rine to get free and, coming up to him, first sold him all the meat, before getting down to business. If Rine bought raw meat at 2 copper, he offered only one for the fried variety, saying that I spoiled the whole lot. I decided not to argue, but made a decision not to do any more Cooking in the mine. Not only was it useless, but also unprofitable. When all else was settled, I had one more question to ask of the dwarf:

"Rine, I had this thing land in my lap today," I showed him the stone. "Can you tell me what it is? I've not come across this before: this stone must have some unique purpose."

"Unique, you say? Let me have a look," replied Rine, taking my stone. He rubbed it in his hands, handed it back to me and continued with a sly look: "Well, lad, why don't you go to the administration and see for yourself just how unique your find is. It is a good stone, of course, but it is of little use to anyone except a Sculptor. I have a small pile of stones like this. Do you want me to sell them to you at one copper at face value."

Again, I was wrong to get all hopeful in thinking that I had managed to get hold of something unique. When will I learn...

I hang on to the stone as a reminder to curb my flights of fancy, took the Copper Ingots from Kart, who was busy trading with other prisoners, and headed for the smithy. Now I had to get my head around Jewelcraft. A worm of doubt started to wear down my confidence in anything useful coming out of that either.

So, what things could I make? I opened the page with professions and began to study it.

Copper wire

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Description: used in the crafting of copper rings and neck-chains.

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Crafting requirements: minimum Jewelcraft level 1.

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Ingredients: 1 Copper Ingot.

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Instruments: Jeweler's Tools.

Lesser Copper Ring.

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Description: Lesser Copper Ring. Durability: 30. Adds 1 random Stat from the main list: (Strength, Agility, Intellect, Stamina, Rage). Minimum level: 1.

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Crafting requirements: minimum Jewelcraft level 1.

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Ingredients: 2 Copper Wires.

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Instruments: Jeweler's Tools.

Lesser Copper Chain

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Description: Lesser Copper Chain. Durability: 30. Adds 1 random Stat from the main list: (Strength, Agility, Intellect, Stamina, Rage). Minimum level: 1.

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Crafting requirements: minimum Jewelcraft level 2.

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Ingredients: 3 Copper Wires.

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Instruments: Jeweler's Tools.

At the first glance this did not look like much, but for me it was a cause for celebration. Rings with stats! In Barliona a player could wear up to 8 rings at the same time, so if I had rings with additional stats, then... mmm...  Right, I must stop daydreaming, where was my 'reality-check' stone? I still had to make a lot of wire and only had 6 Copper Ingots. Too little, hells... Perhaps I should start learning Smithing myself? No, let Kart level up in that.

Making the wire turned out to be a rather involved task. After an hour of exertions I managed to make only one piece of Copper Wire. The only consolation I had from this self-torture was the message:

Skill increase:

+50% to primary profession of Jewelcraft. Total: 50%

Another hour. I needed another hour, but the message that my Energy hit the 30 mark, the darkness gathering outside the Smithy door, and the awareness that tomorrow I'd have to bang away at the ore again forced me to stop my work and head off for a much-needed rest.

Kart pleasantly surprised me. Not only did he reach level 3 in Leatherworking, he also managed to buy 95 pieces of Copper ore for just over 20 silver. Tomorrow he would embark upon the fascinating activity called Smithing. It turned out that my Jewelcraft needed quite a lot of copper ingots. Considering that one ingot is made out of 5 pieces of ore, I dreaded to think how much of it we would have to mine or buy.

Next evening, after handing in my daily quota, tired, I sat down for a rest in the shade by the smithy. Although my body was at full Energy and did not feel any fatigue, working at the mine completely wore you out mentally. Today I made a record: 12 smashed ore veins. If you deduct rest and trips to get water, that was an hour per ore vein. I didn't even touch the Rats today. I reached level 6 in Mining, level 3 in Strength, level 8 in Stamina and gained 67 pieces of Copper Ore. Today I still had to bump up my Jewelcraft to level 2, but I could not force myself to work again, so I sat in exactly the same place where Bat had nearly killed me and enjoyed a cool breeze. It was like being on holiday!

I closed my eyes, tried to relax and fall asleep. I'd take a short nap now and then continue working like a dog; but as soon as I began to drift off I heard a hushed conversation, which knocked any sleep right out of me.

"You reckon Bat won't be back?" asked a voice, which sounded rough, with a crack and a lisp. I don't even remember hearing one like that in our mine.

"No. It's been a while now and there's no sign of him. His gang is beginning to get worried, a few have already asked to join mine. Did any come to you?" said the second voice, which I recognized. It was one of the dwarves, who, according to Kart, headed the second largest gang after Bat.

"One or two did turn up. I even gave them a job to do to see what they're made of: to rub out Mahan. I sense that Bat didn't disappear just like that — Mahan had a hand in it. Do you remember how he downed Bat? I was watching my back for days after that: what if I'm next? Who can tell with this Shaman: everyone comes back reset to zero after respawn, but he returned with three levels."

"You're right: Mahan must be a rare scumbag. I agree that he should be rubbed out. Rine's become a real pain with the Rats already: he can barely contain his joy every day at the sight of Mahan's rat tails and puts me down for not doing the same. Can you believe that? Mahan is the only one in the mine who can cast spells and I get told off for not killing Rats. I could strangle the bastard myself."

"No worries, I set the date. It's either Mahan or them. They have three days to send him off for a respawn and they’ll be in the clear. And then we'll have a chat with him ourselves, explaining that standing out from the crowd is not a good idea. We'll acquaint him with the fact that he'll have to pay us every month if he doesn't want to keep starting from scratch. But enough of him, let's get to the business at hand. If Bat doesn’t return his 80 mooks should be shared. I propose we keep things simple and split them half-half."

"Agreed. Let's do it tomorrow after food."

"See you there then."

The local 'Vito Corleones' walked off and I felt a drop of sweat trickle down my back. It was good that the sun had already disappeared: I was in thick shade and they simply didn't notice me. Or they’d have rubbed me out right there and then. Hardened bastards. To plan a murder of another human being, even if it's a virtual murder, so calmly and casually is harsh. Especially if I am the human being in question and the murder is set to take place in the next three days. Hells, what should I do? Complain to the orc? There’s no way he’d listen to me. He’d just label me a paranoiac and send me off to work. Kart? What would he be able to do? Nothing. But what can they do to me? Set me up? Then I’ll be careful and won’t be provoked. There is nothing else they can do to me. This isn't real life where you can just stick a shiv in me. 'Wow, some turn of phrase I have in my arsenal.' I thought and even laughed to myself: I know about the shiv, but not about cooking meat on a frying pan.

I got up and headed for the barracks. I had no desire to focus on wire-making, so sleep was the only other option. I would soon have to resolve the situation with that pair that decided to set some thugs on me. The sooner I do it, the better things will look for me — I really hated living in a state of uncertainty.

The morning greeted me with pleasant sunshine, a cool breeze and slight problems.

During the morning meal, the place where the empty bowls were kept turned out to be empty. When the prisoners complained to the guards, they said that there were enough plates for everyone and that if one of the prisoners took them all that's between that prisoner and the rest. They should have come earlier to get their portion. In the end the food was put straight into the hands of the prisoners. Good thing it wasn't too liquid and did not flow out between the fingers. But even this was no simple solution. The green and bubbly porridge was hot, so almost everyone threw it to the ground, screaming, waited until it cooled down and then ate it. Well, well. It looked like we weren’t going to see much surplus ore being sold - people would be lucky to hand in their daily quotas. But what bastard nicked all the bowls? The answer came soon enough. When the next prisoner dropped the hot porridge to the ground, thereby turning it into "spoiled food", one of the prisoners standing nearby was engulfed in a whirlwind of light. He probably just levelled up in Meanness. I made a special note of his disgusting mug, which was now smiling at others' misfortune.