Chapter 20: Chimera
Silva recognized that he needed stronger opponents because even with his legacy and the ten times buff, fighting weak opponents was not helping him.
The party managed to take down all the job goblins, but the others were tired afterward; they had expended so much energy in the fight.
Each of the hob goblins was at least their strength, so the Bayless were somewhat evened out.
Silva and Quin, on the other hand, didn't look tired, even after Silva fought the leader and Quin took on two of them.
It simply served to show that their strengths were not on the same level.
"Alright, we should take a rest here," Quin said, so they camped there for a bit.
Roxy decided to whip up something quick. Normally, parties took food pills and preserved foods, but in their party, Quick had a storage pouch.
That allowed them to carry a lot of things, so they could even cook during their quests and explorations.
She was the one who handled the cooking since the other guys were incapable.
Silva saw this as an opportunity to start his plan against Mike, so he quickly bought a few skills in cooking.
[Purchased beginner cooking skill lv1]
[Purchased kitchen skills lv1]
"Use as many points as you need and get both to level five," Silva said. The system had a way to allow him to increase his skills to level five using points, but after that, he could only use repeated actions to level them up.
But this wasn't an issue because he had his 10x buff, which would make the cooking skills he had ten times better.
After purchasing the skills, he was filled with a ton of knowledge on handling the basics of cooking and the kitchen.
If he wanted to level up more than this, he would need practice and research.
"This should be enough," Silva said. He got up and walked to Roxy.
"Hey, can I help you? You had a very stressful battle, so I'd like to assist you," Silva offered. His offer drew the attention of the others; they didn't think Silva would know anything about cooking.
Mike, on the other hand, had a very bad feeling about this. He could tell that Silva was plotting something, and it was targeted at him.
"When did you learn to cook? You should let her be and not ruin what she is doing," Mike said.
"To think you would be this uncaring, Mike. She fought the same battles as you and went through the same stress, even more.
She is not a frontline fighter, but she still had to fight and win. She must have been under a ton of pressure. It's a good thing she isn't completely burnt out.
Yet now you want to place all the work on her while you sit and do nothing. I do know how to cook. I took my time to learn, but even if I didn't know how to, I can't just sit down and watch her," Silva said.
His argument was so sound that Mike had no comeback; he just kept quiet.
"Alright, since Silva seems confident in his skills, would you mind him assisting you, Roxy?" Quin asked.
Roxy looked at Silva for a brief moment and shook her head. "I don't have an issue with that," she responded.
Silva started helping her. She was making porridge. He made sure to stand out of her way and only help her. He was so efficient in helping her that all she needed to worry about was the pot on the fire.
Whatever she needed, she didn't have to ask; he already had it prepared and waiting. At one point, she stopped thinking about anything else and just stretched out her hand when she needed something, and he would give her exactly what was needed.
Mike watched this while fuming. He knew Silva was up to something. He felt like he was close to understanding, but yet he could not understand. Their intelligence was worlds apart.
Quicker than expected, the food was done, and they all ate. Their reactions let Silva and Roxy know that the food tasted great.
Silva was happy because his level one was complete. It may not be enough yet, but he planted the seed, and now he had to water it. This time he would hit Mike so hard that Mike would stop messing with him.
After a full meal and rest, the party headed deeper inside the labyrinth. When they went deeper, they saw a large hole with a path leading downwards.
"This should be the way to the second floor of the labyrinth. We should take a bit to ensure we are in top condition before we head into that place," Quin advised.
While the others sat around resting, Silva sat at the edge of the hole, staring deep into it. He felt a very subtle energy coming from it, but he couldn't say what it was.
As they rested, two parties came by. They looked like they weren't from the town.
Both parties stopped when they saw Quin's party. Both parties consisted of six people, and they were fully armed with swords and staves.
They were the perfect image of a party, and they seemed to know that fact, so they moved with pride.
Both parties left soon after and headed inside the hole, disappearing.
"We should head in as well," Quin said and got up. They went into the hole as well.
Roy lit up a flame to guide them. The path was slim, and one wrong move would send you to the bottom. They didn't know the depth, but it was risky no matter how you looked at it.
They continued their path for ten minutes and finally made it to the bottom. As soon as they landed, they could hear the sounds of battle.
They rushed to the scene of the battle and saw the two parties battling a chimera.
"What the hell is wrong with this labyrinth? How can it switch from goblins to a fucking chimera?" Rock said.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone