Heading outside, I was mindful that I would need to make the reed juice by myself. Both the regular juice and the alcoholic one had a cooking aspect to it, and getting help from Liane would ruin that.

  Truthfully, I just wanted to discuss the buffs with her and the royal guard situation without the others. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust them, but it always felt easier talking to her, and I knew I would get an honest answer.

  I let Crisplet know where I was going before leaving the longhouse and making my way to the wagon where the barrels still were.

  I was still in a lot of pain, and my muscles were not working as well as they should, but I climbed into the back and reached the barrels.

  “You know you probably shouldn’t do this in your current condition, right?” Liane said as I climbed into the wagon, seeing she was already sitting inside.

  I grunted as I pulled out a bunch of sugar-reeds, pain running through my body. “Yeah, I know; I just wanted to do something. I feel like I’ve been trapped.”

  Pulling out my sharpest knife, and with a struggle, started to cut the reeds into smaller segments, then in half, throwing them into the barrel once they had been cut.

  “I wanted to ask you, what do you think is going to happen with the royal guards?”

  Liane chuckled, leaning back on the bench, stretching out as I continued to cut the reeds.

  “I think they’ll try to recruit you, and I don’t mean like the lord of your town in a shady manner. I would guess they want to recruit you properly,” Liane said.

  I was surprised at that, and clearly my face showed it.

  So Liane continued, “I would say they have little to no idea about your class or your cooking, and they likely assume you have a monster tamer or some kind of class associated with that. Most rumours surrounding you are saying you have a unique fire elemental and a shadow cat companion — everything else is left at the wayside.”

  I frowned. “And if I tell them no? Will they force the matter?”

  “That’s difficult to say. This is just my opinion based on seeing them, but they didn’t bring enough numbers to force you to do anything. So what I’m guessing is they’ll make you an offer on the spot, or, more likely, you’ll be requested for an audience at the capital with someone important,” Liane said, pulling out a pastry from her own storage that I don’t even remember her having.

  “What should I do? I don’t want to stay in the capital or work for a noble. I enjoy adventuring, exploring — this is fun,” I said, looking up, no longer cutting.

  “Truthfully, Trev, if they think you’re that powerful, you’ll likely still have your freedoms, and they just want assurances you’re on their side. But if they’re truly scared about your connections and the strength of Lily, or your interactions with dragons…” She paused at that, shaking her head with a laugh.

  “Who am I kidding, if they are scared or not they won’t do anything to risk their kingdom, if you ask me, do what makes you happy, and don’t worry about the rest of them,” she said, her mouth now full of the pastry.

  “About the eel buffs…” I began, but Liane just raised a hand.

  “What’s done is done. You should discuss it with Milo and just be cautious in the future. Hari and Jen won’t make your life harder than it needs to be. This is a lesson you’ve learnt — just remember you can’t always get lucky, and one day it very well may burn out your mana channels, leaving you a cripple for life, or worse, your friends,” she said sternly.

  We spent a long time in silence, my mind racing, jumping from the guards to how I could be safe with the buffs in the future.

  I cut the rest of the reeds in this bundle. I still had several more, but it was getting late, and that pie wasn’t safe around the others even if I had distracted Liane out here.

  Looking at the barrel, I realised the reeds I’d cut up barely filled one-third of it, so I reached out, storing it away, wincing as the pain hit, before smiling at Liane.

  “Let’s get back to that pie before Jen or Micca discover it,” I said with a grin.

  Her eyes went wide, and she vanished in an instant, likely checking on it herself.

  With a sigh, I made my way out of the wagon, looking around as I landed on the dirt before making my way inside.

  Sure enough, Liane was sitting near the pie, and I couldn’t help but laugh as I saw Crisplet shooting embers at both Liane and Micca, defending it.

  Making my way over slowly, shooing them away. “No pie until after dinner.”

  I needed to make some rice to go with the chilli, so I pulled out a pot and filled it with rice, adding water to knuckle height as I was taught by Geo, getting a lid from Crisplet and putting it next to the chilli pot.

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  I saw Milo making his way over once I sat down, before he took a seat beside me.

  “So, what did you find out about those buffs?” Milo jumped straight into it.

  I went through and mentioned every buff from the eel as Milo pulled out the notebook.

  “Superior is the tier above Major. It’s very rare in elixirs — there’s rumoured to be a tier above that which is the highest, but I’ve not seen any record of it. Mana gain is an interesting one; I think I’ve read about it before, and if memory serves me right, it directly affects the rate at which you gain mana back, both passively and through potions.”

  I was trying to follow what he was telling me, but he had barely started, and he’d already lost me.

  “I see you’re confused. To put it simply, it would double — maybe triple — your base mana gain,” he said.

  I let out a chuckle. “Great, so it would have made everything else more potent.”

  Milo continued, jotting down notes as he went. “Exactly. Advanced mana collection, I believe, means you would have had very rapid natural mana regeneration, so even without the other effects you would have regenerated mana quickly. And if you can work out how to separate that buff, it would be very valuable.”

  “Another one that’ll get me killed?” I asked.

  Milo let out a dry laugh. “Of course, but we’re past worrying about that. The truth of the matter, Trev, is you need to lean into the scary aspects — Crisplet and Lily. There’s no more lying low anymore. I can assure you, although they won’t have all the details, anyone in a position of power has heard of you or will hear of you soon. But let’s continue. Mana sight is very useful as well if you can separate it, as it allows you to visually see mana around you. In a battle, if you can use it well, it’s invaluable — it renders abilities like Liane’s useless as she can’t hide her mana signature.”

  Liane looked outraged. “Hey! No selling a potion that makes me useless, thanks!”

  Milo continued without paying much attention to her. “Are you able to tell where the buffs came from with your ability?”

  I nodded. “Yes, but I can’t at the moment. I’ve used my abilities too much. I know the mana sight came from Second Simmer, though.”

  “Ah, so it’s from a combination. Okay, well, if we can somehow figure out a way to separate these buffs off into small packages, they would be incredibly useful. As it stands, I suspect even if I had the eel, I would be in trouble mana-wise unless I could rapidly burn huge portions of it — for several hours, you said?”

  Milo leaned forward after that and, in a conspiratorial tone, said, “Oh, Hari wanted me to lecture you about buff safety, so I want you to appear like you’ve been lectured at the end of this. I think you’ve learnt your lesson, right?”

  The question was left hanging, and I just nodded.

  Milo carried on as if nothing had happened. “Right, on this page I have a list of combinations I’d like you to try. See if we can individually get the buffs without repeating the eel. Also, for any future mana-focused meals, let me know, and I’ll prepare a test for it. The last thing we’d want is for you to give a meal like that to someone who has minimal mana.”

  I looked over the page that Milo held out to me. At the top there was a header: ‘Mana Buff Isolation Experiments’. Under that were the desired buffs Milo wanted to have isolated, with Mana Sight already having a line from it to the words ‘Second Simmer’.

  Seemingly satisfied with that, Milo got up and dusted off his robes. “That will do for now. Just be safe, okay?”

  I couldn’t help but notice Hari watching us closely before Jen hit him in the back of the head, drawing his gaze away. I noticed the wink she gave before he turned to her fully.

  I turned my focus back to dinner for the night. I was curious whether Lily would show up tonight. It wasn’t the first time she had vanished for several days, but I would have thought she’d show up at least once now that I was better, especially after hearing all the details from Liane about how she was actively protecting me while I was unconscious.

  Which reminded me, I really needed to talk to her about letting the others help me if I needed it.

  It didn’t take long for the rice to be done; the water boiled away and leaving perfectly cooked rice behind. I fluffed it up a bit before letting it cool. It was shortly after that Crisplet let me know the chilli was good to go, as the ash lid that was on top turned to dust.

  There was an amazing aroma that filled the room — an unmistakable spice to it, but also the familiar buvul smell with a sweetness to match.

  “Smells so good,” Liane said from behind me.

  I used infusion on both the rice and the chilli. It wouldn’t give a massive buff as both would have been common grade, but more experience was always good.

  I pulled out eight bowls and portioned up the rice. There was plenty left over, but I had plans for that if it wasn’t eaten tonight — another Geo speciality I hadn’t made yet. It was the whole reason I’d made extra rice.

  I then added a large portion of chilli to every plate before handing them out.

  As expected, Liane dove straight in, loving every bite.

  Everyone else seemingly enjoyed it too, Darren and George both getting seconds, but the main dish I was proud of for the night was the pie, and when I cut it into eight slices, Liane leant over my shoulder.

  “Make sure you give me the largest slice, Trev,” she whispered.

  I just shook my head, trying to make sure every slice was as even as possible before handing them out.

  In the end, Liane got a slightly larger slice, but not by much.

  There was a high-pitched squeal from Micca that caught me by surprise, and I was worried I’d messed up before she practically yelled,

  “It’s sooo good!”

  Jen and Liane were both nodding, unable to talk due to the food in their mouths.

  Hari surprised me, as he usually didn’t make many comments about dinner. “Yes, this is excellent. You really need to make more desserts — this is an absolute treat!”

  I took a bite myself, and I had to agree. The pastry was buttery but still soft and flaky. The berry filling had mostly set, so it almost had a little chew to it — a little tougher than the jam I’d made. It was incredibly sweet, with a tart flavour cutting through. I regretted not making two.

  It didn’t take long before there was not a scrap of pie left. Liane even went as far as eating the crumbs from the dish.

  I was right in my guess that the buffs would not be significant for this, only getting a couple of stats from the pie and buvul, with nothing seemingly coming from the rice. I couldn’t check it as I didn’t want to ruin the moment with pain, but I suspected it had a combination buff like most super common ingredients seemed to have.

  Liane appeared right next to me. “Can you make another one?”