"Blake, would you mind accepting a request right now?"
"A request? What is it about?" Blake had nothing to do after that, so he was interested in what Collette was going to say.
"Well... Could you make me a little snack, hehe."
"Ah, I guess that makes sense, what exactly would you like?" Blake knew it shouldn't be too complicated.
"I don't need much, about three rice balls would be fine."
"Is that supposed to be a snack?"
"Yes, I would need about thirty to feel satisfied, so this is just a snack."
"I see... But I don't know how to prepare them." A bead of sweat fell down Blake's forehead at hearing that, but he caught the important point.
"Then pay attention, the first thing you have to do is..." And after a long and detailed list of instructions, as well as being told that he could find rice in the kitchen, Blake was concentrating on seeing the huge bowl that was in front of him at the same time the voice of the system sounded in his head.
[Learned Recipe: Rice Ball.]
"Well... It's too convenient."
...
"Aww, that was completely delicious!" Collette had already devoured her little snack and she was sighing contentedly.
"I'm glad you liked it, although I wonder how you manage to eat even more than Sherman, haha." Blake said that as a bit of a joke, but Collette took it personally.
"I already told you it's because of my lightning-fast metabolism!... Although maybe you could also attribute it to my elemental affinity." Now Blake was a little curious
"Your elemental affinity?"
"Yes, see." And lifting her hand, Collette closed her eyes so that in the next instant a copious amount of what seemed to be electricity formed in it.
Blake was quite surprised, but he was also very worried at the time.
"Collette what... Aren't there only eight elements? How is it possible that you can form lightning in your hand?" Blake was remembering all the lecture Marjorie gave him about the elements and elemental affinities, so seeing Collette doing that really threw him off, but the next thing he heard made him not know what to say.
"Hahaha! You're funny Blake, obviously there is no lightning element or something like that."
"But I clearly saw that you formed lightning in your hand." And seeing Blake's seriousness, Collette realized something.
"Ah, that's right, I had forgotten that you lost your memory. Don't worry, this isn't a new element or anything." Blake then raised an eyebrow in anticipation of the explanation. "I didn't really pay much attention to Marjorie, but supposedly I have a special physique or something like that, this way I can form lightning as you saw but it has the attribute of the earth and light element, although it's also because of it that my metabolism is super-fast, so you could say that I'm quite special, I hope you're not jealous, hehe."
Blake was quite thoughtful as he continued to see the lightning in Collette's hand and remembered that Marjorie had said that he also had a special physique, but Collette's voice made him leave those thoughts for another time.
"By the way, last time I thought it, but wouldn't you like to work at the restaurant, Blake?"
"Eh? I really don't think I'm good enough for it."
"Nonsense, I'm the one when it comes to identifying delicious food, and I can tell that your food has something special, you can't waste your talent!" Collette seemed quite adamant about her words.
"Haha, maybe I'll think so..." And avoiding that situation that was very familiar to him, Blake was finally able to say goodbye at the same time that he passed quickly by the pharmacy and reprimand Marian who did not stop apologizing, but at that moment, Collette had arrived to tell them that the new medicine had actually exploded making Marian's scolding stronger than before.
Blake was done with that matter and took his leave for later using a quick teleport to the Sharance tree.
[Space skill, increased.]
"That notification is rare to hear."
[Request completed.]
"And this one not so much." Again the process was repeated where Blake had to choose a peculiar box after the request, and without many expectations, he took the first one he saw without caring about the others to then opened it and only a confused face was generated in his face at the strange object she had just obtained.
[Acquired: Recipe Bread – Cooking.]
"Recipe what?" And quickly went to his inventory to the answers he was looking for appeared in front of him.
{Recipe Bread - Cooking. Level 1.
A peculiar bread that helps you learn new cooking recipes. The recipe you can learn depends on your skill in it.
Selling price: 200G.}
"This is one of the weird things of the day… Let's see how it goes." Without hesitation, Blake took the small, fragrant loaf and popped it directly into his mouth. Its taste could only be defined as something normal, it tasted like a piece of bread with nothing special, but Blake realized that the information the system had given him was correct once he heard another notification in his mind.
[Learned Recipe: Salmon Rice Ball.]
"Yes, this is a system thing." Blake mentally wrote down everything he had learned that day, and also hoped that in the future the system would give him more of those recipe bread since they seemed to be really useful, and noticing that there was nothing to really do, he left the house and headed down a path he had never been before.
With each step he took, the town was slowly falling behind him, he had barely realized that the town actually seemed to be in a mountainous area as he went down the road to the destination he had in mind, the surroundings at just as the lively atmosphere and comfortable temperature were being replaced by an arid view and more intense heat than usual, in addition to the large amount of grass that had become a path full of sand.
Blake had realized all this and was even more convinced that he was on the right path until he arrived in front of a poster that reaffirmed all that.
-Sol Terrano Desert. A harsh and unforgiving desert. The white bones of many creatures litter the landscape. Most people stay away from this area unless they have a very good reason to visit.
And just reading that, Blake mentally prepared himself to enter. Earlier, and after thinking about it carefully, he realized that he had no idea where to find more orbs like the one he had gotten, so the only clue that had come to him was to investigate the surroundings of the town in hopes of finding something. He was about to make his legs move forward, but a sudden scream from behind him was enough to stop him in that instant.
"Blake!"
"Huh? Wells, what are you doing here?"
"That I should ask you, I managed to see how you left the town and decided to follow you to make sure you didn't do something stupid. You weren't thinking of entering the desert, were you?"
"Well, I thought that..."
"Don't even think about it! There is nothing but monsters in there!"
"But there are actually monsters everywhere, what makes it different?" Blake was doubting that that was the only reason for Wells's attitude.
"I had already told you that there are places where more dangerous monsters live than those in the Privera forest, and the desert is one of them."
"Yes, but I'm not the same as before, I think I'm strong enough to know how far I can go."
"I'm not going to deny that, but I still wouldn't want something serious to happen to you knowing what you're facing..."
"Please, Wells, trust me." A slight look of doubt was seen on the mayor's face, the seconds passed in silence and Blake thought that he would not achieve anything, but the answer he received was a surprise for him.
"Okay, if you really think you're ready I won't stop you, just be careful out there."
"Don't worry, and thanks for the warning."
"Hmmm... I guess that's the way young people are..." Leaving those last words, Wells had gotten back on his own feet until Blake couldn't see more of his figure in the distance leaving him with a single thought.
'I think… He was acting a little different… Maybe it's my imagination.'
[Progress… Saved.]