I waited in the dining room, pulling out my books on runes and continuing to study the cold rune I had been working on. It was then I was reminded that I should really work on the Sugar Reed juice I had been meaning to make.

With the time-freeze nature of the pantry, I couldn't store it there—well, I could; it just wouldn't gain anything.

But if I made a large barrel of it like I was planning, I wouldn't be able to fit it in the storage ring, since it was too small for that.

While I was practising my circles, I was thinking about that issue. Then it struck me: we could ride double with the horses and bring Darren and George, so either we purchased two new horses, or we could possibly get a wagon.

If we had the wagon, I could work on the barrels like I wanted and store them in the back of the wagon while we travelled. My thoughts then went to the wood and barrel themselves. My skill implied it would work on food, and if Pantry recognised those barrels as food-adjacent—or even the wood scraps I store in there…

Then surely I could carve a cold rune on the barrel and keep the drink cold once it was ready?

I was deep in thought and still practising when the first person arrived; I didn't even notice the door opening.

"What ya' doing?" Liane said, sitting on the table just ahead of me.

"Practising my runes and waiting for people to show up and have food," I said, trying my best not to let my shocked reaction show—but I failed horribly when I practically leapt out of the chair.

"Oh! You made dinner already? What is it?" she said, shuffling closer.

"You'll see!" I said with a chuckle. "We should get Milo up here for it—it'll help his earth magic."

"You're going to make me gather everyone, aren't you?" Liane said in a sad tone.

"It's only fair—I made dinner, after all." I just grinned.

Liane let out a big sigh and made a point of dramatically opening and closing the door, but I knew she wasn't actually upset; the smile on her face gave her away.

Knowing Liane would collect everyone pretty quickly, I decided to pack up all my rune stuff and start setting up for dinner. I knew as soon as the pot came out on the table, Lily would make her way in here and demand more, so it would be the last thing I did.

I pulled out all the bowls I had, which were a mismatch of sizes and materials, along with all the stone and metal spikes I had. We didn't have the luxury of just eating shell and all, so the spikes would help us get to the meat.

It didn't take long before people started showing up, with Hari entering first, followed by a very tired-looking George and Darren.

I was surprised when Milo was the next to arrive. It looked like he had not slept yet; there were huge bags under his eyes, and he was absolutely covered in dirt—which I was fairly sure he could just remove from himself if he wanted to.

"Oh, Trev, before I go back down, you wouldn't happen to have more of that candy, would you?" Milo asked as he caught my eye.

I quickly pulled out a small handful of the shards and handed them over. I didn't have much left myself, but I could add that to the list of things to experiment with while I had the kitchen and access to the market.

"Thanks, Trev! These have been a lifesaver," Milo said, storing them away—and I caught sight of the glare I was getting from Hari.

"What did I do?" I asked, confused by it.

"He needs to sleep, and he's been using those candies—and the excuse he still has mana—as a reason to stay up," Hari said, before turning to Milo.

"But you'll be going to sleep tonight right after you wash? You look like you've been playing in a dirt pile," Hari added, as Liane, Jen, and Micca entered the room.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Milo muttered, taking a seat and looking around.

"So, what is it?" Liane said, taking a seat next to me.

I just pulled out the pot, and the room was immediately filled with the smell, the sweetness and spice lingering in the air. As expected, Lily was immediately out of the kitchen and sitting on the opposite side from where Liane was.

"Chilli crab!" I announced happily.

I decided to serve Lily first, taking one of the larger bowls I had pulled out—the same one she had used earlier—and placed another four pieces of crab in there, adding some sauce, then turned to place it on the ground for her.

"Dig in! There is a ladle for the sauce, bowls, and sticks there to help you get the meat out of the shell. Oh, also—" I pulled out a small stack of random rolls I had stored. I felt the bread would go amazingly with soaking up the sauce.

I had not even turned around fully when the first crunch from Lily came. I couldn't help but notice Darren and George both wincing at the sound, but everyone else seemed entirely focused on the food.

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Liane was the first to start eating. "So hot, so delicious!" she practically squeaked. "So good!"

I thought Jen would protest it a little, like she did with the spider. To me this didn't seem too much different: they both had a hard shell, both crawled on the ground—but she, like Liane, seemed to really enjoy it.

George made me laugh because he bit straight into some chillies and was scrambling to find some water.

I sat down to enjoy eating it myself, just watching my surroundings. I really was lucky to have so many good friends and to get to cook this for them.

In the end, there were no crabs left over. I thought we'd get a second meal from it, no problem, but Lily came back for seconds and thirds, and despite coming back again, was only refused a fourth serving because there was none left.

That said, everyone had their fill, and it was safe to say they were a big success. I would likely need to try to secure some more before we travelled again, just so I could cook something similar in the future.

Once the food was gone, Lily vanished again—but I guessed she was likely already in the bedroom or in the kitchen by the fire, because her pressure never lessened, so she wasn't gone.

Surprisingly, Milo managed to convince Hari to let him go back downstairs—arguing that he'd be foolish to waste the buff he'd just got from the crabs and, since it only lasted three hours, he should work for at least that long.

"As long as you promise to sleep tonight, or I will drag you up here myself and stand by your door," Hari said sternly.

Milo gave a nervous chuckle. "I will, I promise." He then left the room quickly.

"He's not going to, is he?" I asked with a chuckle.

"Nope, but I'll go down and remind him of our promise in three hours when the buff wears off," Hari said with a chuckle, also getting up to leave.

I decided to head into the kitchen and clean up, and get ready for sleep myself. Everyone was in conversation with their groups, and I was just about to enter the kitchen when George yelled out,

"Trev! When are you going to come join us for some practice? Hari said he was training you before we showed up."

I chuckled. "If I can avoid that torture a little longer, I will."

"It's not that bad. I've been gaining lots of skill experience!" Darren added.

"Yeah, Trev! You should hang out with your friends!" Micca added.

I sighed. "Fine! I'll join you for a little while tomorrow," I said, a huge smile on my face. I wasn't that bothered by doing training—in fact, I had been a little sad I wasn't hanging out with my friends—so this would be a good opportunity after I went to the market tomorrow.

***

I fell asleep the moment I hit the bed. They were so soft it was criminal, but I was woken up by what could only be described as a cold, encompassing pressure around my legs.

Opening my eyes, I saw it was still the middle of the night, and, looking down at my legs, there was just a giant black mass covering them.

Lily had decided my bed was a good sleeping spot tonight.

I forced myself to go back to sleep, which was easier said than done. I couldn't disturb Lily, but despite the incredible comfort of the bed, her shadow-like body just felt odd on my skin, making sleep difficult.

***

I woke up early in the morning.

Lily had not moved much; she was still lying over my legs, and I looked around for how I could extract myself from this situation. I didn't even have any food cooked on me that I could bring out and distract her with.

Sighing, I tried my best to shift my legs, and it seems eventually I woke Lily up. After giving me a very sleepy look, she vanished and appeared under the sheets of the second bed.

That worked, I guess…

Jen had dropped off all my clean clothes, which were now sitting in a neat pile near the bed, so after getting changed I made my way down the hall and to the kitchen, carrying the brazier that Crisplet was in—because, for some reason, Crisplet was imitating Lily and hiding under a blanket of ash and coal.

My goal this morning was to make breakfast, then get some cooking done before heading out into the town. From there I needed to get lots of vegetables, the barrels, fruit, and, once I came back, I would spend most of the day doing butchery and cooking until I could complete my quests—then a little bit of training.

It was a lot, but it was a good goal to have. I had plenty of carcasses to butcher, so I really didn't need to buy any more—plus, having the meat would be incredibly useful.

I placed Crisplet's brazier in the oven and then got to work starting breakfast. Crisplet didn't appear to come out of his blanket of ash and coal, but I couldn't help noticing that the moment I placed him in the oven, it lit up with fire.

He was very much paying attention still.

Going through my storage, I found a smoked boar belly, and some rolled grain, so I decided to make sliced boar belly, eggs, and rolls, with a fruit porridge as well. If there were anything left over, I could use it again.

Once that was all cooked and ready to go, I stored it all—making sure to Purify and infuse the porridge before I did, just in case.

No one had shown up yet, so I pulled out one of the carcasses to get to work. I started with a sky wolf, since it's one I was very familiar with. I didn't really have anywhere for the organs to go; normally in the forest we'd just throw them into the trees and the animals would clear it up, but here I attempted to store it in my Pantry and was pleased when it went in.

I tried my best to save the hide as I cut, but I absolutely messed up several times and punctured it. I was told by Jen that anytime I punctured the hide, it lost value. If that were true… this hide would be worthless.

Once I had it cleaned, and the hide removed, I started to break it down.

Butcher 10 unique monsters of Uncommon or greater rarity: 0/10

Butcher 15 creatures in a single day: 1/15

It was after I checked it that I kicked myself—I needed to do Uncommon Beasts, so that made it a little harder. But I figured if I practised with five common ones, I'd be more warmed up for the ten uncommon.

I stored all the cut-up wolf and pulled out a second one when I nearly dropped it on the floor in fright as I saw Liane sitting on the counter in the corner.

"What are you even doing awake right now?" I asked, shocked.

"Everyone else is in the dining hall, not wanting to disturb you, and it was quieter here," she said, yawning.

"They're here already?" I asked, shocked. I didn't even realise it! How long had I been butchering that wolf?

With a sigh, I wiped off my hands and pulled out all the breakfast.

"Want to grab some now so you can stay in here?" I said to Liane, who just sleepily nodded and came over, grabbing a little bit of everything before returning to the corner.

After that, I went out to serve everyone else.

Today would be a busy day, but I will get that skill evolved—and still have time to hang out with my friends!

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