Draft: 56 Spiced Cooking

Dismissing the notifications, James went to get the dead fish, doing that awkward breaststroke with her head above the water. Grabbing it with a stray leaf that was floating by, she got out of the water. As opposed to the first time she handled the fish, her grip was confident and normal- not the furthest it could be from her body and with only two fingers helping it fight gravity.

Holding it easily despite its large size, she set it down on some other leaves she set up before hand, now well-versed in the process of making Sharped Carp. Going back to the river, she continued to fish, trying to get her intent clearer with every mana blast. No new revelations or notifications about the Skill greeted her though, and by the time she was hungry she had a good number of fish set aside.

Settling down to cook, she was excited because for the first time in a while she would have spices. Her mouth was practically salivating at the thought of an actually tasty meal. She had been forced to eat bland ones for too long. After gutting the fish like she normally did, she set them down in and took out all the spices she swiped from the cottage.

Looking them over, she picked out the sweet paprika, yellow curry, salt, and black pepper. Generously sprinkling her choices over the gutted fish, she absentmindedly patted them in and let the fish rest while she prepared the fire. Hopefully, the flavors would seep in through the sharp skin. Of course, that thought made her pause- the scales didn’t feel sharp.

Experimentally touching the scales again, she was surprised that the results repeated themselves and that her hand returned unscathed. She doubted it was because of her increased stats, though she brought them up to make sure, not having examined them in a while.

Name

Class

James King

Pure Castor (11)

Race

Human, sub-omega (8) ---   other pathways detected ---

Perception

57

Mana

1815 (1452)

Wisdom

72

Mana regen

108/minute

Intelligence

72

Stamina

406 (325)

Endurance

23

Stamina regen

22/minute

Strength

16

Health

781 (625)

Vitality

31

Health regen

280/day

Willpower

40

Titles:  Mark of the Fallen, Forerunner of Magic, Permanent Skill Progenitor

Agility

47

Free Stats

57

While her vitality was much improved since the last time she had looked at her status page in detail, James felt it still wasn’t enough to explain why her hand didn’t get cut. She’d have to experiment later, though her initial guess involved her new mana blast and the intent carried within it. Her theory was that it somehow managed to overpower the carp’s own mana’s sharp intent.

It was interesting to see how her earrings also affected her attributes, the original amounts before the 25% increase appearing in parentheses. Her greatest prize and she had been disappointed at first! Though she had to admit, the fire starter was a close second, while she looked forward to cooking with spice that wouldn’t have been possible without the fire starter. And she was very much looking forward to eating a spiced meal.

The rest of her status page was impressive to look at too, though her free stats were now higher than all but three of her stats. She’d really need to start allocating them soon, but she really had no clue where to put them. If her brother were around, she’d probably consult with him- he’d played lots of video games growing up, but her niche had been reading. So now, when the world started to run like one large video game, she was getting left behind.

Besides, while her status page certainly looked like something she could show off, the differences weren’t actively being felt by her. It might be saying that she is one and a half times stronger than the maximum a pre-System girl her age could get, but she didn’t feel like it. The biggest indicator of her gaining stats was how she forgot she was supposed to get sore after strenuous activities, and that hardly seemed too extraordinary. Though she would bet if she could have bottled up such a product with those effects, she’d have been rich.

She supposed another thing that her stats let her do was continue going for longer or release more mana blasts. But like everything else that was only truly interesting because it meant that she didn’t need to check on her status page while fishing to make sure she had enough mana for another blast. If she could have created such blasts in the past, she’d probably have been even richer. Or locked up in a lab somewhere being studied by military scientists. But one option was much more positive than the other, meaning it was a lot less likely. Oh, to dream.

She’d consider her free stats and how to distribute them another day, her growling stomach was telling her she had to consider her meal now. Quickly getting a fire going, she waited for everything to heat up. Putting the first fish down, she smiled at the sizzling noise and the smell that wafted from the fish in short order. Flipping it over, she waited for it to finish cooking before replacing it with the next seasoned carp.

Keeping an eye on the cooking fish, James waited until the steam from the cooked one slowed down. Taking a bite, she moaned in satisfaction. Spices, no wonder whole wars were fought over them.