Bab 39: The Cook and the Farmer

"Lea, give me your dagger. I want to check something." Said Wain looking at Lea.

The girl nodded and handed the blue dagger into Wain's hands. He immediately looked up the information about the item.

[Spoiled Kitchen Knife (Primary Chronicle, Common Rating)

It was originally a simple kitchen knife used for cooking. However, an inexperienced and unskilled smith decided to ruin it by turning it into the trash. During use, all stats of the owner drop by 5 points]

'What? That's the worst description I've ever seen. Moreover, I feel how I became weaker. Five points of each stat is a lot at the beginning of the apocalypse. However...' Wain thought, and the next moment brought the knife's point to his palm.

Even though the knife's description was not the best, to say the least, Wain cut his skin easily.

"Hmm, it looks like your soul is very powerful indeed. The description says that this knife is the worst garbage possible. However, even so, it is sharp enough to harm me. The sharpness of this weapon surpasses the katanas created by skilled smiths before the apocalypse." Wain said earnestly and put the knife aside.

Gisle took the knife in his hands and said in amazement, "This is incredible. Since this is the first weapon Lea has created, it's likely to be the worst. That said, you can kill zombies and mutated insects with this knife in just a few attacks."

Wain nodded.

Lea joined the conversation and said, "When the apocalypse started, two zombies attacked my house. One I killed by throwing various things and cutlery at him. But the other one practically managed to hit me. I grabbed the nearest knife and used my skill because of fright. After that, I sliced the zombie apart with a slight movement of my hand."

"It's scary to imagine what your soul considers a masterpiece if that knife is garbage." Calmly Wain said and, looking at Gisle seriously, said, "Gisle, this girl could become one of the greatest blacksmiths of the new world. It would help if you did everything for her development. When I come here I will help with that too. A good blacksmith is more valuable than a ton of gold."

Gisle nodded.

"Lea, you must try your best, or I'll have to deal with you personally. I hope you understand what that means?" Wain said coldly, and Lea shuddered at his creepy aura.

"You shouldn't bully her. It won't do any good. You'd make a bad teacher, Wain." Said Gisle.

"I agree. I'm not a good teacher. Okay, Lea has been dealt with, now on to other business. Gisle, I'm going north soon, and I don't know when I'll be back. No need to send anyone up there or look for me. I'll take care of things myself." Said Wain.

"Understood." Briefly replied Gisle.

"Okay, and one more thing. I already said that Lea needs special treatment, but you also have to interview every student at this university. You have to find out what kind of souls they have. There are quite a few people here, so most likely, some of them will have craft souls." Said Wain.

"Do you think there are more blacksmiths here?" Asked Gisle.

Wain nodded and said, "Not just blacksmiths. Any craft souls are extremely useful. They can be blacksmiths, tailors, jewelers, appraisers, and so on. Even souls like cooks, bartenders, and fishermen are incredibly useful."

"Cooks? What can they do that's so useful?" Gisle asked. He understood what jewelers or tailors could do, but cooks seemed like something useless to him during the apocalypse.

"You're thinking too narrowly. Souls aren't just some skills or the ability to cook meat well. People souls that have something to do with cooking will cook dishes that increase stats and beyond. Also, just because a person has a craft soul doesn't mean they are weak in combat. I'm sure chefs will have skills in the future that enhance their attacks with a kitchen knife or something like that." Wain explained in detail.

"Understandably, it makes sense that the same applies to other craft souls as well. I used to play many different games, and craft souls are somewhat similar. A team of five people with combat souls will be weaker than a team of three with one person with craft souls." Gisle suggested.

"Yes, so when you find out which people in this university have craft souls, you'll need to keep an eye on them. You also need to divide responsibilities and rights and pretty rigidly. There's no use for people who don't have the guts to activate their Soul Altars. It's garbage." Wain said harshly.

"You're pretty categorical. I agree with you, though, but it's too early to conclude. I'll wait a week, and if in that amount of time a person doesn't find the strength to activate his Soul Altar, he'll be nothing more than an assistant in a dirty job for life." Said Gisle.

"So be it." Proclaimed Wain, took a cigarette out of the pack, and smoked.

All the while, Lea sat at the same table and heard their conversation. She dared not interfere with it. After all, the only thought in her mind at that moment was that she was lucky. She understood that Wain was a hard and cold man. Moreover, Gisle, the leader, was not naive, kindly fool either. Each of them understood that there was no room for sentiment and compassion during the apocalypse.

"Wain, you talked about craft souls, but there's someone we need more than the rest." Said Gisle.

"And who is that?" Asked Wain exhaling a puff of smoke.

"It's a farmer. At this point, finding someone with a soul connected to farming is even more important than having someone with a blacksmith's soul." Gisle said confidently, looking at the forest in the distance.

"Hmm, you're right. The food in the stores is not endless. Moreover, most food will go bad in a couple of weeks. You can eat monster meat, though, but that can't be called a steady supply of food. What's more, not all monsters can be eaten." Said Wain.

"I think I know what direction we need to go in. We have to take over part of the forest near the university and equip it for fields. At the same time, we should find a farmer and also develop other people with craft souls. People with combat souls should do killing monsters." Pronounced Gisle. He was talking to himself and thinking out loud. He understood that Wain would only help him if he wanted it himself.

'The forest... will have to go there after I get the soul I need. There doesn't seem to be anything else of interest besides this forest and the beach on the east side of Overion. I'll have to think about how to get across the canyons left by that giant worm.' Wain thought, looking at the smoke billowing in the air.

"Oh, Wain, I wanted to give you something." Said Gisle, walking over to the dresser and pulling out a walkie-talkie from the drawer. He tossed it to Wain.

"A walkie-talkie? Do they still work?" Asked Wain.

Gisle nodded, "Yeah, if you're not too far away, use it, and you can reach me. However, given your strength, it's unlikely you'll need it."

Wain smiled and hid the radio under his cloak. He moved it to the Ring of Damned.