PftA Book 5 - Chapter 37 - The Rewards of Training

“You are getting quite good at using the Core Four elements,” Kai commented when the last of the simian creatures were defeated.

I’d been practicing with Direct Casting the basic four elements of Air, Water, Fire, and Earth via my Arcane affinity, and I was happy with my advancements thus far.

I’d even managed to cast simple elemental spell effects in just a handful of seconds. It wasn’t quite fast enough to be truly effective in combat, but I was getting there.

“Thanks. I think I’m about ready to test myself in Zone Five. What about you?” I asked as I quickly collected the bodies of our defeated foes into my storage.

Kai looked contemplative for a moment before nodding. “Manually casting still takes more time than I’d like, but I believe I’m ready to try without the system’s assistance.”

“We should eat first,” I commented after glancing at the time display in the corner of my vision.

It had been more than a day since we last ate, and though we could easily go a lot longer without sustenance at our tier, there was no reason to deny ourselves such a simple joy.

I pulled us into my demesne.

As far as I could tell, the dimensional space wasn’t impacted by the dungeon’s increasing restrictions at all. It was probably because it was considered more of a soulbound artifact than a skill or a spell.

Since manipulating things within my demesne took little more than a flex of will, a full meal was waiting for us when we appeared. It was one of the many meals I’d created while training my Cooking skill over the past months.

“This looks excellent,” Kai praised. “It’s much better than anything I can make.”

“Maybe you should train your Cooking skill,” I suggested with a grin as I took my seat at the table.

Kai laughed lightly. “I’d rather not. Though Alchemy and Cooking have some overlap, I’ve found that I do not enjoy Cooking nearly as much as I enjoy eating. I am capable enough to keep myself alive, if necessary. That’s all I really need if the realm is advanced like the primer implies.”

The primer I’d gotten as a reward for the last floor’s trial hadn’t explicitly stated anything about the upper realm’s level of advancement, but it had certainly implied that Dia was no less advanced than any of the lower realms. In fact, I suspected that the next realm might actually be more advanced than our current realm.

Our conversation drifted as we took our time eating. With the time dilation within my demesne, there really wasn’t any reason to feel rushed.

We finished the meal and took a few extra hours to relax and do our own thing before heading into Zone Five. Though I couldn’t teleport us directly there, it took barely a moment to use one of the many portals littered throughout the zone to access the last zone of the floor.

I quickly cast Teleport and Compressed Space Bolt, effectively selecting the two as my only system-supported spells for the duration of our stay. Even entering my demesne wouldn’t reset our selections. Only completely leaving the zone and returning would allow a new pair of spells to be chosen.

Since we were relatively safe near the portal, I took a moment to manually cast a lingering Barrier. The standard Barrier spellform manifested a channeled spell, regardless of the affinity used. However, I’d learned how to improve the spell through training and a bit of experimentation, turning it into a spell that could be cast and ignored until more mana was needed.

The new version of the spell was very mana efficient, and it would only lose mana if the barrier was triggered. It was a far better version of the spell than the one I’d gained way back in Tier One.

Direct Casting the spell took a lot more effort now that we were in a zone without any system support (beyond the two spells), but it wasn’t nearly as bad as my first attempts had been when we first tested the floor's restrictions.

If I had to give an estimate, I’d say casting the spell without any system assistance was about twice as difficult as trying the same thing within Zone Four. Though it might seem like a huge step back, I recognized my progress for what it was.

Besides, this new zone had one advantage that the previous zones simply couldn’t match: the experience gains.

Between the experience-boosting ring and the huge bonus we’d get for challenging the most system-restricted zone, I was optimistic that I’d be able to get through the last floor of the dungeon in record time.

I teleported us a short distance where a herd of elephant-sized creatures was languidly grazing within a meadow. Though they were the size of elephants, the creatures appeared to be some form of horned bovine.

It was a beast I had not yet encountered, but I was hopeful its meat would be worth the effort of butchering the massive creatures.

There were many beasts within the dungeon whose meat was only good for use within the MealMaker. Many tasted so excessively gamey that they weren’t pleasant to eat, even with heavy seasoning.

Seeing the creatures, Kai’s eyes lit up. He immediately removed a sword from his storage ring and gave me a nod before disappearing.

I’d shared the techniques given to me by Cin’Specter with Kai back when I’d initially received them. Though I preferred using Arcane Stealth over the Time version I’d gotten from the Assassin, my mentor did not have the same luxury.

Before acquiring the new technique, Kai had mostly relied on artifacts when he needed to hide for whatever reason. While there was a neutral mana version listed as a general spell, like most such spells, it was very mana-intensive.

Casting my own version of stealth took me about ten seconds. It wasn’t as slow as I feared, but it was still slow enough that I was almost seen by the now rampaging beasts who were reacting to the invisible assailant within their midst.

I kept track of Kai only by observing the violence being unleashed. Careful not to aim away from the area he was operating within, I started picking off targets with various elemental attacks from the Core Four adapted via Arcane mana.

The loss of even a small amount of system assistance was nearly crippling when it came to working with magic for which I had no awakened affinity, but I’d been prepared for that. It was also the primary reason I was keeping my distance and attacking at range.

Had I entered melee and tried to incorporate such attacks, I doubted I would have been successful in my endeavors. That step would come later – much later. For now, I was content with the progress I’d already made.

And while I could have used Compressed Space Bolt to speed my slaughter, I knew that doing so would ruin a good amount of the meat. While that might be acceptable when we fought other beasts, I wasn’t going to waste what might be an excellent source of delicious meat.

= = =

“Mmmm. I think we’re going to have to keep hunting in Zone Five if this is the type of resources the planetoid has,” I said between bites.

The meat was everything I hoped for and more. Though I couldn’t use Assess without either going to a new zone or setting up an intricate ritual, I was fairly certain the bovine creatures were Sun Grazers – the Kobe Wagyu of the dungeon.

The meat was buttery and perfectly marbled, making me almost regret that I’d tarnished the amazing meat with my substandard Cooking skill.

“Do you think I can get the chef golem to teach me how to cook these like they do in the restaurant?” I asked.

“Probably not,” Kai replied after swallowing a slowly chewed bite. He was eating slowly, savoring every mouthful. After several more bites, he added, “The training capsule might be able to help, though.”

My eyes brightened before shifting to the device. I’d gotten pretty far with my Cooking lessons through the capsule, but I’d never asked the virtual trainer to teach me anything in particular.

For the most part, I’d simply been following along with the generic lessons. Since I’d learned something new in almost every lesson, I wasn’t disappointed with my approach, but now that I had a specific goal in mind, I couldn’t wait to hop back into the capsule.

“That’s a great idea,” I said with a smile. “By the time we need to hunt another herd, I plan to be an expert at cooking with these things.”

“That’s a lot of meat, but I’m sure you’ll make good use of it,” Kai said, not bothering to mention how much the meat was probably worth.

Considering the Challengers’ Retreat restaurant had Sun Grazer steaks as one of the most expensive items on their menu, it was probably worth a lot.

“The restaurant has a lot of expensive seafood on the menu too,” I said thoughtfully. “Do you think we should check out the underwater areas of Zone Five and see what kinds of creatures there are to harvest?”

“Sometimes I forget how excited you can get over food,” Kai said after wiping the last bit of juice off his plate with a small roll he’d pulled from his storage ring. “It’s certainly worth looking into if it makes you this happy.”

His comment made me pause and reflect.

It really had been a while since I was last excited like this. And, interestingly enough, the last time I could recall feeling this sort of excitement had also been about encountering a new and delicious type of food.

Maybe I really should focus a bit more on Cooking, especially since I knew there was no way I’d be able to take my MealMaker with me when I eventually ascended.

Then again, I’d created the MealMaker once. I was sure I could do it again. Though I’d have to restart my recipe collection from scratch, it was better than living without the convenience of such a device.