章 17: A Healing Dish

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Acorn slept soundly over his little bed, he dreamed about eating acorns and healing his people, or something like that, most likely. He was very tired from yesterday, so not even all the noise I made woke him up.

I decided to walk outside and noticed that the trees were giving out acorns, so I picked some up and decided to crack them until the center, which was edible and had a nutty flavor, even in this game I could eat acorns for free by just picking them from a tree!

I walked back to the home and decided to crack some of the acorns and then put them on the stew before it were to boil completely, while I also decided to roast some in the bonfire.

Time passed flying, after ten minutes, the stew was boiling hot and ready to eat, and the roasted acorns had become toasty brown and were also very soft now.

Acorn had woken up by all the delicious smells, and jumped out of bed.

"W-What is this?! Eh! Ah… Planta! D-Did you cook all this tasty stuff?! T-Those are roasted acorns, my favorites! And… stew? Rabbit stew with mushrooms… It is red?" he wondered, as he walked to my side.

"Good morning little Acorn," I said. "I cooked something up so we can start the day off with some energy! Oh, look, this is Belle, I think you remember her already, and this one is Loki, my new plant companion."

"O-Oh, you summoned another monster? Amazing! With Loki, we are a four-men team!" said Acorn. "Like this, most of what we have to do will be a breeze! Ah, I am so hungry…"

"Here you go."

I served Acorn a big plate with stew, a lot of meat, acorns, and mushrooms. The stew was slightly spicy and flavorful, the broth from the rabbit and the mushrooms were really good, and the last addition of acorns made the food even tastier.

Aside from that, there were the roasted acorns to snack on and lastly, the fish, which was already grilled now and ready to eat.

"S-So much food… Since my grandma died, I've barely been eating acorns all day… I remember she used to make a mushroom stew with bird meat before… It was very tasty," he said.

Acorn quickly took a spoon and decided to drink the soup, his eyes opened wide as he drank it and he even licked the spoon.

"T-This is tasty! So tasty! Planta, you're amazing at cooking!" He said. "You also added Pepperine, right? That's the red color!"

"Yeah, I found it in your kitchen, sorry for using your things without your permission…" I sighed.

"There's nothing to apologize for!" He said happily. He took big chunks out of the rabbit meat, ate the acorns in the soup, and then the mushrooms.

He was enjoying everything together, and the flavors melded together perfectly. After that, he also ate the grilled fish and seemed happy to be alive by how tasty it was.

"D-Did you go catch fish?" He asked. "I never knew you had the knack for fishing too… Amazing, you're really the daughter of the goddess!"

"Hahah, little one you're really praising me way more than you should," I said. I also decided to taste this food, even if it was a game, the scent, the warmth, and everything was very realistic.

I began with the broth… it was spicy, a bit sweet, and had a smoky flavor as well, and lastly, the flavor of the rabbit meat was really nice too. The mushrooms gave a good touch to it as well… After that, I ate the horned rabbit meat, it was soft and it literally tore apart without me even having to bite it off… the mushrooms were soft and chewy. I liked filling my cheeks with them, and lastly, there was the boiled acorns added to them, which were also very delicious and with a nutty flavor.

Acorn decided to make some tea, and he quickly gave me a cup of a very fragrant aromatic tea with mint, which was sweetened with honey. It went well with the stew and the grilled and salty fish!

When we finished eating everything, I felt like I had been reborn, it was way too good! It has been a while since I ate such freshly caught fish, even less rabbit meat and such big and high-quality mushrooms, oh right, and the acorns as well!

Phew, I ended up eating like two more plates until my satiation meter reached 100, and Acorn too, so we emptied the entire pot… I also shared a plate with Belle, and she ate it all without caring if it was meat or not. I guess the goats in this world ate meat… a single plate increased her affection for me, and her satiation filled up completely as well.

That was really amazing… While I relaxed after the meal, I checked into some weird system windows I ignored for a while until now.

Ding!

[You have prepared a [Horned Rabbit, Walking Mushroom, and Acorn Stew] and [Salted Grilled Fish]!]

[You gained 400 EXP]

[You gained 200 EXP]

[You acquired the Title [Beginner Cook]!]

[Your Cooking Is improving!]

[Keep cooking more tasty meals that make others smile after eating them!]

Oh?! I got EXP from cooking?! What is this?!

"EEEEH?!"

I ended up crying a bit out of surprise after seeing this, but what was happening right in front of my eyes wasn't an illusion, it was real life, I had gained EXP by cooking…

"W-What's happening, Lady Dryad?!" asked Acorn. "Did the Pepperine make your stomach ache? There's a bathroom there!"

"N-No! That's not it!" I cried. "A-Actually, sorry for making a fuss, never mind me…"

The Guide Spirit spoke to me about stuff I had actually nor bothered researching.

"Using Production-based Skills grants EXP after using the "System" linked to them, such as the Fishing System, the Cooking System, the Crafting System, Alchemy System, and so on…" said the Guide Spirit. "This is how those that main Chefs or Fishermen and more can level up after all… Now that I realize it, the farmer Job Class is… a bit broken in this area, the other players look down on it alone but isn't this amazing? If you're good at these things like you, you can just gain EXP by doing things that are not even killing!"

"Hehehe, see? The combination of Dryad and Farmer is amazing! I totally didn't do it on a whim," I said. "Y-Yeah!"

"You're terrible at lying, you obviously did it on a whim…" sighed the guide. "Nonetheless, you got very close to leveling up again, you just need to cook something else I guess…"

"I guess I can leave that for later then," I said.

For cooking I needed more ingredients, and even then, I had to concentrate on the game's quest now, not cooking or fishing, that was just some side fun I have.

"W-Well, now that we are done here, we should get back to what we were doing yesterday! Let's go meet my grandpa before going, is there any food left?" asked Acorn.

"N-No, we ate it all… Wait a second, I'll prepare him a small fish stew really quick! I know a simple recipe," I said.

At the end, I ended cooking for the Elder, and I added my own Green Magic as an experiment too. I ended up making the Catfish as a stew, while adding some acorns and more mushrooms. This time it was a smaller pot, so it was prepared quickly.

Ding!

[You have prepared a [Delicious Catfish, Walking Mushroom, and Acorn Stew]!]

[You gained 400 EXP]

[Your Race and Job Level has increased from Level 3 to Level 4!]

[Your Stats have increased]

[You gained Stat and Skill Points]

No way, I just leveled up… Ahh… Cooking was the best.

We moved the stew towards the room of the Elder, where we found him resting.

However, the smell of fish and mushrooms quickly woke him up in an instant, as he sat down in the bed and greeted us.

"W-What is this enchanting smell?! F-Fish?" he asked.

"Yeah fish! Elder, Lady Dryad made some catfish stew for you, it got mushrooms and acorns too." said Acorn. "I also got you some mint tea for your sore throat."

"Oh my, what a blessing from the heavens!"

The Elder seemed to have suddenly regained his youth as he began to eat the stew rapidly.The fish, mushrooms, acorns, and soup, all of them were eaten in an instant, he was really hungry! Had he only been eating acorns? For such big squirrels, that was really not enough.

He suddenly regained part of his vitality, and seemed way younger and… way more energetic as well! Was this how the Elder truly was?! He left me shocked.

"A-Ah… Amazing… The sickness effects almost dissipated completely… the miasma is still there but… I feel way better… Lady Dryad… Y-Your food is an excellent treatment to lessen the effects of the disease!" He said desperately. "I-I don't know what kind of power you use on it but… It doesn't take out the disease or something, but it certainly makes you feel better…"

"I-It does?! I never knew my cooking would do such a thing," I said in surprise. "I suppose I can cook for all the town after we go out! How about it? I actually caught a very big fish some time ago!"

"Oh, interesting! I-If you could give your food to the people, I would be forever grateful!"

And like that, my journey as a chef in a game world started! A healing chef!

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