With Crisplet's evolution out of the way and the skill chosen, it was time to do some cooking while we waited for everyone else to come back.

Looking through my inventory, I had several things I could use. First, I pulled out all the Lemon Tea Grass I'd gathered during the forest trek back to town and set it to one side of the oven for Crisplet to dry.

I also wanted to try something different. With everything else going on today, I pulled out several pieces of echoheart wood. I was shocked. The moment Crisplet touched it, the wood took on an ashen colour. Red cracks spread through it, crackling with power, and a faint silver shimmer rose from the surface.

There was also the smell. It was incredibly difficult to describe. As I breathed in the silver shimmer, it was almost sweet. I felt something in my chest—a warmth. Not heat, but a gentle feeling of contentment I hadn't experienced before.

Along with drying the Lemon Tea Grass, I was also going to turn the remaining portion of baelvryn into jerky. The other thing I really wanted to try, though I wasn't sure if it would work, was to make something described as hard candy.

The recipe seemed super simple: equal parts sugar and sugar reed juice. It said I could use a flavour concentrate and suggested fruit as the ideal choice. Honey was listed as an option too.

I got to work. First, I pulled out the remaining baelvryn and started removing all the meat from the bones. There was something I wanted to test with those later, but that would be a job for another time. Once most of the meat was removed, I cut it into small strips. The oven wasn't overly large, so Milo helped by adding a kind of drying rack—stone bars stretched across one wall where I could hang the meat.

I didn't want to put it all in just yet. If the others didn't come back with more supplies from the alchemy shop, I didn't want to waste the last of our virfolium and blood tears here.

Once everything was sliced, I placed the meat in a pot for safekeeping and stored it away. After washing my hands and cleaning the equipment, I was about to start on the candy when I was interrupted by a small ember hitting me.

"What's up?" I asked, turning to look at Crisplet—who had now formed what I want to call an ash arm. It didn't have a hand, more like an ashen stump, and it was pointing directly at the Lemon Tea Grass.

"Oh, it's ready? Thanks, Crisplet. You're amazing!" I said happily, reaching in to grab it all and using my new Infuse ability, before attempting to store it to pull up the name.

Would you like to store [Rare] Mana Enriched Lemon Tea Grass x74 for 5 mana? Yes/No

Still rare. That was good news. I was slightly concerned about the mana-enriched part, if only because of my previous experience with mana-rich items. I remembered to use Purify on it—just in case that would help.

"Uh, Milo, Liane. Before I continue with this wood, I think we need to check this—make sure I didn't make it toxic," I said, bringing the dried grass out of the kitchen into the living area where they were sitting. The room immediately filled with the rich scent of lemon.

"What have you done to the tea this time?" Liane asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I dried it using a different wood. Now it's calling it mana-enriched," I explained.

Milo had a slight look of concern on his face. "I won't be able to try it. I'm still at full mana, and I've got no easy way to burn a large amount in the middle of the city. All yours, Liane. I'll get the teapot," he said, heading off.

Liane just smirked in a way that usually meant trouble. A few minutes later, we had a brewed pot of lemon tea. As we poured it, the strong lemon smell hit us again—along with that same comforting warmth.

"That's odd," Milo said, eyes narrowing slightly. "Along with the smell, it feels like I got a warm hug, or like I came home. Strange..." His notebook appeared in his hand. "What wood was this?"

"echoheart," I replied, watching as Liane poured herself a small cup. What surprised me was how she began randomly appearing in different spots around the room—clearly burning some mana before even trying the tea.

"Alright, I'm at ten mana. Let's see how this tastes," she said excitedly, bringing the cup to her lips.

I half expected her to start phasing around the room again, but she didn't. She just stared curiously at the tea, then took another sip.

"It's safe. But Milo..." She gave a low whistle. "Burn some mana and try it," she added with a grin, pouring two more cups.

A moment later, after Milo conjured a few small gusts of wind toward the door, we all tried our cups. The first thing I noticed was a calmness. Then came a tingling in my fingers—but not like the pyrrhosite. This was softer, gentler.

I pulled up my status to check the buffs, unsure what to make of it all. It gave: Fire Immunity, +3 Intelligence, Moderate Speed, Mana Regeneration, and Memory of Magic.

Milo immediately pulled out notebook after notebook, flicking through them. I also noticed my mana was rising at a steady pace—almost one point per second.

"What is Memory of Magic?" I asked, but Liane just shrugged, still sipping her tea.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I stored the pot just in case it all mysteriously disappeared. I guessed that was what Milo was looking up, since he said nothing. So, I went back into the kitchen to start on the candy. I was sure he'd tell me once he found something.

I added the sugar and sugar reed juice to my pot and took it over to Crisplet to start heating. I explained the goal to him and got a burst of embers in response. The recipe had suggested using an ice mage to cool it rapidly once poured, but we'd have to make do.

Stirring constantly, the sugar melted into the liquid. It began to foam at the top, so I kept it moving. When it started to thicken and take on a yellow colour, I added the mix of two dried herbs. Since I didn't have any fruit concentrate, I also put in a small amount of the honey I had.

I kept stirring. Crisplet gave me another burst of sparks. I thought it needed a little longer, but Crisplet had never led me astray so far, so I pulled it off the heat and set it aside while I went to find something to pour it into.

That's when I felt silly. I'd prepared everything else so I wouldn't burn the mix—but hadn't planned for what to do once it came off the fire.

Eventually, I dragged Milo away from a literal stack of books long enough for him to create a kind of stone tray for me. Crisplet offered one made of ash, but I worried it would be too hot for the mixture to cool down properly.

When I returned to the pot, I realised my mistake almost immediately.

It had already set on the outside.

My spoon was stuck inside now, and I couldn't mix it anymore.

Liane appeared behind me, peering over my shoulder at the mixture.

"What's that?" she asked.

"It was supposed to be hard candy, but I think I've messed it up. It's set inside the pot now—I can't pour it into the tray," I admitted. I honestly felt so silly. Of course it would set. What was I thinking?

"That's an easy enough fix. It won't look pretty, but just get Crisplet to heat up the pot again. Remelt the outside, then tip the lump onto the tray to cool fully. After that, you can break it into small candy crystals," Liane offered.

I just started nodding as she explained, and with Crisplet already beside us, I saw the ash stump resting on the pot—he must've been heating it up already.

"Thanks. I thought I'd ruined it," I said, relief rushing through me.

A minute later, I tipped the blob of hardening candy onto the stone tray and looked at the pot in despair. It was going to be a real pain to clean.

I stored it and pulled out my other pot—I'd deal with that later—then turned to the cooling blob of yellowed candy. I used Infuse on it, and like with the tea, I followed it up with Purify. Not because I thought it was bad, but I wanted to level the skill up, and the lemon tea was currently recovering mana faster than I could spend it.

Which gave me an idea.

"Is it worth running Arcane Foraging while I've got mana regeneration going?" I asked Liane and Milo.

Milo looked up from his books. "It really depends. You can certainly level that way, but it'll probably influence your evolution options. How you use the skill affects what you get. If you use it all the time, you're likely to be offered permanent vision changes—maybe a passive skill or something—but it might end up weaker than a more active option," he explained, before returning to the stack of books surrounding him.

"What he's trying to say is it's probably not worth rushing the levels," Liane added with a wink, then moved over to the candy. She inspected it, snapped off a thin thread, and gave it a try.

"Wow, this is amazing, Trev!" she said, eyes wide.

A moment later, the door opened and Hari walked in, a big smile on his face.

"Everyone got here okay, I see. Why's he buried in books? What happened?" Hari asked with a chuckle.

"Oh, nothing much," Liane said casually. "Just some mana-regenerating lemon tea with an ability that sent him on a mad hunt, an ash elemental, and some hard candy that's producing endurance, mana regeneration, and health regeneration..." She let the last bit trail off with a wide smile, clearly pleased with the reaction.

"We've been apart for like two hours!" Hari said, stunned. "Wait—candy with health and mana regeneration?!"

"Well, before I forget—here. This is yours now." He handed me a small black ring.

"Uh... what is it?" I asked, turning it over in my hand.

"It's a storage device we took from our attackers. I've transferred his stuff to one of the other ones. We'll go through it later, but right now, that one just has all the herbs and vials I bought at the alchemy shop. I also picked up a bunch of wood from several crafters—I offered to buy their scraps and off-cuts, and they basically threw it at me for coppers," Hari explained.

"How do I use it?" I asked, slipping it onto my finger next to the water purifier and minor fire resistance rings.

"Usually, you just think about opening it. I don't know how it'll interact with your pantry ability, but the ring's considerably smaller. It has a limited amount of space, and time inside is drastically slowed—not frozen, but close. It'll be perfect for holding non-cooking supplies. Gold, ingredients, stuff you need for Sable!" Hari said, beaming.

I did what he said, focusing on the ring's storage. It wasn't too difficult, but I had to make sure I was thinking about the ring specifically. I got a sense of what was inside—and Hari wasn't kidding. It was practically full.

Back at the kitchen table, I began pulling everything out, starting with the glass vials. There had to be at least fifty of them. I could store soup in each one and basically treat it like a potion to deliver buffs.

After storing those, I moved on to the herbs. He'd bought four jars of blood tear, two jars of crushed virfolium, and a large amount of fresh virfolium as well. He'd also managed to get mana tears, another jar of virella—which I still hadn't tested—and a mixture of other items.

One was a collection of small green bulbs called verden bulbs. There were several sprigs of sunflask Herb, two nightroots—black roots that looked almost rotten and were cold to the touch—and a stack of sharp-looking dried green leaves called whisperleaf.

I'd have to look all of these up later.

Next were the woods. It was all the same types we'd had before, but instead of logs, they were shavings and chips. Much smaller—perfect for smoking with.

As I was sorting through it all, Jen and Micca walked in. Jen immediately spotted Crisplet and rushed over to inspect his new form. Crisplet was clearly posing, little ash arms lifted while he was puffing out his chest.

Way to play it up.

A second later, Milo suddenly jumped to his feet, startling all of us.

"I got it!" he yelled. "Memory of Magic is another ridiculous ability—like your Sanguine Ascendance! It increases the potency of the last school of magic you cast, and it keeps stacking until it hits a cap based on skill level. That's absolutely ridiculous!" He waved the book in the air for emphasis.

Everyone except Liane just stared at him, bewildered. They clearly had no idea what he was talking about.

"Wait till you see all the buffs on the candy he made too," Liane added with a chuckle.

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