"It should start getting difficult. Let's all heal up a bit." Ye Cang indifferently smiled.
NalanMoon was somewhat doubtful. Heal up? Did they have some items?
GreenDew began to back away. ThornyRose and FrozenBlood inhaled sharply, then pretended to be calm. SpyingBlade's calm face also showed a bit of agony. NalanMoon was stunned; that was the guy that could steal from the Falling Star Pavilion's boss and then calmly walk into town to sell it, yet he looked agonized!? What exactly happened!?
Zhang ZhengXiong and Lin Le looked bitter.
"Monstrous bird?" FrozenCloud leaned over and whispered in a quiet voice.
"Nope. Today we'll try eating rats. Don't worry, it should be delicious." Ye Cang said, determined.
FrozenCloud looked at the large rats on the ground and scowled. Eat that thing?
"Let's loot the bodies first." ThornyRose sighed and reminded them.
"I want to loot one!" Ye Cang shouted.
"Just pick one yourself to ruin." ThornyRose sighed again, feeling helpless. Letting him ruin one wouldn't do any harm.
Ye Cang looked at the 5 bodies and arrived at the one that he had pinned down. He reached out, felt around, and froze. "This monster's drop rate is so low…"
"Brother Lil'White, I found a Excellent quality helmet and a skillbook!!" Lin Le pulled out two items from one rat and interrupted Ye Cang's grumbling.
"Lele, you're always getting lucky and looting the bodies that have things. Hah~ Can I loot another one?" Ye Cang felt like he didn't manage to win a prize at the lottery and saw someone who did. He longed to try again. He looked expectantly at everyone.
"Get lost!" ThornyRose said grumpily.
NalanMoon also looted one and conveniently got an Excellent quality item. The four in total gave them 5 Excellent quality equipment and a skillbook. A +3 constitution iron and leather helmet which was taken by Zhang ZhengXiong. Ye Tian got an intelligence and wisdom one. The other 3, as well as the double strike skillbook were split amongst ThornyRose and NalanMoon. Then everyone got a bit of money.
Ye Cang took out his sword and began dismantling the bodies. Then took out his iron pot, and began boiling water.
Zhang ZhengXiong started the fire with a bitter face.
Ye Cang immediately added in three kinds of fish as well as werewolf meat and fishman meat. Then he threw in a pile of cave rat meat. He also added in some seasoning, some wild herbs, and some mushrooms. Finally he added in his secret ingredient, red and green slime gel. He smiled and looked at the others. "This is my secret cooking method, it needs to be slowly stewed over a small fire. It'll definitely be delicious."
NalanMoon was startled. Cooking and gathering? No wonder they leveled so fast, they saved so much healing time. It didn't seem like normal cooking either. While Ye Cang was cooking, Zhang ZhengXiong took out his miner's pick and started to mine at the surrounding walls. He got quite a few iron ores, copper ores, black-iron ores, as well as a few stones containing minerals.
NalanMoon looked over and watched Zhang ZhengXiong mine. They also had a miner!? This little team had everything. His class should be a defensive paladin. Earlier, she saw him cast a healing spell. She then became certain that those especially useful auras were also his. It gave a whole 8 physique. It even had defence and spell focus. At this stage of the game, auras like these were too rare. Wherever he went, people would fight over him.
Just at this moment, an earth-shattering stink interrupted her thoughts. She suddenly turned and looked towards the boiling pot. She thought she heard the sound of food screaming and howling. It was the stink of rotting rats in a hot environment, then increased by multiple folds. Hidden under it was an explosive odor. There was no ventilation here, it felt like the whole room was the iron pot. It was like they were all in the same container as the soup. The odor continued to increase in strength.
"Congratulations. You've created a beginner dark cooking recipe (Top Grade). Received 500 experience. Please give it a name."
"Congratulations, your cooking has upgraded to Intermediate Level. You have a certain chance to gather the essence of a material. Have a certain chance to raise the stats of your food. Permanent +5 Wisdom."
"Red Green Double Slime and Three Fish with Rat Stew"
Red Green Double Slime and Three Fish with Rat Stew: While eating, heal 1 health every second and 1 mana every 10 seconds. Gain +2 all stats, +7 all resistances, +2 attack, +3 defence for 3 hours. Eating could cause extreme discomfort, shock, etc. Use cautiously. (This is a top grade work of art among beginner dark cooking. You can feel the cook's motivation to improve his dark cooking. It contains his heart and soul.)
"I didn't think my cooking skill would level up. Looks like I really am a genius when it comes to the art of cooking. Hah~ but it doesn't make sense. Since I made it, it should be delicious. I planned it out so well." Ye Cang sighed. He had one hand pinching his nose, and another covering his mouth.
Ye Tian finally realised. Now she understood why everyone was making those grotesque expressions and why her back felt chilly. She looked at the astonished Ye Cang with a complicated expression. Was her father testing her love and affection? She wouldn't let him down!! She again felt a completely new feeling. Her scalp tingled, and she slowly dragged her feet, moving at turtle speed. Her instinct was telling her to run, but her heart kept shouting: 'This is father's test! My love for father is all encompassing!'
"He's actually evolved. This is much more terrifying than last time's werewolf whatever." ThornyRose murmured spiritlessly.
"Yeah, this smell might be more unforgettable than last time." FrozenBlood said while exerting all her strength to block her nose. GreenDew felt like she'd rather be killed by a boss than eat that thing.
SpyingBlade looked at Ye Cang with an extremely complicated expression. If he was doing it on purpose, he wouldn't eat it himself. However, he actually looked a bit frightened, because his smile was rigid.
Zhang ZhengXiong who was mining pretended not to know anything. He gave 200% of his attention to mining. He mouthed the words: "I don't want to eat, definitely don't want to eat."
"Ah, the school told me to go visit. They said it's something important. Brother Lil'White, I'll be back in a bit." Lin Le pretended to have received a message and said seriously. Ye Cang reached out and carried him over. "We're brothers. Also, A'Xiong…"
Zhang ZhengXiong who was mining, pretending to not know anything, and Lin Le who was held by Ye Cang; both of their faces fell. NalanMoon looked astonished at everyone. They couldn't be planning to eat it, could they!? Is that even edible? This game didn't let you adjust your taste settings.
"Damn lowlife! I say, could you not…" Before ThornyRose could finish, the sound of wailing and screaming could be heard nearby. The dust rose, and there were more sounds.
"Congratulations. You've slain a cave rat. Received 75 experience."
"Congratulations. You've…"
Everyone received tens of system messages, and looked around at the dead rats surrounding them. They were immediately stunned. Ye Cang slowly raised his head. "They were probably hiding in holes above us, but accidently fell to their deaths. Hah~ If they were afraid of heights, they shouldn't have climbed so high."
"They were obviously fumigated by that thing you made!!" ThornyRose's groups three girls simultaneously roared.
SpyingBlade stared blankly. They had to work together just to kill two. He could cook a dish and instantly kill tens. He looked at the biochemical weapon in the pot with a bit of reverence.
NalanMoon felt cold sweat all over, and her whole body felt numb. It's been a long time since she felt like this.
Little Ye Tian, who was doing her best to go towards the iron pot, murmured: "I leveled up."
"…" (Everyone)