"The Art of Planting and Creating"
While Loli was about to put the finishing touches on the meal, ready to send Bert to look for Grandpa who was probably taking a walk through the village, Ganfall suddenly appeared with a flash at the entrance of the makeshift camp.
"Eh? Grandpa? You disconnected," said Loli, looking at him with genuine confusion, the obsidian knife still in her hand.
"Yes, I stepped out for a moment," Ganfall replied calmly, and Loli immediately noticed a different light in his eyes—something deeper, firmer, a spark of determination she hadn't seen before.
"Well, it doesn't matter," Loli said with a warm smile. "The food is ready. Come, join us."
Ganfall nodded quietly, casting a quick glance at Lua before sitting down with the others on the log they used as a bench.
Loli served the food in wooden bowls that Lua had provided. They were the same ones Lua used for collecting blood, although these particular ones were unused and carefully kept. For utensils, Loli had discovered—with Bert's help—that she could make simple forks, knives, and spoons using just wood, following her cooking skill book. The forks were two small branches tied with a piece of leather; the knife was an obsidian shard fixed between two sticks; and the spoons were patiently and precisely carved branches. Luckily, they still had the sharp knife the Dragon Lion had thrown them, and with it, Loli carved a couple of spoons following the patterns marked by the game—one for each of them.
As everyone sat down to eat, enjoying the warmth and comforting flavor of the food, Loli broke the silence with a question that had been on her mind.
"Wait a minute. Does eating in the game do anything besides giving buffs? In real life, we also have to eat, right?" she asked, pausing her meal out of curiosity. Everyone looked at her, except Lua, who kept eating carefree.
"When we finish playing, I'll go get a nutrition connector," Sig said calmly, not taking her eyes off her plate nor stopping chewing. "Nobody uses them anyway."
"Nutrition connector?" Loli tilted her head.
"It's a machine that used to be for people doing jobs without access to food, like miners, astronauts, or submariners," Bert explained, with that spark of enthusiasm only technology could bring him. "It got a lot of publicity, but nobody really found a good use for it. Although it provided all nutrients, you didn't ingest anything solid, so people ended up gaining weight if they used it and also ate normal food. Then they gave them to those who couldn't afford proper meals; vitamin capsules are cheaper than food. But even they discarded them because they couldn't get used to not chewing. They had vitamins, yes, but their stomachs still felt empty. It's actually a useful device, but you have to get used to it, because it gives you all the vitamins you need, but your stomach stays empty. Must feel strange," Bert concluded with a slight excitement in his voice.
Loli and Sig just listened, their brains slightly disconnecting, wondering why they had opened their mouths. But Bert was like that—a whirlwind of information when something excited him.
"So, Grandpa, did you like the game?" Loli asked, staring at Ganfall as soon as Bert finished his rambling.
"I didn't see much since it's night, but it's fabulous," Ganfall said calmly, looking at his now empty bowl after eating heartily. In his real body, he couldn't eat much without feeling sick. But here, he tasted and savored flavors he could no longer feel. His senses were at their best—and perhaps beyond.
"Actually, Grandpa, we would like to invite you to help us here. The beast cores from—"
"That's fine," the old man interrupted before Loli could finish. When he disconnected earlier, he spent ten minutes in the real world writing on paper the rune Lua showed him. After that time, the rune burned the paper. That meant runes were a way to use magic without a wand or any medium. It was power. It was protection. And if there was one rune, there would be many more: not only fire, but also healing, life... Not for himself, but for his grandchildren. Maybe in the future they'd need them, and he wanted the power to heal or protect them.
"Is that alright?" Loli repeated, confused by her grandfather's quick acceptance.
"Yes, I'll help. You need all the help you can get, right? And you spent an invitation on me. You said they were hard to get," Ganfall said with a gentle smile.
"Yes," Loli replied, still a bit dazed.
"Then I'll help. Just tell me what you need," Ganfall added, his smile growing.
At that moment, a huge smile spread across Loli's face, just like Bert's and Sig's.
"Great, Grandpa! You can help us with whatever you want. For now, I have the recipe for you to become a farmer, but we can look for other things if you don't like it," Loli said, her voice full of excitement.
"Farmer is taking care of those plants you got, right?" Ganfall asked calmly.
Then Lua, who had finished eating, spoke up to repeat aloud what Sia was transmitting to her mentally.
"Farmers have the ability to grow any plant much easier and more effectively," Lua explained calmly, her eyes sweeping over everyone. "The vegetables we brought are contaminated with toxins from the demon beasts inhabiting this area, so they can't be consumed directly without risk. But a farmer, by planting and caring for those vegetables, can purify those toxins from the soil and the plants themselves, making the cook's work much easier."
Lua paused to make sure everyone understood.
"This way, the cook doesn't have to purify each vegetable while cooking, only maybe worry about meat or ingredients that don't come directly from the crops. Also, the farmer can collaborate with the herb gatherer to identify plants useful for potions, poisons, or cures, and even grow mushrooms, magical fruits, and special herbs."
Her voice took on a slightly more enthusiastic tone.
"Even brewers need grains, and the beers they craft give all kinds of experience bonuses. Potions specialize in healing, offensive, or defensive effects, while cooking offers bodily enhancements that benefit the body directly," Lua concluded, giving a complete and detailed explanation.
"Wow! So it's connected to the professions that give the most buffs," Sig commented with interest, her eyes shining with curiosity. "And what about my puppeteer profession?" she asked, intrigued.
"Puppeteer is a rare and specialized skill, so it doesn't have many connections with other professions," Lua replied, repeating what Sia was telling her mentally. "Maybe with the woodcutter, because some puppets use wood in their components. Puppets can be used to explore hard-to-reach places and are generally controlled only by their creators. High-level puppets require many materials from other professions to be made. But, as I said, they are exclusive tools for the puppeteer, although in some cases you can trade them with others of the same profession. That happens with most rare professions."
"That still sounds awesome," Sig said with a smile. "They're like magical drones," she added playfully.
Suddenly, Bert asked, a spark of an idea in his eyes:
"One question, can you attach, for example, talismans to the puppets?"
"There's no limit to what you can do. The only limit is your imagination," Lua answered calmly, watching Bert's expression closely as he was already scheming.
"Sig, what do you need to create the spiders?" Bert asked, excited about the next phase of the project.
"Hmm, let's see… wood, strings, and a puppet core," Sig said while checking the recipe.
"Puppet core?" she asked, confused.
"Look under the profession recipes section," Bert directed her.
"Ah, here it is," Sig said, looking carefully. "The puppet core is made with: 1 Mana Stone Fragment, 1 small metal or wooden frame to hold the fragment, magical conductive thread to transfer energy, and magical resin or glue to fix the components," she read. Further down was the recipe for creating the magical conductive thread, which required a string soaked in beast blood.
"We're missing resin and the wooden frame, but we have everything else," Sig said calmly. "Though it sounds like a headache to assemble all that if the goal is to make it explode," she quickly added, anticipating Bert's ideas.
"Certainly," Bert admitted thoughtfully. "But maybe we could use those spiders to set traps near the demon beast territories or use them as bait," he added, considering tactical options. "For now, let's wait for dawn so we can use the talismans I managed to create," he said, proudly showing a dozen of them.
"Sure. Maybe we can get some sleep and then reconnect. That way we don't waste energy," Sig suggested.
Everyone nodded without hesitation.
"Then, see you at dawn, Miss Lua," Sig and the others said, bidding farewell.
Lua simply waved lightly, watching them disappear. She looked at the spot where they had been sitting, the campfire still smoldering, and smiled faintly.
"It seems this place will soon be filled with noise and life again," she said to herself before standing and walking calmly toward her house. She felt that finally, today, she could rest a little.