As I sat there, Elder Peter approached me having finished his conversation with Amanda who clearly had many question about what was to come in her future, the only other person still seated on the chair was Gemma who quietly sat appearing to be reading over her own status screen and abilities.
"Worry not young Trevor, Fate has a path for us all, today yours took a turn into unexpected territory but only you can keep it moving forward. When we return to the temple we will get you a room to rest while I consult the archive to find more information, if you'd like you can also speak to the cooks at the temple for advice they make humble meals but I'm sure they can help guide you"
Still looking down I muttered out a "Thank you Elder, I appreciate the help"
A small smile appeared on Elder Peters face "I assume by now you've looked into the details of your class and abilities?" he asked..
"Yes Elder" I responded "But there was no further information there, it said the same thing when I touched the Orb, I get 6 stat points on level up and the abilities seem to be that of a regular cook" a slight look of surprise appeared on Elder Peters face at that.
"6 points is quite significant, the common classes only gets 3 after all, would you mind showing me your sheet? If you'd like to keep it private I fully understand but I would like to help you through this" Elder Peter asked.
Seeing no reason not to at this point I shared my status screen with the Elder who looked it over only saying "Curious" before looking back up "We'll investigate this further at the Temple for now it's almost time to leave follow me"
With that I trailed behind Elder Peter, joined by Gemma and Amanda I never even saw my friends again which he found odd, but I assumed they had been too excited and left for their respective lodgings, leaving the Academy which had been my home for the last 10 years, I felt a pang of loss.
I never expected to care when I left thinking I wouldn't look back, but leaving now I couldn't help but feel I was leaving my dreams behind, on one hand I got what I wanted, I got a Rare class.
In my 10 years at the Academy I've never even seen another student get a rare class, but now I had one, on the other hand, it was not even a combat class and it looked at first glace worse than a regular cook class.
Logic in the back of my brain told me a Rare class could not be worse than common, but nothing could overcome the disappointment I currently felt.
Following Elder Peter through the city still lost in my own head I did not even notice when we arrived at the Dunhearth Medical Pavilion, stepping into the entrance Elder Peter made introductions with a elderly figure, introducing Gemma explaining she got the Cleric class.
Gemma just quietly nodded next to him before she was escorted off by the elderly lady.
Leaving the Pavilion they made their way towards the centre of the city heading to the Temple of Guiding Light, a short walk later with Amanda peppering Elder Peter with questions they reached the town centre where the Temple was located, walking inside I was immediately taken by the grandeur of the place I had seen the Temple from the outside but I've never had a reason to enter, dominating the middle of the hall was a large statue of a female Elder Peter noticing their gaze said "The Goddess of Fate, the one who guides our paths"
"Wow" was all Amanda said.
I said nothing just staring up at the statue now wondering what fate had install for me.
Walking deeper inside, Elder Peter called over a fellow Priest of fate instructing them that Amanda was a new Acolyte and they would need to get her tested for her Deity.
With that Amanda was led away by the Priest and now I was left alone with Elder Peter.
"Well lets get you settled I'll find you a room first then introduce you to the cooks if you'd like, I will need some time before I can search the archive for your class" I just nodded in return.
Shortly after I was shown a small room, nothing in it besides a bed and small chest for belongings, before being led to the Kitchen and introduced to the Head Cook.
"Martin, this is Trevor he received a cooking related class today, although so far we are unsure what the class entails, hoping you'd be able to show him around the kitchen and possibly give him pointers?" asked Elder Peter to the portly fellow in front of them,
"Absolutely Elder, cooking related class you say, did the child get Field cook or something?" Elder Peter just chuckled at that.
"No Martin he got a rare class that I've personally never heard of before he'll be here while I search for information, I will leave him in your care" turning to Trevor "I will seek you out Trevor once I find some information for you take care" with that Elder Peter left the kitchen leaving me with Martin.
Martin was staring at me after the rare class revelation "Rare class did he say? Rare cooking class?" Martin asked almost in disbelief.
"Yes sir" I said softly still lost in his own world.
"Well boy, why does it look like someone took your favourite toy away from you?" Martin asked with mirth.
After a moment I responded "I was really looking forward to a combat class sir and the abilities seem really basic"
Martin looked at the boy "Nonsense why would anyone want to risk their lives everyday, and show me those abilities"
I showed Martin the abilities page Martin was in his own thoughts for a little while, "Yes those are different to a regular cooks, I would not be ready to say they are worse yet, let me show you around the kitchen perhaps we can get you doing some preparation get some experience so you can level up"
With that I was led through the kitchen shown the different tools, overall it was very basic there was a small stone oven a pile of wood for the oven, there was a large stew pot sitting next to the coals of a fire with a lid, and a large stock pot.
Next I was led into the cool room, Martin explaining that once every 3 months a mage specialising in Ice would donate their time to recharge the enchantment which allowed the room to stay cold and keeping food better preserved as a result.
Next I was led to the butchery room, as I entered I was immediately hit by the smell,
"Ah yes, you get used to that" Martin stated completely unbothered.
"Here we butcher donations of meat made to the temple, furs are given to the local businesses if we manage to salvage any and the meat is used for the meals, waste material is taken out through there and fed to the local beast population" Martin said pointing out a door that led seemingly outside.
Walking back into the main kitchen Martin continued "The bread for the day is already finished and cooling so we just have the stew to get on for dinner tonight, I saw you have basic meal prep and knifework skills so if you're up for it ill get you to dice up some vegetables for that"
Martin pulled over a small sack of tubers "have you ever cooked before boy?" Martin asked conversationally pulling out some tubers and grabbing some knives to work with.
"No sir, I have never cooked anything before outside of Damper and roasted meat while doing survival training" I responded feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything so far.
Before I knew it I had a small knife placed into his hand along with a large tuber.
"Right well pay attention, first we want to remove the skin from these tubers" Martin started to cut taking off a very thin layer just removing the outside skin "be sure to watch your hands when cutting that you don't cut yourself, once its been skinned we want to dice it up into medium sized chunks like this" Martin continued finishing dicing his tuber before throwing them into the pot.
"Right your turn" Martin said looking over at me.
Taking the tuber in hand I tried to copy what he saw, very quickly I realised I was having a much harder time, what was coming off was not the thin skin outside but large chunks, and where Martin has turned the tuber and took the skin off in one long string, my own was a lot of little pieces, I heard Martin chuckling next to me.
"Don't worry boy we all start there, even with the skills keep at it while I get the other veg ready as well and brown off the meat" with that I got back to work slowly trying to peel the tubers.
In the end by the time Martin returned to see my progress I had only cut peeled and diced five tubers, and they certainly did not look good, I hung my head expecting to get called a failure.
All I knew was combat this was too much.
"Not as bad as I expected" Martin stated looking over "don't worry yourself boy lets get these done another thirty or so and we'll have the stew started"
With that Martin joined me in peeling the tubers after a few more tubers I started relaxing and day dreaming about what ifs, wondering how my friends were doing right now? Lukas got the class he was after I should be really excited for him, yet I also couldn't help but feel some jealousy, and George he'd already be in the barracks, would he even see George again?
Unless they were put on guard duties the military recruits did not get a lot of free time and rarely left the barracks lost in my thought I clearly lost track of time.
Martin broke me out of it with "Finish that one and we're done, and look you're clearly getting better! that one doesn't look like it was peeled by a hatchet" Martin said with a laugh throwing the last of his own tubers into the pot.
"Right now that is done we just leave it here to the side of the heat to cook until the early evening, very important to remember you never want a stew to be placed on or next to direct flame, if you do it will rapidly boil away and burn wasting all that food" Martin instructed.
I just nodded, taking this moment I had a look to see if I had earnt any experience for that, to my dismay I was still at 0 for my class, and under meal prep I was also at 0, my knifework however was showing 20 experience
"ah excuse me sir" I timidly asked "how do you earn experience as a cook do we need to kill monsters?" I asked confused, Martin chuckled
"No silly boy, you get experience by preparing and cooking, its not much but it all adds up over time" he responded, this greatly confused me
"I didn't get any experience for meal prep or my main class is that normal?" I asked.
This did grab Martins attention however as a small bit of confusion came over his face before it quickly vanished "I wouldn't worry boy, maybe the class didn't recognise what you did as enough, go rest for a few hours and come back this evening I'll show you how we serve up"
With that I left the kitchen returning to my room, passing the main hall and the statue of the Goddess of Fate I saw people kneeling before it praying, deciding I had nothing better to do, I took a place in front kneeling before the statue I closed my eyes and prayed to the Goddess "Dear Goddess, I don't know what I've done to deserve this path, or where it will take me, but I certainly hope there is a plan, and I hope you guide me through it"
I didn't get a response but honestly I never expected one. Gods don't speak to mortals, as I got up again to continue heading back to my room, I got the faint smell of roast chicken.
Stolen novel; please report.
How odd I don't remember seeing any roast meat in the kitchens, putting this to the back of my mind I continued to my room part of me hoping to spot Amanda just so I'd have a familiar face to talk to even if we were not particularly close, however I was not that lucky.
After resting my head for a short time I had a faint knock at the door.
"Young sir, Martin wanted me to tell you dinner will be served shortly" a voice called from the other side.
"ah yes sorry thank you I will head straight there" shooting up from his bed I raced out the door in a brisk walk heading back towards the kitchen, maybe I'll get experience by serving the food? I thought to myself before entering the kitchen, Martin seemed to have noticed me immediately, despite the kitchen being a buzz of activity.
"Over here boy" Martin called out.
Heading over to Martin the cook simply stated "Right tonight shadow me, just go where I go and be careful of those around you we'll need to get that stew off the coals, check the seasoning then take it upstairs to the dining hall before we dish it out"
I just nodded along a bit overwhelmed by everything, next thing I knew the pot was being pulled off the heat, a spoon was put into my hand "right taste it boy" doing as I was told I immediately took a spoonful and as I should have excepted burnt my tongue
'You have suffered 1 HP damage'
"Damn, burnt tongue" I muttered.
Martin just laughed "You have to let it cool a little bit first, well you wont really be able to taste the difference now, but what we are doing is tasting it before we add the seasoning we don't want to over season, just remember you can always add more but you cannot remove it, and nobody likes an overly salty stew"
With that Martin took his own spoon taking a taste and added a small handful of salt before grabbing a second spoon and tasting it again.
"There we go perfect, your mouth still burnt boy?" Martin asked.
I went for a second taste anyway despite the burnt tongue and he was stopped by Martin, "clean spoon boy, get another or wash your current one"
Quickly apologising I got a second spoon and tasting the stew, allowing it to cool this time, the flavour was completely changed "what did you add to it?" I asked surprised.
"Just salt and pepper boy, you've really not had much food options if this is surprising you" he added in response
"Sorry sir, we didn't really have that much at the Academy" I muttered feeling a bit of shame.
"No problem at all, lets go put your spoons in that wash bucket over there" he pointed out a bucket full of water "and follow me we'll take this upstairs, my fellow cooks have already taken the bread up"
After that Martin took the giant pot not even showing a bit of strain carrying it out of the room and into the dining hall where there was a section to the side with a large stack of bowls and bread already piled high in a tray.
"Right what's going to happen is the clergy will come up and grab their own bread and a bowl you are to ladle one large spoonful per person" he instructed
"Don't worry I'll be here to help if needed" With that I was passed a ladle as a line started to form
The service period passed in a blur, I didn't even see Amanda? Maybe she wasn't hungry after the testing Martin did take over after a short period of time before passing it back to me to finish up.
I was then handed my own bowl and bread roll sitting at the bench eating my own food, looking over my status as I mindlessly ate,
Hit points: 139/140
Mana: 50/50
Stamina: 110/140
I was down 30 stamina from the effort tonight, but more importantly, I was still at 0 experience for both my main class and the skill Basic Meal Prep was also still sitting at Experience: 0/100
While I was still off in his own world I was startled as Martin sat across from me with his own food
"Any luck with the experience boy?" he asked tearing off a chunk of bread
"No none yet, I have used 30 stamina, I gained 20 experience in Knifework earlier but nothing for tonight" I responded.
"That's interesting usually as a cook we'll get experience for preparing, and a small amount more when serving, but I would not worry about it, we'll get it worked out and Elder said he was seeking information in the archives for you, I'm sure he'll come back with a full writeup for what you can expect from the class, once you've finished eating you can head to bed if you like I can wake you up for the breakfast service, its a bit early but maybe you'll get some experience if you take part in the full preparation instead of partial" he said.
I nodded at that "It's worth a shot" responding but feeling a little bit disheartened.
Heading back to my room that evening, I saw Amanda coming out of a different passage, after she noticed me she joined me in heading to the rooms.
"I'll be leaving the town" Amanda stated as they walked down the hall.
"They tested me and I'm an acolyte for the God of Harvest, I'll be joining a caravan to Elarith Vale, joining the Temple of Life I'm so excited! I heard its lead by an Elf, I've never seen an Elf before" Amanda said clearly excited and not letting me get many words in.
"Oh this one is mine" Amanda said coming past the rooms.
"If I don't see you before, come say Hi if you're ever in Elarith Vale" and with that Amanda went into her room.
As I continued to my own room I could not help but wonder if I'd be the only person out of their group left behind in Dunhearth, that thought was the last thing I remembered before I laid on my bed and sleep took me.
Before I knew it there was a knock at my door.
It felt like I had barely slept at all last night my thoughts racing from my skill, to the lack of experience, would I forever be level 1? Was that a thing?
All these thoughts raced through my head as I looked for my clothes, that's where I discovered that the temple had provided me with a newish set of tunic and pants.
It was a little bit too large for me but it was in decent condition, putting them onI opened the door to meet a Priest smiling at me.
"Martin has requested you for breakfast at the kitchen" the man said before wandering away.
I briskly headed to the kitchen noticing it was a buzz of activity already despite the rest of the Temple being very quiet.
Upon entry Martin called me over "Morning boy I hope you slept well, we got lots of work to get done today so same as yesterday I just want you to follow me, we'll be serving Porridge with sliced fruit and if they would like we have some bread left over from last nights dinner"
Heading into the cool room Martin grabbed a box of mixed fruits, it looked to be of all different colours a mixture of citrus fruits, berries and some plantains.
"Right so what we need to do is get this all diced up and placed in that large bowl, the porridge is already over there by the coals, we will need to make sure we stir that regularly and I'm going to get you to do that to make sure you have a part in the cooking try and get you some experience today!"
Martin said happily handing me a dagger sized knife.
"Right so listen up and watch carefully, always remove the skin here, but don't throw it away, all this will get saved and used in the gardens to give back to the soil. always cut away from your hands never towards, and slice it into small easy to eat chunks, like so" Martin then demonstrated how he wanted each fruit cut.
Getting to work I was slow but this was fairly easy work it felt like I had good control of the knife as I cut and wondered if his stats were helping me, after a short while Martin prompted me to go and stir the Porridge which I did without question.
A short while later all the fruit was cut and the Porridge was off the heat and cooling down before we took it to the dining hall.
"Any luck with the experience boy?" Martin asked, pulling up my stats again looking over
Name: Trevor
Class: Arcane Chef
Rarity: Rare
Level: 1
Experience: 0/100
"Feed the body, Grow the soul"
Hit points: 140/140
Mana: 50/50
Stamina: 110/140
"No, nothing for the main class" I responded before I checked my abilities as well, I saw Basic Meal Prep was also still sitting at Experience: 0/100 however looking at his Knifework I was pleasantly surprised to see that had grown a fair bit!
Knifework
Level: 1
Experience: 90/100
"Nothing for the Basic Meal Prep either but I am nearly level 2 in Knifework" I responded finally finishing up checking my status, Martin just looked to be lost in thought.
"Very strange" he muttered before he grabbed the Porridge pot and took it out to the dining hall I was carrying the bowl of fruit and following behind him, there was already a bit of activity in the dining hall by the time we got out there placing down the food on the bench Martin instructed me that we didn't need to serve for people at breakfast and people would help themselves so I was free to grab my own bowl and eat breakfast as well.
Sitting down eating I was quickly joined by Martin but also a familiar face Amanda took a seat across from me with a bowl of porridge a roll and lots of fruit
"I forgot to eat last night" she stated bashfully, Martin just let out a soft chuckle at that
"I'll be leaving right after breakfast she said clearly nervous, I've never left the town before do you think its dangerous" Amanda asked,
I honestly did not know, much like Amanda we had never left the town outside of supervised excursions for survival training, his first memories were of the Orphanage before he was adopted by the Academy.
Martin chimed in at that "Ah heading to a different temple?" She shrunk away a little bit not knowing Martin herself "Yes Sir, I'm to head to the Temple of Life today" she stated quietly,
"Oh I've been out there before, two weeks to the north by carriage, that's where the oats in this porridge have come from, its a peaceful farming town primarily but the Temple is certainly a sight to see, but no I would not say the journey there is particularly dangerous, you'll have a guard anyway" Martin said casually,
Amanda visibly paled when she heard two weeks, "Tw.. Two weeks?"
Martin chuckled again "Yes, two weeks at a good pace but don't worry those groups move in a large caravan of sorts, there will be plenty of company on the journey"
At that Amanda relaxed slightly but she did go silent eating her breakfast staring down into her porridge, I was not much assistance at keeping the conversation going as I was in my own head about the experience issue.
How would I possibly live if I couldn't even get my own skill to work? Where would I earn money, or live?
Before I knew it Martin was getting up placing his bowl in the dish bucket and slapping me on the back, "you worry to much boy, you'll be fine come back this afternoon and we'll prepare dinner again, I believe Elder Peter will come see you shortly in regards to your skill" with that Martin left.
His departure seemed to have prompted Amanda out of her own thoughts and she quickly cleaned up "Goodluck Trevor, I hope i see you again" she stated before starting to walk away.
"You too, best of luck at the Temple!" I called out, bringing a smile to her face.
After returning to the main temple hall, wondering what I should do with my time, I heard a familiar voice calling over to me.
"Trevor, come with me" Elder Peter said leading me through to a small room with a table and some chairs.
Taking a seat Elder Peter began.
"So I spent a short amount of time in the archives this morning, attempting to find your class, however by our records there is only one known rare cooking class which I will say is very different to your own, as it manifests food out of pure mana, with its starting skill being producing a mana bun" Elder Peter had a serious look on his face as he said this.
"How did you go in the kitchens yesterday, did you have luck with your class?"
"No sir, I helped with Dinner service and Breakfast however I received no experience for my main class or my skill Basic Meal Prep" I responded
Elder Peter was silent for a long while clearly in deep thought over this.
"Do you think its broken sir?" I asked after the silence got to me.
"No my dear boy, the issue with Rare classes is much like the name suggests they are incredibly rare, but due to that little is known about them and despite them being incredibly powerful there is usually a problem you'll need to figure out" Elder Peter went silent again for a long moment.
"As an example, there is a Blacksmith in the capital with a rare class if memory serves me correctly its the Phoenix Fire Smith he could only level up his skill using the tools that infused the feathers of a phoenix in the metal, but once this was resolved the gear he can make now is reserved almost entirely for Royalty" he explained.
"What's important at this time, is that you keep trying new things to see what will provide you experience, if you'd allow me to document your results, I would be more than willing to provide you accommodation here and pay you a small sum to work in the kitchen along side our humble cooks" Elder Peter offered.
With no better option or any option at all really I agreed to that.
"We can pay you 2 copper per week, we will be willing to provide you room and meals however" Elder Peter proposed.
I nodded along "Yes sir, thank you for trying to help"
Elder Pete slid 2 copper over to me before he got up to leave the room.
"If I find anything else I will be sure to update you as soon as possible, if anything changes just ask any Priest to see me and they will organise a meeting for us"
With that Elder Peter opened the door heading back out into the main hall and leaving me to my thoughts in the room, it was the first time in my life I had any money, it was not much, but this was my future now.
————————————–
Two weeks had passed before I knew what had happened, I'd worked in the kitchen every day breakfast and dinner along side Martin, unfortunately I was still at Experience: 0/100 in my Main class,
and much to the surprise of all I spoke to I was still
Basic Meal Prep
Level: 1
Experience: 0/100
I had even been shown how to butcher the rump of a Boar that was donated to the Temple however I did not even get experience in Butchery
Butchery
Level: 1
Experience: 0/100
This left Martin and Elder Peter at a loss to help the boy, the one bit of good news is his Knifework skill had levelled up
Knifework
Level: 4
Experience: 84/1056
And he could certainly feel the difference between now and when he started, Martin suggested his handling of the kitchen knife was likely influenced by my dexterity.
Elder Peter was confident I should keep going and eventually something would work itself out, however on the completion of my second week Martin has sat down with me at dinner.
"Trevor don't take this the wrong way I'm happy to keep working along side you if you want to continue, however I would suggest you try something else, something different than here" Martin said with sadness in his voice.
"We've worked side by side every day you've been involved in every dish, and perhaps its the ingredients we're using that is causing you to not get experience, however if that is the case our situation is not going to change much week to week" Martin sighed deeply.
"Don't mistake this, I am not throwing you out but take tomorrow off look around the city, visit the market and see if anything grabs your attention" with that Martin got up and went back into the kitchen
I was shaken by this, I couldn't leave could I?
I didn't have somewhere to stay, I only had 6 copper now to my name, that would barely cover a night and meal at the local Inn, but at the same time Martin was correct, nothing was changing here, I'd butchered the rump of a boar, I'd taken part in making breakfast and dinner every day since I got here, what else could I do?
That night it took me a long time to fall to sleep, I was tossing and turning wondering if I'd end up on the streets, what could I do, could I raise my Knifework skill high enough and maybe still become an adventurer?
I shot that thought down quickly, although I might be able to get lucky on some low level monsters I knew well from examples from Instructor Michael that a knife would never be successful against any real beast, Rogue class was only successful with daggers due to their ability to get within the creatures guard undetected, a boy running in with a knife would be dead in a week.
Sleep eventually took me in the early hours of the morning
