Arriving in front of Michael’s camp, Archie got off his Mana Bike and rolled it through the entrance without any disruptions, unlike when he visited it the morning before.

  Previously, just before he went to go and find the last Sigil Dungeon, he drove towards Michael’s camp to make a couple of requests from Bill, but not unlike his first visit, he was stopped a couple of hundred meters before he reached the camp.

  However, just as he was stopped, he saw a long-haired mage on the camp walls cuff the back of a guy’s head. And judging by the yelp the guy released, he was probably the one who shouted at him to stop, judging from his voice. After a somewhat awkward couple of seconds of seeing the guy get yelled at, the guy who had shouted at him previously meekly apologized and told him to continue on.

  As Archie approached the camp, he gradually slowed down, stopping a couple of meters from the entrance. Dismounting his Mana Bike, he began to push it through the gateway, leaving the engine running; using the lowest amount of mana he could control through the engine's mana container to do so, just enough to keep the sawblade wheels from rotating faster than a centimeter a minute.

  Unlike modern bikes equipped with gear shifts—including a neutral gear—the Mana Bike he forged only had one gear: Drive. Shutting off the engine wasn’t a practical option either, as doing so would lock the sawblade wheels in place. This left him with only a few options: store the bike in his spatial storage, carry it, or drag it behind him like a plow.

  Even the short drive to Michael's camp highlighted numerous areas that needed improvement on his Mana Bike. In hindsight, it made sense.

  Before the integration, the most he'd done in terms of applied robotics was putting together and programming a couple of semi-functional miniature remote-controlled robots he purchased from a robot miniature shop.

  While the code he programmed into them worked flawlessly, he was sure of it—having spent countless hours scouring for any potential issues—he’d botched their internal assembly. This became evident when he started finding tiny bits of electrical components and wiring scattered under his sofa or embedded in the carpet.

  It wasn’t exactly shocking, then, that the miniatures would suddenly explode or fall apart when he'd move them around.

  In his rush to etch runes and runic scripts on the Runic Mana Engine and parts of the bike, he’d overlooked adding a gear system, a kickstand, and several other features he’d come to realize were essential after spending time riding it.

  Archie wondered, rolling his bike through the camp until he reached Bill's stand.

  Archie found Bill lounging in his chair, creating mana strings and manipulating them in a variety of ways to for different shapes and threading various leathers.

  Seeing Bill completely focused on his mana practice, Archie cleared his throat to gain his attention.

  Instead of looking up, Bill sighed as the mana strings around him flickered out of existence, his control snapping under Archie’s untimely interruption. Reaching under his desk, he rummaged briefly, pushing aside various leather armors and hides until he retrieved a sizeable crate and placed it atop his desk.

  “Mornin',” Archie greeted him.

  Bill responded with a grunt, returning his focus to practicing mana control.

  Archie smirked faintly and reached into the crate to inspect its contents. Just as his fingers hovered centimeters away from an onyx-black fur hide seat, Bill cleared his throat sharply.

  “I wouldn’t recommend touching that,” Bill said, his eyes fixed on the shifting shapes his mana formed.

  Archie raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

  Bill’s gaze slowly lifted from his mana-covered palms to Archie, landing pointedly on the mud- and blood-stained state of his attire.

  Following Bill’s eyes, Archie glanced down at himself and, with dawning realization, muttered, “Ah.” Without further prompting, he activated his Forgesmith’s Flame

  Bill gave him an odd look but said nothing. Around them, others in the room cast curious glances at the masked man casually setting himself and his post-apocalyptic-modern hybrid motorcycle ablaze. Archie, however, paid them no mind.

  After a minute or two, the flames extinguished, leaving him and the Mana Bike spotless. Satisfied with Archie’s now-clean appearance, Bill returned his attention to his mana practice.

  With Bill’s tacit approval, Archie removed the seat, along with several leather straps and small belts that he’d commissioned, from the crate and inspected all three of them.

  Lynx Hide Seat (Common):

  A hide seat crafted from the hide of an E-Grade Shadowdwelling Lynx and crafted by Created by Bill Evans, an E-Grade Mana Leathersmith.

  Howler Belt (Common):

  A leather belt crafted from the hide of an E-Grade Rabid Howler and diligently forged iron and crafted by Bill Evans, an E-Grade Mana Leathersmith and Sandra Jameson an F-Grade Novice Blacksmith.

  While adding buckles to the straps would cost him a bit extra, Archie had already arranged with Bill to drop them off and collect them at a blacksmith in order to save himself the effort of having to make them himself.

  And thanks to his Tutorial Points, the extra cost of two to three hundred points required felt inconsequential.

  Speaking of Tutorial Points, he’d recently realized why services were so cheap—the end of the Tutorial Rewards shop.

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  Apparently, a couple of people within the camp were blessed by a couple of gods after and during Oliver’s cult raid. Most prominently, Omar the Light Mage, Eric and his girlfriend Angela, and Daniel the magic farmer, whom he sensed to have a Nature Affinity.

  From what they found out, when the Tutorial ends, there will be a Tutorial Rewards shop where they can use their Tutorial Points to purchase a variety of items, skills, and even convert their remaining Tutorial Points into currency.

  As such, people now wanted to save as many points as they could for the opportunity to purchase better rewards at the end. Most people kept their wares at a reasonable price, allowing others to level up their Professions faster and incentivizing them to go out and hunt for points, now more than ever due to Oliver’s supposed death.

  While he didn’t really get the memo until recently, he wasn't going to lower the prices for his commissions. Nor was he going to raise them; rather, he'd just keep them between two thousand and three thousand.

  Propping up his Mana Bike with a few mana strings, he placed the seat atop where he had previously sat before carefully securing it in place.

  After tightening the third and final belt onto the seat and through the thin belt slot he had cut with his Thermal Carver, Archie put his Thermal Carver away in his spatial storage and went to pay Bill for his services.

  Now a thousand Tutorial Points lighter, Archie made his way to where the majority of the cooking stands were, rolling his bike alongside him with the crate of leather straps and belts balanced on his seat.

  Upon arriving where most the food stands were supposed to be manned, he found them empty and all huddled together, combining many tables together with various dishes and exotic-looking foods. As he got closer to them, he overheard their arguments with one another.

  “Listen, I’m telling you it needs more salt,” a woman in leather armor said, exasperation paining her tone.

  “Yeah, well I’m telling you it doesn’t need more salt,” a younger-looking teen replied with a deadpan tone. “It’s ironic coming from you, to be honest.”

  “Excuse me?” the woman retorted, taking a step closer to the younger teen.

  The other chefs in the back simply ceased their own arguments and looked at the two young adults, using the food samples around them as their own popcorn.

  “Your Arroz Con Pollo is way too salty,” the boy answered, tossing the napkin he held in his hand at the dish in question. “You don’t know what you’re talking about when it comes to salty, if you’re calling my dish unsalted and yours is just right.”

  “What’s happening?” Archie whispered to Evelyn, who’d noticed him arrive and made her way towards him and handed him a plate of food samples.

  “Matthew and Violet are getting into their tridaily arguments,” Evelyn pointed out in between bites. “It’s so cute. They obviously like each other but are too hardheaded to admit it.”

  Looking at the two who looked as though they were about to go for the other’s throats, he quickly swallowed his food and turned back to Evelyn with a raised eyebrow, “You sure?”

  “Give the Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni a bite,” Evelyn whispered while placing even more food on his plate. “When you’ve lived as long as I have, stuff like this is second nature.”

  “Besides, the entire camp knows about them,” Evelyn smiled. “They fight all day, but by night, one of them bakes the other something, and they become all bashful until the morning, where this whole song and dance happens all over again.”

  Staring at the two arguing teens wistfully, Evelyn turned back to Archie, “So what brings you here?”

  “I got a bunch of Troll meat, and I was wondering if you and the other chefs could turn it all into food, “Archie replied, finishing up the last sample on his plate. “I can store it all in my spatial storage, and it won’t spoil while it's there.”

  “Alright, just place it on the table over there,” Evelyn replied, pointing to the table on her side, her eyes glued on the two arguing young adults.

  Looking at the meter-long table, Archie chuckled before saying, “That table ain’t enough to hold the amount of Troll meat I got. We’re gonna need at least three of those tables.”

  Evelyn gave the other chefs who kept on watching their version of reality TV in front of them a wave to break them out of their trance and gestured for them to start cleaning up the tables.

  After a couple of minutes, Archie placed the final stack of wooden dishes and utensils on an overflowing table of dishes before turning back to face a clean group of nine tables put together, turning it into one large 3x3 meter table.

  Walking up to the large table, Archie dumped the two semi-shriveled Troll corpses and 10 Troll hearts atop the table. Ignoring the musky scent that came off the troll corpses, the nine tables were almost entirely covered, and their legs groaned from the weight.

  Eveyln and the other chef, even Matthew and Violet, who were locked in an intense stare, broke it and stared at the large pile of Troll meat that threatened to fall onto the grass below.

  One chef grabbed a knife from their side and attempted to cut through the Troll’s tough skin with considerable effort but after only being able to breakthrough the surface of its skin, he activated a skill that covered his knife in a dark blue hue and was easily able to sink his blade and cut open the side of the troll.

  It was a testament to the toughness of the Troll’s skin that it retained such toughness after its death and to Archie’s prowess to have easily ripped through it without much effort.

  The other chefs, including Evelyn, went over to the chef who cut into the troll’s side and looked at the marbling of the troll’s flesh.

  Just as some of the chefs took out their own knives and were about to carve into the trolls, Evelyn cleared her throat, grabbing the attention of her fellow chefs. “Archie has commissioned us to cook up the…what are these?” Evelyn said before turning to Archie.

  “Orgamine Trolls,” Archie answered. “Now, I don’t mind trying out new foods, but I’d prefer to be able to eat them while moving, so wraps or anything like those would be great.”

  With his newly gained Vital Metabolism

  Besides, with the road trip he was going to be taking to get to his family, he’d most probably be driving day and night without stopping, and getting stocked up now was the smart choice, especially with the Tutorial's Final Boss appearing after the next day and a half.

  “When do you want them done?” Violet asked, putting her apron back on.

  “Preferably before evening,” Archie answered sheepishly. Seeing the exasperated looks everyone gave him, even Evelyn, he decided to sweeten up the deal. “I’ll pay each of you a thousand Tutorial Points for your services.”

  A thousand Tutorial Points was a lot for a single commission when the average a person spent on a single dish was less than a hundred. But sensing Archie’s urgency, the chefs huddled amongst one another before the chef who cut into the troll raised his minorly chipped knife.

  “We can do it earlier,” the chef replied. “But we’d want you to make us new knives.”

  The chef’s response took Archie by surprise. Archie questioned.

  “What about your smiths in camp?” Archie questioned. "I saw quite a few of them in the Assistant's Village, last time I visited."

  “Eric and Angela are swamped with teaching the new blacksmiths and handling commissions,” Evelyn explained, earning a round of nods from the other chefs. “And the new blacksmiths still can’t make E-Grade tools yet.”

  After a moment of consideration, Archie nodded slowly, his expression a mix of contemplation and agreement. “I can forge your knives while you work…. Sound good?”

  Seeing their nods of approval, they quickly got to work, carving into the trolls.

  Archie set out his forging equipment, minus his table, which he’d left back at his base. Instead, he borrowed one of the empty tables nearby as a temporary workspace. Grabbing a full wooden water bucket and placing it off to the side, he activated his Forgesmith’s Flame

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