X.x.X.
Jen was still in a state of confusion when Karen arrived, jumping in front of her from a nearby building.
"Ah! Don't scare me like that!" she scolded. "By the way, did you see a pair of native brother and sister while up there?"
The weapon master gave a negative shrug.
I suppose having an easily solvable mystery is too much to hope for.
Wait, she felt a system announcement. Sure enough, something was added to her status window.
Mark of Kindness???
Kindness is never wasted. Blessed is the receiver and twice blessed the giver.
What does this do? It doesn't sound bad but the fact that she got it a trait from a random encounter has certain implications. In Fantasia's logic, only greater beings could probably do that.
"Jen? Is something wrong?"
Jen shared her status window and explained what happened.
"You are such a troublemaker. I wish I could put you in a box sometimes."
"It really wasn't my fault." Really things just sort of happened to Jen. Being accosted by an admirer was something that she dealt in real life, not in a game.
"I think I understand your brother's feeling now." Karen just sighed at her. "Are you still going to the human quarters?
"Yeah. I need some more good news and Aoife is just the ticket." Besides, it already happened and worrying about it wouldn't do anything anyway. At least with Aoife, she'll learn something and get some delicious food in the bargain.
X.x.X.
The human-controlled part of the city is just beside the player quarters. Or perhaps, it is more accurate to say that the players' quarters are within the human region. This is to be expected considering that players are humans in real life and in the game and such superficial similarity breeds trust. It does make one wonder what would have happened if the race change option was widely implemented. Jen remembered there was a quest for that three years into the game's life span but the requirements were a bit onerous that no one has ever completed it.
Her musing was cut short when a passing patrolman hailed them, "Good Morning Lady Jen! Lady Karen!"
"Good Morning Sir Arnold!" Jen answered back. "Have a safe patrol!"
"Do you need an escort to the headquarters, milady?" Another soldier who was busy cleaning his gear stopped and approached two of them.
Jen politely declined. "Thank you, I'm just visiting Aoife for now."
"Please call me if you need anything!"
There were other greeters and wellwishers, polite inquiries and random conversations from the people that spotted them. Jen was happy to entertain them, aware that this might be the last time she might see them. After a while though, the two of them reached Aoife's place, which also doubled as a mess hall and kitchen for the human soldiers. Aoife, himself, is outside the wooden hall dissecting a mighty hellhound with a butcher's knife. Jen immediately noticed a few burn marks on his hands and wondered how he got them; it wasn't there the last time she visited.
Seeing them approach, he gestured to a nearby table full of cooking implements. "Wait a bit, I just need to get this done." With a flourish, he cut the hellhound's shank and laid it in front of them.
"About what you've said yesterday... " Jen began without preamble, behind her Karen sat on the bench a few feets away a silent sentinel as always.
"Ah that... I'm planning to test it further before you arrived."
"Perfect. We can see how it is done!" Jen clapped her hands.
"Well, don't be too hopeful. I've hit some snags here and there…."
"Don't be pessimistic. I'm sure it will work! You've said that you're inspired by how the wind elves sing, right?"
"Yeah. When my father was around he taught me how to sing to the wind and sometimes even toward plants..." At this, Aoife unconsciously touched his slightly pointed ears, the only sign of his elven heritage.
Jen has long heard of Aoife's father. Rumor and tales painted a whirlwind romance between the gallant wind elf and a beautiful noblewoman. Thankfully, the Kingdom of Ceya being a seafaring country that receives traffic from many races, has long been inoculated to such unions and the response of the public was just mild curiosity and bawdy tales in the tavern. It even worked out the best for Aoife's parents as the two of them managed to build a powerful merchant fleet.
It would have been the perfect happy ending except Aoife's parents ran afoul of pirates which they now knew to be backed by warlocks. The warlocks aimed to isolate the continents from each other and thus merchant companies like Aoife's parents were the first to go.
Knowing that this was a somewhat sensitive topic, Jen made a sympathetic expression.
"I don't have much talent in being a merchant or seafarer, and I'm not naturally good at magic like most elves, but I learned a few things from him... "
"Should you be telling me this?" Jen interrupted. "I mean…"
"Heh. I don't think my father would mind. He was always a bit carefree about these things and it is not like I'm talking about tribe secrets. Besides, this is something I've discovered myself. And well, if things get worse it would be nice if a piece of my craft would live on... "
To this, Jen only fell silent. The knowledge that the players were from another world is not really a secret. With the desperate threats that Fantasia has there were a lot of talks of moving into the players' world until it was found out that demon pillars prevented such things. Sometimes, Jen privately wondered if that move was possible though. Fantasia is a game but Jen was increasingly convinced that...
"Anyway, you know mage sight right?"
"Yeah. Perhaps better than you even." Jen teased respecting Aoife's change of subject.
"And you know element sight as well?" Element sight is a significant feature of the elves. It was widely known the elves see elemental mana naturally and they are especially sensitive to their own elemental nature with the wind elves seeing wind mana, forest elves seeing living mana and so on. Only the high elves, their ruling caste, are said to be sensitive to all of it. Of course, various magicians have tried many spells to replicate the effect over the years and their spell creation while not exactly common is not that rare to find either.
"Yes, I know that as well." Jen may not be a battle mage but elemental sight is very useful for enchanting purposes.
"Then you know aural sight?"
"Of course. If you combine elemental sight with mage sight, you can see an object's aura." Jen nodded quite familiar with the topic, it was something she did once she finished with high level enchanting, to check if there was no magical instability.
"And you know that living beings have natural auras of our own."
Jen nodded again.
"Well, when an elf sings to the wind, they are actually using the wind element in their aura to manipulate the natural wind mana in their surroundings. This is done by seeping it on their voice. So I thought what if I could do that with cooking as well? "
"Wait. Is that what gives your cooking the extra kick?" Jen realized. No matter the recipe or the ingredients - Aoife's cooking always has a sort of unique flavor within it, a flavorful light salty aftertaste making one long for an ephemeral something. It was what made his restaurant so popular back then.
"Yeah. That's how I do it. Now open your mage sight and watch this," Aoife pointed at the hellhound shank right in front of them. With Jen's mage sight opened she could see the greens rivulets of magical corruption running through the whole shank.
Then, Aoife minced the shank and mixed white purifying powder on it. Whenever the powder touched the meat, the poisonous green hissed and disappeared. Finally, after thoroughly mixing it with the powder, the green color thoroughly disappeared.
"Currently, this is how we neutralize the poison within the meat and this means that it is quite safe for consumption. But, you know the problem with it right?"
"Yes, eating it for long periods of time make the eater irritable and weaker."
"Now watch it with aural sight."
When Jen switched to aural sight, she could see that the meat still has a sickly greenish glow.
"Even if the poisonous substance is gone, the mana of it has already seeped in the hellhound's body so it has an aural imprint even when it was gone."
"Now, watch when I try to use my technique on it."
With aural sight, Jen could see Aoife's light blue aura flowing to the meat trying to infiltrate the sickly green tinged aura. She could see how the two neutralized each other. Could see how Aoife's hand began to flake as if burned...
Wait.
Burned?!
Before she could even move, Karen is already at the other side of the table pulling Aoife's hand away. After that, Jen reached out for her healing poultices and began to put the prepared ointment into the reckless chef's hand.
"Do you need to demonstrate that?" Karen asked. Jen concurred. Considering the fresh scar burns on Aoife's hands such a thing mush have been tried several times already.
The reckless chef had the gall to laugh, "Look at the meat now, it is lighter than before right?"
Jen did look with her aural sight, the green is a tad lighter...
Hmm... my aura is actually larger than Aoife, I wonder if ...
That train of thought abruptly died when Jen noticed that Karen is looking at her with judging eyes.
Jen just smiled innocently.
Karen didn't appear to be buying it, drat.
X.x.X.
You've acquired a new skill!
Epicurean Dream
Type: Passive Skill
+50% bonus exp on culinary skills
culinary creations acquire ???
The culmination of Jen's cooking skill from the previous timeline. It gives a massive bonus to learning any type of culinary creations. More than that, Jen's last conversation with Aoife have resulted in a birth of culinary style - one that allows Jen to express her unique flair as a chef on the dish.
X.x.X.
QM Note:
The update is done!
Regarding the Epicurean Dream Skill, the ??? will be updated when Jen formally acquires the skill and find what is the difference between Aoife's style of cooking and the normal way. Her aura has its own effect different from Aoife's.
This is the base version of the skill. Mechanically, it is possible to acquire the upgraded epicurean dream that the elf choice gives. Narratively, this is why Aoife is half-elven. Regarding how to get the elven skill, I put some hints about it in the update itself, really.
Now, is time to get a plot coupon that would allow you to slip in the person's retinue after the prologue.
[ ] Aldwyn Loann
The heir of the defunct Kingdom of Loann. The Kingdom of Loann is known for its brave knights and fertile fields supplying most of the food of the alliance. Aldwyn, himself, ascended the throne when his mother died of infected wounds. Though, there are hints of foul play regarding this considering the revelation of warlocks' plot early in the game and the fact that his mother was a famous runic knight and thus could easily recover from it.
Aldwyn, ascension to the throne was marked by severe unrest due to the beast tide provoked by a secret cabal attacking his kingdom which also left it as easy picking for the rejuvenated horde.
Aldwyn currently is a powerful runic knight leading what is left of his people in Yhandiff.
[ ] Christiana Bouryn
Part of the royal family of the mountain kingdom of Bouryn as her uncle is the current king and an apprentice of the leading magister of the magical city-state of Alusa. She was implicated and charged with poisoning her mentor, thus causing a diplomatic rift between Bouryn and Alusa.
At the subsequent investigation, Christiana was never found and have thought to have fled. This later was thought to be false as she was held by warlocks. Later it was found, Nestor, the new archmage in league with the secret cabal and was orchestrating chaos in the surrounding areas. With the resources and power of his new positon, he opened a new demon gate inviting the legion of the Knight Furcas to Fantasia. No one knows how Christiana escaped but she returned as a powerful sorceress who assassinated Nestor for his crimes.
Currently, Christiana is in Yhandiff helping to fight the demons in her solitary way.
