"Ok, here should be a good place," Miles said as he stopped by a clearing in the middle of the forest. Checking his CrysTel for the time revealed there was still an hour before noon, so he had plenty of time to complete his preparations.
"Um, what?" Yvette asked. She did not anticipate her partner wanting to stop anything before reaching the Dungeon.
"I'm sure you already have all your prep done ahead of time, but I come from a foster home with very little in the form of support. Just to get the lowest quality Storage Cube, some basic camping equipment, and a simple hunting knife, I spent years saving money and completing the occasional odd job when the opportunity arose."
He withdrew his aforementioned Storage Cube and materialized his hunting knife as he said, "Water is simple enough to store in adequate amounts back home thanks to the miracle of Water Magic, but if I want to take in food to rest and recover within the Dungeon, I've got to get it myself."
Somehow, Miles felt the uncertainty and embarrassment Yvette was projecting as he decided to face her and ask, "What?"
"Uh... prep?" Yvette's smiled quite forcefully.
Miles did not have a good feeling as he unabashedly looked all over her person, his expression falling as time passed with him unable to see anything other than her bow and quiver in her possession.
"You… You left without bringing anything other than your weapons?" He asked.
"Yup."
Miles brought his hand to his face. Pinching the bridge of his nose as he stayed locked in thought, he eventually snapped his eyes open and said, "That should be fine. We can share my camping tent and you can even have the sleeping bag, if you agree to hunt for our food now while I forage."
"I can hunt!" Yvette said, perhaps a little louder than she needed to.
"Whatever… Just, don't stray too far from me, please. We're outside the safety of the town walls and I'm just a fragile Healer. I need you to come running over to save me if I encounter some rouge monster or beast..."
"Understood," Yvette said before jumping into a sprint faster than Miles could react.
When she had finally left his line of sight Miles sighed before he opened his System's Shop. He had twenty System Points to spend and decided it was best to use them for the first time whilst isolated in case anything unexplainable happened.
'It'd be pretty hard to explain if I suddenly started glowing or if a pile of materials slipped through the void right before me,' Miles thought. He shook his head at the nonsensical imagery his thoughts depicted.
Focusing on the Shop, his eyes were subconsciously drawn to the blinking "System Improvements" tab.
[Shop (System Improvements):
…
*Recommended* All View (Basic) | 10 System Points
Description: Applies the Quantification of Self Effect of the Fate Dissociation System to all entities within your line of sight. Allows you the equivalent of an instantly castable Low Grade Identification Spell on everything and anything you can see. At no Magic or Stamina cost, you can peer into the essence of a target upto ten levels higher than you to see their Name and Level so long as you have a point of reference in your memory bank.
…]
"How convenient," Miles rolled his eyes before accepting the transaction.
He blinked then cringed as the hundreds of different organisms and materials in his current line of sight sent a torrent of prompts to his stream of consciousness.
[Arclight Tree | Level 5-7]
[Sage Grass | Level 1-4]
[Common Cilantro | Level 0-1]
[Pepperidge Mushroom | Level 1-3]
Everything, from the air to the soil, had a name and level. Some objects, he recognized, were even Quest Items needed in a certain amount to complete some of the Side Quests he had started.
Miles crouched down and picked two mushrooms, his face grim.
[Rubescens Mushroom | Level 1]
[Pantherina Mushroom | Level 1]
Suddenly, he was thankful for the days worth of dedicated studying he had done at the town library for without it, he might have mistaken a sinisterly toxic Pantherina for the evidently identical Rubescens. They had been growing an arms width apart from each other and though Miles had confidence in himself to have averted disaster before it was too late, he was now grateful for his new ability.
After harvesting the edible mushrooms, Miles stored them away in his Storage Cube before he moved on to the next item that caught his eye. Herbs and spices for cooking, medicinal and poisonous plants to complete several of his Side Quests, and even a couple wild fruits, berries, grains, and vegetables were all collected to ensure Miles could prepare balanced meals at a future time.
Eventually, Yvette would return out of the blue as Miles finished storing the last of one source of some tea leaves.
[Yvette | Level ???]
Ignoring how she was holding up no less than five ten-kilogram pheasants by their feet on each of her hands, Miles thought, 'Welp, I guess it makes sense C Rank strength and skill would put her above Level 11...'
Sighing, he said, "While I appreciate the enthusiasm, remember that my Storage Cube is of the lowest quality. With everything else I already have stored inside, I don't think I have enough space for all those birds..."
"Well, it'd be a shame to let any go to waste, so just store as many as you can and we can eat the rest now."
"Right..." Miles made a pulling gesture and prepared a small outdoor cooking station from his Storage Cube. He set up a simple disposable barrier to prevent all traces of his future cooking from alerting any rogue beasts and monsters.
He asked Yvette, "Can you cook?"
She shook her head bashfully.
"Do you know how to skin wild game?"
She shook her head again.
"Hmm… I guess I should have expected as much if you were a clan heiress up until a month ago." Miles sighed, "Well, whatever. Just watch and learn so you can help me next time."