The System chimed, small and insistent, while Marron was still rubbing sleep from her eyes.
DING!
A translucent window bloomed in her vision.
[Marron Louvel — Status Update]
Class: Combat Chef
Level: 12 XP: 850
Gold: 1,185
Inventory Highlights:
Phantasm Moss (fresh)
Storage box
Bone Shard
Dusty Dwarven Journal
Hot plate
She stared at the numbers, then blinked them away. No flashy level-up this morning. No new titles. Just the moss sitting on the counter like a patient promise.
She rolled out the simple morning routine anyway. Egg cracked into a pan, yolk pooled and held, bread warmed until the crumbs sighed. It was small, a human thing: sugar on the tongue, heat in the belly, the steady cadence of hands working.
Her mother's careful instructions haunted her sometimes—lessons learned over a wooden table back home, back when the diner mattered enough to perfect every detail. When Marron had still been there to notice the difference between good and perfect.
