One of the things he thought about was whether they were really limited in using the skills outside of the territory. Would he only be able to perform alchemy within the barriers?
What was the limit? What was the delineation? After all, there were things that were purely their knowledge, and he doubted the muscle memory that would come out after a long time of practice would be taken away if someone resigned. He believed that many skills and knowledge, in time, could still be used even outside the barrier.
In that case, if he wanted to apply these outside, he’d have to seriously learn the profession.
But...who had the time? He had to catch up with his peers—at least in terms of strength—first! He’d think about this alchemy thing later.
At this time, he was too busy. Learning at this point would take too long, and what he could accomplish during a long time might not match what he could accomplish if he focused on things he was already capable of.
As they said, focus on one’s strength for maximum effect.
Another thing he wanted to do was to increase the probability of creating C-class food!
The thing he discovered was that using the same recipe did not guarantee the same quality. Even when he used the Sunrise Nettle-Noodle Bowl (C), the dish that made Class C before, can sometimes be Class D. As of now, after practicing a bit, he managed to increase the chances of C-class noodles from 20% to 45 or 50%.
Pang told him this was already not bad (which meant it was already amazing), but Finn couldn’t be satisfied. He was a world-famous masterchef! Well, not in this world, but a masterchef nonetheless!
Especially when he thought about how there was still a B-class and A-class beyond that—how could he feel satisfied with his current work?
Finn entered a work seclusion. He would still absorb a minimum amount of cores—just because breaking that habit would be counterproductive—but other than that, and sleeping and bathing, the rest of his time was dedicated to improving his craft.
He just gave basic instructions to his staff, who knew what their job descriptions were anyway. Since they had a canteen now, they would take their guests there. The rotating menu he set for the next week was delicious, even if the dishes were not essence food, and the guests would not get tired of it at all.
That said, he did prefer some essence food with a long shelf life, like jerky and protein bars (which had complete nutrients like some bindergrain, dried berries, and so on), so he could bring them outside on adventures.
They were E and D-class only, but they’d definitely help the guests a lot while fighting outside. Never underestimate the power of his snacks!
...
And so, for the next few days, Finn buried his head into his work. In order not to get too bored and get stuck, he also tried various recipes, and his staff made sure he never ran out of ingredients.
Tumble even placed a sign in front of the kitchen ’Master at Work: Do Not Disturb’ with little notes for them to ask any other staff.
Interestingly, they received their uniforms today!
This would make it easier for the guests to identify who were the staff and who were the guests!
Finn bought a lot of fabric, needles, crochet items, and so on fromLotus Town during his trip, and it could be said that Ranran spent most of her free time tinkering with them.
Ranran also created a number of sleeping mats from monster hides and the soft fur of the Gorethrak, the yeti-like monster that almost cost Micc his legs. They were very soft and could make very good pillows, not inferior to those of earth in softness.
Micc, Durgan, and Haurus had been consistently practicing their craft (with Haurus dividing his time between blacksmithing and alchemy), and Tumble made several wooden tools.
Other than this, Tumble and the others also made more posts around the territory lines in the past days. These posts weren’t meant to obstruct (that’d have been useless anyway).
They were more like delineation, especially now that the inn had expanded, so that the people wouldn’t accidentally step out of the barrier without knowing.
Until now, there had been few accidents because they could tell where the barrier was because beasts were attacking. What if there weren’t at the time?
That said, if anyone messed with these delineations, it’d count as theft or damage to property and would therefore be punishable by panda!
Anyone among the staff had seen the panda in action enough to know: No one can mess with the panda!
...
About a kilometer southwest of the Inn, there seemed to be potential new customers approaching.
They didn’t know the Inn, though, but their path was near enough because they were heading specifically to Kaelmorr’s Level 2 area for some specific materials.
The guests were from one of the inner towns Southeast of the Inn and Northeast of Lotus Town. At this time, this small group was busy handling mobs that approached them.
BANG!
Several bodies of monsters fell down within a few attacks. Most were bleeding profusely or beheaded by blades, while some were stabbed by sharp ice spires.
Some were smoking on their mouths, as if they had exploded from within.
A handsome, tanned man with bright golden hair and expensive-looking attire approached one of the monsters.
The young man—around his mid-20s—had a bright countenance around him, and even when he knelt down, stabbing a beast’s heart to feel for the core, he looked like a work of art.
Another person walked next to him. In terms of image, they were completely different. He had dark hair, pale skin, and an overall somber atmosphere around him.
He was also very good-looking but completely unapproachable, as if his iciness would come to bite if one came closer.
They could not be any more different. No one would think they were twins .
The two young men and their guards then started stabbing the hearts of the monsters to get their cores. The black-haired young man, Ravin, silently stabbed and packed things up without any noise, while his brother jumped from monster to monster with graceful agility. He was even humming a bit.
It was very out of tune, and it made Ravin’s eyes twitch. "You seem happy. Do you just like digging into flesh?"
"Not really, I think they’re quite messy," Arthur said with a shrug. "I’m not the one who insisted not to bring any servants."
"It’s against the rules, remember?" the other said. "Do you want to pass the test or not?"
"Brother, I want to step on their faces~~"
"..."
Their personal guards, Ignus and Thea, both Fortified Tier 1 fighters watched the brothers bicker with blank expressions on their faces. They were used to it.
Anyway, the twins couldn’t help but look at the carcasses. "Are we near Level 2 yet?" Arthur asked, crossing his arms.
Ignus shook his head. "We should still be more than a day away, master."
"Huh? Then how come there are so many toughened monsters already?"
"I am uncertain, master."
Generally speaking, while it was possible to encounter the occasional toughened monster so far away from the Level 2 borders, they were definitely not frequent, nor were they as consistent.
"Let’s hurry and find a place to camp," Thea (the other guard) said with a sigh, looking at the skies that were already dabbed with a bit of orange.
As they fought more mobs and dug for their cores, Ravin paused at some point. A few moments passed, and Arthur noticed his brother not moving.
Arthur was curious and went to him, following his line of sight.
He was staring...at a line of tiles?
"Huh? What’s this?"
"Tiles."
Yes, I can see that.
Anyway, they were curious, so they followed after it. Sadly, darkness was draping over them, and Ignus had to fire up a torch, all while the twins and the middle-aged Thea dealt with new monsters.
There was an increasing number of toughened-level monsters as they followed it. At first, they wondered if they were getting closer to Level 2 instead, which wouldn’t have been a bad scenario.
However, the two guards had been to Level 2 many times and had high-grade status gems with maps with them, and they were definitely nowhere near Level 2 yet.
This realization cast doubts on whether what they were doing was too careless. What if they were heading to someplace more dangerous instead?
However, they were not able to think anymore because a bigger mob with half-a-dozen toughened monsters and dozens of awakened monsters found them.
According to the rules, the guards could only protect them from toughened level and above, so the rest of those two or three dozen monsters were the twin’s responsibility.
After dealing with the toughened monsters, the guards were preoccupied with holding the awakened-level monsters back to prevent them from overwhelming the masters.
Because of the various movements, however, the torches died.
"Sorry," Ignus said, but he was too busy holding back the monsters that attacked them. His eyesight at night was better than others due to his level, and fortunately, Thea was the same.
It took them more than an hour to deal with the remaining mobs and the few that approached them after, and it was already deeper in the night by this time.
They walked farther from the mobs because the blood would attract more monsters, and they were forced to find a decent camping spot without light and guidance.
Unexpectedly, about ten minutes of walking later, they saw something wholly unexpected.
"Wait—"
There was a distant light, brightening up the immediate surroundings even when the skies were so dark.
"What in the world..."