Hearty Meal

As the door swung open, Eidiri was immediately hit by the strong aroma wafting through the air.

If Eidiri had to guess, he would say that it was some sort of stew.

Hearing the door push open, this time, rather than Miss Gloria peeking her head out from the kitchens, it was his buddy, Ken.

"Yo, I saw that big hunk of monster over there," Ken said as he tossed a thumb over his shoulder towards the kitchens.

"That had to be some sick fight. Next time, call us, me and Edgar want to try fighting something like that," Ken said.

"Edgar and I," Eidiri corrected. "And sure, I'll send a message if the situation allows for it."

"Ah screw off with the grammar man," Ken exasperatedly said.

"Anyways, Miss Gloria''s putting the final touch on your dish right now, so don't disturb her just yet. Just take a seat or something. Maybe update your blog. Screw it. I've got work to do," Ken said, heading back to the kitchen.

'That's actually a pretty good idea,' Eidiri thought. 'Haven't updated in a bit in terms of content, should probably get round to doing that already.'

Eidiri opened his blog, moving to update with another post telling them how the corpses of particular monsters were quite rare.

Not to mention, the horrifying monsters.

Before he clicked the 'create a new post' button though, he scanned through the comments.

That was a mistake if he had ever made one.

The comments were in a frenzy, asking him for information, negotiations, deals, price offers to buy out his contract (apparently his signing to Protinus had already made its 'rounds), people begging him to carry them, free handouts, party invitations that were disguised as carrying requests, etc.

After looking a look at the first page of the comments, Eidiri immediately backpedaled, ignoring everything that he had just seen in favor of creating a new post.

'Maybe it's high time to get some moderators or something,' Eidiri considered. 'Eh, whatever. I'll figure it out later.'

Then, he began his post.

"Hello guys. It's Eidiri here again with another informational post this time."

"While as a community, it has been figured out that we have to manually harvest monster corpses to obtain loot, we don't know too much about the subject as a whole."

"Until today that is. I've just recently learned that particular monster corpses are true treasures, allowing us to become stronger from consuming their flesh."

"Of course, if one wishes to become stronger through such a method, they would have to meet certain requirements."

"I reckon also, that with certain monsters, we'll be able to harvest materials that could be used for weapon/gear forging to boost ourselves even further (as stereotypical of most games)."

Eidiri then proceeded to give a casual retelling of his encounter and fight with the Murder Crow, paying extra attention to how the Murder Crow preyed on innocents.

The Murder Crow was a wake-up call in regards to sinister forces.

Sure the kobolds and rats and spiders were all threats, but the Murder Crow symbolized a much greater threat, especially in regards to its connection to the Death Realm.

After detailing his experience, Eidiri sighed, stretching his body that was sedentary in the chair for so long, before hitting 'post'.

His stomach was rumbling by now, the succulent smell of the stewing meat promising profound deliciousness.

His salivatory glands were going into overtime, Eidiri having to swallow every now in then so as to not drool everywhere.

He had been eagerly anticipating this dish for a while, avoiding eating anything else in preparation for this.

And just like that, Miss Gloria came out of the kitchen rolling a big cart in front of her.

It was almost disappointing as a matter of fact, there was no dramatic fanfare, no pompous celebration, nothing.

Eidiri had been expecting so much more than this, but regardless it didn't really matter.

The lid of the food was taken off, and the stew was unveiled.

In the middle of the plate swam pieces of the Murder Crow in a rich, dark broth.

The smell was positively alluring, and without ceremony, Eidiri dug into it.

First, he took a sip of the broth first, then a bite of the Crow.

His face froze, perplexed at the myriad of flavors that danced around in his mouth, taste buds signing the most lavish of praises.

As he kept eating, this feeling of contentment swept through him, a nice warmth settling in his stomach.

He kept spooning more and more of the food into his gullet, seemingly not ending in his consumption.

However, all good things must come to an end, and Miss Gloria most certainly saw this coming.

The amount of meat on the Murder Crow was simply too large for 1 person to consume within the span of a meal.

So Miss Gloria had packaged it away, leaving it in the Chiller for preservation.

As long as Eidiri kept allowing her to use his ingredients, she would have no problem cooking the food for him.

After finishing his meal, there was a dull pain in Eidiri's stomach, protesting from the stretching it was enduring.

Bloated, yes, but Eidiri had no regrets as to his actions.

"Do you feel the effects of it dearie?" Miss Gloria asked.

"What am I supposed to be feeling?" Eidiri replied, evidently lost.

"You sword-swinging brutes, no wonder you asked if the attribute of the food could be changed. You can't sense your magic can you?" Miss Gloria sighed, cradling her head.

"I'm afraid not ma'am," Eidiri replied.

"Do I seriously have to teach you everything? Who let you out without this sort of basic knowledge! I'm a cook and even I know the fundamentals of magic. Pay more attention to your lessons," Miss Gloria said, admonishing Eidiri for what she viewed to be Eidiri's lack of attention in school.

"In order to sense your magic, your first will need to have a magic core in the first place..."