Of mice and men
Rowan was soon stalking mice again with his trusty basic hammer. After 10 normal mice, a special one would come.
After the fifth special one, he no longer felt like puking when he cut open its stomach.
His loot so far was a copper ring, lesser ruby, lesser emerald, silver ring, and a lesser onyx.
He didn't have any space in the inventory or he would have continued.
Rowan started walking towards the stairs when he looked at his basic fletching knife and exchanged it with the cooking pot. He figured the little goodwill old Jonas had toward him now would go down the drain if he showed up with a weapon in front of him. A lousy weapon but still a weapon. He didn't want to take any unnecessary risks so he took his basic pot from the inventory and put the knife inside.
As he came upstairs old Jonas was at the counter mumbling something to himself as he was reading a ledger. When he saw Rowan he noticed the pot in his hands and he immediately asked him.
"Are you a cook?"
Rowan looked at him and nodded.
"That's great. I have some recipes here somewhere. Could you cook us something?"
Rowan looked scared as he replied.
"I guess but I don't have any ingredients or cookware."
"No problem. My wife was a cook, a chef actually, and after she died she left me her recipes and her tools of the trade. I doubt you cook as good as she did but if you are willing to I will even supply the ingredients.", by the end of this outburst old Jonas went from enthusiasm to almost crying.
Rowan could tell how much Jonas missed his wife and could only agree.
"Here are the mice.", Rowan said as he pulled the dead critters from his inventory space.
Jonas counted them and then counted the money.
"I didn't realize I had so many of them. 1 silver and 50 copper. , Jonas said with a surprised face.
"Ever since my wife and my apprentice got ambushed by those damn bandits I had no time to clean downstairs.", now it became visibly angry.
"It used to be my apprentice's job, may God watch over their souls.", Jonas went from being surprised, to angry and back to misty-eyed.
He quickly came back to himself and went into a back room and brought back a book.
"Look what you can do with this and return it when you are done.", Jonas said.
Rowan took the book and inspected it.
[Chef Lora Walsh's beginner cookbook]
[Read][Copy]
He clicked copy first since it was an interesting option on a book.
[No suitable material detected]
Rowan had no other choice but to click read next. The book opened up in his hands.
There was no introduction in the book just a list of recipes. A lot of those recipes were greyed out but he found some that had black names.
[Oatmeal with raisins] [Porridge] [Chicken soup]
He selected [Oatmeal with raisins] in his mind and the corresponding page with instructions opened.
2 cups of water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup raisins
1 cup of oatmeal
Bring the water, salt, and spices to a boil in a saucepan. Stir oatmeal and raisins into briskly boiling water. Cook for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. Cover the pan, remove from heat and let stand for a few minutes. Serve with brown sugar and milk if desired.
Temporarily learned [Oatmeal with raisins]
A new hologram appeared with [Oatmeal with raisins] and a timer beside it [23:59:49] which ticked down.
He clicked the other two and it was the same.
He gave the book back to Jonas and told him what he could make.
Jonas frowned a bit but then said with a proud smile: "My Lora was a great chef you know. It's no wonder most of her recipes are above your head and even if you managed to understand them we would still need the ingredients. I can only supply you with the oatmeal and porridge since I don't have any chickens here now. Chose what will it be."
Rowan thought about it and replied: "Oatmeal with raisins."
They were both basically the same oatmeal dishes just he figured the raisins would make it taste sweet instead of eating plain porridge he would much prefer that.
Jonas led him in the back into a kitchen and gave him the ingredients.
"Get cooking then," he smiled as he turned around and walked back into his shop.
Rowan found oatmeal and raisins in his inventory but there were no spices mentioned in the recipe there. There was also no water.
There was an old fashioned kitchen stove and cupboards with all kinds of pots, pans, and kitchen utensils. He also found a spice rack with the spices neatly labeled.
The kitchen stove needed to be lit but since it was a game it was basically an on-off function even though in real life you would have to start a fire with wood and wait till it heats up to use it.
He found a cup and filled it with water from a tap which he then poured into something that said it's a saucepan and added oatmeal and raisins. Rowan strictly followed the recipe and soon the smell of sweetness was coming from the pan.
He was moving the oatmeal into a bowl as Jonas rushed in and picked it up.
"Here's some more oatmeal and raisins. Make yourself a bowl too."
Old Jonas rushed out with the same speed he came in like he was holding the greatest treasure ever and was afraid someone might steal it.
Rowan was flabbergasted and was still holding the saucepan which was now clean and empty.
"I guess there is no need for washing dishes here. "
There was also a notification floating.
Recipe learned [Oatmeal with raisins].
It looked like it was interactive so he targeted [Oatmeal with raisins].
[Oatmeal with raisins]
[Proficiency 1/10]
Reduces hunger by 30 points. Restores health by 10 points per hour for 3 hours.
Rowan made another batch and the proficiency changed to 2/10, but this time he could actually eat what he cooked.
He looked at the result of his work and noticed a difference.
[Oatmeal with raisins]
Reduces hunger by 21 points. Restores health by 7 points per hour for 3 hours.
"I guess the effects mentioned in the recipe list are with maxed out proficiency."
He ate his oatmeal and it tasted ok. There was something missing but probably if he did it 8 more times it would be perfect. Too bad Jonas did not bring any more oatmeal and raisins.
"Arrrgh. What am I thinking? I wanted to be a fighter not some lame cook in a VR game. ", the reality of his situation finally kicked in. Well, at least that was Rowan's biggest concern that he was cook not a fighter at the moment. He totally forgot about not being able to log out part of his problems.