Gamer Food

I picked myself up after catching my breath and then walked back into the cave.

I felt utterly exhausted, and I needed to lay back down. It was like I had just been running non-stop for half the day, and my feet felt like they were made out of bricks.

[In time, as your level increases, you will have much more, but you will need to eat something. There is some dried food in the cabinet that we created.]

I nodded to myself as I quietly opened the door back up, slipped back inside the cave, and closed it. Ahna was still sleeping, and she looked at peace, so I didn't want to wake her if I could help it.

[As you can see with the rock, you couldn't change anything because of your limitations. On the other hand, it would be different if you were holding that same rock when you take someone's Magic/Data from them. You would find that there would be many more options. Not as many as a tree, but it is all relative to the amount of Data you are controlling at the time.]

I was slowly starting to understand what C6 was saying, but it was hard to focus. I had just slept, but now I felt even more tired than I had the night before, and the mention of food had my stomach growling.

I went over to the single cabinet and opened it up. The things in there were not anything I had ever seen before.

I was confused by the strange markings all over the containers. Some things looked like some kind of tube-like meat, but I had never seen any of this stuff before.

[These are noodles and packs of dried meat. Sorry, it was just what I… what I assumed a human would eat from the world outside of this one. There is a pot and a large jug of water, but just eat some of the meat for now. Later, we will make food with your System, but that isn't important right now.]

I nodded to myself again and tore open a strange transparent package that had the meat sticks. The smell was not what I would call appetizing, but my mind did a complete turn around at the first bite.

"This is what they feed rich people!" I said out loud in my excitement, and then I heard Anha groan, and I froze.

[I guess so, but this is nothing to the things that you will learn to make yourself.]

Maybe, but I had once tried dried meat, and it was tough and extremely salty. This was rich in flavor, and after I finished the two dark red rods, I turned back to the cabinet to grab more, but C6 stopped me.

[Don't overeat them, especially on an empty stomach. There are buns in there. Eat one of them instead, and wash it down with water.]

I looked at a pile of buns, but there was a clear forcefield around them that was pinched like a hide water sink by some strange dangerous-looking flat white thing. The meat sticks had a similar barrier, and I had been able to tear it open with no trouble, so I would have to assume the same for this.

[What! Don't tear the bag! Or the buns will go stale!]

Huh? Stale? What does that mean?

[I am sure that you have seen people put bread and other things like that away so they last longer, right?]

I think so, they have sealed boxes, but I have only seen one before.

[Well, instead of ripping the bag open, take the clip off it and open it from the end where it is already open.]

I looked at the… bag, but there was no hole in it.

[No! The white weapon-looking thing! Take that off the forcefield, and then open it!]

Calm down, I don't know all these fancy words you are using, and I am used to having bread that is left out. What does it matter?

[And will you be the only person that will be eating this? What about the Princess?]

I hadn't thought about that, but I had never had to worry about other people before, and I wasn't used to that. I guess that I would have to be more mindful of things like that.

I did as C6 suggested, and the bag was opened without tearing its transparent barrier.

I had to admit that this was quite the invention because I have never tasted bread so fresh! If the bread was warm, I would have had a hard time telling it from freshly baked bread!

The last time I had fresh bread was long before my parents had kicked me out, but we had always been poor.

Getting kicked out of the house and having my family turn their backs on me never bothered me. It was the fact that everyone treated me like that, not just the people that I had cared about.

[I will teach you what I can over the next year, and you will be the one that other people look up to!]

I ignored C6 and crept to the bed that Ahna was sleeping in, and was partially tempted to just sleep on the floor. I didn't want to wake her up, and I am unsure why a second bed wasn't made with the two of us rather than this larger one.

[She won't bite you!]

She is Cast, I am Castless.

[Do you really still see yourself this way? Even after everything that you have done so far?]

Yes. Nothing has really changed. If I go back out there, I will still be Castless; the only difference is that I can steal the Magic from others. Am I really that much different?

[You are, and this will not be an easy thing to break, but I teach you to learn your worth. For now, get some rest. On the bed, or you will wake up sore and will have wasted the rest.]

I shook my head and then slowly laid down on the soft bed. I kept to the edge, but within moments, I was fast asleep.