Chương 33: Awakener's League

Checking the fridge, I frowned. There was almost nothing left! In the egg carton, there was only a singular egg; The bacon package had three slices left; A half-empty bottle of pancake batter stood next to the egg carton. And she was out of strawberries! The last time I was here, I brought her a pound of them! How did she run out in just three days?!

"Haah…" I internally sighed. She's hopeless. If delivery didn't exist, just how would she live? Even though I was internally complaining, I didn't dislike it. The answer was clear, I guess I just have to take care of her. Unknowingly, my lips were curled up. I shot a glance towards Mouse, who was grabbing plates and cutlery from the cabinets. She looked as clueless as ever. Shaking my head, I purchased more ingredients from the exchange and stored them properly. This should last us at least half a month… I thought.

For breakfast, I felt like adding something healthy. Usually, I'd make it with my strawberries, but it seems like Mouse ate them all. So, instead, I opted for blueberries. Instead of the chocolate pancakes I often made, I'd use blueberries. Naturally grabbing two pans, I set them on the stove and waited. I maneuvered through the kitchen as if I was in my own home, grabbing the proper seasonings and condiments. I do miss when I could cook like this in my kitchen.

Nowadays, everything's covered in alchemy equipment so I can't make food like I used to. While waiting for the pans to heat up, Mouse approached me. I shot her a glance and spoke,"You sure love strawberries, huh?" I asked teasingly. Mouse flinched, her pupils slightly trembling before she turned away.

"Y-Yes…" She said in a quiet voice, "Sorry…" It looked like she felt guilty for eating all of the strawberries.

"Hehe, I'm glad." I smiled brightly.

"I'll bring even more next time, please eat as much as you want."

"O-oh," She turned to look at me, her eyes slightly wide, "Really?" There was a hint of anticipation and excitement in her voice.

"Yep! Should I bring around 5 pounds of them next time?"

"W-well, maybe not that much…" Her voice trailed off towards the end, "U-unless you want to…" she said as quiet as a whisper. I could tell she really wanted more. I should've probably guessed this last time when she was unconsciously nibbling away at the strawberries when we were watching a movie, but she really likes them.

"I do!" I said with a bright smile, "I'm planning on making more strawberry bushes similar to the one that grows them. I'll probably even have too much strawberries when I'm finished." Mouse nodded excitedly.

"It'll be strawberry heaven!"

"Strawberry heaven…" Mouse repeated, looking as if she was in a daydream.

"Hehe." I giggled, leaving her in that state while starting to cook. Breakfast today was going to be the 'Healthy Bin Special': Eggs, bacon, and blueberry pancakes! …

"So good…" Mouse mumbled as she emptied her plate. Barely any crumbs were left as they were shoveled into her mouth.

"Hehe." I smiled, looking at that. It really does make you feel good when someone enjoys your food so deliciously. After Mouse finished her food, she took a big gulp of water before looking at me. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Thank you again for the food." She said with a smile.

"Anytime!" After I said that, I started to think of what I should cook next time. Should I add more fruits? Maybe a strawberry jam sandwich? That could be good too. Grilled cheese? Hm… While in thought, Mouse grabbed our plates and brought them to the sink. Honestly, I'm surprised she doesn't just use the dishwasher. She seems like someone who would. Maybe she just doesn't know how?

As these slightly rude thoughts lingered in my mind, Mouse finished cleaning the dishes, setting them next to the sink before heading back over to me.

"Done?" I asked.

"Mhm, everything's clean." Mouse replied.

"Mm," I nodded, "What do you want to do now?" I asked. Unlike our usual Saturday meet-ups, we planned on just chilling at her place—similar to our weekday meet-ups.

"Do you want to watch or play something?" Mouse asked.

"Mm…I stayed up late last night so I wouldn't mind just watching something and relaxing." I replied as I stood up. We started walking towards—as Mouse calls it—her prized room. Inside, we headed to her couch-bed, which was in bed-mode. I flopped onto the bed, sinking into the mattress and snuggled into the blankets. This bed really was the comfiest I've ever been on. Smells nice too. Mouse stood next to the bed and stared at me with disapproving eyes,"Comfy yet?" She asked.

"Mm…" I let out some sort of response and burrowed deeper into the mattress.

"Haah…Stop hogging the blanket!" Mouse said sternly as she sat down and pulled the blanket towards her.

"My blankey!!" I cried out, losing half my comfort and rolling towards her. Eventually, I ended up right beside her, staring up at glaring eyes.

"How do you even hog a king-sized blanket?! You barely take up even a fourth of the size!"

"Sniff, sniff…" I mumbled, looking up at her with pleading eyes.

"Stop fake sniffling." She said, tapping my forehead.

"Ow…" I said before sighing and scooting back over to my side of the bed.

"Meanie." I grumbled.

"Oh? Are you saying you don't want to share the blanket with me?" Mouse asked.

"No…It's fine." I said with pouted lips.

"Right." Mouse nodded, covering herself with the blanket before leaving the rest for me.

"Hehe." I smiled, wrapping as much as the blanket as I could around me. I even scooted closer to Mouse so I could use more blanket. It really was crazy just how soft and comfortable the blanket was. It was a B-grade item created by someone named 'MallangMallang'. When I tried to look for blankets on the exchange by this person, they were all sold out. So, Mouse's place is the only place I can experience this heaven.

"Haah…" Mouse shook her head disapprovingly at me before turning on the TV.

"Hm…" She said, "Oh!" It sounded as if she just suddenly remembered something..

"Mm?" I let out a questioning noise, looking up at her.

"Do you watch the league?" She asked.

"The what?"

"The Awakener's League."

"What's that?" I asked, tilting my head. She furrowed her brows before replying,"Do you know almost anything going on outside of your potions?"

"Hehe, nope. Why should I?"

"But what about before the potions? You haven't even heard of it when you were in school?"

"Mm…" I searched my memories for any telling of this 'Awakeners League', "Maybe? I didn't bother much with awakeners when I was in school."

"Wow, did you live in the countryside or something?"

"No? I've lived here my whole life."

"You're quite oblivious then." Mouse teased, "Ignorant too~" I furrowed my brows.

"So, what is this awakener's league, nerd?"

"Sports entertainment. Awakeners fight against each other in a 7v7 format."

"Oh. No wonder I didn't care about it then."

"Have you ever tried watching it?"

"Nope~" I replied, "But, considering you're mentioning it, do you like it?"

"It's entertaining. I don't follow it off-season, but whenever the league starts I like watching it."

"Has the season started then?"

"Mhm," Mouse nodded, "A few days ago."

"Then," I slightly adjusted the pillow to get a better view of the TV, "Let's watch it."

"It's not on now," Mouse said, shaking her head, "The next match starts at seven PM."

"Oh." Checking my phone, that was…

"Eight hours away!?" I said.

"Mhm."

"Why'd you bring it up so early then? And what was with that 'Oh!' before you mentioned it? I thought this was something happening now or soon?"

"Cause I just remembered that the league started. I wanted to know if you watched it and had a favorite team."

"Mm…What's your favorite team?"

"Steel Gators. My Dad loves them so I often watched their matches with him growing up."

"Mm," I nodded, "Then they'll be my favorite too. Can you teach me about the league?"

"Of course." Mouse said with a smile, pulling up some videos on the TV.

"I guess first things first, there's fifty teams in the league. Most if not all league teams are made by famous guilds from across the country. These teams fight for the chance to become the country's representative in the World's Awakeners League—Which is the best of the best fighting against each other."

"Mm…" I nodded, understanding where it was going. Basically, guilds are competing to be the best in PVP.

"You can skip the basics. I get the gist of it. So, which guild won last year?"

"Um…" Mouse paused for a moment, tapping her chin in thought, "If I remember correctly, it was the Golden Bears, a top tier guild from California. Though, they were kind of disappointing in the W. A. L—that's the abbreviation for World's Awakeners League by the way."

"Which country won?"

"France I think?"

"Ah, disappointing."

"Haha."

"Can we watch a match?" I asked.

"Of course, I'll show you a match from last year. It'll be the Gators vs the Red Hearts." She operated the remote, and soon the TV started playing a match, "I'll explain things as we watch."

"Mm." I nodded. The screen showed an overview of the map, it seemed to be in some sort of cave. The spawning point of each team was 20 miles apart from each other with a bunch of paths and areas in between.

"That's a part of the twenty-sixth floor. Most maps are taken and recreated from tower floors. There are some maps recreated from gates too." Oh, a spoiler.

"There's two ways to win. One, wipe out the enemy team. Two, complete the mission objectives. The mission objectives for each match can vary. Sometimes they'll be simple like gaining control of a landmark or slaying the boss. Other times, it'll be complex like solving a puzzle or something like that."

"Sounds simple enough." I nodded. A team of seven appeared on the screen along with a caption titled 'Steel Gators' at the bottom of the screen. They all generally wore the same attire, each of them having a gator on their shirt. The backs of their shirt had their names on them.

"That's the Steel Gators." Mouse explained, "They're a guild from Florida, they're based in Boca."

"That uniform is ugly." I said, looking at the white attire. There was too much white, they looked like religious members rather than an awakener.

"…I dislike it as well." Mouse agreed with a low voice.

"As you can see, each team has seven members," Mouse explained, "They often switch compositions based on the map. Each guild does something different, but generally, there will be five combat classes, one gatherer, and one production class."

"Oh?" I was suddenly intrigued, hearing about the production class. You'd expect it'd just be a brawl, but it seems like it isn't that simple. Seeing my interest, Mouse explained further,"Matches are long, usually an hour per round. There's three rounds per match and they need to win two rounds to win the match. Before the two teams even meet, there's plenty of fighting since there's monsters and treasure for each team to find. The combat classes prioritize eliminating monsters and scouting.

The gatherer will harvest useful materials from them or find materials themselves from around the map to bring to the production class."

"Are the monsters the same from the floor?" I asked.

"Usually." Mouse nodded, "Most of the monsters in this map are the same from the 26th floor, but, there's also boss monsters and unique monsters from other floors or gates to find. These are the real useful monsters, since they carry better materials."

"Mm." I nodded.

"But, it all depends on the production-class they bring. Alchemists, enchanters, blacksmiths, tailors, and so-on, they all have their own use and priorities. For example, if they brought a smith, the team would focus on gathering minerals and ores."

"Mhm…Is it safe to assume each team start with the same equipment and gear?" I asked.

"It depends on the round. In the third round each team can bring their own equipment; For the first and second round, they start with the same set-up."

"Do they play a different map each round?"

"Correct."

"I see, I see…" The video continued.