L’lyeh set her sights on another rat and produced a kitchen knife from her Bag. From what I could see, it was just an ordinary kitchen knife with no added effects.
“Last one. Chef Skill—Julienne.” As soon as L’lyeh announced her Skill, the rat was sliced into thin strips before bursting into light.
How strong are Chefs?! How strong is L’lyeh? Everyone seemed to be stunned speechless by L’lyeh’s unbelievable power, with or without magic. I was no exception.
“That was a sight to behold!” Tolley exclaimed, showering L’lyeh with a round of applause as soon as we returned to the Guild’s meeting room. By the looks of it, L’lyeh was pleased with the Guildmaster’s reaction. “After seeing that, I can’t say you don’t deserve at least an A-rank. What a formidable young woman you are!” He followed his praise up with another round of applause.
The receptionist was fiercely nodding along—L’lyeh’s fighting had knocked her socks off too. Good. Our girls deserve all the praise in the world!
In the end, it was that easy for all of us to achieve A rank. Then, the conversation returned to our quest to quell the volcano.
“It’s time I paid you for your troubles.” Tolley gestured to the receptionist, and she quickly brought over the Salamander Egg on a large tray. The egg was about the size of a soccer ball, its unyielding shell a deep shiny vermilion.
“This is a Salamander Egg...? Ameowzing.”
“Is a Salamander going to hatch from it?” Kent asked.
“I...don’t know about that,” Cocoa said.
I had bad news for them—no Salamander was going to hatch from this egg. I’d read in a book once that Salamander Eggs only hatched in extremely high temperatures. If the climate was cool enough for humans to survive, it was too cold for Salamanders.
“Can I hold on to this for now?” I asked the group. “Let’s talk about what to do with it later.”
“Agreed,” Kent said.
I took that as my cue to accept the egg for the party and stash it in my Bag. “That’s our quest complete,” I confirmed. “If there’s nothing else...”
“Of course. Thank you again for saving us,” Tolley said, offering me a deep bow, and the receptionist echoed his sentiment.
Their reaction felt like more than we deserved—we were just adventurers completing a quest. “We’re happy to help. Let us know if anything else comes up.”
“You got it,” Tolley said.
Bidding the Guildmaster and his receptionist farewell, we left the Guild for the day.
✦ ✦ ✦
By the evening of the next day, we found ourselves absolutely exhausted. After completing our quest at the Guild the day before, we’d gone straight to a dungeon to help L’lyeh regain her levels. Then, we’d gone back the next morning and spent the whole day farming her some more levels. Our hard work had paid off, though—we’d gotten L’lyeh back to where we could share EXP again.
At this moment, we were all gathered in the girls’ room at the inn. In other words, Kent had just come over to our room from his. We were going to try out Tarte’s new cauldron by brewing some potions. She’d been bursting with excitement the whole time we’d been helping L’lyeh level up, counting down the minutes until this very moment.
There were a few different levels of Formulation tools Alchemists could use. Better tools needed less time and fewer ingredients to yield more potions. Tarte’s new cauldron, as far as I could guess, was very high tier. I was excited to see how efficient this puppy was.
“I’m going to try crafting some Molotovs like normal!” Tarte announced.
“All right! Maybe this thing will give you more bang for your buck.” Kent cheered her on, looking just as excited as Tarte to see the cauldron in action.
“Here we go!” Tarte tossed in the bomb ingredients in order, stirring them in the cauldron.
After crafting this weapon so many times, Tarte expertly finished her Formulation in no time at all, its completion marked by a flash of light from the cauldron. I peered over the rim to discover not one but two Molotovs in there. Her yield had doubled.
Tarte gleefully purred. “Wow! There’s two in there!” She took one of the freshly crafted Molotovs in her hands—and yowled in surprise.
“What’s wrong, Tarte?” I inspected the other Molotov to discover something unbelievable. Its damage output was one percent higher than the Molotovs Tarte had crafted in the past.
“No way,” I breathed.
“So, this basically buffed Tarte’s Attack, right?” Kent asked.
“I think so,” I agreed.
Tarte was on cloud nine, beaming and squeezing the bottle tightly in her arms. “This is ameowzing. It’ll help me get stronger.”
“It’ll make our hunts easier,” I confirmed, my attention still snagged by the Ancient Emberglow Cauldron. Never had I imagined that it could change the effectiveness of the Molotov itself. Even though it was only an extra one percent, the improvement to Tarte’s Attack was a big deal. If we could get her the other tools in the series—like a better Firestarter or Stirring Spoon—Tarte’s brews could become even more effective.
Something tingled down my spine, urging me to search for those items. Alchemists always came in clutch in the game...but I never thought there was so much potential in the job! If Tarte loaded up on equipment and maxed out the power of her potions, she could transform into an unparalleled solo fighter. I’m witnessing a historic moment...! “Let’s collect more tools for Tarte’s alchemy!”
“I would love that, Meowster! But I have no idea where to find them... Do you?”
“If I’m being honest...no,” I admitted, and everyone’s shoulders slumped.
Cocoa was the first one to bounce back. “We’re adventurers, after all. We should just collect them as we continue our adventures.”
“That’s it!” I couldn’t agree more. “We are adventurers, and I set out on this adventure in the first place so that I could see all the beautiful sights in this world!” Why shouldn’t collecting Tarte’s items be a part of that?
Tarte, Kent, and L’lyeh all agreed. No matter what, we were all adventurers searching for untrodden ground.
“Let’s keep going to places we’ve never gone before! I’m sure we’ll find Tarte’s Alchemist gear along the way, and who knows what else? We’re not done growing stronger, are we?” Kent said, cracking a dauntless smile.
“No, we’re not! I’m going to work harder and grow stronger!” Tarte shouted.
“I’m going to find undiscovered foods and cook dishes never cooked before...!” L’lyeh added.
It was very nice that both of them had concrete goals. Meanwhile, Cocoa was smiling where she stood at Kent’s side, clearly just happy to be adventuring with him. Some people might have called us reckless, but we were a party with a unified goal and vision.
“I’m going to make a whole bunch of Molotovs!” Tarte announced.
“Then I’ll go pick up the ingredients we posted purchase orders for.”
“Thank you, Lulu!” Tarte cheered.
It was a busy day with a reward well worth our efforts.