Chapter 13: Master Chef

Chapter 13: Master Chef

Ren Yu opened the package and tapped the clamshell, and as expected, the word [Open] appeared beside it.

She pressed Open, and a large pearl flew out.

"A beautiful pearl, give it to the fisherman, and you will receive an unexpected reward."

Ren Yu approached the old man with a smile, handed over the pearl smoothly, and it disappeared.

The old man didn’t even display any text; he simply lifted his straw hat like a cloak and tossed it into Ren Yu’s package.

That’s what I call a good haul!

"Thank you!"

Though he was an NPC, Ren Yu still politely thanked him before grinning and opening her package to check.

It was a pendant accessory, purple gear, more beautiful than the one the old man had worn on his head!

With ‘Legacy’ already in her possession, this being the second piece of purple gear, Ren Yu remained quite calm.

"Straw Hat (Rare), Back Accessory, +50 Health, 40% chance to convert 20-40% of the attacker's mana into your own health when hit by a spell."

The attributes were limited, but what more could she ask for with such good luck?

Ren Yu was starting to wonder about the game—was it designed to be played or not? If she hadn’t taken the initiative, who would have thought that a background NPC would give such a good item?

She attached the straw hat to her back and continued fishing.

After reaching the intermediate level, her success rate skyrocketed, and the chances of catching junk significantly decreased.

However, she didn’t catch any more pearls, suggesting that the reward could only be obtained once.

She wondered if all players who learned the fishing skill could trigger this event.

There was also the construction site; she planned to visit it again tomorrow to see if she could find another skill book.

She had set her sights on this bamboo raft, determined to stick with it, but the game wouldn’t allow it.

After less than half an hour of fishing, a message popped up: "All the fish in this area have been caught. Young hero, why not try a different spot? You might enjoy the different scenery."

Ren Yu: ...

Was she being driven away?

Well, having reaped the benefits here, it was time to move on. How could she have new adventures without changing locations?

She reeled in her fishing rod and jumped into the water, swimming toward the shore.

Her swimming skills improved, making her movements smoother and faster.

The stamina bar in front of her increased to 10 minutes.

She estimated that after 10 minutes, she might start losing health or suffer other negative effects, which could lead to her character’s death if severe enough.

Ren Yu guessed as much but didn’t plan to test it out herself.

After reaching the shore, she first gathered all the nearby shrubs, then found a place to sit cross-legged and recover her fatigue.

Today, her fatigue fluctuated significantly, reflecting her hardworking bee persona.

Tap tap tap...

A player appeared within her field of vision, spotting the gatherable shrubs and crouching to dig.

After a moment, they ran over to this area, and the two of them exchanged a glance from a distance before the other player changed direction and left.

Not everyone was combative; many players preferred peaceful coexistence.

Her fatigue was almost fully recovered, so Ren Yu walked to the stream.

The waters near the bamboo raft had been cleared, but there should still be fish by the shore.

Sure enough, a horsehead carp took the bait, earning her 2 points each in character and skill experience.

She continued, determined to stay until nightfall.

This time, Ren Yu was smarter; she fished for half an hour, then moved to a new spot to avoid being driven away by the game.

While changing locations, Ren Yu noticed other players fishing along the stream.

Fortunately, they were far enough apart that they didn’t interfere with each other.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, Ren Yu officially put away her fishing rod.

Any more, and she’d be sick of it.

In the last two hours, she had managed to outlast three other fishing players.

Fortunately, her harvest was decent.

She wasn’t fishing non-stop for those two hours; she had to take breaks to sit and recover her fatigue.

In total, she caught 132 horsehead carps and 26 crucian carps, earning 316 points each in character and skill experience.

There were occasional failures and catches of junk, but it was much better than when she was a beginner.

Done for the day, she headed home to continue her work as a chef.

Tap, tap, tap...

On her way back through the square, Ren Yu ran over and then turned back to confirm.

A new sausage stand had appeared on the north side of the square, with a new NPC standing there expressionlessly. When players approached, subtitles appeared above his head: "Sigh, business is tough!"

The sausages were props and could not be purchased; they were merely used to enrich and fill out the game environment.

But!!!

As Ren Yu approached, she examined the NPC closely. How could he look so much like Gao Hai, the player she had killed?

"Sigh, business is tough!"

Ren Yu: "Gao Hai?"

"Sigh, business is tough!"

"Did you turn into an NPC after dying?"

"Sigh, business is tough!"

Ren Yu circled the stall, feeling around for anything that might trigger an interaction, but found nothing.

"Gao Hai, how did you die?" Ren Yu changed her question.

"Sigh, business is tough!"

"Do you remember who killed you?"

"Sigh, business is tough!"

Ren Yu scratched her head.

No response!

"How much do the sausages cost?"

"Sigh, business is tough!"

"How much for one sausage?"

"I'll buy a sausage!"

"Give me a sausage!"

"Are these sausages tasty?"

She tried several different phrases, but the text above his head didn’t change, not even a punctuation mark. Ren Yu gave up and turned to leave.

The trading market opened at eight, and she needed to hurry to prepare items for tonight’s stall.

Her cooking skill was 80 experience points away from advancing to Advanced. She decided to level it up first.

With nine blueberries, she made three batches of blueberry juice, doubling her output. The blueberries in her inventory disappeared, and six cups of blueberry juice appeared. Her character and skill experience each increased by 15 points.

Next, she prepared to cook roasted wild boar meat.

Today’s harvest of wild boar meat was limited to 13 portions. As she cooked, a notification popped up in the void.

"Through your efforts, your 'Intermediate Chef' has advanced to 'Advanced Chef.' Your culinary skills have become more refined, and becoming the next master chef is just around the corner!"

"You are the first player to achieve the 'Advanced Chef' title. As a reward, you receive 200 character experience, 200 skill experience, 200 copper coins, one recipe for braised pork, one recipe for Lanzhou noodles, one recipe for fried rice, and one steamer (a fine item that increases the quality rate by 15%)."

"Your storage is full; you cannot receive the rewards. Please pick them up as soon as possible."

The items, experience, and copper coins had their designated places, but the main issue was the recipes.

The recipes for Lanzhou noodles and fried rice fell to the ground.

Ren Yu's heart skipped a beat. After finishing the current batch, she hurriedly checked her inventory.

She learned the braised pork recipe, which disappeared, freeing up a slot.

She then picked up and learned the two recipes on the ground, solving the problem.

"I do have quite a bit of material."

Fortunately, she had an extra chest, or it would have been even more insufficient.

Ren Yu continued to roast the remaining wild boar meat, doubling her output to 26 portions, earning 130 character and skill experience points each.

She opened the chest and took out the ordinary-quality roasted wild boar meat, blueberry juice, and berry tea, which automatically stacked in her inventory without taking up additional space.

She then placed items she wouldn't need immediately, such as scorpion stingers, spider silk, raccoon fur, wild boar tusks, and pigskin, into the chest.

This freed up a few slots.

"I wonder if my inventory can be expanded!"

Storage space was a significant issue.

Next, she prepared to cook grilled fish.

Ren Yu glanced at her experience bar. Since reaching level 6, she had accumulated over a thousand experience points. With 1500 needed to reach level 7, she should hit level 7 before setting up her stall.

Today, she had worked incredibly hard, fishing until she felt sick. Even the game had intervened to drive her away, as she had been taking too much!

Well, no boasting. Clearly, her life skills were powerful, making her feel like the game's favorite daughter, right?

Fortunately, she had scooped up four daughters in one go yesterday; who else would level up as quickly as her?

To make the most of this wise decision, Ren Yu pushed herself to grind relentlessly, only taking a break when her fatigue meter hit zero.

Time to cook some fish!

"Grilled Crucian Carp (Common): Consuming it increases spell attack by 8 points, restores 1 point of mana and 1 point of health per minute for 20 minutes."

"Grilled Carp (Common): Consuming it increases physical attack by 8 points, restores 1 point of health and 1 point of fatigue per minute for 20 minutes."

Not bad at all, the chef was pleased and decided to try both recipes.

There were also Mabu Fish, but calculating the time, she wouldn't be able to finish them before eight o'clock.

She had 80 Carps, 57 Crucian Carps, and the most Mabu Fish, totaling 142.

This was the result of her constant movement between locations; otherwise, she wouldn't have gathered so many Mabu Fish.

Just finishing the Crucian Carps and Carps would take over four hours, which was simply too long.

She still needed 425 experience points to reach level 7.

After more than an hour, using up 43 Carps, she received double rewards of 86 Grilled Carps, gaining 430 character and skill experience points each, successfully reaching level 7 with her fatigue instantly restored.

This time, she allocated all 4 attribute points to Strength.

Agility at 21 points was sufficient for now.

After allocating the attribute points, Ren Yu checked her grilled fish rewards.

86 portions of grilled fish, 74 of common quality, and 12 of excellent quality.

"Grilled Carp (Excellent): Consuming it increases physical attack by 15 points, restores 2 points of health and 2 points of fatigue per minute for 45 minutes."

The excellent ones were for personal use!

Though they could fetch a high price, life was priceless, and good things should be kept for oneself.

With over two hours until eight o'clock, Ren Yu grilled all 57 Crucian Carps, obtaining 98 portions of common quality, 14 of excellent quality, and 2 of ordinary quality.

"Grilled Crucian Carp (Excellent): Consuming it increases spell attack by 15 points, restores 2 points of mana and 2 points of health per minute for 45 minutes."

She then spent a bit of time processing three portions of wheat, without any luck or ordinary quality results, but gained 12 common quality steamed buns as double rewards.

Afterward, she sat on the bed to recover her meager fatigue.

Fish could actually be braised as well, but that required buying a recipe first.

Her savings from yesterday plus today's earnings, along with the reward from being a senior chef, brought her assets back to over three hundred. She could afford the recipe, but since grilled fish was still in demand as a recovery item, there was no need to rush into spending money on a new recipe.

Moreover, she was concerned that braised fish might have the same attributes as grilled fish, making the purchase a pure waste. Although she would inevitably make such mistakes in the future, that would be when she had more money to burn.

With nothing else to do, Ren Yu decided to eat a portion of Grilled Crucian Carp to satisfy her craving.

While other dishes hadn't produced any ordinary quality items, the Grilled Crucian Carp surprisingly yielded two. She tasted one to satisfy her craving and planned to sell the other to food lovers.

Many players must be feeling as bland as she did.

Of course, she also obtained 14 portions of excellent quality Grilled Crucian Carp, which increased spell attack, something she didn't need. She planned to sell these to wealthy players.

Ding dong!

Was it just her imagination, or did she hear a knock on the door?

A prompt appeared in the game.

"Player Starry Sky is visiting! [Invite him in]/[Ask him to wait]/[Drive him away]/[Drive him away and blacklist]"

Could she really drive someone away? This option was intriguing.

However, neighbors were rare, and their cooperation had been good, so she wouldn't drive him away.

Ren Yu: "Ask him to wait!"

And she got up to head outside.