Staring at the structure before me in awe, clutching my waterskin and jerky, I thought about magic. Of course, I’d seen its effects before—in places like the cold room of the Temple. But never up close like this. Now, I wished I were a mage. The academy had said they had little use in war without frontline soldiers, though—it was more honorable to hold the line.

  I was broken out of my thoughts by Milo.

  “Have not seen a lot of magic, eh?” he asked.

  “No, basically none. Not up close, anyway,” I replied, my eyes still fixed on the structure in front of me.

  “Well, come on in. Don’t want you standing out here waiting while we eat lunch, do you?” he said with a chuckle, heading inside the shelter.

  Following him inside, I took a seat on the ground and bit into my jerky. It was pretty tasty—there was some seasoning on it that gave it a bit of heat. Before long, questions started rushing through my mind.

  “What happens to the structure when you leave?” I asked Milo.

  “Well, it depends on the structure, I suppose. Something like this, I’ll dismantle when we leave.”

  “Wouldn’t it be better to leave it for other travelers to use? Seems like a waste to destroy it every time.”

  He laughed. I had clearly missed something obvious.

  “No, you see, there’s no real structure or support holding this up. It’s purely held by mana. Once the mana disappears and returns to the environment, as is only natural, this shelter will crumble to dust.”

  “That makes sense,” I replied. I hadn’t even thought about supports—this was purely made of stone, roof, and walls alike.

  “I wish I could do magic,” I muttered, mostly to myself.

  “You look close to the age of choosing. You might get lucky—who knows?” Milo half-shrugged, taking a big bite of jerky.

  “Nah, I’ve got a cooking-related class,” I said, half dejected.

  “There’s nothing wrong with that. Everyone needs good food. You can’t eat this junk all the time,” interjected the archer lady dressed in green and brown leather armor. Jen, I thought her name was.

  While we ate, I noticed some notifications coming in. What surprised me was that they weren’t just the usual inn messages. It looked like someone had delivered food to the Pavilion on my behalf.

  There were twenty-six eating notifications and twenty-three healing bonuses, bringing me to Experience: 2013/4190.

  I guessed they still had stew left over from last night and couldn’t use all the food I’d left behind today before it went bad. I wasn’t sure, but it was a pleasant surprise all the same.

  “If you’re a cook, I should be able to get us some game and you can cook it for us, right?” Jen asked, eyes bright with excitement. “It would be so much nicer than just jerky and stale bread every day. If only we had some fresh vegetables to go with it—I’d be in heaven. A juicy sky wolf steak with some carrots and tubers...”

  She trailed off in a daydream, but honestly, what she said didn’t seem that difficult to manage. I had bought vegetables before I left. Sure, I’d used a good chunk for the two pies and stew I made last night, but there was still plenty left over.

  “I can probably do that if I had the meat,” I said, pulling out a carrot and a tuber to show I had the vegetables.

  “Oh, you have a bag of holding?” Milo asked, eyeing me with surprise. “That’s unexpected.”

  I felt a little embarrassed by the attention. “No, not a bag. It’s a class skill I received. It lets me store cooking-related items—and that’s it. Just food and tools related to cooking.”

  To show it, I pulled out the vegetables, then a ladle and my chef’s knife.

  “That’s really handy!” Jen exclaimed.

  “Not the common cook class, then,” Milo said with a knowing smile. “This trip might be unexpectedly more enjoyable.” Then he leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes and just enjoying the break.

  Looking around, I saw that everyone else was in various states of relaxation. The only person who seemed as new to it as I was the other boy traveling with Saddie. But I supposed, as a carpenter, he’d seen plenty of building frames go up—and now here he was, sitting inside one made completely of stone—and mana, evidently—with no frame.

  I hadn’t really talked to him much yet. He sat on the far side of the structure, peppering Saddie with questions I couldn’t quite hear.

  I noticed the rogue lady, Liane, and Hari—the giant, warrior dude—were missing.

  “Where did Liane and Hari go?” I asked Jen, who hadn’t dozed off like Milo.

  “Hari, I believe, is outside stretching his legs. He’s not a great fan of riding horses all day, but it’s what we have to do. And Liane? Well, she’s probably off doing whatever she wants. She doesn’t really like crowds.”

  A short while later, I watched the structure seemingly return to the ground as if it had never been there. What a wonder!

  Climbing into the back of the wagon, I sat across from Troy again.

  “Would you like me to prepare food tonight for dinner?” I asked.

  “Sure. We have some salted boar and dried, preserved vegetables here in the caravan you can use. It’ll be nearly dark when we stop again, but we’ll get a fire going. Milo’s good for making a structure—I’ve traveled with them several times before,” he said, pulling a book from his bag and starting to read.

  “Okay, thank you. Am I allowed to sit up front next to the driver, where you sat earlier?” I asked, unsure if Cee would mind.

  “Sure. Cee doesn’t talk much, so don’t pester him with questions, but no harm in you sitting there.”

  I didn’t have to be told twice. I couldn’t see much from inside the wagon with only the back open, so I climbed through the front and took a seat next to Cee in the open area. I nodded to him but focused on taking in my surroundings as we traveled.

  It really was amazing. Loose brush and trees lined either side of the caravan; the road was well kept, wide enough for two wagons side by side. I could still see farm fields scattered along the hillsides beyond the road.

  I was pulled out of my awe by Milo, who was now riding alongside. Hari rode beside us on the right and Milo on the left, flanking either side.

  “So, I have to ask,” Milo started. “If it’s too personal, you don’t need to answer, but what’s this cooking class you have that gives you a special space?”

  “Uh, well, it’s actually a rare class called Arcane Chef,” I responded, not seeing any reason to hide it. They’d figure it out anyway once they tasted my cooking.

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  “Rare, you say? Interesting. I’ve never heard of any rare cooking classes. How about you, Hari?” Milo called across the horses.

  The big man chuckled. “I haven’t even heard of any uncommon cooking classes, let alone rare ones,” he said.

  “What’s it do?” Milo asked curiously.

  “Uh, well, honestly, not much yet. It took a while to figure out how to gain experience, and my starting skills were... well, very basic. But now we’ve worked out some things—like my meals can heal a small amount of hit points, and I can infuse food to give it different buffs.”

  I shrugged off the last part, not thinking it was very special yet.

  Apparently, I was alone in that thought, because Milo and Hari both said at the same time, “Buffs?”

  Even Cee glanced at me, looking... judgmental? Honestly, the man was hard to read.

  “Yeah, I’ve only done it twice, and I got two different results. The first time was a rabbit and mushroom stew that gave a dexterity boost. The second time was a fish pie that granted a water magic resistance buff.”

  At this, all three men were staring at me—Cee included.

  “Wait, what?” Milo blurted out. “That’s amazing! Do you know what buff you’ll make? How long does the buff last? Can you give multiple buffs?”

  “Uh, I don’t really know,” I said. “My skill descriptions are... vague. Everything we’ve discovered so far has been by chance, and we haven’t done much testing because of some class restrictions.”

  I tried to temper their expectations—I couldn’t just hand out amazing stat buffs before every battle. At least, I didn’t think I could.

  “Ah, see, there’s always a catch!” Hari said, turning his head back to the road but clearly still listening.

  “What restrictions?” Milo asked without missing a beat.

  “Well, if anyone helps me prepare the food, it doesn’t work. Same with butchery experience. It’s odd—some items like dried herbs work, but wine doesn’t. I’ll eventually need to do some testing, but the problem is, everywhere I’ve worked so far has had multiple people in the kitchen…”

  “Not anymore!” Milo said with a huge smile. “You mentioned butchering. Does that include skinning? So, if Jen removes the skin and gives you the carcass, does it still work?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know. We haven’t been able to test it. I got most of my butchery experience, funnily enough, preparing fish. Any of the pre-cut meats we got from the market didn’t give me anything.”

  “How curious,” Milo mused. “As a bit of an academic, this sounds most intriguing. Oh! I know!”

  As he said it, he slowed his horse, dropping to the back of the caravan and riding alongside Jen, telling her something I couldn’t quite hear.

  “You’ve piqued his curiosity. You’re in trouble now,” Hari said with a chuckle.

  A short time later, Milo was back up front, riding alongside me again.

  “I spoke to Jen. I asked her to get at least two of whatever she finds when she goes hunting. She’ll skin one and leave the other whole. We’ll do some testing and get it worked out. Oh, I never expected to actually have fun on this journey!”

  After that, the conversation shifted to more mundane topics. Milo gave me a rundown of the surroundings, explaining that aside from the road, most of the land here was owned by farmers—but they only farmed where the soil was rich.

  He added that there wasn’t much large game around. Occasionally, herds of buvul passed through, and adventurer parties would have to divert or kill them to prevent crop destruction. There were also occasional sky wolves that preyed on livestock, and plenty of rabbits scattered about.

  After a couple of hours’ travel, I saw Jen and Liane break off from the caravan, heading off the path. Milo moved to the rear, and Hari stayed up front.

  “They’re likely just going to get us some dinner, I’d say,” Hari remarked, noticing my gaze following them as they peeled off.

  “I was meaning to ask, how much can you store in your spatial ability?” he asked.

  My brow furrowed. “I don’t know. I’ve got a large amount of stuff in there right now, but it doesn’t mention a limit. Like most things, it’s pretty vague in its description,” I laughed to myself.

  “The reason I ask,” he continued, “is I wonder if you can keep whole carcasses in there, as long as they’re considered food.”

  I shrugged. Truthfully, I didn’t know, but I didn’t see why not.

  “Well, I haven’t tested it on larger creatures, but I don’t see why not. I’ve got a large buvul leg in there right now, plus lots of vegetables. I also stored a whole freshly killed chicken.”

  About an hour later, Troy poked his head out, talking quietly with Cee and Hari.

  “We’ll find camp within the hour and settle in for the night. We’ve made good time today.”

  Cee nodded, while Hari grunted, then said he knew a suitable spot not far from here.

  Before I knew it, the caravan was pulling up to a clearing, and Milo went to work mana-constructing. This time, the building was larger and circular in design, with a hole in the middle of the roof to vent smoke from the fire pit. The fact that he had this level of control amazed me.

  “How long do they last if you just leave them?” I asked once he was done.

  “About two to three days, depending on the area. If I made this in a mana-rich environment, like the heart of the forest, it would probably last months or longer, since the mana wouldn’t be so eager to escape.”

  Heading inside, I saw little pockets around the room meant to give some privacy while sleeping. They weren’t fully closed-off rooms,

  Deciding I should help out, I joined Hari in gathering firewood. We didn’t need anything small, since Milo could conjure flames and get a log burning quickly.

  I thought I had grabbed a good amount of wood, but when I looked at what Hari was dragging back, it felt like I’d only collected twigs. He was hauling practically an entire dead tree.

  Adding my sticks to the pile, I wondered how we were going to cut them up—I didn’t see anyone with an axe. But that thought dissipated when the log split itself into smaller segments with perfectly clean cuts.

  Looking at Hari, wondering what he had done, he shrugged.

  “Don’t look at me. He specializes in air magic, remember?” he said, pointing at Milo.

  “That was air magic!?” I was in awe.

  Milo came over to inspect the work. “Just a basic wind cutter spell. Nothing too fancy, but very handy—especially in battle.”

  Before long, Milo had the fire roaring. I worried it might get too hot to cook, but he assured me he could tone it down when I needed him to. Not questioning him, I started pulling things out of storage—beginning with my pot and utensils.

  At that moment, I realized I had missed something incredibly important: I had no cutting board at all.

  “Uh, excuse me, Milo. I don’t suppose you’d be able to produce a table or some kind of surface to cut vegetables on with your magic?” I asked hopefully.

  He didn’t even respond, just smiled as a block of smooth stone rose from the ground, forming the perfect bench. I wiped it down with the kitchen rag I had in storage, thankful I’d remembered to bring it.

  I wasn’t sure what Jen and Liane were going to come back with, but since I’d been told to expect rabbits or maybe a wolf, I started preparing some vegetables. Milo filled my pot halfway with water to cook the vegetables and tubers.

  It wasn’t long before Jen walked inside holding six rabbits—five uncleaned, and one already skinned and gutted.

  “Here you go! This should be enough for tonight,” Jen said, passing them over to me with a big smile. “Butcher them outside, though. Milo will make a spot for you. Don’t want that smell lingering all night.”

  Milo went outside, clearly to prepare the spot.

  “Excuse me, Jen, I’ve actually never skinned a rabbit before. Would you be able to teach me?” I asked.

  The smile never left her face. “Of course, it’s actually pretty simple. Let’s go.”

  It wasn’t long before all the rabbits were skinned. The combination of my Knifework and Butchery skills made the task much easier. Jen said I picked it up quick. It also turned out I didn’t get experience for the butchery if she skinned the rabbit instead of me, so we chalked that up for the future. I still gained one hundred Butchery Experience for the four rabbits I did skin, so it was worth the test.

  Deciding we didn’t have time to make a full stew for tonight’s meal—though I could make one and store it for later—I opted instead for a stuffed roast rabbit with a side of vegetables. For the stuffing, I mixed dried herbs I’d picked up with some stale bread I had purchased, intending to make the breaded fish Geo made for Micca and me, along with some butter. I seasoned the outside with salt.

  Milo made twelve mini stone skewers: six tiny ones to hold the stomachs closed and keep the stuffing inside, and six larger ones to suspend the rabbits above the fire so the heat wasn’t too strong.

  Before long, the building was filled with the rich smell of roasted meat and herbs. I boiled the vegetables—a mix of carrots, beans, and tubers—and once they came out of the water, I tossed them with salt, pepper, and butter to add more flavor.

  Milo was already ahead of me, producing nine stone plates. Before plating everything, I cut the rabbits in half and decided there was no harm in a couple more tests. I cast Infuse Flavor on one of the rabbits.

  Would you like to Infuse [Common] Stuffed Roast Rabbit for 50 mana? Yes/No

  Selecting Yes, it immediately grabbed Milo’s attention as it glowed.

  “Oh, what was that?”

  “That was my Infuse Flavor ability—the one that adds the buffs,” I replied.

  I wondered if I could infuse each rabbit separately, but I wanted to test whether I could put them all together and infuse them at once. I took four of the rabbits, piled them on a plate, and attempted to cast Infuse Flavor again.

  Would you like to Infuse [Common] Stuffed Roast Rabbits for 50 mana? Yes/No

  I selected Yes again, thrilled with the result. The mana cost was manageable tonight, but if I had to do this on many items individually, I’d run dry quickly.

  I quickly cast it on the last rabbit I had left, then cut the rabbits in half. The three leftover halves were taken by Troy, Milo, and Hari.

  Everyone ate in silence, broken only by little sounds of pleasure—until Jen finally spoke up.

  “This is amazing! You need to cook for us every night. I’ll get whatever meat you need!”

  Even Liane chuckled at her outburst.