Chương 72: Chapter Sixty Eight: Ease Into [Control]

Absolutely not.

"Badly.

"Falling into the same rhythm of saying no, I made a clear shot for the door ready to lock in the night cycle.

"We need to save those and I don't see how selling them would help us." What would they even be worth? The door slams shut just before I could escape and I growl in frustration. Penguin smiles mysteriously and beckons me back over.

"Anything the system gives you has value." Of course, it has value, that's not the point. They don't just give you money. Besides opening them is a chore and then you'll have at least forty problems to get rid of. Only certain tasks and quests from the outside world are guaranteed to give you coin. There's also the stuff that you sell in the shop…that gives you…oh. Oh god.

"You want to sell…My rookie bags?" The actual bags themselves? Is that even worth it? Can you even do that? Why didn't I think of that? He nods and tries to explain why it's such a win-win solution.

"Well…using rookie bags increases our clutter anyway. And the contents aren't always something of use to you. It doesn't have to be just the rookie bags." He raises a finger to shush me and I shoot him a look that freeze hell over.

"You can also sell previous rewards. Even the ones from the gatcha system!" He gestures to the cookbook and other items on the counter. But I make direct eye contact with Mel. Eyeball to Eyehole.

"From the gacha system?" He follows my line of sight and signs while crossing his arms.

"Except heroes and pets. Those are bound to your soul." Damn. Well, I tried. I mull it over internally. He is making a lot of sense. I have a whole bunch of useless crap I'll never use in my inventory. Besides, I can always buy them in the real world if I'm that desperate for a gauntlet. Whatever. But I'm not selling my rookie bags. Coldhearted algorithm.

"Okay." I relented decisively.

"I'll sell some of it." Penguin cheers spinning in a circle, and Mel gives me a lopsided smirk. You fell for that. I defended myself telepathically. It's not that deep. Money is money. She huffs but doesn't disagree. Mirroring her frustration I opened the shop. I have about five slots I can use at any given moment to sell anything apparently. A little treasure chest in the corner is lit up with a red exclamation mark. Money from when I sold some eggs and vegetables flies into my inventory once I press accept.

One hundred and four gold. That's pitiful. I really do need to increase my income, especially with the three new burdens. I press the first slot and open my inventory at the same time. The two blue screens sit side by side. Mini items and tiny empty boxes. I'll keep the arrows, but I have more than enough rusty blades, so I'll sell those first. Spam clicking the little box until it fills. I pressed the little preview button and waited. Maybe I get a fifty gold out of each. So maybe eight hundred?

That's a pretty good— The price gauge pulls up before I finish the thought. My eyes almost popped out of my skull. Really? Max ten thousand gold for this?!! I sell them with no remorse and head over to the gauntlets. Once I'm done, all five of the slots are filled with weapons that I'll never use. None of them are filled with as many duplicates as the rusty blades since that's a really common item. But it's so much, that I wait in agony and refresh the page. Come on. Buy it. Someone buy it, please!

I chant out loud while biting my fingernails." Refresh. Refresh. Refresh." Mel and Penguin tower over me so they can watch too. Spamming the refresh button about to go crazy from the anticipation. Ding! The twin blades are sold, and I stare blankly in shock. No way. There's no way that worked that fast. It's a better weapon out of this the lot and I'm not surprised someone picked it. But still. Five thousand gold coins are waiting in the virtual moneybag just begging to be collected.

I shed a tear and shakily pressed collect. It flies towards me and I laugh maniacally. Head thrown back. Dizzy with delight. Money! Money! My one true god! Mel puffs out her chest pridefully." Well done! Now let's buy a cow!" Penguin's already searching in a separate screen for what he deems essentials." No! We have to buy spices and oil. Oh, and more pans!"

"Let's buy them all!" Gold blinded us, and we went on a spending spree. A couple more buyers bought up some of the stock leaving two slots open. Still. We grossed another five thousand gold total from those transactions. So, after we got all of that money, this is what we bought. It's a long list that you can skip.

Four pigs, two cows, another table set, a couch, kitchen tools, toothbrushes, hair brushes, toothpaste, towels, two new beds, two desks, spices, condiments, a jar of honey, a bucket of salt, sugar, plates, cups, bed linen, clothes, seeds, and fish! Mel drunkenly caressed the cow's hide outside, and I carefully cleaned my new spatula. Beautiful. Look at that stainless steel. Costs an arm and a leg, but oh, it's worth it! Gold. God, I love gold.

Aja, Nuwa, and Akeso watched with concern as Penguin obsessed over the culinary treasures and muttered in a corner.

"Honey bread, egg fried rice, it's all feasible. Look at the return rate. If I could just…" A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"..."

"..."

"..." After the adrenaline wore off, I remembered to place the new furniture in the house. Turns out Nuwa likes the pond more than she thought, and decided to stay there anyway, so the extra bed was left for grabs. Once everyone was settled in their new rooms, dinner became the topic of conversation. Mel slammed her hand on the table." I want pizza!" Penguin offered his two cents." We should try the recipes from the book out." Akeso made her food restrictions known." I'm a vegetarian."

Nuwa shrugged and flicked her tail a little." I eat anything."

"I can't eat unless it's something placed in front of my shrine." Aja floated over a chair while playing with a flower on her wrist.

"..." Five pairs of eyes landed on me and waited for me to make a decision. Although I do have some interest in testing out the recipes in that book. We do have limited materials on hand, and I don't feel like learning a magical recipe right now. I already have pizza dough ready from last time, tomato sauce in a jar, and cheese. However, that most likely won't fill everyone up. Penguin mentioned something earlier. What was it? Egg fried rice. It's not vegan. Yet it's one of the more doable recipes. What else? Well…

I could make sautéed mushrooms, rice, vegetables, and potato puffs. That's doable. Alright, that settles it.

"Everyone but Mel just stay out of the kitchen. I've got it." I open the cabinets and my inventory at the same time. Mel skips over to me and notices what I'm taking out.

"Eh? You're making pizza?" She smiles victoriously and starts reaching for some olive oil.

"Praise be." Penguin groans at the table, and I smile.

"Not just pizza. We need some mushrooms from the garden and potatoes. Can you?" She nods and leaves the house to go find them in a strangely good mood after getting what she wanted. Penguin's eyes light up, and he flips open the book, ready to shove it into my hands. The pizza will take the longest. Everything else will cook fast. Let's preheat the oven. I pull the dough out of its jar and spill some flour on the counter. Once it's spread out, I slap the dough on the surface and yank it over and over.

"May I help?" Aja floats over to my side to offer her assistance.

"This dish…I have not studied it yet, but I am certain I can increase its nutritional value with herbs."

"Herbs?" I questioned.

"Yes. That jar is tomato sauce I believe. I recommend oregano, parsley, thyme, and garlic!" She says it so proudly. Eyes glimmering with a chance to prove herself. I don't have the heart to tell her I was planning to do that anyway. I hum and nod. Yeah, I can do that. Lucky for her, I just got an herbal kit thing. I open my inventory and drag it out of its box. Opening the lid so she can see the contents and she helps me pick out the right herbs.

I add a little of it to the sauce then start lathering it over the dough. Adding a little garlic in between and covering it with shredded assorted cheese. Once I'm done with the important bits, I stuff the crust with cheese, oil, and garlic. Done. Just needs to be put in the oven. Placing it on a large metal plate to be put inside the oven. My precious. Aja watches with a concerned look as I set the oven on high with a terrifying smile. That leaves maybe twenty minutes to do everything else.

Egg fried rice, puffs, some fries, and the sautéed veggies. Once I was done, I was sweating like a dog and gasping for air. Mel helped me set everything on the table while grabbing bites for herself. She burned her tongue on the pizza crust, though. Serves her right. Everyone crowded around the table, and I jumped up. Right. After Aja was done giving me her advice, I asked Penguin about shrines. He said it's really a personal choice and there's no right way to go about it. Shocking coming from him but…

I still did it the best way I could imagine. It does make me feel like I'm preparing for a funeral, though. I imagined a small metal bird waiting in the distance and felt a twinge of remorse. I never should have opened that ball. On a small end table next to the kitchen and under a window, I set up a bunch of candles, herbs, and grass from outside.

"Dear Aja, this is your shrine. Enjoy. If you have any requests or anything, you can just tell me. Here's dinner." I offered a plate full of fresh food to her shrine and ended my prayer.

"Amen."

"…" I turned around to an entire room of statues. I blinked.

"What?" Melinoë gasped and sputtered with an ugly cry spilling out of her mouth.

"You…you. You gave her a shrine! What about me???!!" She wailed, and I grimaced. Goddamn.

"You don't need a shrine. You have a physical body. Now shut up or I'm eating your share." My ears are burning really badly and you just made it so much worse. Scratching at the raised cartilage, I tried to avoid just sticking cotton in them. Boo wandered in and sat underneath the table. Crying while staring at the table filled with food. I can make a quick steak for him. Mel gulped down tears and sobbed as she ate her slice. Sending me aggrieved looks every so often.

Penguin taste tested his special light kingdom style cuisine with the solemnity of a food critic, and Nuwa ate her pizza with a fork and knife. Akeso sampled the fries and found them quite tasty despite their simplicity. She sighs mournfully to herself, and I tense.

"If only we had some wine." Phew! Don't scare me like that. Aja quietly takes a ghostly copy of the food offered to her from her shrine. I wait with bated breath from the stove as she takes a bite of her pizza. Ghostly cheese melts off the sides and drips oil. Her eyebrows raise, and she chews thoughtfully. I shift from foot to foot as she takes her time. Every second stretches. She finally looks up at me after she's halfway done.

"You have my praise. This is truly…a meal fit for the gods." [Hidden Quest: A Meal Fit For The Gods] [Build a shrine and offer a meal to a God of your choice. Receive their blessing and a class from them upon receiving a satisfactory review.] [Completed]"A class, huh?" Aja holds her plate in one hand and thinks it over.

"Is there any class you're interested in?" Well, now that I think of it. The system hasn't exactly been subtle. I already have the necessary materials anyway.

"Witchcraft?" She nods.

"Any type?" Type? There's a type?

"What types of classes or witch classes are there?" Aren't they all just witch.

"Types? If you can imagine it, it's probably already been created, but there is no limit to the types themselves." She takes a bite and I manipulate the flame.

"Generally, we categorize the types of classes by the general characteristics that naturally occur in the people who use them." Counting down the never ending list on one hand.

"Such as shamans, protection, elemental witches, arcanists, harbinger, shadow, resonance, empaths, weavers, creation, destruction, runesymiths, and so many more." She dips her crust in the oil and sauce that had collected on her plate.

"A class is not a magic in itself. It's a…job. For lack of a better word."

"An Elemental Class can be tread by any witch with a connection to an element."

"However, Arcanic witches are usually those who have strong imaginations and equal parts destructive and creative power. So that they can see both sides of the coin. The parts that everyone understands." She uses a potato puff to demonstrate. The slightly burnt side faces up, and the other side hides in her palm. She turns it until it's standing upright and both sides are clear to see.

"Then they look at the unclear line in between. That's where their magic is. The unexpected. The grey area. The deep between the two shallows. That's where they work." She pops the potato puff in her mouth, and it crunches noisily. Once she's done chewing, she continues.

"Which can be practiced by any magic-using witch as well. However, it's easier for let's say a fire, a psychic, or a shadow magic using witch to tread this path." She turns to look at the kitchen and then at me before smiling to herself.

"There are even house or hearth witches." Wow. I take everything I said back. Leaning against the contours genuinely interested in what she has to say I hung on her every word. Perhaps noting my confusion and sudden engagement, she starts listing as many classes as she can.

"Well, off the top of my head, there's green, kitchen, potions, hearth, healing, mind, protections, light, dark, horticulturist, storm, psychic, pyro, summoner, shadow, ice, elemental, blood…" My squeamish look dissuades her from explaining any further.

"Necromancy." Ew.

"Magic users who choose these paths. They can have specialized paths as well, though it's not like your class dominates all of your life. It can only be changed again through great sacrifice, however, the price is usually very high. I recommend choosing a class you won't regret one day. Perhaps something you already have experience with?" That's a lot. I'm glad she's being so candid, it's refreshing compared to these tight lips over here. I shoot a disdainful glance at them when a sudden thought occurs to me.

I can't believe I almost forgot it. What kind of grimoire is this? I pull it out of the inventory and check its contents. Codex Of Blood, Bone, and Mind. Of course.

"…" Taking a deep calming breath I tried not to touch it too much. Sounds ominous. I'm already proficient in mind control anyway. Maybe she can teach me to control this or lock it up somewhere I can't see. What about that?

"Control. If that's a class, that's what I would choose, I guess." Sounds pretty generic but it's broad enough that it could extend to other subjects. She lowers her lashes and nods to herself without any expression. Then her hand flashes with a green light. [Class received] [Control Witch] [Blessing Received] [The following skills will have a permanent skill level and experience point boost.] [Skill: Telekinesis] [+1] [Skill: Psychic Perception] [+1] [Skill: Psychic Barrier] [+1] [Skill: Pet Space] [+1] [Skill: Culinary Novice] [+1] [Skill: Novice Gardener] [+1]"That's awesome!" I leaped up. Seems I made the right choice after all. She's like an upgrade NPC. She laughed with me and continued eating from her own plate. Finally, I sat down with the others and had a feast of my own cooking. Oh my god. Why is it so much better today? She wasn't kidding about the herbs.

The flavor profile is completely elevated. We laughed and talked about nothing over the dinner table. Which was my mistake. I thought that with my recent success with Aja, I could glean some more answers from the others. I was wrong. What I didn't understand was to fish, you first have to dip your own feet in the water. Depending on what you're trying to capture. The bait might be heavier than expected. So heavy that it can drag you down until you're eye level with the stupid piranhas you were trying to capture.

I got dragged hard.

"So…Who wants to play truth or dare?"